One Way to Read It

This 10 minute cartoon by Jonathan Jarvis helped me understand the current economic collapse. part 1 (7:32) part 2 (3:44)

A 1 minute Coen brothers film on clean coal: Another abused word: organic. What does it even mean anymore? This kind of abuse gives marketing a bad name.

Chaffetz slipped up in an interview, saying: "I happen to support our Constitution’s definition of marriage as between one man and one woman." Um... Jason, that's not in the constitution. Though some people want it there. To give the guy a break, it is possible that he was referring to the Utah Constitution, which does define marriage .

Another reason to pick your own fruit. Excerpts from the Gourmet.com article : "As much as 90 percent of the fresh domestic tomatoes we eat come from south Florida, and Immokalee is home to one of the area’s largest communities of farmworkers. According to Douglas Molloy, the chief assistant U.S. attorney based in Fort Myers, Immokalee has another claim to fame: It is “ ground zero for modern slavery .” "Taking a day off was not an option. If Lucas became ill or was too exhausted to work, he was kicked in the head, beaten, and locked in the back of the truck . Other members of Navarrete’s dozen-man crew were slashed with knives, tied to posts, and shackled in chains ." "Since 1997, law-enforcement officials have freed more than 1,000 men and women in seven different cases. And those are only the instances that resulted in convictions. Frightened, undocumented, mistrustful of the police, and speaking little or no English, most slaves refuse to testify, which means...

This month's Ensign magazine correlates exactly with what's going on today. It's as if the leaders of the church are inspired or something. Elder Romney's (not Mitt) talk correlates more closely to my opinion of the Stimulus Package than any other earwash opinion I've heard yet. (Open his talk by clicking on the link to understand the next reference) Firstly, I don't believe the seagull story. It's a good parable, with truthful application, but I don't believe it really happened. Who pays that much attention to gulls? But the interpretation of the loss of independence is true: " Our efforts [helping the poor] must always be directed toward making able-bodied people self-reliant. " Which is " tied very closely to freedom itself ." Republicans currently wag their tongues at spending. Spending, spending, spending is the new catchphrase of the Republican Party. The problem is not that we spend money, but how we spend money. Poor...

People with influence propagate this kind of garbage. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Unusual Suspect Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day This goes along well with the Voltaire comment above. We shouldn't use fear to push our ideologies, nor make decisions out of fear. The Democrats may have used some doom and gloom predictions to get the stimulus bill passed, but their predictions at least followed reason, i.e., this action or inaction will result in this terrible outcome. Even prophets make such predictions. But this kind of fear-mongering is on a whole new level. Using this Biblical imagery of the beast creates a fanatical fear devoid of reason. The Dems' doom and gloom prediction was at least based in reality. Our actual actions can result in actual consequences. But broadcasting fearful scriptural interpretations is not honest journalism, it is fear-mongering. It twists Americans' reve...

This Finnish skit captures how WallStreet views the average investor (Warning: crude/funny). These investors go to a financial adviser. While on the desk he tells them that customers are very important, and that their money is in good hands. My Finnish is a little rusty so I didn't understand most of it. :( Another from real life. A wallstreetonian propagates the "poor people are lazy" theme. Obama's media guy responds: And the extended version of the wallstreet rant:

"You may ask me, "How is it a mathematical fact that Stephenie Meyer is worse than Satan?" Well, let's put it this way. Based on what we know about Satan, he deceived one third of the hosts of heaven in the pre-existence, leaving two-thirds to come to earth. Of those two-thirds remaining, Stephenie Meyer has deceived over half (because there are more women than men on the planet). Over one half of the residents of this planet is over one half of two thirds of the hosts of heaven, which is more than a third of the hosts of heaven. Ergo, Stephenie Meyer is worse than Satan." Thanks Josh

Jon Stewart, like Voltaire , mixes brilliance with vulgarity. The following video makes a good point, but uses balls as a metaphor. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day My official opinion on the stimulus bill: It is a lot of money, but as long as we are spending that amount to hurt people , I have no problem spending that much to help people. The problem, as Jon Stewart pointed out, is that we're trying to have it both ways . We need to choose one or the other. We cannot have all out war and imperialism and a healthy and happy citizenry. For we will love the one and despise the other. There is debate among Utah's congressmen about the bill. On the far right Chaffetz called the bill " legislative malpractice ." While Matheson, a moderate Democrat "believes both parties played political games with the ...

The Good News: Some Canucks saved some dolphins that were trapped in ice and starving to death. Excerpts: "You'd hear them crying, every night," said one of the men in the boat, Rodney Rice, 39. "I went down there last night and you could hear them trying to break up more ice. . . . They wouldn't have lasted another day." "They would come up and rest their head on me and I would keep their head out of the water so they can breathe through their blowhole." The Bad News: Americans are fat .

This was a great article about how our media makes Iran look scary. This video shows their independence day celebration. With some spooky music and Hannity's voice in the background you might think you're watching preparations for WWIII. But if you compare it with this footage: You'll realize that they are just celebrating their independence day. The same way we celebrate our independence from the British, and the dictatorial rule of George III, they celebrate their independence from the U.S., that had installed a puppet dictator to do our will with their country. Our revolution happened 230 years ago, so Britain doesn't seem so threatening anymore. Whereas their independence happened only 30 years ago, and they live under constant threats of war from U.S. If it still chills you to think someone in Iran chants "Death to America." Remember that McCain openly spoke of bombing Iran Cheney wanted to bomb Iran. Hannity and Beck constantly push for war with I...

Slow-mo bullet fun: Unfortunately most bullets have an ending similar to this:

A fan made Bella's womb out of felt . Complete with felt baby. And a guy tricked a girl into having sex with him by convincing her he was a vampire/werewolf hybrid . She was 15, probably a big Twilight fan.

Crystal made some good points about the survey: I responded: I kind of want to home school my kids too. And I'll probably make them sack lunches. But when I went to school, I often got there before I had time to eat breakfast at home, so I would buy a cookie and a soda for breakfast, and then eat the gross school lunch. That's two terrible meals a day. I was first raised by a single mom who worked, and then by a dad and step-mom who both worked, who all had no time to make lunches. Cows evolved to eat grass. They have four stomachs to digest the incredibly hard-to-digest stuff. Feeding them corn makes them gain weight more quickly, but also makes their meat have more fat, makes them ill, fosters an acidic environment in their stomachs that allows for the growth of E. Coli O157:H7, and makes their beef unhealthy to eat because of the higher fat content and the lack of vitamins (B-12, omega 3's) that cows traditionally absorbed from grass. Cows are not omnivores, they ...

The survey results are in, thanks to all of you who responded. Have you ever considered that your opinions and tastes are not your own? That your food preferences have been carefully crafted by those who care nothing for your health but only the contents of your wallet? "In consequence of a evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of b conspiring men in the last days, I have c warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation— " -D&C 89 Click on it to see a bigger view. There was no easy way to share the data. I'll post the favorite books and tv shows section when I have time.

Sorry for the popup. I'm doing a survey It's 10 questions. Firefox may prevent this popup.

A nationwide outbreak of salmonella linked to peanuts has killed 9 people and sickened over 500 nationwide. The outbreak was traced to a factory in Georgia. Here's a summary of what the FDA found there (from http://www.fda.gov/ora/frequent/default.htm under Peanut Corporation of America.): (the bolded ones are really bad) "2000 lb. totes of raw peanuts were observed to be stored directly next to 2000 lb. totes of finished, roasted peanuts in the firm's production/packaging room." "The above totes of finished product were stored within 15 feet of a floor crack where an environmental swab was collected...and found positive for Salmonella." Another environmental swab of a floor in the finished product cooler was also positive for Salmonella. "The swab location was within 3 feet of pallets of finished product." " Mold was observed growing on the ceiling and walls in the firm's cooler used for finished product storage." There were...

Last year a man with a shotgun entered a church Tennessee and killed two people before he was tackled. This is an excerpt from his suicide note (pdf). His motives are interesting: "Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals . There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state . Shame on them.... "This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book. I'd like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I know those people were inaccessible to me. I couldn't get to the generals & high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people. Someone had to get the ball rolling. I volunteered. I ...

News: 14 time gold medalist Michael Phelps has smoked weed: This article from Citizen Sugar was illuminating. "Eight people, most of whom had the unfortunate privilege of partying with Olympic great Michael Phelps, have been arrested in Richland County, South Carolina. Seven have been charged with drug possession and one with distribution. The party where the illegal activity went down, happened way back in November. Authorities have also located and confiscated the bong that Michael Phelps put to his mouth in that infamous picture. It wasn't so hard, considering the owner was trying to sell it on eBay for $100,000. The owner, who wasn't at the party, is one of the eight people being charged. So far Phelps has dodged any legal recourse. The sheriff maintains that he cannot turn a blind eye, after the picture of Phelps presented compelling evidence that a crime had happened in his jurisdiction." Obviously weed has not hurt his performance. The consequences of the...

I liked this and the essay on the political uses of fear that went along with it. Obvious bias is refreshing. In other news, Governor Huntsman is palin' around with homosexuals .

Our war spending is out of control . Link to interactive map .

I, for one, would need to have several beers before I would be able to bear Hannity's rhetoric.

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer Colbert Report Full Episodes Funny Political News Christian Bale Parody Joke of the Day

KSL News reported: "A bill moved forward today on Utah's Capitol Hill that has journalists worried government records will be kept more secret. The Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA) lets the public see what public officials are doing, but House Bill 122 could make it more difficult to see some of those records." Though there may be good reasons for keeping secrets, transparency encourages honesty. Utah doesn't have the best government ethics records .

From the Daily Show The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Economic Recovery Plan Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day This goes along with my earlier post on war spending .

On the stimulus plan. Or the naughty name the news uses, my brother pointed out, "Obama's large stimulus package."

Jason Chaffetz wrote a post for CNN. Do you see the paradox?: "This week, House Republicans met with President Obama and debated the stimulus bill. I voted against it. Our national debt has increased an average of $2.8 billion per day since January 2007. We must cut spending, not increase spending, for the long-term health of our economy." Republicans constantly preach about cutting spending, and yet there is no debate as far as stemming the flow of funds to the military-industrial complex from either party. Chaffetz says our national debt increases $2.8 billion per day. Yet $720,000,000,000 of that, 25% is from the Iraq war alone. 40% of every tax dollar goes towards war . War is the major cause of our national debt . Until cutting back war spending enters the discussion, any Republican spiel about less spending is so much political fluff. If we do not end our warmongering, we will bankrupt ourselves spiritually, and the spirit will no longer strive with us.

Crooks and Liars posted these quotes from Nazi leaders about propaganda: Hermann Goering, Hitler's second in command : "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." Ernst Rohm, chief of the SA : "The people want wholesome dread. They want to fear something. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive." Other things the U.S. thinks is great about the Nazis: Interstate Highways: Eisenhower passed the Interstate Highway Act because he was impressed with ...

In response to an article in BYU's Political Review quite a discussion started: Javier wrote: "I would hope at a place like BYU, where the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught, that we would not get advice from Jimmy Carter, the AP, and CNN, but from what know is true… The truth is that Israel and Jerusalem belong to the Jewish people, not the Palestinians. At the Second Coming, Jesus Christ will defend Israel against all of her enemies when all hope is lost and destruction seems eminent. I side with the Gospel and Jesus Christ." My wife wrote: "Wow. It’s really nice to simplify things to the point of ridiculousness, Javier. I would hope at a place like BYU, where the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught, that we would follow the words of the Savior to love everyone, including our so-called enemies." Then Javier wrote: "To: BYU Liberals From: Javier I truly believe many of you liberals should be ashamed of yourselves on this. It is time for you to set aside your i...

Video: And Editorial: The Action Americans Need By Barack Obama Thursday, February 5, 2009; A17 By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring. What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis. Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able t...

Paul wrote that: " the a love of b money is the root of all evil " — 1 Tim. 6:10 So I am putting up a PayPal widget to help you get rid of your evil. Any excess evil money you have, you can give to me, and I'll dispose of it appropriately. I also hope one of my wealthy readers will be so inspired by my blog as to give me all the funds necessary to make my dreams come true. And I'm adding Google Ad Sense. So I'm selling out. But it's only temporary: " For we brought a nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. " — 1 Tim. 6:7

My friend Emily has, I think, predicted the new face of the Republican party . Aaron Schock is a young (27) farm boy from Illinois, and quite the accomplished individual . For too long the talking faces of the Republican party —Limbaugh and Palin — have appealed to our baser selves: our fear, our hate, our ignorance. The Republicans in Washington are destroying their party by listening to idiots like Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly. Hopefully, in a few years, we will be able to dig the pearls that were good from the ashes of the Republican party. Schock could be one of those pearls. Schock seems to symbolize the hard-working, independent, honest citizen that Americans want to vote for and that seasoned politicians try to imitate. For now, the Republican party is out of touch. In trying to appeal to its base it has debased itself. They sacrificed their ideals in order to win. But hope exists for conservatives. And I hope Schock will not get bogged down in the same mistakes. I ...

Cheney told the Politico newspaper that the US would not "win this fight by turning the other cheek." My cousin wrote an excellent post on this. Excerpts: "[Cheney] told Politico today that he was fairly certain that by closing Guantanamo and rejecting the use of torture on terrorism suspects that the Obama Administration is bringing on a probable attack of nuclear or biological weapons. He said that protecting the nation's security is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty, business." . . . When the United States is tough, mean, dirty, and nasty, we should expect the exact same thing to come back to us. This is why Mr. Cheney has been so wrong the past 8 years. The ill will that has been fostered by this kind of foreign policy cannot be measured. I respect the fact that we have not been attacked since 9/11. I think that is an achievement that should be acknowledged, and for which I am grateful. However, the golden rule applies to much broader, and gravely import...

Verizon overcharges customer due to inability to do math:

This Week's Address : Cabinet : Obama has fashioned his cabinet after Lincoln's "team of rivals." He know has three Republicans on his team, along with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The three Republicans are Commerce Secretary Judd Gregg , Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Interesting, Judd Gregg actually tried to abolish the Commerce Department in 1995. Executive Orders : 6th Executive Order : Makes businesses that are under government contracts make clearly publish workers' rights where the workers can review them. 7th Executive Order : Establishes job security for workers who work for a business under government contracts. 8th Executive Order : Defines and limits the costs the government has to pay contractors, in order to cut corruption and inefficiencies, and taxpayers' money. Obama's Address on the Economy Ron Paul wrote of the ridiculousness of tying healthcare to employment.

"Bill O'Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you've got to cap with a number." Here's the video:

Check out The New Yorker for the full interview (1 page). Interesting excerpt: "There is a strong possibility that Barack will pursue a political career, although it’s unclear. There is a little tension with that. I’m very wary of politics. I think he’s too much of a good guy for the kind of brutality, the skepticism." —M ichelle O bama

Obama promised he would not increase taxes for those who made less than $250,000. Fox news reported that he has broken his promise. How? By raising taxes on cigarettes to pay for children's health insurance. Fox pundits argue that this tax would hit the lower class the hardest. Stupid for 4 reasons: 1. You're arguing against health insurance for children? 2. He's not taxing them based on income. They can choose to pay this tax by buying or not buying cigarettes. 3. The higher price will make people buy fewer cigarettes, which will immediately give their children better health (my mom smoked), and immediately give the smoker better health. We should tax McDonald's while we're at it. 4. The Altria Group —formerly Phillip Morris, cigarette empire, and owner of Kraft Foods— uses $13,000,000,000 a year to lobby and bribe politicians. I'm guessing anyone making this argument is in the pocket of Big Tobacco.

Elder M. Russell Ballard recently told Provoans that " We need to pray for our new president, regardless of party affliction, I mean, affiliation. " Speaking on January 25 th in the Provo Tabernacle at the conclusion of an Oak Hills (east Provo) Stake Conference, Apostle M. Russell Ballard spoke warmly of the inauguration, read excerpts from President Obama's inaugural address, advised members to read it, and said, " I like his emphasis on personal responsibility. " The audience chuckled at the "affliction" slip, but was otherwise unusually hushed and attentive as Elder Ballard voiced his strong support for our the new Democratic President. A front page article in the Deseret News of 22 January quoted Elder Ballard as saying, " I left with a feeling that the people of America are going to unite behind this new president and his administration and that we need to pray for him ," … " We need to exercise our prayers and help h...

My cousin wrote : "I still disagree with you - I think personal morals and values should determine how we vote. That includes issues of abortion and homosexuality. "Government was never meant to mandate personal choice on such a level." I think we do so all the time - child molestation, consensual underage sex, etc. The government gets involved in personal things all the time. I don't think we can make abortion illegal. But I agree with what the platform of the Democratic party says - we should make them rare. And I think that government absolutely should get involved on that level - not in mandating, but in encouraging the right choice and discouraging the wrong choice, rather than just saying whatever you want is ok." We do need to take into account the moral character of the politicians we elect. But simplifying morals to their stance on abortion and homosexuality is an ineffective measure for a few reasons: 1. Bush rallied evangelical support by being anti...