Randy Mundy Says:

This Economy Stinks! Do I Smell Depression?

2011-12-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

If you have a job and are making the money you need to make to keep your head above water and save some for the future, You are very blessed and are surely in the minority. The Obama administration and the enabling news media are jerking our chains with reports of an improving economy. In my opinion, we did not stave off a depression with the federal government's efforts to spark an economic recovery, we insured that we would most likely slide from a recession into the gaping mouth of another depression.

This is a case of history repeating itself. Economies naturally go through strong and weak cycles about every 50 years or so. The stock market crash of 1929 need not have turned into a depression. Like we did in recent years with the banking crisis, A progressive republican administration (Hoover) tried to boost the economy by throwing tax money at the obvious problems. His natural failure to make a dent in the economic slowdown resulted in the election of an even more progressive Democratic administration. Roosevelt's answer, as it is with all liberals and progressives, was to throw even more tax dollars at what they thought was the problem. The result was 9 more years of a depression. Europe and the rest of the world had come out of their economic woes much earlier than the U.S. did. It took WWII to put the people to work.

Some might say that that was a form of government spending. True, but it was deficit spending that destroyed the economies of Japan, Germany, and Italy. Only the very,very, wise prepare way in advance for war, and because of this they would rarely be in a situation where they needed to wage war. But as to our economic recovery, our mainland was literally untouched by the ravages of war. When the war ended, the United Sates was in the position to supply the world with what it needed, and when our soldiers and sailors returned, there was lots of work in producing materials and fuel for reconstructing the world. What wealth there was left from the rest of the world flowed to us.

By the way, this is not a call for us to start a war to get us back on a healthy economic setting. The Free Market is the natural equalizer. If you understand that economies will naturally ebb and wain, and that like tides of the oceans economies will right themselves if allowed to do so, you understand that a steadying hand is never necessary. It happens every time. Government efforts to manipulate economies fail every time. Socialism and communism DO NOT WORK!
The answer to our current economic woes is to get Obama and as many liberal and progressive Democrats of Congress out of office and replaced by Conservatives as possible.

Again, the administration and the liberal media want us to believe that the economy is slowly getting better and that Obama's actions saved us from a depression. I resist that assessment strongly. We have to stop spending money, like all we have to do is print more, and we have to dramatically cut government spending and taxes. Lower taxes will boost production, which will in turn, create job growth and actually increase revenue--it happens every time it's tried. Eventually, with spending cuts and more revenue, our deficit will go away, but because of the overspending we have subjected ourselves to during the last few years, it may take a long time, but not as long as it would take if we stay on the same path for 5 more years.

Regulations are killing us, just as they did in the 30s. Government should never pick winners and losers. The Free Market does that for us, and much better, with out the stench of government corruption. If the businesses of America have their hands free to work and the free market is left alone, allowing some businesses to fail but for others to evolve and strive, we will recover faster and reach a higher economic plateau than before. Of course there will necessarily be short lived recessions in the future, but allowed to right itself by competition of the free market and without government intervention growth will return much faster.

To support my argument that we are being sold a bill of goods by the Obama administration and hamstrung by a complicit news media, I offer the following: An article from The Blaze Internet news service. This what you likely don not know about the actual economy and why what you are hearing from other sources seems to be not what you and your friends are experiencing.

50 Things You Probably Don't Know...
1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30 percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.
15. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.
22. New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.
23. 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
25. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3 percent.
26. One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
27. If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
28. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
29. It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.
30. The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
31. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
32. According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5 percent in just one recent 12 month period.
33. Today, the “too big to fail” banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.
34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.
35. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.
36. If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
37. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.
38. Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
39. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.
40. Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6 percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
41. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
42. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
43. A staggering 48.5 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
44. Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
45. For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.
46. If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.
47. Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.
48. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
49. The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.
50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

Thanksgiving, 2011

2011-11-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful for so much. It is really hard to enumerate the many blessings I enjoy. I am an American: I had the blessing of being born here where I can do and be whatever I choose; I was also born in a family that loved me and taught me to work; I learned early not to take myself too seriously and to give others credit for the good that they do; I also was blessed to be directed spiritually to come to a personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. I live in a country of plenty and I know that, if I work hard and apply myself, I will have what I need, maybe not all that I might want, but what I need. So, I'm genuinely thankful and I don't mind declaring it.

New Christmas Card for 2011

2011-11-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

So, I've recently blogged about being thankful, but I haven't posted blogs in any great degree in awhile, though I have been revving up to get blogging on politics, with the the primaries around the corner and the general election less than a year away. But, I feel a need to get to something else first...

Well, you see it is time for a new Mundy family Christmas Card. If you are a follower of our tradition of coming up with a special Christmas Card each year, you may or may not have been waiting to see what we have come up with this time. If you are put off by my tendency to, perhaps, be a bit irreverent in my ideas, you might want to look away so as not to be offended. To the rest of you I hope it generates a smile. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but I assure you that we take the meaning of Christmas very seriously. I would like to wish all those who happen onto this site a very Merry Christmas and the most Magical and Happy New Year. I believe that Jesus is The Christ, that he was and is the only begotten of of our Father in Heaven, that he was born in a lowly manger in Bethlehem just over 2,000 years ago and lived a perfect life as an example for all mankind to follow and emulate, that He suffered, as an atoning sacrifice for all mankind, in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary, dying of his own free will and volition, and arose from the tomb on the third day having gained victory over physical and spiritual death for us all, if we would only recognize it and give thanks for it.

Oh yes, the 2011 Mundy Christmas Card. Without further a due.... Voila!

You can click on the card and enlarge it. If you are a Harry Potter fan you will know the characters shown here. In case you aren't able to guess, I'll give you the answers:

Obviously, I am Albus Dumbledor; Karen is Minerva McGonagall; Jesse is Serius Black; Jesse's wife, Amanda, is the house elf, Dobby; Tyler is Lord Voldemort; Heidi is Belatrix Lestrange; Ingrid is Sybil Trelawney; Ingrid's husband, Jeff, is Cedric Diggory; Ingrid's and Jeff's baby, Kalvin, is Rubius Hagrid; and Dylan is Lucius Malfoy. It was a fun project and I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't seen any of our earlier Christmas Cards, you can search earlier blogs and find examples of the ones I still have copies of.

Merry Christmas!

WHAT I DID ON MY VACATION

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

I haven’t blogged in awhile—I have been feeling poorly from Meniere’s, Neuropathy, Arthritic hip and the bottom three vertebrae in my back rubbing together (oh woe is me!), so I haven’t felt strongly enough about anything to take the time to put word to computer. Though, I have felt very strongly about laying down as much as possible. Oddly, when my back was giving me grief, it was very difficult to rest, because my lower back would feel like I was being stabbed there when I tried to move or get up (oh woe is me again!) after laying down for just a few minutes. At night I would flip from side to side to get comfortable enough to sleep, knowing that I would be in big trouble in the morning. It was taking me twice as long to get ready for work every morning because I had to find handholds to pull myself out of bed, because of the excruciating back pain, and slowly make my way to the shower. The slightest miss-step would result in a stifled cry of pain (oh woe, woe, woe is me!). I finally decided I’d hade enough and that it would not right itself after like a pinched nerve will generally do, so I emailed my doctor, and sometimes saxophonist, David Poor to see if he would like to have me come in and x-ray my back to see if there was something going on out of the ordinary. He suggested that I see a chiropractor and referred me to Dr. Theron Hall who’s office is near our home. Hall did the x-ray—thus the identification of the hip and back trouble. He started me on electro therapy, spine decompression, adjustments and stretching exercises. In a couple of weeks I was pain-free. With some occasional maintenance, I hope to be able to manage it.

By the end of the chiropractic sessions I was ready for our big family adventure of the summer. My whole family, minus my son-in-law, Jeff—he needed to stay in Aurora, CO to work and watch over his and my daughter Ingrid’s pair of Vizsla dogs, the female about to give birth to 7 or 8 pups--were going to spend the better part of the week together to celebrate a couple of big events (besides the dog birthing): My oldest son’s (Jesse) wedding to our new daughter-in-law, Amanda, and my youngest son, Dylan, leaving on a two-year mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Cleveland Ohio Mission. I took the entire week off from Thursday to the following Wednesday (8/18/11 to 8/24/11) to spend a week with Dylan and the others. Jesse and Amanda planned their reception here in Utah—they live in Topeka—to coincide with Dylan’s farewell, so that we could all be together for the last time before Dylan left, because he would get gone for two years.

It was a great time. Ingrid got to town a day before Jesse and Amanda with her little son, 4 ½ month-old, Kalvin—Thursday I think. Jesse, Amanda and our daughter, Heidi—Heidi took the time off from the police force as well—had never seen Kalvin, so it was a big “everybody get to know Kalvin week” as well. Jesse and Amanda got in Friday Night and we all went to dinner at a Japanese Steak place—kind of a tradition with us.
We had a reception at our home for the newlyweds the next evening.
However, the girls, Heidi, Ingrid and Amanda, took part in a 4-mile mud run up in Ogden early in the morning.

Karen and I watched Kalvin while Jesse and Tyler ran to different points of the girl’s route to get pictures. It was pretty entertaining. Hundreds of young women dressed in odd, to bizarre, outfits ran through mud and an obstacle course and ended running though a big containment of soap suds at the finish line. Each little team had their name. Our girls were the “Guns and Garters” and they wore garters, with a little holster and plastic gun, around one of their upper legs. Almost all of the teams had names alluding to the dirty circumstances—the event was called the “KISS ME DIRTY RUN”. One of the most memorable team names, to me, was the “Filthy Whores”.

The reception was really nice. Jesse and Amanda brought almost everything for it with them from Kansas. We had planed on having it in the back yard. We borrowed some tables and chairs from friends at church and goy everything ready. Of course a very strong cloud burst washed those plans away and we had everything in our house. It worked out well enough—a little crowded, but dry. We had a good turn out of family and friends who live in Utah. It is very good to have Amanda as part of our family. She is a perfect partner for Jesse and they obviously love each other very much. I feel like I now have four sons and three daughters and they are all good kids.

On Sunday, we went to Dylan’s Farewell Sacrament meeting. He talked on Faith and Repentance and did a great job—it had me fighting to hold back tears at a couple points. My wife, Karen, also spoke on Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and our stake president, who was in attendance with his two counselors, took a few moments to commend Dylan on his talk and his preparation for his mission and add his own testimony. Dylan had some of his friends come by later and had a last—for two years—go at some videos games.

On Monday, we went on a hike—I think around 5 miles or so in total—on the backside of Mt. Timpanogos to see some waterfalls.
It was pretty rough terrain on some of the trail and plenty of ups and downs.
Tyler carried Kalvin in a papoose-type backpack the whole way, and Karen and I trailed along pretty far back—obviously guarding against Indians sneaking up on our group from behind.
We stayed near the falls long enough for me to cool my feet off in the water and then we headed back up the trail to get back in time to go pick up Karen’s sister, Connie, from work. My butt was dragging the ground when we got back to the parking area. It took me a couple days to recover. Karen had sore calves so bad she could hardly walk the rest of the week.

Tuesday Jesse and Amanda went site-seeing over to the Great Salt Lake, getting in and floating, and drove over to the Bonneville Salt Flats. That evening Karen and I went to see Heidi and her softball team win their league championship. It was a blow-out. Heidi’s team was so far ahead they called it.

On Wednesday we took our son, Dylan, to the Missionary Training Center. On the way we stopped at a sandwich shop, the Italian place and had lunch together—Karen and I used to eat at one of their various shops quite often when we were first dating and early in our marriage when we lived in Utah—and then said goodbye to Jesse, Amanda, Ingrid and little Kalvin. Then it was off to the MTC to drop Dylan off where he would spend three weeks of training before he flies off to serve in Cleveland. It was the culmination of a week of family fun with all of our kids in town.

Kalvin was probably the hit of the week. He is great little baby--easy to make smile and laugh, seldom cries, very good-natured—I think, without reservation, the most good natured baby I have ever been around—and of course, very handsome. We will miss Dylan greatly during the next couple of years, but are happy to share him with our Father-in-Heaven while he labors to share the Gospel with our spiritual brothers and sisters in that part of the world. Dylan is a great young man with strong, but humble faith in Christ and His Atonement.
It was great to have us all together again but the time was way too short.

So, I had fun on my vacation. I felt pretty good, except at the end of the mountain hike, and spent a week with the people whom I love most and I didn’t have to drive very far to do it. Thanks kids for being the great kids you are and loving each other as much as you do.

Finally something I want to blog about again.

2011-05-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of big events during this past month of April. Of course, I had my 59th birthday, but that is of no great consequence in the eternal scheme of things. The first real important event to me was the birth of our first grandchild, Kalvin Lee Harris. My daughter, Ingrid, went into labor while packing to move to their new home. Ingrid and my son-in-law, Jeff, had been trying to move to a more family-friendly house—they lived in a small apartment with a pair of big rowdy Vizsla dogs—and thought they would have plenty of time to get settled before the expected and blessed event.
However, Kalvin came five weeks early. It was a bit scary. Kalvin ended up staying in the hospital for 9 days, though he weighed in at 6 lbs. 3 oz. at birth. Karen, Dylan and I drove out the following day (Saturday) and drove back five days later (Wednesday). Karen and I ended up holding little Kalvin twice each for about five minutes—not nearly enough to suit us—during our stay there. Poor Dylan was not given the opportunity to even hold him—his first nephew. He had to be satisfied to just see him through a window with an IV in the baby’s head and breathing tube going into his nose. Kalvin was wearing what looked like a wrestlers cap on his head to hold everything in place.
Of course the baby is at home now and the parents are able to enjoy almost constant contact with him. We of course know how they must have felt. Ingrid was also born a few weeks early and had to spend a week in the hospital, with us making visits back and forth. Of course, we had three other children at home to care for also, so we may have been a little bit more stressed, but it is hard to say when it is your first child it may be more stressful. I can’t help but have some regret that we live over 500 miles from the little guy and won’t be able to see him as often as we would like and be able to share in the daily, if not weekly, changes he and any siblings will go through as they mature.

The other big event was our youngest son, Dylan’s ordination to an Elder. I was able to perform the ordinance with Tyler, my second oldest son, at my side participating in the ordination circle. It was a very spiritual and joyful experience for me personally. I felt guided by the Spirit as I pronounced a blessing at the end of the conferring of the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordination to the office of Elder. Karen related to the group in attendance how before Dylan was born, though Karen did not want to have another pregnancy—she had had more miscarriages than full term births at that point—she felt prompted by the Holy Ghost that she was to have one more child and that it would be a boy.
We have always believed that Dylan was here for a special purpose and I felt that strongly during the ordination and following blessing. Bishop Garrison also added a testimony of how special he thought Dylan was and of his leadership qualities, as well as his athletic prowess, by relating a story of Dylan’s participation in a young men’s activity which he personally witnessed. The circumstance was at the Army’s local Camp Williams obstacle course, where the young men as a team had the challenge of crossing a body of water after climbing upward through a lengthy tube just wide enough for one person to climb through which ended at a small platform 15 feet above a water obstacle. As I understand it, the water obstacle was about 25 feet across and some 10 feet deep. There were two round concrete posts of about two feet wide coming out of the water at about 10 feet apart with flat landings at the top. The top of the first column was a little lower than the platform at the top of the tube and the second column was again a little lower than the preceding column leaving a bout 5 feet left to cross to the opposite bank which was a little lower again. The problem was to get everyone (30 some people) across from one bank to the other with some aluminum walking platforms that could reach across the ten-foot spans and then get all of their gear and walkways with them. Apparently, Dylan’s solution to the problem included his being the last one across from the bank to the platform, but it necessitated him to leap across after the walkway was removed and then to push or pull the walkway along its way after walking acrossthe second span on the walkway. Without any more discussion and to everyone’s surprise, when the time came, he made the leap, landed solidly on the top of the first column and then helped push the walkway to the other side. The Young Men’s President, Brother Reese Roberts, who is a Major in the Army said he had never in his time at the post ever seen anyone do or even consider doing what Dylan had done to resolve the problem. That is our Dylan: Impulsive and totally self-assured in athletic abilities. He has injured himself many times in his short lifetime doing athletic stunts to prove his daring and self-confidence. I’m not sure if he knows that he has physical limitations. He is also dogged in his determination to accomplish a goal if it is something that peaks his interest. Within the last year he has taken to teach himself the piano and guitar. In a very short time he has developed a fluidity on the piano that astounds me and is way beyond where I was on the guitar is such a short time—all without learning to read a bit of music to any considerable degree. And last but not least I believe he has a strong testimony of the Gospel. Though somewhat reserved about expressing publicly his deep convictions, I’ve seen the emotion well up in him as he received his patriarchal blessing and his ordination to an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. He decided this past year to serve a mission for our church and has “put in his papers in” and had the interviews required for a mission call. We are now awaiting notice in the mail to know where the Lord wants him to serve. When asked where he would like to go by the high councilman of our stake at the ordination last week, Dylan responded that he really didn’t care. I’m sure that he will make an impression and an impact wherever he goes. He always has.

Randy Mundy & the Mundy Mourning Blues Band

2011-02-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

Wahoo! My band is out and about the next couple of weekends. We are playing a dinner and show--a Valentine's Day package--at Peery's Egyptian Theater in Ogden Utah, Saturday the 12th--dinner at 6pm, show at 7:30pm. My usual players will be there except for Bob Bailey. Our good friend and great blues and jazz piano player, Stan Seale, will be sitting in for Bob. Believe me, we will be just as good with Stan in the lineup. The following weekend, Saturday the 19th we will be at the Murray Theater in Murray Utah--south of down town Salt lake City proper at State Street and Vine. That show will also start at 7:30pm. Stan will again fill in for Bob and guitarist and bassist, Ralph Edson, who filled in for Bob Bohnam, our regular lead guitarist, at the Midway Show last year--you can catch some of that show on youtube--search Randy Mundy and it should come right up--will be filling in for our regular bassist, Eric Manning. Again, with Ralph on bass the band will not suffer. We usually do a couple of songs where Bassist and background vocalist, Dave Wayt covers the Bass and Eric Manning goes to the baritone sax to join Berin Stephens and Jim Brearton in the horn section. That will be the case at the show in Ogden on the 12th. Dave will also do his bit on the bass for those tunes on the 19th, but we will have the treat of Ralph joining Bob Bonham on lead guitars. It will be fun to hear them play together. So if you are in the Salt Lake area during the next couple of weekends, you should definitely catch one if not both of our shows.

See You There!,
Randy

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hobbitdays!

2010-12-27T07:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time again. we try to do a Christmas card every years that has a special theme. This year it is J. R. R. Tolkien theme; Happy Hobbitdays! My son, Tyler has done his usually great job at putting our families faces on Lord of the Rings Characters with a fair amount of humour. I especially liked the effort of Jesse and Amanda as hobbits trying to pass themselves off as Gandalf the White Wizard. I am, of course, old Bilbo, admiring his ring and dylan is a bruding Frodo. Ty is either Pippin or Merry and Jeff is either Pippin, Merry or Sam. Karen, Heidi and Ingrid are lovely hobbit ladies at a Bilbo's birthday celebration obviuously having a good time. You can also read our Christmas letter to catch up on the family.

Meniere's is My Nemisis

2010-12-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

I have not blogged for some time and the predominant reason is I am suffering from frequent bouts with Meniere's Disease. I am seeing a specialist on Monday next week ans will see what my options are. Since I have not been molested much by the condition for 24 or so years until moving to Utah and taking my current job, I have not seriously considered surgery. But since I have had little relief over the better part of two months, I see surgery as a promising light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Wish me luck and pray for me.

Music, Art, Hope and Change

2010-10-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have been working pretty hard as of late on my recording and sculpting. I continue to add more songs to my list of tunes for proposed CDs. I think my next blues CD has now stretched into two. Just as was the case with my “Blue Mundy” CD, I have accumulated more good material—in my opinion—than can fit on a single CD. So, I will probably pick a couple of my older blusier tunes from the Randy Mundy Band and Mundy Mundy days to touch up and include on what will likely be two distinct CDs. I would like to have at least one ready for Christmas. And, I still have the latest Mundy Mundy project with Karen and the Karen Mundy solo CD—actually a compilation of all of our songs that feature her as lead vocalist. The members of my band keep telling me I need to slow down the song writing so we can get caught up, but I can’t help it if the spirit of inspiration will not let me alone. A writer worries that the eventual writer’s block will come and he will not be able to force out a quality piece, so I feel I must strike while the iron is at least warm.

On the sculpting side, I am currently trying to get the mold done for my Joseph Smith bust. The latex part is done and I started the fiberglass outer shell last night. If I get in a little bit of work on it every day or two, I could possibly have the mold ready to cast something in roughly a week. Then I’ll post pictures of the pieces I have finished so far.

I might say here that I am beginning to have “hope” and feel that a pleasant “change” is on the political horizon. Polling seems to indicate a Republican landslide for the off-years election coming in three weeks or so. I pray that it will be the case. Thomas Jefferson once opined that—I am paraphrasing here—we, as Americans would surely make mistakes, but that we would surely recognize it when it happens and take corrective actions. I am beginning to believe that the American electorate has realized that they made a huge mistake two years ago in putting Obama and the Democrats in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. I just “hope” it is not too late.

Can You Go Back? Yes and No.

2010-09-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

I took some vacation time this past week. I was able to do some work on my music and sculpting and then Karen, Dylan and I flew to Kansas to participate in the Mundy reunion. We had a reasonably good time. I was able to spend time with the usuals and also with the unusuals—perhaps it would be better to say the family members I do not usually or normally get to spend time with. I was able to see my brothers, Tom and Dan, and their kids and a lot of their grandkids. And I was able to see my younger sister, Janna and three of her kids—her married kids and grandkids were unable to make it this time around. My oldest sister’s—Anna, who passed away about 29 years ago—kids were represented by her two oldest kids. My next oldest sister to reach adulthood, Sharon, and her family were unable to attend. I got to play some golf with my oldest son, Jesse and his fiancée, Amanda, and my daughter, Ingrid’s husband, Jeff. We swam and barbecued, hung out, talked about old times, and went to church. I came home physically tired but spiritually refreshed.

Family is very important to an individual’s growth and development and continues to be a source of strength as you continue through life. By the same token, the individual is important to the well-being of the family. It is good to touch your base once in a while to reflect on the connections we have and appreciate who we are and who the most important people in our lives really are. Families should be for ever.

On the other hand, I also dropped in on my 40-year high school reunion which happened to be going on one of the nights I was there in Topeka and I was a bit surprised that I only recognized three guys, who happened to be brothers—twins and a younger brother, by one year—and whom I had seen a few years earlier while I was living in Kansas again for a stretch. It was nice to see them of course—we had been good friends—but, it was not a big thrill for me to be there. Just about everyone there, besides Karen, Dylan and myself, were swigging on their alcoholic beverages and chatting amicably and watching the newcomers who entered to see if it might be someone they could recognize. I faked recognizing one gal after my friend, Dave Boyles, told me who she was. It was kind of mean to put her on the spot, because she clearly had no idea who I was, but I am not above that kind of stuff if I can get a little self-satisfied chuckle out of it. I owned up to the deception though, and when I told her who I was, I was not convinced that she remembered me. Most of my very best friends, with the exception of Danny Wood (my best friend), are people I have known outside of my high school setting. They are people with whom I have shared mutual interests in music, art, literature, politics and faith. I guess I have moved on and there were no serious ties that bind in regards to school to make me very nostalgic.

Ignorance Is Blistering! (edited version)*

2010-08-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

* (note: my earlier version of this blog posted a few days ago had some inadvertent spellcheck errors-it had Obama spelled "Osmam". Apparently a computer has a hard time telling the too apart since they both apparently are doing their best to destroy the America we know and love.)Well, it has been awhile since I blogged. What can I say? I’ve been occupied. I’ve been working and paying taxes, trying to develop my music and sculpting projects, and scratching my head—most of my hair on top continues falling out because of it, I think—about why the country is in the dire straights it finds itself in. But, it’s probably time to spout off a bit, to preserve what bit of sanity I have left. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also dangerous and the reason, I believe, for I current state of affairs.

I read quite a bit. I read books about politics, religion, biographies, etc. and I try to squeeze in a fun read when ever I can from my favorite novelists (Jim Butcher, Terry Ratchet, and Vince Flynn, amongst others). At the moment, I am reading Michelle Malkian’s expose on the Obama’s: Culture of Corruption. It is a great book, by the way, but it has me hopping mad because it reminded me that most of the public is unaware of the stuff in this book. If they had been, the Obamas would not likely be living in the White House at the moment. Of course that would mean that McCain would be living there now and would not be a completely happy thought for me either, but that is another issue for another time, perhaps. Of course I already knew that Bark and Michelle Obama were corrupt. During the elections of 2008, I had done my homework. I read a lot about them and their connections with shady characters and radical leftist, and I wondered at the fact that the “mainstream news media” was ignoring such newsworthy stuff. If you check my earlier bogs at the time, you’ll see that I was all over Obama’s case for his friendships with a multitude of outrageous and unsavory people, so the information was clearly out there for interested people to see. However, the news media largely ignored the treasure troves of negative information on the Obama’s.

Of course I knew, or at least I thought, that it could be chalked up to simple media bias—an unconscious prejudice against conservatives by the “elite” majority of news media types. However, the recent uncovering of the “Journalist” memos shows that there was conspiracy at foot. Some of the evil—and I do mean EVIL—journalists and journalism professors were not only willing to turn blind eyes to news stories that might be damaging to Obama’o election chances, but they were also encouraging the use of slander—calling critics racists—to stifle questions from more conservative media. This clearly shows that deception is part and parcel to what the radical left—this would include a fair amount of the mainstream news media at this point—is willing to do to achieve their agenda.

Now, I have some several liberal friends. And, I believe them to be good honest people who desire the best for their fellows, and, who would not knowingly be a part of destructiveness. But, in all honesty, they tend to be prejudice in their liberality. For example, they will refuse to believe that conservatives are caring and non-prejudice. An extremely liberal friend of mine asked me before the election, in a slightly superior tone, if I were ready to have a black man as president. Of course, the implication was that, as a conservative (and obviously a bit racist), I would be uncomfortable with a “black man” as my president. My response was that I would be more than happy if I had the choice of a “black man” like Thomas Sowell—one of the most brilliant minds in America today—but that my aversion to Obama was because of his obvious radical leftist background and his abundant connections with unsavory characters.
Liberals also tend to be extremely ignorant when it comes to history, economic theory and who their political leaders really are. This is clearly not all their fault due to the agendas of left-leaning college professors and the negligence and conspiratorial efforts of the mainstream media. But, it dose not free them from the obvious responsibility they have as voters to become informed. I think enough red flags have been waved by non-mainstream media to get their attention. The negligence of the Obama administration’s justice department to be evenhanded with the New Black Panther voter intimidation case and the SEIU beating of a black Tea Party member case screams for attention by morally superior liberals. And what about the ACORN travesty? This leftist organization which gets 40% of its income from the federal government and is tied at the hip to the Obamas is constantly involved in voter fraud cases and was recently shown to have endorsed the scamming of the government to help fund teenage prostitution rings. Then there is the recent uncovering of memos in respect to doing end runs around congress—a favorite pastime of the Obama administration—to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. No matter how you feel about the amnesty issue, you should be able to see that such machinations would be wrong.

It is time for my liberal friends to educate themselves, to read a few books by conservatives, like Michelle Malkin, who are doing their homework and listen to some conservative radio talk, like Glenn Beck, who has doing amazing research. They need not be afraid of Fox News. You can study other sources of information as well. Study and Compare. As they say, “the truth will make you free”. If enough people know the truth, and act upon it, it might keep us free as a nation.

The Fool on the Hill

2010-06-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Paul McCartney has disappointed me. “Sir” Paul was at the white House this past week to entertain and receive the Gershwin award from President Obama. Paul tastefully sang his Beatles hit, Michelle, to the first lady, but then un-tastefully took the opportunity to throw a cheap shot at President George W. Bush, suggesting that the ex-president did not know what a library was. What possible reason could Paul McCartney have had to say such a stupid, inappropriate and awkward thing about Mr. Bush? As far as I know, Bush has never insulted Paul McCartney. Frankly, I’m pretty tired of the “Bush is a Dummy” nonsense from critics on the left. Do we know how many books Paul McCartney has read? Did he get an MBA from Harvard? Has he ever been entrusted to fly a fighter jet by the US government? Fighter pilots are not normally nitwits, but it seems to me that most of the people in the entertainment industry are. Don’t get me wrong. I think that Bush was less than brilliant in respect to spending and schemes to get a long with liberal democrats on a number of issues, but there is nothing he has done or said that has demonstrated less intelligence than Al Gore, John Kerry or Barack Obama.

I suspect that Paul McCartney was only trying to ingratiate himself to Obama and other the other entertainers at the awards affair, but his clumsy attempt to be cute—he obviously had been thinking long and hard, maybe days and weeks, on how he might work the library comment in there—did not cut Bush as much as it hurt his own image. You expect such ignorant behavior from the likes of Kanye West and Bill Mahr, but not so much—at lest I would not have—from Paul McCartney. Obviously, I attributed more class to him then he deserved. I guess my musical hero, Paul McCartney, is just one more self-important entertainment knucklehead.

Seriously though, why do these people think they know anything or have special insight into politics? And why do they always have to deride the intelligence of those they disagree with? Granted, I just referred to nitwits and knuckleheads, but let me clearly state that it is their ungracious and hateful language that supports my opinions. As far as I know, most of these folks are high school graduates at best. I have suspected for a long time that people in the art and entertainment industries are afflicted with several self-image problems which compel them to act as they do. I think that many are driven to their field of employment because they want people to love them and they want to feel accepted. Occasionally, you see people turn away from the spotlight because they determine that there are other things more important than self-aggrandizement and being in the public eye, but more often it seems that entertainment folks feel a need to be accepted by their peers and keep crawling to the top. Since the movers and shakers in the industry are mainly radically left in their politics, it stands to reason that the up-and-comers are going to want to join in the fun with the “me too” mentality. Even if they are not all that secure in their own political beliefs, they will go along to get along—this is clearly the same case with the news media and the education systems. They might actually believe the tripe, but it is clearly to their benefit, career wise, to believe it. Along with that, you have a group of people who have seemingly fallen into financial success with obvious feelings of inadequacy, who deep down do not believe they deserve it. The natural response to such feelings, as I see it, is to try to be especially liberal in your social and political beliefs. They often live immoral lives, from a traditional perspective, but they crave morality on some acceptable level. They think, I must be a good and deserving person because I am concerned about “AIDS”, or ”The Planet” or “The Oceans” or “I’m a Liberal!” Logic never enters into it, so ad hominem attacks from the left, like McCartney’s, are the norm.

So, I am disappointed in Paul McCartney. I have always liked his music. The Beatles were my heroes when I was a youngster. Clearly, John Lennon was the better lyricist of the two songwriting partners and probably the greater intellect in my opinion, but I always thought that McCartney was probably a good and decent person as well as a talented musician. I still feel the same way about his musical talents, but I guess I have to rethink the “good and decent” part. He behaved like an ass and I calls them as I sees them. In fact Paul acted the Fool on the (Capital) Hill.

Beck's Founding Fathers Fridays

2010-05-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

Lately, Glenn Beck has been doing specials on his television show each Friday concerning America's "Founding Fathers" and the history about them that is not taught to our children any more. I was actually riding on that bandwagon quite awhile ago. I planned to do a book of short historical vignettes about Leadership and the true leaders, in my opinion, who showed it. It was a couple years ago that I started posting them on this site to let people check them out. One of the early ones was about George Whitefield. He seemed to me to be an historic figure of great import in America, but of little renown in today's history books, and deserving of a place in my little book and blogs. A couple weeks ago, to my great pleasure, Beck focused one of his Friday specials on George Whitefield. It was sad to see how many people in the studio audience had never heard anything about him, but it was satisfying to see that Glenn and his guest historians felt much the same as I do about Whitefield and his contribution to the founding of our nation. So, since he was a topic on one of my favorite programs I decided to post my Blog on George Whitefield a second time.

TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2008
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
There are some today that reject the notion that religion is, or should be, an important element of the American experience. They may even deny the importance of religion in the founding of our nation. Of course the fact is that religion was paramount, not only as a motivator to colonize America, as in seeking religious freedom, but as an empowering agent, convincing our ancestor's that they were compelled to create this nation by Divine inspiration. Thus I offer my third installment of Profiles of leadership in America:

George Whitefield
December 16, 1714 - September 30, 1770

The American Revolutionary War was fueled by various differences of opinion between England and its American Colonies. For example, taxation without representation is accepted as a major contributor to the harsh feelings held by England’s American colonists. However, religion may be as big a contributor to the war as any thing else, and traveling preacher George Whitefield may have unwittingly helped to prepare the way.

Since the time of Henry VIII when the Church of England had broken from the Roman Catholic Church, many other variations of Protestant Christianity splintered away from it (The Church of England). From the Anglican Church came the Puritans (Congregationalists and Separatists), Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, and Methodists. Each group dissented from an earlier dissenting group until there remained less and less common philosophical ground amongst the various Protestant Faiths and even less good will from one group to another. By the early 18th Century, North America had become a place where religious misfits such as Roger Williams and William Penn and their various followers could worship as they wished without persecution. America was becoming a hotbed of religious dissent.

George Whitefield, born December 16, 1714, in Gloucester, England, became a preacher in the Church of England and leader in the Methodist movement. Though he was not particularly physically attractive—he was severely cross-eyed, judging by portraits of him—Whitefield was a gifted and passionate orator with a penchant for theatrics, often reenacting scenes from the bible during his sermons. Because of a poor economic background, his education at Oxford was tuition free in return for working as a servant for other students. After his ordination he preached throughout England, establishing several churches in his name. Whitefield was a follower of the Wesleys’ Methodist teachings but later condemned John Wesley’s doctrine of “free grace” becoming the acknowledged leader of “Calvinist Methodism.”

In 1732 George Whitefield came to Georgia acting as the catalyst of the “Great Awakening” in the American Colonies. In the age when traveling across the Atlantic was anything but easy and comfortable, Whitefield was indefatigable, crossing over the Atlantic seven times. He traveled up and down the colonies preaching his evangelical message, often in the out of doors, to thousands and thousands of rural Americans—an obvious precursor to modern stadium preachers and evangelists—who thirsted for the religious guidance that the Anglican Church was unable, if not unwilling, to provide. Whitefield’s message and his style of delivering it impressed many thoughtful Americans, including young Benjamin Franklin who, though he disagreed with Whitefield on some religious tenets, became a close friend, helping him with publishing. His colorful and powerful oratory and his willingness to preach repentance to the leaders of the Anglican Church made him both the most popular (to the dissenting masses) and most unpopular (to the Anglican leaders) religious teacher of his time. Whitefield also organized numerous schools and established the Bethesda orphanage, but he is equally noted for contributing to inter colonial unity. His attacks against the State’s official church and his travel throughout the colonies helped create an alliance of dissenters from New England to Georgia.

A few decades later the majority of Americans would not only largely reject the religious dictates of the Church of England, but would also reject the economic and political dictates of the government of England as well. And with George Whitefield as a possible example of righteous indignation, patriots like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin would, with evangelical zeal, call for independence. Just as George Whitefield was able to do with the religious-minded, Franklin and his friends were able to unite the diverse and seemingly at-odds American colonies to a common purpose. Though they may not have intended to start a revolution, George Whitefield and religious leaders like him may have started the colonies in that fateful direction.

Randy Mundy: Shows

2010-04-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Randy Mundy: Shows: "Upcoming Shows
Randy Mundy & The Mundy Mourning Blues Band Benefit Concert
Friday, May 14, 7:30 p.m.
Bring your Family and Friends and enjoy one of the best bands in Utah.
Lehi East Stake Center
900 N 1200 East
Admission: Cans of food to be shared with families in our area.
Bring a snack to share with friends at the concert.
Event sponsored by the 11th Ward high priest group."

Back in the Website Saddle Again

2010-04-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

I finally have my music and art website up and running. A few years back, we had a site--mundymundy.com--but, for various reasons, it went by the wayside. This site, randymund.com, is devoted to my music and art works. If you are a fan of my music, whether from solo years, the years performing with my wife, Karen, as "Mundy Mundy", or with my current band, "Randy Mundy & the Mundy Mourning Blues Band", you will be able to listen to tracks from my CDs and see where we may be playing next. I am hoping that you will also eventually be able to see pictures and, perhaps, video from our live shows. If you are a fan of my sculpting, you will be able to see what projects I am working on and view pictures of my work. We also hope to offer merchandise for purchase on line: CDs, tee-shirts, posters, castings of my sculptures, etc. So, drop by the site and see what we have. That's randymundy.com.

Let's Roll!

2010-03-31T14:13:00.001-07:00

Well, the optimism I felt for our future after the special election to fill Teddy Kennedy’s Senatorial seat took a blow after the Obamanists pulled the irregular stunts in getting their “health care” “legislation” “passed” recently. I have to admit that I failed to foresee such brazen disregard for public opinion, even by the radical left. It surely proves what I have expected for a long time: The democrat party that my father embraced is dead. The left has successfully co-opted the democrat party, along with the vast majority of the news and entertainment media. Of course it has been obvious during all of my 58 years on the earth that those institutions were left-leaning, and it has become more apparent during the last three decades that they have been making significant strides, but the progressives’ advances, exposed by the last couple of elections, have truly blown my mind.

The 2008 elections were a critical point. The whiners and crybabies on the left had only been a nuisance up until then. They slowed the growth of conservative philosophy in the general public and retarded a return to the application of the principles adhered to by our founding fathers, both by weakening our school systems via the teachers unions and screwing with our legal system via the ACLU and other anti-religious groups. Now, with the huge majority the progressives hold in both legislative houses and a bare knuckles socialist presidential administration, we are in real trouble. As a famous preacher has said, Americas’ chickens have come home to roost.” I think our country, if not the U.S, Constitution, is truthfully hanging by a thread. We can only pray that Obama will not be able to drag the Supreme Court another vote to the left before we can elect a conservative administration again.

Clearly, the American public has been fiddling while Rome has been burning. The Tea Party movement shows that a bunch of us have come to a great awakening, but there are many more who need to have a “come to Jesus” moment in their lives. There is a dire need for some positive hope and change. I am sure that there are members of the democrat party who are beginning to realize that their party is no longer one that has America’s interest at heart. America needs patriotic and conscientious democrats to abandon their sinking ship. I am equally sure that, by this time, there are a great number of independent voters who recognize that their vote for a "change" in the status quo and some ethereal "hope" was a big mistake. I certainly hope this is the case. And, I hope that republicans who have tried to hedge their bets in the recent past, by trying please the media, by abandoning conservative principles, by trying to get along, and by trying to be democrat-lite, will recognize their folly and repent. If not, we are in Big, BIG, Trouble. The Obamanists are leading us down a road to fiscal and social bankruptcy. I predict that, if we are unable to brake our fall quickly, we will necessarily become the pathetic nanny state the progressives have been dreaming of for over a century and we will have a socialist government designed to perpetuate dependency and a one-party system for a very long time to come.

After the stock market crash in 1929, we flirted with progressive philosophy on a large scale. The result of FDR’s machinations was a run-of-the-mill recession turned into a 14-year "Great Depression". America pushed back after the war and retarded the progressive social onslaught. We had decades of economic growth and pride in a more socially conservative philosophy and world perspective, becoming the world leader and foremost example of capitalist might, but the progressives did not go to sleep. They regrouped and continued to chip away at America's social fabric. Progressive policies decorated with well-meaning verbiage, like “The Great Society”, The War on Poverty” and “Social Justice” have snaked back into our society and weakened our resolve to be self-sufficient and morally and spiritually strong. Today, we are on a similar path to the one we trod in the 1930s. The progressives are going full speed ahead and damning the torpedoes. We have only a small window of opportunity to get back on the path that our founding fathers started us on two and a half centuries ago.

As I said at the beginning of this blog, with recent events in D.C., my optimism has taken a hit, but I am not without hope. More and more of our brothers and sisters of conservative bent are standing up and making their voices heard, and proselytes to our beliefs are joining our ranks daily. We need to keep up the momentum. The challenge is before us. Let’s Roll!

To the Devil with Progressive Politics!

2010-02-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today in our priesthood meeting we discussed the “free agency” of mankind and the opportunity that free agency, or the right to choose and act upon our choices, gives us to progress and become the best that we can be. Freedom of choice is a concept that many in Christianity embrace as God’s gift to mankind. The reason for this is that Christians are required to live by faith and that faith in Christ will save us from damnation. It is not surprising then to find that many people of faith in America cherish our founding fathers’ intentions of constructing a government that would protect the individual’s personal freedom and offer opportunity to pursue happiness as they perceive it. This is why many in the politically conservative groups across the country tend to be religious conservatives in the Judeo-Christian tradition. A goodly portion of Tea Party activists, for example, appear to be religious conservatives, who want to protect their personal freedom in the face of what they see as a concerted onslaught against them from the liberal and progressive leadership in the White House and both houses of Congress.

As a Mormon, or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I believe that all mankind lived with God as his spirit children before this earth life. Even then we enjoyed free will. We are taught that there was a council in Heaven before we came to this earth, where opposing plans were presented concerning our future earthly existence. Mormons believe that the eternal principle and purpose of God’s creation was that his spirit children would come to earth to gain a physical body, and to gain experience and to grow to be like our Heavenly Father, to continue in the eternal work of creation. In this great Heavenly council Lucifer, a son of the morning, proposed a plan where he would enforce God’s will on His spirit children during their earthly sojourn, so that none would be lost and all would return, thus Lucifer would receive great honor. The other plan proposed at the great council was by our elder brother who we know as Jesus Christ. Jesus proposed that mankind be allowed their free will to choose to follow God or to follow Satan. Now Christ understood that this was essentially our Heavenly Father's will, that mankind would need be able to fail in order to truly progress. The only way to grow and become greater would be by struggling to overcome obstacles and building upon failure. He understood that true repentance, after sin, would generate the faith necessary to become Christ-like or God-like, which was our Heavenly Father’s ultimate goal for us. Christ would be the Savior of mankind but the glory would be the Father's. Justice and mercy would be work together.

We believe that John the Revelator referred to this pre-earthly council when, in Revelations he describes a “war in Heaven” and the “Dragon” gathering a third of the stars of Heaven after him. In essence, a third of God’s spirit children exercised their God-given free agency and chose to follow Lucifer. According to our church doctrine this group was cast out of heaven for rebellion against God’s will, and that they are on earth with us to tempt mankind, to provide a necessary opposition for us to work against. We believe that there is a need for opposition in all things, just as it is an eternal natural law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, the force of gravity is, ironically, needed for us to work against to propel us upward and forward. If there is not a possibility of failure, there is no real possibility of success and growth.

I had often wondered when I was younger why anyone, with the great knowledge that Lucifer and his followers had of the power of God and His intentions for the welfare of His creations, would choose to oppose Him and insure their ultimate damnation or stop their own progression. Satan had to know that he would ultimately be defeated. He had to know that it was not in his self interest to get into a contest of wills with his creator. As I meditated on this over the years, I later came to realize that true evil is not being able to resist temptation. Where basic logic would suggest ultimate failure, a truly wicked individual would fall to the temptation of feathering his own nest against all odds. Our prisons are full of persons who try to play against the odds, to get what they want, to live off the fruits of others. The temptation to steal and destroy to feed their physical desires is more than they seem to be able withstand. That being the case, it would stand to reason that the most evil one, Lucifer, or Satan, would have the least amount of self control of anyone. In this world we live in, someone who has a conscience and suffers shame will generally confess and try to make amends for bad behavior when they are caught or their sins are exposed, while truly evil persons will either never break character and confess, even when there is no doubt, or they will admit their actions with pride.

To a great degree, this is what we might call human nature, the pursuit of self interest at the expense of others. We of my faith believe that we chose to come here to earth, with the express purpose of taking on flesh and overcoming it, or overcoming “human nature”, to learn by faith to be unselfish and to grow to be God-like, to ultimately prove ourselves worthy, through repentance and the atonement of Christ, to share an exalted existence with our Father in Heaven. But this would not have been possible unless we chose to do it. If we had been coerced to do good we would never truly have learned or gained anything. We would not have sinned but we would not have grown.

Since this concept of freedom of choice is so fundamental to Judeo-Christian philosophy, it should be easy to understand why communistic, socialistic and progressive political ideas hold little attraction for politically conservative Christians and Jews. Progressives will surely argue that governmental social safety nets are needed to help those who are unable to help themselves, that it is our “Christian duty” to even the playing field, for the rich to share the resources with the poor. This is actually pretty ironic, since most progressives would never tolerate religious expression in government activities. I think most of us (Christian Conservatives) would agree that we have a responsibility to care for the poor and needy, perhaps even more if we are affluent. In fact, the truth is that statistics show that conservative Christians are much more likely to donate and give to the poor and needy than non-religious Americans. We do not have to be coerced by the Government to do it and we do not want to be coerced to do it. Because of our beliefs we see government mandated health insurance as an evil. Such takes way our free agency. We are convinced that when progressive government policies, though well intentioned, are forced on the American people to protect them from failure, will weaken us and created more and more dependency when we need to develop self reliance and honest respect for one another.

Progressives need to realize who they are dealing with and what our goals, as a religious people, are. We want to do the right thing because want to do the right thing, not because we are forced to do it by a government mandate. Cradle to the grave entitlements from nanny state governments are as evil as the plan that Lucifer came up with. No matter how well-intentioned proponents of progressive policies are, the result of their further implementation will be disastrous for our nation. Indeed, such trends have already taken a substantial toll, damaging large portions of our society. The idea that nobody gets lost or loses is an evil lie. An unfettered progressive government will continue to reduce us to unproductive, uninspired, dependents, unwilling to take chances and reach our potential as individuals and as a nation. The old adage that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions is especially appropriate in this case. And, we as true conservative Americans in the mold of the founding fathers need to reject any politicians who want to embrace the current status quo and seek out the politicians who understand who we want to be and who we need to be as a nation. Do I hear a big “Amen” ?

I'm Beginning to Feel Optimistic!

2010-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I last blogged and I have a free afternoon this Stake Conference Sunday, so here goes…

I am starting to have some positive feelings about the future. I have to admit that I have been feeling pretty pessimistic since the 2008 elections. Having studied American history, it was obvious to me that we were in for some serious trouble. I have blogged in the past about the similarities between the mistakes made during the great depression and the current government policies and it seemed clear that we were doomed to repeat history. If you are not clear on what those similarities are, you can go back to some of my earlier blogs and educate yourself a bit more. In a nutshell, in the early part of the 20th century, Americans became somewhat enamored with progressive politics. It began with Teddy Roosevelt, who, in my opinion, was well meaning and did some pretty good things—you can read my blog about Teddy and his positive accomplishments in my “Leadership In America” blog series—though you could argue strongly that he went beyond what the constitution allows for the executive branch. America’s real problems started when progressive Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, was elected President. Wilson, who political commentator Glenn Beck rightly calls an” evil SOB”, most infamously, in my opinion, brought us the “progressive” income tax and the Federal Reserve (he took us off the gold standard), segregated the armed forces and championed the League of Nations—an organization our congress happily kept us from joining—which came from the debacle that was the Treaty of Versailles, which was so badly designed and instituted that it brought on the rise of progressive socialist governments in Russia, Germany and Italy and culminated in World War II.

Though Wilson himself and his strong arm tactics became unpopular, leading to three consecutive republican presidents being elected, progressive politics tended to linger on—with the exception of Coolidge. Herbert Hoover was a progressive Republican whose efforts to spend us out of the recession that began after the stock market crash of 1929 miserably failed. Teddy Roosevelt’s cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was then elected. Because of FDR and his progressive philosophy, what should have only been a short-lived economic recession became the Great Depression, lasting a decade and a half. It took another world war to get us out of our economic mess.

Word War II and the post-war years provided the United States a world-wide market and the country was put back to work. During the years after WWII, we leaned away from progressive philosophy and we had some real prosperity. Of course, we had some serious flirtations with progressives in the forms of LBJ, and Jimmy Carter, but it looked like we had learned our lesson when a real conservative voice trumpeting the virtues of the Constitution and the political philosophies of the Founding Fathers was heard again at center stage—Ronald Reagan. But after Reagan, we failed to find a true believer to continue Reagan's efforts. His successor, George Bush, was a good man, by any account, but was only moderate at best, and he tried to hard too get along. Clinton, who sold himself as a conservative Democrat, had no real belief system, deep convictions or philosophy other than self preservation and doing what ever he needed to do to get elected and re-elected. George W. Bush was, as his father was, a very good man with good intentions and an admirable tenacity to protect us from radical Islamic Terrorists, but he also tried to get along with his antagonists of the re-emerging progressives.

Like Herbert Hoover before him, George W. tried to spend us out of an economic melt down and stock market crisis. Then, we elected another FDR in the form of Barak Obama. Like FDR, Obama has continued progressive policies, virtually aping almost every Rooseveltian move. As with FDR, we gave Obama a huge advantage of a progressive majority in both houses of Congress. The future looked pretty dim.

But then, during the first year of his administration, Obama and the democrat leadership in congress began to overplay their hands. Obama started trying to circumvent congress and grow executive power by inserting regulatory czars, paving the way, in my opinion, for eventual totalitarian power if not checked. And with congress’s help, he started government takeovers of public businesses—banks, insurance companies and manufacturing—through government bailouts—something that would have made George Washington and his brethren turn over in their graves, if not literally leave their graves and take up arms again. They also tried to ram through the federal takeover of the health insurance industry, to force all Americans to pay for heath insurance boutght from the government, and the self-destructive Cap and Trade laws—actually a huge tax increase in disguise—designed to, somehow, stop “global Warming”-a huge scam created, in my opinion, by leftists in and out of the the science community to hoodwink the world into "leveling the field" of the world's economy at the cost of American prosperity (wealth-sharing).

The cumulative effect of all this overreaching began to trouble a lot of people, it seems. Then, other things began to happen. A year ago, Fox News brought Glenn Beck over to their company from CNN Headline News, a lowly news organization with small viewership where he had begun to get a following. Beck hammered the Obama administration for it’s blatant association with radical revolutionaries, Maoists, Marxists and sundry progressive extremists, and their obvious radical agendas. Beck has since become one of the most popular televison personalities in the country. Beck has also shed light on the history of the progressive movement over the past century and shown great support for the Tea Party Movement. And there is the Tea Party movement itself. The Tea Party is representative of Americans who have begun to wake up and are longing for a return to the Constitution and the principles set forth by our founding fathers. Throughout the past year, the Tea Party and its supporters have struggled against the administration, the progressive democrat leadership in congress and the liberal/progressive news media to have their voices heard. They have been ignored and ridiculed, but they have seemingly grown in numbers and influence. They have become a force to be reckoned with. Since November, 2008, there have been several special elections held for state and federal seats, with conservatives gaining ground. The latest was the special election held to fill the US Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, a seat he held for almost 50 years. A little known conservative Republican, Scott Brown, was elected and killed the democrat super majority in the Senate, virtually sinking Obamcare for the immediate future. Added to that was the exposure of ACORN's corruption and its ties to the democrats and the leaks of thousands of memos from the leftist science community, exposing their efforts to cook the books in regards to the "global warming" scam. If the trend continues, and conservatives make the gains now expected of them next November, the sun may be rising on America again.

So, that is why I am beginning to feel optimistic.

WAHOO!!!

2009-12-30T07:45:00.000-08:00

I feel so good this morning that I feel compelled to write a blog about it. In a past blog or two I have written about my bouts with Meniere's Disease, so if you have read those blogs or know me personally to any great degree, you are aware of the bane of my life: Meniere's Disease. It is an inner ear affliction, apparently caused by stress (they think), which cause tinnitus (a ringing sensation int the ears), dizziness, nausea and lethargy. When I am suffering from the symptoms, all I want to do is lay down and try to sleep. I first experienced the disease at about age thirty and had violent episodes as often as two weeks apart. The tinnitus, nausea and dizziness would increase in intensity until I would have what I would call an eruption--when the world we seem to spin and I would become so nauseated that I would begin the vomit. I would have to keep water and a garbage bag and lots of water beside my bed--as soon as I could get to a bed--to allow me to vomit and then replace my stomach fluids so that I could have something more to throw up. Otherwise it was Dry Heaves City until I passed out from exhaustion. It is not a pretty picture and it was not nice experience.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I suffered with Meniere's for several years until I was called by my stake president (an ecclesiastical leader in my faith) to serve in a bishopric. When I explained my reservations about being as dependable as I thought i might need to be due to my affliction, he offered to give me a special blessing when he set me apart for the new calling. I then went more than twenty years without any serious Meniere's symptoms. Then I moved to Utah, and the very day of my arrival I experienced a Meniere's flair-up. I had been hearing the ringing during my drive from Kansas and feeling the lethargy--I had been very tired and stressed by the move and the decision to take a new job and being separated for several months from my family--and when I finally got to the place I was to stay, the proverbial fountain burst and the room began to move on me. I buried my head in a pillow and went to sleep as soon as I could.

Since then (almost three years), I have had occasional flair-ups, but nothing of the lengthy demobilizing variety of my early thirties. My recent experience has been a few uncomfortable days at a time, maybe lasting a week, but rarely ending in the dreaded vomit fest. However, about three weeks ago, the ringing began and gradually got stronger. I took a week of my vacation time that I still had left, the week before Christmas and I was generally miserable, having ups and downs the entire time. The Sunday before last I had to leave the Christmas program at church as soon as my reading part was done, because I felt so badly and the sound in the chapel was so distorted that it was adding to my misery. I made it through the Christmas weekend and went back to work on Monday and was feeling pretty miserable all day--the ringing in my right ear was pretty intense. Just as i was heading to bed I became suddenly more nauseated and ran to the bathroom vomited a bit. I then went straight to bed at 7pm and slept until 5am. The extra rest was helpful initially--the ringing was less and I felt a bit better. I went to work, but by 2pm the ringing intensified and the dizziness began again. I was driving, on my way to Lehi to look at a job that would be starting soon, when it became obvious that i should go directly home before I became incapacitated and started vomiting on myself while trying to drive. I laid down most of the evening and watched my Jayhawks play. By the end of the game, I felt like a big one was coming--the room was beginning to move. So, I went to bed and tried to keep my head low and still until I fell asleep.

When I awoke this morning I was like a new man. At this moment I feel wonderful--no ringing, no dizziness, no nausea. I actually feel like doing something without forcing myself. It is a very liberating and joyful feeling. I realize, of course, that it may be just a respite, and that the symptoms may recure in time, but right now it feels good to feel good. I need to appreciate the blessing of good health. And, we need to experience the bad to appreciate the good. I feel good! WAHOO!!!

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

The Mundy’s are sending you a little Christmas ‘cheer’ this year –

Wow! We’re almost through with this decade! Not much has changed this year for us - Randy is still doing safety management for 2 roofing companies. He has formed a blues band with 11 members (drums, guitar, bass guitar, trumpet, saxophone, 2 keyboards, background singers) and they have performed several times. They have recorded 2 CD’s that he has for sale. He is also offering downloads on “itunes” for all his songs over the years. He finished his sculpting class where he learned to make molds of the sculptures that he creates with oil-based clay so that he can produce multiple casts of the same sculpture out of various materials. He hopes to get sales of that going shortly. He is still having some health problems with his Meniere’s (inner ear) disease and a new one related to his kidneys, but hopefully he’ll be able to get that taken care of soon. Karen is trying to get a huge amount of temple work done for family names – more than 380 ordinances done so far- because she will hopefully begin a Master’s program with Southern Columbia University online in January to get her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. Then there will probably be little time for anything else! She is still driving her sister, Connie, to work and back 5 days a week and helping her mother. She got new glasses and also now has contacts, but found out that she has slow-growing cataracts in one eye – isn’t that supposed to wait about 20 years until that starts!!??

Jesse is still waiting on tables in Topeka at several different restaurants and he has also done some roofing for his Uncle Danny. His girlfriend is still Amanda Nelson. Tyler is still installing wireless internet 3 days a week and going to school full-time at UVU in Graphic Arts on the other 2 days. (He did our Christmas picture again this year – YEA!) Heidi is still working as a police officer at the University of Utah and as an armed security officer at the Salt Lake City Zoo. She has started back to school for her Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. She has her own apartment now and lives about halfway between our house and the University. Ingrid and Jeff are still working in Colorado and are now the proud owners of a puppy named Ginger. Dylan graduated from high school and is working part-time at Kohl’s department store for the holidays. He’s been working out a lot with weights and is as big as a bull (or so he says!).

Our hearts have been full of the blessings that we have in our lives lately – we are truly enjoying the happiness of heaven! This month we focus on the gift of the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us. We can never hope to express our full gratitude for the Atonement, but we do everything that we can to show our love and appreciation for it.

We hope all is well with you and yours, and that you have a peaceful, joyful, holiday season! Stop by when you’re in town! With much love,

Randy and Karen Mundy & family

Almost Tevye

2009-12-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

It was close. I almost went to the audition. But, I didn't.

A week ago I saw in the paper that the Hale Theater people in Salt Lake were going to be doing Fiddler on the Roof in February and were going to be holding auditions on Saturday, December 5. This was the moment I had been waiting for. For many years I had thought that I wanted to do the Tevye part in a big, quality production of Fiddler on the Roof. I had done it in small church mini productions years ago when we lived in Nashville and had been very well received by the audiences. The role was actually perfect for me and I had been very comfortable doing it. I had long thought that if the opportunity came again, I would surely try to audition. When we moved to the Salt Lake area almost three years ago, I realised that there would be plenty of opportunities to do live theater, if I wanted to. so I decided I would keep my eyes open and maybe try out for some smaller roles in other plays or musicals to see if I still had any acting chops and bide my time for an opportunity to put on the prayer shawl. I took a small part in a local community production of Sound of Music a couple of years ago to see if I had enjoyment for the stage left in me. It was Okay--I didn't embarrass myself too much. Then last year I took a big role in Smokey Joe's Cafe and thoroughly enjoyed it. The audience was very responsive to my performance. I thought "Yeh, I can do this." I would maybe go for it when the time came. Since then I have been working really hard at finishing up my two Blues CDs and getting by Blues Band, The Mundy Mourning Blues Band, ready to play out. Those things have been accomplished, so when I saw that Hale was doing Fiddler, I got excited. I wasn't sure I wanted to commit though to such a big production. I searched around and found music to take to the audition and I had some 8X10s made up, and put together a new acting bio. I even started singing If I were a Rich Man and trying to recite some of Tevye's dialog from the show to slap my Russian accent into shape. I even emailed a friend of mine who has appeared in a recent Hale production to ask about pay. I really wanted to do it, but then i went to their website to see what the dates for rehearsals and performances would be and I decided that the time commitment would be too great for me at this time. With sadness I elected to not attend the audition. Maybe it won't be my last opportunity. I hope not. It could have been great. I might have been a sensation. I would hate that the theater-goers in the Salt Lake City area would never get to see me do the Tevye stomp.

Global Warming Unraveling? YES!!!

2009-12-04T07:27:00.000-08:00

I have to take a moment to gloat and say "I told you so" to all those people out there who had fallen for the "Man-Made Global Warming" scam. As many of us, who pay attention and seek information outside of the "mainstream media", Hollywood's guardians of the Earth, and public school systems, have learned during the past week or so, thousands of emails have been revealed that show the great lengths that the politically driven "scientists", pseudo scientists (Al Gore), evil corporations out to skin the public (Enron, general Electric, Al Gore, ...), Political stooges and patsies who don't want to be left out or are easily fooled (most everyone in the Democrat Party (Al Gore)and brain-dead Republicans like Schwarzenegger, McCain, ...) and evil leftist ideologues who want to make our economy equal with those of everybody else (The Obama administration and Al Gore) have gone to, to hide the truth from the gullible general public. The truth being: There is no Global Warming, not to mention Man-Made Global Warming. Granted, they tried to change the terminology from "Global Warming" to "Global Climate Change" because a general non-scientific observer could see that it was clearly not getting hotter everywhere, that in some recent years we got more snow and more rain and fewer hurricanes etc. Changing the name of the thing was an attempt at mollifying those who wanted to believe that America's lifestyle was bad for something, somehow, but was having a hard time arguing with people who just couldn't find any evidence of the world actually getting any hotter, when it seemed to them that it was getting cooler. That was a big give away to many of us global warming skeptics. You weren't supposed to really think about it. People like me were saying, "Doesn't the weather change all of the time? How do you prove that carbon emissions make the weather change?" Some of us remember that there were scientists in the 70s who claimed that human activity was bringing on an ice age, that temperatures were getting cooler and that one way of bringing temperatures in check would be to cover the poles with soot. Brilliant!

Well, in recent years, the answer has always been: "Most of the scientific community agrees that man's activities are causing the earth to get hotter, and if you disagree or question, you are a Holocaust denier or you think that the world is flat". If you were a scientist who disbelieved, you were called a heretic and ran the risk of being hounded from your job, and not allowed to publish in peer reviews. It reminded me a bit of the Spanish Inquisition. The truth is that there was never a general consensus among "most" scientists and the "verdict" was clearly not in. The newly-revealed emails from climatologists and others from around the world with vested interest in the climate hoax continuing, show that they were desperate to keep the public ignorant of the true facts and were willing to destroy evidence that did not support their beliefs.

If anything, the Earth is now going through a cooling period. I would suspect that this has something to do with the absence of sun spot activity in recent years. I remember being taught as a child in school that the sun, since it provided almost all of our surface heat, was primarily responsible for our weather, that sun spot activity seemed to influence some of the fluctuations in our weather. I was clearly not a scientist at the time, but that made a lot of sense to me then, and it does today, though I am still not a scientist. I also remember being taught that we had a rather lengthy cold snap called the Ice Age. Was there significant human activity during the thousands of years since that caused that long warming trend? Also, I remember hearing and reading that NASA scientists reported increases in the temperatures on some of our neighboring planets during the past few years. If this is so, then I want to know who caused it. Surely man-made global warming hasn't spread to Venus and Mars. If these other planets are also getting a bit warmer, it would make sense to me that Old Sol has something to do with it there as well as here, and not our evil oil consumption. The emails reveal that there was a lot of bullying and coercion employed to keep mouths shut about the "tricks" being used to keep the public in the dark. They show that the hoaxters were desperate to keep actual measurements and facts out of the hands of anyone who might use such information against them. And, the rush was on to get the United States on board with the treaties that would tie us up and make us weaker and less competitive in the global market place.

So what happens now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag? My guess is that the hard core believers and those with huge financial investment in the cap and trade scheme will try to say that black is white and up is down. The news media in bed with the Obama administration, will drag their feet in reporting. The politicians on the left will try to say we still need to do what we can to reduce carbon emissions, because it will still be good for the environment, even if we are not making the Earth into an oven.

It will depend on reasonable Americans standing up and paying attention, educating themselves, recognizing the hoax, demanding that these economy killing schemes be put to death and the individuals who have knowingly perpetrated this great hoax be brought up on charges and punished for their crimes.

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?

BLUE MUNDY (Parts 1 and 2)

2009-11-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, my BLUE MUNDY CD project is finally done. Mitch Vice and I mastered "Part 2" last night and I should get it burnt and packaged in time for our three-night show Nov. 19,20,21 in Lehi, Utah, this weekend at the Lehi City Arts Theater. I am glad to have it done. I have been working on it for the best part of four years, starting back in Kansas, before moving here to Utah. Now I can concentrate on other things untill Christmas, like a safety audit coming up for my work, shopping for Christmas gifts, and trying to book the band in some new venues along the Wasatch Front. The band is sounding pretty good. As can be seen from the poster above, we are an eleven-member group and rehearsal logistics have been problematic at best. We very rarely have been able to rehearse all together, We were able to play last moth for the Utah Festival of Arts with the full band but the background singers had not been able to rehearse with us for about six weeks prior. Even though is was fun and we sounded pretty good. This time around we will be missing one of the girl singers all three nights and one of the girl singers on one of the nights. But we will soldier on. The show must go on, unless of course it can't.

Free Masonry

2009-10-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a few weeks now since I tackled the brick mailbox project, but I thought I would mention it when I had an opportunity. When I moved into our house two and a half years ago, I discovered a stack of bricks in the garage. The bricks looked very much like the bricks used on the house, so I thought that they were probably left over from the construction some ten years earlier. Eventually I moved the bricks outside and thought I might try to build something with them, if I had the time and could discover the energy. I think it may have been a year ago or so that it dawned on me—it actually may have been a dawning on my wife Karen and she reproduced the dawn’s light on me—that the bricks had been there because the previous owners of the house had planned to build a brick mailbox. Actually, it should have been obvious to me long ago. Probably a third of the homes in our neighborhood have brick mailboxes that match the bricks of the houses.

The idea of having a brick mailbox was an appealing one—they look cool. They are especially cool-looking when they are built by actual masons. Our neighbors down the street have a cool-looking brick mailbox built by the lady's mason father. However, masons like to be paid for their skilled work and after asking what the lady thought her dad would charge to build a brick mailbox for us, with the materials supplied by us, we determined that we would need to resort to "Free Masonry", or Do-ityourself-masonry. But, the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of having to build it.

Now, I am a relatively handy guy. I have worked in the construction industry my whole life. I even had my own roofing and home improvement business for many years. But, though I am a skilled roofer, a good carpenter, a fair drywall finisher and finish carpenter, and passable plumber, I stink on ice when it comes to masonry, for some reason. I also choose not to do electrical if I can help it—it seems like magic to me. As I say, I am pretty good with my hands, but the fine art of masonry has eluded me through the years.

I think part of my problem has been that literally all of my attempts at laying brick have come in the shape of repairs to crumbling brick walls. Early in our marriage I backed a moving van—at night, if that some how makes me look less unintelligent—into the corner of my in-laws’ home in La Mesa, California. This afforded me my first opportunity of making masonry repairs. The result was Okay, if you did not look directly at the spot too closely. My father-in-law was very magnanimous. He said it looked fine.

The next chance I had to improve my masonry skills came many years later at our home in Nashville, Tennessee. We had a short brick wall that contained a flower bed that ran along the length of our 32-foot in-ground swimming pool. The last ten feet of the wall had come apart. The property had sat empty for a couple of years or so and I had had to make major repairs to make the house itself livable. After we moved in, I tackled the yard, pool, fences, gazebo and, finally the little brick wall. I had pretty good success and satisfaction with everything but the brick wall. Again, if you did not look directly at it, it was fine. It also helped if you had vegetation hanging down over the edge a bit.

I think the next attempt was at our home in Topeka, Kansas. Again, we had a brick wall—this time, about four feet high that was falling apart. It was at the end of our house and was actually a big planter attached to the brick veneer that covered the lower half of the front of the house. The inside of the planter was made of cinder block and the outside was made of long narrow specialized brick that, of course, I could not find anywhere. Big sections were breaking loose where the bricks were broken in half. I either had to tear it out, or try to piece it back together. As I said, I could not find that type of brick anywhere, so I felt, to my great displeasure, that I had to try and piece it back together. It was a bear, as they say. Somehow, I was able to get the little and big (and very heavy) sections back in a semblance of a masonry wall. Of course, it had a slight—I am being gracious to myself here—bulge, and there were few—actually quite a few—places where the joints between bricks were in line with joints between broken bricks. The original color of the bricks were a pink, salmon, color, which we thought was pretty ugly, so we had decided to paint the upper wood siding of the house a light blue and all of the brick a dark blue. This made the house look much nicer and helped hide the flaws in the brick work. Again, if you did not look directly at the planter wall, or too closely at it, it looked fine.

So, having had little success, in my mind, with masonry, I was not eager to do it again. But, Karen would bring up the idea of the “brick mailbox” every now and then and she would find plans on the internet. I would groan. Finally, I conceded, warning Karen that I was not a mason and the outcome would likely not be pretty. The mailbox would be by itself with nothing else around it to take your eye off of it. You had to look at it directly to put mail in it or take mail out of it. I did not relish the thought of the mail deliverer snickering or feeling sorry for us six times a week. But I picked a Saturday to get started, but then changed to a day earlier, because rain was expected that day. With Karen by my side, we started laying brick the night before and got a few courses laid. The next day we got everything done (with almost no bickering or dissention in the ranks) except the cap. The cap had to be ordered and would not be available for a couple more days. There had been some debate about using the old mailbox or getting a new, bigger, one. After the mail lady, who came by while we were working on the project voiced her opinion that we should definitely get a bigger one—it would make her life more bearable—we opted for a new box.

I was actually pretty surprised at how good the thing looked. I told my son, Dylan, to come out and see his parent’s handiwork. He came out, admired it, said, “Cool!”, and then proceeded to grasp the top brick and tugged at it to see how sturdy it was. Of course, the mortar had not really set yet, so the few bricks pulled away. We were both astonished and speechless. At least I was for about a second. I said, “What were you thinking?” Dylan was mortified, or perhaps “mortarfied”, and I was thinking, “No, no, no! I don’t want to have to do masonry repairs again this soon!” But, I made the repairs and covered the project with a tarp to keep the rain off of it while it dried and hoped that it would be strong enough when we eventually put the cap on.

When the cap was ready, I went to pick it up and discovered that a 24” by 24” cap is extremely heavy. Since, the structure was close to five feet high, it was going to be awkward, at best, to lift the cap in place and get it centered, with about an inch to grasp it on the four sides. I was not able to lift it alone and felt like I needed several people lifting it together to get in place without having to move it around after the fact. A couple of days later, Dylan made up for tearing the top course of bricks off by bringing two of his friends over and helping me lift the cap out of the back of my track and laying it in place on the top of our new brick mailbox.

The result was really pretty good. Our new brick mailbox looks great, except on the back lower corner where the half-bricks are laid on top of each other (for the soldier row at that level) and do not quite come out far enough to be flush with horizontal courses above and below. But, if you do not look directly at the spot and stand back…

Just like the sprinkler system we installed earlier in the summer and the section of vinyl fence we installed the summer before, I could do it even better now, if I had to, but I hope

Elvis is Back in the Building!

2009-10-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, my music career is going again, with new live performances and new recorded product.
Randy Mundy & The Mundy Mourning Blues Band had its 1st official gig Saturday night (10/10/09). We were the last act to perform at the Utah Local Festival of Arts held at the Masonic Temple in down town Salt Lake. We had to start almost an hour and a half late because the other acts kept getting pushed further and further back in the schedule. This was the inaugural year for this event, so the crowd was sparse, and even more so by the time we got on stage. Even so, we w3ere a big hit with those in attendance and the folks in charge of the event. They told me they were pleasantly surprised by the quality of our performance and found it hard to believe that it was in essence our maiden voyage as a band. They said that they hoped that we would agree to repeat next year and that they would create the evening around us making sure that we would have the optimum slot and venue.

It was great fun. I was excited to have the whole group there for the performance. The band included: Bob Bailey and Steve Coltrin on keyboards; Bob Bonham on lead guitar; Eric Manning on Bass; Glen Meigs on drums; Berin Stephens on Saxophones; Jim Breardon on trumpet; and Dave Wayt, Cassie Wayt and Lacey Jackson on background and harmony vocals. I think everyone is fired up and eager to play again soon. Our next official dates are the last two weekends in November for the Lehi Arts Council, but I’ve talked to some other people about other possible dates.

I also finished up and released my 6th CD of my original music. This one is entitled BLUE MUNDY (Part 1) and includes 12 of the songs I have been working on for the last four or five years for a Blues album. It is, as the title suggests, the first installment of blues CDs. It has been a long time coming, but I feel like the work put into it has been worth it. “Part 2” will, I hope make its appearance within a month or so.

I also have a new website up and partially running after a half dozen years. I let my old one, mundymundy.com, die because I hadn’t been active with promoting my music and art, but I decided to revive the site quite awhile ago and have been rethinking how it should be and what it might promote. With the new direction of my music and a renewed interest in doing something with my sculptures, I have started a new site called randymundy.com to promote both of my interests. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Overwhelmed and Amazed

2009-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

I am overwhelmed by the remarkable events over the past week or so. If you have read some of my political blogs you will know that I do not have good feelings for ACORN. I am not at all surprised to see that they are ready and willing to be involved in criminal acts such as helping possible under-age prostitution businesses get off the ground. Anyone who has kept up with their history of involvement in election fraud strong arm tactics of banks and businesses knows that they are a bunch of thugs preying on the poor and stealing taxpayer money. They have been in bed with the extreme left of the Democrat party from their beginning and have helped the extreme left to gain control of the party. The amazing thing for me is the fact that the general public is beginning to see it for the first time. Conservatives have known this stuff for a long time and have been clamoring for the government and the news media to investigate the ACORN. I suppose that the reason nothing was done earlier, was because the democrats in government have enjoyed a degree of success because of ACORN's actions and the mainstream media are not eager to report on anything that might hurt the prospects of their political heroes--liberal democrats in general and President Barack Obama in particular for, whom they have worked so hard to protect. Any questions are immediately chalked up to racism on the part of the questioner. But thanks to several brave young people, who were willing to go under cover and do the work that the media refused to do, the rest of the media is being forced to acknowledge, regretfully, I am sure, that ACORN may be rotten to the core. Their reporting has been late and minimal, with as much spin as possible, but I suspect that they will continue to be dragged kicking and screaming to report on it because of FOX NEWS' coverage and conservatives in general taking the story on with gusto.

The other thing that amazes me is the audacity of the the left leaning media and idiots on the left in general who call everyone who disagrees with President Obama's policies as racists. Every where you look, simpering liberals in the media and politics--Ex-president Jimmy (the cry baby) Carter, is a good example--are calling the growing grass-roots opposition to the federal government's growth and efforts to manhandle the constitution a bunch of right-wing racists. They would have anyone who might listen to them believe that those opposed to his (Obama's)health care and cap and trade initiatives and efforts to place non-congressionally approved Czars in control of more than 30 government agencies could not possibly be opposed because they simply think the policies are wrong. Because our president is a black man, they would say, you would have to be a racist to disagree with him--the fact that the policies are stupid and wrong could never be the reason. This, of course, is ridiculous. Of course, no intelligent and informed person could fall for that, and I believe they know that. They play the race card because it is their trump card, as they see it, and they count on their belief that the majority of Americans either uninformed and unintelligent enough to by it. And, you really can not blame them for trying. It seams to have worked for them many times in the past, including the last general election. But, I find solace in the fact that we have a growing conservative base who are beginning to come alive again and a few legitimate, fare, and honest reporters and media personalities--thank you FOX News, Glenn Beck, others--who are willing to do hard work. It makes me look forward to tomorrow. In fact, I have "Hope" that things will continue to "Change."

A Day in My Life

2009-09-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Heidi, tells me that she has a hard time reading my blogs that have to do with politics or historical in nature. She says she likes to read the ones where I tell about myself. So, for her and those of similar taste, I have elected to blog about what I do most days.

Today, like most days, I drove around Utah going from jobsite to jobsite checking to see how our guys are doing with the safety procedures we have put in place. Often, I will spend as much time behind the wheel of my pickup truck as I do doing inspections and writing reports. As I do this, I entertain myself while driving by switching from music CDs or audio books to talk radio. I spend several hours each day doing this and it allows me to listen to my mixes of my recent recordings—I am a songwriter—checking to see if everything is blended properly, that I can hear everything and that the result is pleasing to the ear. I t also allows me some rehearsal time, to sing along and get my lyrics indelibly inked into my memory—we (my band and I) are supposed to play at the Utah Festival of Arts on October10th and we haven’t been able to rehears as often as I would like. I will also occasionally listen to my favorite recordings from other artists. Today I went through a CD of my stuff and then listened to the latest Eagles CD, “Long Road out of Eden”—a really good CD, though I have to look past Don Henley’s incessant liberal political drivel in the lyrics of most of his songs and focus on the lyric musical structure and performance, which are as good as ever for the band.

The books on CD that I listen to are varied in nature. I have probably gone through 50 or 60 this year. I will often listen to novels for a while and then catch up on political and historical books that I have wanted to read. Through the past year or so, I have gone through all of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series—the ones released so far (11) and completed by Jordan. I have also gone through, again, the first seven books of Burroughs’ Tarzan series and the first 5 of his Mars series. I also did a couple Vince Flynn books this year—I think I’m caught up there. And, all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series—I had read them all in paperback when I was in junior high school. There have been a number of other novels, but you get the picture.

When I get tired of the diversions of novels, I slake my thirst for knowledge by listening to histories of political books. I just finished a book by Thomas Sowell that I thoroughly enjoyed called “Black Rednecks and White Liberals”. Others have included: Glenn Beck’s “Common Sense” and “The Christmas Sweater”; Bernie Goldberg’s “Slobbering Love Affair”; Ann Coulter’s “Guilty”—I’ve read all of hers—she’s brilliant; Amity Schlaes’ “Forgotten Man”; Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism”: and Lara Hillenbrand’s “Seabiscuit”—better than the movie.

Though I have listened to a lot of books on CD, I am also trying to finish several books I have started—actually reading—this year and have by the side of my bed. One is a biography of General Charles” Chinese” Gordon of Khartoum fame, a very interesting read. Another is a biography of Winston Churchill that I barely got into when my eye caught the Gordon biography. I also started into Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics”—I enjoyed his other writings on other subjects so much that when I saw it in the library, I decided I needed to put the others aside for a bit read what he had to say about his main field. There were a couple of others on my night stand by Terry Pratchett—“Nation” and “Good Omens” that I finished quickly, both really funny. Pratchett has become my favorite writer for comedy—I have read almost all of his books. I am waiting with bated breath for his next Disc world novel, “Unseen Academicals” to be released, and I understand that another Tiffany Aching is in the works.

But, I digress… I was talking about what I do when I drive around during the day to keep my mind entertained, wasn’t I? The other pastime for me during my driving hours is talk radio. I have several shows that I try to catch bits and pieces of. I like Glenn Beck, but he is only broadcast here locally for an hour—the last hour of his three-hour show--in the morning (9 to 10). His show is later broadcast in its entirety at 4 pm, but I’m usually trying to get home by then, so I miss his show a lot of the time. I will listen to Bob Bennet sometimes in the early morning—I am usually out the door and off to work by 6: am. Laura Ingraham is also on the same station as Bennet and comes on right after him and goes to 10: am. After Ingraham, Dennis Miller—I find that I really enjoy Miller’s wit and he has some good guests on sometimes like Norm McDonald, Martin Short, John Luvitz and Dana Carvey, with whom worked on Saturday Night Live—is on for three hours. On the other station that has Beck, I can listen to Rush Limbaugh—he is still probably the most astute analyst of politics around—until 1:pm. So, until 1:pm, I jump around and listen to whoever peaks my interest the most at a given moment. After 1:pm I have the choice of Michael Medved or Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I find that I usually choose Medved, because he knows a lot of history at the drop of a hat, but I’ll sometimes check out the Doctor at a commercial break to see who she’s ripping into for being a low-life.

So you see, besides my work that I do when I’m outside of my car or in the office, I have a really full day. I wish I had more time to fill with fun and educational brain candy. Now, wasn’t that interesting?

Randy vs. The Sprinkler System

2009-08-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have lately been working hard on home improvements. We had been planning to do three important projects this summer: Install a sprinkling system, so that Karen would not have to continue devoting two hours every day to watering our lawn; building a shed, so that we can make more room in the garage—with some of Heidi’s stuff in there besides our clutter, we can barely get through to tools and the freezer; and build another section or two of fence to close in our back yard.

The plan was a good one, but it depended on money coming to me from the companies I work for apart from my usual weekly compensation. One third of my salary is paid to me in three installments throughout the year. The first comes after our first insurance captive’s spring safety audit, with the second coming after an autumn audit and the last coming at the end of the year. However, this year the first audit did not happen until half way through June and the total of the check was diminished by taxes and other withholding allotted for a week-long pay period. The result was a much smaller chunk of money than we thought we would have to work with for the summer. Nonetheless, we reevaluated our resources and chose our priorities.

We decided the sprinklers needed to be done as soon as possible, so we tackled it first. To be honest, I made several mistakes in the process of installing the system. To save money, we chose to do it ourselves. This was not in itself a mistake, but it would have been better if I had had better oversight by someone with experience. There were several brethren from our ward that assured me they would be glad to help and share their experience and knowledge, but they were not readily available for various reasons to join in when our window of opportunity arrived. We had gotten an estimate from one supplier—they required a map of out property so that they could figure the layout for us—but it was a little more than we wanted to spend. So, we went to another supplier to compare. They also needed a map, so asked Karen—she had produced the first one for the other company and had spent a good bit of time getting it very detailed—to do another map. This time around, Karen spent much less time on the map and it was not as detailed as we probably needed it to be—it did not show the front porch, and some of the dimensions were rough estimates. The price was better for the second estimate, so we chose it.

I knew I did not want to hand dig the trenches, because our dirt is extremely rocky, so I went to Home Depot and rented a trencher. I made the mistake of getting a smaller one, which broke down about ten minutes into the trenching process. I took the small trencher back and got a bigger “Ditch Witch” and started in again. The Witch was a better choice and dug well, but I did not remember the directions for getting the machine to operate with both-wheel drive. So, I spent the whole time struggling with the help of my sons, Tyler and Dylan, pushing and pulling on one side or the other to keep it on track—the two wheel drive would have pretty much done that for us.

Even with the trencher, there was plenty of hand digging trenches where the machine would not go and excavating under sidewalks for me to do. A couple of days into the project, some of the brethren from the ward eventually arrived to help out. They were very helpful in digging some of the last bits and showing me how to get under the sidewalks. They also got me started on putting the pipe together. The pipe went together pretty well, but because the map was not as accurate as it could have been, it became apparent that the count of the different sized elbows and other fittings we needed was not correct. Also there were several items that did not make it out with the delivered materials. So, I had to make several trips to get what I needed, often when the supplier had closed for the day, making have to go to Home Depot instead.

After getting all the system to the point of testing, a couple of times I would turn the system on and find a part that I had forgotten to glue. Luckily I had not started filling dirt back in yet. The project ended up taking us over two weeks. Then there was the problem of programming the timer. It has taken several attempts and several days to get it to come on when we want it to and to adjust the sprinkler heads to get the best coverage. We also had to go looking for some extra dirt to fill in some places. You would think that with all of the pipe and boxes we have placed in the ground that we would have plenty of dirt left over, but you would be wrong to think that.

At any rate, the sprinkler system is done and I am satisfied that I could do the job again and do it perfectly. But I really do not want to do it again any time soon.

The second thing on the priority list was the shed. We had enough money earmarked for the shed I wanted to do and a little left over to buy a new computer for Karen—the home PC she has been using for many years is on its last legs—so, we went out this week and purchased a shed kit and a new laptop. I have built pretty nice sheds from scratch in the past, but the location we had picked out for the shed would put it right up next to our neighbor’s fence and would preclude my having enough room to side and finish it properly. So, I decided I would buy an 8’X 10’ vinyl structure from Sam’s Wholesale that I could put together pre-finished. I plan to get on that shed project tomorrow. Wish me luck.

One of My Dreams May Be Coming True!

2009-08-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been encouraged lately by videos shot of the response of some people attending various town hall meetings set by the Obama administration to sell his “economic” and “health care reform” plans. Apparently most people aren’t buying the crazy plans. The democrat congressmen and cabinet representatives are being blasted by unbelieving electorate. I say, “Wahoo!” Maybe the majority of the American people are begging to wake up and take an interest in what their government is doing.

I am also encouraged by the outrageous actions by some of the stupid actions of some of the more arrogant and clueless democrats in office and the unflattering media coverage their stupidity is getting. House Judiciary Chairman, John Conyers (D-Mich.) speaking recently at a National Press Club luncheon, commented on his fellow House members on the right side of the aisle wanting to read the health care bill: “I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill.’ What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” Then there is Barbara Boxer, US Senator (D-Cal.) trying to speak down to Harry Alford, CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce, in a climate change hearing in a smug, racist manor in a climate change hearing, and having Alford ream her out for her efforts. And then there is Boxer insisting that a military officer refer to her as “Senator” rather than “Ma’am”—I think that is the customary polite salutation by the military towards women—because she “worked so hard to get that title”. And then again, there is Boxer claiming that people protesting Obamacare are obviously fakes because they were “too well dressed”. She knows this because when she went to Florida to wade into the 2000 Florida Presidential recount farce in behalf of Al Gore, the people calling for her to go back to California were dressed similarly. Then, she goes on to make the brilliant political observation that these people are just trying to “hurt our President and it’s to change the Congress.” Whoa, SENATOR Boxer, do you really think so? I certainly hope it is working. And the there is one of my favorite democrat mental giants, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal), who responded to a reporter asking if she thought there was agenuine grass-roots opposition to Obamacare by saying "I think they're Astroturf... You be the judge. They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare." Let us face the facts: Pelosi is NUTS! I am pretty sure that if there had actually been someone sporting "swastikas and symbols like that" they would have made to the nightly news.

There are literally too many examples of ignorance, stupidity, arrogance and out-and-out duplicitous and criminal behavior among some of the high profile democrats to catalogue in a short blog, but I encourage anyone reading this to search out comments and actions on the internet by the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, John Conyers, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, etc. and then find a good explanation for why these people keep getting elected. Granted, there are plenty of phonies on the Republican side as well, as can be attested to by the likes of Alaska’s Ted Stevens, Idaho’s Larry Craig, South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, etc. but they are now political toast and we can say “Good Riddance!” However, the former group of political stooges and malfeasants need to go.

Clearly, it appears that the democrats have been feeling pretty feisty now that they are in control and they do not realize that they have only gotten there because of two things: Firstly, because the conservative voters were fed up with the republicans trying to be democrat-lites and they sat on their hands—I am unable to find much fault with them on that count; and secondly, because the moderate voters and independents, who generally do not pay attention to politics at all until about a week before an election and depend on the left-leaning mainstream media for their news and information, do not realize who the democrats really are politically, and how genuinely stupid, inept and dishonest they can be. If democrats continue to expose themselves as the silly and corrupt leftists that most of their leadership truly are, and the news media do not cover for them, and a good conservative leader takes control of the republican party or a new conservative party, the democrats’ control of our government will be short-lived and there will be less damage done.

If the scenario I have described actually happens—the majority of Americans actually paying attention and voting as an informed and self-educated electorate—one of fondest dreams will have come true.

Buyer's Remorse?

2009-07-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

Is it not ironic that President Obama’s approval rating has been going down in recent weeks? I saw where it has now hit the 48% approval level. Buyer’s remorse is an interesting thing. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised that he would not be as bad as I thought he would be, but that hasn’t happened yet. Instead, he is just about as bad as I suspected he would be. What has surprised me though is the fact that, though try as he may, his federal health care plan looks to be stalling and the cap and trade plan is in similar straights. I guess we can thank some blue dog democrats for that. Appently, the democrats strategy of enlisting more conservative democrat candidates to run in traditional republican districts and states has not worked out as well as they hoped. It has given them the strong majorities they wanted, but the blue dogs aren’t playing along with the more drastic spending and taxing schemes cooked up by the Obama, Reid and Pelosi cabal. So that is a good thing.

But still, the rascals are in office and there can still be a lot of damage done in the next year and a half before we can take out the trash. The republicans are polling better at this point pretty much across the board, with Mitt Romney currently polling even or ahead of Obama and the democrats in Congress are polling worse than ever. I suspect that the democrat brand will continue it’s slide, if they continue on the spending and taxing track they are on. So what’s going on?

My guess is that the American voters, who were hoodwinked by the mainstream media’s used-car-salesman’s slight of hand and seduced by the prospect of proving to the world that they were not racists, and were caught up in the “Historical” moment of the “First Black President”, have recognized, as the Reverend Jeremiah Wright would say, “America’s chickens have come home to roost!” The bloom is off the rose, as they say. It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that Obama has shown himself to be every bit as liberal as his critics said he was. Those who were not really paying attention, or didn’t really think there was that much difference between the candidates and the parties—I was often of the same mind myself—are staring to realize that they really made a mistake, that jumping towards socialism is not a viable answer to our problems. At least I hope so.

It is, of course, a crying shame that we had to do this and waste four years of a presidency and possibly six years for Congress before we can get this country on the right track again. But, hopefully, we will get our stupid fantasy out of the way and come back to reality. If the Republican Party can realize that conservatism is the winning strategy and the answer to America’s economic woes, this last election will not have been a total waste. We had a similar situation during the Carter administration. We just need another Reagan and a new conservative contract with America.

Religion and Man's Search for Meaning

2009-07-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have recently seen and heard reports about the state of religious belief in America that may seem troubling for Christianity. It seems that surveys reflect a down turn during the past two decades in some aspects of some Americans’ religious belief and adherence. One survey showed a drop of about 11% of people who claim a “Christian” affiliation. But, the percentage of people claiming to believe in God or a “higher power” remains roughly the same, around 90%. Some surveys show significant drops (between 5 to 8%) in membership in some of the largest mainstream Christian denominations, including Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal Churches, etc. Of course surveys also show some growth in extreme “spiritual” practices, such as paganism and wikka, but I doubt that that is where all of the Christian believers are going. Some of the American Christian denominations, which are considered by some to be less mainstream in their doctrine and practices, like Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Pentecostals, have continued to hold their own or grow during the same timeframe. Happily, for me, the Mormon Church—I must remind you readers, or inform you if you are unaware, that the actual name of the “Mormon Church” is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”—has grown about 11% in America and Canada during the past 10 years. Reasons for this, I conclude, are that we live in a time when people are questioning their traditional faith and practices and are seeking spiritual awareness and meaning for existence that the faith of their ancestors fails to provide them. If they are like me, they want to know the “Hows”, “Wheres” and “Whys” in respect to religion, and those answers need to stand up to logic as well as provide a powerful spiritual strength and reinforcement.

Last week, to celebrate our wedding anniversary, I made a short trip with my wife to visit a couple of our church’s older temples in the state of Utah. She had never attended the St. George and Manti temples before. It was a very nice time together to reflect on my spirituality and our thirty years of marriage. A few months ago, I participated in the last dedicatory service for the Draper Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I am anticipating the dedication of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple in a couple months. While listening to the messages delivered by some of the principle leaders of the Church at the Draper Temple dedication, I was again impressed by the simple and logical concepts of God and Man that I have embraced since becoming a member of the “Mormon” faith. Mormon doctrine answered my questions about who God is and my relationship to Him. It was their doctrine and practice that appealed to me and provided a religious and spiritual home, or would likely have found myself joining the growing percentage of Americans who believe in God, but do not affiliate with an actual church.

I was a religious child growing up. When I was eight years of age, I was moved by a sermon at a Wednesday evening service and came to the front of the church when the call went out to be “saved.” It was a powerful experience for me. I received an assurety at that moment that Christ loved me and had atoned for my sins, that he was my personal Savior. As a youngster of about 10 and 11 years of age I would occasionally strike up conversations with my family’s Baptist minister and I often asked questions about God and religion—he once told my mother that he thought I had a “keen little mind”. My oldest sister and her husband were renting a basement apartment from the pastor in those days and on one occasion, when I had come by to visit; I found that I had just missed her. So, I took the opportunity to have one of my religious discussions with the Reverend. I asked him a question had been on my mind as of late: What happens to people who are born in places or times in history where they have no opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ? He responded that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior (become “Saved”) will go to Hell. I was thunder struck. I thought, “This does not compute!” How could a loving and just God penalize one of his supposed children or creations to an eternity of torment for something completely out of their control? Of course, this idea seemed ludicrous to me, and as I thought about it since, I am sure it seems crazy to most right-thinking people. No wonder people turn away from such doctrine when family pressure and traditions become less influential in society. Having said that, I must add that it is not my intention to insult anyone of such religious persuasion, and who holds to such doctrine. I know many people, even beloved extended family who adheres to such, whom I know to be good, loving people, who try every day to live according to the Gospel of Christ, as they understand it.

Probably within a few months of my conversation with the pastor, as I recall, my uncle, Leonard Nicolay, joined the “Mormon Church.” He underwent a wonderful change. He had been a generally worldly man, as I recall, but had become dynamo of missionary zeal and approached all of his family and friends about his new faith. His approach was rejected by the majority of his many siblings, but his mother and father followed him into the Church and my own mother (his sister) agreed to listen to the Mormon missionary discussions. This caused great distress for many in the family, both among my mother’s five sisters and among my two older sisters. I had no initial interest in joining a new church at that point—I actually had begun to feel, like my father and older brother, that going to church was not really necessary—but as I listened to the discussions the missionaries presented, I found that they were actually answering many of the questions that had begun to trouble me about God and Man.

The Elders, as they were called, opened the Bible and showed me where I came from, why I was here, and where I was going after this life. I learned that I was literally a spirit son of God and that, as his son, I stood to inherit all that he had if I lived according to his commandments. I learned that because I lived with him in a pre-mortal existence and was a witness and party to the planning and creations of the Heavens and Earth, I had free agency given me to participate in humanity’s mortal quest on the Earth: to gain a mortal body; to learn to live by faith; and gain the knowledge necessary to become like my Father in Heaven. This idea of free agency or free will is paramount when one tries to understand the judgments of God. Without free will we could neither sin nor do good. If we were to be judged for things we have no control over, we have no free will and the judge, God, offers no justice. God must be just to be God and make righteous judgments.

I came to realize that these concepts were familiar to me, like things that I had known all along, but did not have the references for to make them my life’s faith. I also learned that Jesus Christ was literally God the Father’s Son, as the Bible clearly teaches, not some weird personification of the Father, as is taught by much of mainstream Christianity. In essence, Jesus was not doing a ventriloquist act when it was announced from Heaven to John the Baptist at Jesus’ baptism at the Jordon River, “This is My Beloved Son.” Jesus was a literal son of the spirit—making Him our Brother—as “the only begotten Son of God” in the flesh. He was a perfect man and lived a perfect life and with the physical attributes of his mortal mother, Mary, He had the capacity to experience pain and death, and with the attributes of His immortal Father, he had power over death.
I also learned that if we live on this world at times and places where the Gospel for Christ cannot reach our ears, we are allowed the opportunity to be taught it in the spirit world where we all wait for the resurrection. That we will be resurrected with perfect immortal bodies like the Father and the Son both have at this point. These and many other doctrines and teachings, such as baptism for the dead, degrees of glory in the resurrection and eternal marriage are to be found in the scriptures for us to read and understand, however tradition and prejudice prevent most of us from understanding them.

It is therefore understandable to me why there seems to be growing disinterest in most traditional mainstream Christian sects, or what is considered by many to be organized religion. And, it is easy for me to appreciate why some other lesser known faiths, such my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are growing in membership and influence. My study of traditional Christianity today affirms my findings from my research into the ancient Church that Christ established. There is little resemblance except within the Mormon Church today. Mankind, to some extent, is thinking more and not leaning as much on traditional ideas. They want something that is intrinsically logical and makes them want to be better people. Also, a religion must, as the Prophet Joseph Smith affirmed, require sacrifice of its adherents to create the faith necessary for them to progress and obtain salvation. I believe people need and want meaning in life. They want to know why they are here. They want to know that they have choices and freedom. It is a powerful heady feeling that you can be whatever you want to be, and people, if they have not had that innate Heavenly spark removed from them by traditions and degrading life choices, are willing to sacrifice whatever it might take to obtain it.

Music, Music, and More Music.

2009-06-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

I haven’t blogged much lately. I have been focused on a number of things at work and pet projects of my own to the point that even when I had a few moments to do it, I could not get the inspiration. On the work side, I have been working to be ready for the first insurance company safety audit of the year. About a third of my income is dependent on the out come of these audits—there are usually three every year—and this one did not happen until over five months into the year. The extra focus there seems to have paid off—we had our audit this week and the auditor was very impressed and will likely give us a better than average score which will equal the money needed to do several project around the home (sprinkler system, more fence and a shed—the pool will have to wait another year again).

On the music side, I am even more preoccupied. The recordings I have been doing the past few years have taken me in different directions musically. My writing, as of late, has been rather broad in style and genre and has evolved into projects beyond the typical Mundy Mundy CDs to be released every couple years or so. Usually I write a few songs representing different styles of music and decide on a dozen or so to include on a CD, package it and start trying to sell them. Now I find myself trying to do a bunch at literally the same time.

At this point, the various CD projects (6, I think) are at different levels of completion, with none complete to my satisfaction. I have been trying to get some mixes of the several recording projects I have going that I am 100% happy with, to make masters for the forthcoming CDs. I work on them when I have a few spare minutes after work or when there is a lull in my Saturday or Sunday activities. I keep thinking that I can get the mixes better, and I usually do, but at some point I will have to accept the reality that it won't be any better than I have the facilities and resources to make it.

I plan on two CDs—I’ve written a lot of material for this—of the me (A solo act with a backup band) doing Rock and Blues, which will likely be entitled "Outstanding in His Field" and "Blue Mundy"—it could also be a double CD. Along with these, I have a new Mundy Mundy CD planned to be entitled "On New Ground", with some of the usual lead vocals by my wife and singing partner, Karen, with the usual eclectic collection of Rock-Pop-Country material, and a CD compilation of songs with Karen on lead vocals, which I will probably just call The Best of Karen Mundy, or something as equally unoriginal.

I had not released anything apart from the "Mundy Mundy" recordings since the "Randy Mundy Band" days in the mid seventies—my "Celestial Skies" album. The reason being, that I had gotten married to a very talented singer and really enjoyed trying to promote us as a group. However, recently I decided to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time: make a blues album or CD. My brother, Danny Mundy, and my best friend, Danny Wood, and others as well, have begged me to do more blues songs in my act, because they thought I had the chops to do it and had been wasting them. In truth, I love the blues and love to do it. So, since I had the inclination, and since we, as Mundy Mundy, were not trying very hard in recent history to play out much, I started writing with a blues CD in mind. Once I got started, it was hard to slow down. I hadn't been so prolific as a song writer for many years. I guess my affinity for the blues just opened the floodgates of my creativity. Before I knew it, I had more than enough good material for a single CD, in fact I really had enough to do a double CD or two separate. Most of the songs were written and recorded with a lot of instrumentality in mind—I wanted some good blues guitar and keyboard solos to make the tracks cook, so they tend to be bit lengthy—blues lovers don’t mind long instrumental soloing, as a rule—something that does not really bother me much when I write other styles of songs either. As the recording progressed in Topeka, Lloyd McDonald did some very nice guitar work and Ted Landry did some great sounding drum tracks. We also got some other really good local keyboard talent to round-out the sound. Then, with that project just started and maybe half of the CD recorded, I moved to Utah for work. The blues CD had to wait until I rounded up some new players. Upon arriving in Utah, I got with my old buddy, Dave Wayt (also now living in Utah), who had been an intricate part of our act in California and Tennessee, and who was part of our "Life on the Run" CD recorded in Nashville. He introduced me to some of the Utah musicians he had been working with in several bands and we tried several different configurations of players till we felt like we had a good mix of interest and talent.

With Dave on Bass and backing vocals, Bob Bonham on lead guitar, and Glenn Meigs on drums, I was off and going again, and writing some more blues tunes. Along the way, I discovered that my new family doctor, David Poor, was a great sax man and I got him to play on some tracks. The result was so cool that I decided we needed to try a bigger band sound. The good doctor played on several more cuts and even arranged some sax sections for some of the tunes. Then it turned out that there was a guy in our church ward, Scott Devey, who played trumpet in a big local R&B group. He graciously added his trumpet to some horn section. I wanted a good keyboard player all along, but the new bigger sound made it imperative. We needed a keyboard player, but it was hard to find a good player that fit. Eventually, Dave suggested that his old friend, Bob Bailey, a jazz pianist and arranger who used to play with the likes of Dean Martin, might be interested in helping on the recording. So, Dave and I paid Bob a visit and played him some of the stuff that we had recorded thus far. Bob was impressed enough to take part with both keyboard and string and horn arrangements to embellish what I had already done. The ultimate product has turned into a bit of a jazzy big blues band-type sound. Bob even spiffed up some of the earlier tracks I did with the guys in Kansas.

The "Outstanding In His Field" title is one I have had in mind since about 1976, with a picture of me standing in a wheat field—I know, a bit silly, but it sort of fit with my Kansas heritage. This CD will include roughly a half dozen of some new and old songs, recorded for the most part over the last two or three years with the guys in Kansas, with some additional instrumental parts added by Bob Bonham, David Poor, Scott Devey and Bob Bailey and some backing vocals by Dave Wayt, Glenn Meigs and my two new talented backup singers, Lacey Jackson and Cassie Wayt (Dave’s daughter). The remainder will be some tracks from previously released Mundy Mundy CDs that I have re-mastered with some extra musicianship by Bob Bailey and vocals by the girls added to the mix. The overall sound from one song to the next seems cohesive in style and feel, perhaps, more Rock-laced than "Blue Mundy", the proposed follow-up blues CD.

The "Blue Mundy" CD will be almost exclusively songs written since arriving in Utah and so, almost all recorded with the Utah players. The sound, again, is big, Bluesy and Jazzy, so I was thinking of calling the act "Randy Mundy & the Little Big Blues Band"—since then, we have decided on a different name for the group, but more on that later. Between the two Blues CDs you will have around 25 songs of about 100 minutes of some pretty tasty and listenable music.

The Mundy Mundy CD, "On New Ground", consists of several songs that we started recording in Kansas and finished with differing degrees of Utah additions as well—Bob Bailey features in a majority of those cuts where keyboards and string/horn work were deemed appropriate. The collections of songs on this CD, as is generally the case with Mundy Mundy CDs, range in eclectic fashion through Country, Folk, Pop Ballads and Rock. Again, there is a strong influence of a big band in some of the arrangements, thanks to Mr. Bailey.

The Karen compilation is what it is: all of the songs that I have written over the years to feature Karen to feature as the lead vocal. She is such a great vocal talent that she deserved to be spotlighted on at least one CD for her fans who don't want to sort through all of the Randy songs to hear their girl excel.

Even with these projects and so much material, we still ended up with songs recorded that are not making it to a CD this time around. Some are pretty folksy and spiritual in nature and just didn't seem to fit on the other projects, but would be great on a CD with some other songs in the same general style and message. Our attempt at a Gospel CD, "On Solid Ground", from about ten years ago, has some good moments, but it did not carry the same production quality throughout and was actually a shorter CD than most of ours. We only had 9 originals written for the project and I was in too big of a hurry to get it done, so we added a couple of LDS hymns in a semi-pop-country-vain treatment to bring the song count to at least 11. I have been thinking about revisiting that project, recording some of the songs and adding some of these spiritually-driven songs to the remake. Other recent songs are just really different. In the process of working together, Bob Bailey and I have formed a mutual admiration society. Bob played several of his instrumental compositions he has written, but thought that they might be good candidates for lyrics. Having developed a respect for me as a lyricist, he asked me if I would try my hand with his pieces. I think we were both really pleased with the outcome--4 totally different types of songs, but individually, very cool. I also recently added lyrics and melodies to a couple of Lloyd McDonald instrumentals that I really like and think would be good candidates for such a CD.

But, first things first: these 4 CDs have to be finish and offered for popular consumption. Our website will hopefully be up and running soon, where a person may go and sample the songs to see if they want to download them for a fee. I will try to get a link on the blog site or maybe figure out a way of letting you hear them here without downloading them. I'm not a web master genius, but I am a thinker.

Note: More later on my new blues band and the shows we are planning

EMAILS SOMETIMES GET ME MOTIVATED TO BLOG

2009-05-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have to admit here that much of the following was expressed in the proceeding blog, but I think it bares repeating. This blog was inspired by a couple of emails forwarded to me recently by my friend, Greg, in Kansas City. I met him while I was working in the KC area about six years ago as a safety consultant. He was a foreman for a roofing company client of mine, so I got to associate with him on just about a weekly basis, and I got to know him as a very earnest individual on the road to enlightenment. When I first met him, he had recently become more religious, and I think his faith had begun to prompt him to consider other facets of life beyond religion. So, during by safety inspections of his job sites, we would often talk for a little while on subjects apart from safety issues. He admitted that it was relatively uneducated and it was often difficult for him to read and get his mind around some things that he read. He had a lot of questions on various topics including religion and recent events and, having apparently developed some respect for my opinions would ask me my thoughts about the subjects. He was often conflicted about politics. Because of his recent turn to God, he had become more concerned about social issues and generally expressed socially conservative thoughts. However, his family background and voting pattern had been exclusively for democrats. He had grown to believe like my father, the old tired dogma that the democrats were for the working man and the republicans were for the rich man. We had number of chats on politics and I tried to help him see that the Democrat Party had evolved from the so called “working man party” to a collection of special interest groups and that the old-guard-leadership of conservative democrats had been replaced largely by liberals with proclivities towards socialism. I cannot say that I was able to make much headway initially. Old prejudices are often hard to overcome and when our conversations would head down the same tracks and he would voice his frustration with what society was becoming and what our government was doing, I often had to make the same arguments: that liberal politicians and federal judges—mainly democrats—were pushing liberal and socialist agendas that he obviously opposed and that he needed to recognize that he and others like him were voting against their conscience when they keep voting for democrats, that leadership of that party was not governing in their interest. I was never sure if my admonishments were doing him any good and I do not know how he has voted since then.

After I moved to Salt Lake we kept in contact—we have exchanged emails regularly, and, occasionally, he has called me to ask me to explain something or get my opinion on something. The emails are often forwards with religious content and occasionally with social or political content that he thinks I will appreciate. It appears from the content of the socially and politically charged emails I have gotten as of late that he is taking a more conservative stand on social, even political issues, and may be recognizing who is representing him in government. The first email he sent me, that inspired this blog, was about Speaker of the House, Pelosi, and her desire to tax “windfall retirement income.”

My response was the following:

Yes, it's not bad enough that Congress meddling in sub prime loans (mishandling Freddie Mac and Fannie May and coercing lending institutions to give bad loans, and funding ACORN to blackmail banks and falsify elections) caused the recent economic collapse and most Americans to lose 1/2 of their retirement--I lost half of my 401K--now they want to steal what is left. We now have a majority in both houses and a White House that thinks the same way Pelosi does. They are a despicable bunch. I've never been so disgusted with American political leadership. We've always had these types in government, but they were almost always in the minority. Now the nuts are running the asylum, and it's the American electorate's fault. We have to pay attention and vote these crazies out as soon as possible or even darker days are ahead of us.

I later received another email from my friend, Greg, with a rather long attachment about a Tennessee high school sporting event where a school official allegedly stood and apologized to the people in the stands for not being able to do the usual prayer and playing of the National Anthem to honor God and Country that they were accustomed to. The official went on to lament that, though he could not, by federal court dictate, express anything publicly that might be construed as religious, but that he was free to express any politically correct policy, such as promote condom use to students, no matter who might be offended. I am not sure that the origin of the email was legitimate—things like this are often fabricated and get sent around a lot—I have not checked it with Snopes. However, the reason it is believable is because it is not far from the truth in this day and age in America and will surely be the case in short order. The gist of the email got me motivated and I responded to him with some of the following, and as I wrote my thoughts down I decided add some additional thoughts and make it the subject for this blog:

Again, we have had anti religious zealots around since the birth of the United States, because our Constitution largely allows American citizens the freedom to express their beliefs as they wish, acknowledging that free agency is God's gift to man. However, though they have always been in the small minority in our nation's past, this group has grown, because of the freedom they enjoy to preach and spread their anti religion (primarily anti-Christian), and they have influenced many of the majority of religious Americans (primarily liberals or progressives) over the past 60 years or so to believe the Constitution says something that it clearly does not. Again we need to see and understand that we in the electorate have allowed this to come to pass. We have allowed the faithless to gain the highest positions in the land and they will surely lead us to destruction, if we let them continue. Obama made a very astute analogy the other day in a press conference when he compared the US economy to a big battle ship, that it took time to reverse course, intimating that the turn had to be very wide. This can be said about the state of religious faith in America as well. We have drifted way of course and it will take some serious time, and possibly dire circumstances to humble the majority enough, to turn this ship of faith around.

Again, we have had anti religious zealots around since the birth of the United States, because our Constitution largely allows American citizens the freedom to express their beliefs as they wish, acknowledging that free agency is God's gift to man. However, though they have always been in the small minority in our nation's past, this group has grown, because of the freedom they enjoy to preach and spread their anti religion (primarily anti-Christian), and they have influenced many of the majority of religious Americans (primarily liberals or progressives) over the past 60 years or so to believe the Constitution says something that it clearly does not. Again we need to see and understand that we in the electorate have allowed this to come to pass. We have allowed the faithless to gain the highest positions in the land and they will surely lead us to destruction, if we let them continue. Obama made a very astute analogy the other day in a press conference when he compared the US economy to a big battle ship, that it took time to reverse course, intimating that the turn had to be very wide. This can be said about the state of religious faith in America as well. We have drifted way of course and it will take some serious time, and possibly dire circumstances to humble the majority enough, to turn this ship of faith around.

Having brought up the economy, I might express here again that what Obama and Congress are doing and plan to do on the economy mirrors almost exactly what was done by FDR and the Democrat majority in the 30s and 40s. Hoover, a progressive Republican, much like Bush (liberal on spending), had the great stock market crash of 1929 during his presidency. His response was to raise taxes and try to spend the way out. It was ineffective. Franklin Roosevelt then came to power with a new Democrat majority in both houses and did the same as Hoover, but more so. He tried everything he could think of but what should have been a short recession was turned into the Great Depression, which lasted until almost the end of World War II. In fact, the war is what finally brought America out of it. With the war came employment for everyone--even women who were never in the workforce in such great numbers before. When the war ended, the whole world needed what America--virtually untouched by the ravages of war that the rest of the world suffered--could make and sell to them. The stock market finally regained its prior level in the early 50s. Like it was last year, the stock market in 1929 was overvalued due to unprecedented growth and prosperity during the (roaring) 20s and needed to drop to right itself, which it would do as it had done on prior occasions. Property values were inflated and many banks had made faulty loans and investments without real security. When the Crash happened, there was a panic that influenced government to try to control it--just like it did last year. Clearly, that approach did not work well and it is very likely that it will not work well again.

A free economy must ebb and flow and right itself when it gets too inflated. If you remember the 70s and the recession then, with inflation in the double digits and interest rates for home loans as high as 19%, and Jimmy Carter trying to manage the economy with governmental price controls, you can see that we have been on this precipice before. However, Reagan's approach was to cut taxes and do away with price controls and the economy righted itself, leading to continued economic growth that continued over 25 years. It should be clear to anyone who thinks about it that when you tax something it becomes more expensive to buy or consume, whether it is food, clothing, housing, energy, or entertainment and diversions. When something is more expensive, there are fewer people who can afford to buy or consume it. When farmers, manufacturers, and merchandisers are unable to sell as much of their product, they are unable to make as much profit. Loss of profit, of course, will eventually translate to a need for cutting costs, including cutting jobs and payroll and, if they are a large enough to do so, possibly moving their businesses to states or countries with less tax stress for business. If businesses have to reduce their number of employees to keep more of their profits, or even to stay in business, the numbers of unemployed Americans go up, creating more "need" for government spending, in the form of unemployment benefits and government welfare. No economy can grow to its potential if government overly taxes it or tries to unduly control it.

The area where our local, state, and federal governments can really help the economy is where it has not done a very good job: Policing Criminal Behavior in the Business Place. We have laws on the books against graft and theft, but many times the perpetrators of these crimes in business and government--and it is generally when these two entities are combined or conspire to steal from the public that they go unpunished or ignored. It has become clear that, during the last decade quasi-government lending institutions (Freddie and Fannie)and community groups (ACORN, for one), funded by Congress and being over-sighted by Congressional committees, have repeatedly falsified records and stolen profits and coerced and blackmailed lending institutions to give faulty loans to borrowers, including illegal aliens who did not have to prove their identity, who have no serious hope of repaying them. When the Bush administration's commerce department suspected that things were getting too loose and asked for tighter oversight by Congress, they were told by powerful ranking members of the banking committee (mainly democrats, like Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd) told them to fly a kite, that there was nothing wrong with those institutions. Instead of prosecuting the CEOs of these institutions who clearly cooked the books and got away with millions in bonuses before leaving their posts before the recent "economic crisis" they are allowed to skate or even become an economic advisor to President Obama like Franklin Raines, the ex-CEO of Fannie Mae. So far, not only has not one of these corrupt members of Congress or the aforementioned institutions been brought up on criminal charges, but they have been allowed to become the chairmen of their committees and to keep their ill-gotten gains. The party in control of the federal government at this time, though they have routinely scathed their opposing party for alleged corruption and misgovernment over the past decade, has been loath to police their own--William Jefferson, the democrat congressman from Louisiana who ordered government relief troops to take him to his flooded residence, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to retrieve a hundred thousand dollars in bribe money hidden in his refrigerator did not suffer any reprisals from his party had to be ousted from office by losing his bid for reelection to a republican. Instead, they continue to muddy the water around their own culpability and shower blame on capitalism and big business, while agreeing to bailout failing companies and institutions which should have been allowed or required to file chapter 11 bankruptcies, requiring renegotiation of supplier and labor union contracts, or selling off assets. These actions do nothing but support the status quo of corruption and will, at best cost us and future Americans quadrillions of dollars for many decades, even if we see the proverbial light in the next elections and seriously try to change course to a more conservative social and fiscal direction. My fear is that we might have to scrap what we have and start over again. If that becomes the case, we will need a more moral and faith-based society, willing to make sacrifice and do the right things.

May God Bless Us! And my all my friends come to see the light!

Why To Vote Democrat

2009-04-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a good little while since I was able to find time to post a blog, but I recently got an inspiration and made this time.

I get emails from conservative friends on a daily basis with attachments, some funny, expressing frustration with our government and the direction our country is heading. I recently got one entitled "Why I Voted Democrat" which was funny and from the "perspective" of a democrat voter who, if they have any conservative notions, are completely unconnected with the obvious results of their voting habits. This is an extremely frustrating thing for me. I have friends and family he routinely pull the lever for the democrats, because they "feel", like my father did throughout his life--he grew up with FDR propaganda during the Great Depression--that the "Republicans are for the rich man and the Democrats are for the working man". I should say here that I do not hold Republican politicians blameless. It seems as though most of the republican office holders are more worried about sustaining their place at the public feed trough than doing the right thing. In recent years, most of them have been willing accomplices in allowing government to run roughshod over the tax payers and the Constitution. But I have to say that the Democrats in office are the worst culprits and the the most deserving of our conservative ire and disdain.

You may have seen the following before. It is basically the attachment from my friend, but I thought, in some respects, it was not harsh enough for my taste, so I added to it and edited it to reflect my own opinions more closely. In this format, the ideas are no longer expressed sarcastically from a first person perspective, but only a little sarcastically from a second person perspective.

So, if you are a compulsive democrat voter, please read and reflect. Maybe there is hope.

You Voted Democrat:

You voted Democrat because you obviously love the fact that you (the collective public) will eventually be able to "marry" whatever you want. You might eventually decide to marry my horse (maybe even two horses, if they are both consenting adults).
note: The term marriage used to mean combining dissimilar things that work together, like "lyrics and melody", so horse and human really makes more sense than two men or two women if you want to play around with the meaning of words.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe the government will do a better job of spending the money you (and I) earn than I would.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it, except of course Christians.

You voted Democrat because it is obvious that when we pull out of Iraq we can trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.

You voted Democrat because you (and I) are way too irresponsible to own a gun, and you know that the local police are all we need to protect you (and me) from murderers and thieves.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if we don't start driving Priuses, and embrace government cap and trade policies and there there is no way you can be convinced that "cap and trade" is a nothing more than a big new tax scheme.

You voted Democrat because obviously hope to have a great new government controlled socialist health insurance plan like Canada, France, The UK and Cuba. And, you think the wealthy from those countries (Cuban government leaders excepted)come here to the States to get health care because they just want to see how bad our system is.

You voted Democrat because you obviously not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies, so long as we keep all death row inmates alive and all animals and terrorists are kept comfortable.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit. You also believe that the congressional leaders (who were primarily democrats, like Barney Frank) who bullied banks to give untold numbers of loans to risky borrowers for political interest and subsidized quasi-governmental lending institutions, like "Fannie Mae" and "Freddie Mac", in their illegal and corrupt policies, should be able to skate free and be completely in charge of banking oversight.

You voted Democrat because you obviously believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

And, you voted Democrat because your head is so firmly planted in such a dark and snug place that it is unlikely that you will ever have another point of view.

Odds and Ends of MY Busy Life.

2009-03-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

Note: I deleted a portion of the this blog in reference to my recording projects. My later Blog, "Music, Music, and More Music" largely covered the same stuff, so I copied and pasted the material that was below and made revisions that reflect better the current situation.

I have not been able to get back to my blogs for a while. I've been busy with rehearsals for the Smokey Joe's Cafe production that will happen from March 27 through April 4 of 2009 and work. The show, from the standpoint of cast, is coming along Okay. The other cast members are very capable, and I have been able to avoid too much dancing and scary choreography. It has allowed me to focus on my strength: singing Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blue. It also allowed me to spend more time learning the lyrics and vocal parts on the group numbers. However, as of last night, the band has not been fielded in entirety. We have two keyboardists, a drummer and a bass player who also plays sax. We still need a good lead guitarist and a good sax player, or maybe another bassist to free up the bassist we have to cover the sax--the sax is real important to the sound of a lot of the tunes. I play guitar as a solo on one tune and help color the instumental background with my blues harp on another song. We are supposed to start rehearsing the show with the band next week. I'll try to get curtain times for those readers of this blog who live in the Salt Lake area and think they would like to see the beast do his thing in the flesh. They should let me know if the plan to come, so that I can look for them.

I also sent out an email last week to try and garner some interest in helping fund the casting of my sculpture of Christ, which I have been trying to get done, with hopes of having it displayed at the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I plan on donating it to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I do not have the cash at the moment to cover the molds and casting process to make it a more appealing donation. And, with the economy as it is, it does not look good for that project. Needless to say, my plan for a sculpting business on the side has taken a back seat to other projects, until I can generate more income. The old adage that "it takes money to make money" is unfortunately true. But, we soldier on.

On the subject of enlarging my income in a time of need, I received an email yesterday from a safety consultant friend in Topeka, asking if I would be interested in making a trip back to Topeka to teach an OSHA 10-hour class in Spanish for one of his clients sometime in the next couple of weeks. I responded that I would be indeed be interested if the logistics worked out and the remuneration was enough. They did and it was, so we made arrangements for me to fly back there next weekend (3/14/09)and teach the class on the following Monday. The money for that will be good and it will give me a chance to visit with family and friends. I will likely blog about it when I get back.

SAMUEL LONGHORNE CLEMENS

2009-02-06T09:30:00.001-08:00

I haven't added to my Prophiles of American Leadership segments for a while, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace for me to indulge myself and return to a historical vignette of an American to whom I give credit for leading in the world of literature. So, here are my thoughts on...

SAMUEL LONGHORNE CLEMENS

Though I watched a lot of television as a young boy, where I caught old movies as well as old and current programs produced for television, I also read a lot. I tended to read adventure stories—Edgar Rice Burroughs was my favorite—but, I also read many of the classics of literature before I got into high school. Before being required to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school, I had already read it twice, along with its companion, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I have reread them both several times since, to my children, to expose them to great literature and story-telling, and for my own enjoyment. In my opinion, which I share with many others, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is likely the Great American Novel and no one has been his equal in producing colloquial speech on the printed page. Of course there have been other great American novels since—To Kill A Mockingbird and Gone With The Wind—and some extremely important and popular ones before—Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Last Of The Mohicans—but, Mark Twain’s story about the coming of age of a disadvantaged, troubled youth, struggling with his conscience in a time when America was doing the same, was a masterpiece of writing that put America on the literary map of the English-speaking world. All of the serious novelists of the 19th century in the English language had been from Great Britain, like Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. But Samuel Clemens, under the name, Mark Twain, became the Father of American Literature, and showed the American authors who followed after him how to do it well.

Samuel Longhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
(November 30, 1835-April 21, 1910)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida Missouri twenty-five years before the start of the American Civil War to John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Clemens spent much of his boyhood in his Hannibal, Missouri, home along the Mississippi River. Samuel’s father died when Samuel was 11 years of age, which allowed for his mother, who was a free thinker and defender of the down-trodden and lover of animals, to have great influence on his personality and character. After his father’s death, Samuel took work as a typesetter and a contributing writer of humorous sketches for his older brother, Orion’s, newspaper. At the age of 18, Clemens traveled east and worked as a printer in Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York, and educated himself at the local libraries. By age 22, Clemens decided that he would return to The Mississippi River and pursue his childhood fancy, to be a river boat pilot. Clemens plied that trade from 1857 to 1861, from which he chose his pseudonym, Mark Twain, referring to the call of the leadsman on the river boat, measuring two fathoms depth in the river. At the start of the Civil War, Clemens and some friends joined a volunteer group for the Confederacy, but the group disbanded after a couple of weeks and decided to travel with his brother to Nevada where his brother was filling an appointment as secretary to the territorial governor. While in Nevada, he tried silver mining with little success, but in 1862, he began a career as a newspaper journalist and veered off shortly thereafter to humorous literary pieces, including the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. This piece was picked up and republished by other newspapers across the country, and much to Samuel’s surprise, brought him national notoriety and helped launch his career as America’s premiere novelist and humorist.

Clemens’ Later novels included: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. His writings, whether fiction or nonfiction, were largely vehicles through which he criticized society’s ills and poked fun at hypocrisy. Huckleberry Finn and Pod’s Head Smith criticized the evils of racism and slavery, while The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee were commentaries on the injustices of monarchies and the socially privileged.

Clemens was highly critical of hypocrisy wherever he saw it. In The Gilded Age, he skewers American politicians and what he saw as a corrupted system of government in his day, which allowed “knaves” to govern at the cost of “fools”, and embraced a misguided, unthinking patriotism. Clemens seems to have shared religious notions with Thomas Jefferson, a believer in God, but suspicious of organized religion at large. In some lesser known writings, such as A Penn Warmed up in Hell and Letters from the Earth, he pokes fun at organized religion and “Christians” in particular, for a penchant to live their religion once per week or less, and a general sense of unchristian superiority and an inability to be charitable and tolerant.

Clemens was friends with and admired by many noted Americans of his time, including Ulysses S. Grant. But, he also enjoyed celebrity in Europe as well. His friends and admirers abroad included fellow greats of English literature, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, Lewis Carrol, and Alfred Tenny. His celebrity was due to his great talent as a writer and his ability to criticize, even ridicule, society and humanity, shedding light on their blemishes; and do so with disarming humor. He became, to some in his time, a voice of reason and conscience in troubled times. Much of his cynicism may have come from the many personal tragedies in his own life. His father passing at an early age and the accidental death of his younger brother, Henry, in a river boat explosion—Samuel had talked his younger brother into following him into the riverboat life—surely effected his general outlook. His later years also provided further unhappy moments: He had several financial setbacks due to business dealings with people whom he trusted too much and only had one of four of his children survive him in death. His wife, Olivia, died 1902 and his health, which had not been good for many years, declined through next eight years until his death.

Though Clemens may have suffered significant tragedy, hardship and disappointment during his life, he had a strong spirit of self achievement and social conscience. He overcame stumbling blocks placed before him by trying new things and taking chances on his abilities. His various careers prior to his final career gave him insight and experience to draw from to let his fertile imagination create characters and stories that will surely entertain and inspire readers, young and old, for centuries to come. His talent and persistence made him the first great American Novelist of international acclaim. He was the first great American humorist appreciated abroad—he was presented with a Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford University in 1907. And, he may have been the foremost popular moralist of his time. He led the way for many aspiring American writers who tried to emulate his great talent for telling a story and presenting a moral message, but few have approached the height of his achievement. In usual humor he stated the before his death:
I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It might be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’

Samuel Longhorne Clemens’ was prayer was apparently answered: He died April 10, 1910, one day after Halley’s Comet making its closest approach to the Earth.

THE BEARDED MAN RETURNETH

2009-01-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well, the beard is making a comeback. I was recently asked by the drummer I work with on my recordings—Glenn sidelines as an actor and director for stage productions—to audition for a part in the Lehi Arts Commission’s production of “Smokey Joe’s Café.” If you are not familiar with this Broadway Production, it is a collection of live performances of 50s and 60s acclaimed songwriters, Leiber and Stoller. They penned such classic Rock & Roll songs as: Jailhouse Rock, Treat Me Nice, Little Egypt, Youngblood, I’m A Woman, Trouble, Searchin’ On Broadway, Saved… well, you get the picture. There are about 40 songs in the show, featuring 5 men and 4 women singing and dancing, with an onstage backup band of around 6 or seven pieces. The musical has no real storyline or dialog apart from the lyrics in the songs. If you have seen the Broadway version, either live or on DVD, you will appreciate the task ahead for this community theater group.

If you are able to see our production, you may well appreciate the challenge placed before me: all of the other singers are in their mid twenties or younger. OUCH! Why, you might ask yourself, would they want ME on board? And, you might also ask yourself again, why I, a guy knocking on 60’s door and who couldn't’t dance his way out of anything, including a rather large paper sack, let myself be talked into exposing myself to sure embarrassment and open ridicule? The answer is: I have no earthly idea! The truth is: I like to perform, or at least sing. The idea of broadening my horizons is, perhaps, a possibility as well. When I said I would come to the audition, I had no idea, really, of what I was getting into.

A while back, not long after moving to Utah, my friend, Dave, who also plays bass and sings with me, asked me to take a part in the same organization's production of “The Sound of Music”. They needed some one to play the Admiral who comes to the Von Trapp home to give Captain Von Trapp his orders to report to the German navy—this character does not appear in the movie version. I had just a few lines and I did not have to sing or dance—a piece of cake. I would get a chance to spend some time again with Dave, my old performing partner, after many years apart. Although I only had to deliver a few lines in a German accent—the accent was brilliant, of course—I had a hard time remembering my lines. I guess it was nerves, or maybe the onset of Alzheimer's. In every performance, except the last one, I would give a variation of my lines, giving the general idea. I got a little closer to perfect each performance, until the last one when I "nailed it". The only problem was my microphone failed me and no one in the audience heard my triumph.

It had been a long while since I had done any “acting.” I had done a play when I was in my teens and had been roped into doing a couple of church “road shows”. When I first came to Utah to live, back in the 70s, I got a non-speaking part in a European movie production set in 19th century Utah about a Mormon convert from Iceland who settled near Spanish Fork—my Icelandic and German language talents precluded me from a speaking part. But I had "the look" they liked and they used me most every day they shot on location in Utah. It was great fun and I decided I would give it a try again. I auditioned for a Church film about Josepfh Smith and the Lost Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, and though the casting director told me I did really well, that she was putting me at the top of her list, we moved to California before they started filming. I later saw the film and am sure they didn't miss out on too much by my move away. The opportunity came again after moving to Tennessee. I got a part in a CBS made-for-TV-movie called "The Conviction of Katie Dodd". It starred Victoria Hammil, of "Hill Street Blues" fame, and Kevin Dobson, of "Knots Landing" and "Kojak" fame. I played a friend of Kevin Dobson’s character. Again, it was fun. A while later, I was given a small non-speaking appearances on a CBS pilot for a series to star country singer Lorrie Morgan as a Nashville police detective captain who night-lighted as a country singer—it is amazing what kind of money gets spent for ludicrous ideas in the television industry. About that same time, our Franklin Stake (geographical church organization or unit) decide to do a big show featuring each ward (smaller church units or congregations within the stake) doing 20 to 30 minute vignettes of their choice of Broadway Shows. Our ward chose “Fiddler on the Roof”. I had always thought that I could play the "Tevye" character well, so I auditioned for the part and got it. As it turned out, only two wards out of nine were able to put shows together, but we performed them and were pleased with the results. My wife, Karen, played the oldest daughter—I was already looking a lot older than she was by this time. A few months later, I was asked by the Stake Relief Society (a women's organization within our church) to reprise the role in costume for a presentation on "relationships", I think, singing a few of the numbers from "Fiddler" with my wife in the "Golde" role. I really enjoyed it, but the opportunities to pursue acting dried up and we eventually moved to Kansas.

So, it had been more than fifteen years since I had exposed myself to
“acting” and the little part in “The Sound of Music” got my juices flowing again. Though that stage appearance was anything but glorious, I decided I would try it again, especially if an opportunity came up to do the Tevye part. I passed on auditioning for “Oklahoma” when it came up, because I was obviously too old for anything other than smaller roles and there were no Tevye-type parts, but when Glenn told me about "Smokey Joe’s Café" and that it was just singing a bunch of songs that Elvis and the Coasters had made famous, I thought “this might be fun" and it would give me an opportunity to see if I could do a stage that would not be too difficult. After all, I cut my teeth on such musical material and had played and sung my own stuff in nightclubs for most of my life. How hard could it be?

Well, it could be very hard, especially if dancing comes into the equation. My afore-mentioned inability to dance kept me from taking a part in a local production of a dinner-mystery-musical-farce about a year ago. When it became apparent that there would be some dancing involved in the “Smokey” production, I began to be reticent. When I watched the DVD of the Broadway version, I almost started to cry. However, Glenn promised me that I would not be expected to do much real dancing, just moving around to the music. We’ll see about that. I was the first man to be cast and the only man to be cast after the initially-scheduled auditions and Glenn was thinking that, if they could not find four more guys who had quality voices in a reasonable hurry, they would have to cancel the show. I began to breathe a little easier. Maybe I had been too hasty and this was God's way of protecting me from having a heart attack. Then I get a call later in the week from Glen and he says he has the guys and the show can go on. Imagine my added horror when I found out that all of the other singers in the cast were less than half my age. And, they looked like they could dance too. It was at our first rehearsal that I suggested that we could interject some hilarious comedy relief into the performance by having me perform in a wheelchair, with a girl in a nurse costume pushing me around the stage for the dance routines, while I snapped my fingers and sang with a straight face. The laughter my suggestion elicited was as far as the hilarity and the idea went.

So, I am somewhat conflicted about this opportunity. "The show must go on", as they say, and trooper that I am, I agreed to do it, but if they were to tell me they had a younger and spryer fellow to take my part, I might do a tripple somersalt like Little Egypt. It could and should be fun though, if the audience can suspend reality enough to imagine me at least 30 years younger, and if I am able to remember the lyrics to the songs, AND I don’t trip and fall into their laps, AND they don’t make disparaging comments or cat calls, if I don’t do the former and do do the latter.

Oh yes, I almost forgot about the return of my beard and the reason for this blog. When I auditioned for the musical, Glenn and his assistant asked me if I would mind growing the beard back—you see, he has seen me both ways. When I enthusiastically said “YES", they added that they might want to color it for the performances.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING or HISTORY REAPEATING ITSELF

2009-01-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well, history was made yesterday. The first African-American was inaugurated as President of the United States of America. Let me say here that I loath the politically correct term “African American” to describe people who have distinguishable Negro blood and are citizens of the United States of America. Not all people who live on the African continent or are descended from ancestors who lived there are of Negro blood. I know people who are extremely Caucasian in appearance, who hale from South Africa and whose antecedents there go back for many generations. For the most part, my ancestors were Europeans—our genealogy claims lines through most of the royal courts—with a smattering of indigenous American blood through the Sac and Fox tribes. Note that I did not use the silly and inaccurate term “Native American”. Anyone born in America is a Native American; black, white, red, brown or yellow—Sorry, Rev, no rhymes here. But I digress…

Yesterday, Barak Hussein Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. I did not vote for President Obama. I would have liked to vote for the first “black” man to hold the office of President, but I disliked Obama’s policies, for being too liberal, and I was extremely suspicious of his numerous past associations with radicals. It was, however, cool to see a major milestone passed in American race relations. I doubt that it will mean much to some people, both black and white, because they have so much invested in their race-based hatred and mistrust. I honestly did not care for the Republican party’s nominee this time around either. He, like Obama, had bought into the man-made-climate change hysteria and was unwilling to embrace a logical energy policy, was not very reassuring on tax cutting, and joined in enthusiastically on the government financial bail-outs for Wall Street and the banking and automotive industries. Only my fear of a weakened American war on terror under an Obama and the assured reign (or perhaps rain) of more liberal federal judges made me enthusiastically vote for McCain. But, Obama won. He is my President, and I wish him well. He won the election and he deserves a chance to fail and, perhaps, learn from mistakes. I suspect that the liberal media, the Hollywood loonies, and the angry left cut him a lot of slack for a very long time, because he is their man and they really want him to succeed. I too want success for our country and I will support him when he makes the right choices, however, I will surely moan and complain and say “I told you so” when and if he does fail. I liked President Bush very much for his desire and willingness to take on our country's enemies and do the hard lifting and take hateful and ignorant criticism leveled at him by the liberal media, Hollywood nuts and the liberal fascists without complaint. I also praise him for two pretty conservative Supreme Court nominations. I moaned and complained, of course, when he let spending get out of hand; tried too hard to appease the likes of Kennedy, Reed, Shumer, and Pelosi; and decided that Wall Street and the loan institutions needed to be bailed out with tax-payer money, but I believe he was a good and honorable man who did his best in very trying times, just not a Ronald Reagan conservative.

History tells me to have great doubts.

Much like today, FDR replaced an economically liberal Republican President Herbert Hoover and continued some of his more liberal initiatives and randomly tried to come up with even more liberal solutions to the country’s economic ills. His efforts actually stalled a recovery from the world-wide Great Depression in the United States, making it worse, while Europe, with a more hands-off conservative approach, was digging itself back to prosperity. If not for World War II and the need for American labor products abroad during the war, we would have suffered even longer. For an education on this subject you might like to read the following books: “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes; “1920: The Year of the Six Presidents” by David Pietrusza; and “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning” by Jonah Goldberg. The fact is the scenario we find ourselves in is scarily similar. As FDR did, I can easily visualize Obama trying to fix the economy by one wrong-headed liberal program after another.

Ronald Reagan’s approach to fixing economic woes was to get government out of the way. The problem we have at the moment is that government was too much involved. They had oversight of banking and loan institutions, but they neglected, or chose not, to do their duties in that regard. As I stated in an earlier blog, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started the ball rolling for our current housing and banking woes, while congress, especially the democrats had their hands all over it. Reagan would have let the institutions fail or go into bankruptcy. Like the airline industry did, the auto industry would have come back leaner and stronger, and our banks and lending institutions would have eventually come back, though some would have failed. The economy would have righted itself in a shorter time than it likely will with all of our government’s assistance. The pain would have been acute but relatively short. Under big government intervention, the pain will likely be long-term and chronic. I wish President Obama well, but I expect that I need to get use to disappointment.

The Ghosts of Christmas Cards Past

2009-01-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas we try to be creative with our Christmas Cards/letters that we send out. If you have received one of our cards over the years, you may wait in anticipation of the next "Mundy Family Christmas Card", wondering if it will be as good, or at least as interesting as "last year's". Also, if you've just recently gotten on our mailing/emailing list, you may wonder what you've been missing in the past. So, I had Karen scrounge around and find representatives of past Christmases that I might share with you on this blog site. We started trying to do humorous cards when the kids were younger, more than ten years ago, I think. I honestly can't remember if we were able to pull it off each year, but I think we did. However, we were not able to come up with one from each year. But, we found a bunch and so I am including them below in order of the year they were presented from earliest to most recent, with some explanation. You can click on the images to enlarge them for better viewing.

Last year, Christmas, 2007, was fun to try to get all of us in the picture again, plus Mom Preece and Connie, the new additions to our household. Celebrity mug shots that we had seen around that time, of Mel Gibson and others were the inspiration for this one and I eventually came up with a workable and humorous caption. The individual mug shots turned out pretty good, with Tyler's photo shop work putting in the background. The monikers were mostly funny too.

Christmas 2006 has to be my favorite so far and it set the bar pretty high. I actually had the idea of a Super Hero based card for a couple of years, but either wasn't able to get the other family members to think seriously--right word?--about it, or I wasn't exactly sure weather to do it in costume or go the comics drawing route. It finally made sense to me to do the drawings and I asked Tyler to do the drawings--most of my kids, Karen or myself could have done respectable jobs, but Tyler liked the idea and ran with it, doing a great job. To elaborate on the joke, I insisted on having written discriptions of our character--super powers, or lack there of, weakness, etc. I think most everyone came up with their own super hero identities with some suggestions of my own and I did the bulk of the writing giving edtting power to the family members. This of course made the card a bigger deal than the others thus far and since, but it made it more entertaining and memorable.

Christmas 2005 was a particularly creative one, I thought. It consists of sculptured busts of all of our family members which I had done the year prior--I was just getting back in to sculpture after almost 37 years--with Santa hats we purchased for the occasion and a caption refering to Christmas busting out all over. Clever, if I do say so.

Christmas 2004 was one of our better ones. The theme, of course, is "Movie Characters" and the heading, "Merry Christmas, Coming To A Location Near You". The fun part, we thought, would be for our friends to guess which film character we were presenting. The harder ones were Jesse as "Ash" )Bruce Campbell's character from the "Living Dead" movies)and Heidi as "Laura Croft, Tomb Raider". Ingrid, of course, is "Marilyn Monroe";Tyler is "James Bond" (Connery's); Dylan is Harry What's-his-name; Karen is Mary What's-her-name; and I am Tevye, from "Fiddler".

Christmas 2003 was our nod to the Brady Bunch opening. Karen wrote some lyrics to be sung to the Brady Bunch song. Cute, if nothing else. Tyler was actually serving in a church mission in Chile at the time, so we opted for the different frames idea. Note: The sculpture is one Tyler did earlier of Weezer (Tyler's favorite band)front man, Rivers Cuomo--we were short one family member to fill all of the frames.

I think Christmas, 2002, was a year when we knew we would not have everyone around near Christmas, so we took an early picture in a park. We had no "Big Idea" for a card but we thought that if we put thought baloons with our individual Christmas wishes, it would be humorous. You be the judge.

Christmas, 2000, found us during our stay in Kansas and we chose to do the card based on our "Old West" picture of our family taken at "Worlds of Fun", in Kansas City. The caption, "Have a Merry Christmas, or Else", seemed appropriate.

Christmas 1999 was our year to do a motorcycle-related card. My brother had a bike and Jesse owned the small one that Dylan is sitting on and he later bought one of the bigger bikes from his cousin, Tommy, and sold the smaller one to tyler. The other bikes belonged to friends from work. The card was mildy cute and the Happy Hogidays caption was good, if not hilarious.

Christmas 1998 was also a good one and a popular one with card receivers. We paid homage to my love for the "Blues" and used the mental image of the Mundys as the BLUES BROTHERS BAND, with black suits and black pork-pie hats with the Caption "It'll Be A Blue Christmas Without You."

Christmas 1997, I think, was our first Christmas after moving back to my hometown of Topeka, Kansas, fro Nashville, TN. I think Karen and I thought it would be cute, since we were now living in the countrified farming and ranching state of Kansas, to do a card based on the famous painting, "American Gothic". We found a bunch of pitchforks, threw on our overhauls, scouted out a farm near our home and went to ask if we could take a picture in their yard. The people weren't at home, so we went for it any way. It was funny to learn later that people who received our card thought we had actually moved on to a farm.

I think that 1990 was the first Christmas card we did, where we tried to be creative. "The Simpsons" was ver popular at the time, so I drew us as the Simsonesque Mundys. This was before Dylan was born and we had two "Barts" to make our family fit. I thought it was a fun Card. I had to put my old mole--I had it removed a few years back--and a heavier beard on Homer and a dot on the end of Marge's nose and non-bufant big hair to identify her as Karen--that freckle is no longer there these days, which makes me wonder...

Anyway, this card got the tradition started. We'll try to keep it up. I don't know what our kids plan to do as they go their separate ways, but I don't suppose the apples will fall to far away from the tree.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

Well it is Christmas again and we in the Mundy family have tried to come up with an original and entertaining concept for a Christmas card. It semms to get harder and harder to come up with a new idea. This one we thought about for several months and we called Tyler another time to put his graphic talents to work to bring my vision to fruition.

Mrs. Ingrid Louise Mundy Harris!

2008-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter's much anticipated day has come and gone. This past cold December weekend, my daughter was married to Jeff Harris for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It was wonderful to take part in, though I look a bit relaxed with my hand in my pocket in most of the photos. Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles officiated as the sealer, so that was very memorable for the young couple. Elder Christofferson had been our stake president when we were living in Nashville, TN--about the time Ingrid was born.

It was a great family get-together as well. Tyler was able to join us in the Temple and he, Dylan, Jesse and Heidi helped make the reception come off well. My sister, Janna, with her husband, Marty, flew in from Texas to join us in the Temple and my son, Jesse, came out from Topeka Kansas, with his girlfriend, Amanda, to attend the reception. There were also various cousins in attendance. Karen's sisters Connie and Becky were there with one of Becky's sons, Jacob. Karen's brothers Derek and Terry were there with their wives and a couple of their married kids--Derek's daughter, Kathryn, was kind enough to be the photographer. Jeff's family in Florida were unable to attend but he had a few close friends there.

We had plenty of cake and chocolate from the fountain left over to find a home for after the fact. All the the family who were there helped tear down and clean up and we all went to bed tired. Family members who traveled in took off the next day and the new Mr. and Mrs. Harris drove back to their home in Aurora Colorado to prepare for their honeymoon in the Bahamas. One down and four to go.

2008-11-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned before that I served my full-time mission in Guatemala and El Salvador (1971-1972) and that for several months I was part of a singing group called "La Familia Unida", which toured around the mission. We were pretty successful, getting thousands of referrals and more than 200 converts directly connected to our show. We were 19 and 20-year-old star want-to-bes, who had a great time together--you can get a more complete, in-detail history of the Adventures of La Familia Unida by going to www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/Paseo, where Familia member and historian, Gaylen Scott (Wailin') Shirley, has posted the definitive tome to that great performing group.

Anyway, we recently had a mission reunion here in Salt lake City. It was a great success. We missionaries and our spouses filled the cultural hall and chapel--it was President Glade's home ward building I believe--to overflowing. We had a great time trying to figure out who everyone was--for some reason, nobody looked the way they did 35-plus-years ago. It was fun to watch people go up to someone take a glance at the name tag stuck to their chest and declare, "oh...So and So". I was still wearing my Santa beard at the time, so I may have won the "most unrecognized" award of the evening, if there had been such a thing.

It was great to see some of my old comps and share evocadores (remeiniscences). My first and last companions were there and several of the guys I served with in between, all greyer, balder, heavier and wrinklier, like me. However, the apex for me was the opportunity to play some songs and sing with two of the other members of the old group for the "entertainment" part of the evening. We had planned to have all 5 of us at the reunion, but Randy (Dob) Teel bailed out a couple of weeks before, and Scott (Wailin') Shirley's dad died two days before and was unable to attend.
But, John Clarence (Clarence) Cameron,

Scott (Fester) Eddo

and
I, Randy (Emery) Mundy tried to fill the bill. We hung a couple of the outrageous Familia Unida ties we used to wear from microphones in our missing brothers' honor.

I have to admit that we were not quite as good as we had been in the good old days. Some might argue that we weren't really all that good in the good old days, but I have some really bad recordings of some of our performances that reveal that we were pretty good--good musicianship and tight harmonies. Of course, you had to be good to be able to do the numbers as fast as we did them. In most cases, we sounded like we were in a race to see how fast we could actually do the songs and get out of the performance hall. This time we limped along with me singing high harmony on the group songs and the lead that Teel used to sing on the love ballads. It was sad that we were missing two of our main guys--we would have sounded much better with them, but I had a great time with my other buds.

It is my intention to get Teel and Shirley out to my place this summer to record some of our greatest hits--I have a little recording studio at my home--and then, have they other guys, Eddo and Cameron, out when they can make it to add their magic. So, La Familia Unida will likely fly again on CD, and, if we can organize another big mission reunion in the near future, the world might get the chance to experience us live. What could be better? You don't have to answer that.

The Father of the Bride

2008-11-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ready or not, here I come. I had thought about being a father for 29 years before it happened, and hoped that I would be ready for it when it happened on June 25, 1981. I guess I was. After my son, Jesse Lee, was born that day, my wife gave me four other children over the next ten years--Tyler Dean (June 12, 1983), Heidi Lynn (August 5, 1984), Ingrid Louise (December 4, 1988) and Dylan James (September 9, 1991). And from the birth of each one of my children I hoped that they would grow up and have the chance to find an eternal companion and have their own children.

I, myself, was married late by some standards--All of my siblings were married either in their teens or very early twenties. I was 27 years of age when I married Karen and I must say that my mother wondered If I ever would find the right girl. We had our first child, Jesse, when I was 29 years of age, and until recently, I was wondering when my first child would get married and settle down. I can't say that I was impatient. After all, I was pretty careful about marriage for myself and I was very happy to see similar carefulness in my children's romances.

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from a young man named Jeff Harris. He had called to ask for my blessing in marrying my younger daughter, Ingrid. I have to say that I was expecting it. I knew that Ingrid's interest in Jeff was pretty strong due to the fact that she had moved to Aurora, Colorado, to be closer to him and see him on a more steady basis and that it would make the romance grow or kill it. It seems to have thrived. At any rate, I asked Jeff if he thought she was ready for marriage. He replied that he thought she was. I told him that if he loved her even more than I did, and would take good care of her, I would condone, even support, the marriage. I have to admit that I have a problem thinking anybody would be good enough for my girls, but I also have to admit that Jeff comes reasonably close. He is a good Christian man, who tries to live his religion and is worthy, as a priesthood holder, to take my little Weezer to the Temple for marriage. I am sure that he will be a respectful loving husband to my daughter and a caring and and good example to my grandchildren, that he will always have his wife and children's happiness and welfare at the top of his priorities. If not, I will know where to find him.

I suspected years ago that Ingrid might be the first of my children to marry. She was always very motivated to marry in the Temple of the Lord and be a mother with children of her own. As I understand it, she had several pretend weddings with other children--her sister Heidi tried to marry her off twice before Ingrid was six to family friends' little boys, officiating at the ceremonies her self. Ingrid always wanted to do grown-up-things before she was ready. Once, when she was about four, I was trying to get all five of my kids into their seats to go to church. Karen had gone up into the house to run to the bathroom and asked me to take charge of the operation while she was indisposed. I had our infant, Dylan, strapped into his baby seat and told the older kids to get into their car seats or seat belts while I went back up to get my wallet. Jesse, Tyler and Heidi followed my directions, while Ingrid took the opportunity to jump behind the steering wheel and take the van out of gear. I heard Karen yell at me and I looked out of our bedroom window in time to see our van rolling down our steep driveway. Somehow, the wheels were turned so that, instead of proceeding across the street and into another steep drive that was so configured that it would surely have flipped our van on it's side, spilling Ingrid out of the still open driver side door, the van sharply turned onto the street and hit two cars parked along the street, nearly knocking the driver-side-door off of it's hinges before coming to a rest against the second car. Again, somehow Ingrid held on to something strongly enough that it kept her from being thrown out as the van turned so sharply at a pretty good speed coming off of our drive way. I flew down the stairs at the front of our house and out to the van hoping, almost against reason, that no one had been hurt. When I reached the van I quickly determined that no one had even a scratch. But, Ingrid was shaking and reaching out to me with a panicked, fearful, expression on her little face, declaring, "I not a bad girl, Daddy!" She was right, of course, she was not a bad girl. In fact, she was actually always a very good little girl, but a momentarily disobedient little girl who, fortunately, had her life miraculously preserved for, perhaps, some important future event.

I have always been extremely proud of my children and their accomplishments. My daughters are beautiful, like their mother, and my sons are all handsome like...well, they are all handsome anyway. They have all been blessed with great talents and attributes. All of my kids have great senses of humor and they are extremely creative. In Ingrid's case, she always seemed to exude self confidence, always expanding on her talents and taking opportunities to express herself artistically. She has great talent and gifts in the fields of art and entertainment--she sings, plays, and writes music, and dances and acts on stage--but I believe, perhaps, her biggest gift is her ability to be a friend to anyone. Karen and I always marveled at Ingrid's ability to create strong friendships with others in a very short time and her desire to make everyone feel a part of whatever activity she involved herself with. When Ingrid was born, for some reason she was unable to process enough oxygen--it is for this (her wheezing attempts to breath and process enough oxygen) and the fact that her middle name was Louise that I started calling her "Weezer"--so she had to stay in the hospital for about a week until she could breath on her own. I obviously worried about her and prayed that I would have the opportunity to see her grow up. Of course, my prayers were answered and Ingrid has surely had her life preserved to make it to this important point in her life. I still pray that my children will be successful and worthy of all of our Father In Heaven's choicest blessing, and I know that Ingrid is proceeding with faith and love and will be the best wife and mother that she can be.

I think she is ready, Jeff.

You are a good girl, Weezer. I love you.

Beardless Weirdness

2008-11-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by the scary picture above, I recently shaved off my beard. You might think that that is no big deal; men shave all the time. But you must understand: I don't. I struggled to grow whiskers when I was a teen-ager and sported moustaches and goatees as well as I could before my two years in the Mormon mission field--facial hair was verboten as a missionary--but after I returned home I seriously began the beard. There were a few times when I felt obliged to shave: once, when I wanted to play intramural basketball--i could play as a non-student living in a university ward, but I had to adopt school grooming standards; and again, when I was called to be a counselor in the bishopric in Cerritos California--the stake president, Alma King, asked me to; and lastly, when I was called to be a ward missionary leader in Tennessee. I had asked President Sandstrom, the member of the stake presidency presenting the call, if I needed to shave and he said he would leave that up to me. I thought that, since I would be working closely with young full-time missionaries, it might be a good idea, so I did. I saw President Sandstrom a couple of days after I shaved and he immediately said "Grow it back! That pretty much settled it for me. Unless it was a requirement for some calling at church, I would likely never shave it off again. I have served in many church leadership positions since, including branch president, without having to shave. So, putting all of the times together that I have been without a beard, I am guessing it would total less than two years out of the thirty-five-plus years since I came home from my mission. Some of my kids could never remember seeing me without a beard. Ingrid had been begging me in recent years to shave it so she could see what I looked like without it. I avoided it.

The truth is: I like wearing a beard. And my wife, Karen, has preferred the beard, feeling that when I was shaven that she was being flirted with by different guy with the same mannerisms as her husband--it was a little off-putting for her. I have one of those faces that completely changes with a change in facial hair. When I was installed in the Bishopric in California, people were asking each other who that guy was that was sitting with Sister Mundy--they thought perhaps I was a brother or something. When I was called out of the audience to come to the stand jaws dropped. Of course it may have been that I was the last one they expected to be called. I recently got the same sort of surprise from people at church and work. Today another guy in the office said, "I just can't get used to you without the beard.

So why they the clean face, if it puts people off and scares little children and some stake presidents? Well, my wife Karen is hoping to teach release-time seminary here in Utah next year. She learned in her institute class this semester that not only do male seminary teachers have to be groomed to general authorities standards, but that the husbands of female teachers must also comply. So, I figured if this was her dream job--she taught early-morning seminary for ten years--that I should make the sacrifice (maybe sacriface is more like it)and get used to it now. I hope my wife is worth it, for all our sakes

Ask Randy: What Happen?!!!

2008-11-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me a few weeks ago about what I thought would happen in the presidential election. My sage response was that it would either be an extremely close race with McCain the winner, or it would be a blowout for Obama. As history will record, it was a blowout for Obama. I hate being right sometimes. I had hoped for the former but expected the latter, though I had a hard time understanding how the majority of the electorate would be able to embrace a candidate who had so many associations with unsavory and despicable people, the most liberal record in the Senate and a desire to redistribute wealth like Karl Marx. The answer, I think is several fold.

In the first place, Obama was the favorite of the mainstream media. It has been shown that the news media reported negative stories on McCain to the tune 60 to 70 % compared to 15 to 25% on Obama. The only place you could find serious reportage on Obama’s relationship with the racists, terrorists, crooks and anti-Israeli characters was on talk radio (from the beginning), Fox News (at the very last), and Republican ads (during the few days). Every time new information popped up that might hurt Obama’s chances, the mainstream media refused to look into it, or seriously comment on it. And, when the economic news swelled to fever pitch during the last few weeks of the campaign, the media refused to report on the blatant connections between the Democrats in Congress and their manipulations and unhealthy relationship with the directors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which started the whole sub-prime lending institutions and housing market going into a tailspin, effecting the overall economy. Further more, as things began to look good in Iraq and positive things were happening which reflected well on the Bush administration and McCain, who pushed heavily for “the surge”, the media virtually dropped all coverage of the war in Iraq. Let’s face it; the mainstream media was in the tank for Obama.

In the second place, the American electorate is largely uninformed and unconcerned about anything that dose not seem to directly affect them personally. Let’s also face the fact that they are lazy about educating themselves. Our education system in the United States, hamstrung by teachers unions in the K through 12 group and quasi Marxists in the university, has failed to teach us about history, economics, and society without requiring their students to master the subjects, or so skewing the information that our students often leave school with an extremely frail grasp on reality. I am often appalled when I see people on the street interviewed and asked the simplest questions having to do with history or even current events and they have no clue. These are the nunmb skulls whom the the Democrats count on to swing elections in their favor. According to exit polls this last election, we have roughly 20-some percent of the population who describe themselves as liberals—I assume they know at least something about ideology to make that self assessment—and there are slightly more, around 30 percent, as I understand it, who describe themselves as conservative—being one myself, I am relatively more assured that this group knows something of political ideology and history—and the rest claiming to be moderates—this means to me that they have no moral compass or clear idea of what they truly believe and will sway with the wind. If it is indeed true that 50 percent of the population has no deep convictions or clear idea of what they believe, it is easy to understand how they can be manipulated by the untrustworthy media and their perceived economic woes.

The third nail in the coffin of reason for the American electorate is their ignorance of faith and a strong religious value system. The most glaring example for me is the issue of abortion. As I understand it, the vast majority of our population believes in God—around 80 percent, I am told—and still a majority of over 50 percent believe that abortion is wrong and should be limited to some degree. It is therefore hard for me to understand how we can elect a man to the office of President of the United States, who will have the power to reinforce the state of abortions in our nation by wielding the power of nominating federal judges who will necessarily be supportive of the unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision. Obama has consistently fought to protect abortion on demand, including so called “late term” abortions, where the baby is partially delivered during the last trimester and has it’s brains sucked out before completely leaving the womb, and even voting against providing life support for babies who live through botched abortions, allowing the babies to die unattended. It is an emotionally cold people who worry about something as superfluous as “Change” when thousands of babies (black, brown and white) are being sacrificed on the altars of selfishness and personal convenience.

So, “what we have here”, as the immortal Cool Hand Luke said, as he was about to be shot to death, “is a failure to communicate.” The public cannot seem to connect the dots when it comes to cause and effect in the economy, social injustice or world affairs. Rightly so, we tend to turn to Republicans when self defense is the issue. But, for some crazy reason, when national security is not at the front and center, we turn to the Democrats when the economy is the issue, even though raising taxes and government spending has never caused the economy to grow, but rather, they have historically stifled productivity. Yesterday we elected a President who promises to punish business and the wealthy, who already provide over seventy percent of revenues and increase government spending to provide “tax relief” for 40 percent of the population who already do not pay Federal income taxes with welfare checks. And we have enlarged the majorities that the Democrats in Congress, where the likes of Pelosi and Reed, who have enjoyed even lower approval ratings than George W. Bush, will have full sway, with their most liberal colleague of the Senate signing their craziest and most liberal legislation. We only have to look back to the Johnson and Carter administrations, when the Democrats controlled Congress and the White House to anticipate what we likely have ahead of us.

So, though I pray that President-elect Barack Obama has an epiphany as he takes office and tries to govern more from the political middle than his record would suggest, I foresee a long 4 years ahead of us. I hope there is not so much damage done in regards to federal judges, the War on Terror, the economy, energy policies, the 1st and 2nd Amendments, the sanctity of marriage, etc. that we are unable to repair it when sanity reigns again or the fickle 50 percent of the voting public wants another change and decides to lean back to the right.

Politics Is Not Really A Laughing Matter, But...

2008-10-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

I don't really think that politics is a laughing matter, especially as we may be looking at the next 4 to 8 years of liberal, even radical socialist government in the White House and both houses of Congress, but it may help to make fun of the politicians and their conspirators in the media. Friends often send me interesting stories, political cartoons, jokes and amusing quotes, so I thought it might be prudent to include some very pointed political axioms I recently recieved in this blog. I credit my friend Lynn Kleinman for these. As near as I can tell, the quotes are accurate and extremely correct in content and apply to this election, especially the ones by Mark Twain. If you read this and have not yet decided who you are voting for, perhaps these quotes will help you decide. If you have decided to vote for Obama, you will likely have a few more things that you do not appreciate.

Political Axioms:
'If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed;
If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.'
-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity
is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul
can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man
which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than
two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from
poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey

Giving money and power to the government is like
giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody
endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be
summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes...
I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now,
wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
- P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of
taking as much money as possible from
one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics
doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe
while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal:
a happy appetite at one end and
no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is
the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism is
the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist
is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class
...save Congress.
-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

AND THE BEST ONE...
A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

Order in da' court, cause' here come da' Judges!

2008-10-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Be afraid. Be very afraid. If you are frustrated as I am with the decisions the Supreme Court hands down from time to time and the crazy legislation from the bench, churned out by the various federal appellate courts and Federal judges in general, you have to be worried about the real—actually, I think “surreal” is the better term—possibility of Barack Obama obtaining the White House and the authority to appoint Federal Judges. During the next four years. Given the likelihood that there will be Democrat majorities in both legislative houses, you can be sure that we will get some activist judges crammed down our throats in the next four years. It has been estimated that as many as three Supreme Court Justices—the oldest and most liberal ones—would retire during an Obama Presidency, giving him the opportunity to fortify the liberal side of the court. And, with perhaps hundreds of lower federal judge appointments added to the mix, our federal court system could be damaged for a very long time.

Presidents in the past have made claims that there should not be litmus test for appointments to federal courts, but the reality is that only the Republican presidents have followed through on that claim. In recent years, the more conservative presidents, Reagan, Bush, and Bush, have endeavored to put conservative thinking strict constructionist judges on the various feral courts, but have not always been successful. Fearful that republican appointees will seek to overturn Roe vs. Wade, Democrats in the Senate, applying their litmus test that all judges agree with current federal abortion law, have fought hard to keep Constructionist types of the bench. One only has to look to the bitter attempts to smear Bork and Thomas during their Senate hearings to recognize the lefts commitment to abortion and liberal judges. Because of Democrat opposition to conservative judge appointments and the difficulty of finding a constructionist judge who has not made statements about the bad law that is Roe vs. Wade, and because of Republican efforts to be evenhanded, some of their picks have not been that good for us on the Right. O’Connell, Kennedy and Souter were big disappointments for Conservatives. On the other hand, when Democrats have had the opportunity to appoint, Republicans on the Hill have generally acquiesced, to the President’s privilege to choose federal judges as a right of elective victory.

As it sits now, the Supreme Court is fairly evenly divided, with Kennedy providing a swing vote either way, depending on which side of the bed—the left or the right—that he gets up from in the morning. Obama has been very vocal about the judges he will appoint if given the opportunity: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old — and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges." Clearly, if you like your legislation coming from the bench rather than from state and federal legislatures, Obama is your man. He sees the Constitution as moldable, like a piece of clay, to be remodeled and twisted into the shape necessary to change America. McCain has said that he will pick constructionist judges, who will interpret the US Constitution as the founders intended.

There are mechanisms within the Constitution to amend it as it seems necessary. The requirements are strict and suggest that amending the Constitution should be a thoughtful and no easy matter, as can be seen from the following:
Article V.

AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of it's equal Suffrage in the Senate.
The Constitution should not be amended or changed by Judges’ decisions and Obama’s idea of a qualified judge does not inspire me. The image of justice that Americans generally have is of the statue of ‘Lady Justice” holding up the scales in balance and wearing a blindfold. This suggests that justice should be handed out equally, without respect to persons. I think Obama’s image is of a lady holding scales that are heavy on the left side and the blindfold is pulled up to see who her judgments might affect.
Of all the reasons to not vote for Obama—his socialist agenda, his relationships and associations with leftist radicals and unscrupulous characters are deafening to those who are listening—his intention to fill the courts with leftist ideologs should equally give us great pause. Even just four years of appointing judges without enough conservatives in Congress to check his efforts could drastically alter the direction of our country and would likely take many decades to remedy. But, you be the judge.

Time To Send In The Cavalry

2008-10-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Again I watched the Presidential debates last night and again I was frustrated both with McCain’s inability to articulate his case without coming off like a desperate septuagenarian, trying too hard to be a nice guy and the media’s non interest in anything that could make Obama look bad. And again, I tortured myself with the thought of “how did we get this point with McCain as our candidate?” when we could have had an articulate and genuinely brilliant business man who truly understands the economy, explaining the conservative answer to our country’s problems. Instead, we have McCain, who wants to get along with Left, seeing himself as the "Uniter" that Obama claims to be, rather than defeat them and expose them for the Socialists—in some cases, Marxists—and enemies of capitalism and free trade that they are. To be fair, McCain tried, but he was much nastier in the debates with his fellow Republicans—Romney in particular—than he was with Obama. He seemed like it was hard for him to say anything that might make him look mean in the eyes of the undecided voters.

What McCain does not seem to understand is that the reason people are undecided at this point is because those people don’t have any core beliefs. They wouldn’t know an ideological thought if it took the shape of a brick and landed on their heads. To my way of thinking, anyone who truly understands what the formation of the United States of America was about or cares about personal freedoms and the right of self determination would already have rejected Obama’s policies. Those on the left, of course, are champing at the bit to turn America into their socialist utopia. In fact, the American Communist Party announced today that they think the country is ready to accept their brand of ideology—I guess they think if we can accept Obama’s plans, we are ready for the unadulterated undisguised genuine article. So, sadly, it is the “undecideds” who will determine whether we try to get back on a more conservative track and work our way out of a looming recession or embrace socialism and dive right into another depression--raising taxes on business has never increased the national coffers to the degree that cutting taxes has. And, because the undecideds have no core principles or deep understanding of politics or policy--they see the world through their clouded visions of "me, me, I'm on fire, put me out" or "I think I want a change" no matter if the change is a bad one--they will likely choose style over substance. That is why it is lamentable that McCain is deficient in the style category and unable to articulate the substance. The only other chance he has is to expose Obama for who he is, by shining the light of truth on his unseemly associates without any help from the news media. If the "undecideds" understood who Obama really is even they would pull their heads out of where ver they have them located most of the time and make a reasonable choice. Or, you would think so.

Again, McCain tried in his fumbling way to do that last night. After bringing up Bill Ayers, he allowed Obama to skate along with his same lame explanations of his Bill Ayers, terrorist, association and later changing direction by making claims about “Kill him!” comments supposedly shouted at the mention of Obama’s name at Republican rallies. I might point out here that Agent Bill Slavoski of the Secret Service disputes that any such thing happened, that he was surprised at the reportage of such because he was there and none of his fellow agents heard anything either. As part of his job, they have since investigated the claims deeper and found nothing to corroborate the reports. Of course we can expect nothing more at this point from the media or McCain. I’m sure there were many people watching the debate last night who asked themselves, “I wonder who this Bill Ayers guy is.” The "undecideds" and uninformed will have to be spoon-fed if we are to pull this out for McCain. Bloggers and 527s are going to have to pull McCain’s butt out of the fire. The leftist media wants Obama to win and they will not report anything, especially if it is true, that could hurt their chances. In essence, McCain has tied himself to the railroad track and the Obama-Media Express is hurtling down the track. It is time to call in the cavalry, if it's not too late.

"But, He's Just A Guy Who Lives In My Neighborhood!"

2008-10-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

I can’t help but blog again about politics, and Obama in particular. I just read Stanley Kurtz’ article in National Review, “Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown?” and it raises even more questions about Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers than we have already had.

Of course, some of us know that Mr. Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dorn were terrorists with Weather Underground during the 60s, that they bombed the Pentagon and the Capitol, that they are unrepentant for their actions—Ayers posed, stomping on Old Glory, for a magazine and was quoted by The New York Times as saying that the notion of the United states of America makes him want to puke, and that he felt that he had not done enough, and he was in Venezuela in recent years speechifying and ranting “Viva La Revolution”. And, some of us know that Obama’s wife, Michelle worked in the 90s with Bernadine Dohrn at the same law firm. And some of us know that, a few months prior to kicking of his first political campaign in an event hosted by Ayers and Dorn in their home, Obama became chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, founded and guided by Ayers to radically—the key word here is radical—change education in schools. Some of us also know that Ayers and Obama worked together in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to effect this “CHANGE”—Obama, as we know, is very big on “change”—in the way education worked in Chicago, altering the focus of the traditional English math and science focus to (as I understand it) questioning authority and everything else. Some of us know these things even though the mainstream media has yet to look into the Obama/Ayers relationship. They are satisfied with Obama’s statement that Ayres is “Just some guy who lives in my neighborhood.” Incidently, I wonder if they still have the Che Guevara picture up in some of Obama's campaign offices.

This has not been enough for journalist Stanley Kurtz who has been looking into the Obama/Ayers relationship in great depth. Oddly, Mr. Ayer’s refuses to shed any light on their relationship, and Obama is sticking to his story that they are just neighbors. In his investigation of Obama and Ayers work together at Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Kurtz keeps hitting brick walls in being allowed to see documents of the organization held at the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago which would clearly shed light on their work together and, perhaps, the reality of their political agreements. He draws the conclusion that perhaps Ayers himself is responsible for keeping the documents out of his reach. Please read Kurtz’s 8/18/08 article at National Review for the details.

With what we know already, that Ayers is not just a guy in Obama’s neighborhood, we should be, at the very least, very afraid. If the guy is afraid to let us know the details of his friendship or “comradeship” with Ayers, it leaves us with the only conclusion we can arrive at: it would hurt his chances to get elected. Just as it would hurt his chances to get elected, if he admitted that during his over twenty years of attending the Black Liberation Theology “church”, he sat through anti-American and racist ranting (sermons) by his mentor and great friend, Reverend Wright. Still, Obama claims, with a straight face, he never heard such things from the Rev. It seems clear to me that Obama is lying about who he is and what his agenda as president will be. If more than just some of us knew who he really is we would reject him and his neighbors and mentors.

These Controlled Debates Don't Tell Us What We Reaaly Need To Know!

2008-10-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have watched three debates so far and have not been very impressed with anyone other than the leftish media’s control of the events and their shameless efforts to protect Obama. These debates do us a real disservice in regards to informing the public. They pick questions that leave the respondents with the option to sit on their pat answers and not veer away from their speech material. From my perspective, the questions of character and judgment are the most important. The candidates can say anything they want at this point and claim as Bill Clinton did when he promised middle class tax cuts and then reneged because the economy and government coffers were in worse shape than he expected once in office. When you neglect character and judgment, you get leaders like Clinton and Carter: Clinton, who cheated on his wife in the Oval Office—not that she did not know that he was doing it or was perfectly capable of it—committed perjury (lied under oath—this was the reason for the impeachment trial, coo laid drinkers, not for his classless sex acts in the Oval Office—accepting illegal foreign campaign money for obvious quid pro quo give-a-ways to China in the form of rocketry secrets and to Indonesia in the form of tying up our clean coal reserves in Utah by Presidential dictate and giving Indonesia—the only other significant possessor of such reserves—a literal monopoly on the resource; and Carter who, because of his outrageously bad judgment almost ruined our economy and military beyond repair.

I find it amazing appalling that no one in the debates can ask Obama about his past associations with the terrorist Ayers family—his political dealings with them and their attempts to indoctrinate children through education programs that Obama fed government money into—the Reverend Wright and Obama’s laughable denial of having heard any of his hundreds of outrageous racially divisive and politically charged sermons in twenty year of attending his church—or his associations with Tony Rezko, who sits behind bars, but was instrumental in Obama’s real estate deals and a major contributor and fund raiser for Obama’s Political career. I think, if Obama would have to respond to such questions in front of a bunch of people who are just now beginning to pay attention a little bit, the voters would be better informed about who he is and make a more informed choice. Obama can say anything at this point and not follow through. The public needs to know what the media refuses to inform the public about: Obama has substantial baggage which should give us good insight to his character and judgment. He, in my judgment will likely be a costly mistake, even worse and more dangerous than Carter was.

But, I also am frustrated by the republican’s choice for the presidential spot. I know we were unaware of the looming current financial crisis when the primaries were going on, but I can’t help imagining Mitt Romney debating Obama at this point, instead of McCain. Not only would he have had a better grasp of the problems we have at them moment, but he would also most assuredly be better equipped to deal with them. He looks better on camera—McCain has a hard time looking cool to the younger set—and he is squeaky clean in the character and judgment category.

Hindsight is obviously 20/20—though not for me, I voted for Romney in our primary—but we could have done better. Religious prejudice may likely have cost the republicans the White House, if something fortuitous does not happen in the next moth to expose Obama for the empty shell or clandestine Marxist—in my opinion, he is the latter—that he is. I think that Palin was a terrific choice and she and Bobby Jindal and other young Conservatives are our future, but we have likely shot ourselves in the foot with our choice this time around. We have to fight against three enemies in today’s political landscape: The liberal Democrats, the liberal mainstream media, and the ignorant electorate who do not pay attention or care to ask the right questions of their leaders. Character and judgment matter, at least to some of us.

Un-Civil War: The 2008 Elections

2008-10-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

I heard Peggy Noonan this morning on the radio saying something to the effect that the civility needs to come back into politics. I only heard the last little bit where she extolled the virtues of Reagan and his refusal say cruel and hateful things about his political adversaries. The feedback from other listeners seemed to reflect that she was saying that we of conservative bent needed to be nicer in our political discourse. The majority of the respondents seemed to disagree with her. And, without having heard exactly what she said, I would say we on the political Right have very little to apologize for. If anything, Conservatives take it too easy on the liberal Left.

Reagan was indeed a great example. The most hateful thing I can remember him saying to an adversary was, “there you go again.” He saved his harshest statements—evil empire and the like—for his and our true enemies. But for all of his graciousness he was insulted and degraded by the left and the left-leaning media as only a nutty actor, homophobic and racist tendencies. If you had seriously studied his life at all, you could never have arrived at such a prejudiced conclusion. But the Left was not interested in the realities of Reagan. They hated his conservative ideals and they easily transferred their hate to his person.

Much of what the Left dislikes about us on the Right is our contention that there is a Wrong and a Right. We believe that morality is important in both personal and public behavior. Non-religionists are very uncomfortable with the concepts of wrong and right, because, judged by the traditional Judeo-Christian principles and the Ten Commandments upon which our nation and its laws were founded, they could possibly be found guilty of something. In truth, Conservative religious people who honestly practice their religions understand that we all fall short in our efforts to follow God’s commandments in respect our fellow man. We are willing to forgive. But we expect that our leaders reflect our ideals as much as possible.

When Bill Clinton ran for president the first time, I distrusted him. The many stories of his marital infidelities troubled me. And, if I believed that if he was unable to be faithful to commitments to his marriage, how could I trust him to be faithful to his commitments to the United States of America. Needless to say, as a Conservative, I was opposed to him on political grounds and I would have voted against at any rate, but his character flaws, as I saw them made me suspect of every action he took as President. History, I believe, has shown that I was right to doubt Bill Clinton. He was indeed the philanderer that his critics had warned us he was. His actions as President only reinforced my beliefs about him; that he was self absorbed and egotistical, more worried about himself than his country. He was basically a dishonest man.

The Liberals were embarrassed by Bill Clinton, but mainly because he was caught. Most of the leadership in the Democrat party knew of his character flaws, but he was their ticket to political power after 12 years of being out of the White House. We on the Right felt vindicated in our criticism, but those on the Left were angry about our righteous indignation. Nothing could have irritated them more than losing a contested election in 2000 to a Born Again Christian named George W. Bush.

Liberal Democrats still claim that the 2000 presidential election was stolen, even though it was Gore who tried to keep overseas military ballots from being counted and only wanted recounts in heavily weighted democrat districts. And, they tenaciously hold this opinion in the face of every recount and study that has substantiated the election results since. This close election of a man who professed strong religious faith created the “Bush Derangement Syndrome.” The Left was so eager to pin the label “Liar” on some one from the Right, because of their embarrassment over Clinton that they have had to jump over huge logical and reasonable hurdles to make the claim that Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush came into office with high expectations of working with both parties to create more civility and bi-partisanship, but the bitterness over the close election left him little real hope of working with the opposition. Even the short lived respite from political divisiveness the 9-11 created was destroyed by the thought on the left that Bush was becoming a hero. At every turn, the Left and the leftist-media have tried to discredit him; attacking his efforts in the war on terror, focusing heavily on the costs in blood and treasure, and ignoring the successes. And through all of the attacks on his character, the labeling of “liar”, “Hitler,” and the incessant disparaging remarks on his intelligence, Bush has acted gentlemanly, never resorting to the tactics of his foes.

Now we find ourselves ready to elect a new president and we see more of the same in the way the Left and the media are serving up their opinions on McCain and Palin—especially Palin. Sarah Palin is a thumb in the eye for many on the Left. She is a powerful woman in politics who has strong values of a religious and moral base. The media has been almost humorous in their attempts to find something on Palin that will discredit here in Conservative’s and keep them from the polls; On the other hand, the Democrats have nominated a man who has clear background problems by his associations with despicable characters—thieves, racists and terrorists. Again, the Left and the leftist media know and do not care about these associations, or they are reluctant to look too closely for fear of exposing something that will turn off the voter in the political middle who pays little attention or has few core beliefs beyond their personal comfort. Again, I am not voting for Obama on political differences, but I am even more disturbed by his character questions than I was with Bill Clinton.

So, getting back to the civility question, we, on the Right, need not worry about being more civil. The Left will go crazy on Palin and McCain and ignore their own problems. We are generally not the offenders. If anything, we need to be more assertive, and honestly expose the Left for who they are and what they want to do. Do I here a big Amen?

But OBAMA Has Great Educational Credentials!

2008-09-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

The following is from an email my conservative friend, Mike, forwarded to me that some liberal friend sent to him, I guess, to persuade him to rethink his vote for President, and my response to it. I don't really know if Mike has made up his mind yet on McCain, because like me, he was not excited by the Republican nominee because of unpredictability on things conservative and a seeming penchant to side with democrats on important issues of conservative import. However I suspect McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate may have appeased him a bit. But I digress...
The email from his liberal friend was pretty funny, if not insulting to the intelligence of a conservative thinker. The absence of logic in his argument is glaring, but I do not suspect that liberals, without corrective lenses and their inability to see a broader perspective with their usual blinders on, would be able see it.

The Email:

======Hope you won't be too upset Mike=========
You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually critical election year. The idea of "leadership" must be broadened from mere "experience" to include knowledge, learnedness and insight.

Let's look at the educational background of your two options:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

& Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899

& Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

My response:
Who was that guy? Is he allowed to work with sharp tools? Can he get out of his straight jacket? Is he out on his own recognizance? What an elitist!

In response to his argument voiced below, let's look at who the mentors and associates of the job applicants are and the achievements and judgments the applicants have made in the past.

Obama:
James Cone (liberation Theologist). Rev. Wright (Racist Kook). Tony Rezko (Crook and one of the prison population that is busting a the seams as we speak and would surely vote for Obama, if he could), Bill "Kill all the Rich" Ayres (Weatherman terrorist), Bernadine "You Go Bill, hand me another bomb" Dohrn (Weatherman Terrorist)--let me say here, to Osama's credit he only seems to want to tax the Rich more at this point, even though they already supply over seventy-five percent of income tax revenue--Father Pfleger (an embarrassment to the Catholic Church), Rashid Khalidi (PLO intimate and supporter), Louis "waiting on the mother ship" Farrakhan (anti-Semitic, anti-white, racist), and the list goes on…. His wonderful education has turned him into a brilliant judge of character--a perfect example of the man's powerful insight. Obama has never voted against his party on anything, even when it came to placing more oversight on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as McCain tried to do in 05'. Again, great judgment. He has, to my knowlege, never voted against a tax increase, and he has never voted for a tax cut.

Biden:
Has been in the US Senate 15 years longer than McCain, so he has had a long time of association with the Democrat Party, has the third most liberal voting record in the Senate--Obama's number one--and praised for his knowledge of foreign affairs, constantly makes the wrong assessment, as he and Obama did with the military surge in Iraq--McCain seems to have guessed that one right, like he did with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac insight.

On the other hand…

McCain:
Ronald Reagan. That says something to me--it probably does to the liberals too, they hate to hear his name spoken, kind of like Maynard G. Krebbs, when he heard the word "Work". He got an education defending his country a went to the North Viet Nam Scool of Hard Knocks--very hard knocks. He has spent over twenty years in the US Senate, often irritating members of his own party--me included--but voting his conscience, proving that he will do what he thinks is right and not what the good old boys of his party might expect. And, he has never placed an earmark on a spending bill to feather his own political nest, like the extremely well educated Obama and Biden do. His insight has been good enough to know how to win in Iraq and will not be afraid to protect the US no matter what the socialist Europeans think about it.

Palin:
Ronald Reagan. Again, this says to me that she sees America as a special place, a shares the vision that America needs to be "city on a shining hill". Unlike Obama and Biden, she has worked in the private sector and learned lessons from the middle class. She has also governed on the local and state levels and has proven to be a reformer, not afraid to go against her own party to root out corruption.

Now, since my hope for America is that it does not become a European-styled socialist nanny state, afraid of its own shadow, with an economy perhaps worse than when the Brilliant nuclear scientist Jimmy Carter was president, I think my choice is clear.

It seems to me that the liberal thinker will reject all other information that competes with the idea of soaking the "Rich" and "evening the playing field"--redistribution of wealth. When Obama was asked not to long ago about raising taxes on the "wealthy" likely hurting or slowing the economy, his brilliant response was, "it is the fair thing to do". When the economy is hurt, everyone is hurt, especially the poor, you dolt! For the last 60 years, at least, the liberals have been the enemy of capitalism. Taking money from people who earn it to give it to people who haven't is anything but fair. They promote class envy and warfare and racial devide to reach their political goals: socialsm, or out and out comunism.

Our government was not founded on a principle of everyone having the same things, no matter their productivity. The American ideal was to allow everyone to prosper in proportion to their efforts, without government dictating their lives and to have personal freedoms such freedom of religious expression. The federal government has gone way beyond what its founders intended. It is supposed to protect us from foreign enemies and to make sure that the US Constitution is not infringed upon by the state and local governments. Sadly, liberal state and federal judges are accomplishing from the bench what our liberal legislators have not been able to do in Congress, in pushing forward the liberal and socialist agendas.

I know many educated idiots. I argued with them every day in college--they were usually the professors. The liberal elite think the common man is largely prejudiced, because of their lack of higher education and their outdated Judeo-Christian beliefs and principles. In the case of religious expression, liberals either find such expression offensive or unimportant in the balance of personal freedom, and they are unwilling to see that it is protected as it should be under our Constitution. So, there is no validity in the argument that an education prepares one to lead. Leadership does not come with a college degree. I have a BA in history and Master of Science in Occupational Safety and Health, but it is my study and efforts to understand the Constitution and apply it to my moral and religious understanding that qualify me to make choices in politics. Who understands our country and the world at large as I do? I don't think Obama and Biden are qualified to work for me. I don't care how many degrees they have and from what institutions they may got them from. It is what they want to do! They have proven themselves, by their associations and past votes to be wrong-headed. And they are wrong on every issue today, as I see it. I would have to be an idiot to vote for someone who thinks and acts opposite of my views and values, because of their education. One of the most brilliant men in the country in my book is Thomas Sowell, a man with a really impressive education, backed by common sense. I think I'll vote like he will surely vote.

ASK RANDY: Government Bailouts? How Can I Get One?

2008-09-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

That was the question a sarcastic young conservative friend of mine asked via an email recently. My name is not Abbey or Anne, but I am able to dish out advice with the best of them. So, here goes...

Well, it's actually pretty easy. First you become a huge financial firm or company on Wall Street, or you become a quasi governmental mortgage company with ties to powerful politicians that provide "oversight". Then, you hire a thirty-something CEO, who sees the potential of feathering his own nest at investors' (you) expense. Then, you ingratiate yourself with the politicians who "oversee" (both parties , but primarily Dems in the case of Fannie and Freddy) by donating to their re-election funds. Then, when the CEOs run the institution into the ground and bailout with their golden parachutes in tact and billowing in the wind, you can turn to the politicians who were supposed to be "watching" and warning the public of the danger ahead, and tell them that lots of people are going to be hurt if we are allowed to fail. The politicians take that argument to the public and say, "we're worried about the investors (you), so we feel compelled to bail them out with our money tree" (you, tax payer). And of course if the money tree (you, tax payer) dries up, Government can always print more money. So, in a nutshell, you just have to do stupid things and consort with unsavory people (sleazy CEOs and sleazy politicians) and put yourself between a rock and a hard place. It's easy!

If you have a question about anything at all, feel free to send you query to "Ask Randy" at rmundy@digis.net

Republican Silver Linings?

2008-09-05T07:30:00.001-07:00

I have been watching our political parties’ convention events the last couple of weeks and am pretty encouraged by what I have seen. The Democrats were as obnoxious and shrill as they normally are in their over-the-top condemnation of George Bush or any other Republican President in the past, how the world has lost respect for us, the world is more dangerous today because of Bush’s “bullying” “unilateral interventions and foreign policy “blunders”. It is always the worst economy in 40 to 50 years in the Liberal Democrat mind. Obama was his usual slick self in laying out his vision for America, creating social injustice in the minds of the public and selling the old tried and untrue liberal answers to our Country’s ills—whether they truly exist or not—actually presenting plans that will only make matters worse or create additional problems for the future like FDR, LBJ, and the great (ingrate) Jimmie Carter: plans that will increase taxation, spending, size of government, and cost of living for all of us.

The Republican Convention provided me with hope. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, I am waiting for an American Maggie Thatcher to vote for. From the speech she gave a couple of nights ago, I am inclined to believe that we may have her in Sarah Palin. I think a virtual political star was born Wednesday night in Sarah Palin. Palin could not have given a more powerful speech to fire up the conservative base of the Republican Party and attract some conservative-thinking unaffiliated independents. She was brilliant in her gentle attacks on Obama and company (media included) with a smile on her face. She was truly fun to watch. Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani were also very good at presenting the case for McCain, using their humor to skewer the “anointed one” and his “disciples”. Even John McCain, himself, gave a passably good speech, laying out the big differences between him and his opponent and blasting both parties for dropping the ball. We could have made good progress with a Republican majority in congress and residency in the White House, but the republicans squandered that opportunity, a major gripe for most Conservatives during the past seven years and big reason they allowed the Dems to take control two years ago. McCain pinpointed the problem in his speech and promised to do his duty in reducing spending, cutting taxes, where he could, and using his veto pen overtime. Such promises in combination with the advent of Sarah Palin are the silver lining we have been looking for on an extremely cloudy political day for conservative Republicans.

So, it looks to me like we may well win this thing after all. With the Republican Convention behind us, I feel pretty confident that the Republicans will get a significant bump in the polls. We will still have to deal with the mainstream media, who are firmly in the tank for Obama, but their over-reaching attacks and investigations and criticisms of Sarah Palin will likely create a backlash further exciting the Conservative voters into action that much more. The polls typically favor the left because of the way they are constructed, in my mind, so we can expect that tie in the polls will actually favor the Republicans. So, if it’s close or the Republicans have a slight lead, I will feel comfortable about a win for the presidency. But we will need to do some heavy lifting still for Congress. The veto pen will help us keep the status quo on legislation and the power to nominate judges will help us to possibly hold our own on federal judge appointments. A friendly or fearful Congress will make our efforts to change Washington much easier. Hope and change!

Racist, Sexist, Ageist America?

2008-09-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

So what are we Americans going to prove to be? Will we be racists, sexists or ageists? What ever the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election, you know an argument will be made for one of these moral deficiencies in the American electorate. If Obama loses, the left will decry the racist Right and lament the fact that we are just not ready to elect a black man to the highest office in the land.

This has been the argument from the media and the left from early on in the 2008 campaign. A liberal friend asked me several months ago before the revelations of Obama’s ties to his loony anti-American pastor, the Reverend (?) Wright, his criminal financier Tony Vesco, and his friendship with the dynamic Weathermen Ayres duo, and his ultra liberal voting record during his half term as a U.S. Senator, if I was ready for a Black President. My response was that I hoped it wasn’t this one. I know of several Conservative Black thinkers and politicians that I would love to see as the first Black President, like Mike Steel, Lt. Governor of Maryland; economist, Dr. Walter Williams, of George Mason University; and one of the most brilliant minds in America today—in my humble opinion—Thomas Sowell. Generally speaking, and opposite of what Liberals prejudicially think, we Conservatives are all about policy and how it is connected to right and wrong issues, not right and left. I will applaud louder than anyone on the left, when a black man or woman is elected President, but only if he reflects my political, moral, and ethical values.

On the Republican side, we have the oldest man ever to possibly be elected to the Presidency with a running mate who is decidedly a woman. McCain was not my first, second, or even third choice for the top spot. Though he has been great on the war on terror and has always opposed government over-spending and ear-marks, and been firmly pro-life, he has been goofy on his attempts to reach over the aisle on some crucial freedom of speech issues and seems to be almost as ignorant about the overall economy and ecology as the Liberal Democrats. His earlier acceptance of the global warming scam leaves me to doubt his intellect. My first choice, of course, was Romney. He had all of the Conservative credentials—though some had evolved, like his beliefs on right to life to a strong conservative stand. He is a brilliant business man who truly understands the world economy, supports the war against extremist Islam and understands how lower taxes and cutting government waste improves the economy and increases revenue. But, that is not what we got. It was my hope that Romney would at least get the V.P. nod to help McCain with some Conservative votes back and possibly tutor him on the realities of the economy. But, that too was not to be.

Enter Sarah Palin. Palin was obviously picked to try to get the female vote—presumably the disenchanted female vote that was supposed to go to Hillary Clinton, if she had made it on the Democratic ticket. I’m not sure how that will go, but happily, Sarah Palin is someone I can support. This might come as a surprise to some on the left, but we Conservatives are not opposed to “Conservative” women in politics. The Pelosis, Boxers, and Clintons of the feminine Left are not obnoxious to the Right because they are “women”, but because they are Liberals, who are exceedingly obnoxious to boot. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to have voted for a Margaret Thatcher or a Jeane Kirkpatrick. Sarah Palin is truly conservative who has demonstrated in her short time Alaska politics to be a strong advocate of pro-life, pro-gun rights, low taxes, cutting wasteful spending, and supporting the war efforts and our troops. She understands the issue of energy independence through opening up drilling for natural gas and oil everywhere we can and returning to build nuclear energy plants and new refineries. Hopefully she will have an impact like Thatcher or Kirkpatrick.

The truth is we on the Right are willing to vote for the Conservative person, no matter their race, sex, or age. When the choice is there, we will pick the person who reflects our values and will not be convinced that we are racist because we see Barak Obamma for what he is. Obama is a talented empty-suit speaker who says virtually nothing and associates almost exclusively with socialist extremists, and has the most liberal voting record in the Senate—his running mate, Joe Biden, has the third most liberal voting record—so it is easy to imagine what we would get. And the thought is not pretty. I will vote my clean conscience again this time: I’m voting for the fussy old Moderate and the hot young woman Conservative.

Was America Supposed to Be A Christian Nation?

2008-08-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I think most serious American Christians believe that our nation had a special designation from God, or was foreordained, to be a land to be governed on Christian principles. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Mormon, if you will-I believe that God blessed this land for the establishment of Christ's Kingdom in the last days, that it was to be a special place for freedom loving and God fearing people to possess, as long as they were righteous. Is that just an afterthought, to give ourselves a purpose and meaning in a troubled world? Why did our ancestors come here? What were the English explorers trying to do in America? Did they do it?

In the one hundred years after Columbus’s discovery of the New World, England found herself falling farther and farther behind its European competitors in the so called mercantilism that was the reigning economic philosophy of the time. England was also realizing that it had a growing unemployment problem. Sixteenth Century Europe was in the throws of Religious unrest, and the newly (relatively so) established Church of England found itself in competition with the Roman Catholic Church and was experiencing its own sub set of religious dissenters. Economic and religious pressures in England were forcing many to cast their eyes to North America for answers to their various problems. History shows that they were successful in accomplishing their aims, but it may also be argued that they were too successful. The English that wished to come to America did not envision the creation of a new separate nation.

England missed her chance of perhaps writing a much different history of the world, when Henry VII chose not to let Columbus sail for England. Instead, the newly formed Kingdom of Spain backed the Italian explorer, and thus launched itself into the forefront of Europe, growing wealthier by the shipload of stolen treasure and goods from its increasing number of American colonies. England watched as many of its seafaring neighbor nations dove into the colonizing fray. As other European countries became richer and England began to fall behind, Englishmen like Gilbert, Ralegh, Harriot, and the Haklyuts (the elder and the younger) began to raise their voices in unison calling for England to colonize as well. Richard Hakluyt (the younger) warned, “all other englishe Trades are growen beggerly or daungerous, especially in all the kinge of Spayne his Domynions, where our men are driven to flinge their Bibles and prayer Bokes into the sea, and to foreweare and renownce their relligion and conscience and consequently theyr obedience to her Majestie.” (Pp.46)

These Englishmen recognized, or at least hoped, that American colonies could supply England and her navies (for defense against Spain and other nations) with cheaper goods and supplies than they could, at that time, obtain through international trade. They understood that buying things that they needed through their competitors only enriched their competitors. North America was covered with virgin forests of great quality that offered materials for ship building that their own diminishing forests could no longer provide. The alternative would be to continue buying lumber and ship masts from Russia and Norway which was more difficult and costlier than a trip across the Atlantic. They also recognized that English products like wool were losing their strength in the European market place. England needed new products and an expanded market place. Its own American colonies would provide access to the new growing fur trade and, if a suitable place could be found for planting, a product for the wine and olive oil markets as well as new cash crops. Richard Hakluyt (the elder) suggested that grapes, olives and sugar cane might thrive in Virginia.

Rapid population growth (it more than doubled) and declining real wages in England between 1500 and 1650 were the cause of much unemployment and social stress during pre-colonial and colonial times. Much speculation arose amongst many of its proponents that American colonization was the answer to the population and employment problem. Englishmen like John Winthrop saw millions of acres of land in North America going to “waste without any improvement…” “Why then,” asks Winthrop, “should we stand hear striveing for places of habitation…?” (Pp.135) The fact that the land was already inhabited was of some concern but proponents rationalized displacing the native inhabitants because of the good things that they might bring to the ‘savages’. Winthrop declares, “We shall come in with the good leave of the natives, who finde benefit already by our neighborhood & learne of us…” (Pp.137) Those Englishmen who might not be able to make a living and raise a family in England would surely be able to in America. John Smith, as others before him, listed “ Carpenters, Masons, Fishers, Fowlers, Gardiners, Husbandmen, Sawyers, Smiths, Spinsters, Taylors, Weavers, and such like,” as necessary laborers in any properly organized colonization effort. (Pp.143) American colonies would supply much needed lands, resources, jobs, and markets for struggling England.

High, if not first, on every list of reasons for England’s proposed colonization of America is to spread the Anglican version of Christianity and compete with the Catholic Church abroad. Richard Hakluyt (the elder) claimed as his first reason for colonizing America was “The glory of God by planting of religion among those infadels.” (Pp.340) Hakluyt, the younger, likewise declared, as his number one reason, “That this westerne discoverie will be greately for the inlargement of the gospell of Christe…” (Pp.46) The continued spreading of the Catholic Church was particularly troublesome for the English at this time. John Winthrop, in his list of reasons, states, “…to rayse a Bulworke against the kingdome of the Antichrist, wich the Jesuites labour to rear up in those parts.” (Pp.134)

Though the English may have stumbled at first, as is shown by their initial difficulties at Roanoke and Jamestown, they were very successful in reaching their goals. Helped by a fortunate naval victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, the English were virtual masters of the seas. This freedom allowed them to pursue their goals of commerce via American colonization with minimal interference. They were indeed successful in providing employment and land for English subjects. The population of England’s North American colonies, much to the annoyance of the American Indians, was more than 250,000 by 1700 (more than 10 times the population of French and Spanish in North America). Trade in furs was so successful, again much to the displeasure of the Indians, that the beaver (and later the buffalo) were extremely depleted. The American forests were very beneficial to the building up of the great English navy and merchant marine. Although planters in the North American colonies had no success with grapes, olives, and sugar cane, they were, with the help of slave labor from Africa, able to dominate the tobacco trade. The colonies were eventually an economic success.

The English were equally successful, though often by use of force, in converting the Indians to Christianity. However, as colonists began to actually come to America, the religious reasons for colonization seem to shift from primarily doing missionary work to seeking religious toleration. Most significant was the fact that Englishmen were no longer pitted only against the Catholic brand of Christianity. Englishmen came seeking freedom from religious persecution from the Anglican and Catholic Church alike. After arriving, if one was unable to worship as they wished in a particular colony, they were often able to find like-minded worshippers and safety in another colony.

The English colonization of America was very successful. Richard Hakluyt (the elder) stated it very plainly when he wrote “The ends of this voyage are these: 1. To plant Christian religion. 2. To trafficke. 3. To conquer.” (Pp.39) England had accomplished virtually all of its goals. But perhaps, England’s efforts were too successful. Their American colonies, along with their other colonies around the globe, had helped England become the most powerful nation in the world. But, a century and a half after the English began to colonize North America, the Americans, as the colonist eventually became known, would form their own identity and require independence from England. The success of England’s colonization of North America was such that a new nation would be born--a nation that would replace England as the most powerful in the world. And, it became the foremost Christian nation in the world, perhaps the blessed place tha we serious Christians have always believed it to be.

Rolling With The Punches

2008-08-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Things are changing all of the time for everyone, whether they realize it or not. My position with the companies I work for is going to likely change in the near future. At the best, I will be continuing with them as a Consultant at a reduced compensation. This would allow me to take on other clients, of course, so I hope to be able make up the loss in income. I am better prepared for this event than I would have been six months ago. We made concerted efforts to reduce our debt--refinance the home, eliminate our second mortgage on the home, pay off the credit card debt we necessarily accumulated in our move here to Utah and all of the improvements I made on the house to make it livable for my immediate family along with my handicapped mother-in-law and handicapped sister-in-law--and we were able to get that accomplished a couple of months ago. I should mention here that our younger daughter, Ingrid, has moved out into the world to pursue school and work, but that our older daughter, Heidi, who was a police officer in Nashville, TN, has recently taken a job as a police officer at the University of Utah--she was sworn in yesterday afternoon--and will be living with us while she pays off debt--some of which is to us for helping her with the cost of move here--so, we slid back a bit in the debt department.

I will be busier than ever for the next little while, trying to figure out how things will need to be for the immediate future. I'm not exactly sure what arrangements and considerations will be made by my employers at this point, but believe they will be fair. I have already started looking for prospective clients and have some promising, I think, possibilities. So, keep me and my and my family in my prayers.

This actually happened to me earlier in my career and it turned out to be a positive. The company I was working for in Kansas as a safety management out of business and sold off all of their assets. I was a bit shocked, but I had already been working as a consultant with another company--this was with my employer’s knowledge and permission to allow me more income--so I was better prepared to go full-time as a consultant. Fortunately, the company that bought most of the assets from my employer decided he wanted hire me as a consultant, relaying to me that he did not feel he could afford me full time. This was my second client. I started teaching part-time for an environmental training association around the same time and shortly picked up a couple more clients. By the end of my first tenure as a full-time consultant I was making more than half again as much money as I had been as a full-time safety manager.

So, history has taught me to keep a positive attitude. I am confident that things will work out fine if I persevere, roll with punches, and keep paying my tithing.

Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right!

2008-07-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get into my Blog lately, but I had this one planned for a while. I have been doing a fair amount with the "Profiles in American Leadership" lately, all while fretting over the current political and economic, not to mention social, landscapes. Though I have several more historical figures to spotlight in the near future, I think it only right that I take a moment to vent my spleen on things politic. And so...

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a
member of Congress.. But I repeat myself."

--Mark Twain

Who, with any understanding of the politics of today can argue with Mr. Twain? We cannot blame the Democrats alone for the fuel prices and the slow economy, though they deserve the bulk—notice I did not say a “recession”, we’re not there yet. But, if the Dems and the media have their way we will be in a recession by the end of the year. The Republicans, though they regularly argued against current legislation prohibiting drilling in promising places and the building of new refineries and nuclear power plants for over thirty years, had control of both the legislative and executive branches for several years and did literally nothing to correct the governmental energy policies that have brought us to this scary point in time.

True, we have been trying to fight a war against terror on more than one front in the Mid East--and against the Dems and the media at home--but the Republicans have lost their way. Republicans try too hard to get along, even when it when it is against their interest to do so. The crazy Democrats have taken the opposite position to the Bush administration at every turn, no matter how ludicrous and idiotic, trusting that the public is fickle enough and uninformed enough to be warn down and turned in public opinion; if the Dems can drone on without serious questioning of facts and argument from the Republicans and Conservatives; and if the mainstream media is complicit enough to carry water for them. Of course, his had been the case for ever, but most obviously self destructive since 9/11/01.

The war in Iraq is winding down and new violence in Afghanistan is being quelled effectively, and the terrorists are getting their heads handed to them--I only wish it were in a literal sense*--wherever they can be found. Clearly, our efforts must continue in this regard, or perhaps even up the anti by putting more pressure on the other clowns in the area. But, any success we have against terror, though good for America, will be ignored by the Media or painted black by the Dems and Libs, because it hurts their chances in the polls.

The Republicans, however, have been frightened off by the Dems wins last election. They are in disarray and don’t know where to go or what to do. Let’s face it: they are just are not in the same league as the democrats when it comes to hard nosed politics. Republicans can be shamed by obvious misdeeds into eating their own, while the Democrats can stare into the sun and declare that it’s midnight. And the Media will never point out the obvious discrepancies.

Now we have an opportunity to slap the Democrats wit a resounding defeat in the upcoming elections. Although we have a pretty weak presidential nominee in John McCain—he actually buys into the “Global Warming” con game that the left has been playing for the last twenty years—the fuel prices and oil drilling issues we are faced with today should not only easily keep us from losing seats in Congress again this time around, but could easily give us back control. The Democrats chickens have come home to roost in regards to the nation’s energy policy, and the public needs to know who laid the rotten eggs that these ugly chickens were hatched from. However, the question arises: Do the republicans have the good sense and the guts to play the game hard? If we let this opportunity go by, we are as stupid and leaderless as I have begun to believe us, since the elections of 2000.

Even with McCain, our chances are good. Let’s face it: Obama is another gift. We cannot be afraid to call him what he is: an empty suit with empty rhetoric trying to distance himself, with help of the fawning media, from crazy leftist extremists in his past and present. We can pressure McCain to fight with the gloves off and to choose a V.P. who actually knows something about the economy and who is conservative enough to appease some of us conservatives who are holding our noses while we vote for him. We might even be able to coax some conservatives back who have refused to vote for McCain or wait till 2012. Romney is my obvious pick. Jindal would be my second.

The truth is that the American public is not as smart and informed as it has been in the past. Reagan was able to got them and explain why he was right and why they should follow him. I think that, if we take the facts to the voting public and articulate our argument with logic and without fear, not even the leftist media will be able to hide the truth. Lincoln said, “You can deceive some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t deceive all of the people all of the time.” The Dems and the mainstream media have had a good run lately, but I hope that we can turn the tied back again and that Mr. Twain will be only partially right this time around.

note *(I've thought for a long time that it should be made known to all prospective suicide bombers that their remains will be gathered up and sewn inside of pig carcases and buried appropriately. I'm not sure, but I suspect that for some of the literal minded Muslim Crazies, it might be a deterrent. After all, what self respecting Muslim virgin would sidle up to a martyr in paradise wearing a pigskin suit.)

RONALD WILSON REAGAN

2008-07-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

As a boy I watched a lot of television. In those days, old black and white movies were broadcast in the afternoons throughout the week on local stations. I suspect that I watched hundreds of old movies in those days and I had my favorite films and my favorite actors. I cannot say that there were many Ronald Reagan films that I remember thinking were outstanding, but I remember liking Ronald Reagan. In my later childhood years, I would see him in guest appearances on television productions, generally westerns, and eventually I saw him as the host of Death Valley Days. I continued to like him. When he came on the national scene as a candidate for president of the United States and I began to familiarize myself with his political beliefs, I not only liked him, I began to LOVE him. I saw him as everything I wanted in a president. I was so disappointed when he lost the 1976 republican nomination for president, that I threw my vote to a third-party candidate—an action that I vow to never do again, thank you Jimmie Carter. When Reagan won the presidency in 1980, I was jubilant. When he was re-elected four years later, I had hopes that the Reagan revolution would have a long-term impact on American politics. When Reagan died in 2004 and I watched his funeral and the various tributes to him on television, I was convinced that an historical giant and one of the greatest American Presidents had lived and died during my lifetime. Ronald Reagan was one of my true heroes.

Ronald Wilson Reagan
(February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004)

Ronald Reagan, nicknamed “Dutch” by his father for his Dutch boy haircut he wore as a child, was the second of two sons born to John and Nelle Wilson Reagan in Tampico, Illinois, in a small apartment over the local bank. As a boy, he moved around with his parents to various small Illinois towns, often living in poor circumstances due to his father’s alcoholism and employment as a traveling salesman. Reagan’s mother’s influence on him was critical during his youth, when he learned to have respect for minorities and faith in God and the basic goodness in people and an optimistic view of life. Reagan said that his devoutly religious mother would invite black people passing through Dixon, Illinois—persons who he would habitually bring home with him because they were not welcome at the local inn—to pass the night in their home and breakfast the next day before traveling on.

Reagan was a good athlete in high school and college, excelling in football, and attended the local college in Eureka, Illinois, where he worked summers as a lifeguard. He graduated from college with a BA in economics, but he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and began a career as sports announcer at WOC radio. On a road trip with the Chicago Cubs in California in 1937, Reagan made a screen test for Warner Brothers Studios and landed a film contract which launched a successful acting career that lasted until 1964 and featured 60 feature films and appearances on more than 15 television shows as an actor or host.

Through a home-study program offered by the US Army, Reagan studied toward an officer’s commission and enlisted as a private as a cavalry soldier in Des Moines, Iowa in April of 1937. The following month he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corp of the US Cavalry. After his move to California and the start of World War II Reagan was called to active duty. His poor eyesight precluded him from serving on the war front but he found important service in the Army’s 1st Motion Picture Unit making films to promote the armed services and the war effort. Before leaving the service in 1945, Reagan had earned the rank of Captain.

During the same time period Reagan made choices that would eventually take him to the White House. It was then that became involved in the Screen Actor’s Guild and was eventually elected its president and served from 1947 to1952 and again in 1959. It was during these years that his political beliefs began to come to the forefront, dealing with labor-management disputes and testifying before Congress in the House Committee on Un American Activities. He defended the rights of Americans to have the political beliefs they chose but condemned those that chose to act as agents for a foreign country. By 1948, Reagan began to have political aspirations—a partial cause for his divorce from actress, Jane Wyman, with whom he shared three children—and began to have reservations about the direction of the Democrat party. Reagan became a Republican in 1962 and married actress, Nancy Davis, who bore him two additional children and supported his political ambitions. He would later say that he did not leave the Democrat Party, but that the Democrat Party left him.

During his time as the spokesman for General Electric, Reagan honed his skill as a speech writer and developing the style of public speaking that would serve him so well in politics. At the 1964 Republican Party Convention, Reagan was given the opportunity to speak in behalf of Barry Goldwater and conservative ideals. It was this “Time for Choosing” speech that so impressed his fellow Californians that they began to see him as the Governor of their state and Reagan’s political career was launched. Reagan was elected Governor two years later and served in that office from 1967 to 1975.

Reagan began looking towards the White House almost immediately, enter the Presidential frey seeking the republican nomination in 1968 to give his party an option besides Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. After two terms as Governor of California and largely successful effort to bring the California economy more sound and the state government more solvent, Reagan began a more earnest attempt to capture the Republican nomination for President. Richard Nixon had resigned from the oval office during his second term because of the Watergate scandal and his then Vice President, Gerald Ford finished his term and was running as incumbent. This made it difficult for Reagan to win the nomination, but he came very close, winning 1070 delegates to Ford’s 1187. But again, Reagan established himself as the Conservative answer to liberal (Carter) and moderate (Ford) political positions. Four years later, Reagan would easily win the republican nomination and even more easily win the presidency over Jimmy Carter in a landslide. Reagan also had long coat tails—the Republicans recaptured control of the Senate after almost 30 years and gained 34 seats in the House of Representatives. Reagan easily won re-election in 1984 by an even great landslide than before, winning every state but Minnesota and the District of Columbia, with record 525 electoral vote and nearly 59% 0f the popular vote.

Reagan’s administration began in dramatic fashion, with Iran releasing 52 hostages who had been held for 444 days which had caused great frustration for the American people and had weakened further the already weak Carter administration. The prevailing thought at the time was that the Iranian government did not expect Ronald Reagan, who was generally perceived abroad as a “Cowboy”, to sit passively by as Jimmie Carter had. This only propelled Reagan’s image to greater heights with the American people and began to re moralize the American military, something that Reagan had promised would be a priority of his administration.

Reagan’s prevailing philosophy on domestic issues throughout his presidency was that "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." Reagan’s policies were geared to allow more personal freedom and to ween people away from dependency on the government, to cut taxes and government controls, to allow more Americans more of their own money to spend as they saw fit, which would, in turn grow the economy. His supply-side economic philosophy and his desire to eliminate government restrictions on businesses were criticized roundly by liberal democrats and most of the media, but he persisted and he prevailed by calling on public support.

Reagan’s ability to connect with the common man suggested to many analysts the title “The Great Communicator.” He turned often to the American public in televised speeches explaining his plans and goals to drum up support for his policies and explain respectfully his difficulties with his advisories in Congress. This practice was very effective. The American public responded time and again by calling their congress men and women to express their support for the president and Congress would concede. Through this practice he was able to pursue his domestic and foreign policies to great effect. He also rebuilt the image of the United States and respect for it’s military strength abroad.

Reagan’s economic policies and tax cuts eventually grew the economy to unpresidented levels—the longest stretch of largely uninterrupted economic prosperity in American history of 28 years to date—and, as he predicted, vastly increased federal revenue. Detractors would later decry the fact that government spending during the Reagan years actually increased and that United States’ debt increased to record levels, however, most of the increase in spending was due to Reagan’s efforts to rebuild the United States military. The renewed prosperity that followed his tax polices has continued for nearly thirty years, in spite of major hits to the economy during the past couple of decades by such events as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past.

Reagan’s focus on rebuilding the Military was a large part of re-establishing the United States as the greatest military power on the earth and to back his desire to promote democracy throughout the world and to protect America’s interests abroad. Reagan increased military spending by 40% in his first six years as president and proposed the “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI), a missile system designed to shoot down enemy missiles in flight before they could reach America. Detractors called his plan “Star Wars” and claimed that it was infeasible. Today the system has proved not only feasible, but very successful and promises to be strong deterrent, as it is perfected and put in place. The Soviet Union could not match
America’s economic might and could not keep up in the arms race. When Mikhail Gorbachev came into power in the Soviet Union, Reagan saw an opportunity to push the Soviets toward more openness, understanding that freedom of speech would eventually spell the end of the Soviet Union. Reagan met with the Soviet leader at 4 summits to discuss arms reduction and push the Russian for concessions on human rights, insisting that the SDI program—a system that the Soviets knew they could not afford and could not duplicate—was not on the table for negotiation Though many feared Reagan’s unapologetic anti-communist rhetoric and in-your-face foreign policy, would lead us into war—early in his presidency he described the Soviet Union as an evil empire—he was proven correct again. In a speech at the Berlin Wall near the end of his presidency, Reagan, sensing that the time was right, called for Gorbachev’s government to “tear down this wall.” In 1979, the Berlin Wall was disassembled and two years after that, the Soviet Union followed suit.

Reagan had some difficult times as well, but he took adversity in stride and with usual optimistic good humor. Early in his first year as president, Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. Though he was near to death in the hospital, as he was preparing to go into surgery, he quipped to the doctors, “I hope you are all Republicans”. Also early on, he felt compelled to fire 11,345 Federal Air Traffic Controllers who chose to strike against his warnings not to do so. In 1983, 241 marines were killed in a terrorist bombing of a barracks in Lebanon, where the marines had been stationed as a peacekeeping force. The US forces were removed, giving some of our enemies the opinion that America would not stand against terrorism. Later, Reagan ordered US forces to Granada to put down a communist takeover of the Island state and protect American citizens and interests there. After suffering numerous terrorist attacks, Reagan was able to establish a connection to some of the terrorist activities with Lybian dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. On April 15, 1986, Reagan ordered air strikes on Lybia declaring, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office."

Perhaps, Reagan’s most difficult challenge was his attempt to aid anti-communist forces in Nicaragua against opposition from Democrats in Congress, which resulted in the "Iran-Contra Affair". The National Security team in his administration orchestrated sales of weaponry to Iran and gave some of the proceeds to support the “Contra Insurgents in Nicaragua who were fighting the Communist government there. The Tower Commission, who investigated the “Iran-Contra” scandal when it became known, determined that there was no evidence that Reagan knew of the “scheme”, but criticised the President for being inattentive in his duties.

Though his popularity dipped from 67% approval to just under 50% for a short time after the Iran Contra scandal, Reagan left office as one of the most popular President in American history and became an icon for Republicans and especially for Conservatives. During a vacation in Mexico in 1989, Reagan took a fall from a horse and received a concussion and underwent surgery to relieve subdurl hematoma. Doctors suspect that the event hastened the onset of Alzheimer's that eventually caused his death on the 5th of June, 2004. The national mourning and tributes that followed testify of the great love and respect that the American public held for President Ronald Wilson Reagan. No one loved his country more or respected the office he held more than Ronald Reagan. He would never enter the oval office without a coat and tie and expected the same of others. He was poetic in his expressions about his country as a “shining city on a hill” and often proclaimed the it’s greatest days were in it’s future.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle, Challenger, exploded during takeoff killing all aboard. Reagan’s response was a speech considered by many to be one of his greatest: “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them... We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God.” Ronald Wilson Reagan should likewise be remembered. He was an island of optimistic and visionary leadership for America's future in a sea of unimaginative status quo modern practitioners of politics.

STEVE ALLEN

2008-06-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite entertainers as a child was Steve Allen. I liked to stay up late, if I could get away with it, and watch “Severing” on NBC’s Tonight Show. Most people of the baby boomer set probably think of long-time-host, Johnny Carson, when they think of the Television Talk Show/Variety Show format that still flourishes today with the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman. Many entertainment personalities have tried their hand at it in the past 50 years, and the concept of a comedian telling jokes, interviewing other celebrities, and introducing performers old and new has been the staple for late night television viewers for half a century. As good as Johnny Carson was for twenty years he did not originate the concept. Before him, Jack Parr sat behind the Tonight Show desk. And before Parr, there was the father of late-night TV talk, Steve Allen.

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
December 26, 1921—October, 2000

Steve Allen was a child of vaudeville performers and was raised in Chicago by his mother’s family. He attended college in Tempe Arizona, but left during his sophomore year to work in radio at a local station. Allen enlisted as an infantryman during World War II but did not serve overseas. After the war he returned to California where he had been stationed in the military and landed a job as a radio announcer. Allen parleyed his announcing duties into a comedy show that increased his popularity and opened doors for his concept of a musical and talk format that he continued to develop.
Allen was a very innovative and creatively spontaneous performer. When a scheduled guest to one of his shows, Doris Day, was a no-show, Allen opted to go into the audience to conduct impromptu interviews of average people—this idea evolved into his “man on the streets” bits that he later did on television. This became a staple of his shows and is a popular exercise of talk show hosts to this day. As a last-minute stand-in host for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Allen add libbed commercials to the delight of the studio and radio audiences exposing Allen’s talent to it’s biggest audience yet.
In the early 1950s, Allen moved to New York City, where he did radio shows for CBS, but eventually created a late-night variety/talk television program for local television in 1953. The local popularity of the show convinced NBC to launch Steve Allen’s concept as “The Tonight Show” the following year. In 1956, while continuing his duties as The Tonight Show host Monday through Friday, NBC began a Sunday night variety show with Allen as the host to compete with Ed Sullivan’s show on CBS. During these New York years, Allen was instrumental in launching the careers of many performers on his TV programs, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Don Knotts, and Johnny Carson. Allen also starred in Hollywood films during the fifties, including the dramatic “Benny Goodman Story” which allowed him to bring many of the greats of the big band era to the big screen with him and pay homage to the music genre that he loved. In 1957, Allen left the Tonight Show to focus on the Sunday variety show, but left that show and New York to return to Los Angeles in 1959.
In Los Angeles Allen continued to host syndicated variety shows and worked on music composition and books—Allen would eventually write more than 10,000 songs during his career—writing songs that were recorded by major artists and garnered a Grammy award and authoring some 50 books on comedy and his views on life. During the next three decades, Allen’s shows provided further important exposure for up-and-coming comedians like Rob Reiner, John Byner and Ruth Buzzi, and influenced many talk show hosts who would come later. One of his best projects was the award-winning program “Meeting Of The Minds” which he produced and was aired on PBS from 1977 to 1981. Meeting Of The Minds was a talk show format where Allen was host and actors portrayed famous people from different times in history gathered together to discuss their views on various topics, such as politics, religion, morality and society.
Steve Allen was liberal in his politics and most of his social views for the greater part of his life—he was a self proclaimed secular humanist—and though he generally defended liberal freedom of speech, he became troubled in his late years by what he considered smutty content on radio and television. He aligned himself with those who wanted to restrict content like the Parents Television Council, Prior to his death, which resulted from an auto accident in 2000, Allen began referring to himself in speeches supporting restriction of offensive material in the media, as an “involved Presbyterian”. A full-page advertisement in support of his proposed restrictions offensive content appeared newspapers the days before his death.
Steve Allen was an original, and he set the template for an industry format that will likely continue on long after most of us who saw it’s inception are gone. He was unwilling to be satisfied by mediocrity and constantly moved on to the next opportunity, and tried to make quality programing the ideal and stretch his obvious talent. In much he was probably ahead of his time, but Steve Allen should get the acknowledgement his particular genius deserves: he was the first and in my mind, the best at what he did.

I Was A Teenage Mormon Missionary

2008-06-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine and former missionary companion from the Guatemala-El Salvador mission circa 1972, Lynn Kleinman, has been sending me some pictures from our time together in Retaluleu, Guatemala, and I thought it might be a good thing to post some comments on my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Like most young missionary men, I was 19 years of age when I set out to be a missionary and was gone from home and family for two years. When I got my mission call from President Joseph Fielding Smith, I was unsure of where the countries were, but the El Salvador part cued me in that it might be a Spanish-speaking mission. I had wanted to go on a foreign mission but without the foreign language part of it, like somewhere in the British Isles, Australia, or New Zealand. However, I have no regrets about serving in Central America and learning to speak Spanish—I had no foreign language training prior to my missionary training—because I have actually used it quite a bit since, I sold lumber for a little while in Los Angeles and had quite a few customers who spoke primarily Spanish and, in later years, I taught safety and asbestos worker training as a safety consultant in Spanish. I even served as the branch president of a Spanish branch of the Church a couple of years ago.

I learned to love the Latinos and Indian people of my mission and enjoyed greatly my association with them and rejoiced when they accepted our message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and were baptized and embraced membership in the Church. Their lives were usually changed for ever for the good. During the past 35 or so years since coming home to the States, I have run into Guatemalans or Salvadorans who either knew me or heard of me from those days—I was part of a singing group that toured the mission for several months in 1972 and helped create some good exposure for the Church and helped generate thousands of referrals for the missionaries to look up and teach. It has been great to see the terrific growth of the Church in my old areas and see the members prosper. Where we only had one Stake—in the capital of Guatemala—when I arrived in the mission, there are numerous stakes and two temples Guatemala and one announced for San Salvador, not to mention the half dozen or more missions that now cover the same territory my old mission covered. While a missionary, I helped teach over 50 individuals who joined the Church. I also heard that some 200 or so individuals came into the Church as a result of seeing our singing group perform and asked to have the local missionaries come teach them more. It was a great experience.

Of course, I also created some great friendships with my missionary companions and others in the mission with whom I worked closely. I hesitate to mention names, not because my memory is bad these days, but because I would probably hurt some feelings by not mentioning some really important ones. However, my first companion was Layne Thompson. I could not have had a better. He was a great example of a missionary who worked very hard when it was time to work and played hard when it was time to relax and play. My last companion was Richard Koplin, a young missionary with great humility and a desire to serve the Lord. I hope I was as good an example and influence on him and my other junior companions as Elder Thompson was for me. Each of my companions had an impact on my work, my testimony, and my desire to serve faithfully. I gained something from each one. It has been said more than once by probably thousands of people that the Church must be true because the young missionaries would have destroyed it long ago. I think there is a bit of truth in that. As good as we young missionaries were, and probably are today, it is remarkable that so much responsibility is given to and accepted by so many young men and women to spread the message of the restored Gospel—a pretty scary thought, if there was not so much faith involved, by both the leadership of the Church and the missionary force in general. In most cases, we were teenagers when we arrived and barely 21 when we returned to our homes. We liked rock and roll music and sports, and loved to do the things that other kids our age liked to do. I remember four of us having a water-fight once in our apartments that also housed the local chapel that ended with all of clothes being dumped in the “pila” which doubled as a baptismal font. In town we held a “rodeo” in our apartments where we rode on a hammock while two others rocked the “horse” at either end to try to dislodge us. It was great fun until the hooks that held the hammock were pulled from the walls. In most cases—not in mine—we left girlfriends at home with the innocent expectation that they would wait for us. We resigned ourselves to a non-dating life for two years and experienced a time in our lives in which we were more attractive to the opposite sex than we would ever be again, but be unable to capitalize on it. I some cases, we would be called to be THE authority of the Church in a small town, presiding over a branch of the Church.

Our mission President, Harvey S. Glade, a man of great faith, was willing to let 5 young men under the age of 22 go rambling across two countries with acoustic guitars, a tiny PA system, and a suitcase a piece—usually, this was accomplished by bus, but often by hitch-hiking or begging rides where we could find them—trying to get to the next town, where the local “Elders” were preparing for us to give a performance that would, hopefully, not embarrass the Church, but convince people that they should look into this new religion. This group was “La Familia Unida” (the united family) and consisted of Randy Teel, from Texas; Scott Eddo, from Southern California; John Cameron, from Ohio; Scott Shirley, from Idaho; and myself. We had all had some experience entertaining to greater of lesser degree prior to our missions and were eager and ready to sacrifice ourselves and our “talents” for the greater good. The idea fo rthe show was Cameron's brain child. He went to President Glade immediately upon arriving at the mission and proposed a show where the missionaries would promote the Gospel message through song and dance--dance was Cameron's department. The idea evolved into a sort of folk quintet who strummed acoustic guitars and sang a variety of songs from Rock, to Broadway, to Spanish popular, to religious hymns, and presented a show about the Church’s Home Evening program. As ill conceived as it sounds, the “show” was pretty successful. We were young and dumb enough to want to do it and our Mission President was inspired enough to let us try it. We had a great time—at least I did. We went everywhere in the mission—everywhere in Guatemala and El Salvador where we had missionaries. In some places we played to very small crowds, and it was doubtful that the people “got it”, and in other places where we played before more than a thousand or full houses and the folks really bought into us. We did a nationally broadcast radio show in Guatemala and appeared as guest performers on the most popular TV show in El Salvador, “Buscando Las Estrellas” (Searching for The Stars).
I still keep in touch with those guys and we hope to do a reunion performance at our mission reunion this October (08).

I might mention here that Scott Shirley has written a very entertaining history of La familia Unida and our many escapades which is posted on the Guatemala-El Salvador Alumni website (http://www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/Paseo.html). He has also posted the “Shirley Chronicles” (http://www.mission.net/guatemala/el-salvador/ShirleyC.html)on the same website, which is also very entertaining and tells of his experiences as a missionary. I might say here also that I feature prominently in the Shirley Chronicles, since he and I spent around 16 months of our missions together as companions, living at the same apartment, or living in close proximity in the same district. So, if you want to know more about my missionary experiences from a secondary, unbiased source, his would be the best. For example, it tells about us being thrown out of the Guatemala City Zoo for causing a disturbance—we had set up a street display and had so many people around us listening to us that foot traffic was through the area was stopped—I was also thrown out of the San Salvador zoo for the same offense.

My mission not only made me a better Latter-day Saint, but it made me a better American and more appreciative of the stature of the United States in a troubled world. I know from experience, of living in the third world, that we Americans are truly a blessed people. No other nation on the earth has so much to offer in opportunity for success and the freedom to pursue a dream. It is easy for me to understand why so many want to come here and take advantage of both opportunity and freedom. It is also easy for me to understand why we are hated by so great a segment of the population of the world. For some, we represent the greatest challenge to their way of life, whether it is religious or political dictatorship, or nationalistic jealousy. No nation has been more ready to help in the time of need and do the hard work and expend their resources than the United States of America. And, I must also add, that no Church or religious group has been more eager to respond in the same ways throughout the world in time of need than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My mission was a blessing to me that has extended throughout my life. It is a common saying within the Mormon culture that “my mission was the best two years of my life”. I can say that it truly was up to that point. It pales in comparison to marrying and seeing your children born and watching them grow into adults. I hoped that my sons would also go and have the same testimony and character-building experiences that I had. My second oldest, Tyler, has done so—he went to Chile, so we share a common second language—and I have hope that my youngest, Dylan, will take advantage of the opportunity in a couple of years. Nothing I had done up to that point in my life had prepared me more for life than my missionary experience. It taught me to serve others, to put the welfare of others before my own, it taught me to pray for others, to struggle with my own testimony of the Gospel and help others struggle to gain their own. I learned that I could accomplish great things, if I applied myself and trusted in the Lord—a truism that I have had to rely upon many times in my life since. My mission helped sculpt me into the work of art, such as it is, that I am today.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

2008-05-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

In 1927, the carving of Mount Rushmore began with the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt to be representative of the greatness of America’s first 150 years—representing the establishment, enlargement, and protection of our nation. Only eight years had passed since Roosevelt had passed away, so his greatness as a President and leader had not lost much of its power over the mind of the American public. Though there may be others who might have qualified to be included—Susan B. Anthony was actually considered early on by a certain faction—if the faces on the mount were limited to just four, then Theodore Roosevelt without doubt deserved to be there, if for no other reason than his exuberance, love for his country and power of persuasion at a pivital time in the nation's history.

Theodore Roosevelt
October 27, 1858—January 6, 1919

Theodore Roosevelt, at his death was perhaps the greatest single personality of the time. He had been the model of masculinity and the dominant political figure in American politics and social justice for twenty years. The power of his personality and his willingness to take on formidable tasks had engendered both great love and respect from his supporters—these were the majority—and fear and loathing from his detractors. Not since Lincoln—as a child, Roosevelt viewed Lincoln’s funeral—had such a strong personality imposed its will on the nation and wielded such history-changing power. And, it could be argued that no other president of the United States, except perhaps Thomas Jefferson, had such varied talents and interests.

Roosevelt was sickly as a young child, but with the promptings of his parents—his father was his hero and “the best man I ever knew”, teaching by example the importance of combining strength, courage, gentleness and unselfishness—he built himself, through vigorous exercise and strenuous outdoor pursuits, into a powerful and vigorous physical specimen and endeavored to live up to his father’s ideals of character. He thrived on pitting himself against difficult physical and mental tasks. His interests were varied and many. As a youth he delved into zoology and taxidermy and wrote a scholarly paper on “The Natural History of Insects. His scholarly works later included some 35 publications on natural history, political history, the history of the Navy, frontier life and an autobiography. His college years at Harvard were spent in pursuit of athletic and scholastic excellence. He was the runner up in the Harvard boxing championship and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude.

After entering law school, Roosevelt felt the call to politics and became a New York assemblyman in 1881, where he began a career of trying to pull the Republican party towards progressive thought, and where he wrote more bills than any other assemblyman. After the death of his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, in 1884, Roosevelt was brokenhearted, and he fled from politics and New York, leaving his newborn daughter, Alice Lee, to the care of his sister, while he went off to become a rancher in the Dakotas. While ranching in the Dakota Territory, Roosevelt was elected sheriff, and as as such, made some courageous arrests of rustlers and outlaws, all while writing articles about western life for magazines published in the East. After his cattle herd was destroyed by a particularly bad winter, Roosevelt returned to New York where he ran for Mayor of New York city but lost. But, he also met and married his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, whom he took to Europe in 1886 for their honeymoon. While there, the ever adventurous Roosevelt led a group of climbers to the summit of Mount Blanc, for which he was inducted into the British Royal Society.

Roosevelt supported Benjamin Harris in the 1888 presidential election and was appointed to the U.S. Civil Service Commission where he served until 1895—he had also been reappointed to the post under democrat Grover Cleveland. In 1895, Roosevelt became the head of the New York City Police Commissioners where he turned one of the most corrupt and disreputable police forces in America into possibly the nations best. He implemented rules and regulations that governed discipline, weaponry, entry exams, and physical and mental fitness. No longer was employment dependent on political persuasion or restricted by ethnic background. Even women were allowed to join the force. Roosevelt, himself, would walk the beats at night to verify that the officers were out performing their duties. He also instituted bicycle patrols and installed telephones in all police stations.

In 1897, President Mckinley appointed Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. This was an exciting opportunity for Roosevelt who, as an historian had written a history of the US Navy. He took the opportunity to do all within his power to prepare the Nay for any potential war—preparedness for war would be a focus throughout the rest of his political career—and was a leading voice in support of the United States’ war with Spain. When war began with Spain in 1898, Roosevelt personally organized and commanded the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, known as the “Rough Riders”, where he gained notoriety for leading victorious charges against the Spanish in Cuba. His service at the Battle of San Juan Hill was honored by a recommendation for the congressional medal of honor, but was initialy denied the medal, apparently, for voicing criticism of the military’s handling of the war. However, he did receive it posthumously—as did his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. for his heroics at Normandy during World War II—more than a hundred years later in 2001 making him the only American President to have received the Medal of Honor.

Upon his return as a war hero, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York State in 1899. As governor of New York he worked so hard and effectively to root out political corruption, that the political bosses of the Republican Party, in order to get Roosevelt out of their political hair, convinced President McKinley to add him to his ticket as Vice President for his reelection campaign in 1900. Just six months after Roosevelt was sworn in as Vice President, President Mckinley was assassinated and Roosevelt, at the young age of 42, became the youngest President in American history.

Roosevelt’s interest in nature and his love for the American West and it’s numerous resources created within him a desire to use his power as President to become the nation’s greatest conservationist. He pushed congress to set aside almost 200 millions of acres of land in the West as national parks, national forests and nature preserves, to protect them for future generations. As President, Roosevelt continued his proclivity towards progressive politics, taking on corporations which he felt were corrupt and were illegally working against the American people’s interest. He personally filed 44 law suits to bridle corporate misconduct. The results of his efforts to even the playing field between workers and business owners and protecting consumers, were the Hepburn Act of 1906, which allowed for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate transportation of people and goods and the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act of the same year, to regulate railroad rates, recognizing that the railroads had a monopoly, and to make food and drugs safer for public consumption. Roosevelt also stepped in, when he felt necessary, to mediate between labor unions and business, as he did during the coal strike of 1907, to protect the balance of fairness between industry, the work force and the American consumer, which he felt was vital to the American capitalist system and in the nation's interest as a whole. Roosevelt’s skills as a mediator also earned him the Nobel Peace Prize when he negotiated an end to the Ruso-Japanese War that same year, and a later dispute between Germany and France over Morocco, which might have escalated into a world war.

On the world stage, Roosevelt made the United States a super power. He dramatically increased the size of the navy and sent it around the world to show off—primarily for the benefit of the Japanese—the "Big Stick” part of his foreign policy: “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” In 1903, Roosevelt backed Panama in their break with Columbia and took over the building of the Panama Canal from the French who had contracted with Columbia to build it. The U.S. was able to accelerate the building of the canal by eliminating the swamps that were the breeding places of the mosquitoes which spread the yellow fever and malaria amongst the workers and had slowed greatly the progress of the building of the canal under the direction of Columbia and France. The United states became the protector and controller of the Canal by treaty until the Carter administration.

Roosevelt easily won the 1904 election for president in an electoral college landslide, 336 to 140. He made a promise not to run again in 1908, but he regretted the decision soon after his hand-picked successor and friend, William Howard Taft, became president and changed political direction from that plotted by Roosevelt. Roosevelt decided to run again in 1912 but was unable to grasp the nomination of the Republican party from Taft. So, Roosevelt broke with the Republican party and ran again, against his old friend, at the head of his own “Bull Moose Party. This split the party so badly that Woodrow Wilson won the White House back for the Democrats. During the 1912 presidential campaign, Roosevelt was shot in an assassination attempt prior to a speech, the bullet lodging in his chest muscle. Roosevelt assumed that since he was not coughing up blood, the bullet had not entered his lungs and that he would be able to give his ninety-minute speech. True to his nature, he did so before seeking medical treatment.

Roosevelt's years after his presidency were spent doing the things he enjoyed most; traveling to the wilds of Africa and South America, hunting and exploring. He sent home numerous examples of wild life from his trips around the world, which today can be viewed as exhibits in the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institute. His explorations brought him into contact with many dangers as well. During his exploration of the Amazon, where he discovered a before unknown tributary to the great river, he contracted malaria and was so worried about the survival of his fellow explorers, as they endeavored to help him along, that he tried to convince them to leave him behind, so as not to delay their progress to safety. His son, Kermit, would not accede to his wishes, however, and he was brought safely home, but his health was so damaged by the ordeal that it declined from that point on until his death in 1919.

As World War I broke out in 1914, Roosevelt felt even greater frustration for the direction the leadrship of America was taking, as he watched from the sidelines, not being able to lead the country during, perhaps it’s greatest need in his lifetime. He attacked Wilson for being a weak leader, not entering on the side of the allies against Germany much sooner. He proposed organizing another volunteer force similar to the Rough Riders he led during the Spanish—American War, but Wilson refused his offer. When his youngest son, Quentin, an ace fighter pilot, was killed in combat behind enemy lines in July of 1918, Roosevelt’s health took a more aggressive decline and he died January 6, 1919.

Theodore Roosevelt was the quintessential American of his time. His desire for a robust and energetic life, excelling in all of his physical, mental and scholarly pursuits, was part of his identity as an American. He tried to be an example of character, defending the weak against the strong and endeavoring to protect America and the American way of life, as he saw it, for his family and all of his fellow countrymen. He criticized Americans who referred to themselves as German-Americans or Irish-Americans, or any other “hyphenated Americans.” He felt that hyphenated Americans were too willing to split their loyalty between a native country, or the homeland of their ancestors, and their current homeland of America. He believed that each American should see themselves as he did; 100% American. His great self confidence and charisma took him to the highest office in the land and to heights of popularity and respect perhaps unknown by any other American President during their own lifetime since George Washington. His father would have been proud of him too.

HELEN ADAMS KELLER

2008-05-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

When we think of great leaders, we normally think in terms of people with great vision and oratory skills, who could lead by convincing others through word or deed to follow their example and perhaps change their way of thinking and inspire others to do important or necessary things. Often great leaders showed their greatness or their exceptional talents at an early age and perhaps greatness may have been expected of them by their contemporaries. Of course, we would err to ignore one great American who would never have been expected to excel in, or even accomplish, anything of great importance in their life. Who could expect anything from a young girl born in the 19th century, who was blind, deaf and dumb from infancy? That was the question that many of her intimates had, but because of a loving teacher and family and her own intellect and incredible strength of will, she would prove the doubters wrong.

Helen Adams Keller
(June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)

Helen Adams Keller was born in reconstruction Alabama to a former Confederate Army officer, Captain Arthur H. Keller, and Kate Adams Keller, a cousin of Robert E. Lee and the daughter of General Charles Adams of the Confederacy. At about 19 months of age, Helen contracted an illness, probably scarlet fever or meningitis, which left her blind and deaf. Her only communication was through some simple signs within the family household. When Helen reached the age of six, her mother, hoping to help her daughter develop more ability to communicate with the outside world and be able to be more self sufficient, contacted experts in the field of teaching the deaf and blind. Her search ended with the arrival of Anne Sullivan, a recent graduate of the Perkins Institute of the Blind in Boston. The 20 year-old Sullivan became Helen’s instructor and eventually her governess and ultimately a companion for most of her life, until after she married and her health began to fail in 1914.

Understandably, Helen’s parents tended to spoil their handicapped child and inadvertently frustrated Sullivan’s attempts to create a disciplined learning atmosphere for the child. To help Helen focus on her studies without distractions from the family, Sullivan convinced Helen’s father to allow her to separate Helen from the rest of the family and reside in a small house on the family’s estate. As can be seen in the two films entitled “The Miracle Worker” which depict the early events in Helen’s and Anne’s relationship, Sullivan was able to make a break through with Helen by running water over water over their hands while repeatedly making the sign for water in the palm of Helen’s hand. When Helen realized that Sullivan was communicating the “name” for water, the child’s natural intelligence erupted with the desire for more. She nearly exhausted Sullivan with demands to know the signs for everything and everyone she could think of.

At the age of ten, Sullivan began to teach Helen to speak by letting Helen Sullivan’s lips and throat as she spoke and then showing her the signs of the words spoken. She then graduated to learning to read Braille, eventually learning French, German, Greek and Latin. Helen’s unstopped intelligence thrived. She moved with Sullivan to New York 1894 to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf and the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, and in 1896 they went to Massachusetts to attend the Cambridge School for Young Ladies. In 1900, Helen was admitted to Radcliffe College where, at 24, she was the first blind and deaf person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

Helen’s accomplishments resulted in great notoriety, which she used to great profit for herself and the causes she chose to embrace. She was a popular author and speaker. Americans of note, including presidents from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon Johnson, and popular figures such as Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and Alexander graham Bell, sought her acquaintance and called her friend. Though Keller’s politics were radical for her time—along with being a suffragist and a pacifist during World War I, she embraced socialism and helped found the ACLU—she is best known for her efforts to help people with physical disabilities. Her efforts were not for Americans alone. She traveled the world over, shedding light on the plight of the physically impaired and encouraging society to recognize their potential. She was a symbol of what can be accomplished by even the most crippling circumstances when love, respect and a helping hand is proffered.

In the decade or so before her death in 1968, Helen’s life and struggles were honored from various quarters. Though Helen’s and Anne’s story was brought to the silent film screen 1919 as “Deliverance”, their story was retold in the Broadway play The Miracle Worker in 1959 and the award winning feature film, by the same name in 1962. Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Johnson 1964 and elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame at the New York World’s Fair later that year. Since her death on June 1, 1968, the world continued pay tribute to Helen Keller with the retelling of her story in on the big and little screens. And, we continue to marveling at her accomplishments with the help of others, and her will to overcome what seemed to be overwhelming physical handicaps.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

2008-05-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Though I am very conservative in my politics and would be at odds with some of the political beliefs of some of the historical figures I am highlighting in the vignettes in my Leadership in America series, I think that the positives accomplished by these figures should be recognized and focused on. Much of their political ideas were born of their times and situations. As long as their positive impact on American life was not outweighed by any negative impact, I feel compelled to focus on the positives. This, I think, is especially true of Susan B. Anthony and Helen Keller, who had socialist leanings and are my next subjects.
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When the Constitution of the United States was ratified it was a singular document. It was a simple document allowing for the governing of a diverse people with differing beliefs, interests and concerns. Perhaps its greatest attribute beyond the obvious compromise to create a union, was the mechanism included to allow for amendment. This gave the people the power to amend the Constitution in the future if the will of the people evolved to provide greater freedoms. It was the intention of the founding fathers that the constitution be flexible enough to meet future needs that they were unable to anticipate or that they felt the nation could accept in the future. This was the case with the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments that ended slavery and gave former slaves the right to be full citizens with the men the power to vote. It would take the turn of the next century and the 19th amendment to provide all women the right to vote. The Constitution of the United States was an inspired document and it has worked, but it has needed inspired leadership to help it along.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY
February 15, 1820—March 13, 1906

Fourteen years before the 19th Amendment to The United States Constitution was established, Susan B. Anthony passed away. But she would have been grateful that her efforts and the efforts of others like her, for the equal right of a woman to vote had eventually born fruit. Anthony was born in 1820, the oldest of seven children born into a liberal Quaker family active in the abolition movement of the 1800s. An intelligent child, Susan learned to read and write at age three and was taken out of the local school at the age of six and taught at a home school by her father when her father learned that her teacher refused to teach her long division. At age seventeen she entered a Quaker boarding school but had leave later in the year because of her family’s financial crisis following the Panic of 1837. The family moved to Hardscrabble, New York, in 1839 and Susan left home to teach at a Quaker seminary to help pay off family debts. In 1846 she moved on to teach at the Canajoharie Academy where she became head of the women’s department. It was as a teacher that she began to lobby for equal pay for men and women doing the same job.

Anthony left teaching and moved to be with her family in Rochester at age 29 where she began attending a Unitarian Church. She later gravitated away from organized religion altogether. Despite feelings of inadequacy of her oratory talents and a view of herself as unattractive, she began to speak at events supporting the abolition of slavery and temperance and soon became a prominent spokesperson for progressive causes with fellow feminist leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia bloomer. Anthony saw the abolition of slavery and the eventual equality between the races and the sexes as necessary for progress in America and she tried to combine the two in her movement. This, of course, created some distance between her and longtime friend Frederick Douglas, who championed equal rights for black men alone when the 15th Amendment to the constitution was passed and ignored the right of women to vote. Anthony was unable to enthusiastically applaud the progress that left women behind, and felt that there was much left to do and devoted herself to women’s suffrage from that point on.

Anthony had begun her weekly publication, The Revolution, in 1868 which supported equality for blacks and women, but after the 15th Amendment in 1869 it s pages were almost exclusively devoted to women’s issues, including the vote, equal pay, and divorce laws. In 1872 Anthony was arrested by federal law enforcement officers for illegally voting. She argued that the 14th Amendment which stated,” all persons born or naturalized in the United States” did not exclude women from the privilege of voting. Nonetheless, she was tried, convicted, and fined. However, she refused to pay the fine and used her trial and increase notoriety to give her arguments greater public exposure.

During her crusade for equality for women, Anthony endeavored to unionize women labor and combine it to suffrage and to align moderate and conservative women’s suffrage movements. In time she came to believe that a more moderate approach than her more radical friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, espoused would realistically gain more. Her position was to focus on the vote and leave other issues like “women’s religious and social bondage” to be argued later. Her efforts translated into the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). History proved her to be right.
When Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1906, she may have thought that she had fought the good fight but had come up short, but her legacy was the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Though it came too late for her to take advantage of herself, her life's work benefited millions of American women in her wake. Since her death, she has been revered by many men and women alike and honored by her country’s government for her leadership tireless efforts for emancipation of the slaves and for the right of all citizens to cast a vote of conscience. In 1921, Anthony was honored with a sculpture in the nation’s capital and was the first woman to be immortalized on a U.S. coin, a quarter-sized dollar minted in the years 1977, 1980, 1981, and 1999.

WILLIAM FREDERICK “BUFFALO BILL” CODY

2008-05-02T06:20:00.001-07:00

Great leaders were not only needed for political and spiritual development in America, but also for entertainment, cultural, and technological development. Today’s culture and tastes in entertainment have developed over time, and for good or bad we must recognize the influence of the various industry pioneers. One of the greatest influences in popular film and television for a century was the image of the “Western Hero”. And, perhaps the greatest influence on the image was a typical western hero turned atypical showman.

William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody
February 26, 1846—January 10, 1917

As a child when I played “Cowboys and Indians”, more than often, I envisioned myself as Buffalo Bill, shooting buffalo and fighting Indians. Why? Because he was the hero of movies and television of my youth. But, he had also been a hero of many children’s youth in America and around the world for decades before his death until my childhood in the 1950s. Buffalo Bill combined many of the personas that we think of today as the Western heroes. He, at various times, was a Pony Express rider, big game hunter, Civil War soldier, Wagon Master, stagecoach driver, gold prospector, US cavalry scout/ Indian fighter, and Medal of Honor winner. He was one of the most famous characters of his time, but not only because of the things he did—many at the time could claim similar exploits—but because his last career move was into show business, where he tapped into a need of the public for heroes and heroic acts in the rapidly ending frontier of the West. He was the originator of the image we have today of the “Wild West” and the showman who started it all—without Buffalo Bill and his wild west shows, the western-themed movies and television shows that came later may not have come at all.

William Frederick Cody was born February 26, 1846, in the Iowa territory to Isaac and Mary Ann Cody. After the death of his older brother in a horse ridng accident around1853, the Codys moved to Kansas where they lived in a Log Cabin. In Kansas, William’s father became a vocal critic of slavery which brought considerable oposition from neighboring proslavery elements. Isaac was attacked by a mob and stabbed while speaking out against slavery at a political gathering and was pulled to safety by his son, William. Isaac never fully recovered from the wound and he died eventually in 1857 from complications, leaving his family in financial trouble.

After his father’s death, William left home at age eleven to help ease the family’s financial woes. He enlisted as a helper for the mule skinners traveling with Johnston’s army to put down a supposed Mormon Rebellion in the Utah Territory. During this trip He claimed that he had his first experience fighting Indians, felling an Indian warrior in Indian’s attempt to attack one of Cody’s fellows in the traveling company.

At 14 years of age, he gravitated to the gold fields of Colorado, but accepted a job as a pony express rider instead. When the Civil War began, young Cody tried to enlist, but because of his age he could only aquire work as a freight driver, taking supplies to outposts in the Wyoming Territory. In 1963, after his mother’s death, he was able to enlist in the 7th Kansas Cavalry and he served there for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Cody met and married Louisa Frederici, with whom he had four chidren. Two of his children died in early child hood and Cody’s marriage seemed to suffer for his dissapointment in his children’s deaths and his desire to follow a carreer as a hunter and Indian scout. Between 1868 and 1872, Cody divided his time between working as a scout for the US Cavalry and hunting buffalo to feed the workers for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. It was during an 18 month stretch as a buffalo hunter, where he killed 4,280 of the beasts, that he earned the name, “Buffalo Bill.” For “gallantry in action” during a battle with Inians, while serving with the 3rd US Cavalry in 1872, Cody received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

If he had ended his exploits then an there, he would have enjoyed significant notoriety in his time and earned a footnote in history, but with the help of friends and supporters in the East, including Ned Buntline, the dime novel writer, Buffalo Bill was able to parley his colorful life into a New York Broadway Show, and later into a traveling Wild West extravaganza, which made him a household name. Publishers in the East had for some time made an industry of the “Western Dime Novels,” celebrating the exploits—some of which were real, but exaggerated, and others totally fictional—of characters from the western frontier. The East was hungry for almost anything portraying the Western Hero and Cody was the perfect speciman. He was tall, handsome, and was largely the “real deal”.

Cody’s shows were mainly based on his personal exploits, including mock Inidan fights, cavalry charges, pony express rides and buffalo hunts. Eventually, the show included spectatular events where people could see a stagecoach attacked by Indians, rodeo events, trick riding and trick shooting, and aeven a reenactment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and a supposed revenge for Custer’s defeat led by Cody and company at the Battle of Warbonnet Creek. And, in his later shows of the early 20th Century he included a tribute to Teddy Roosevelt’s Roughriders. His show featured such noted attractions as Indian Holy Man, Sitting Bull, and woman sharpshooter, Annie Oakley. Cody took his show throughout the United States and Europe. He became one of the most famous and celebrated men in the world, making America’s “Wild West” a place and time that children around the world would fantasize about for generations. Though seen by many as the epitome of the rough and ready frontiersman, Cody was also obsessed with the conservation of nature, with preserving the American Indian’s culture, and protecting dwindling bison heards. He was also a staunch supporter of women’s sufrage.

He was unable to bring the”Wild West” directly into the home, but Cody got as close to it as technology at the time would allow. But, by exposing as many people as he possibly could to his vision of the American Frontier, through his live extravaganzas, he laid the ground work for future showmen and story tellers. Those men and women, with the movie and television technology capable of extending Cody’s vision to our day, would follow Buffalo Bill Cody’s lead and literally bringing it into every home. Because of Buffalo Bill and those that followed him, I spent many hours a week enjoying the images of the Old West on our television and at the movies, and playing cowboys and Indians with my brothers and friends. Quoting words of the young boy depicted at the end of the 1944 film, Buffalo Bill, starring Joel McCray, “God bless you Buffalo Bill.”

TATANKA IYOTANKA--SITTING BULL

2008-04-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Back to the to the Profiles of Leadership in America:
As Americans pushed their way across the continent of North America, they inevitably pushed the Indians along the way, and few of the American Indians were particularly happy about it. Though the outcome was obvious to many, there were some who refused to go away quietly in the night. And, unlike great leaders of Sacajawea’s nature, who embraced the coming Americans, some Indian leaders chose to resist the tide by heroic though futile effort, and by so doing wrote their names in history as great. Thus was Tatanka Iyotanka.

Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull)
C. 1831—December 15, 1890

Tatanka Iyotanka, or Sitting Bull, as most of us know him from history was the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man credited with providing a premonition of victory over the US Cavalry that resulted in the defeat of George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Battle of the little Bighorn. To many of white America at the time of the Indian wars with the US Cavalry, he was the bad guy. But he was a great leader to his people and later became an American icon and major attraction in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

In truth, he spent most of his adult life fighting the American Whites, trying to stem the tide of the white people’s continued incursion into Indian lands. Sitting Bull gained early notoriety fighting the American settlers and soldiers as a result treaty violations by the United States during the 1850s and 1860s. When the Dakota Sioux fled Minnesota into Dakota lands to escape the US forces, Hunkpapa Lakotas, with the young Sitting Bull came to their aid in reprisals against white settlements in Minnesota. In the early 1860s Sitting Bull likely fought in the Battles of Dead Buffalo Lake, Stony Lake, Whitestone Hill, and eventually Killdear Mountain. In each case the Indians were defeated and the majority forced to surrender, but Sitting Bull and other diehards like him continued to fight on, striking immigrant wagon trains and impeding the railroads’ progress through Indian lands. He was again a major player in the Red Cloud War of the later 1860s using guerilla tactics against US troops and whites in general. When a treaty was again reached in 1868, he refused to agree to live by it.

His continued resistance against the whites during the early 1870s gained him much respect among the various Indian tribes and ultimately gained him a leadership role when, in 1876, new hostilities erupted between the Sioux and the United States. After gold was discovered in the Black Hills, Sitting Bull and his followers attacked white settlers and gold prospectors. The US armed forces were sent into the Dakota Territory to capture Sitting Bull and force his renegades back to their reservations. The advance force of the US Army, the 7th Cavalry under the direction of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, caught up to Sitting Bull and his followers on the 25th of June, 1876 at a village on the Little Bighorn River. Unbeknownst to Custer, the holy man, Sitting Bull, had made it known among the Indian tribes of the region that he had had a dream of a great victory over the American soldiers—he saw the soldiers falling into the village like grasshoppers and being killed. The holy vision had convinced thousands from various local tribes to desert their reservations and join in the coming fight. The result was one of the greatest victories of Indians over US forces. Custer and his immediate command were killed, and while the remnants of the 7th Cavalry licked their wounds in retreat and under siege waiting for the rest of General Terry’s command to arrive, Sitting Bull and forces escaped.

Ultimately, the tribes were forced back onto their respective reservations, but Sitting Bull, still not willing to concede defeat and ignoring offers of pardon took his followers into Canada. By 1881, Sitting Bull had had enough and returned with 185 of his people to surrender. He lived without much excitement, going where ever the authorities ordered him to go until 1885, when he accepted an offer by Buffalo Bill Cody to join his Wild West Show. As a member of Cody’s show for almost two years he established himself as a major draw and was paid the goodly sum of $50 per week. People wanted to see the infamous Indian Warrior who defeated Custer and they were willing to pay large sums for his autograph.

During his time with Cody’s show, Sitting Bull gained a new appreciation for the magnitude and power of the American people. When he returned to his home on the reservation, he realized that there was no going back to the old ways. Any new efforts to fight against the Americans would mean total destruction for his people. The few years prior to Sitting Bulls death were largely uneventful; the Sioux tribes tried to make their livings as farmers and struggled with the dry soil of the Dakota Territory. However, by 1890 there began be some interest by younger Indians in the Ghost Dance rituals. It was feared by some in the department Of Indian Affairs, that the Ghost Dances would encourage new uprisings of hostility among the Indians on the reservations, so thousands of additional soldiers were moved into the area. Thinking that Sitting Bull might be influencing this new behavior, the authorities decided to take him into custody. During Sitting Bull’s arrest by Indian policemen, a friend of the holy man fired and killed an arresting officer and further shots were fired on both sides. When the gunfire ended, Sitting Bull and several on either side lay dead.

Though not considered a hero to much of the nation at the time, Tatanka Iyotanka was a hero to his immediate followers and an inspiration to many, to a degree, on both sides of the conflict between the Indians and the Americans. He must be recognized for his leadership qualities and his loyalty to his people and his desire for their protection. In the end, he had come to realize, like other great leaders of his race, that it was fruitless to defy the odds and that the preservation of their people meant eventual assimilation. Like all great leaders he fought the good fight against great odds, and when defeat was imminent he accepted defeat graciously to save his followers from starvation. Sadly, his death was unnecessary and tragic, but his life was to be admired.

MAN CUT OFF FROM GOD?

2008-04-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

The other day I received an email from a good friend who was talking to another friend about our religion—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon, to many). He wanted my opinion, along with others, about a question that arose in his mind. The subject of his question brought to my mind a flurry of thoughts, and I responded. It occurred to me that it would be a nice change of pace from my recent historical vignettes to touch on the subject in a blog on my religious beliefs. The following represents our email exchange.
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I am talking about the church with a friend. She realized that due to our belief in the Godhead...Jesus is a God as well as Heavenly Father. I was kinda explaining and then I came upon a question myself.

Why are we cut off from Heavenly Father? I was thinking that if Jesus is a God as well, then why are we not cut off from him as well? I realize that I really don't know why we are cut off. I thought it was because a God could not be in the presence of fallen beings. But I'm not sure that is right. There are several instances of Heavenly Father and Jesus appearing to man. So that leaves me thinking...what is the reason? I always thought that after the fall that man's dealings were only with Jehovah.

Anyway...what do you guys think?
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My understanding is just that: The fall separated us from the Father. To live with him, we would need to be like Him, to gain Godlike attributes. We would not be able to be as he is without learning to live by faith. The separation of Man from God was the plan before our mortality began. Adam fell from grace so that we might be born into mortality to be tested and proved worthy by faithfully seeking after our Creator, perfecting ourselves and returning to his presence through Christ (1st Corinthians, 15:22). It seems to me that choosing rightly with free agency is the mark of a perfecting person. Being subject to the Father or being in his presence would not, in my opinion, allow us to be perfected by free choice. But, with free choice comes the obvious fact that we sin and must repent. We are promised, however, by Scripture that if we repent we will be forgiven and allowed access to Heaven. However, repentance is not enough when justice is considered. And if we believe the Scriptures in regards to the nature of God, God is anything but unjust. I think balance in the universe requires justice to be upheld, that the laws of the universe must be followed. It seems logical to me that, if God decided to do other than his purported nature required, He would cease to be God. And, since, as Scripture indicates, that no unclean thing can share the same place as God or enter the Kingdom of God, it would seem to be an injustice to allow even a repentant sinner access to God’s presence.

It seems logical to me then that an equal injustice on the other side of the scales of justice would be needed to offset the obvious injustice of a sinful, yet repentant, man or woman being admitted into God's presence. An atonement would be required. This atonement, or rebalancing of the scales of justice, needed to be accomplished by a perfect individual suffering unjustly. The Father was unable to redeem us Himself—He could not take on mortality again, as we believe he was already in a perfected physical state—so he allowed his only begotten Son in the flesh, who had not yet taken on mortality with the necessary body of flesh and blood, to provide the necessary perfect sacrifice for all.

This is in fact what most of mainstream Christianity believe happened, except they believe that the Father and the Son are, somehow, literally one and the same person, though the scriptures are really very clear that The Father and The Son are separate individuals. Christ prayed to His Father in Heaven, The voice of the Father declared “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Was Christ a ventriloquist? To Mary Magdalene He said, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father in Heaven.” Again, someone who was perfect, who had yet to take on immortality would be needed to suffer the atonement, who could physically suffer and do so through free will. By doing so Christ earned the right as the Savior of mankind to be the emissary of the Father to us. I think it all comes down to the fact that an atonement had to be performed, and a resurrected being was unable to suffer in the right way—he would need to be subject to our same earthly existence and be on our level of feeling.

I believe the crucial thing in understanding the need for a Christ figure is the idea that we would have the opportunity, as we of our faith believe, to be as God is. In essence, most of Christianity rejects the idea that we will be as God is, despite scriptural testimony to the contrary—we will receive all that our Father in Heaven has. They, like Muslims, believe that the righteous will be lesser creatures in the hereafter, simply worshipping God through eternity. Interestingly, Islam rejects the need for an atonement and a Savior, because Allah is all powerful and can forgive anyone he wants. In this, it seems to me, they are more logical then most Christians. Without the possibility of obtaining equality with our Heavenly Father and Christ and being more than worshipper for eternity, the logic escapes me for the necessity of the atonement. Here is where our strong argument for a Savior makes sense. Unlike most of mainstream Christianity, we believe that we are literal spirit children of God and that we are his heirs, if we prove ourselves worthy. We hope to be with and as God in the afterlife—Christ himself commanded us to be perfect, even as His Father in Heaven was perfect (Matt. 5:48)—but we understand that He is just. It would not be just to allow anyone into his existence simply because they repented and had become perfect in keeping his commandments, because they would still have been imperfect in total, because of prior imperfection. We also believe that the universe is governed by law and law would be usurped unless a penalty is paid—enter Christ and the Atonement. For all intents, a repentant person is perfect except for past deeds, which justice is unable to ignore. Christ himself withholds his presence from us until we are ready to receive him, even in the flesh. I also think what makes him more accessible to us is our common nature as the offspring of the Father. It is crucial to remember, or understand, that we lived with our Father in Heaven before coming here and we understood the plan and the need for the fall, and the potential of physical and spiritual death. Free choice and the need to live by faith were from before the creation. If we had no choice in being born or participating in this existence, there could be no justice in God’s commands to us or in His judgments in regards to us. And it would clearly have no logical bearing on any separation between man and God.

When I was about ten or eleven years of age, I asked my pastor, “what happens to people who live on the earth and do not come to know of Christ?” His answer to me was that they would necessarily go to Hell and that that was why it was so important to do missionary work in non-Christian lands. Even at that young age, this did not compute. How could a just God condemn his creation, if not His spirit children, to Hell when they had no choice of when and where they were to be born? The answer is, of course, he could not. Later, I learned the principles mentioned above, that God loves us as a true Heavenly Father and will provide for us to have every opportunity to return to Him and be His heirs. As Peter tells us in his general epistles (1st Peter, 3: 18-29 and 4: 6), if we do not have the opportunity in this life to accept the atonement of Christ, we will be taught the Gospel in the Spirit world and be judged in the spirit as men are in the flesh. The Christians at the time of Paul baptized living people for their dead ancestors (1st Corinthians, 15: 29); just as we Mormons do in our temples today. Our separation from our Father in Heaven need only be for a time, and our Savior and our spirit brother, Jesus Christ, is our ticket home. Though our separation from God is needed for us to live by faith, to overcome the natural man and perfect ourselves through Christ’s atonement, the length of our separation depends on us.

That's my understanding.
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I guess where I get confused is that if we are cut off from God because he is God, then how are we not cut off from Jesus, who is a God as well. The fact that they are Gods does not seem to be the reason then.
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I believe that that is correct—the fact that the Father and the Son are Gods does not, in itself, cut us off from Them. What cuts us off from God, at least in his willingness to appear to us through a quickening of our bodies to withstand his presence, is our own unpreparedness (ie. unrighteousness), lack of faith, and the necessity of having such an experience to create the faith needed to become as He is. Faith is the crucial element, as I see it. We need to live by faith and perfect our faith, to be faithful or full of faith, obedient to God’s will, to become perfect, to become as God is. When we increase in faith to a degree that an appearance by God to us would not then condemn us--if we were to sin against a perfect knowledge—God the Father and The Son are available to us, as with the demonstration by the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon. The Lord (Jesus, in his spirit form in this case) was unable to prevent the brother of Jared from seeing him because of his great faith. Just as the Aaronic Priesthood allows us the right of Angelic administrations, The Mechisedec Priesthood allows us the right of personal administration from the Godhead, if we are worthy and we desire it, and if it would be to our benefit. As I understand it, the Second Endowment, mentioned in Church writings, is having your calling and election made sure, which is revelation from the Savior Himself in the flesh. That is my understanding.

Randy

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

2008-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

There were many leaders in America before our Civil War who worried about keeping the United States together. There were deep differences between the various states and each wanted to protect their individual rights as separate states under the umbrella of the Federal Government. And many feared that the institution of slavery, if were allowed to continue for many years, would eventually tear the union apart. Eventually, it almost did, but for the efforts of some great leaders who filled the void, much as the founding fathers had some four score years earlier. One in particular was a giant of character as well as physical stature; Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln
February 12, 1809—April 15, 1865

Perhaps no one person is more associated with leadership than President Abraham Lincoln. He is considered by many historians to be our greatest President. He certainly experienced the greatest test of leadership of any President since Washington. Without his steady hand and strength of personality during the Civil War, it is likely that our nation would not have survived undivided. Though Lincoln’s leadership qualities were numerous and were all implemented during his Presidency. Two of those qualities stand out to me personally; humility and focus.

Lincoln had been very outspoken in his opposition to slavery throughout his short political career in the Illinois and U.S. congresses, which allowed him to win the anti-slavery Republican Party’s nomination for the presidency in 1860. His ultimate election to the presidency created such displeasure within the pro-slavery South that one after the other, the most strongly pro-slavery states chose to secede from the union and form a new Confederate States of America.

Though Lincoln opposed slavery, he was a pragmatist, and it was not his immediate intention to end slavery. If he could have preserved the union without ending slavery he said he would have. However, it became clear that the Union’s preservation would only be accomplished through our nation’s most bloody and costly war. Ultimately, fearing that Great Britain might enter the war on the side of the South with whom they had important economic ties, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which, by legal decree, freed only the slaves in the rebel states, making it politically difficult for anti-slavery Britain to become directly involved. Later, he promoted the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution ending the institution of slavery throughout the United States. In so doing, Lincoln did free the slaves while preserving the Union.

My personal interest in Lincoln comes from the fact that my great-great-great uncle John George Nicolay was Lincoln’s private secretary and biographer. A story handed down through the generations of my mother’s family (Nicolay) tells of the meeting of Lincoln and Nicolay. Nicolay, born in 1832, was the youngest son of German emigrants that came to America in 1837, allegedly to escape an edict to always stand and salute passing members of the reigning house. Both of his parents died by the time he was 14 years old and he went to live with newspaperman Z. N. Garbut and was taught the newspaper business. By 1853 Nicolay was owner and editor of the Free Press in Illinois. Cherishing a hope to also practice law, Nicolay sold his business and took a job as a law clerk with his friend O. M. Hatch (Secretary of State of Illinois) under whom he studied. In 1858, then famous Illinois lawyer and Congressman Abraham Lincoln came to visit Hatch to discuss his plans to run for the Presidency. According to family lore, when Lincoln entered the room, all of the young law clerks, except Nicolay, stopped what they were doing and swarmed around the future President. The fact that Nicolay continued his work rather than join in to flatter him did not go unnoticed by Lincoln. Impressed by the young man’s focus on work, Lincoln offered him a job as his personal secretary during his bid for the presidency. Nicolay wrote an editorial article calling for the election of Lincoln for President that was reprinted all around the nation. It was so powerfully written that some historians credit it as the reason Lincoln won the Republican nomination.

Obviously, this story has been passed along through the family to show the strength of our ancestor’s character, but I think it also says much about the character of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, a wise man, was not moved by flattery and not easily fooled. Lincoln was fairly humble for a man with desires to preside over his fellow men, as attested also by his famous self-deprecating humor. With humility came the understanding that a good leader needs capable and focused followers. The focus and work ethic that Lincoln found in Nicolay was what he would similarly find in Ulysses S. Grant just a few years later.

Recognizing that he himself was not a military leader, Abraham Lincoln struggled to find a general to lead his army to victory against the South for the first three years of the Civil War. Many generals, including Winfield Scott, George B. McClellan, Henry W. Halleck, and Nathaniel Banks, had accepted the role of Commanding General over the Union troops only to fail to follow Lincoln’s direction to take the war to the enemy. These generals, Lincoln thought, were too concerned with not losing. Not until Ulysses S. Grant took command, did Lincoln feel satisfied that the war was being fought to win. He was proved right.

Abraham Lincoln was a great leader because he combined humility with tenacity. He recognized his own weaknesses. He understood that good leadership requires capable followers who can also lead. Focus or tenacity, as demonstrated by Nicolay and Grant was a highly prized quality by Lincoln and one that he exhibited himself, working untiringly against great odds until the day he died.