Learning to Dance in the Rain

Posts Tagged ‘Call to action’

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you read something that you truly believe in.  It gives you a sense of the greatness that is found in each of us if we stand with conviction and determination in a just cause.

I can think of several documents that have stirred this feeling in me…

The 13 articles of faith

The Proclamation on the Family

And the latest…The Manhattan Declaration – read it (and for that matter, read the others too).  It is powerful.  It makes me proud to be part of a nation founded by men who feared God and held sacred these freedoms and rights, and most of all, proud to be a Christian!

I encourage you to read the full version before you sign it, not just to make sure that you know what you’re signing, but because it will make signing it, all the more meaningful – it was the best 15 minutes I spent ALL day – and I had a pretty good day…

President Barack Obama addressed Congress over the weekend in an emergency meeting about the need to push through a public commuter bill.  The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) recently published some alarming statistics regarding automobile drivers over the next ten years:

• 80% of Americans will lose the use of their car due to mechanical failure, collision, or collection agencies from dealers who didn’t get reimbursed in the Cash for Clunkers programs. 
• 50% of Americans will be involved in an auto accident.
• 20% of those in an auto accident will sustain serious or fatal injuries.

“We cannot allow Americans to be without transportation, and we absolutely cannot leave the problem of serious car accidents unresolved,” Obama said.  “Millions suffer serious or fatal injuries in car accidents every year.  Cars produce green house gas emissions that are killing our planet.  It would be un-American to not take precautions to ensure the safety of our people and the earth.  All cars are inherently dangerous and I’m signing an executive order for their immediate nationwide recall.”

Citizens will be required to exchange their cars for life-time passes on a new national public transit system.  Those currently without cars will be able to apply for these same passes at a reduced rate or free depending on their qualifications.  The transit system will be primarily made up of electric buses, but subways and other soon to be announced advanced systems will be built in metro areas.

Obama promises this new public transit system will be implemented without adding to the national debt. “We will hold our public transit employees accountable with how they spend the allotted money.  Buses will not be purchased or active unless there is sufficient documentation to justify the expense to keep costs down.”  Republicans and democrats see this as a bi-partisan effort and are quickly signing on.  Funding will come by raising taxes on cigarettes as the only remaining source of carbon emissions in the nation, and by cracking down on tax fraud.

Some experts warn that efforts to keep costs down will leave some would-be commuters without transportation that they need. “Particularly in the rural areas, some people may have trouble finding a bus route that meets their needs,” Dr. Rabbizter from Harvard on a Hill said. “But even in metro areas, a late or broken down bus will result in some people getting to work late, or even missing an important appointment altogether.  And in peak times even an on-time bus won’t get you there because it will be full.  People will never be guaranteed a seat on a bus, even one they ride regularly.”  Obama expects that patriotic citizens such as employers and doctors will be understanding regarding the unexpected delays that can occur in their employees or patients arrivals to appointments.

The nationwide public transit system is expected to create about 30,000 new government jobs—a welcome opportunity in this economic downturn.  But Bill Trapp, owner of Grey Hound, expects to have to lay off at least 5,000 employees as the public switches to the new public transit system for its subsidized prices, and says other private busing companies will likely have to do the same.  “I don’t know how we’ll compete long term,” Trapp said. “How can a private company make a profit when competing with tax-payer subsidized transportation?”

Even existing local public transportation provided by cities are wondering what this national transit will mean for their existing capital and employees.  Several thousand cities across the U.S. already provide subsidized public transportation for their residents, but Obama can only offer these cities a “cash for clunker-buses” program: “Existing buses simply are not safe enough; not green enough.  We must do everything possible to protect the safety of commuters, and to protect our environment.  Existing local city government employees who drive and service buses will be given the opportunity to keep their jobs—just working on U.S. government buses instead of local ones, although some may have to relocate to take advantage of this offer.”

Government Motors (GM), formerly known as General Motors but renamed when recently acquired by the United States, will be used to manufacture the new buses and provide their service.  Straheli Feihf, Obama’s new transportation czar, assures us that having exactly one manufacturer of all buses, and without competition for automobiles, will guarantee the safest, greenest, most efficient, and cheapest transportation.  “The law of economies of scale tells us that if just one entity produces all the automobiles for a nation, the result will be more efficiency than would be possible in a free market system.”

“I think it’s great,” said a Washington state resident regarding the new plan.  “It’s safer, greener, and free transportation for virtually everyone.  Now if only they could do this for health care.”

(yes, of course this is a parody 😉

Warning: This post is not politically correct, but is based on personal faith.  If the title offends you, please consider finding something else to read.  But this post is written with good and loving intentions.

In response to President Obama’s recent proclamation that June 2009 is LGBT Pride month, let’s make July 2009 “Straight Gratitude Month”.  We celebrate the habitually straight and those who have found their “straight gene” later in life.

What this post isn’t about

This post isn’t about discrimination or prejudice.  It’s about a moral belief that we are God’s children, and that God has a plan for us.  That plan includes that a man and a woman should be married as a couple and raise children that know & love their Heavenly Father so they can all return to live with Him someday.  We all have agency, and each have our challenges in life.  Most individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, have sexual urges that must be kept within the bounds the Lord has set.  For individuals who cannot marry (whether they are LGBT or straight), God requires sexual abstinence.  For those that do marry, He requires complete fidelity.  The Lord’s Law of Chastity is found throughout scripture and the Lord does not change his commandments based on political or social pressure.  God will not hold us accountable for natural feelings we cannot control, but we will have to answer to Him for how we choose to act based on those feelings. 

Those who cannot marry (whatever their reason, be it sexual orientation or anything else) deserve our love and compassion.  Theirs is a heavy cross to bear.  They do not deserve to be ridiculed or treated badly or with less preference in any way on account of their sexual orientation. 

Taking a stand

While we must treat LGBT as God’s children, which they are, we are not bound to endorse or actively support a LGBT lifestyle.  They may choose their lifestyle because God has granted all of us agency just as straight-oriented people can choose their own lifestyle.  But some LGBT overstep their bounds when they ask/demand special preferential treatment based on their sexual orientation, insist on teaching our children in public and even private schools that their lifestyle is acceptable and even that children should experiment to “discover their true orientation.”

I think that most LGBT do not realize that behind all their “rights” movements that they participate in with good intentions lies an evil force with a very carefully laid plan to abuse the freedoms this country and much of the world holds dear by using it to force morally-driven people to accept and embrace LGBT lifestyles in the name of tolerance. 

Beware that the greatest danger of the LGBT agenda may be to our children, who in schools are being increasingly bombarded with an education tilted toward promoting LGBT behavior.  Much of this is done in the name of tolerance or of preventing hardship for children who may have these tendencies.  But pure tolerance, respect and kindness can be taught in many ways besides promoting the behavior.  And perhaps the scariest part of this is that much of this is being done to our children without our knowledge or consent.  And if you thought you had the right to keep your child out of class for a day, better not blink, because some states are already taking away parental rights to keep kids home on days when gay-ed is being taught – if you happen to hear about it in advance anyway.

Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
As to be hated is but to be seen.
Yet seen too oft, familiar with his face,
First we endure, then pity, then embrace.
  – Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

God, who knows the end from the beginning, has warned us that these times would come through his holy prophets in The Family: A Proclamation to the World (1995) and in Isaiah 5:20 (~750 B.C.).

So what is “Straight Gratitude Month”?

Through the Lord’s prophets we are counseled to beware of pride.  So instead of calling this Straight Pride Month, I’d like to call this Straight Gratitude Month, out of respect for the struggles LGBT have to deal with while holding true to our belief that God designed families to be started with a man and a woman.  We are grateful to be straight because it means following this one commandment of God’s (of many commandments of course) isn’t as much of a struggle in life as it could be.

We will show our gratitude for our straight sexual orientation by wearing a blue shirt if you’re male and a pink shirt if you’re a female each day of the month of July.

This week we consider the non-smokers of the world.  Non-smokers have a lot to put up with. 

Second hand smoke is deadly, smelly, very annoying, and can even make non-smokers “carriers” of the horrible smell to other people.  The smoke stains walls and butts burn carpets,

What’s with just dropping your cigarette on the ground or out your car window?!  Hello?! That’s littering. While not all smokers do this, many do.  Even if you don’t respect your own body enough to quit smoking, don’t disrespect our community for the rest of us to clean up your cigarette butts.  Pet owners carry doggie-bags to pick up after their pet.  Maybe smokers should carry fireproof butt-bags to extinguish and transport their cigarette butts.

It seems that most smokers don’t respect the laws that are supposed to protect the rest of us like, staying 20 feet away from bus stop enclosures and from building entrances. 

If you smoke outside your office building at work, take several deep breaths of fresh air before coming inside.  Heck, go for a short jog first and air out all your clothes.  Then take the stairs instead of the elevator.  It’s horrid for a non-smoker when they step into an empty elevator and can smell the remains of the last smoker to occupy that confined space.

Celebration instructions: Find some clean air and breath deeply.

We dedicate this week to those who do not partake of alcohol.

Cost to Society

How many millions of dollars per year to non-drinkers pay in taxes to support emergency and health services for people who do stupid things while under the influence. 

Managers

We encourage employers who control the budget for morale events to consider those of their employees who do not drink alcohol.  How many more morale events can be scheduled for the next fiscal year if alcohol were not served at these events?  Or perhaps other treats can be served as well so that non-drinkers won’t feel excluded.

It may be that drinkers would willingly give up the alcohol at morale events in exchange for more exciting events (buy out a movie theatre or visit an amusement park).

Drinking neighbors and coworkers

Those who drink may not realize how bad alcohol smells on their breath to a non-drinker.  Drinkers, take a step back when talking to your neighbor, please.  No, you don’t have to be stone drunk to have intoxicating breath. 🙂

I’m writing to let you know about a terrible piece of legislation called "The Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate state and federal abortion laws that the majority of Americans support and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Please read the expert analysis by Americans United for Life (AUL) and sign the Fight FOCA petition at:
http://www.FightFOCA.com

Thank you!

The vandalism and reprisals in California and across the nation against those who have voted to sustain the traditional form of marriage is hateful. Yes, it’s those calling Utah and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hateful who are the hating ones. The “Mormons”, who make up only 2% of Californians, didn’t define marriage in California. The majority of the people voted to sustain the definition of marriage that thousands of generations have taken for granted for millenia. In the name of ‘tolerance’, these rioteers are showing great intolerance to those who value traditional marriage. Will these rioteers please take a step back, a deep breath, and ask themselves if they are practicing what they preach?

First Presidency Urges Respect, Civility in Public Discourse

Do you realize that your email password is probably your most sensitive piece of information?  With your email address and password, I could manage to log into almost every web site you have an account on.  Even if you use different passwords on all those other sites.  I just have to click "I forgot my password" on those other sites, read your email for the ‘reset password’ link, and I’ve stolen your identity.  Even credit card and bank web sites often have this "easy" password recovery feature.  In fact since I have access to your email I could very likely discover most of the web sites you have membership on by searching through your email archives and get them all in just a few minutes.  Have I got you thinking twice about giving away your email password to some site that wants to download your address book yet?

Never, never, never give someone or another web site your email password!  It’s just about the worst thing you can do.  Facebook, LinkedIn, and other otherwise "reputable" sites love to ask you for your email address and password so they can offer you the convenience of spamming all your friends by looking up their email addresses from your email address book.  All they ask for is your email address and password.  Don’t give it to them.  Whether they are reputable sites or not, any person working at that company, in a moment of compromised integrity, could steal your password even long after the fact and rip off everything you own. 

Do you still want to use Facebook, LinkedIn, or these other social networking sites and have them spam your friends?  Fine (I hope I’m not in your address book!).  Most of these sites also offer an option for you to manually export your address book to a .csv file which you can then upload to these social networking sites yourself without giving away your password.  That’s definitely a safer option.

It’s less convenient than just typing in your password, true.  There are upcoming technologies that will help solve that and make it safe and convenient for you to share your address book.  But for now, do it the ‘hard’ way and save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run.

So protect your own identity by not sharing your password.  Give away all your friends’ privacy without asking them by giving away their email addresses to a social networking site that they may not want to join anyway.  But that’s an etiquette issue at least, rather than a hard-core security issue.