Saturday, July 28, 2007

Get me some Repellant for This Pesky Love Bug!

Spring has passed, and Summer is winding down. The longest day of the year is now behind us, and the only things that we have to look forward to are earlier sunsets, and the possibility of some beautiful someone to share them with....

Ack, can it get any worse than that?!!

While most people seem to get upset at comments such as this, I feel that I, as a legal citizen of the United States of America, and blessed with the power of Free Speech (not, notice, Freedom of the Press, as I do not consider myself YET as part of that "Press"), have a need to defend my position. I currently attend the University with one of the highest Married Student populations in the country-- Brigham Young University; or, as most of us cynics prefer to call it, "The Marriage Factory." Yet I have no real desire to get married, nor do I have any real desire to be overly "social." Although most of my good friends are deeply engaged in their "good cause" of dating and courtship, and many of them have even been married up to this point (one friend's wedding is tonight, prompting this post), I have never seen myself as one who enjoys the "social life." I feel that school is much too important, and I have plenty of trouble finding enough financial means to support myself, let alone a girlfriend, wife, or child. So, why do we, as BYU Students, feel this overwhelming need to "settle down" before even attaining a Bachelor's degree?

In a word, Sex!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm talking about the ever-famous S-word. As the majority of us belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in a very strict commandment called the Law of Chastity. This law, divinely inspired and revealed to us by a Prophet of God, is that we are to have no sexual relations with any other person besides the spouse to whom we are legally wed. This includes, among other things, a need to maintain ourselves modest in thought, dress, and action, and a continually striving to avoid situations which may lead to a compromising temptation in later stages. It is for this reason, however, that we see so many of my fellow colleagues and classmates with engagement rings and wedding bands by the even of their 22nd Birthday!! The need to reproduce sexually is inherent in all of our genetic material, an understatement that would be agreeable amongst most main Christian and non-Christian religious denominations, and scientific philosophies. It would be Darwinian Suicide if we were programmed to NOT have these sexual impulses! Reproduction would cease, and the human race would fall within a matter of generations!

With that being said, I do not wish for the casual reader of these thoughts to think me anti-relationships, homo-sexual, or even homo-phobic; I am not. I believe whole-heartedly in the union of Man and Woman in Holy Matrimony, and I believe that the Sacred act of Procreation should be used ONLY within these bounds; That being said, I do not believe that Sex is good enough as a primary motive for Marriage. I believe that the relationship between a Man and His Wife should not be rushed into as one would rush to the Supermarket because they forgot an item on their shopping list; Marriage is a serious commitment, and the steps to pre-marriage should be equally thoughtful and regarded as an equally serious commitment. It is when two people see marriage is the answer to their "sexual woes" that they tend to find greater faults in their relationship, often times leading to extremely early pregnancy, divorce, single parenthood, and even a loss of one's religious faith, because "marriage was supposed to solve our problems." While the marriage relationship does have the capacity to strengthen the bonds of love between a man and a woman, and sex is an irreplaceable act in the strengthening of those bonds, a relationship that is founded purely on the sexual desires of the individual WILL NOT STAND!

I realize that there are many, many students at my beloved University who have married the woman whom they now call "wife" based on a very thoughtful and meditative analysis of their relationship together; to this students, I sincerely commend you! You are moving forward with your lives in a way that no successful career or honors graduation can make possible! But I also acknowledge that many of the products of our "successful Marriage Factory" are mere facades, imaginations of a "lustful heart and a horny spirit," rather than a "broken heart and a contrite spirit." To these couples, I say, "WAKE UP!!" Find the real reason for your relationship, and move toward it! Look for something that pleases you about your spouse that is non-physical in nature, and cleave to it! Ask yourself, "If I were blind, and had lost the use of my reproductive organs, would I still love this person?" If the sincere answer is Yes, then you will be able to trudge through any hardship of life. But if you question yourself upon asking these questions, then you need to sincerely re-evaluate your relationship, and possibly end it right there!

Marriage is sacred; Sex is sacred; and as two sacred acts, the maturity and thoughtful insight of the individuals involved is necessary in considering the preparation of two for these marvelous events. Think about it....

Monday, June 18, 2007

Mitt Romney leading the Polls in Iowa and New Hampshire

According to a recent article by the Associated Press' Glen Johnson, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has recently "propelled himself to the top of the polls" in the primary Caucus sites of Iowa and New Hampshire by using a combination of solid organizational skills, $4 million in advertising, and an aggressive approach. This bids good news for Romney supporters, as the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses will probably prove to be Romney's key supporting grounds to tackle the other Republican nominees, and secure a run for the Presidency in '08.

Scott Reed, who managed Republican candidate Bob Dole's 1996 Presidential Campaign, was quoted as saying, "There's a long way to go, but to date he's running the most logical, thought-out, structured campaign. He's marching in the right cadence, he's raising the money, he's spending it wiser and he seems to be on track." Long-time supporter of Romney should not be surprised by this evaluation from member's of Romney's own political party; his reputation as a Financial Capitalist make his ability to manage funds among his greatest strengths as a candidate for the Presidency. As a partner at Bain Capital, Romney consistently saved hundreds of companies millions or billions of dollars each year, helping some of America's biggest brand names, such as Staples and Domino's Pizza, avoid early bankruptcy. Such strengths will be greatly needed in a President who will likely have much voting capacity with financial issues such as war spending, social security, tax cutting, etc. His skills as a Venture Capitalist will be greatly appreciated by the current rising generation who are desperately looking for something to support them through retirement as Social Security becomes a way of the past.

Romney has been constantly criticized by opponents and even member of his own party as a "political flip-flopper," citing instances that he has "changed his position entirely" on such issues as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and gay-rights, as well as enduring continuing attacks on his Mormon religion, most recently by southern Evangelists who consider the faith to be a cult.

But none of those issues currently seem to matter, as Romney's popularity in Iowa and New Hampshire continues to sky rocket, and his mass production of DVDs and glossy fliers have flooded citizen mail boxes, and made the Romney name a common household term in these critical Republican primary states. His name has become so popular in Iowa that opponents Rudy Guiliani and John McCain, also running for the Republican Presidential nominee, have recently decided that they will forego the Aug. 11 Iowa straw poll, citing that it would be nothing but "a political beauty contest that Romney and his team [have] targeted."

Mitt Romney, as these statistics can validate, has shown himself to be the man who can best handle the financial and political stresses of a Presidential campaign, the man who can most effectively use his Advertising dollars, and the man who can raise funds in the greatest capacity among the Republican candidates, and possibly among all of the current candidates for the Presidential nominee, whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent. He is a moderate Republican who can find common ground with Senators and citizens all over the country.

But what of his Mormonism? That continues to be the question looming in the back of so many political analysts brains: will the American people be willing to set aside the religous prejudices, and in many cases, bigotries, and vote for the Candidate who best exemplifies their dominantly Christian values? Only time will answer that question, but such concerns appear to be fading away as the Campaign trail becomes muddier and rockier. Responding to a recent attack on Romney's religious faith, Senator and fellow Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback, R-Kan., stated that "although the e-mail [containing anti-Mormon sentiments] did not originate from campaign staff and was not sent from a campaign account or on behalf of the campaign, it is unfortunate and regrettable that this e-mail was forwarded by someone working for the campaign, even if for fact-checking purposes on behalf of a publication. This was against campaign policy, this will not happen again, and the staff member responsible has apologized for doing so and has been reprimanded."

Romney has continuously cited former President John F. Kennedy as a response to critics that his Mormon faith will have a greater dictate on American policies that his polished business and political career. He most often concurs with Kennedy's sentiments on whether the Oval Office will become an extension of the Vatican, stating that "he was not a Catholic running for president, he was an American running for president. There are some pundits out there that are hoping that I'll distance myself from my Church so that that'll help me politically. And that's not going to happen." Such devotion to religious faith, whether it is a faith shared by you or not, should be applauded, and demonstrates a remarkable sense of stability in a future President of the United States of America.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

I Surrender to the New Media!

The New Media is officially taking over the world!! No one is safe! Out with the Newspapers, Down with the Radio, even into the back corner for the Broadcast News syndicates! Our ever-evolving society has evolved to a position in which there is no return-- a position of cultural immediacy. E-mail, the Internet, I-pods, Cell phones, and even Automobiles are becoming increasingly faster, allow the American public to access a variety of information and activities at an alarming speed! What have these phenomena created? A society in which ADHD is no longer considered a particular threat to a child's mental well-being; A society in which ADHD is the norm.

I have been one of the strongest supporters against this new craze of "Blogspheres" and "independent Journalists," constantly fighting to protect the American people from the flood of raw and uninformed opinions at the height of the "information age." But, alas, it seems that my fight has been in vain! New bloggers are popping up at an alarming rate, so, as the old saying goes, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." If I can't take down the Bloggers and Independent, soft-news supporting pseudo-Journalists of today's age from the outside, perhaps my infiltration of the inside will be enough to allow the American public to see the error of it's "age." My purpose in beginning this Blog site is not to publish what is solely my opinion on a subject, or to create a travelogue of my life's events, but rather to help other people be informed on what is happening in the world around them. For this purpose, I will not idly post raw opinion on my Post, but will attempt to use this position as a starting point for people who wish to know a little bit more about what is going on in the world, whether it be political, scientific, international, or local (though I must warn, being a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, I realize that my concept of "local" may be very different from the viewers of this Blog). Now that I have released this disclaimer, let's move on to something important.

Happy Reading, and open up a Book when your done with this!!!