Mom's Weekly Message

Dear Children,

We really had a wonderful time with Francoise. We enjoyed a very uplifting conference in Lille. After the Sunday morning session, we went to a restaurant in front of the train station to have dinner with Francoise. She then took the train to Paris and flew home the following morning.

Dad did it again: This week, he went twice to Amsterdam to close an apartment. That meant that everything we put there had to be taken out and the place had to be cleaned up very well. He had Elders to help for the job but it is a long drive. He got up at 4 a.m. both days.

This coming week, we will be training our replacements. They are, at this time, serving in the Netherlands as ‘normal’ missionaries and will finish their mission in July. Our President hopes that by then he will be able to get an Office Couple. They will be here for about a week then go back to the Netherlands to have a family reunion. (She is a native but now US citizen). They do not speak French but Dutch. Brussels is bilingual and they should be okay.

I have been looking for a cell phone plan but we have not decided yet. Let us know what plan you have and we may take the one that most of you are using. At this time, we do not plan on having a fixed line. Dad thinks that with 1400 minutes/month we would be fine. AT&T rolls the minutes unused to the following month and this is very tempting. I like their free phones too.

We have been approached about a possibility of serving a Military Mission in Hawaii and a Service Mission as CES instructor in St. George. But we are still a long way from making a decision since we are still serving here and want to spend time resting, visiting and going on vacation. Dad has a project in mind to reorganize his office in the garage.

We will be home before we know it. I don’t remember if I already told you but we already have our train tickets to travel from Brussels to Paris on the 24th and a hotel reservation close to the airport. We will fly space A the next day direct to SLC and hope to continue on to St. George that day. We will be using the old car, which Dad bought from his parents until we buy a newer one, and Dad plans on keeping it.

We are as busy as ever and I enjoy it. In fact, I am now helping the Legal Secretary in his work because he is overwhelmed by all he has to do. Our President had asked that I do one task to help him but I saw other things that needed to be done a month ago. The poor Elder is as disorganized as one can be and I feel sorry for him.

We are having a beautiful Spring like day and I love to hear the birds sing.

Take care and remember that we pray for you and love you very much.

With love, Mom

College Basketball Pick'em Contest

I will be setting up a College Basketball Pick'em contest for those who are interested.
I need to know which format everyone prefers.

Format 1:
You pick your entire bracket before the start of the tournament. The person with the best bracket at the end of the tournament wins (Yahoo! has a system for determining a best bracket).

Format 2:
You pick each game before tip-off. You pick each game of each round. The person with the highest number of correct picks wins. I think this format is not offered by Yahoo!, but UtahFantasySports.com does offer this format.

Do you plan to participate and which format you prefer?

Corporate Jets

Much ado has been made by Congress and the media about the extravagance of corporate jets.
I would like to note that ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox have corporate jets.
Also, the government has a fleet of jets for government business, including congressional business. So, have you seen a story from the media about these jets? I haven't.
Sure, the media is not taking taxpayer money for stimulus or rescue, but the government uses taxpayer money exclusively to maintain a fleet of jets (not including the military).

Francoise is right. She did not know that the picture was taken and we had been waiting for a while for the conference to start. So, this is a good picture of her taken a few days earlier in our apartment.
M

Obama's Speech

I thought Obama's speech was very well done and did a lot for his image. He is definately a great orator. Two observations though...

1) Is he trying to eat the whole elephant at once? Our Nations problems make a pretty big battle to fight all at once.

2) What kind of 5 alarm chile did Nancy Palosi eat to make her keep catepulting out of her chair like that. She looked like a broken whack-a-mole machine where the mole kept popping up from the same location. She was obviously gushing over the new "rock star" President. She made quite a fool of herself.

What do you all think?

This was yesterday morning attending the Conference where Dallin H Oaks spoke.

Spending a rainy day in the ER

I thought of Brian today, as I spent half of my day in the ER with Doug. He has kidney stones. Yikes! If my memory is correct, I think Brian had those too not too long ago. Doug will be fine although he still feels awful right now. Thank goodness for pain medicine!

The latest News from Belgium

Dear Children,
I have missed to write last Sunday, forgive me. So much has been going on during those days that it slipped my mind. Françoise arrived in Brussels on Thursday 12th of February. She had flown to Paris and taken the TGV (bullet train) to Brussels. We were waiting for her at the station but did not see her. We came home thinking that she might have missed the train. One hour later, she called from the station when she had been searching for us for about an hour.It was wonderful to see her again and we were sorry to have missed her arrival. Friday, Dad worked in the morning and on the afternoon we went to a grocery store and a pastry shop with Françoise.

Saturday, we took the tram and the metro to go to the Brussels “Grand Place” with Francoise. From there, we went to 2 different stores for her to buy more food to take back to the US. We also prepared two boxes to be shipped as she would not have been able to take all of that on the plane because of the weight restriction. Then that evening, my sister Monique, her husband, my niece Anne-Sophie, her husband and her young daughter came to join us the three of us for dinner. We really had a lot of fun.

Sunday, after church, we had the Assistants over for dinner. I was fortunate to have enough food in the apartment because I had completely forgotten that Dad had invited them.

Monday, Françoise spent with Teresa. Mondays are always very busy for me but as usual all went well. We also learned that the Mission President’s father has passed away and he will not be able to attend the funerals because he has to stay in the Mission.

Francoise visited her aunt Claudine on Tuesday.

Since we were receiving new missionaries and others were transferred we had a lot going on. Then today, some were going home after their 2 years of service. Dad has been very busy going to the airport, to the train station and again to the airport these last days. In fact, Tuesday he slipped on a wet floor at the airport and fell. His face is healing very fast and he says that it is because of his youth…..Don’t worry, he is just fine.

Tomorrow, we will go get Françoise and have dinner with her and some of the family members. On Saturday afternoon, we drive to Lille to attend the evening session of the Stake Conference where Dallin H Oaks will speak. We will spend the night in a hotel and be back to the Stake Conference that morning. In fact, all the missionaries will be attending. She will take the TGV from there to Paris, as it is half way there, and will be taking her flight to SLC the next morning.

Now, you know why I will not be able to send a message this Saturday evening or Sunday morning and the latest news from Belgium. I always tell myself that since I don’t hear from you I will not write anymore but here I am again. I love you all.
Mom

Resurrecting Neanderthal Man

I don't wish to drag the evolution question out longer than readers of this blog will endure, but there is an interesting question posed by the NY Times in an article about using DNA to resurrect a Neanderthal. Read the article if you have time and then respond to the poll on this page.

Not jumping to conclusions

I happen to be in Denver today...the day Mr. Obama is signing into law the new spending/stimulus bill. As I was walking back to my hotel it dawned on me the amount of interest that I have heard this will cost for the $825,000,000,000.00. So I looked it up on the internet and found this info...

"In a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf reports the interest cost would be $347 billion over 10 years, meaning the $825 billion plan could cost as much as $1.172 trillion."

I am no banker, maybe Doug (Fabienne's, one of my five favorite sisters, husband) could explain it. Isn't this about a 40% interest on this package?! Who in their right mind would sign on to such a thing except when dealing with loan sharks?

Surely I must be missing something so I am not jumping to conclusions. I would have posted this on my blog but feared low readership may not have produced an answer.

Obama signs $787 billion stimulus bill

It's official. Obama has signed the $787 billion stimulus bill.
I think it is safe to draw the following conclusions:

1. Democrats own this bill lock, stock, and barrel. If it succeeds, Democrats will be in power for many elections to come. If it fails, it is hard to say whether the Democrats will pay a price thanks to a fawning media.

2. The United States Treasury does not have $787 billion. So where is the money going to come from?
2a) Some money will come from bond sales to other countries, but there is no way that all of the money can be raised through bond sales. Besides increasing our debt to other countries is bad policy.
2b) Some money will likely come from higher taxes in the future (despite the highly touted minuscule tax cuts in the bill).

That still leaves the Federal Government short by hundreds of billions of dollars. Where will the remainder come from?

2c) Ex nihil0 – from Latin meaning “out of nothing.” The Feds will simply print the rest. There is a consequence to such actions. It is Economics 101 that inflation or stagflation will unavoidably occur.

3. It will be the knee jerk reaction of politicians to raise taxes. Considering the recent discussion we had about Abraham Lincoln (R), there are also words of wisdom from Thomas Jefferson (D).

“Still one thing more, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government…”

Not as cool as Brian, but...

The other day Brian posted a picture of himself on his blog site. I know I'll never be half as cool as Brian, but I can at least match his shot!

Darwin/Lincoln Branch Off

The Darwin/Lincoln post seemed to gravitate towards evolution but there was a blurb about Lincoln/Kennedy/White House trivia that I liked.

In 6th grade we studied similarities of the Lincoln/Kennedy connection. Here are just a few.

As mentioned, (I have never been able to confirm this) Lincoln's secretary was Kennedy and Kennedy's secretary was Lincoln.

Other facts....
1) Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theater. Kennedy was shot while riding in a Lincoln made by Ford.
2) Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin was caught in a warehouse. Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin was caught in a theater.
3) Lincoln elected to congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946.
4) Lincoln elected president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.
5) Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
6) Both were shot in the back of the head in the presence of their wives.
7) They were both shot on a Friday.
8) Both their assassins names have 15 letters. John Wilkes Booth/Lee Harvey Oswald
9) Both assassins were killed before being brought to trial.
10) Lincoln's successor was Andrew Johnson, born 1808. Kennedy's successor was Lyndon Johnson, born 1908.

All this has always been interesting to me. I remember this class distinctly.

David is having a good week

David, who is now 18, is having an amazing week. This past Sunday he past his eagle board of review and is now officially an Eagle Scout.
This afternoon, he found out that he was accepted into BYU-Provo for the Fall 2009 semester.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln!

Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day two hundred years ago today.

Charles Darwin was born to a progressive, abolitionist, wealthy English family and Abraham Lincoln was born to a poor family in Illinois.  Both were unassuming men who changed the world profoundly and whose influence continues to mold our present and future.   

Calling All Patriotic Citizens!!

During the presidential campaign, Biden claimed that paying higher taxes is being patriotic. So all you tax-loving patriotic citizens, here is your chance to be more patriotic. Move to California for these exciting new proposed taxes!!

Vehicle license fees would nearly double, going from the current rate of 0.65% to 1.15% of the value of a car or truck. The sales tax would increase by 1 cent, raising the rate in Los Angeles County to 9.75%. Gasoline taxes would increase by 12 cents a gallon. And Californians would pay a new surcharge on their personal income taxes, amounting to 2.5% of their total tax bills.
Visit here for the full story.

You hear that? A 2.5% surcharge on your total tax bill! I read that as a tax on your taxes!

Governor Huntsman Endorses Civil Unions

Governor Huntsman approves of civil unions.  Ample reading is available at the websites of 

the D-News and the the SL Tribune.  

Civil unions are not going to happen for some time in Utah, but I believe that there is a very moderate Republican center that realizes that times are changing.  It is, I believe, a matter of time before the nation no longer withholds marriage rights to gays and lesbians even if the word marriage does not accompany the rights.  

Republican candidates in Democratic SL City hold very different positions on this issue than Republicans in most parts of Utah.   A good example is Equality Utah's annual Allies Dinner.  This past year, all three Republican candidates for SLC mayor were in attendance and were courting votes.  (Equality Utah is the state's GLBT political action committee. )

Our great nation has always, albeit sometimes very slowly, moved in the direction of inclusion.  

Scare Tactic or Accidental Gaffe?

With all the gaffes that are spewed out and all the "catastrophic" doom and gloom scare tactics being spewed as well, was this a gaffe, scare tactic, or just Palosi being stupid.

How can 500 million Americans loose their job when there are only 303 million of us?

Abraham Lincoln Redux

I have thought much in recent days about Doug's post about Abraham Lincoln, a revered president among conservatives. I looked at the larger context of Lincoln quote, which is:

In the early days of the world, the Almighty said to the first of our race "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"; and since then, if we except [sic] the 'light' and the 'air' of heaven, no good thing has been, or can be enjoyed by us, without having first cost labour. And inasmuch [as] most good things are produced by labour, it follows that [all] such things of right belong to those whose labour has produced them. But it has so happened in all ages of the world, that 'some' have labored, and 'others' have, without labour, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should not continue. To [secure] to each labourer the whole product of his labour, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, fragments of a tariff discussion, December 1, 1847

Lincoln is talking about tariffs on foreign goods, i.e., protectionism. He believed that protectionist tariffs should be kept high so as to force American labor to work for their subsistence rather than having it available to them a little cost of labor. An admirable ideal, but totally wrong in helping the economy. Tariffs were lowered anyway, resulting in a benefit to poorer Southern and Western states who could then more easily purchase needed goods.
Note the last line, "To [secure] to each labourer the whole product of his labour, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government." I would say that our current government is not doing that. Income taxes take away from the whole product of the laborer, leaving him with only part of his labor. It is this that is wrong and should not continue.
Later in that same oratory, Lincoln saids that if all should subsist opon the labor that one half should perform, would it not result in a very scanty allowance to the whole? So I submit that Lincoln would detest our current welfare system because many are not required to work hard, are not willing to do the hard work of finding a job, and are not willing to do any job no matter how menial.

Fly on the Wal(mart)

Charles Platt of the NY Post goes undercover at Walmart, and comes up with a very interesting article.
A clip:

Getting hired turned out to be a challenge. The personnel manager told me she had received more than 100 applications during that month alone, chasing just a handful of jobs. Thus the mystery deepened. If Wal-Mart was such an exploiter of the working poor, why were the working poor so eager to be exploited? And after they were hired, why did they seem so happy to be there? Anytime I shopped at the store, blue-clad Walmartians encouraged me to "Have a nice day" with the sincerity of the pope issuing a benediction.

Considering that Walmart continues to expand sales even in this economy and employ the less fortunate among us, I have a hard time understanding why Walmart is so loathed and persecuted.

Common Ground

During and following California's Proposition 8 campaign, the LDS Church declared that it is not 'anti-gay' and "does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights."  On November 5th, Elder L. Whitney Clayton stated that the LDS Church does not oppose "civil unions or domestic partnerships."  These stances by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints seem very reasonable to me.  Naturally, I would prefer even more liberal positions, but I recognize that pragmatism and reasonable compromise are at the heart of productive debate and peaceful society.  I am very pleased that the LDS Church has made these statements.  They seem very fair   to me.   I do not take them as a developing approval, rather I take them as a maturing of the Church that understands that we live in an increasingly diverse world, a maturing that understands that reasonable compromise without betraying principles is possible.  Kudos to the LDS Church.

Six bills have or will be introduced in the 2009 General Session of the Utah Legislature by Equality Utah, Utah's GLBT PAC.  They address the following:

a)  expanding health care to mandate extension of benefits to non-married partners.

b) making it illegal to fire or deny employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity in non-religiously based employment fields.

c) making it illegal to deny public housing or to evict based uniquely on sexual orientation or gender identity in non-co-habitated units (apartments or rooms in, attached to, or on the property of one's own home).  Religious housing would be excluded from the law.  

d) including partners in wrongful death legal concerns (thus removing existing barriers to inheritance and insurance claims).

e) creating a domestic partnership registry that will attach rights of inheritance, insurance, and fair housing while assigning legal responsibilities to partners (responsibilities currently do not legally exist).  

f)  clarifying Amendment 3 - Amendment 3 has been interpreted by many in power as a rejection of all the above efforts.  

Lynn Wardle, a law professor at BYU who supports Amendment 3, said that the amendment was "drafted very carefully to allow the extension of certain benefits, just not a substantial equivalent of marriage" and "...the principle that you can't give any particular benefit [to unmarried partners] without violating Amendement 3 is erroneous."  However, Wardle is nervous about f above.  

Unfortunately, the Sutherland Institute (an extreme right-wing think tank in Salt Lake City) and the Eagle Forum ignore good reason and are pushing for the defeat of all six of the above bills.   They fear that allowing any compromise whatsoever engages Utah onto the slippery slope of a court ruling that would legalize same-sex marriage.  

This is a fear that is not reasonable.  In order to repeal Amendment 3, 2 thirds of the the Utah Legislature would have to vote to repeal and a majority of Utah voters would have to vote to repeal.  It is very obvious that this will not happen.  

When you contact your representatives and senators, and I hope that you do on occasion, I hope that you will be supportive of the the church's position.  These initiatives may well bite the dust this year, I hope not (well d did not make it out of committee), but if they do, they will be re-introduced in coming years.  I hope that you will bear them in mind as you participate in our democracy.

Mom's Weekly Message

Dear Children,
This week has been relatively calm. Dad has not had any long trips and it has been more relaxing for him. He has had to find out what kind of heat is in each apartment and it takes a while to do it especially when missionaries do not have any clue of what the difference is between electric heating, hot water heating and gas heating.
We celebrated his birthday by dining in a Mexican restaurant where President Woodland and his wife invited us. It was lovely. Dad also got a new suit for his birthday.
Dad just said that we have 44 days left. (He counts but I don't). We now know who is going to replace us. It is a couple that is now serving a mission in the Netherlands and they will finish their mission at the end of July. By then, President hopes to have an office couple located.
Teresa and her family are coming to eat with us tomorrow and Françoise arrives next week to visit us for a few days.
Today, we went to look at a car to compare to the one we saw on the Internet. Dad likes the Volvo S80 but even used it may be too expensive for us. We are still trying to find a comfortable car that we will be able to afford. If you have any good ideas, pass them on.

You are great and I love you.

Mom

Happy Birthday to Dad

February 7th is dad's birthday! Happy birthday to you! This was last year's birthday photo...so don't let the 71 fool you....he is actually one year older than this photo....but you would never be able to tell!

How We Interpret It

Lincoln said a lot of insightful things.  One of his quotes is very interesting and merits our attention.  However, I suspect that the meaning of the quote lies in the mind of the interpreter.  

Lincoln said, "It has so happened in the ages of the world, that some have labored and others have, without labor, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong and should not continue."   Bold and italics mine.

I look at this from a worker's and a socialist's point of view.  

I think that President Lincoln, if he could be here today, would be dismayed with the bonuses that are lavishly and continually doled out to top CEO's and executives.  I believe that President Lincoln,  were he here today, would applaud  President Obama's new policies (announced today) dealing with such extravagances.  

I also believe that President Lincoln, based on the above quote,  would approve of hefty inheritance taxes.  There are those who inherit, who do not a minute of work,  and yet who benefit from vast sums, and who need not ever work.  I support hefty inheritance taxes (up to 50%) for sums inherited over $250,000.   Redistribution of wealth or obliging each of us to work for our keep?  

Was he alluding only to slavery or to a broader social vision?  

What do you think?  I pose this question before reading an article in this month's Smithsonian magazine that I suspect will make me think a lot and may make me, who knows, change my mind.  Tell me what you think and I will keep you posted on my reading.

Doug   

Deric's Contact Info

Does anyone have Deric's phone number? I tried to call him today but it was disconnected or no longer in service. Deric, you change your phone number more than I change my underwear!

Belgian Crystal Factory

My trip to the Crystal making factory. The man was doing a demo on how they make a Crystal vase. The next photo is a Cystal glass echo chamber. It was so cool. The idea is that you speak to each other quietly and it sounds like the person is speaking stereo in your ears...almost as if they were split in two and speaking into both of your ears at the same time. We tried it...it really worked. The next photo is a Crystal glass organ. The whole thing was made of crystal glass. The keys, the wind pipes...and it worked! I played "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and the whole building sounded glorious! We could hold church there. We would not want to put the nursery in the echo chamber, however.