If any of you have not seen this, I highly recommend you watch this when you get a chance. It is one the best speeches he has given in my opinion, and he wrote it himself (as opposed to having his speechwriters do it).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23051902#23051902
Thursday, February 14, 2008
What is the difference?
I'd like to start out by asking a question. What is the difference
between us and radical Muslim terrorists? Heck, what is the
difference between any two religious beliefs? This has bothered me
for some time now. One person gets born into a Mormon family, another
into a Hindu family, another into a Muslim family, another into a
terrorist family, etc. How can a person know which message has truth
and light and which does not? From a doctrinal standpoint, it's
difficult to make an objective argument. Christians certainly can't
claim that jihadists are wrong for wanting to kill those who don't
share their beliefs when Jehovah commanded the Israelites to do the
exact same thing in the Old Testament. Furthermore, the scriptures
talk about justice being handed out not just in the life to come but
also in our mortal existence as well, particularly during the Second
Coming. So how can we find light?
I have come to one conclusion. For those who exemplify truth,
integrity must come before the message. What I have found alarming
over the years is how so many passionate members of faith sacrifice
some of the principles they believe in, and frankly we should all
believe in, for the sake of their message. Honesty and kindness
should be the foundation of who we are, particularly for those who
claim to follow spiritual truth. The same thing applies to all of the
many activists in the world. How many activists are willing to "put
it all on the line" so to speak for their cause? How many read
nothing but propaganda and then try to convince others they have the
truth? How many choose to smear and defame the opposition because
they are certain their cause justifies the means? As a Mormon,
honesty, kindness, respect for the agency of others, and the constant
pursuit of all truth must come before my religious message. I hope I
never forget this because once I do, the words that come out of my
mouth will no longer have the power of truth behind them.
A book I recommend is the autobiography of Malcom X. His life story
is a great example of someone who started out poorly but through
constant searching for truth, eventually found what he was looking
for.
between us and radical Muslim terrorists? Heck, what is the
difference between any two religious beliefs? This has bothered me
for some time now. One person gets born into a Mormon family, another
into a Hindu family, another into a Muslim family, another into a
terrorist family, etc. How can a person know which message has truth
and light and which does not? From a doctrinal standpoint, it's
difficult to make an objective argument. Christians certainly can't
claim that jihadists are wrong for wanting to kill those who don't
share their beliefs when Jehovah commanded the Israelites to do the
exact same thing in the Old Testament. Furthermore, the scriptures
talk about justice being handed out not just in the life to come but
also in our mortal existence as well, particularly during the Second
Coming. So how can we find light?
I have come to one conclusion. For those who exemplify truth,
integrity must come before the message. What I have found alarming
over the years is how so many passionate members of faith sacrifice
some of the principles they believe in, and frankly we should all
believe in, for the sake of their message. Honesty and kindness
should be the foundation of who we are, particularly for those who
claim to follow spiritual truth. The same thing applies to all of the
many activists in the world. How many activists are willing to "put
it all on the line" so to speak for their cause? How many read
nothing but propaganda and then try to convince others they have the
truth? How many choose to smear and defame the opposition because
they are certain their cause justifies the means? As a Mormon,
honesty, kindness, respect for the agency of others, and the constant
pursuit of all truth must come before my religious message. I hope I
never forget this because once I do, the words that come out of my
mouth will no longer have the power of truth behind them.
A book I recommend is the autobiography of Malcom X. His life story
is a great example of someone who started out poorly but through
constant searching for truth, eventually found what he was looking
for.
Presidential Candidate Vote
We conducted an experiment to try out the voting system that I've proposed here: http://cuff-family.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-voting-system.html. The main idea is to only compare candidates pairwise, so that third parties won't cause any splitting of votes. Each voter listed all of the candidates that they cared for in their order of preference.
This vote was conducted among a small group of people with similar opinions/values, so it's not necessarily representative of the population. It's not surprising, for example, that Romney beat everyone unanimously. Also, unfortunately, only five people participated in the vote. However, the voting did yield an unambiguous full ordering of preferences among the candidates, which is fortunate and not always the case. The list is below.
Let me also mention that Richardson fared poorly because three voters did not include him in their list. The list of candidates that I suggested at the beginning was incomplete, and I apologize for that.
Order of preference among presidential candidates:
Romney
Thompson
Hunter
Giuliani
McCain
Obama
Paul
Huckabee
Clinton
Edwards
Richardson
This vote was conducted among a small group of people with similar opinions/values, so it's not necessarily representative of the population. It's not surprising, for example, that Romney beat everyone unanimously. Also, unfortunately, only five people participated in the vote. However, the voting did yield an unambiguous full ordering of preferences among the candidates, which is fortunate and not always the case. The list is below.
Let me also mention that Richardson fared poorly because three voters did not include him in their list. The list of candidates that I suggested at the beginning was incomplete, and I apologize for that.
Order of preference among presidential candidates:
Romney
Thompson
Hunter
Giuliani
McCain
Obama
Paul
Huckabee
Clinton
Edwards
Richardson
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Romney as "standard bearer" for conservatives
I don't know if you guys saw this, but this bodes well for Romney in 2012.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/NATION/963183699/0/SPORTS
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/NATION/963183699/0/SPORTS
Ann Coulter at CPAC
This is a long speech (about 50 minutes) Ann Coulter gave last week. The best part is during the Q&A portion. Not as concise as her usual stuff, but fun to listen to when you have time.
http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/b9769a28-f1fa-4ee9-af17-c9955af1a2e5
http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/b9769a28-f1fa-4ee9-af17-c9955af1a2e5
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