Here are two book reviews posted on the Internet by people other than me. They review a newish book that has gone on my wish list for Christmas:
The Book of Mammon: A Book About A Book About The Corporation That Owns The Mormons
by Daymon M Smith
1
So, the book is an accidental satire? Sort of. It poses practical and metaphysical conundrums, meditates on the moral dilemmas avoided, embraced, and stumbled upon, when God and Mammon are made to synergize. A compelling, light-hearted but serious memoir, fictional ethnography, and, yes, even apocalypse, this book crosses genres, fact, fancy, and everything between.
With this key it opens the doors to Mormon corporate offices, the most secret of spaces, and invites you inside. Come. See the author "work" as a media evaluator with the Mormon Church's corporate arm. At the Church Office Building (it's actual name) spiritual ambitions speak through quarterly evaluations, mission statements, digital personas, and website designs. Look! There is no conspiracy, although as at any office, there's lots of unintentionally humorous, fatuous banality. Here employees chant "cultural beliefs" composed by Human Resources and test whether a new DVD hits your "spiritual hot buttons." See us market food storage to religious consumers. Read a stack of documents never before published which declare and depict the "best practices" of the corporation, from smuggling underwear into banana republics to marketing strategies for the Book of Mormon. The author, a cultural anthropologist, provides insight into a place where men argue about DVD scripts and the color of book bindings, while children starve. Woven through his constant surprise at encountering religion fed through the pomposities of corporate-speak, you'll find revelations of the financial "waste" and this-world investment strategies of this wealthiest of religions. And understand the internal power struggles and culture of the same. See corporatized religion battle spirituality, art, welfare and people. Come with me and have a look around. (This text refers to the New Faith-Promoting Book of Mammon.)
2
I just added a new book to my wish list: The Book of Mammon by Daymon Smith, an LDS anthropologist. Smith recounts his experiences working at the Church Office Building where religious concerns are uncomfortably wedded to corporate ones. As a Mormon, he is concerned that his church is increasingly led more by profit (mammon) than a prophet.
The Book of Mammon reads like an entertaining and informative exposé of the LDS Church’s corporate practices, from the banal to the unusual. It has been receiving rave reviews. C. L. Hanson over at Letters from a broad wrote a review of the book that has further piqued my interest. Informed by the book, she points out an insightful irony:
According to Daymon’s tale, working at the COB has all of the crazy office politics you’d expect at an ordinary fortune-500 corporation. There’s a big difference, though, and it’s not just the church devotionals on company time or opening meetings with prayer. The problem is that they have absolutely no motivation to figure out whether their products are useful to their consumers. Mormons pay 10% of their income per year to the corporation (in order to be eligible for the saving ordinances in the temple), and the corporation gives back manuals, magazines, films, scriptures, garments, etc. — but the direct market feedback that comes from consumers selecting the goods they purchase is completely cut off.
As I’ve said before the private sector and the public sector each have their strengths and weaknesses. In economics, it’s not a question of choosing which one is “right” and which one is “wrong” — it’s a question of optimizing your strategy by using the best of both. The COB has the worst of both because it has the advantages of neither: there’s no market incentive to produce good products, and there’s no public oversight either.
(The biggest irony is how ferociously right-wing the Mormons are, yet they give so much money to a corporation that functions just like the very worst stereotypes of the Soviet government economic system.)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
THE MODERN STONE AGE FAMILY AT 50
The products of 21st-century prime-time television animation tend to shock more than entertain. People who watch South Park and The Family Guy have to endure them more often than laugh at them. This situation is a far cry from the first prime time animated series, which premiered on ABC TV fifty years ago today, 30 September 1960. It was a high concept cultural satire of Jackie Gleason’s “The Honeymooners” set in Stone Age suburbia. Even in its last years when it jumped the shark and lived off its own fat, it could still be very funny.
In its trial pilot animations, producers-creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera called the proposed series “The Flagstones.” By 1959, Hanna-Barbera had more than 25 years of animation experience, first in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation unit, where under the guidance of Fred Quimby they created “Tom and Jerry Cartoons” – winning Oscars for best short animated films in 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1951, and 1952.
Hanna-Barbera also had at least five years of experience in television animation, creating Saturday morning cartoon series for Yogi Bear, Bobo, Huckleberry Hound, and Deputy Dawg, among others characters. No animation producers until them in 1959 willingly took on the rigors of a night-time, weekly cartoon series, which meant in practice that the product would have to appeal both to youngsters and to adults.
That product evolved in a 6 season series entitled The Flintstones – a modern stone age family.
The Flintstones was an entirely brilliant concept. The drawings themselves were just adequate enough by the standards of TV cartooning, inked in color, but not broadcast in color until the middle years of the run. It featured a two blue collar working men – its “Kramden” character named "Fred" worked in a rock quarry; the “Norton” character named "Barney" worked at a job not quite definite in the series. They both had wives who, at least in the first season, were abusive. They later mellowed into basically jovial but short tempered wife-mother characters.
Hanna-Barbera hired maybe the most high-voltage voice cast in the history of prime time animation – each actor had years of experience in radio comedy, each enjoyed long runs in hit radio series:
Alan Reed, who co-starred in Life with Luigi, portrayed "Fred Flintstone. "
Jean Vanderpyl, who portrayed "Margaret Anderson" for years in Father Knows Best, portrayed "Wilma Flintstone," and later her mother.
Legendary "man of a thousand voices" Mel Blanc, a fixture of the Warner Brothers cartoon unit, The Jack Benny Program, and The Mel Blanc Show, portrayed "Barney Rubble" and also Fred's boss at the quarry.
Bea Benederet, who with June Foray worked as female voices in the Warner Brothers cartoon unit, in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Program, and The Jack Benny Program. portrayed "Betty Rubble" for four seasons.
On 24 January 1961, Mel Blanc nearly died in an auto accident. As related by Wikipedia
Hit head-on on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood , Blanc suffered a triple skull fracture that left him in a coma for three weeks, along with fractures of both legs and the pelvis.
Blanc reported in TV interviews, and later in his autobiography, that a clever doctor had helped him to come out of his coma by talking to him as Bugs Bunny, after futile efforts to talk directly to Blanc. Although he had no actual recollection of this, Blanc's wife and son swore to him that when the doctor was inspired to ask him, "How are you today, Bugs Bunny?", Blanc answered in Bugs' voice. Blanc thus credited Bugs with saving his life.
Blanc returned home from the UCLA Medical Center on March 17 to the cheers of more than 150 friends and neighbors.
The 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th episodes of the second season employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler to perform as Barney, while Blanc was incapacitated by his near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, that Blanc's portrayal of Barney Rubble had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice.
For a few early episodes, the Flintstone’s pet dinosaur named "Dino" {dee- no} spoke to the audience in a voice very close to that of Phil Silvers.
The Flintstones animation was adequate, but the writing was first rate. At least in its first two seasons, it was great social satire. It took shots at all sorts of sacred American cows – corporate culture, show business, fraternities, suburban family life, American product worship, television culture. It featured a list of funny prehistoric gadgetry – including small dinosaurs that functioned as garbage disposals.
In 1963, Wilma was involved in one of the three or four most famous pregnancies in all TV history – alongside Lucy Ricardo and Little Ricky ( I Love Lucy 1953), Samantha and Tabatha (Bewitched 1966) and Roseanne and Jerry (Roseanne 1995). It was the first time I had ever heard of pregnancy and maternity clothes. Wilma’s pregnancy lasted only a few weeks and required a complete redraw of her costume. (Aside from some dress up gags, all of the characters wore only one costume from first episode to last.)
As I recall, the producers sponsored a contest gimmick to name the new baby before it was born, sponsored by Welch’s Grape Juice. I remember distinctly the birth of daughter "Pebbles Flintstone" on 22 February 1963 produced a rare on screen appearance by the producers to announce contest winners.
Certain aspects of The Flintstones have become notorious.
Its sense of geologic history was completely preposterous. No dinosaurs lived in the Stone Age.
Home town Bedrock kept shifting around in size and features.
The first sponsor of the first season was none other than Winston Cigarettes: Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon advertisements with the characters smoking. Obviously they intended to brain wash the kiddies young about the pleasures of tobacco.
Another early sponsor was Bristol-Meyers pharmaceuticals. Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon advertisements featuring the characters taking drugs, so they intended to brainwash the kiddies young on the joys of solving problems with pill popping.
Eventually, Welch and Company sponsored the program. Hanna Barbera managed to work into the plots references to grape jelly and grape juice, which Pebbles referred to as "Woo Woo gape jew."
Unfortunately, The Flintstones as a series jumped the shark early. I still remember the advertising hoopla surrounding a guest star appearance of bombshell singer-actress Ann-Margret, who performed two musical numbers, including a knock-out lullaby written for the broadcast. Unfortunately the effect of the lullaby, in the Utah broadcast market at least, got undercut during that September 1963 premiere broadcast night by a audio accident that caused a second sound track from heaven only knows what to come on during the lullaby.
"Ann-Margrock Presents," broadcast on 19 September 1963, was the first episode of that new season.
In October 1963, the Rubbles adopted a baby son they named "Bamm-Bamm Rubble." He was not just a boy, he was the strongest boy in the world, which was pretty far fetched even for a cartoon gimmick. He spoke only two words, did nothing but strength gags, and became a very tiresome character very quickly.
The series tied into other ABC sitcoms with varying results of corny. Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York appeared in a 1966 episode as stone age cartoon versions of "Darrin and Samantha." A next door family by the name of Grusom appeared in the last season as stone age versions of the Addams Family. The premiere episode of 1965 -66 season was an episode entitled “No biz like show biz.” It did a musical satire of American rock and roll complete with Pebbles and Bamm Bamm singing “Let the Sunshine In.” Harvey Korman got a gig in 1965-66 as "Kazoo," a visitor from Outer Space. He might have been cute on Hanna-Barbera’s 21st Century cartoon satire, The Jetsons but seemed rather out of place in Bedrock.
The Flintstones was my favorite TV show as a little kid, eclipsed only by Bewitched and Lost in Space later in the decade.
The Flintstones evolved into a number of Saturday morning incarnations from 1971 to 1988, and in a few made for TV animated movies. These by and large were designed for children and had less depth of satire than the original. They were unusual to the extent that the children age. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm suddenly were 11 years of age, then became teenagers, then married, became twenty-somethings with twins.
The 1994 live action production of The Flintstones Movie can best be passed over in silence, except to say, you would think that a production with Elizabeth Taylor, Rosie O'Donnell, John Goodman, and Rick Moranis would have some life to it. It most certainly did not.
The best elements of the best seasons have come down through the years in some elements of The Simpsons. Happy 50th anniversary to Bedrock and its most famous families.
In its trial pilot animations, producers-creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera called the proposed series “The Flagstones.” By 1959, Hanna-Barbera had more than 25 years of animation experience, first in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation unit, where under the guidance of Fred Quimby they created “Tom and Jerry Cartoons” – winning Oscars for best short animated films in 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1951, and 1952.
Hanna-Barbera also had at least five years of experience in television animation, creating Saturday morning cartoon series for Yogi Bear, Bobo, Huckleberry Hound, and Deputy Dawg, among others characters. No animation producers until them in 1959 willingly took on the rigors of a night-time, weekly cartoon series, which meant in practice that the product would have to appeal both to youngsters and to adults.
That product evolved in a 6 season series entitled The Flintstones – a modern stone age family.
The Flintstones was an entirely brilliant concept. The drawings themselves were just adequate enough by the standards of TV cartooning, inked in color, but not broadcast in color until the middle years of the run. It featured a two blue collar working men – its “Kramden” character named "Fred" worked in a rock quarry; the “Norton” character named "Barney" worked at a job not quite definite in the series. They both had wives who, at least in the first season, were abusive. They later mellowed into basically jovial but short tempered wife-mother characters.
Hanna-Barbera hired maybe the most high-voltage voice cast in the history of prime time animation – each actor had years of experience in radio comedy, each enjoyed long runs in hit radio series:
Alan Reed, who co-starred in Life with Luigi, portrayed "Fred Flintstone. "
Jean Vanderpyl, who portrayed "Margaret Anderson" for years in Father Knows Best, portrayed "Wilma Flintstone," and later her mother.
Legendary "man of a thousand voices" Mel Blanc, a fixture of the Warner Brothers cartoon unit, The Jack Benny Program, and The Mel Blanc Show, portrayed "Barney Rubble" and also Fred's boss at the quarry.
Bea Benederet, who with June Foray worked as female voices in the Warner Brothers cartoon unit, in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Program, and The Jack Benny Program. portrayed "Betty Rubble" for four seasons.
On 24 January 1961, Mel Blanc nearly died in an auto accident. As related by Wikipedia
Hit head-on on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood , Blanc suffered a triple skull fracture that left him in a coma for three weeks, along with fractures of both legs and the pelvis.
Blanc reported in TV interviews, and later in his autobiography, that a clever doctor had helped him to come out of his coma by talking to him as Bugs Bunny, after futile efforts to talk directly to Blanc. Although he had no actual recollection of this, Blanc's wife and son swore to him that when the doctor was inspired to ask him, "How are you today, Bugs Bunny?", Blanc answered in Bugs' voice. Blanc thus credited Bugs with saving his life.
Blanc returned home from the UCLA Medical Center on March 17 to the cheers of more than 150 friends and neighbors.
The 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th episodes of the second season employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler to perform as Barney, while Blanc was incapacitated by his near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, that Blanc's portrayal of Barney Rubble had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice.
For a few early episodes, the Flintstone’s pet dinosaur named "Dino" {dee- no} spoke to the audience in a voice very close to that of Phil Silvers.
The Flintstones animation was adequate, but the writing was first rate. At least in its first two seasons, it was great social satire. It took shots at all sorts of sacred American cows – corporate culture, show business, fraternities, suburban family life, American product worship, television culture. It featured a list of funny prehistoric gadgetry – including small dinosaurs that functioned as garbage disposals.
In 1963, Wilma was involved in one of the three or four most famous pregnancies in all TV history – alongside Lucy Ricardo and Little Ricky ( I Love Lucy 1953), Samantha and Tabatha (Bewitched 1966) and Roseanne and Jerry (Roseanne 1995). It was the first time I had ever heard of pregnancy and maternity clothes. Wilma’s pregnancy lasted only a few weeks and required a complete redraw of her costume. (Aside from some dress up gags, all of the characters wore only one costume from first episode to last.)
As I recall, the producers sponsored a contest gimmick to name the new baby before it was born, sponsored by Welch’s Grape Juice. I remember distinctly the birth of daughter "Pebbles Flintstone" on 22 February 1963 produced a rare on screen appearance by the producers to announce contest winners.
Certain aspects of The Flintstones have become notorious.
Its sense of geologic history was completely preposterous. No dinosaurs lived in the Stone Age.
Home town Bedrock kept shifting around in size and features.
The first sponsor of the first season was none other than Winston Cigarettes: Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon advertisements with the characters smoking. Obviously they intended to brain wash the kiddies young about the pleasures of tobacco.
Another early sponsor was Bristol-Meyers pharmaceuticals. Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon advertisements featuring the characters taking drugs, so they intended to brainwash the kiddies young on the joys of solving problems with pill popping.
Eventually, Welch and Company sponsored the program. Hanna Barbera managed to work into the plots references to grape jelly and grape juice, which Pebbles referred to as "Woo Woo gape jew."
Unfortunately, The Flintstones as a series jumped the shark early. I still remember the advertising hoopla surrounding a guest star appearance of bombshell singer-actress Ann-Margret, who performed two musical numbers, including a knock-out lullaby written for the broadcast. Unfortunately the effect of the lullaby, in the Utah broadcast market at least, got undercut during that September 1963 premiere broadcast night by a audio accident that caused a second sound track from heaven only knows what to come on during the lullaby.
"Ann-Margrock Presents," broadcast on 19 September 1963, was the first episode of that new season.
In October 1963, the Rubbles adopted a baby son they named "Bamm-Bamm Rubble." He was not just a boy, he was the strongest boy in the world, which was pretty far fetched even for a cartoon gimmick. He spoke only two words, did nothing but strength gags, and became a very tiresome character very quickly.
The series tied into other ABC sitcoms with varying results of corny. Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York appeared in a 1966 episode as stone age cartoon versions of "Darrin and Samantha." A next door family by the name of Grusom appeared in the last season as stone age versions of the Addams Family. The premiere episode of 1965 -66 season was an episode entitled “No biz like show biz.” It did a musical satire of American rock and roll complete with Pebbles and Bamm Bamm singing “Let the Sunshine In.” Harvey Korman got a gig in 1965-66 as "Kazoo," a visitor from Outer Space. He might have been cute on Hanna-Barbera’s 21st Century cartoon satire, The Jetsons but seemed rather out of place in Bedrock.
The Flintstones was my favorite TV show as a little kid, eclipsed only by Bewitched and Lost in Space later in the decade.
The Flintstones evolved into a number of Saturday morning incarnations from 1971 to 1988, and in a few made for TV animated movies. These by and large were designed for children and had less depth of satire than the original. They were unusual to the extent that the children age. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm suddenly were 11 years of age, then became teenagers, then married, became twenty-somethings with twins.
The 1994 live action production of The Flintstones Movie can best be passed over in silence, except to say, you would think that a production with Elizabeth Taylor, Rosie O'Donnell, John Goodman, and Rick Moranis would have some life to it. It most certainly did not.
The best elements of the best seasons have come down through the years in some elements of The Simpsons. Happy 50th anniversary to Bedrock and its most famous families.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
OBAMA AND THE HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL VACATIONS
My loyalist Republican conservative neighbors try to outdo each other with complaints of just how awful our President Obama performs as compared to recent "real" presidents. Last month, they complained about the President’s vacations, as if he were taking too many vacations at the public expense and as if a man in a presidential office always in session should always be home to take care of business.
I should have reminded them that his is, after all, the 21st century. Modern federal technology can keep a president in touch with the executive branch and all its resources no matter where he happens to stay at any particular day.
Here are facts of presidential vacation down time, as reported in three articles on the subject, for the readers to compare contrast.
Article One:
George W. Bush's vacation time (grand total)
http://jonox.livejournal.com/25625.html
487 days at Camp David
490 days at Crawford Ranch
43 days at Kennebunkport Compound
Total: 1020 days, more than 1/3rd of his presidency. Bush set the record for most vacation time taken by president.
Carter took 79 days in 4 years.
Clinton took 152 days in 8 years.
Reagan took 335 days in 8 years.
Bush Sr. took 543 days in 4 years!
So much for the mythological Republican hard worth ethic.
Article two:
487 Days At Camp David For Bush
CBS News
Political Hotsheet
January 16, 2009 4:11 PM
George W. Bush is today making his final visit to Camp David as president.
He will likely miss the place: According to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, today's trip marks Mr. Bush's 149th visit to the presidential retreat. The planned three-day stay, during which the president is being joined by family and former and current aides, will bring his total time spent at Camp David to all or part of 487 days.
Yes, that's 487 days. And Camp David is not even where the president has spent the most time when not at the White House: Knoller reports that Mr. Bush has made 77 visits to his ranch in Crawford during his presidency, and spent all or part of 490 days there.
Article Three:
Like Every Administration,
White House Defends Obama "Vacation"
CBS News
August 19, 2010 2:35 PM
Posted by Mark Knoller
Every White House is a bit defensive about presidential vacations and President Obama's staff is no exception.
"Whenever you talk about a presidential vacation you ought to put the word "vacation" in quotes because you can bet that there will still be work that he's doing every day," deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters yesterday on Air Force One.
Mr. Obama and family are today beginning a 10 day "vacation" on Martha's Vineyard. (Okay, Bill, those quotation marks are for you.")
Burton is right in that a president is never really on vacation. The job follows him wherever he goes as does a sizeable contingent of aides, secret service and communications personnel as well as the military officers who carry the "football," the nickname for the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes. Some vacation...
Burton made a point of saying that Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan is among those accompanying Mr. Obama to Martha's Vineyard and will give him a national security and intelligence briefing every day.
Like its predecessors, the Obama White House is unapologetic about the president getting away for some rest and recreation. Last summer, Mr. Obama played golf on 4 of his eight days on Martha's Vineyard. It's also billed as time for him to spend with his family before his daughters go back to school in September.
"I don't think there's an American person who doesn't know that the president is working hard to do everything possible to get this economy back on the right track," said Burton to emphasize the point that the president deserves some time away from the White House grind, even if some of the grind goes with him.
This is Mr. Obama's 9th vacation since taking office. As of today, he has spent all or part of 38 days on "vacation" away from the White House. He has also made 14 visits to Camp David spanning all or part of 32 days. It brings his total time away to all or part of 70 days.
It's less than the "vacation" time taken during the same period by his immediate predecessor. (Former President George W. Bush gets the quotation marks too.)
As of this point in his 1st term, Mr. Bush had made 14 visits to his Texas ranch spanning all or part of 102 days. He also made 40 visits to Camp David spanning all or part of 123 days. His "vacation" total at this point in his presidency was all or part of 225 days away.
To show that even as he heads on vacation he's on the job, the White House announced that Mr. Obama would make a statement on the economy before getting on Marine One to begin his trip to the Vineyard.
Burton also said yesterday that Mr. Obama would be getting "constant updates on what's happening in the economy and other issues" while on Martha's Vineyard, where he has rented a house for his time there.
"Like a lot of American people, the president is taking a little time with his family to recharge his batteries," Burton said. But when asked if Mr. Obama really needed a vacation, Burton stopped short of making that assertion.
I should have reminded them that his is, after all, the 21st century. Modern federal technology can keep a president in touch with the executive branch and all its resources no matter where he happens to stay at any particular day.
Here are facts of presidential vacation down time, as reported in three articles on the subject, for the readers to compare contrast.
Article One:
George W. Bush's vacation time (grand total)
http://jonox.livejournal.com/25625.html
487 days at Camp David
490 days at Crawford Ranch
43 days at Kennebunkport Compound
Total: 1020 days, more than 1/3rd of his presidency. Bush set the record for most vacation time taken by president.
Carter took 79 days in 4 years.
Clinton took 152 days in 8 years.
Reagan took 335 days in 8 years.
Bush Sr. took 543 days in 4 years!
So much for the mythological Republican hard worth ethic.
Article two:
487 Days At Camp David For Bush
CBS News
Political Hotsheet
January 16, 2009 4:11 PM
George W. Bush is today making his final visit to Camp David as president.
He will likely miss the place: According to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, today's trip marks Mr. Bush's 149th visit to the presidential retreat. The planned three-day stay, during which the president is being joined by family and former and current aides, will bring his total time spent at Camp David to all or part of 487 days.
Yes, that's 487 days. And Camp David is not even where the president has spent the most time when not at the White House: Knoller reports that Mr. Bush has made 77 visits to his ranch in Crawford during his presidency, and spent all or part of 490 days there.
Article Three:
Like Every Administration,
White House Defends Obama "Vacation"
CBS News
August 19, 2010 2:35 PM
Posted by Mark Knoller
Every White House is a bit defensive about presidential vacations and President Obama's staff is no exception.
"Whenever you talk about a presidential vacation you ought to put the word "vacation" in quotes because you can bet that there will still be work that he's doing every day," deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters yesterday on Air Force One.
Mr. Obama and family are today beginning a 10 day "vacation" on Martha's Vineyard. (Okay, Bill, those quotation marks are for you.")
Burton is right in that a president is never really on vacation. The job follows him wherever he goes as does a sizeable contingent of aides, secret service and communications personnel as well as the military officers who carry the "football," the nickname for the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes. Some vacation...
Burton made a point of saying that Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan is among those accompanying Mr. Obama to Martha's Vineyard and will give him a national security and intelligence briefing every day.
Like its predecessors, the Obama White House is unapologetic about the president getting away for some rest and recreation. Last summer, Mr. Obama played golf on 4 of his eight days on Martha's Vineyard. It's also billed as time for him to spend with his family before his daughters go back to school in September.
"I don't think there's an American person who doesn't know that the president is working hard to do everything possible to get this economy back on the right track," said Burton to emphasize the point that the president deserves some time away from the White House grind, even if some of the grind goes with him.
This is Mr. Obama's 9th vacation since taking office. As of today, he has spent all or part of 38 days on "vacation" away from the White House. He has also made 14 visits to Camp David spanning all or part of 32 days. It brings his total time away to all or part of 70 days.
It's less than the "vacation" time taken during the same period by his immediate predecessor. (Former President George W. Bush gets the quotation marks too.)
As of this point in his 1st term, Mr. Bush had made 14 visits to his Texas ranch spanning all or part of 102 days. He also made 40 visits to Camp David spanning all or part of 123 days. His "vacation" total at this point in his presidency was all or part of 225 days away.
To show that even as he heads on vacation he's on the job, the White House announced that Mr. Obama would make a statement on the economy before getting on Marine One to begin his trip to the Vineyard.
Burton also said yesterday that Mr. Obama would be getting "constant updates on what's happening in the economy and other issues" while on Martha's Vineyard, where he has rented a house for his time there.
"Like a lot of American people, the president is taking a little time with his family to recharge his batteries," Burton said. But when asked if Mr. Obama really needed a vacation, Burton stopped short of making that assertion.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
BECK AND RECLAIM HONOR: WE VERSUS THEM
“We [should] reclaim the civil rights movement,” Glenn Beck said, with a straight face no less, three months ago on his radio broadcast. “We are on the right side of history, individual freedoms, and liberties. We will take that movement, because we were the people that did it in the first place.”
We? Who is we?
Marian Anderson on the Lincoln Memorial Steps, Easter Sunday 1939.
Emmett Till.
Rosa Parks.
Medger Evers.
Michael Schwerner.
Jimmie Jackson.
James Reeb.
Viola Liuzzo.
Cynthia Wesley.
Andrew Goodman.
Denise McNair.
James Chaney.
Addie Mae Collins.
Little Rock 7.
Charlene Hunter.
James Meredith.
Robert Kennedy.
Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Martin Luther King.on the Lincoln Memorial steps -- and in Memphis.
Where was Glenn Beck?
The “we” to which Glenn Beck belongs is the “we” that said no.
The “we” he belonged to cried out for ---
“States Rights” IE white rights to enslave the black population
“Local Control” IE white rights to keep the black population uneducated and the white population in power
“Socialism!” IE decrying the Congress passing equal rights laws and the executive enforcing equal rights laws
“Communism!” IE White supremacists branding their equal rights opponents with a Russian system when the equal rights proponents insisted that black and whites get equal opportunities to the best jobs.
“Tyranny!” IE white supremacists complaining when their civil rights opponents insisted that blacks vote free in all the elections, too.
Where was Beck any way in the 1950s and 1960s whenever black people and their allies cried, “freedom” ?
I find Glenn Beck’s fatuous, dishonorable effrontery utterly monumental.
We? Who is we?
Marian Anderson on the Lincoln Memorial Steps, Easter Sunday 1939.
Emmett Till.
Rosa Parks.
Medger Evers.
Michael Schwerner.
Jimmie Jackson.
James Reeb.
Viola Liuzzo.
Cynthia Wesley.
Andrew Goodman.
Denise McNair.
James Chaney.
Addie Mae Collins.
Little Rock 7.
Charlene Hunter.
James Meredith.
Robert Kennedy.
Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Martin Luther King.on the Lincoln Memorial steps -- and in Memphis.
Where was Glenn Beck?
The “we” to which Glenn Beck belongs is the “we” that said no.
The “we” he belonged to cried out for ---
“States Rights” IE white rights to enslave the black population
“Local Control” IE white rights to keep the black population uneducated and the white population in power
“Socialism!” IE decrying the Congress passing equal rights laws and the executive enforcing equal rights laws
“Communism!” IE White supremacists branding their equal rights opponents with a Russian system when the equal rights proponents insisted that black and whites get equal opportunities to the best jobs.
“Tyranny!” IE white supremacists complaining when their civil rights opponents insisted that blacks vote free in all the elections, too.
Where was Beck any way in the 1950s and 1960s whenever black people and their allies cried, “freedom” ?
I find Glenn Beck’s fatuous, dishonorable effrontery utterly monumental.
Friday, August 13, 2010
RIGHT ASCENSION'S MARRIAGE EDITORIAL IN ITS ENTIRETY
On Friday, 13 August, the Deseret News editorial page published a letter to the editor that I wrote.
I do not like the way the editorial page editor edited my original letter. I reproduce the published version and, after that, my original unedited letter for your consideration.
First the edited version:
A father and a mother
Deseret News
letter to the editor
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700056325/A-father-and-a-mother.html
Published: Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 12:00 a.m. MDT
Marriage is not an arrangement between two people; it is a covenant between four entities: a man, a woman, God and/or the culture in which the couple live, and children — whose interests always get lost amid the legalistic smoke generated by same-gender marriage controversies.
Heterosexuals damaged marriage more than any other group. They, after all, created marriage definitions, traditions and laws to include polygamy, mistresses, dowries, la casa grande and la casa bonita, quick divorces, and institutional acceptance of violence against women and children. Their liberalized marriage laws made a successful marriage harder to achieve. After we accept many of these bogus assumptions, marriage between same-gender couples is just another small leap. Backward.
We should allow and accept the companionship legalities and domestic arrangements that consenting adults want. The law should accept both gay and straight domestic partnerships with unblinking legal equality and objectivity. A child, however, deserves both a father and a mother in a family. A father is not an afterthought.
Now my original letter, with the crucial cut highlighted:
Marriage is not an arrangement between 2 people; it is a covenant between 4 entities: a man, a woman, God and/or the culture in which the couple live, and children – whose interests always get lost amid the legalistic smoke generated by same-gender marriage controversies.
Heterosexuals damaged marriage more than any other group. They, after all, created marriage definitions / traditions / laws to include polygamy, mistresses, doweries, la casa grande and la casa bonita, quick divorces, institutional acceptance of violence against women and children. Their liberalized marriage laws allowing people of different cultures, classes, nations, and races to marry in fact made successful marriages harder to achieve. After we accept many of these bogus assumptions, marriage between same-gender couples is just another small leap. Backwards.
We should allow and accept the companionship legalities and domestic arrangements that consenting adults want. The law should accept both gay and straight domestic partnerships with unblinking legal equality and objectivity. A child, however, deserves both a father and a mother in a family. A father is not an afterthought.
RIGHT ASCENSION AFTERTHOUGHT
Men and women of different cultures, classes, nations, and races do have a moral and legal right to marry each other. It does not follow, though, that they have created marriage that will be inherently more successful,
I do not like the way the editorial page editor edited my original letter. I reproduce the published version and, after that, my original unedited letter for your consideration.
First the edited version:
A father and a mother
Deseret News
letter to the editor
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700056325/A-father-and-a-mother.html
Published: Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 12:00 a.m. MDT
Marriage is not an arrangement between two people; it is a covenant between four entities: a man, a woman, God and/or the culture in which the couple live, and children — whose interests always get lost amid the legalistic smoke generated by same-gender marriage controversies.
Heterosexuals damaged marriage more than any other group. They, after all, created marriage definitions, traditions and laws to include polygamy, mistresses, dowries, la casa grande and la casa bonita, quick divorces, and institutional acceptance of violence against women and children. Their liberalized marriage laws made a successful marriage harder to achieve. After we accept many of these bogus assumptions, marriage between same-gender couples is just another small leap. Backward.
We should allow and accept the companionship legalities and domestic arrangements that consenting adults want. The law should accept both gay and straight domestic partnerships with unblinking legal equality and objectivity. A child, however, deserves both a father and a mother in a family. A father is not an afterthought.
Now my original letter, with the crucial cut highlighted:
Marriage is not an arrangement between 2 people; it is a covenant between 4 entities: a man, a woman, God and/or the culture in which the couple live, and children – whose interests always get lost amid the legalistic smoke generated by same-gender marriage controversies.
Heterosexuals damaged marriage more than any other group. They, after all, created marriage definitions / traditions / laws to include polygamy, mistresses, doweries, la casa grande and la casa bonita, quick divorces, institutional acceptance of violence against women and children. Their liberalized marriage laws allowing people of different cultures, classes, nations, and races to marry in fact made successful marriages harder to achieve. After we accept many of these bogus assumptions, marriage between same-gender couples is just another small leap. Backwards.
We should allow and accept the companionship legalities and domestic arrangements that consenting adults want. The law should accept both gay and straight domestic partnerships with unblinking legal equality and objectivity. A child, however, deserves both a father and a mother in a family. A father is not an afterthought.
RIGHT ASCENSION AFTERTHOUGHT
Men and women of different cultures, classes, nations, and races do have a moral and legal right to marry each other. It does not follow, though, that they have created marriage that will be inherently more successful,
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Inspired by the Walker ruling on Proposition 8, AN EDITORIAL ON THE DEFINITIONS OF MODERN MARRIAGE
On 4 August, Judge Walker ruled unconstitutional California Proposition 8 defining marriage in California as a domestic arrangement between one man and one woman. His logic, such as it was, seems along the lines of what’s sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose, and in the 21st century we cannot go around following the foolish old traditions of our fathers. Some bigots will probably try to make an issue of Judge Walker’s sexual preferences, but few associated with the case cared to do so. American culture for year has allowed heterosexual married judges make rulings about marriages.
Heterosexuals ruined the concept of marriage ages ago. They saw nothing wrong in defining heterosexual marriage in polygamist terms, in terms of la casa grande and la casa bonita, and in terms of man-woman companionship of various types and stripes. Heterosexuals for ages allowed violence to become part of marriage traditions and laws. Heterosexuals made divorce more prevalent and easier to obtain.
Meanwhile in Salt Lake City, the public communications department of the Church of Jesus Christ issued a statement expressing regrets at the judge’s decision. We would hope the Brethren and their department could come up with a line more sophisticated than [paraphrase here] God ordained marriage between a man and a woman and that’s the way it has always been and that is the way it just has to be sort of stuff. The P C department does a fine job making God look like some sort of bigot.
For Mormons with parents or children who prefer same gender relationships, this current situation resolves itself by whom do they list best – the Brethren or their gay relatives and their gay friends. If the gay crowd has more charming people, then there goes the Church’s influence.
Marriage is not a domestic arrangement between two people. Marriage is a covenant among four entities, not two:
one man
one woman
children of the culture
the culture in which the covenant takes place.
Children have a personal stake in the definitions of marriage. Children’s interest always gets lost in heterosexual – homosexual marriage controversies.
A child has a right to the love, respect, nurturing, and care of both a mother and a father. Fathers are not just a biological act or an afterthought.
Companionship and domestic arrangements are one's own business between Consenting Adults. A child has a right to the loving influence of both a man and a woman.
RIGHT ASCENSION CALL TO ACTION
Politicians in California, Utah, and elsewhere mouth platitudes about protecting the sanctity of marriage, but most of them possess vague notions and definitions of marriage. Congress and the states should spell out the covenant relationship of marriage among the four entities of a man, a woman, American culture and American children in a black-letter law Constitutional amendment. Politicians should not banter marriage about for electioneering points.
Friday, June 25, 2010
TIME FOR ELECTION REFORM IN UTAH AND USA
The Utah Republican Senatorial candidate, Michael Shumway Lee, lives in Alpine and was reared in Provo and McLean, VA. He will become the fourth U.S. Senator with close ties to Utah County: Senators Reed Smoot (R-Provo), George Sutherland (R-Provo, later Supreme Court associate justice, the only justice with ties to Provo), Arthur Watkins (R-Orem), and now Lee.
Lee is 39 years old, which means I have undershirts older than he. Neither Lee nor Senator Hatch were born in Utah.
The recent primary election show how much electoral reform we need both locally and nationally.
A CALL TO ACTION -- Utah should abolish the caucus and convention system and select candidates strictly by a primary vote.
On the national level, we should not hold elections on a workday almost in the middle of the week. The Constitution set up Tuesday election days, because in 1787 the framers took into consideration when outlying farmers would typically come into the local village for church and shopping.
ANOTHER CALL TO ACTION — We should change 21st century election days to Saturdays and Sundays, to encourage more people to vote.
The minimum age for federal elected office needs reforming as well. Young minimum ages for representative, senator, and president were necessary back in days when people did not live long and did not need vast experience to serve in government. Now cultural conditions are different. We live much longer. The world around us has grown more complex.
ANOTHER CALL TO ACTION — Therefore we should by Constitutional Amendment raise the minimum age
– for a representative to 40 years of age.
– for a senator to 45.
– for a President of the United States to 50.
Lee, I believe, lacks the contemplation, maturity, creativity, vision, experience, and knowledge necessary in a good senator. The campaign shows he knows the cliches cold.
THE CALL TO ACTION – Who of experience can we encourage to run for senator in 2012 and in 2016? Unfortunately, we will find politics in 2010 painful.
Lee is 39 years old, which means I have undershirts older than he. Neither Lee nor Senator Hatch were born in Utah.
The recent primary election show how much electoral reform we need both locally and nationally.
A CALL TO ACTION -- Utah should abolish the caucus and convention system and select candidates strictly by a primary vote.
On the national level, we should not hold elections on a workday almost in the middle of the week. The Constitution set up Tuesday election days, because in 1787 the framers took into consideration when outlying farmers would typically come into the local village for church and shopping.
ANOTHER CALL TO ACTION — We should change 21st century election days to Saturdays and Sundays, to encourage more people to vote.
The minimum age for federal elected office needs reforming as well. Young minimum ages for representative, senator, and president were necessary back in days when people did not live long and did not need vast experience to serve in government. Now cultural conditions are different. We live much longer. The world around us has grown more complex.
ANOTHER CALL TO ACTION — Therefore we should by Constitutional Amendment raise the minimum age
– for a representative to 40 years of age.
– for a senator to 45.
– for a President of the United States to 50.
Lee, I believe, lacks the contemplation, maturity, creativity, vision, experience, and knowledge necessary in a good senator. The campaign shows he knows the cliches cold.
THE CALL TO ACTION – Who of experience can we encourage to run for senator in 2012 and in 2016? Unfortunately, we will find politics in 2010 painful.
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