Goodbye 2018!

This December I'm seeing a lot of people complain about 2018. Oddly, last December I also saw a lot of people complain about 2017. Amazingly, a few years ago I saw a lot of people complain about 2016. Shockingly, several years ago I saw a lot of people complain about 2015. Notice a pattern here? I do. Basically, people will complain about the end of the year no matter what year it is. I highly doubt that your life is so bad that every year is a bad one.

But if it is, then you have some of the blame for it.

Look everyone has something bad happen to them. Sometimes we can have serval bad things happen to us over a long period of time. But if every year of your life is miserable than yes, you are at fault. You either need to change your outlook on life and stop complaining, or change your circumstances so that your life isn't as miserable as you think it is. If you are an adult, you do have the power in life to change both your outlook and circumstances, unless you are in prison. You just need the backbone and desire to change.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 9:21

Many other passages in the Book of Mormon talk about "hearkening unto His voice" but not many other passages talk about the pain and suffering that He endured in order to save us. Our human minds can not comprehend the amount of agony that He suffered in order to save us-mostly because if we could comprehend it, it would overwhelm us. It almost overwhelmed Him-several times during His passion He asked for the cup to be taken from Him.

It's interesting to me that this passage talks about the pains of "all living creatures", then says "both men, women and children who belong to the family of Adam." Does that mean that there is some kind of salvation for animals? Why did the writer say "all living creatures"then say only "men, women and children and all those who belong to the family of Adam." It seems like the writer, and therefore God, left the door open to their being some kind of eternal life for "creatures".

Life in the 80's meme

Some thoughts about this meme:
1. Walkmans were horrible devices. You could only bring a few tapes with you at one time, thus severely limiting your music selection. I can bring my entire music library with me wherever I go thanks to iTunes.
2. The World Book encyclopedia was dated the moment it came out. Technology allows us to correct our reference books with new, fresh research in an instant.
3. Atari was great, one of my tattoos is the logo. But now we have a much greater selection of video games.
4. Getting caught with notes in class was always a risk, and you can't pass notes to your girlfriend who goes to a different school or to your husband at work. Texting allows you to do so.
5. Writing letters manually took forever, and mailing them even more time. By the time you got  the letter your life might have changed so much and so rapidly you'd need to write a new one.
6.  MTV was cutting edge, but YouTube allows you to watch the videos you want to whenever you want, with no need to listen to obnoxious DJs or wait for hours watching videos you have no desire to see waiting for one you want to see.
7. Do you know how dangerous road maps were to read while you were driving? Plug in your Garmin, let her tell you where to go. Much safer. Also-those things weren't updated as easily as your GPS is.
8. Being able to get a book instantly virtually anywhere in the world has made libraries obsolete. I can read what I want, when I want, where I want.

Technology rules. Stop being so afraid of it.

Album of the weekend

Anvil-Forged in Fire

I never liked this album. It always struck me as having few good songs, but also feeling over produced. It lacks the freshness of Metal on Metal and the purity of Hard and Heavy. However, I've given it another listen recently and while I stand by my original points-it still sounds over produced. 

Anvil is a strange band. They are fairly influential in the thrash metal realm, but very few people outside that fandom know who they are. Even after the movie that came out, they seem to have faded away into obscurity once again. Like many bands, their first few albums were the best. This album isn't as good as Metal on Metal or Hard and Heavy, but check it out if you are into the genre.

Remake of Mary Poppins

This is more about remakes in general, but the remake of Mary Poppins got me thinking-why remake a movie that was nearly perfect in the first place? Before you say "What about the book/musical Wicked?" That's not a remake, it's a retelling, and there is a huge difference. In the outstanding musical Wicked, it tells the story of the Wicked Witch, not Dorothy. While you can argue that the original Wizard of Oz told the story of the Wicked Witch-it's more about Dorothy. 

So seriously, why remake something was nearly perfect in the first place? You can't make it better. The Disney version of the Music Man was horrible-not because the actors are bad, but because it's nearly impossible to top a movie that was already basically fantastic. It's not just musicals that deal with this-it's also horror movies. The 1960 version of Psycho is a landmark movie. The remake, again created by very talented people, is laughably bad.

An expert film critic could write an interesting piece about why movie remakes are virtually always terrible.

I'm back!

I hope everyones Christmas was a good one. The day after Christmas can be a little depressing for people. I understand that, even though I don't agree. To me, I'm glad it's over and I'm glad I can go back to my daily routine. 

If the day after Christmas for you is tough, I'm sorry to hear that-my heart goes out to you. Try to get back into your routine and if you still have the post holiday blues after awhile-change your routine to include something you enjoy doing. 

Christmas Break

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. I'll be back on the 26th/27th. 

Raw milk

One of the issues in trying to be logically consistent with your politics is that you'll come to conclusions that you don't like. If you don't care about being consistent, than you can twist and turn your politics to suit whatever issue comes your way. Both sides do that, and it's disgusting, but it's not something you should aim for. Being much more sympathetic to the libertarian side than I am anything else, I find myself advocating for your right to do things that I think are repulsive, unhealthy, or just plain asinine. Drinking "raw milk" is one of those things that should be legal, but is a really, really stupid thing to do.

Just because something is "raw" does not mean it's good for you. In fact, eating things that are raw might kill you. E. Coli is not a pleasant thing to consume, and in some cases, it can be deadly. Yes, you can get E.Coli from drinking raw milk. You can get other joyous bacterial infections by drinking raw milk as well. The health benefits are controversial and need to be further investigated, but drinking raw milk is a real stupid idea.

However, it's your body and if you want to go through the agony of getting a bacterial infection, you should be allowed to do so. You shouldn't sue anyone of course-you should be intelligent enough to know the risks before you consume anything-and you should be forced to pay your own hefty medical bills as well. If you can do all that, than drink away.

Album of the weekend

Poison-Open up and say Ahh!

Thinking about this album makes me smile. It's not a legendary album, it's not a hugely influential album, but it's their best and it's also one of the better hair band albums out there. Like all of the hair metal bands, it's somewhat cheesy to listen to today and we've heard all the stories before, but it's still a great album.

Poison embraces the party aspect of rock and roll, but it also has some surprising deeper songs on the album. "Nothing but  Good Time" is a lot like "Living on a Prayer" by Bob Jovi. A song that shows a blue collar guy who is "breaking our backs every day" wanting something more. "Fallen Angel" is now a cliche, and it probably was back then, but it's a great song about a girl going to Los Angeles and getting caught up in the lifestyle. "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" is the standard ballad that every band at the time had to have on their album and as ballads go-it's a touching song about a failing relationship.

If you are of a certain age and into the genre of music, you probably own this album.   It's a good purchase for anyone who likes straight up rock and roll.

FM radio

First off, I get it-no one listens to traditional radio anymore. I sure don't. I usually listen to XM radio, audiobooks or iTunes. Occasionally I'll listen to a sporting event if I'm driving, but I usually listen to those on the XM radio as well.

FM radio is doomed, and I'm not exactly sad that it's leaving. What used to be local, individualized and independent is now largely corporate, lacking identity and repetitive. Every city has their own musical style. For Nashville it's country, for Boston it's ska, for NYC it's many things but punk comes to mind first off. Radio stations used to be part of that style. You'd have DJ's who were given much more freedom to play music they actually enjoyed instead of what was popular. By giving unknown artists airplay it could be hugely beneficial to their careers and put them on the map. Not so today.

So will I be sorry when the day finally comes where the plug is pulled on FM radio? No. I have some happy memories of listening to it on road trips (WAAF/WBCN in Boston come to mind), but I would never go back to the days where we got the majority of our new music on that format.

Class rings

The secretary in my high school told us once that we would regret losing our class rings. She was wrong. I'm not even sure how I got it, maybe my parents bought it for me- but I lost mine about a month after high school and have never thought about it until about two weeks ago when a friend of mines daughter was going to get hers. 

Look, you should be proud of your education because it takes a lot of hard work. I'm proud of mine. But I think wearing a class ring after you reach a certain age is sort of pathetic. In fact, I think it's like wearing a high school varsity jacket when you are 25 years old. It screams "loser." 

If you really want to remember your high school years, look in your yearbook (I threw those away too. No regrets). If you want to relive your high school years, watch Freaks and Geeks. If you want to get your jewelry fix on-don't wear a class ring. 

Gene Simmons sued for sexual harassment

Not to make light of a serious subject, but DUH. Gene Simmons is a walking sexual harassment suit, and if you've ever had the misfortune to hear him speak, you'll see very quickly that yes, he's a dirty old man and no, it's not funny anymore. 

Gene fails to comprehend that right now, in 2018, making sexual comments or filthy jokes is walking right up to the line and many times, crossing it. Ignore the fact that he's married and shouldn't be doing that-that's a personal failure.

Gene isn't a stupid man, but he obviously can't comprehend that he's way past his prime and is not the dream date of every woman. He never was, but power is intoxicating and women are attracted to it. His ego is out of control, and since he clearly hasn't heard the word "no" very often he doesn't seem to be able to handle it. That, and he seems to think he is entitled to molest women at free will without consequence.

Time is up for him. If true, hopefully this woman will clean him out.

Bryce Harper

If you have 300 million dollars to spare, you could sign the baseball player Bryce Harper to your favorite team. He's a great player, one of the best in the game, but he's not worth the asking price. His agent is, of course, Scott Boras. Boras is many things but he's not a stupid man. Harper is many things, obnoxious being one of them. The rumor in the baseball world is that Harper is having a hard time finding a team who will sign him to a long term deal for that amount of money.

Baseball general managers and owners might be getting smarter. Long term deals for millions and millions of dollars seldom end well-ask the Angels about Albert Pujols and the Rangers about Alex Rodriguez. Once the signing is announced the team will usually sell a lot more tickets, but the player almost never helps the team to a winning record.

Baseball is a team sport. One guy can have a huge impact on the team in run creation, but he can't pitch, field, and and hit in all nine spots. While the team that signs Harper will probably get an offensive boost in the short term, it won't be worth the money. At all.

Scripture Sunday Jacob 3:2

This is a passage that I don't really agree with. "All those that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God." First off, no one is pure in heart. We are all "sinners in the hands of an angry God." We need to "feast upon His love" simply because we don't deserve it-after all, God is repulsed by our sinful nature. So no, I don't agree with this passage and no, I don't really like it either.

I chose this passage today to prove a point. You don't have to agree with everything in the Book of Mormon or the bible in order to be saved. This passage doesn't effect my belief in Jesus Christ or in him being the Savior-which does effect our salvation. We should not let our disagreements with this or that passage take our eyes off what really matters.

Boy Scouts might declare bankruptcy

The Boy Scouts might have to declare bankruptcy. No, you can't blame "the left" and no, you can't blame the LDS church for leaving them. Whenever an organization declares bankruptcy, there are many reasons. Did their break with the LDS church help them? Of course not. Did their decision to allow girls in help them? Nope. The nail in the coffin was actually sexual assault cases and having to settle them for huge amounts of money. Catholic church-take notes.

I'm not sure they'll go under for this. It's not going to help, a bankruptcy never does, but I'm not sure they'll cease operations because of this. I feel sorry for people who dedicated their lives to Scouting (and I had no idea how important Scouting was to some people) because this is another black eye to the Boy Scouts organization.

Album of the Weekend

New York Dolls-New York Dolls

This is one of the greatest debut albums in music history, if not the greatest. Some music historians of the time period consider the New York Dolls to be the greatest rock/punk/glam band of all time and I tend to agree with them. 

There is pre-New York Dolls music and there is a post-New York Dolls music. The style, the lyrical content and of course the music was vastly ahead of it's time and influenced Kiss, the Ramones and virtually every hair band from the late 70's to the early 90's.  Looking back it is amazing to think that they did all that and they only created two albums during their brief time in the 70's. 


I'm stunned I haven't posted this yet as my Album of the weekend, but a search shows that I have not. 

LDS Deadpool poster

There is a petition going around to stop Marvel comics from using a certain Deadpool image that mocks a painting of Christ that LDS find sacred.  If you know anything about comics/comic movies you'll know that Deadpool has a zany and dark sense of humor that some of us adore. This isn't blasphemy, it's Deadpool being Deadpool. LDS signing the petition mean well, and like always their hearts are in the right place-but they need to chill.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, censorship never works. Never. All it will do is cause more attention to be given to what you are trying to forbid others to see.  I didn't even know about this until someone told me about the petition-no, I didn't sign it.

Everyone is a snowflake. Everyone. From liberals to conservatives to atheists to believers. We all have our "grab the sword and battle" issues that we feel strongly about. LDS of course have every right to sign petitions, refuse to read Marvel comics or see Marvel movies-but Marvel also has every right to let Deadpool be Deadpool.

Baby it's cold outside

Radio stations are pulling the classic Christmas song and at first glance, they might have a point. After all, the lyrics sound sort of creepy and the song has not aged well. Sure, you could argue that it's more flirty and fun than disturbing or uncomfortable, but I can actually see both sides of this argument. Banning this song is not part of the overall "War on Christmas" (which doesn't exist, but anyway) but it is capitulating to political correctness.

What I find fascinating is that no one complaining about this song has the :: ahem :: backbone to complain about filthy rap lyrics. That would be politically incorrect and might get you accused of being racist, so that door won't be opened. It's much easier to show your MeToo side and protest something that all your friends agree with.

In junior high school, a teacher called my parents to show her concern about the musicians I listened to. She was worried about the lyrics to Ozzy Osbourne and other heavy metal performers I loved so much. My parents were worried about it too, so I lied to them and hid several of my cassette tapes. No regrets, heavy metal kept me sane back then.  I then made it a point to seek out music that had darker lyrics to see why it was so taboo. Banning things didn't work for them-I developed a lifelong love of heavy metal, and that poor teacher had no idea what she was doing.

Banning things straight out almost never works.

Update on my running/working out more.

So, here's my latest workout post.

You'll notice that timing isn't very good. I admit that it isn't. However earlier in the year I couldn't run a half mile, and now I've been able to run for three miles and not 1) die of a heart attack or 2) contemplate suicide due to exhaustion afterwards. For me, running three miles is a huge accomplishment and frankly, I'm proud of it no matter how bad the timing is.

Kareem Hunt

Another NFL player was caught on tape savagely attacking a woman. It's disgusting, and the NFL has a serious problem with domestic violence. The Chiefs released him, and any team that signs him should be universally critiqued. In fact, I can't imagine a team going through the PR disaster that signing him would entail. 

It came out that the woman who was attacked might have used a racial slur. That's disgusting, repulsive, and abhorrent-but it doesn't warrant getting attacked. If someone uses that language, you should fire back. With your words. Assaulting someone just for what they said is incredibly disturbing. 

Would I feel different if it was two men? Probably. Two guys gotta fight sometimes and racial slurs are certainly fighting words. Even then though, violence is rarely the answer.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 7:10-11

This passage talks about something that isn't spoken much in this culture-fear of the Lord. "Who is among you that fear the Lord, that obey the voice of his servant and that walk in the darkness and hath no light?" We a lot of talking today from the pulpit about how the Lord is "love" and He is, but He is also to be feared. I get the feeling that for thousands of years that God was someone only to be feared. Luther thought God was a judgement God, and the prophets of the book of Mormon also thought the same thing. Generally speaking, when we fear something we don't want to cross or disobey it, and when it comes to the Lord, even in 2018, those are things we should remember.

I also like verse eleven-"Behold all ye that kindle fire, compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled" Clearly, Isiah (And this part of the Book of Mormon comes from the Book of Isiah) is talking about the fire of the Lord, and to walk in which direction it leads you

Kevin Hart out as Oscars host

Um, I'm not even sure who Kevin Hart is, but apparently he was the scheduled host of the Oscars but some anti gay statements he made have come back to haunt him. He has voluntarily stepped down instead of going through the walk of shame and begging for forgiveness. The Oscars, and Kevin Hart are of no interest to me. The SJW's claiming another victim are of great interest to me.

The bar for banning someone because of what they said should be incredibly high. Just making a joke about homosexuals, white people, black people, Hispanic people, Asian people or the like should not be grounds for barring you from hosting the Oscars or having a career. Is there a line you don't cross? Of course there is-and I'm not saying Kevin Hart didn't cross it. I have no idea if he did or not.

I've said it before, and I apologize but it needs to be restated. Given enough evidence, I could make anyone out to be a scumbag. Yes, even you reading this. You've said things in the heat of the moment that are stupid, offensive, rude and sometimes even worse. Do you want that held against you? Do you want to lose your job over it? It's a dangerous world we are living in.

Album of the weekend

Guns and Roses-Use Your Illusion I

Use Your Illusions I and II might be the best rock albums from their era. I already covered the second one, and it's time to talk about the first. Another great album from a band that shined so brightly for such a short time.

As mentioned while discussing the second one, this album also has a bi-polar feel. The ballad "Don't Cry" and bizarre "Coma" and the cover of "Live and Let Die" originally by Paul McCartney don't really fit in with a tradaional rock album, especially a traditional Guns and Roses album, but that doesn't spoil the overall feeling of the album. Everyone likes and remembers November Rain, but I get the feeling that when the door is closed, November Rain isn't played that often. It's just too long, but does have an ending that gets more intense an meaningful. For a ballad, it's not bad though. My personal favorite song off this album is "Don't Damn Me", a powerful free speech ballad.

This album isn't as good as the second, but it's still worth a download.

Parent shaming?

I may have the terminology wrong, but when I say "parent shaming" I mean another couple looking down on a parent for disciplining their child in a way they may not approve of. Also, even if it has to be said, yes, abuse is wrong and should be condemned in the strongest term. However, yelling at your child isn't abuse. Especially if your child is about to do something really stupid-like try to enter water that could be filled alligators.

I was at Disney recently-a place famous for children acting up and parents sometimes being at the end of their rope. I saw a child (no, I can't estimate age and I'm terrible with that anyway) about to run to a pond near the hotel we were staying at. The parent yelled at the kid, ran after them, and gave them a slap on the rear. A younger couple near me (strangers to me) saw the interaction and commented to one another that the mother shouldn't have done what she did.

Look, I'm not a parent, but a light slap on the butt to prevent a child from running into a pool of water that might have an alligator in it is not overkill. At all. In fact, hopefully it'll teach that child not to do the same stupid thing again. No, I'm not in favor of spanking, but since I'm not a parent I could never tell you how or what to do in that case. Even if I was a parent, it's not up to me to tell you how to discipline your child. It's not up to you either, to be honest.

NBA Age limit

As of right now, there is an age limit to play in the NBA. You must be 19 years old. It's always struck me as bit odd-an eighteen year old can enter into the job market and get a job based on their skills and abilities-which granted, at age 18, isn't much-but you are a legal adult at that age. Why do you have to play college basketball or go a different route?

My personal view is that someone at age 18 is not mature enough physically or emotionally to play professional sports at the highest level. For every Kobe Bryant there is a Korleone Young and James Lang. However it is not up to me to tell NBA teams who to draft-they should be free to pick and choose who they'd like on their team.

I don't have any sympathy at all for the NCAA. They've shown time and time again how corrupt they are. The schools also make enormous money from their sports programs and sure, while they provide the athletes with a "free" education, the athletes could be making much more if they went professional. For some athletes who lack the skill needed to play professional basketball, college might be a good idea. For those athletes who can compete right away at the highest level, they should have that option.

Vigilante justice at it's finest

In NYC, a woman was arrested for strangling a guy into unconsciousness for grabbing her bottom. Unfortunately, she strangled the wrong guy.  I get it, we all love vigilante justice, but it's not so pretty when you attack the wrong guy, is it? Oh, and by the way-the guy who really did grab her bum should be arrested for sexual assault. So no, I'm not in favor of men acting like pigs and getting away with it.

What the woman did was much worse. As disgusting as an uninvited slap on the bum is (and it is disgusting) it's not going to kill someone. In fact, it's more annoying then deadly. To repeat myself (because this is not a point I wish to be misunderstood) the "man" who did it should have been arrested immediately and brought up on sexual assault charges. However, he doesn't deserve to die for it.

And neither does a totally innocent man. Lets say she strangled the guy into unconsciousness (and she did) and he eventually passed out, hit his head against something and died. Guess what? She will correctly be brought up in manslaughter charges.

We fear the justice system. We fear that justice will not be solved after we've been wronged in some way. While that's unfortunate and true in some cases, it's much worse to take the law into your own hands and pretend you are Dirty Harry.

Addiction counseling

When a doctor or a group claims to have the cure for something-treat it with a high degree of skepticism. No, there is no cure for cancer and no, no one is holding it back or keeping it in secret. I've noticed that people hawking addiction cures can be incredibly offensive about how they market their product. No, no addiction cure, even ones based in religion and even ones based in my religion, is 100% effective. If they were, than everyone would use it.

When something works people generally flock to it, usually by word of mouth. iPhones are incredibly popular because they work. Blackberries have sort of died out because they don't work as well as the other alternatives. Peach pits do not cure cancer and no one uses them to do so. Chemo, all though it has horrible side effects, treats cancer the best way possible that we know of right now, so people generally treat cancer with it.

Addiction treatments are notoriously difficult. Some work on a minority of people, some don't work at all, and some claim to magically cure all addictions with the push of a button. No addict wants to be addicted, and if one treatment really did work 85% of the time, then all addicts would flock to it. That doesn't happen, so I'm intensely skeptical of any addiction treatment that claims a high success rate.

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 2:22

Oh, the famous passage where is starts off by saying "All that He requires of you is to keep His commandments and He has promised you that if ye would keep His commandments, you shall prosper in the land." Sure, He is talking to a large group of people though his prophets, but in reality, this is also a deeply personal passage.

"All that He requires of you is to keep His commandments". Um, that's actually a huge requirement and it's extremely difficult. There is a famous joke where Moses comes off the mountain carrying the tablets for the Ten Commandments. He tells the Israelites, "The good news is that I've talked him down to ten, but adultery is still on the list." Ha ha. All the commandments are incredibly difficult to follow, from adultery to weekly church attendance. So "All that He requires" is actually quite challenging and if anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying or they aren't following the commandments very well.

The good news is that if you do keep the commandments, the Lord will bless you and you will prosper. That doesn't mean that everyone who prospers is keeping the commandments-that would be naive to think so-but blessings come in different forms. It's always good to remember that if you obey Him and do your best to follow His commandments, blessings will come in one form or another.,

NFL Ratings

Apparently the NFL isn't really suffering anymore. Ratings are skyrocketing, according to this report.  I thought this would happen-eventually temper tantrums end, and people usually don't have the energy to boycott something for a prolonged period of time. We are still talking about the National Anthem protest, but not as much as before. The ratings went down for a bit, but have clearly bounced back. Attendance might be suffering if the local team is struggling (Tampa, my local team, are giving away free tickets. Not a good sign)  but other than that the NFL has rebounded.

Is the NFL in the clear? Oh, God no. Between CTE, domestic violence and yes, national anthem protests they still have major problems that aren't going away-but at this point, viewers aren't going away either.

Album of the Weekend

Vinnie Vincent Invasion-Self titled

Vinnie Vincent is among the most underrated guitarists of his generation. For a brief time, he was one of the best alive, and if you don't think so-listen to this album. That doesn't take away from his bizarre and self destructive behavior, and that says nothing about his abilities at this time in his life. Tragically, whether due to age or that he hasn't played in decades, the man can no longer play guitar. However, if you are into glam rock that sounds very close to metal, this album is for you.

It's a sleazy album, and would certainly be rated R-the lyrics have a lot to do with sex and they don't hide that fact. So only listen to it if you can handle that. I hope you can, because if you can get past all that it's a classic for it's era and very underrated. This album is also a little sad to listen to, given what would become of Vincent in the future. Some people are unlucky in life-they have bad things happen to them beyond their control. With Vincent, he brought it all on himself, and knowing this brings a macabre feeling to this album. Still great though.

Aaron Rodgers and his family issues

I'm not a big professional football fan, and I haven't kept up with the story a great deal, but I heard that the Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has some personal drama with his immediate family, including his brother and parents. I don't wish family estrangement on anyone, even though I've gone through my own in the past. However, not talking to cousins/aunts/uncles is totally different than prolonged estrangement with your immediate family.

We are all human, and we all have flaws and weaknesses. Human relationships are complex and nuanced, and sadly, often times run by emotions. Harsh words can sometimes take years to heal. The other truth is that sometimes we just get along better with our friends-they are family we can choose. I'm not naive, I know that Rodgers is a celebrity and therefore-tragically-his private life isn't private. However, he deserves privacy when it comes to such deeply personal matters.

Could the best college team beat the worst pro team?

This question comes up from time to time-whenever a really great college team comes around (Alabama for football, Duke for Basketball) people ask if they are so good that they could beat the pro team going though the worst season at the time. People who don't understand sports or reality seem to believe that a group of amateurs could beat a group of people who are getting paid huge amounts of money to do a job. Simply put, there is no way a college team, even a great college team, could beat a pro team. None. 

None. 

Even on the best college team, only a few players will go pro. They aren't good enough to go pro. In the professional leagues, even on the worst team, all of them are good enough to go pro. They are faster, stronger,  meaner and more importantly-more experienced than the any team of college players. In college, the players are still kids. In the pros, you are dealing with grown men. The mentality difference is huge. 

So no, Duke couldn't beat the Cavaliers and Alabama couldn't beat the Raiders. There is no chance of that happening. 

The band Queen

Yes like I mentioned before in my album of the weekend post on their music, they do have some good songs, even though their biggest hits aren't really my favorite. To me, when you only like the greatest hits album of a band that's a sign that you don't really like their music. It doesn't mean their music is bad, just not your thing.

 Before I go any further, like I've said before I know people are incredibly thin skinned about their favorite band.

"Your mother is a whore."
"No big deal."
"I don't like your favorite band."
"OH MY GOD YOU BASTARD. HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?"

I'm only semi kidding.

I don't get how popular Queen is. While I have respect for any musician who can get someone to pay money for their artwork, I will never understand why Queen inspires such devotion. The level of devotion is usually only seen by Grateful Dead fans and fundamentalist religious people talking about their religion. In fact, some religious people might be more open to dissent than Queen fans.

Someone please explain this to me.

Tae Kwan Do diares

So, after taking karate off and on my entire life, I decided to take a three year break, clear my mind, and start over from scratch. This time, taking a totally different martial arts form-Tae Kwan Do. I stopped by a karate studio in my town and while the instructor seemed incredibly nice and friendly-it seemed vastly unlike the Ed Parker style that I recently took and feel the most comfortable in. So I rolled the dice, and decided to start completely fresh.

Previous training helps because you speak a little bit of the same language-you know the basic blocks, the basic kicks, and the basic (key word, basic) strikes. It's a bit humbling to put on a white belt again (I was at the brown level in my last school, right before black) but I expected that and frankly, it's part of the fun. Wish me luck everyone, here we go.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 2:28

I've heard Jesus called many things, but I still don't understand why He is called "the great Mediator". I think the redeemer of our sins and savior of humanity deserves more than being called "a great Mediator". However, I agree totally with everything else in this passage. We should, of course look unto Him for our redemption, and we should always remember his great commandment, to love one another as I have loved you.

I'm not saying it's easy-in fact, like you, I don't love everyone I meet. If you say you do you have a juvenile and shallow definition of the world "love". However, making the attempt to love someone, no matter their flaws, or at least see them as humans with potential, is a good start to loving everyone.

Non-LDS missionary killed by remote tribe

A non LDS missionary was killed by a remote tribe when he trying to visit them to preach. Apparently the tribe is so violent that they won't let police recover the body.  I say "non-LDS" not as an insult, but because I wanted to be clear that it wasn't someone in a white shirt/black tie-the typical missionary you might think of being talked about on an LDS blog. To be clear-I'd feel the same way about the situation regardless of what kind of missionary he was.

While his death was tragic, this is a stunning lack of common sense. Relying on God to protect you is noble, but that doesn't mean He wants you to walk into a war zone, walk into a dangerous neighborhood, or walk in to isolated tribes known for their violent behavior. Regardless of how dangerous it is to you, these tribes lack natural immunities and could be completely annihilated by diseases that someone brings them. No matter how noble your intentions, wiping out an entire tribe of perhaps the last non-contacted people on this planet is horrific.

Did this guy deserve to die? Of course not. Foolishness should not be a death sentence.

Album of the Weekend

Nirvana-In Utero

It's odd when one of your favorite bands releases an album that you don't like. Imagine going to your favorite restaurant-one you've dined at for years-and they burn the steak, forget the wine and kick you underneath the table when you order dessert. It's not a good experience. That said, at least the waiter was a nice guy and the appetizer wasn't terrible. This album is not a bad album, but it's like dining at the restaurant I described.

No album can be bad with the songs "Rape Me" and "Pennyroyal Tea". Two great songs. Sadly, that's pretty much it. While it's true, no artist or band can achieve longterm success album after album-either financially or creatively-this album might have showed that the end was near for one of the greatest bands of all time. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Bill Maher II

Bill Maher is getting slammed for what he said about Stan Lee. It's not a surprise-Bill Maher gets slammed for things all the time. I disagree with with Maher 90% of the time, and this is no different. However, the hate he is getting this time makes me sick. And tragically, the hate is coming from people who I love-my fellow comic book fans.

Now that geek has become chic, we have nothing to complain about, aside from geek becoming chic. Everyone is attacking Maher for what he said, and they've become totally out of line. Threatening his life and personal attacks on him just because he said something stupid is repulsive and incredibly disturbing. Like you, he has every right to express himself, even if I disagree with it, and I do, strongly.

Stores open on Thanksgiving

Last year, I wrote that I think certain stores should be open on Thanksgiving because not everyone celebrates the holiday and not everyone is close to their families-either geographically or emotionally.  I said the same things on my Facebook page, and needless to say, 75% of people disagreed with me, strongly. That's fine, no one has to agree with what I say and I'm blessed to have friends who disagree with me. Luckily, I have family members that I'm extremely close with-they live only about three hours away and I visit them frequently.

But not everyone is that fortunate.

For whatever reasons-and those reasons are none of your business-it's difficult for some people to be with their families today. Maybe there is no drama-they could be Jehovahs Witnesses or otherwise not celebrate Thanksgiving-but they might want something to do while everyone else is celebrating with their family.

The "one size fits all lets close all stores" ideology doesn't fit. It's not fair to the people who want to work Thanksgiving for whatever reasons they might have.

GoFundMe fraud

Some stories are too good to be true. Some stories are too good to fact check.This was one of them. Last year a story went viral about a homeless man and former veteran helping a woman who ran out of gasoline on I-95 in Philadelphia. Turns out, none of it was true.  It all fell apart when the homeless guy sued the couple to get a larger share of the money. Most of the money was spent at the casinos-I think this couple had a serious gambling problem.

It's a tragic story because it'll make us more skeptical of legit GoFundMe stories. The only thing worse than believing everything you read is believing none of it, so I hope and pray that we don't see this story and simply stop giving to GoFundMe stories. A healthy dose of skepticism is one thing, but believing that everyone is out to screw you and get money is different. Some people do need a legit hand out-nothing wrong with that, life can kick all of us down. I'm hoping that the veteran in this case gets help for his drug addiction and that the guy and girl who seemed to be the masterminds here pay their debt to society.

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 15:11

I think that many churches claim to speak for God in some degree. While it's true, I'm not a theologian and yes, there are exceptions, the majority of Christian Churches claim to be speaking the word of God, and some many claim to be the only church that speaks in the name of God. Those that speak in the name of God or claim to are often called prophets-and the LDS church is one of the few Christian churches that claims to have modern prophetic revelation. In fact, the leaders of our church are referred to as "prophets".

This passage says that those who listened to the prophets are heirs to the kingdom of God, but you have to do more than listen. You also have "to believe that the Lord would redeem his people, look forward to that day, and ask for a remission of your sins." Wow, that's a lot of stuff.

I wonder how many people only do part of that. How many people listen to the prophets on Sunday than ignore them from Monday-Saturday. Or, how many ignore the prophets but believe in the Lord. And I'm sure that not many people look forward to the day where God pulls the curtain down and the second coming begins. This passage seems simple at first but upon second look is incredibly complex.

Vinnie Vincent postpones December concerts

In a move that didn't surprise the cynical, Vinnie Vincent has postponed some concerts from December to February.  Some people are expecting this, because Vincent has had serious problems with being unreliable in the past. I'm disappointed in him, but I'm quite glad I didn't get tickets because I was very close to getting them-I was there in Atlanta during his first public appearance in over two decades back in January.

I'd like to think people  change, and I still think they can-but apparently Vinnie Vincent can't. While I'm sure he has logistical problems getting his back band to preform, my fear is that he just doesn't want to do it anymore. Or, my bigger fear is that he's trying to screw over fans that already paid their hard earned money to enjoy hearing him play his music. He's claiming to be able to bring in some big names for February, but I don't believe him or his promoter.

No one wanted to believe that he would appear in Atlanta-but he did. So he got our hopes up. He got our hopes up again, and this time went right back to his old tricks.

Sad.

Album of the Weekend

Mr. Bella-Cross My Heart 

I saw them when they opened for Stryper in Orlando back in September. They had an unusually short set, and I liked it enough to watch a couple of their videos on Youtube. I downloaded this album, which was released back in 2009. This is one of those albums where it's not my personal taste, but it might very well be yours. 

Many of the songs sound the same, and I'm not sure if that's because of style, production, or how the band wants to sound. For example, while listening to the album on my bike ride I thought I heard the song "So Lost" before, but it turns out I was listening to Rag Doll or Webs. Not a good sign. The album does have a few good songs on it though-I do like the song "Tragedy".

If you are looking for an album that sounds like it should have been made around the year 2000, this might be right up your alley. 

Utah marijuna laws

In a bit of a surprise, it looks like Utah voters have approved Medical Marijuana, even though the church has spoken out against it.  I'm in favor of full decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, so I disagree with the political views of the church. In a way, it doesn't matter. The voters approved it, regardless of what the church or I think.

Utah is clearly changing. Salt Lake City has an openly lesbian mayor. The medical marijuana bill passed. I can't imagine these things happening three decades ago, and it's hard to believe that they are happened now. The influence of the church is in decline, maybe due to people leaving the church or people moving to Utah from another state.

Greyhound racing II

Florida recently overwhelmingly voted to ban greyhound racing. Like 69% of my fellow Floridans, I voted in favor of the ban-after some internal struggle. The issue is a bit more complicated then I originally thought, and it turns out it might have some serious unintended consequences. A story in the Tampa Bay Times reported that thousands of dogs are going to be up for adoption. I'm fairly confident that many of those dogs won't find homes and have to be euthanized.

Of course I blame the sport in the first place for treating these dogs terribly, but the ban (Which again, I voted for) might not have been the best way to combat the mistreatment of the dogs. Now, a large amount of dogs will have to be killed simply because they no longer can be put "to use". Both outcomes-banning and the sport and allowing it to continue have tragic unintended consequences.

Stan Lee

The man behind so many comic book heroes has finally passed away. We all knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any easier. Born Stanley Martin Lieber, the man known to the world as Stan Lee has passed away at age 95. Yes, we all know time waits for no person and we all know that everyone eventually has to pass away but he was so full of life up until the very end. It deluded us to some degree. Our denial kicked in and we thought he'd never leave us.

Childhood is not easy on many of us, especially comic book fans growing up in the 80's/90's. Now that geek has become chic, it's hard for people to understand this but for a time (not too long ago) anyone who was into comics sometimes found it hard to find friends. That gets worse when you are in a smaller school where no one, absolutely no one shares your interests or hobbies. Stan Lee gave us characters we could relate to. Peter Parker is a shy kid, socially ill at ease.  Matt Murdock is blind, but he sees the world better than anyone with sight can thanks to his radar sense, which no one knows he has. Even the villains are sympathetic, to some degree. Magneto is a political idealist who correctly sees that mutants are mistreated in their society and wants more than civil right-he wants equality then eventually, superiority. We could relate to the characters better than anyone else in our world. They gave us an outlet for our own insecurities and worries.

This hurts like it did when Lemmy or Johnny Ramone passed away.

Pete Davidson update

Pete Davidson ate a little crow and invited the veteran who he made fun of on Saturday Night Live this weekend. I admire that and he deserves major credit for it. Sure, the backlash probably had something to do with it, but I don't care. He showed major backbone by admitting he went a bit too far, made fun of a target he shouldn't have, and then let the veteran basically make fun of him right back. In a world where we are all getting more and more thin skinned, Pete Davidson just showed major class.

My favorite part of this (and I didn't see it but I read about it) was how Crenshaws ring tone was apparently a song by Davidsons ex-girlfriend. Damn!

Scripture Sunday

The Korihor saga has ended, and we will be back next Sunday with a fresh, new Scripture Sunday passage. 

Jeff Flake trying to primary Trump

Jeff Flake, the senator from Arizona is attempting to primary Trump in 2020. I wish him the best of luck, but attempting to take down a sitting president is a near impossibility. Just ask Ronald Reagan-who tried to take down Ford in the seventies but sadly failed. The power of the presidency is just too much to overtake.

I'd actually love for someone to primary Trump, but it's nearly impossible. Like it or not, the majority of republicans would still vote for Trump, and Flake would do nothing but split the party. I have zero confidence that Flake would just lie down for the general election-he seems arrogant enough to run as an independent-so he'd split the vote and therefore, virtually assure a democrat would take office. Flake doesn't care about that, he only cares about beating Trump.

Album of the weekend

Ace Frehley-Spaceman

Nearing 70 years old and still making new music, that alone is respectable. The former member of Kiss has always been the most musically talented of the foursome, and he doesn't disappoint on this album. It's not as good as is legendary solo album released in 1978, but it's up there and certainly worth a download. It's always bothered me when someone people just dismiss him as a former member of Kiss. If you can get over that, then get this album.

"Rocking With the Boys" is his answer to the wretched song "Beth". It's a rock song instead of a ballad and it's talking about the same thing as "Beth" did-someone talking to his girlfriend at home while he's playing music. There are some problems with the album, and the most irritating is how he still views himself as a 17 year old street kid from the Bronx. "Bronx Boy" is like that. We get it, you are tougher than us, but it seems like you are trying to convince yourself rather than the rest of us. My personal favorite song on the album is "Your Wish is My Command"-I find myself singing that one around the house more than any other song.

If this is his last album, and I understand why it would be, it's a great one to go off into the sunset with. 

An Indian statue is being removed

My parents live up in New Hampshire, and they told me about a large Indian statue that was going to be removed soon because it's basically rotting away.  Apparently, people are devastated by this. So devastated that when someone started a GoFundMe account to fix the statue, it raised a grand total of about $1,000, no where near the amount needed to actually you know, fix the statue.

I had to chuckle. People love being depressed and outraged over things, but they don't love it enough to actually open their own checkbooks to try and stop it. Sure, the people who donated money have every right to be depressed about it, but no one else does. If you didn't donate your own money, then you obviously don't care enough to fix the problem-so move on and try to find something else to be nostalgic about.

It reminds me of Sears/JC Penny/every other dying retail store. People act nostalgic about it, but if they cared enough about it in the first place, then the store probably wouldn't have gone under in the first place. It's the same (more or less) with this statue. People care about the statue, but if more people cared about it, then it would have gotten the repairs needed to fix it so it wouldn't go anywhere.

Pete Davidison on Saturday Night Live

Okay, true confession time. I don't know who Pete Davidson is, and I haven't watched Saturday Night Live in decades. When I say "decades" I'm not kidding. I think I saw it once when I was 16. A comedian decided to make fun of veteran running for political office. Are we getting too sensitive when it comes to jokes? Absolutely true. Did the veteran running for office basically just shake it off? Yes he did. So it's not about the joke-that's fine and everyone has moved on.

If someone made fun of a liberal woman running for office over her weight, would that be funny? Would the comedian (espcially if the comedian was a man) be able to keep their job? No, of course not. Would people laughing at Pete Davidson laugh at the this hypothetical comedian? No. Pete Davidson (and again, I have no idea who he is) can keep his job and further his career because the guy he made fun of is veteran who isn't cool and hip in his eyes. If Davidson was brave, which he isn't, he'd make fun of someone who his friends all like and admire.

Lenny Bruce was the greatest comedian of all time. He slaughtered scared cows on the left and the right. There are no Lenny Bruces today.

Bike riding work out and age

I got a new bike for my birthday and I've been riding it at every chance I get. Recently I rode 20 miles in one day which no, doesn't mean I'm ready for the Tour De France but is a decent workout for someone who hasn't ridden since he was about 19. I'm 39 years old and when I posted about the workout, someone said, without any sense or irony or humor, that doing that "at my age" was impressive. Again, I'm only 39. This guy is one year older than me. I told him that I pass people on the trail that in their 50's and 60's. He didn't respond. 

I'll never understand people who act prematurely old. 40 is the new 35, and 35 is the new 30. Acting like 40 is the end of your life shows an extremely depressing outlook. You are hopefully going to be around for a lot longer than forty years, and complaining about how old you are and how you can't do things that you used to is not only foolish, it's sad. If you take care of yourself and eat right, you can be in great shape at whatever age you are. I feel better at 39 than I ever did at 21. 

Washington DC might lower the voting age to 16

I thought this would be an idea so stupid that only California would embrace it, but DC has it's share of stupid ideas as well.  Lowering the voting age to sixteen won't get kids more civically involved, it'll just prove that kids don't know enough to make an informed decision. Oh sure, if you lean to the left you'll love the idea, because kids lean leftward too. It's partially because kids don't know how the real world works, and it's also because they are easily influenced by their friends, who also don't know how the real world works. There is a lot of sad truth in the old saying, commonly but mistakenly attributed to Churchill, that "a man who is not a liberal in his twenties has no heart while a man who is not a conservative in his forties has no brain." It's over simplified of course-yes, liberals can be intelligent and yes conservatives can have compassion, but for me and many others it's been more or less true.

What's sadder to me is that forty years ago, even ardent liberals would see what a terrible idea this would be. Kids don't know how the real world works, you didn't at 16, I didn't at 16, and no one did. The folly of youth is that we think we know how the real world works. Hopefully when we get older, we see how wrong we were.

Scripture Sunday Alma 30:30-50 part four

The conversation between Alma and Korihor is easily one of the most interesting parts of the entire Book of Mormon, no question. It's a debate between a believer and an atheist and I'm always stunned how both sides are presented in a decent and reasonable way. Give that the book of Mormon is a holy book written for believers, it should be no surprise that at the end of the passage Korihor is the one punished and he's the one who is struck silent. Did you expect something else?

Korihor is nothing if not honest, at least at first. Alma asks him if he believes in a God, and this time, Korihor says no. Alma asks him if he (Korihor) believes that the holy men deceive the people, and Korhior says "Yes". Eventually Alma asks Korihor if there is proof to what he says and Korihor flips the question around. Alma, in a very beautiful passage mentions his proof-the words of the prophets, the testimony of the brethren, the scriptures, the earth and the planets-to Alma, it's interesting that he uses the earth and the planets and the order that they provide as proof that there is a God.  Believers still do that today.

Finally, Alma has enough and Korihor tries to hedge his bets a bit. Korihor says that he, "does not deny the existence of God but I still don't believe in one. If you don't show me a sign, I won't believe." So Alma gives him a sign, and Korihor is struck silent. This seems to violate his freedom, and it does trouble me a bit. Even if Korihor is wrong, and I believe he is, he should have the right to speak his mind.

More thoughts on genealogy

I've mentioned before that I find genealogy sort of boring. Look, if it's your thing, then knock yourself out. I'm sure you might find some of my interests boring. I love history, in fact the last book I finished was the book by Paul Johnson, A History of the American People. A fantastic book, by the way. So it's not because I don't like history that I don't get into genealogy. I'm adopted, so perhaps subconsciously that's the reason I don't like genealogy either. Whatever the root causes and reasons, genealogy still bores me.

If you claim to be descended from some famous person that's interesting, and I hope it brings you peace. Hate to break it to you, but it doesn't make you special in any way, shape or form. Charles II from England had dozens of mistresses and a staggering amount of illegitimate children. We're probably all related to at least one of them in the end. If you are from Utah, you are probably related to pioneer stock. If you are from New England, you might be related to someone from the Mayflower.  Those kind of facts might have gotten you respect in the 1800's, but now, no one outside your family probably cares.

Album of the weekend

The Struts-Young and Dangerous

Released in 2016, their first album "Everybody Wants" was one of the best albums of the last decade. The Struts epitomize a musical style that is sadly, unknown. Glam Rock. Retro, 1970's New York Dolls style glam rock. They have released some singles in-between the albums and those have been great. "Primadonna Like Me" and "One Night Only" are not on this album, but you should download those two songs right now if you like glam rock.

Should you download this album? It's good, but not as good as their first album-and that's okay. The first few songs are great, "Body Talks" , "In Love With a Camera" and "Bulletproof Baby". The album tails off after that, and unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't match up to the fantastic first three songs. The exception is "Tatler Magazine" which is quite good. A few songs on the album sound remind me of Beatles songs, like "Tatler Magazine" and "People" has an almost Eleanor Rigby style sound.

In another era, the Struts would be the biggest band in the world. In 2018, they are a much needed breath of fresh of air.

Election predictions

After 2016, I don't listen to anyone making election predictions. None. If you think my candidate will win, lose, draw-I don't care. You shouldn't either. Remember when the New York Times had the chances of Hillary winning at close to 100%? (Yes,  they said 92%, but that is close to 100%). 

The Trump election in 2016 made all predications irrelevant. Even the ones that said Trump would win. If you thought Trump would win you either guessed or you had this amazing ability to be psychic. Predictions were saying that Trump would lose Texas, much less Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump won for many factors- democrats stayed home, and people wanted a "Change" from the 8 years of Obama rule. 

Granted, none of that is in play this election and yes, in most elections the party in power does suffer some losses. So you can make some vague guesses, but we all need to be careful not to make any sweeping predictions about this. 

Drug laced Halloween candy

I've heard the urban legend too, that little Johnny gets sick from getting Halloween candy that is laced with cocaine or Crystal Meth. It might have even happened once or twice, but the reality is that little Johnny might have been sickened by the drugs kept in his own home, not the drugs of some stranger. No, your kid will not be given drug laced candy on Halloween, and no, it didn't happen to the kids of someone you know in the next town over.

First off, the obvious. Drugs are expensive and people who use them don't give them out for free. I highly, highly doubt they'd waste their private stash on your kids. Next, lets say they do want to waste their private stash on total strangers (which, um, no junkie does. Speaking from personal experience here). How do they put meth in a Hershey's bar? And shouldn't you examine your kids candy before they eat it? My mom always did, and she threw away anything that was privately baked and not in a wrapper. It's sad, because most of the time the people who bake cookies and brownies can't afford regular candy and still want to be neighborly.

Second, drug addicts don't care about your children. They aren't looking to get your kids high so your kids come back to them and become regular customers after become addicted to drugs. Drug addicts use the drugs themselves and ignore everyone else.

Urban legends have been around forever, and this one is no different.

Roseanne show

I never watched her show in the first place, but I think the spin off is going to crash and burn. Roseanne was the title character of the show and it revolved around her charisma and style. How it's going to survive without the main star is beyond me. It's also apparently too late to go back-how do you bring back her character after she's been killed off?

It was very naive of her to Tweet offensive things in 2018.  Like it or not, we live in the most thin skinned era is history, where people carry chips on their shoulder and look for reasons to be offended. Do I like it? Of course not, but I change reality. ABC should have perhaps suspended her or fined her-but sacking her from the TV show will end up costing them in the long run.

Megyn Kelly II

Poor Megyn Kelly. Her ratings were terrible, she made a horrible business decision by leaving Foxnews, and her airhead personality caught up with her. Megyn joins the long list of celebrities whose mouth got them in trouble and while I'm not thrilled about how thin skinned our culture is getting, Kelly should have known better. She can't fully be compared to Roseanne though-Roseanne was getting incredible ratings while Kelly was seriously struggling.

Megyn left Foxnews for the bright lights and big city aspect of NBC, then quickly found out that all the glam came with a cost-more demand for ratings. She reminds me of someone who divorced her blue collar first husband to marry a wealthy lawyer-only to watch the lawyer go bankrupt shortly after. She didn't see it coming, but she should have been smarter. Her career is now in tatters.

Scripture Sunday Alma 30:19-29 part three

The Korihor saga continues.

Korihor wanders to another town to keep on preaching the words of the anti-Christ. The people of Ammon were once Lamanites and they don't have the same freedoms as listed a few weeks ago. Instead of letting him preach, they bound him and carry him to the high priest. It must not have gone well because he bounces around to another town. This time,we hear him repeating words that could easily come out of the mouth of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Even though I mentioned that his words sound like atheists today, it's important to remember that.

Korihor is condemning the society for sticking to traditions and he's lecturing them that they need to let it go. He's saying that there is no such thing as original sin and he's partially right, for the wrong reasons. After all, a child is not guilty for the sins of his parents after all. He also brings up a constant criticism of religious institutions, that they "glut yourselves with the labors of their hands". I've heard atheists in 2017 talk about how they think the leadership of the church lives in palaces (they don't, but anyway) while the peons and sheep blindly give them money.  Basically, what modern day atheists say today has been the same criticism since the olden days of the basic prophets.

The showdown will continue when Korihor is shipped away to Alma. Part four is coming up.

Bombing suspect arrested

The lunatic who sent bombs to anyone against Donald Trump has been arrested, and thank God for it.  He reminds me of the guy who shot at republicans during their softball game. Sure, you've probably forgotten about that softball shooter, but he was just as dangerous and trying to do the same thing this guy was. I hope and pray that Cesar Sayoc remains in jail for the rest of his life.

No, you can't compare Trump supporters to him anymore than you can compare Bernie supporters to the guy who shot Steve Scalise. The mainstream media loves to portray left leaning people as peaceful and immune to bad behavior. The mainstream media also loves to portray any Trump voter as angry, psychopathic and capable of violence. It's sad, but it's something I've accepted. Thankfully, the mainstream media loses influence every single day. It's not the problem that it was a decade ago, much less two decades ago.

Political violence is on both sides, and you delude yourself if you think your side is morally pure and the other side are the only ones capable of evil.

Album of the weekend

Green Day-American Idiot

Putting aside my political disagreements with this for a second. This album is really, really good. It has a punk sneer that is as close to classic Dead Kennedys as a band that isn't the Dead Kennedys can get. It's all about politics too and what Green Day thought was the destructive and dystopian like civilization under George W Bush. It becomes a concept album that tells the story and while there are other punk concept albums there aren't many of them.  American Idiot tells a story and has some great songs while doing so.

There is a haunting loneliness to the the entire album. The title song is full of anger but underneath the angry sound to it lies a feeling of loneliness. The speaker wants to live in a country that he understands and accepts him but can't allow himself create a home in modern day America. He finds not just the leaders to be idiots but everyone else who supports them idiots as well. His anger turns to loneliness in "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" a touching song describing what it's like to feel like you are the only one who thinks a certain way in the world.

I wonder what Green Day will rebel against next. The Sex Pistols, Ramones and Dead Kenndeys sneered against everything, liberal and conservative, republican and democrat, capitalist and socialist. What separates Green Day from the greatest punks bands of all time is their refusal to give the middle finger to everything-not just the opposite side from their own views. Green Day comes close, oh so close with this album.

Bullying

"Everyone wants to change the world. No one wants to change themselves"-Nothing More, Do You Really Want It

It's time we had an honest talk about bullying. Not you and I, but society and itself. Everyone has been bullied before, and the sad truth is that everyone has probably been the bully before. Life is not perfect, and it's certainly not as linear as anti-bullying memes make it out to be. The truth is that no one is perfect-not you, not I, and we've all made mistakes before. From our parents, to our teachers, to yes, even ourselves.

I get the troubling feeling that the anti bullying commercials, memes and PSA announcements mean well but don't hit the mark. No one is in favor of bullying anyone, but do you think that someone is going to stop terrorizing someone else because some sports star or celebrity spoke out against bullying? How many of those celebrities or athletes were part of the cool clique in high school who tormented the uncool kids?

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren has done something very fascinating to me. She's angered the right-which is obvious, because she's Elizabeth Warren. She's also angered the hard left-those who are angry at rich, entitled white people who claim to be minorities because they want special treatment. Oh sure, the run of the mill democrats will still overwhelmingly vote for her. After all, they voted for Ted Kennedy for 200 years after he killed a girl. Republicans in Massachusetts (both of them) are too stupid to move or have just given up, so they'll be as irrelevant as they usually are. 

Honest democrats should be taking a look at this and wondering what kind of person they elected. All politicians lie because they are people and all people lie. So her lying is not really why I'm surprised, it's what she lied about that irritates me. She obviously couldn't get a job just by being Elizabeth Warren, she had to tell people she was part Native American to get Harvard to hire her. This shows bad on Harvard as well-hiring someone who couldn't get a job in academia until she became a minority? It's higher education so I don't expect much from them in the first place. 

Transgender cyclist wins female race

Have you heard about this story? Of course you haven't, because mainstream media only covers a little bit of it and you have to dive into the web to see the other side. Only conservative sites are talking about part two of this story. The first part is a that a male-to-female transgender person won a female cycling race. The second part is that another competitor in the race is talking about how unfair it was because it was a female race and she lost to a biological male.

So what side are you on? Do you support womens rights? Or transgender rights? Or both?

The politically correct side will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat, always to please the next trend that becomes popular. Now, transgender rights are popular so women? Take a back seat and shut up. No complaints, because the politically correct don't care about you, they only care about the next issue. 

Now, it'll be transgender women vs biological women.

Ways to ruin a Disney vacation

I love Disney. I was there last week getting some rest and relaxation from the daily struggle that is my life. I'm kidding, my life is wonderful and I've basically created a life that I don't need a vacation from, but any time at Disney is welcome.

While there, I saw a lot. A parent saving their child from running into the water. Many, many people getting drunk at Epcot at eleven in the morning (Really? That early?). People getting lost and being unable to read basic instructions on a map. Also, I heard many people complaining about Disney.

Yes, it's expensive.
Yes, it's hot out.
Yes, it's crowded.

If these three things bother you, than should either 1) Not go to Disney or 2) shut the hell up, accept what you can't change, and go to Disney anyway.

Disney and expensive and no, it's not getting any cheaper. I think it's expensive because, gosh darn it, things like amusement parks cost money to operate. I think it's hot outside because it's in Florida and not Minnesota. I think it's crowded because many people put aside the weather and the money and go to enjoy it.

Scripture Sunday Alma 30:12-18 part two

Korihor begins to preach his heresies and they sound much like what we are hearing today from atheists in our culture. There really is nothing new under the sun. Personally, I understand how Korihor and other atheists feel. Sometimes when we seek out prophecies and information, it does sound like it's just the words of old men who don't know how to let go of tradition. After all, sometimes it does seem that no man can see the future. We can not know for sure what the future holds and we can't know with iron clad certainty that our sins will be forgiven and that there will be a Christ to forgive them.

To be clear, it's not what I believe. I believe in Christ and I believe in the forgiveness of sins. However, I do understand what Korihor is saying here. Often times in my life I have felt that there either was no God, or that He didn't care about his creation. Korihor starts off with my sympathies, even though I don't agree with him.

Part three next weekend.