McCain picks Palin

To be honest, I was initially disappointed. Like many of you, I was really hoping for Romney.
On the other hand, Palin appears to be exactly the kind of woman that irritates liberals, and that warms my heart to no end.
She hunts, fishes, cooks, works on a fishing boat, appears in beauty pageants, has a lot of children, and does not abort a child known to have a handicap. After all that, she appears to be genuinely happy to boot. She has a rugged, back-country, hard-working husband who is a champion snowmobile racer. She has the good, wholesome family that every conservative loves.
It also makes me happy to see the pundits comparing her experience with Obama's experience.
How is it that they miss the tiny little fact that they are comparing the Republican VP candidate's experience with the Democrat's Presidential one?
I hope she can handle what is ahead. I would hate to see such a wonderful family destroyed by the viper pit of Washington politics.

This is why I will vote for McCain

This is why I will vote for McCain. Teresa

Sorry for the mistake in spelling of John McCain in my blog

Incentive

I realize that we are a long way, far distant, from the heavy campaigning that is going on, but it does seem to me that B.O. ( I love that contraction) promises everything to everyone. If so, it would remove all incentive for people to work hard and progress. The capitalist urge to get ahead does provide incentive to work and strive for improvement. If everyone is guaranteed every thing they want, there would be no incentive. That is why I feel the Democrats in their very liberal views are not the best for our nation. I do hope that John McCain will not get into a mud slinging campaign, but will stick to value centered, work centered, and progressive ideas. I firmly believe that if he carries on a forward looking, open and honest campaign he has a chance to win.

As missionaries we don't get all the news, but just the headlines. You back home will be bombarded with all the trash talk and ugliness of a political campign. Try to see though the smoke and mirrors and look for the truth. If it is in agreement with the real teachings of our Savior, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will win in the end.

Love, Dad

"The Devil in His Details" - George Will

George Will is one of my favorite political opinion writers. He is a fantastic wordsmith.
From his article titled "The Devil in His Details," Will writes

Obama's rhetorical extravagances are inversely proportional to his details, as when he promises "nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy" in order to "end the age of oil." The diminished enthusiasm of some voters hitherto receptive to his appeals might have something to do with the seepage of reality from his rhetoric. Voters understand that neither the "transformation" nor the "end" will or should occur. His dreamy certitude that "alternative" fuels will quickly become real alternatives is an energy policy akin to an old vaudeville joke: "If we had some eggs, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some ham."

Read the whole thing here

Pelosi Eyebrows

Is it just me, or are these eyebrows really out of whack?

Obama picks Biden

I have always thought Biden to one of the biggest demagogues in Washington. He is the ultimate windbag. He has an opinion on every topic and he feels the need to express it no matter what. It often gets him into trouble. For example, he says that you have to haven an Indian accent to work at a 7-Eleven (a stereotype repeated by Hillary Clinton). He called Obama a "the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." He apologized for these statements, but he has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and it often is a stereotype. I will be very surprised if he gets through the campaign season without at least one gaffe.

Obama also likes the sound of his own voice, but he is absolutely a fish out of water without a teleprompter. Obama is beginning to wear thin with the voters, and the Biden selection probably won't help with that. The Obama-Biden ticket will be one of the biggest windbag tickets in recent memory. I think this choice hurts Obama's chances. If he could have swallowed his pride and picked Hillary, I think he would have guaranteed himself the presidency.

Entertainment Books for sale

Michael, age 10, is selling Entertainment Books as a fundraiser for his school PTA. These books are available for whatever area you may live in and have lots of great coupons for restaurants, groceries, movies, entertainment, stores, ect. If you are interested, let me know and I will send you a link to see more information.

Please support Michael in the great cause!

Must purchase clothing for the family reunion!

Just thought it would be cool if you wanted to get Wortham Clothing! Brought to you by the Wortham High School Bulldogs! Go to http://www.alumniclass.com/worthamhs/store/index if you want to see what they offer.

2008 WORTHAM FANTASY NFL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

For those who are interested, I have again created a Fantasy Football League for the Wortham Family. Tito is the reigning champion but since he is on his mission, he may not be able to repeat...so the field is wide open. If you would like to join in and play with us, go to Yahoo Fantasy Sports and join a private league. The league number and password is listed below. If you have questions, let me know. The more that play, the funner it is.

Hello jrbluejazz,
This is to confirm that you've created the Custom League named Wortham Family and the team called Flyin' Pigs in that league.
To allow other managers to join your league, send them the League ID# and Password. In your case, the ID# is 415735 and the Password is Deric.
You have chosen for your league to take part in a live online draft on Thu Aug 28 6:00pm PDT. Until that time, you (and only you) can change the type of draft by using the Change Draft Type option found among your Commissioner Tools, which can be reached from your League Overview page.
If you choose to remain in a live draft, please arrive at the draft 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. The draft will start promptly and may conclude rapidly if only a few managers are logged in.
We also suggest that all league members custom rank their players in case a manager can't make it to the draft. Managers can do this at any time by simply going to the Fantasy Football home page and clicking on their team name.
Thanks for joining. Good luck.

Wortham, TX

I recently flew with a married couple who are flight atttendants for Delta who are from Wortham, TX. They said it is a nice little town but not much to do there at all. I have always wanted to go visit but have never taken the time to do so. Has anyone passed through this center of human activity and thriving metropolis?

Lawrence's return from Thailand

Lawrence has recieved his travel itinerary for his return from his mission. He will be leaving thialand on December 12th and having a layover in Hong Kong. It would be cool if Tito could get to the airport and have lunch with his brother...brothers serving missions and having lunch...one coming home and one just out! I hope Tito's mission president will give him permission to go see Lawrence at the Hong Kong airport since it will be about 4 years of not seing each other if he doesn't. Lawrence then flies back to San Francisco and then on to Kansas City. He'll be in Utah attending SLCC starting in January of 2009.

Alan's Family Report

Of all Dad's kids, I think Dad would agree that I am the worst at providing information about my family. Here is an update.
Robin just finished her summer session at school and she is counting down the days until we go on vacation to San Diego next week.
Mary is working as an editor this summer, but she is looking for a place to apply her CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) skills. She will continue taking classes at UVSC next semester.
Yumi was promoted to manager of the Japanese Customer Service Department at her company. She received a surprisingly good pay raise.
I (Alan) am wrapping up a summer intensive course at BYU. The new semester starts the first week of September. It will be good to return to a normal schedule again. I continue to translate. My in-box is always stacked high with projects. I also edit and train other translators, but I don't like to do that kind of work. I prefer to translate and it pays better too. I get to find out about technologies that are coming in the years ahead, but some are downright silly. I translated a patent on a UFO. It was filled with interesting ideas, but none of which would work.

We are going on vacation next week to San Diego. We will visit the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World. It's a 10 to 11 hour drive from Orem. I will enjoy driving there, but I always hate the return trip.

Finding Kim

Brian, How did you make contact with Kim? I have tried to contact him but he has disappeared! I have e-mailed, telephoned, left messages and no response. We have not heard from him for a long time. NO response from Amy either. Are we blacklisted?
Love, Dad

Dinner in DC

I get to have dinner with Kim in DC tomorrow. I got assigned a four day trip that has me laying over in DC for 20 hours. Kim said he could have dinner with me tomorrow! Kind of cool.

Flag Fight

A flag fight has broken in emails (this website was set up for carrying out such discussions).
I guess I must act as arbitrator here.

Claim 1: Obama removed the American Flag from his campaign plane's paint scheme.
True, but the plane has the flag next to the plane's registration number



Claim 2: McCain's campaign plane does not have the American Flag either.
Unknown. It is traditional to have the flag next to the plane's registration number, so I would assume that McCain's plane would also have the flag, but I cannot find a photo to confirm it.

Obama is looking out for you.

Wolf Creek

We are going the change the resort from Midway to Wolf Creek in Eden, Utah. It is a much bigger resort with many more facilities. In fact we could provide beds for everybody. There are 3-bedroom and 2-bedroom condos and one bedroom condos. Dad thinks that we could pay for all the rental fees. Luanna has all her family reunions there and all her kids and grand kids enjoy it. The resort can be looked at on line by going to the site before mentioned. I anticipate that we could get one 3 bedroom and 3 two bedroom condos. With that we could sleep 31 people. We can vary that arrangemnet as needed. We would have 4 kitchens to prepare meals, plenty of bathrooms (8) and 4 decks or terraces as well as 4 dining areas. At the present time all the needed rooms are available, and we can book more than that if we decide we need to do so. But we do need to book them as far in advance as possible to make sure of the reservations. We can cancel a room later if we need to without penalty (up until the last month). Wolf Creek is located about 20 minutes up east of Ogden.

Pllease let us know what you think. Now is the time to express your ideas, thoughts, worries, and concerns. We can work out a lot of problems in advance if we know what they are!

We think it will be a great time for us all to get together again, and should not be overly expensive for any family.

More information to follow in the near future.

Love, Dad & Mom

How I Beat Bobby Fischer ('s Wife) at Chess

Yes. It is true. I beat Bobby Fischer ('s wife) in an official chess tournament.
I have been rummaging through old boxes of stuff to find my chess journal.
When I find it, I will write up the story of how this came about.

(Please don't tell me you don't know who Bobby Fischer is.)

Family News

Dear children,

It would be good if each family would write something about his or her family every month.
This is mine:

We are having very hot and humid weather but things should start cooling off.

Dad has almost finished furnishing a new apartment. That is good because the senior couple arrives Tuesday the 5th of August.

The Sisters are teaching a young woman that has a story amazingly similar to mine before I joined the Church. So, I have been teaching with the Sisters, I love it and will continue to do so.

One of the Assistants to the President is from Sweden, one of our Zone Leaders is from Switzerland and we have sisters in our Zone from Brazil and France. Other countries are represented in the mission but this was just in our Zone.

It is so good to be able to have your ideas on different subjects, in fact I really enjoy it. Keep them coming.

We have not been able to get in touch with Kim yet.

We love you and pray for you.

With love,
Mom

BYU Cougar Football

BYU is ranked #17 to begin the football season. If they can win out, they will be in a BCS bowl.
BYU games will be televised on the Mtn. via Direct TV.
Sadly, I have Dish and I cannot change because Yumi gets TV JAPAN via Dish (Direct TV does not offer that channel). I will have to find other means of watching the games.

Also, there are rumors of an interesting change in recruiting at BYU.
Normally, coaches have to go out and find the best recruits and convince them to join their program, but Coach Mendenhall has developed such a fine program that he is now able to ask potential recruits "Why should I take you?"

The Correct Answer

Here is another funny clip...kind of gets us off the politics for a bit.

How much are you paying for gas?

We're pretty excited here in Roseville, CA to see gas under $4.00 again. We're now paying $3.98 for the cheapest unleaded gas. What about the rest of you?

Why Mormons can't send flowers

This is a clip from the TV sitcom "Cheers". You can disregard any links that may appear after this clip as it may link you to any number of "youtube" videos.

Why are Pelosi and Reid against domestic drilling?

One must wonder why Pelosi, Reid, and other Democrats are against domestic drilling.
Possible answers.
1. They truly want to save the planet.
Pelosi pompously states"I am trying to save the planet."
Ok. That is a fair position to take, but why then does she and other Democrats encourage other nations to increase their output? Does she not know that OPEC nations are destroying beautiful deserts, pristine forests, and clean ocean water? Why then encourage other nations to drill and destroy the planet? Answer: "I am trying to save the planet" must be a pretense for some other goal.
2. They want the world to shift to non-fossil fuels.
This is related to point #1. It is also a fair position to desire a world free of the need for fossil fuels, however, there are always trade-offs. Biofuels are cleaner, but end up causing higher food prices (higher demand, lower supply = higher prices). Wind power is unreliable, the wind turbines are ugly, and we can't put sails or propellers on our cars. Solar power is clean, but very expensive to implement, and we can't run our cars on solar power and industry certainly can't.
In short, we do not yet have a technology that can replace fossil fuels, so it is fool-hardy to block the production of fossil fuels when we don't have a replacement, yet.
3. They want to prevent global warming.
This is also related to #1 and #2. I accept this as a fair position for anyone to take, provided that global warming is indeed a problem. It is becoming abundantly clear that anthropogenic global warming is not occurring. The earth may be warming here and there, but the earth's temperature is closely related to the sunspot cycle. Man is too puny and insignificant in his present state to affect the temperature of the earth. In fact, there is data suggesting that the earth is actually cooling. Arctic ice has indeed melted, but Antarctic ice has increased dramatically. My opinion: Global warming may or may not be occurring, but anthropogenic global warming is most certainly a hoax.

I'm am going to jump to the conclusion (literally, not figuratively).
I don't believe that any of the above are the real reasons that domestic drilling is being blocked (foreign drilling being very welcome!). The real reason is also the reason why the global warming hoax is being pushed so hard. The real goal is to destroy capitalism. The engine of capitalism has been and will, for the foreseeable future, be oil. Oil is part of almost everything we use, from consumer goods to energy. Anti-drilling and the global warming hoax are a way to eliminate capitalism (which empowers many) and revert to socialism (which empowers a few).
Yes. It is my opinion that Nancy Pelosi and other far left liberals are trying to achieve a socialist state here in the USA.