Religion and animals

A few of our prophets (leaders of the church) have made statements on how we should treat animals. David O McKay, a president and prophet said "A true Latter Day Saint is kind to animals, is kind to every living thing, for God created all." There are other quotes on the subject too. Lorenzo Snow, a prophet from the early days, mentioned his distaste of the sport of hunting. Joseph F Smith said, "it is an unrighteous thing to treat any animal cruelly." So many prophets have spoken out in favor of animals and against their mistreatment.

I like it when prophets and church leaders talk about our responsibility to animals. Too often Christianity views animal welfare as a distant priority. Are humans more important than animals? Yes, of course. But does than mean animals should be mistreated or we should just ignore the subject of animal welfare? Of course not. Even my feeble mind can handle dealing with two things at once. Too often people who are concerned about animals are written off, and in fairness some animal rights activists do take it to the extreme. The wonderful Dennis Prager had a great quote about this. "Cruelty towards animals leads to cruelty against humans, but those who care radically about animals often don't care the same way about humans." He is correct, which he is often. That might not be a direct quote, so I apologize. 

Religion is critiqued for many things right now, and sometimes that critique is with justification. However it's religion that in many cases demands fair treatment of animals. It could be the prophet Mohammed talking about fair treatment of his cats, or it could be Jewish rules for humane slaughter of animals. Whatever it is, religion deserves credit for this. 

Scripture Sunday Alma 1:26

I love this passage. It reminds us that all of us to some degree are equal-because "the priest, not esteeming himself about his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they all did labor, every man according to his strength".

There is a strong sense of democracy in the LDS church. I'm not naive, yes, I know that it's hard for a retail worker or a bus driver to advance in leadership. Yes, I wish that we had some GA's with grease and oil on their hands. However, I'm very happy that our local leadership has leaders who work in less glamorous jobs other than lawyers, doctors and wealthy businessman. No, there is nothing wrong with those jobs-it's just nice to see mechanics and people who work on garbage trucks be equal to men who wear a tie every day.

The Book of Mormon reminds of this. Equality is what God orders in His church.

Green Iguanas

Like many people are aware of, Green Iguanas are an invasive species in my home state of Florida. As cute as they might be (and they are) they are a massive pain in the ass in the southern part of the state.  I live about two hours north of Tampa so it's officially "too cold" for them to live up here, though I've heard rumors of people seeing them in the wild up here.

They have a nasty reputation of attacking small dogs and even people. Not to mention the harm they do pets and our families, they also destroy gardens, eat through houses, and burrow into attics. They also create a huge mess for obvious reasons. Oh yeah, one thing they like doing is moving into the homes of the Burrowing Owl, which I think is endangered (not sure about that). In other words, they are annoying pests who need to be eliminated.

Oddly, that's controversial, to say we need to kill them. And yes, we need to kill them. Some people think it's "heartless" or "cruel" and of course they shouldn't suffer. But it's not heartless or cruel. Simply put, the well being of my family and my own pets, not to mention my property and the states natural resources, come before a wild animal that can be quite dangerous. Everyone wants to save the animals and no one wants to be cruel, but when an iguana attacks your Pug, you want to kill the bastard.

Happy Fourth everyone

Happy Fourth of July everyone. I'll be off until Saturday, so no Album of the Weekend this weekend.

We are all so blessed to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. 

The Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien test

I don't particularly like either comedian. I'm not cool and hip enough to like Conan (though I loved the Simpsons episodes he was involved in) and Jay Leno has absolutely no appeal to me. I do have some funny memories of watching him with my dad while growing up-but stupid jokes about gender differences and newspapers having silly headlines were never my thing. I'm still fascinated by the late night drama that occurred so many years ago because in my view, it shows a deeper rift in our culture.

It's between the hipster elite who loves Conan and the regular, red state American who likes Leno. (No, this isn't about there personal political views of Jay Leno). Ask yourself-who likes Conan and who likes Leno? Odds are that the quirky humor of O'Brien appeals to a much different type of person than who likes the broader comedy of Jay Leno. Remember how many people supported Conan back in the 2010 Late Night controversy? 95% Conan-5% Leno. The quickest way to lose friends back then was to Tweet your support for Jay Leno.

It's the same reason why people dislike Nickelback and like the Jesus and Mary Chain instead. Most people have never heard of the Jesus and Mary Chain but only drop their name to appear cool. Most people who dislike Nickleback (and I don't particularly like them) would probably have a less passionate opinion about them if they heard a song by them and didn't know it was Nickleback singing.

Fox News movie

The New Yorker recently released a review of a recent movie whose topic is Fox News. I have never heard of the movie and no, I won't be seeing it. I don't care about Fox News even though I think they are over bashed. To the surprise of no one over 7, the New Yorker praises the movie and bashes Fox News. Also to the surprise of no one, the New Yorker is unable to understand that, like Fox News, they largely preach to already converted and are just as biased as the network they love to hate.

Ask yourself one question. Who reads the New Yorker? For the most part, it's the same audience that listens to NPR, joins the Sierra Club and discusses wine at the cheese shop. In other words, clearly your average Fox News viewer. Ask yourself another question. Who makes movies? 99% of the time, it's the same people who join the Sierra club, take private jets from Malibu to New York City, and lecture the rest of us about our carbon footprint. In other words, the average Fox News viewer. Fox News doesn't stand a chance in this battle. An objective and fair movie about Fox News will never exist.

I wish I liked Fox News more than I do, just to bother people on the coasts who make movies like this.

Donald Trump urban legends

No, Donald Trump didn't pay off the mortgage of someone who helped him when his limo broke down in New Jersey. In fact, variations of that urban legend have been said about virtually every single rich person and monarch since the dawn the time. No, Donald Trump didn't jump into floodwaters to rescue people during a hurricane and no, he didn't go to the ruins of the Twin Towers and pay for rescuers to find victims. Yes, you are naive if you believe these things.

I love social media in general and I love Facebook in particular. Meeting new people, yes, even through a computer, is a great way to form deeper friendships. Some of my closest friends I've met through social media, some I've known for over a decade. The drawback however is that stupid things  like this are posted:

And the other drawback is that stupid people believe these things.