The Government Can

I just saw this on a friend's blog and being as grossed out by the government as I am--not to mention the huge Willy Wonka fan that I am-- thought I'd share.

Halloween Day

On Halloween Day, Lily and I went and visited Dave at the office. Here are a few pics.

Tinkerbell trying to fly!

Then we headed over to the Utah County offices to cast our votes.  Long line...But everyone was smitten by Peter Pan cuddling with his little Tinkerbell!

Tink taking a little rest after a long day of being adored by all!

A reluctant post about the FLDS

I had made the conscious decision that I didn't want to get involved or wrapped up at all with the FLDS stuff here in Texas. When I first saw the headlines all I could think was, "Oh no, not this polygamy stuff again! I don't want to have to deal with explaining that those people are NOT us!" So I decided I wanted to remain completely ignorant and wash my hands of the whole thing so that if anyone asked I could just say that I didn't know anything about those polygamist weirdos.

That is, until I talked to my mom earlier this week and she told me that more than 400 children had been taken from their homes and mothers! After having now spent a few days reading about the whole situation I feel a wide range of (often conflicting) emotions: shock, outrage, sympathy, repulsion. As it turns out, this isn't really even about polygamy. It's about constitutional rights.

But, instead of going on a rant about the whole situation I'll just direct you to a couple of people who have written posts that describe my own feelings probably better than I can. Jeff Lindsay and Connor Boyack.

And the hopes of our nation have just hit the dust...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/07/romney.campaign/index.html

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win."

UPDATE:
Good speech...Bad context
http://mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/CPAC_Address

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

I just finished a phenomenal book: Where Have All the Leaders Gone by Lee Iacocca. The writing style is conversational which makes it a quick read but at the same time it's very insightful. He talks about the desperate need for real leaders in this country, not only political leaders but business and community leaders as well. He gives 9 characteristics that he believes real leaders must have/be:
Curiosity
Creative
Communication
Character
Courage
Conviction
Charisma
Competent
Common Sense
He challenges us all to apply these criteria to those who currently lead us ("Maybe Congress should take year off and evaluate itself"...show us where it's working) and to those who would be our leaders as the 2008 election approaches.

It was refreshing to hear the story of a prominent business leader who hasn't run his company into the ground while becoming a multi-millionaire, one that values sacrifice, generosity, and character.

Update on Cheney

After all the hype and hubub, Cheney's visit has come and gone. While I enjoyed my right to freedom of speech and protest, when it was all said and done I felt the need to respect BYU's decision and attend commencement. And, quite frankly, I left feeling pretty good about the whole experience. Cheney sufficiently buttered up the crowd with his anecdotes about his wife's Mormon ancestry and his play-by-play of BYU's clutch football win over the University of Utah. And it definitely didn't hurt having President Hinkley there (I truly love that man).

All in all, it was a memorable experience, which is more than many can say about their college graduations.

BTW here are some graduation pics:

As one who will be walking in April graduation...

I know this post is a little late but I'm still going to throw in my two cents.

BYU has recently made the decision to allow Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at April graduation. I just feel the need to voice my opinion on this rather controversial decision. For those who don't know, the big debate is that many are outraged by the school's (and some feel the Church's) decision to allow a man whose actions have been...how shall we put this delicately...kinda sick to impart his life's wisdom to a room full of moral-conscious Mormons. The other side of the debate is that regardless of Cheney himself he is still the Vice President of our country and that office demands a certain level of respect.

I'm a political science nerd and thus having the Vice President of the United States come speak at my graduation would, under normal circumstances, have me pretty stoked (although I'm not totally sure what I mean by normal circumstances). But given the current state of affairs I feel slightly disgusted and deeply disappointed in BYU for this decision. I fall in with those that argue that regardless of his position as the Vice President he has done enough underhanded, illegal, immoral, and completely stupid things that the school and the Church should do everything they can to stay far removed from him.

I DON'T want to have to hear Cheney's views on the war, the future, or anything else for that matter. I have done what I can do to protest this by signing a petition which expresses my opposition to Cheney's speech. I would encourage you to do the same even if you won't be attending commencement...for my sake and the sake of every other graduate participating in the ceremony!

Here are some interesting posts on the subject. By Common Consent, Connor's Conundrums

Forshadowing from 24???

So 24 is back. I watched every episode of the first 3 seasons but lost some momentum as the show seemed to become more and more formulaic. I just couldn't stand the thought of hearing Jack say "I had no choice!" one more time!

However, last semester I took a political science class on International Terrorism. It was probably my favorite class at BYU. Anyway, as we discussed the motivations and tactics of terrorists I often wondered about some of the issues that 24 is now dealing with.

There are those who argue that today's terrorists are different than any previous terrorists in that their end-game actually includes mass casualties. While in the past terrorists have used violence or the threat of violence to achieve political goals, the death of large numbers of civilians was not the ultimate goal. For example, the Russian terrorist group Narodnoya Volya from the late 1800s political aim was to bring about not only a regime change but a government type change. And while they used assassinations as their primary tactic they were vary cautious in avoiding collateral damage.

In contrast, al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and September 11 showed a significant shift in this paradigm. For the first time a terrorist group actually killed a huge amount of people and declared that the destruction of America and its people was one of their primary objectives.
So I've wondered, if many of these Islamist terrorist groups really want mass casualties then why don't we see more Israeli/Palistinian type terrorism. Why aren't there suicide bombers here in the US blowing up buses and such? Bus bombs and suicide terrorism in general seem like an incredibly effective way to kill many people and instill terror in every American. Is it possible that the terrorists just haven't thought about that?! Could 24 be giving ideas to the terrorists?! Yeah...