July 2008

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No!

I noticed a little while ago that the Church was so serious about actively spreading word that the LDS Church does not condone or practice polygamy that it was advertising the Newsroom.lds.org website.

Those same ads are still showing up in Google ads but they are now pointing to MormonsandPolygamy.org. It’s a one page site with a video of President Hinckley explaining the Church’s policy on polygamy, links to various resources, and tools to spread the word (including social bookmarking).

They even include a button to link the page that you can put on your own site.

Unfortunately, I can’t get the code to work for me right now. But I would recommend linking to it to boost its page-ranking and give it more notice in the search engines.

MORE: Thanks Bryce for the solution to fixing the code.

Pioneer Day edition

Light And Truth
Discussions on faith, spirituality, and doctrine

Mormon Blogger
The testimony, experiences, and faith of devout Mormons.

Bishop Blogging
LDS bishop blogs about family life, service in the Church, and life in general. No confidential information is shared here. I’m happy to answer general questions, but I’m not a surrogate bishop.

The Birdchaser
Celebrating the art, science, sport, and mystery of living with birds.

Todd McLauchlin
Discussions on politics, theology, philosophy, and society

Our Life in Colorado
The adventures of our happy family of four smarties living on a teacher’s salary.

Modern Mormon Dad
Thoughts on faith, fatherhood, and anything of good report

The American Homemaker
recipes-crafts-FHE ideas-homemaking tips

The Wilsons

Mud Blossom
A positive outlook on life as the mother of two active boys, plus some pretty darn good photography.

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It now seems clear that the recent McCain VP buzz was just supposed to keep the senator on the front page rather than actually crash Obama’s world parade. However, as the Romney name keeps getting mentioned, some interesting people are starting to push back on a Romney VP pick.

Speaking as a Mormon, Orson Scott Card “begs” McCain to not commit political suicide by picking a Mormon as his VP.

What is he going to bring you? Utah? You have Utah already.

What Mitt Romney would do, as your vice presidential candidate, is weaken you in areas that you absolutely must carry: The South and the Bible Belt.

You cannot afford to underestimate the number of people who will never vote for a ticket that includes a Mormon. . .

When you consider that in the South, the black vote will — understandably! — be energized and turn out in record numbers, the last thing you need is for the Evangelical Christian vote to be unenthusiastic, with large numbers of them sitting it out.

And from Romney’s home state, Michigan Democrats have actually produced a web ad as a preemptive strike against Romney on his biggest strength, his business experience.

I think Romney would make the best VP, but he may not be the best political choice. So OSC’s point is legitimate and pragmatic but a total concession to the crudest of identity politics.

And if the Michigan Democrats really think Romney is such a bad pick, why are they running ads discouraging McCain to NOT pick him? Somehow I don’t think they have McCain’s best interests in mind.

The Boston Globe has a nifty timewaster, an electoral college map with adjustable demographics based on race, gender, and religious voting patterns.

Below is a smaller version, only considering the LDS vote. Unlike other faiths, there was only 2006 election data for LDS voters (the sample map below says 2004, but the home site says its 2006) . I suppose its a good sign that while only 2% of the electorate is LDS, its vote is now starting to be measured.

Fiddling with the LDS vote below, you can see that if the LDS vote went 100% GOP (instead of the 80% it appears to be), then it would help Sen. McCain claim New Mexico. On the flip side, if the LDS vote went 100% Democrat, it would gain Utah, Nevada, and Oregon for Sen. Obama.

The Mormon vote is not a powerful voting bloc but it is interesting to see how it can influence the election in specific states.

You can go to the site’s home page to also see how race and gender demographics figured in the elections and adjust them to forecast how 2008 may play out.

This Week At Church
My notes from church this week.

Book of Mormon Blog
My past and present insights of how each chapter in the Book of Mormon helps bring me and my family blessed happiness in this life.

Mormon Girl in Russia
Experience life in Russia through the eyes of a Mormon Sister Missionary–the fun, the drama, the hardships, the spiritual highs and lows!

Oh, The Places You’ll Go…
Cooking & Recipes, Organization, Food Storage & Preparedness, Inspirational Thoughts, Spiritual Thoughts, Mommy Stuff, Wife (or Husband?) Stuff, Happy Stuff, Fun Stuff, & Lots More!

Those Mexico Jones’
Life of a LDS Farming family living in Mexico. A few fun recipes and life’s adventures.

Off Wellman Way
News about our family and friends, our testimony. and adventures on an out-of-control 4-H project.

Webb on the Web
The Life of Stephanie Webb
The record of my life, including a few insights (hopefully) into motherhood and life as a wife of an Air Force pilot.

Kitchen Ditcher

CompleteLee Blog
You’ll find a CompleteLee vast array of things pertaining to music, homeschool, family life, sports, etc.

A Mellow Life is A Good Life…
Loving my life! Giving praise to Him who makes it possible!

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This is the third of occasional posts looking at various Mormon-related grassroots political organizations.

Katie Christensen, Manager of Public Relations of The Sutherland Institute was kind enough to respond to some questions.

1. Why and when was the Sutherland Institute formed?
The Sutherland Institute was founded in 1995 by Gaylord Swim as a way to transcend impulsive, convenient, or self-serving policies and politics by looking for truly lasting solutions – solutions that both serve the common good and that also sustain time-tested principles of freedom and prosperity.

2. What are the priorities of the Sutherland Institute?
Simply put, Sutherland is most concerned with strengthening families, promoting a culture of faith and morality, and securing our God-given liberties for ourselves and future Utahns. As such, Sutherland Institute is committed to shaping Utah law and policy based on a core set of governing principles:

• Personal Responsibility as the basis of self-government
• Family as the fundamental unit of society
• Religion as the moral compass of human progress
• Private Property as the cornerstone of economic freedom
• Free markets as the engine of economic prosperity
• Charity as the wellspring of a caring community
• Limited Government as the essence of good government

We believe that these principles will ultimately make Utah an example of good government for the rest of the nation and a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

Read the rest of this entry »

Famous Mormons
Famous Mormons as seen on www.famousmormons.net

Simply Mormon
A Mormon mothers’ notes about her faith, beliefs and religion.

The Title of Liberty
Politics mixed with LDS ideology.

The Things of My Soul
2 Nephi 25:26: We talk of Christ . . . and we write according to our (understanding), that our children (and friends) may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Alana!
This blog is to update everyone about my thoughts and life until I go on my mission. Comment and let me know what you have been doing!

TD in OKC
LDS Bishop in OKC discusses gospel questions and life’s challenges.

Answering the Critics
Briefly answers criticisms of the Church–like a simplified FARMS

Simplify Heart and Home
A Mother’s notes on cleaning, organizing, and . . simplifying.

Stitch7
sewing/cooking/whatever
I’m afraid of being lynched in my Utah neighborhood if I ever let on just how uninterested I really am in all things scrapbooking

Happiness is a Choice
The daily comings and goings of life in my happy valley

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Queen of the Clan
An LDS mother, working from home as a writer, freelance editor, & book reviewer. Come check out the fun stuff about balancing family, church, and work . . . and enjoy the reviews and give-aways!

Sutherland Manifesto
Music and lifestyle from Salt Lake City.

Buddha for Mitt
“All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” Winston Churchill

Overseas Living
Mormon Family living overseas- UAE & currently Nepal

Gently Hew Stone
GHS in my “eclectic online journal.” As such, it has spiritual stuff, as well as humor, politics, arts, education (my career), and random bits.

Mander Musings
A single mormon muses

Tracy’s Tree House
Listen closely to life’s music, there is always a new song in the wind.

Zach and Jennie

Did I Say That Out Loud
A blog for the musings of an orthographically challenged, opinionated, Latter-Day Saint, father, husband, politically confused man.

MandaMike
updates and news about our fun family built by adoption.

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Noah’s Blog
We are a group of 5 LDS friends who are dedicated to helping wherever we can and to preparing for emergencies. Part of our group is heavily involved with the LDS Church’s Humanitarian efforts and we meet weekly to produce items for people in need.

The Life of a Mormon Family
This is a blog made to let people get to know some members of the church, what their life is like, what they believe, and other similar things

MormonRoni
I’m 23 and the following all describes me: a housewife, a newlywed (April 18th 2008), a newer LDS convert (September 30, 2007), a mother of 6 turtles and 2 cats, an Aunt to 11, a sister, a college student (major: biology; emphasis: wildlife conservation), and a friend.
In the past I was a frequent journal user but now I need it more than ever. I need a place to rant and really empty my head. It’s probably very LDS oriented though, my husband is working on being refellowshipped and I need a place to put my ideas/feelings/testimonies/questions.

My doings
Pilgrim, it’s a long way to find out who you are…
[First Estonia blog]

Being Grateful Daily
My wife and I were talking about writing in journals. She mentioned that she heard that even if you can not write a formal journal you should at least write something you are grateful for each day. I love that idea so I stole it! Enjoy

Descent of the Muse
Working in the arts industry as a Mormon

Eleventh Heaven
A haven for homemakers where ideas are shared, tips are exchanged and excitement for the everyday affairs of making a home is fostered!

Savor This Moment
Life and Times of the Bidia family, from the middle of nowhere Missouri. Most posts are written by Annie, AKA Mom, and include book reviews, recipes, scrapbooking and crafts, and whatever else is running through my brain at the moment.

Is that a garage door on my ceiling?
Just a place to share the happenings of my family and me from our home that has 5 people (7 when everyone comes home), 1 bathroom, lots of shelf space and a garage door on the ceiling.

I, Wright

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The Seer Stone
Apologia and random thoughts by amateur LDS apologists

Mormons & Film
The Blogging of Aaron Martin on the subject of Mormon Media.

Linescratchers
Linescratchers is about music written by LDS musicians. Not music about the LDS church necessarily, but music written by Latter-day Saints about their emotions and about the world. I created this blog because I’ve been searching online for something like this for years, and have decided it doesn’t exist. I’ve personally selected musicians from all over the country to be interviewed about their music and their lives, information that I believe will enrich our love for these musicians and their music.

Riches of Eternity
Thoughts on things that matter for time and eternity…

Twilightations
Addicted to Twilight? You’ll appreciate these beautiful Twilight-themed invitations for any Twilight occasion!

The Story Of A Princess And Her Hair
Cute hair ideas for your little princess.

Francis Peak
Thoughts from below Francis Peak

Dunhaven Place
I write about the challenges and joys of my life in a (hopefully) humorous way and try to demonstrate how to make the best of everything. It’s my way of “finding heaven on earth”.

The Olsen’s
This blog is all about my little growing family

The Krause Family

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A few weeks ago, a spate of articles suggested that Mitt Romney was on the top of McCain’s list of potential VP picks. At the time it seemed like idle beltway gossip. But instead of subsiding, the talk is gaining momentum. In fact as I was writing this, the Drudge Report made it tonight’s headline (that or its a slow news night).

I didn’t think it was seriously possible, as McCain seemed to especially dislike Romney during the Primaries and there has been the constant concern that a Mormon on the ticket would futher alienate McCain from Evangelicals with whom he’s always had a lukewarm relationship.

Despite the obvious Romney negatives, there has been some interesting speculation and chatter that make it sound not only possible, but a good idea:

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Reid continues push against FLDS

The Nevada Democrat requested and received the July 24 hearing before the committee, during which he will present evidence to support a federal crime investigation of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a spokesman said. . .

Reid contends that the FLDS are an organized crime syndicate that has engaged in bribery, extortion, fraud, embezzlement, witness tampering and labor violations. He wants the Justice Department to launch a federal racketeering investigation.

This has been a long-standing cause of concern for Sen. Reid. If crimes are committed, they should be investigated, but it only seems fair that they let the FLDS participate.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney and FLDS spokesman, said the Senate committee should give equal time at the hearing to sect members.

“The important point is if they really want to find out what is happening, they need to hear from both sides,” Parker said. “They cannot take at face value these accusations. A lot of them are unfounded and the people making them don’t know what they are talking about.”

Scriptorium Blogorium
Sharing scripture insights, discussion, expansion, and so on.

FAIRMormon
The FAIR Wiki
A collaborative effort of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research.

The Rexburg Radical
A blog for those who attend BYU-Idaho but don’t fall into the conservative majority.

Sister Hipster
Two LDS sisters creating fun cool gifts for babies and toddlers

Chocolate On My Cranium
My blog covers a variety of topics from photography, homeschooling, crafts, homemaking, parenting, sewing, blog design, and of course chocolate.

Sher the Love!
Hello, I’m Sherrie. This is my blog…my virtual journal, my therapy substitute, my link to old friends, my connection to new friends…my life support!

Cyn’s Greatest Things In Life
my blog is about family and sharing my experiences of life

The World Is So Lovely
“The Sunshine, The Flowers, The Stars Up Above…A Home Where I Live And A Family I Love”

Activities of Daily Living

In the Gutter
I’m an American mom of five (and miltary wife) living in Norfolk, England. This blog is just the chaos that we call life.

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J. Max at Sixteen Small Stones has announced NothingWavering.org, the latest LDS Blog portal to enter the bloggernacle fray.

As with the other LDS Blog portals, NothingWavering.org has its own unique approach and philosophy and styles itself as “a portal to promote mainstream and othodox blogs about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, blogs by mainstream LDS members on topics other than Mormonism, as well syndicated content from official LDS Church websites.”

As I’ve accepted submissions for LDS and Mormon Blogs, I’ve learned that determining what is an acceptable LDS blog can be subjective, difficult and controversial. It’s not easy to make a judgment call on another’s thoughts and beliefs and how they express them. I’ve come to err on being more inclusive than I had anticipated, but I have had to reject a few submissions and it’s not easy.

With that said, I think NothingWavering.org brings a new and worthwhile perspective of the Bloggernacle that I’m sure many will appreciate (Plus, I am grateful that A Soft Answer is included).