Obama and Secret Combinations...

I know, just typing that makes me cringe. If you know me well, you know that I am a documentation nazi because I can't stand people being caught up in sensationalism and stating or passing on statements without a sound base. With that in mind, consider the following...

I almost always listen to audio books on my drive home at night. Tonight I couldn't remember which book was next in my series so I decided to listen to talk radio and see how the polls were doing the last day before elections. Unfortunately Monday is my late night and the only major talk radio on during my drive home is Michael Savage. I absolutely hate that guy's antics and think he is a little disturbed mentally, seriously. Anyway, I thought I would check out what he was saying for a minute and I popped in right as a very intelligent Latino was talking about Obama being part of a 30+ year old Italian communist agenda plan. Normally, this would be where I would sigh and turn the station, but this guy had a grounded and experienced sound to him that intrigued me. He was talking about being part of inner circles that have been working on slowly using democracy to end democracy. Despite how crazy it sounds, take a minute and listen to my two recommended segments, then you can listen to the rest if you want and let me know what you think.

You can download all three segments by going here - http://www.910knew.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=savage.xml

Download the first hour (Nov 3rd) as instructed and start listening at 20 minutes and 30 seconds. Like I said, ignore everything Savage says, he is mentally disturbed. At 26 minutes and 25 seconds the caller talks about his experience a little.

I only got to minute 9 on the second hour before having to go to bed, so I'll listen to the rest tomorrow.

Another thing that made me stop and consider this (because I also hate conspiracy theories) was a local talk radio guy interviewing a man that had word print proof that William Ayers had written part of Obama's book(s). The only reason why I listened to this was because I have read extensively on how word print analysis has been used on the Book of Mormon to evaluate its authorship. To see the analysis read here - http://www.cashill.com/natl_general/evidence_mounts.htm.

Thinking 30 Years Ahead?

Most of the email forwards I receive I delete pretty quickly because they are over sensationalized, but this one emphasized the final intent of my previous post.

It was given in 1978 by Elder Neal A. Maxwell...

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or
political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes
will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

--- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

And, as a doctor myself, I couldn't help feeling some resonation with this article. Although I can't forsee any similar circumstances for my profession, if I had to consider changing 21 years of school because of a new ruling similar to prop-8 failure, it would be a very hard pill to swallow.

Politics

I hate politics. I brings out the three negative attributes I hate most about human nature: unkindness, misrepresentation (positioning statements over facts) and the mob mentality. I can't stand getting emails about Obama being a dirty Muslim or the media trying to show Palin as having no experience. How much better would the world be if people would honestly admit their opponents strengths and not try to sensationalize or blow out of proportion their weaknesses? How much easier would our ability be to choose who is really better for the country if we didn't get distorted or unresearched or knowingly false facts?

Despite that, I like thinking over and figuring out philosophical dilemmas. I have been thinking a lot lately about two hot political topics here on the west coast: Proposition 8 in California (prohibiting same-sex marriages) and Initiative 1000 in Washington (allowing assisted suicide). Both are difficult because you can't EASILY make an argument against gay marriage or assisted suicide on the stance that it hurts your personal rights, especially with I-1000.

As usual I try to pull my religion into the decision process to help me see where I stand. The end all, be all for me is the Book of Mormon. I can think of one main passage that is related to this subject:

Alma 30:7, 9, 11

7 Now there was no law against a man's belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds.

9 Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him.

11 For there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done; therefore all men were on equal grounds.

The eleventh Article of Faith also is similar, but neither it nor the above scripture gives an obvious statement that helps with this situation. I do think that the spirit of these two snippets of church doctrine is that we shouldn't make a law that punishes someone for their belief if their action doesn't harm another person or group.

So does voting for I-1000 or against Prop-8 create a situation where someone can make a personal choice that will hurt another person or group? I don't think so with I-1000, but the sanctity of life argument is difficult as well. I don't think there is enough evidence right now to say one way or another on Prop-8. Although they haven't always been perfect, I think I'll side with my ecclesiastical leaders for now on this one. In gray areas I would rather error and find out I was following the Lord's mouthpieces than error and find out I went against them and they were right. Before you drag me through the coals, I do think there is a just middle ground on Prop-8.