Wanderings & Ramblings

International Women's Day

2010-03-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

I just read that tomorrow (Monday, 8 March 2010) is the 100th International Women's Day.

So, first things first - Happy International Women's Day to all the women in our family.

Here's an interesting article about the herstory (haha) of the day!

Here are a few interesting factoids:

Some countries like China & Russia celebrate International Women's Day as a holiday. I'm sure many people have leaped on the "Communist Plot" theory of IWD....but just maybe those countries have it right! How better to make a point that equality in education, opportunity, responsibility and all the rest is required for a country and for society to advance? Check this article out!
In 1977 the UN passed a resolution declaring that a day for Women's Rights and International Peace be celebrated each year by member states. That built on the UN Charter (signed in 1945 here in San Francisco) that recognized gender equality as a fundamental human right. That's pretty cool and we have a long way to go to get there. Check this article out.
In 2009 a report came out that shows that working women make $0.78 for every $1 that a man in an equivalent job makes. That means that over a 40 year period women will lose hundred of thousands of dollars of wages because of this core inequity! That's just wrong.

I suppose I could go on and on. But I won't.

Let's just recognize and celebrate the women in our lives. We should be doing that all the time, but especially tomorrow we should make a point of it!

This is AWESOME!

2010-03-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

A Rube Goldberg-type very cool thing with music. It starts with a small toy truck and some dominoes. Check it out!

Some things about a book I just read

2010-01-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like about good SciFi is that it is able to make you think about some of the bigger issues and in a somewhat objective way allows us to see some of the foibles and follies of us humans. I like those kinds of books - sort of philosophy masquerading as SciFi. It makes for good reading and good thinking - you can examine your own thoughts through the lens of the characters.

This book I just read (below) does a good job of that.

It deals with issues like 1) respect for people not like you, 2) looking past the surface to the interior reality, 3) the danger of letting passions and ideology run amok in private lives or society, 4) the value of exploring and finding the truth rather than resting on easy or commonly-accepted assumptions.

All of those things are very relevant in our world today - it seems people are having difficulty figuring out how to live in an ever-shrinking world where they have to deal with people very much NOT like them who have what appear to be different value systems (but are they really? People love their families, want to be successful and happy, want to be safe in their homes and all that - sort of just like us); people seem to be having difficulty balancing the role of private religious belief systems and public, secular legal systems; corporations are running amok and "consuming the earth and everyone on it" as they try to make profits on an ever increasing scale to satisfy market expectations and the greed of top executives; and governments are sometimes seen as the playthings and natural right of possession for the wealthy and connected. Or so it seems to me.

Anyway, it was an interesting read that meshed with some of the things I think about now and then.

Seeker by Jack McDevitt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a little Sci-Fi break from more serious stuff. But it still had a few interesting thoughts about human nature, human evolutionary potential (in terms of evolution away from behaviors that cause war, suffering, dark ages, etc.), and the way passions can lead to very non-optimal outcomes (something that's very relevant in today's world.) It's a little slow, but only in that it's actually about searching/exploring, looking and finding - no massive space wars with lots of explosions.

Here are a few passages I liked and that made me think:

Summarizing the writings of a woman from an earlier period in Earth (actually American) history when the government had become a fusion of secular and religious thought with strong theocratic trends:

"[She:] laid out their objections to various governmental policies....Basically they were concerned that each generation was subjected to a series of ideologies which, once imposed, were hard to get ris of, hampered independent thought, and let to various hostilities. She spells everything out. Get the religious groups under control. Reign in the corporate types. Recognize that dissent is healthy. Provide a level playing field so no on is disadvantaged."

Something we could use today, particularly given that most recent Supreme Court ruling on corporations and campaign advertising....

A summary of human behavior in an exhibit on humans on a non-human world:

"Individuals tend to be docile and may usually be approached without fear. but when humans form groups their behavior changes and becomes more problematic. They are more likely to ascribe to a generally held view than to seek their own. There seems to be a direct correlation between the size of the group and its inclination to consent or resort to violence or other questionable behavior, and/or the predilection of individuals to acquiesce when leaders suggest violent or simplistic solutions to perceived problems."

This author has written a few books so I might have to try another when it's time for a little break. I read this book (about 400 pages) yesterday in a lovely day of reading. It was raining outside, so I bundled up and had a good read.

View all my reviews >>

An Interesting Post about Glen Beck from a Mormon blog I read sometimes....

2010-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Check this out:

Glenn Beck and Priestcraft

Some interesting and very valid points. I tried pasting it in here but the formatting was getting all funky because of this and that, so I figured you could click one more time to read the actual posting in its original home.

And it is a serious post. I think this is exactly the kind of thing we should be thinking about as members of the church of Christ and people who believe in the Gospel of Love. There's so much drama and hate-filled talk out there; we need to do what we can in to stand up for the true Gospel of Christ and what that means.

Pre-Furniture-Arrival Apartment views

2009-10-13T19:50:00.001-07:00

It just occurred to me that I have some pictures of my new place prior to moving the furniture in. So I thought I'd post them just in case someone comes along to view where I'm at.

This is the dining room. I have a table and chairs now, too! I'm finally like the rest of you! :-)

This the first of the two front parlors. Just like the old place there are pocket doors between this room and the other. The other is where my piano will go. There's grandma's rocking chair - come over and sit in it whenever you want!

This is the hall. The stair (21 of them) got down to the front door. My bedroom is the room at the end of the hall there. Behind where I'm standing is the second bedroom - I've put the leopard print couch and my main computer in there. To the right of where I'm standing is the double parlor. Then, going down the right side, after the parlor is the dining room and then the kitchen.

This is another view of the dining room - from the door to the kitchen. I have bookshelves along the wall you can see - the fireplace in this room is just to my left. (The fireplace here and the one in the front parlor are just decorative - but still cool to have!)

This is the second bedroom. The leopard print couch is against the wall you can see just a bit of on the right. Although this room gets lots of light, it also has tall trees right outside so it's quite cool.

The apartment is in a great part of town - totally convenient to everything. I've pretty much got everything settled so I'm definitely ready for visitors. Jen wins because she's going to be here in November (so that means there's still time to come before she does!) She's coming own for the weekend - we're going to have a blast! We have tickets to see the Berlin Philharmonic - that will be a massive treat.

One of these nice days (it's rainy right now) I'll take a few more photos to show how things are looking now that I've moved in and unpacked.

Bye!

WBH part 8 - Vancouver

2009-08-04T23:51:00.001-07:00

After a great time in Seattle I went to Victoria and Vancouver. The Victoria pictures were all on my camera - and it had a total meltdown. So no pictures of Victoria.

But here are a few thoughts about Victoria:

Easy to get to from Seattle - the Victoria Clipper is super easy. And it drops you right in the Inner Harbor, so super convenient.
Cute little town. I know it's the capital of British Columbia, but there's not too much there. A cute little historic town center with lots of shops for tourists and then I think it turns into suburbs.
There's a Chinatown, and it's about 1 block long with a few shops outside that block. But there were some great restaurants there - I ate at two different noodle shops and both were great.
Spent Canada Day in Victoria sitting at the harbor watching the fireworks. That was pretty cool.
Walked out to the Straits and looked at Doug's house and the Olympic Mountains. Very beautiful.

Then, after a few days, I went to Vancouver.

I have a new favorite North American city! Vancouver reminds me of everything I love about San Francisco and Hong Kong. Meaning:

Great walking city - I spent 5 days walking all over the place and barely even scratched the surface.
Excellent Chinatown - blocks and block of good little stores. Not quite as amazing as the one we have here in San Francisco, but good enough to find great duck, pork buns, noodles, dim sum and other great things.
I found the Pacific Cinematheque - saw a great Kurosawa film I hadn't seen before.
There's a fantastic park (Stanley Park) that's almost as big as downtown - right next to downtown. It's full of forests, lakes & streams, fields, and pounding surf.
Great neighborhoods just like here in SF and London - full of restaurants, shops, bookstores.
A great old part of town that's been preserved and is full of shops and cafes. And my favorite jeans store from Istanbul is there - Mavi Jeans! YEAH!
The downtown is super - really gives the feel of a city that's larger than it really is. I mean, the population is slightly smaller than San Francisco's (and NOTHING like Hong Kong's) but there's a feeling of being in a big city that I don't feel very often in SF.
You can take a ferry and a short bus ride and you are the base of a ski resort - Grouse Mountain! The cable car goes straight up the mountain and the views are amazing. After all, you're standing up on the top of the mountain and down at the bottom is this amazing city.

In short, I would move to Vancouver in just a second!

Here are a few photos:

The Convention Center

The View from the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown

The Marina

The new part of the Convention Center

A fantastic Art Deco grill above a building in the old part of town.

Here are a few photos of different view of the city

Me trying to be clever with color - this is a view of downtown from Stanley Park

More me trying to be clever with color

WBH part 7 - Deception Pass, Green Park & Larrabee State Park

2009-08-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

While we were all up in Seattle we went on a fantastic trip up to Bellingham to see Nicole and her family. On the way we went to Deception Pass and Larrabee State Park. Here are some photos from each.

Deception Pass

Sarah, Hannah and Emma at Green Park

Larrabee State Park

And finally some good advice to always remember! Don't fall!

WBH part 6 - Seattle for 5 out of 6 siblings...(sorry Tony!)

2009-08-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Lisa was out in Seattle in late Jun. It was a great chance to spend time with everyone. It was awesome to see Lisa, Loren and their kids - it had been since early 2008! We had a great time visiting Seattle!

I walked through the Olympic Sculpture Garden later in the week and I took a few photos. There's a walkway that has this cool colored film on it - that's what is creating the amazing images.

WBH part 5 - Chihuly in Scottsdale

2009-08-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

While I was in Scottsdale I went to the Botanical Gardens to see a Dale Chihuly exhibit. I've seen an exhibit of his work before in San Jose as well as Venice, and there are some amazing art books of his work. He creates some clever and beautiful works of glass. The only thing is that once you've seen one exhibit you've seen them all. The colors and the specific shapes can be different but they're more similar than not.

BUT.......this was an exhibit in a completely new setting. Lots of beautiful glass sculptures out in the Botanical Gardens. Here are some of my favorite shots.

WBH part 4 - Scottsdale & Arcosanti with Ardelia

2009-08-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

In my first year of college I met Ardelia. We hit it off immediately and we've amazingly managed to stay friends for all these years. She lived in Kansas for a long time and for some reason I was not able to visit her there - I waved every time I flew over Kansas on my way to New York or London but she didn't think that was quite the same.

She recently moved to Arizona and so I decided it was definitely time for me to visit her. So off I went. Here's the view from my hotel.

One day Ardelia and I went up to see a place called Arcosanti. My friend Dave introduced me to it a while ago and I was intrigued. It's a fascinating real-world experiment testing the viability of the idea of "arcology". That term describes a place where architecture and ecology come together to create a new way of living. The designs of the architect (Paolo Scolari) who came up with the idea envision large urban areas where living, working and growing the food people consume all merge together to create something sustainable and future-oriented.

His ideas are also driven by the observation that the sprawl of today's modern world are creating a way of living that causes our lives to be pulled apart - we no longer live integrated lives and that causes all sorts of emotional, health and physical ills. Scolari started Arcosanti to see how the theoretical construct he envisioned would work in real life.

It's a strange experience visiting. The concept is very future-looking. But the reality is very old-world. It reminds me of an old Italian hill-town. Living, working and gathering areas are all jumbled together. And everything is hand-made, so it has a great look but it's hard to imagine a massive city emerging this way. Other than turning back to almost pre-industrial times, which I don't think of as something good. But with our current way of life being unsustainable in the long-term, who knows. And at least someone is trying to figure out how to move into the future!

WBH part 3 - Walking around San Francisco

2009-08-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos of San Francisco from one of my recent rambles...

Jewish Museum and church, with Four Seasons hotel behind

Plaza of the new Federal Building, San Francisco

City Hall, San Francisco

Coming up out of Bart

Dad used to work in this building - the Shell Building. I can still remember visiting his office there - that trip (I think Doug and I would visit now and then) were definite highlights.

The Asian Art Museum recently had a great exhibit on art from Bhutan. There were monks from Bhutan in the museum tending the shrine as well as making the sand mandalas below. I've seen these before and I can't believe that they're made by hand and that once done they are swept away.

WBH part 2 - Visiting Tony & Lynne

2009-08-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

From Chicago I went via Amtrak down to see Tony, Lynne and kids. Had a TON of fun there - walked about a bit, went bowling for my birthday, went to a show with Tony and another with Tony & the kids, went to a movie with Kendall and Brooklynne (no parents allowed!) and just had a great time.

For some mysterious reason I only have a few photos - did I lose the rest? Did I not take any? I can't remember....but in any event I only have a few. But here is a little show the girls put on for me at the library. It was very cute and fun.

One of the days I went walking it was beautiful, so I took a few photos of the civic square. It's a shame that it's sort of fallen on hard times with too many businesses moving out to the main street close to the university, but who knows....maybe things will turn around one of these days.

What's Been Happening (WBH) part 1

2009-08-04T17:00:00.001-07:00

Well....contrary to popular belief I have NOT fallen off the planet, moved to Mars or forgotten how to type! I've just massively lazy - sort of a victim of the "if I have 1,000,000 things to do I can do them all but if I have just three things to do I will somehow only manage to get 1 done." How sad is that!

But today I've walked from the Castro to Union Street to meet a friend, and then walked back by Hayes Valley via Van Ness and then home, so I'm definitely not just sitting around doing nothing. So I'm on a roll and decided to do a little bit of updating since the Grand Days in Roosevelt!

FIrst up - Chicago with Lisa & Sarah.

Here's the Silver Kidney (at least that's what I think it is! Maybe a kidney bean?)

Taking a picture of Sarah and me taking a picture!

Lisa, Sarah & me.

Just something simply cool!

We went to the Art Institute of Chicago. Lots of excellent art including a few by one of my absolute favorites - El Greco. His art is so interesting and modern - no stale stylizations and poses. It completely baffles me that he came along in the late 1500's.

Sarah is saying "I Love El Greco, too!" (At least that's what I THINK she's saying!)

We went to Chinatown. There are a few of Lisa & Sarah with chopsticks trying Dim Sum. Very tasty. I have a favorite place for Dim Sum in San Francisco - if you come to visit I'll take you there!

Also, it looks like Lisa's wearing a lei from Hawai'i - very festive! But I think it's an original Hannah Pusey creation (I don't have one - they're very hard to come by I hear....)

Did I mention that it SNOWED while we were there? A huge blizzard blew in and it was really crazy. But it was beautiful with snow coating the trees and buildings, billowing past the hotel windows and swirling around.

Then the sun came out on the last day. Literally as I was leaving! But Chicago is an amazing city and I would like to visit again one of these days.

Last Days in Roosevelt....

2009-03-25T12:16:00.001-07:00

Just a few shots from my wander through the countryside that is right behind Mike & Michele's place. So this is mainly a photoblog this time....

One of the few drive-in movie theaters in Utah, or so I'm told.....I liked the pattern of the steel and shadows...

I liked this for some reason...

That's it, I think, for Roosevelt. It's cold and blustery today so I doubt I'll be walking anywhere or taking photos, and tomorrow we head in to Salt Lake.

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

2009-03-25T11:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we (Mike, Michele, me and the kids) went in to Salt Lake City for the weekend. It was great - I stayed at the Peery Hotel in Salt Lake, did some wandering around downtown, saw Patria and had lunch with her at Sundance (yes, people were still skiing even thought it was in the 70s down in the valley), and aso connected to some great friends I haven't seen for years (Joan, Laron and their kids.) I also discovered that Sugarhouse is the place to be these days!

When I went out to do some wandering in Salt Lake I discovered a whole new world emerging between West Temple and the Rio Grande railroad station and all around Pioneer Square - if I were to ever live in Salt Lake again it would high on the list of potential neighborhoods! I walked through the Gateway Center (nice but all the normal mall shops so nothing really unique happening there....) and checked out the massive building projects underway downtown on Main Street. I also discovered that Temple Square is open until at least 10:30 p.m., so I walked around and took a few photos with my phone.

I recently was poking around to discover some of the camera options my phone has. I discovered "Night Mode" as well as ""Burst" - which takes four photos in a row. So, having chosen both of those options, here are some of the results that turned out OK.

The Assembly Hall - I don't know why that light is green, but it's sort of a cool effect.

Salt Lake Temple

The Temple in the large reflecting pool in the garden that used to be Main Street

That's it. It was really nice to wander around. I'll be in Salt Lake again on Friday morning before I leave for Chicago to have a fun-filled weekend with Lisa and Sarah. So I'll probably run by the Art Museum or wander around Temple Square again. We'll see what I have time for.

Fun Days in Roosevelt, UT

2009-03-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

I'm visiting Mike, Michele and their kids (Sophie, Bella, Max & Parker) in Roosevelt, UT right now.

It's lovely that way small town and high desert/mountain places can be. The feeling of the sun on my face when I walk around reminds me of visits to Grandma and Grandpa in Salt Lake all those years ago.

Here's a random view from my walk yesterday of the sky through some trees. Everything is still barren here, but the weather has turned nice and it's actually a little warm during the days. Perfect for walking or riding a bike.

It's good to know that you wear your Wiley X Safety glasses AND look great!

Well, I just looked Wiley X Safety glasses up, and I have to take back that last statement. You CAN look good in Safety X glasses!

Here's the view of the main intersection in town - Highway 191 (or something like that) and Highway 40. This is a rollicking place!

Down this street is the gym that Michele and Mike belong to. I'm going down there every day at about 9:30 for a nice hour of exercise with Michele (she and Mike ALSO go at about 6:00 a.m., which is just crazy in my book!)

There's not much of any sort of old western town in Roosevelt. Apparently there were a few buildings here and there but they apparently have been torn down for improvements like parking lots. But I did run across this old sign on a wall between some shops. The shops mentioned are long gone, but this little bit of history is still hanging around.

There is an " Indian Trading Post" in town.

But it's gone out of business. That's too bad. It would have been very cool.

And right next to the now defunct Trading Post is an amazing restaurant. It has Chinese, Mexican AND American food. What more could anyone ask for? I'm not sure if Mike & Michele will take me there, but I'm sure they love it. :-)

Today we went to Vernal for lunch with Mike - his medical practice takes him there two days. Here's a place we did NOT eat - but I was tempted to suggest we stop for a Root Beer Float on the way out of town.....I mean, really, what's not to LOVE about a root beer float?

Here's a view of the scenery between Roosevelt and Vernal. Really stark and beautiful. I think this is also part of the Ute Reservation.

Last night we went to a Community Play Performance of Bye Bye Birdie. The music is a little difficult, I think. I think it would be a very fun show on Broadway. Apparently there is at least one movie version of it. But the kids enjoyed the performance immensely and that's a key thing, right?

Finally, and most importantly, I bought a pair of boots! My old black ones are really great, but after 20 years they're not holding up that well. So here are the new ones. Now I just have to start country-western dancing! (But don't hold your breath for that to happen.....) HAHA

More excitement will be coming in the next several days, I'm sure. Until then......Ciao!

Interesting Miscellaneous

2009-03-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

I found this on an excellent website called FiveThirtyEight.com. I started reading this blog back during the 2008 election campaign. It's a very interesting and the main author really knows his statistical stuff. I highly recommend it! Anyway, I thought it was interesting to see that Republican administrations (often associated in the popular mind with sound fiscal management) presided over massive increases in the National Debt as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product. Of course, it makes logical sense - those were years of massive decreases in tax rates for the wealthy, and so of course government revenues were falling fast. Anyway, there you go!

Similarly, check this one out. US job creation has historically been more robust during Democratic presidencies than Republican ones. Who knew? And look at Bush II - almost no growth at all! For 8 years of massive tax decreases and (bubble-led) ecomonic robustness.

Finally (for this topic) check out this chart. It shows that while the wealthy have done well under all the presidents, not everyone has. While there are of course time lags and all sort of reasons to suspect that in the first year or so of any president is impacted by policies initiated by the previous one, the difference between the Reagan/Bush years and the Clinton years is interesting. Everyone was massively better of under Clinton and his economic policies than anywhere else while really on the very rich (top 20% of the population) saw strong economic gains during those years when "supply side" or "trickle down" economics were supposedly working to make everyone better off.

Then, of course, the poor really suffered under the past eight years of Bush II. What's compassionate about that? Here's an interesting article on this general theme.

********

This doesn't take into account the recent additional fall or recovery on Wall Street, but it's interesting to see the comparison.

Here's a slightly worrying graph. This shows that the Military is the most trusted institution in the country right now. I think we have to calk part of that up to the Republican's very successful efforts to minimize the ability of the government (at all levels) to respond to the needs or the population. From the massive failure to protect New Orleans (by maintaining levees) and the failure to respond to the disaster there to the everyday basic failure of the government to maintain roads/bridges/schools/libraries/unemployment insurance, from the gridlock in Washington to the politicization of medicine and science in the name of particular ideologies, who can blame people for not trusting most (or any) of the public institutions in their lives?

But when the people of a democracy start trusting the military more than the democratic, academic or scientific institutions (or religious institutions for that matter), we are moving in the wrong direction!

Finally, something happy! This is supposedly the real and true face of Shakespeare! Found hanging around an old family hall somewhere in England. It's cool!

Oh - one final final thing. An interesting interactive quiz that asks "How Progressive Are You?" Very interesting. I scored a 332 - totally off the chart. While of course the website this is on supports Progressive causes, it's not a judgmental quiz - just informative. Take it and feel free to let me know how you score. It would be fascinating!

Ciao!

Mark

America & Religion

2009-03-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

I came cross a very interesting article (in USA Today of all places) about America & Religion. You can find it here.

In it there was an interesting link to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life called the US Religious Landscape Survey.

While it was a little disappointing to see the LDS members scoring so conservative on social issues, it wasn't that surprising. But I say disappointing because my understanding of the Gospel compels me towards very progressive perspectives, not conservative ones. Isn't that interesting? One thing I learned (or read) while teaching the Gospel Doctrine class for three years (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon) is that there are a few common themes across all people and all times in terms of God's communication with his people:

He commands us to take care of the widows and orphans
He commands us to forgive people their debts to us - both figuratively and literally
He is consistently disappointed that His people focus on gaining wealth and the things of the world (we even talk about that in Sunday School and think, "oh, those foolish Israelites or Nephites" even while we're doing the same thing!)
While He sometimes gets annoyed with the general population of the world (Noah's days and some Old Testament days), His real annoyance and anger is only kindled by the failure of His people to live the commandments. And those commandments are really simple:

Love God
Love your Neighbor as Yourself

Strangely enough, there's no mention of judging your neighbors or categorizing your neighbors into the good ones and the bad ones, or the ones worthy of our friendship and those not. So.......for me, progressive politics and positions are interesting and compelling from a religious perspective because they are all about helping the poor, the needy, the widows and orphans, and making the decision to give up some of what we have (all from God anyway) to help those who can't manage to get it going in the world we live in.

So strangely enough, God doesn't require us to decide who is worthy of our aid and who is not, take into account who will buy something we agree with and who will not when we decide help, or attach conditions to our love. He'll judge everyone by their actions and intentions of their hearts. And He's the only one who can really accurately read the intentions of the heart. So, for me that means we should worry less about what OTHER people are doing and get focused on making our lives more Christ-like in action and thought.

Anyway, enough on that I'll get off my little soap box!

Here are some of the interesting & hopeful results from the Pew Forum survey (and I definitely recommend that you check it out.)

37% of Mormons look to Reason or Practical Experience and Common sense when looking for guidance on questions of Right & Wrong. (58% look to Religion, which would seem fine, but I think one of the major goals of life has to be the development of a personal set of ethics and morals that can guide you through the complexities of life. While it's perfectly reasonable to base that on a religious system, it has to be internalized and made your own - otherwise you've abdicated your responsibilities to someone else.)
While 91% of Mormons believe that people who lead good lives are rewarded eternally (why not 100%?), only 59% of Mormons believe people who lead bad lives and aren't sorry will be eternally punished. That's sort of interesting.....I suppose it might be because we believe that almost everything is forgivable at some point?
Only 57% of Mormons believe that "Only my religion leads to eternal life." That's very nice to see.
More interestingly, only 54% of Mormons believe that there is only one true way to interpret the teachings of our church. I think that's really interesting. It's certainly supported by my experience in church. While there are fundamentalists who would like to insist that there is only one way (always THEIR way, too), it's nice to see that people are open to multiple ways of seeing things as we all try our best to live the best lives we can.
26% of Mormons believe that we should either adjust beliefs and practices in light of new circumstances or adopt modern beliefs and practices. It would be fascinating to learn more about what those people mean. But one thing that comes to mind is a recent talk by a member of our Stake Presidency. He called out a differentiation between Doctrine, Policy and Practice. In his categorization, the first doesn't change (fair enough) but the other two do. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but definitely changeable. Sometimes we are tempted to see everything as doctrine, and it was refreshing to see someone talk about the space for change that exists.
15% of Mormons either Never or Seldom receive answers to prayer. That's sort of interesting, I think.

Anyway, like I said, the article and survey are quite interesting. Hope you enjoy!

Mark

Sitting in Seattle

2009-02-27T19:11:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Seattle yesterday. In what's becoming a tradition when I visit siblings, I was delayed by snow! Can you believe it! Fortunately, by then time our (delayed) flight arrived, most of the snow was gone and it wasn't another "snowed in" situation like over Christmas or the time I visited Lisa & Loren. Those were fun times, don't get me wrong! But at least I was sitting AT their houses having a great time - not sitting at the airport with only expensive food and water for company!

Today was a gorgeous day. I went in with Spence, found a cafe for a while and I spent a little time wandering around. Still very cold out of the sun, but really lovely afternoon. Spence and I went to Elliott Bay Bookstore Cafe for lunch and then browsed the books (of course.) Then I walked up the hill and stopped in the Markets at Pike Market - I went to the shops downstairs from the main Food Hall. I'd always meant to go down there to see what it was al about. I thought it would be just touristy stuff like Pier 39 in San Francisco, but I found a great little used bookstore and picked up a few books:

Snow, by Orhan Pamuk. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. I'm giving this one to Spence since he enjoyed My Name is Red (another one my Pamuk, and one that I really enjoyed, too. Here's the cover of My Name is Red - I really like this style of Persian Miniature so even the cover is fantastic!)

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. This is the first novel I ever read by Jose Saramago (who also won the Novel Prize for Literature - in 1998.) I found it in a little bookstore in New York when I lived in Manhattan. Of course, it's a novel and not a religious book, so I think it generated some criticism when it came out. But literature should challenge us, make us think more deeply about ourselves and our lives, and even if you don't change your opinion about something the effort of thinking and wondering always leaves us better off. I want to re-read it to see if I still love it. Since this book I've read most of Saramago's books that have been translated into English (he's Portuguese.) I've loved some and not liked others at all. Among those I've really loved are The Stone Raft (really fantastic) , Blindness (made into a movie that I didn't see - why ruin a great literature event with a movie version?), All the Names, and The Double. Try them - you'll like them! :-)

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. This is supposed to be a fantastic book of poetry; an American literature classic. I've never read any of it, and it was so cheap that I figured I just couldn't resist! Of course, I just found them actually online at Google Books (that's the link above.) So read and enjoy!

Then I walked down on Western Avenue (by the waterfront but not quite AT the waterfront...) Here are a few photos from my phone from that part of the walk...

Downtown shot

Another downtown shot

I liked this one - it's of Seattle Steamworks (I guess they make steam, but why? Who uses steam and for what? I guess I should Google it...)

I like this one

Some guys having a little impromptu jam session in the afternoon sun...

Last night I was with Spence & family; now I'm with Jen and family. Should be fun times - I get to walk the kids to school in the morning and then do whatever I want until everyone comes home in the afternoon. Maybe I'll practice some scales or something on the piano here.

Ciao!

Few Photos from Wandering Around San Francisco

2009-02-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

The other day I was wandering around with my friend Carmen. We walked through Chinatown on the Saturday of Chinese New Year. I took some good photos with my new phone. And then when I got home and reviewed them I realized that I messed them all up by hitting the wrong button at one point. So I only have a few from that day - but it was a beautiful day and hopefully some of these will be interesting.

A Pier South of Market Street on the Bay

Fort Mason, looking towards the Golden Gate Bridge

Aquatic Bay between Fisherman's Wharf and Fort Mason

I don't know what this is, but it's sort of cool!

Three Interesting Articles on Why Mormon Theology and "Intelligent Design" Don't Go Together...

2009-02-19T16:02:00.001-08:00

I found these the other day when I was wandering around the Internet and checking out a few sites.

I thought they were all interesting and thought-provoking. Not that I think any readers of this blog actually support the idea of Intelligent Design, but you never know and there's a lot of chatter out there about Evolution because of the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of publishing of his work On the Origin of Species this year.

Young Darwin

Old Darwin

I found these interesting because I find being informed, having my understanding broadened and assumptions challenged to always be good things. When we're too certain in what we think we actually shut down our capacity to learn - after all, if we already think we know everything there is to know, why would be out there looking for more light and knowledge? But god Mormons should ALWAYS be looking for more light and knowledge!

So here you go!

Two from the same author at a Mormon site I visit. This site (Mormon Organon) has some great articles and is very thought-provoking in all the right ways.

Removing the Lion Skin from the Donkey
The Depth of Darwin (learning lessons from Job)

An article from the Salt Lake Tribune:

Faith & Evolution

Enjoy!

I Always Said I Had a Dream....

2009-01-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

And now I just saw this on the Think Progress blog....

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In remarks that aired on German television last night, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, urged the U.S. to pursue former President George W. Bush and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on charges that they authorized torture and other harsh interrogation techniques:

“Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation” to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld. […] He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required “all means, particularly penal law” to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.

“We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld,” against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.

Indeed, a bipartisan Senate report released last month found that Rumsfeld “bore major responsibility” for abuses committed at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other military detention center. Just last week, a Bush administration official overseeing Gitmo trials said Rumsfeld approved the torture of one particular detainee. Bush himself said last year that he was aware of his advisers’ discussions on torture and recently admitted that he personally authorized waterboarding Kalid Sheik Muhammad.

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The President of the US (in my opinion) has a clear obligation to uphold the law and if/when he doesn't (like President Nixon) he can't be considered above the law.

Do I actually believe that anything will actually happen? No - I doubt it very much.

But would I like to see something happen? Absolutely. Think of the message it would send to the entire world if the leader of the world's most powerful country was held accountable before the law for authorizing action that breaks international law? It would be amazing!

The Word Cloud of Pres Obama's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a cool thing I found on the Web.

There's a cool thing called Word Cloud that shows the frequency of words in any document. This is President Obama's Inauguration Speech. It's sort of cool, isn't it!

You can create word clouds at this site.

A Few Favorite Excerpts from Pres. Obama's Speech

2009-01-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

I really liked his Inauguration Speech. Here are a few parts that I really liked!

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The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

YEAH! A New President!

2009-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's SO exciting! As soon as I can find it, I'll post some excerpts (or all of) his speech. Some parts of it really resonated with me!

I excited to see a new era of American responsibility and rational engagement with the world begin!

There are lots of challenges to face and of course everything can't be done at once. But it's fantastic and amazing that we're moving in the right direction.

I love that we can say God Bless PRESIDENT Obama!

Some very good advice from our British Friends...

2009-01-13T19:15:00.001-08:00

This is a good reminder now that the holidays are over!

I took this little snap with my phone in an Underground Station in London.

Enjoy 2009!

Winter Wonderland in Seattle.....Go Figure!

2008-12-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

So, I headed up to Seattle last week for the end of year Holidays. Of course, I know it snows up here. I mean, there are mountains everywhere with beautiful snow and glaciers, so of course it snows. But down on the ground in the valley?????!!!!! There are LOTS of hills here.....what is Mother Nature thinking?

Anyway my flight from SF to Seattle was delayed because of snow, but in the end it wasn't too bad.

It then proceeded to snow for TWO STRAIGHT DAYS! I think there was at one time over a foot of snow on the ground! And no plows in sight! So we were stranded.....and sadly that means I ate too much, drank too much hot chocolate, and didn't get any exercise (because it's COLD outside!) But Jen was stranded with us, so it was actually rather fun.

I introduced Spencer's kids to a great website called Before You Know It! It's a great foreign language learning tool and there are some really great free downloads to get you started. He now has someone learning French, someone learning Italian and someone learning Spanish in his house. Very cute. And I'm using it to brush up on Turkish.

Here are a few photos of the storm's aftermath on the Seattle side.

A few blackberries are hanging on.....but definitely are NOT looking very appetizing...

Really - there WAS this much snow!

There were a few moments of sunny weather between the first and second storms. This was the morning of the Christmas Breakfast and Program. Thankfully there were NO dishes with the traditional Mormon topping of Special K or Corn Flakes (unlike a certain, unnamed Christmas Party in Utah a few weeks ago!) HAHA

Now I'm on the Olympic Peninsula, and there isn't too much snow over here. Another storm is coming this way, so we'll just have to see what happens!

Trip to Thailand - Final Post Part 2

2008-12-23T23:50:00.000-08:00

OK......It's almost 2009!

I think it's time to face reality and move on to a new topic.

So, sadly, no more pictures of temple ruins from Thailand! It was a great trip, I just read an article that says it's even cheaper than ever, and I highly recommend it. (But in January or February...)

But now it's time to move into the future!

Here's one off picture from a walk in England......I would like the see the plants this sign warns about!

Really, what could that mean?

Cover Story from Newsweek

2008-12-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'm in Utah now at Mom and Dad's.

Just came across this article from Newsweek while wandering around online. While I don't usually read Newsweek I thought it was interesting. So here it is if you're interested.

Our Mutual Joy

Lisa Miller, Newsweek

15 Dec 2008 issue (I think.....)

The Trip to Thailand Final Post - part 1

2008-12-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

Since I've been back from Thailand for over ONE MONTH I thought I should get a few final photos out!

One of the days I was there (the sunniest day, actually) I went up to Ayutthaya.

It's the ancient capital of Thailand - it was the capital for something like 400 years. Then the Burmese came along, captured it, stripped all the gold off of everything, and then burnt it. What's left are ruins - but UNESCO World Heritage Site ruins, so it's pretty cool.

I think it you can imagine everything below standing straight and tall (everything's leaning this way and that now), covered in gold, and full of people, you will capture what it must have been like. So here are the first half of the pictures....I'll do the rest later!

The ones I'll publish are sort of more of the same, but different temple complexes.

The trip itself was cool. I got to the train station, and purchased a Standing Room ticket for the 3rd class. It cost something like $0.60 - yes, 60 cents! I stood some of the time, sat some of the time, travelled mainly with Thai people and a few back-packing Europeans. All very cool. I walked to the river (Ayutthaya is an island), crossed on a little ferry boat, wandered past all the shops, and the finally hit the ruins. It was a very cool way to spend the day!

I'd tell you what these specifically are, but my Ayutthaya guide book is packed! :-)

I was traumatized yesterday....

2008-10-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is a sad, sad tale....

You know (or maybe you don't) that there are people everywhere in Thailand with food stalls. On all the streets and alleyways, outside office buildings and in the markets, beside parking lots and even inside the malls. And it all smells fantastic. You can get all kinds of grilled meat & fish, you can get all sorts of fruits (watermelon, pineapple, pomegranate, green melon, papaya, apples), you can get noodle dishes, rice dishes, soups, dim sum, even sushi. It's amazing!

One of the tasty surprises has been that you can also get waffles! Imagine a nice square waffle hot off the griddle. It's cut into strips and stuck on a bamboo stick. You can just buy and eat. That simple. Very tasty...

Yesterday after getting caught in a monsoon that came up in about 60 seconds, I passed a waffle stand. The smell was amazing - warm and sweet just like they should be! I bought one.

It was a little heavier than a waffle should be (I mean, waffles are just batter and air, right?), but I just figured it was a special heavy Thai waffle mix.

I took a bite. It was lovely! Light and crispy, sweet, warm. Really wonderful. Just beyond my bite and peeking through the waffle was something sort of pink. I thought, "I wonder if they've put strawberry jam into this waffle! That would be a nice treat!"

I took another bite.

And experienced something I haven't willingly experienced for so many years that I can't remember the last time it happened. Staring up at me (and more revoltingly, in my mouth!) was the TERRIBLE FAKE PINKNESS of a hotdog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It was literally the color of the words! What's that all about!)

Really, no meat on the planet is the color of a hotdog. Not in its natural form. So it's almost like it's announcing to the world that it's some sort of man-made meat.

That was the meanest trick anyone has played on me for a long time! Of course, if I could read Thai I would have known what I was getting myself into! But really, why ruin a perfectly lovely waffle with a secret hotdog hidden inside the golden loviness?

A truly sad day in Thailand.

A Little Long but Worth Reading

2008-10-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Below are Sen. Barack Obama's remarks in Raleigh, North Carolina, as prepared for delivery:

North Carolina, I’ve got two words for you: six days. And you don’t even have to wait six days to vote – you can vote early right now. But this is important: when you do vote, you have to vote in two steps – one for President, and one for the rest of the ticket. If you vote for a straight ticket, you have not voted in the presidential election. You need to vote for president separately.

After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are six days away from change in America.

In six days, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.

In six days, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.

In six days, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.

In six days, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.

We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn’t have much money or many endorsements. We weren’t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.

But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.

Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.

Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That’s how we’ve come so far and so close – because of you. That’s how we’ll change this country – with your help. And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.

We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.

At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.

Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.

Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old policies that have failed us for the last eight years. We’ve tried it John McCain’s way. We’ve tried it George Bush’s way. It hasn’t worked. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

That’s why he’s spending these last few days calling me every name in the book. I’m sorry to see my opponent sink so low. Lately, he’s called me a socialist for wanting to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in Kindergarten.

That’s his choice. That’s the kind of campaign he chose to run. But you have a choice too. The fundamental question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”

For eight years, we’ve seen Washington take care of the extremely well-off and well-connected, and now my opponent is making the same old arguments to justify the same old policies that have been a complete failure for the middle class. He wants to give more to billionaires, more to corporations that ship jobs overseas, more to the same people whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this crisis. We’re here because we know they shouldn’t get away with it any more. We don’t need another President who fights for Washington lobbyists and Wall Street, we need a President who stands up for hardworking Americans on Main Street, and that’s what I’ll be.

It’s time to think very hard about what four years of John McCain’s policies will mean for the middle class.

If Senator McCain is elected, 100 million Americans will not get a tax cut. You won’t see a cent, but the average Fortune 500 CEO will get $700,000 and Big Oil will get $4 billion.

If Senator McCain is elected, your health care benefits will get taxed for the first time in history, and at least twenty million Americans risk losing their employer health insurance.

If Senator McCain is elected, we’ll have another President who wants to privatize part of your Social Security.

If Senator McCain is elected, he won’t make your college tuition affordable. His campaign says they have no college affordability plan because they consider the young people of America just another special interest.

Whether you are Nancy the Nurse, Tina the Teacher, or Carl the Construction Worker – if my opponent is elected, you will be worse off four years from now than you are today. So let’s cut through the negative ads and the phony attacks – under John McCain, the middle class will watch wealth get favored over work, jobs get shipped overseas, and the cost of health care and college go through the roof. North Carolina, we know that just won’t do. Not this time. It’s time for change. It’s time to do what’s right for you, for our economy, and for our country

I know that my opponent is worried about losing an election, but I’m worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I’m worried about the middle class. And I won’t just fight for your vote in the final days of election – I will fight for you every single day that I’m in the White House. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.

So I can take six more days of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It’s time for something new.

I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it’s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That’s how we’ve overcome war and depression. That’s how we’ve won great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights. And that’s how we’ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.

Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We’re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.

Now, I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don’t either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work. That’s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.

Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don’t need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.

We don’t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I’ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That’s the change we need.

The choice in this election isn’t between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It’s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I’ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I’ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.

When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won’t be able to bring back every job that we’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean we should follow John McCain’s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That’s how America can lead again.

When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We’ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn’t want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.

When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.

And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don’t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It’s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.

But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies. It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.

Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what’s good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. Some folks knew they couldn’t afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn’t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.

That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that’s what we need to restore right now.

Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.

In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.

Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.

It won’t be easy, North Carolina. It won’t be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.

I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.

I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.

I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.

I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn’t have that kind of money.

In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can’t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”

North Carolina, that’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we’re willing to work for it. If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we’re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we’re tired and come back fighting harder.

Hope! That’s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can’t go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It’s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn’t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”

That’s what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.

Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.

In six days, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.

In six days, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.

In six days, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.

In six days, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.

That’s what’s at stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win North Carolina, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.

Wat Phra Kaeo at the Grand Palace - part I

2008-10-27T03:40:00.001-07:00

This is the first of four sets of pictures mainly from Wat Phra Kaeo - that the temple complex right next to the Grand Palace. I have a few photos of the Grand Palace, but most of that area was closed because they are coming up a significant date marking the anniversary of the king's sister....so something was going on over there!

Anyway the sun came and went during my visit - hopefully most of these are going to be OK. It's an amazing place - the colors, architectural styles, decoration, etc are really too much! Totally cool, and really really interesting. Here are some of my favorites:

I like this one because the sun is glinting off some of the little gold spangly things - so I'm getting those star-like effects here and there like I have some sort of fancy camera. That was cool!

The next few are of the Grand Palace. The major building (the edge can be seen on the right below) is basically a European-style place with a very Thai-style roof line. The older parts (and smaller now, and on the left of the photo, are much more Thai-style....at least with my absolute ignorance of what makes something Thai-style, that's what it looks like!) :-)

Enjoy the 4 sets of photos!

Tomorrow I'm off to Ayutthaya - the ancient capital of the Thai kingdom. It was the capital for about 400 years. Then it was sacked by the Burmese, and the general who restored order and founded the new royal line moved the capital here, to the Bangkok area. If it isn't pouring, I'm going by train to explore around. Of course, a massive monsoon just blew through, so who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Wat Phra Kaeo at the Grand Palace - part II

2008-10-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

Wat Phra Kaeo is apparently the private temple complex of the king of Thailand. I guess like San Marco in Venice? Anyway, it's one of the few temples that doesn't have a community of monks living right there. It's quite amazing (which hopefully came through in the pictures in the above post - Part I.)

Anyway Wat Phra Kaeo is the home of the Emerald Buddha. This is the heart of Thailand - the most sacred image of Buddha in the kingdom. It is nor really made of emerald (that would be too amazing!) but is made of jade. It was hidden under a thick coat of plaster for a long time, then discovered by a monk when the nose peeled just a bit. It's sitting in a very impressive hall at the top of a VERY tall golden mountain so it's a little hard to see. And photos are definitely NOT allowed, so sorry, no Emerald Buddha pictures.

But this place has a amazing series of wall paintings illustrating the Thai version of the Ramayana - it's called the Ramakian. There are really beautiful. They made me want to go buy a copy of the Ramayana just to understand what happens in this massive story. I found three interesting-looking versions at the Kinokuniya at the SF Paragon mall in Bangkok. It's all about the translation, so I'm still considering each and trying to decide if any of the three would really grab and keep my attention. In the meantime, the wall paintings are fantastic, and if I can find a book just of the wall paintings with some basic text that might be enough for me!

Here are some of my favorites....but there are literally hundreds (and I took probably at least 100 pictures of these paintings, so I've got lots....)

I really really like this one - the tower shows three faces (like carvings in Angkor Wat) and I think that's Rama shooting there. If I even find out, I'll let you know!

I really want to know what's going on here!

As you can see - lots of monsters (or monster-sized creatures), holy men, armies, divinities, humans - it's got it all I think!

Wat Phra Kaeo at the Grand Palace - part III

2008-10-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

So, Wat Phra Kaeo (in addition to the wall paintings depicting scenes from the Thai version of the Ramayana - see above post) has some fantastic paintings of what I imagine are guardians (?) I'm not really sure at all! But there are some very cool ones. These are some of my favorites!

I particularly like this one....

And I also quite like this one...

Wat Phra Kaeo at the Grand Palace - part IV

2008-10-27T01:36:00.000-07:00

These are some of the guardian statues from Wat Phra Kaeo.

Some Miscellaneous Shots from around Bangkok

2008-10-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I went to the Golden Mount. It's a man-made hill in the middle of Bangkok topped with a golden chedi (or stupa). Here are a few shots from the grounds and the top.

You can see how big the chedi is here.

This is the Rama VII bridge - I think it's similar to what the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge (Oakland side) will look like. Maybe? Of course, I think the one in CA won't have a golden flame on the top!

It's strange to see completely modern high-rise apartments, hotels and shops along the river and then you come across something much more pre-modern. (Above photo, too....)

That's it. Oh - one interesting thing I just read. I guess most, or maybe all Thai guys do the monk thing for a few months at some point in their lives. That way their parents have some concentrated prayers for that period. Sort of interesting. I guess a little like a mission, but focused just on your dead family members? Anyway, I heard it from someone here and then read it in my guide book. Doesn't make it true, but maybe it is!

An Excellent Open Letter from a SoCal Mormon

2008-10-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

I came across this letter while browsing around online the other day. This letter expresses quite eloquently how almost all of my friends from church are feeling right now....I thought you might find it interesting....

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A VIEW FROM CALIFORNIA
I am a lifelong Mormon, a native Californian, and a descendent of Mormon pioneers. Like many other Mormons, I am anguished by my Church’s endorsement of Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which would eliminate civil rights to marry now accorded to gay and lesbian people in California.

I am anguished for what this campaign would do in abolishing rights and protections now belonging to fellow California citizens. But I am also anguished by the consequences of this campaign for Mormon families and wards throughout California. Since June, I have felt the profound effects of the “Yes on 8” campaign in our church meetings. In my own ward, it has dominated the content of our Sacrament Meetings and auxiliary meetings, as well as our hallway conversations. What does it mean that we are being asked to give and are giving ourselves so zealously to this campaign?

I have wondered how the “Yes on 8” campaign connects with the core principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ—love the Lord with all thy heart, love thy neighbor as thyself. I have wondered how it relates to the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and laying on the hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? Does it contribute to any of the three missions of the Church: to proclaim the gospel, to perfect the saints, or to redeem the dead? I understand that according to Mormon doctrine temple marriage is an ordinance necessary to exaltation. Still, I do not understand how the elimination of civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians in the state of California will do anything to bring more souls to Christ.

Instead, I have seen many negative consequences to Mormon spirituality from the “Yes on 8” campaign. The “Yes on 8” campaign has fueled a spirit of fear and misinformation in our California wards and beyond. For example, many bishops and other Mormons have circulated the document “Six Consequences if Proposition 8 fails,” which alleges that Mormon churches will be sued or legally penalized for opposing or refusing to perform gay marriages and that schools will be compelled to teach same-sex marriage to young children. Mormon legal experts affiliated with Brigham Young University have studied these claims and found them “misleading and untrue” (http://mormonsformarriage.com/?p=35). If the “glory of god is intelligence” (D&C 93: 36), misinformation and rumor-mongering must chase the Spirit from our churches.

I have also witnessed how the “Yes on 8” campaign has unleashed and authorized broader expressions of anti-gay sentiment by Mormons, sentiments not in keeping with church teachings. The Church has come a long way in its treatment of homosexuality from the time our prophet Spencer W. Kimball described it as a base perversion in The Miracle of Forgiveness. But most members have not absorbed recent Church teachings that recognize same-sex attraction as an authentic form of sexual inclination that requires compassionate consideration and strict personal management. Just as many of us continue to hold unexamined, undoctrinal, prejudicial, archaic beliefs about African-Americans and the priesthood (false notions about the lineage of Cain, or “fencesitters” in the war in heaven which have no basis in gospel doctrine), we also continue to hold unexamined, damaging, prejudicial, archaic beliefs about homosexuality. From what I have seen, this campaign has become an opportunity for Mormons to feel triumphal in our antipathy towards gays and lesbians. In my own ward, my bishop started using the ward e-mail list to send several daily messages pertaining not to Proposition 8 but encouraging members to get involved in other campaigns in our area to oppose gay civil rights. Is it really the intention of the Church to systematically oppose the civil rights of gays and lesbians? Since the beginning of the “Yes on 8” campaign, I wonder how many of us have spoken uncarefully and uncompassionately about gay people, without knowing regard to recent Church teachings on homosexuality which ask us to have compassion for those inclined to same-sex attraction?

It is my observation that the zealousness of the “Yes on 8” campaign has unleashed a spirit of pride and political opportunism in our congregations. The “Yes on 8” campaign asks us to eliminate the current legal rights of thousands of actual families in California. Even though we have described the initiative as a “protection” for heterosexual marriage, the actual language and impact of the law (considered strictly and soberly) have nothing to do with strengthening heterosexual families. Instead, Proposition 8 eliminates the legal protections of marriage for same-sex couple families. Through our Mormon doctrinal lenses, we may not see gay families as families that will survive into the eternities. But to gay spouses, children, and other relatives, gay families are vital families. If we are to act with honesty and integrity, we must take sober responsibility for the fact that “Yes on 8” eliminates the rights of actually existing families. The “Yes on 8” campaign, strictly and honestly considered, is a mission of destruction. We must consider carefully what it means to undertake a mission of destruction in the name of God. In the Old Testament, Jonah asked God to destroy the city of Nineveh, and God gently rebuffed him, reminding him that even Nineveh was beloved (Jonah 4:11). The scriptures caution repeatedly that when we engage on spiritual errands, and especially those that bring judgment against our neighbors, we are at great risk of indulging our own self-righteousness and spiritual pride. We must do so with a great spirit of repentance, caution, and humility. And yet nothing in the spirit of the “Yes on 8” campaign as I have witnessed it obliges us to undertake this kind of repentant self searching. I have seen instead a sense of accomplishment, triumphalism, and pride in the reach of our financial and worldly power. I have not seen the humility and godly sorrow God expected of Jonah. Our God is also the God of gay and lesbian people; they are as beloved of him as we are. Their needs and sorrows are as real and meaningful to God as our obedience to the directions of our prophet.

I believe the “Yes on 8” campaign has distracted us from addressing our own internal matters of morality. The Savior plainly tells us to seek the “beam” in our own eye before we seek out the “mote” in our brother’s (Matthew 7:3). Does the zealousness with which we undertake the “Yes on 8” campaign lead our attention away from our own spiritual lives and attending to our own failings? We all know that there are serious problems of morality within Mormon communities too, including sexual abuse of children in Mormon settings and knowing negligence by Church leaders that has caused the Church to payout millions and millions of tithing dollars in legal settlements. Even with increased direction from our leaders, patterns of sexual abuse continue in Mormon communities (http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10548248). Have we cleared the “beams” from our own eyes?

I know that the “Yes on 8” campaign has created deep divisions within Mormon families. As Mormons, we are obligated to search ourselves, to ask if our relationships with our family members are loving and appropriate. Do we reject or deny our family members because they are gay? Is the zealousness of the “Yes on 8” campaign an outlet for our own feelings of shame, revulsion, disappointment, and failure in having gay children or family members? Some of the leading Mormon figures with the California Mormon “Yes on 8” campaign have gay children. Does God want us to sacrifice our relationships with gay children and relatives in order to serve Him? God led Abraham to Mount Horeb to teach him that child-sacrifice, a common practice among pagan peoples, was no longer warranted. It was no longer acceptable to Him. Henceforth, only God would sacrifice His son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, after that great and atoning sacrifice, the only sacrifice we are asked to commanded to offer is that of a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20). Do we sacrifice our gay children to impress God?

I know that the zealousness of the “Yes on 8” campaign has brought created an intolerable atmosphere in many wards and stakes for thousands of gay Mormons, their relatives, and friends. What is our obligation to care for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters? Has the zealousness of the Yes on 8 campaign brought a spirit into our wards and families which makes it impossible for our gay brothers and sisters to find a loving refuge in their own church? I believe it has.

The “Yes on 8” campaign has directed more than $7.7 million dollars (so far) from Mormon donors to a narrow political campaign. [side note - the number is now almost $20M. About 80% of all the money raised by the Yes on 8 campaign.] Much of this money was raised after the Church reviewed its tithing records and identified wealthy Mormons to recruit even larger donations from, using special conference calls with Church elders. Why are tithing records being utilized this way? What does this reveal about the way the wealth of individual members has played a growing role in church leadership decisions? How many lives could this money save through the Church’s Humanitarian General Fund? How many educations could this money pay for through the Church’s Perpetual Education Fund? Why does our concept of morality focus so zealously on gender and sexuality at the cost of efforts to end death by disease or starvation, proclaim peace, relieve the debtor, or show stewardship for God’s creation?

Finally, the “Yes on 8” campaign allies us with openly anti-Mormon churches, while alienating us further from other people of faith. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “Jim Garlow, pastor of the evangelical Protestant Skyline Church near San Diego and a leading supporter of Proposition 8, said, ‘I would not, in all candor, have been meeting them or talking with them had it not been for’ the marriage campaign.” Why are we attracted to the same divisive political battles that have been the hallmark of the Christian Right, when the churches of the Christian Right have long expressed their disdain and enmity for our beliefs?

Mormons are a religious minority trying to maintain our faith in a rapidly changing secular world. Our pioneer ancestors were killed and chased by mobs from the United States in part because their plural marriages were deemed unacceptable by the society they lived in. Why do we now turn with such zealousness to eliminate the marriage rights of other minorities?

I present these thoughts only because I believe that a record must be made of how our actions as a Mormon community are affecting not only the lives of gays and lesbians but also the spiritual lives of our wards and families here in California.

Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

******************
That last scripture is one of my favorite (if you can have "favorite" scriptures.) I came across that while I was teaching Gosple Doctrine and really thought it was amazing.

That's it - for what it's worth. Bye!

Bangkok - the Temples

2008-10-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

OK. This will mainly just be pictures of two temples I visited over the past few days. I'll try to put in a few notes here and there, but hopefully you'll just enjoy the photos!

This is the Marble Temple

I liked the way the various roof angles and elements looks at particular vantage points. These are still at the Marble Temple (which you probably could tell because of the all marble!)

Well, there you go. The rest of the photos are of Wat Pho. I basically just wandered around the temple grounds and took photos in the order you will see them below!

These small tower-like things are called Chedi. They are basically built to honor Buddha, and usually (or maybe always) contain some sort of religious relic. Some of the larger ones contain a relic of the Buddha himself. At Wat Pho there are quite a few of these smaller ones all over the complex.

Here I'm inside the inner courtyard of the main hall (it's the building on the left side of the photo.) I'm looking at one of the royal Chedi in the background. The small tower in the middle is a Khmer-style pagoda - there are four of them in the inner courtyard. And the roof in the distance on the right is of the pavilion where the Reclining Buddha is.

(I love this photo - it just worked out nicely! It's my desktop picture right now....)

These are the royal Chedi. There are four of them, built by Rama I, Rama III (he built two - one for his father, Rama II and one for himself) and Rama IV, or King Mongkut.

The hall in the background in the Main Hall of the complex.

Another photo of the the Royal Chedi. This is taken from the grounds of a small Chinese-style temple. I like the dragons at the roof corners - very interesting!

I REALLY like this view!

That's it! I can't believe that I've been here for over a week now!

I highly recommend staying in apartments when traveling. It really adds to the sense of living somewhere, not just traveling through. Hotels are nice and all - bed made for you, fresh towels all the time, restaurants and room service. But in this apartment I feel completely at home. There is one downside to that, though - I don't feel under lots of pressure to get out and see things! I just sort of wander around town as if I lived here! So today I made a list of the things I want to do still to make sure I actually get out and do them!

And on that note, I've got to get going to get a few things done that are one my list.

Hope you enjoy these photos!

Bangkok - the Gate Guardians

2008-10-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of Gate Guardians at Wat Pho.

The guidebook says that they mostly came from China as ballast in trading boats. The boats loaded up with goods in Bangkok and left these statues behind.