Quick Hits Before Christmas
We hope you don’t hear from us for a couple of weeks. Of course, if news breaks we’ll be here – but it’ll be sad if news breaks. But then again, something has happened most Christmases ’round here.
As goes California, so goes the nation? One would hope not, but things like this and this response thereto have a certain internal logic. The administration and its Congressional cohorts have moved so far left so fast that Republicans could make historic sweeps in ’10 and ’12. But, given the forces examined in these pieces, moderate gains are really all we can hope for. It’s a crying shame how we blow up our best chances to achieve genuine progress rapidly.
And speaking of shames – this is sad. Evan’s historic family roots in the Democratic party would prevent him from ever switching sides, which is probably what he ought to do, but as Democrats go he is one of the smarter ones. It’s funny though how the Democrats can do this stuff without tearing their party apart.
Mormon Stuff . . .
Funny or insulting? That’s the problem with identity humor, hard to tell.
Definitely insulting. As insulting as analyzing Palin’s eschatology.
Obama Stuff . . .
Now God’s on his side – or not.
Romney Stuff . . .
See the third item. That’s the Mitt Romney I know.
I wonder what Dick Armey’s beef is? Haley Barbour’s a great guy, but not running – I hear whispers of too many skeletons.
When will people figure out that no one will be thinking about health care by the time ’12 rolls around? Geraghty is usually smarter than that.
Religion Stuff . . .
If we’re not careful, it may come down to stuff like this:
…the British Courts rather than Jewish religious authorities have the right to determine who is a Jew.
That is something I would certainly like to avoid.
Closing With A Question . . .
Prayer always helps. But does public prayer about politics with full media coverage? Something to discuss in the comments – or on our Facebook fan page over the holidays.
Lowell chiming in . . .
The Conan O’Brien bit is not very funny, I suspect, to most people. I didn’t find it offensive, just not funny. Heaven knows there are funny things about Mormons and Mormon culture, but that skit missed them.
Generally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have laughs at the expense of any faith, unless it is one’s own and the audience is composed either of adherents or “friendlies.” In other words, I will listen to my Jewish friends tell jokes about their culture, but I won’t tell such jokes myself.
While I’m thinking about this, I am asking myself: Is a similar skit about Catholics or Jews conceivable? I must admit that the answer is yes. (Think of Father Guido Sarducci of Saturday Night Live fame.) It’s a little harder to think of a similar Jewish skit, however, and a Muslim skit like that one is simply inconceivable. Mormons and Catholics do seem to be fair game, and perhaps Evangelicals too. Theories as to why that may be abound. My favorite is that those groups are pretty well-established and are largely considered “white” and middle-class. To me, it’s just part of the landscape.
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lkm55 on 17 Dec 2009 at 7:45 am #
We’ll still be talking about health care in 2012 because the next President and Congress will have to repeal as much they possibly can.
Merry Christmas gentlemen.
coltakashi on 17 Dec 2009 at 7:45 pm #
The Ed Decker item on “OpEdNews” is a fictional concoction on a par with “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Decker is a notorious professional anti-Mormon who makes his living selling bigotry and hatred to Christian churches across the US and Canada. Integrity and truthfulness are not essential in his business. It is a sad fact that some Christian ministers pay him to indoctrinate their congregations with falsehoods about their neighbors. Imagine if he were going around giving paid lectures about the conspiracy of the Jews to take over America.
His claim that there is some kind of Mormon conspiracy to establish a theocracy in the US is totally bogus. Like many other Christians, Mormons expect that, as the two angels told the apostles in Acts, while Christ ascended to heaven, Christ will someday return to the earth and reign personally as God. When that happens, there will be a theocracy, by definition. But Mormons also believe that anyone who claims to know WHEN Christ is going to come back is contradicting Christ’s own teachings about the unforeseeability of that event (and thus part company with various sects that attempted to make such predictions).
In the meantime, Mormon do ctrine, including the Book of Mormon, is emphatic about respecting the religious freedom of all people, and of supporting democracy. Contrast that with the collectivist tendencies of the Obama Administration as it seeks to mount an invasion of the medical care industry and the energy industry.
The one thing that Mormons feel responsible for doing prior to the Second coming of Christ is to ensure that the Gospel is preached to all the world, since that is a specific prophetic prerequisite to that Second Coming. They feel that great strides are being made in that vein, with the former Soviet Bloc countries opening to Christian missionaries after the Cold War, and the prospect that China may grant more religious freedom. The last major barrier is the political control of Islam over many countries, but Mormons believe God can take care of such issues, as He did with the fall of Communism in Europe, and before that the defeat of Nazism and Imperial Japan.
And Mormons do NOT believe that they have a responsibility to acquire political power in the corrupt world that will be set to rights by the King of Kings. Mormons are spread out over 150 nations, with over half living outside the US. The LDS Church does not promote political involvement in the US or other countries as a major objective of the Church, but rather encourages members to be active in their communities in doing good works (including humanitarian aid after natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami).
Unlike some Evangelicals, Mormons do NOT believe that the righteous will be “raptured” out of the way of the calamities that precede the Second Coming. Rather, they fully expect that they will be suffering through that time along with the rest of mankind, which is why Mormons believe in keeping stocks of emergency supplies and organizing to provide mutual aid to each other and their neighbors (as they did after the Teton Dam in Idaho collapsed in 1976 and inundated several largely Mormon cities; they didn’t wait for FEMA to take care of them).
Mormons believe that God is perfectly capable on His own to take over command of the earth when He comes again in glory. That is why they, along with other Christians, sing each Christmas tide “Joy to the World! The Lord is come!” celebrating the First and the Second comings of Christ.
Prognostications Are Worthless… | Article VI Blog | John Schroeder on 04 Jan 2010 at 6:37 am #
[...] Remember the Conan O’Brien thing of a few weeks back? Lowell said: The Conan O’Brien bit is not very funny, I suspect, to most people. I didn’t find it offensive, just not funny. Heaven knows there are funny things about Mormons and Mormon culture, but that skit missed them. [...]