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Showing posts from 2010

"Please sir, I want some more." Oliver! at the Grand Theatre

Charles Dickens' timeless classic Oliver Twist is a study in dominance and the establishment of pecking orders. It is also the story of an orphan boy who is misused, and a study in the economics of scarcity and the effectiveness of government. It would therefore be very difficult for me to see the musical adaption Oliver! and not comment. Theater, orphans, economics and government all in one! First, the theatrical review. In keeping with the notion that a theatrical work's purpose is to entertain the audience, the standing ovation the performance received is evidence that the show has done it's job. The show was indeed entertaining, but I felt it could have been more. So, in the event that any members of the cast or production team should read this, know that you've done well, and take what follows as merely comments on how the show might have been. Oliver's story is one of creating, or creating the illusion of, dominance of one person over another. It starts with

Opinions, Errors and Lies

A friend of mine was offended by my recent post which compared many religion's acceptance of either a book or a person as being infallible with similar conduct by the German people during the rule of Hitler and the Nazi party. I had focused on the LDS religion in particular, and my friend is LDS. His comments bring up many topics for further discussion, but none more than a discussion of the difference between opinions, errors and lies. First, for the benefit of anyone who thinks my chief beef with the LDS Church is related to the controversy over same sex marriage, let me set the record straight. I disagree with the church on this issue, but it is far from being the chief complaint I have against the LDS leadership. As those who have followed my postings over the last year are aware, I left the church over the policy of encouraging all unwed mothers to relinquish their babies to LDS Family Services so they could be placed for adoption with good, temple worthy Mormon families. Now,

Deity as Hypothesis

Throughout history, one of the most common sources of division among peoples has been divergent views toward deity. In ancient times it was along the lines of "Our city god is better than your city god," or "Our national god is more powerful than yours." Arguments have sprung up over the number of gods, over their essence, and over the proper way to worship them. Ancient Israel was commanded not to bow down to Ba'al or Asherah, and to "have no other gods before me." Before Constantine converted to Christianity, Christians were persecuted in Rome. Christian writings from the first two or three centuries are as concerend with denouncing dissenting views as they are with expounding truth. In early Christian times, a great dispute arose that resulted in the Nicene Creed. Among some today, those who do not adhere to this creed are considered to not be Christians. After Christianity became dominant throughout Europe, those who didn't accept Christian do

Esoteric Eclecticism

It's been about a year since I had my name formally removed from the records of the LDS Church, and I'm sure that my readers, all three of you, are tired of my anti-LDS rants. So, I thought the time appropriate for me to declare what my beliefs are and where I think my spiritual path lies. Or at least where I'm headed today. Comments are welcome, but no sales pitches for your particular beliefs, please. If you're reading this on Facebook or somewhere else, please click on the appropriate link and read the full post on the actual blog. Almost all religions I've encountered have some sort of special knowledge, or at least they claim to. Some of them keep their secrets and divulge them only to members in good standing. Some of the rituals and practices are for member eyes only, and often for good reason. If the uninitiated were to observe these practices they would not understand them, and such lack of understanding could impair their later ability to understand. I'

A Comparison

During World War II, about 6,000,000 Jews were murdered in death camps across German occupied territory. Auschwitz-Birkenau , Belzec , Chelmno , Majdanek , Sobibor , and Treblinka are well recorded in the annals of historical atrocities. What happened that allowed intelligent men to commit such heinous acts? There were two things in Hitler's Germany that led to the Holocaust. The first was racial and ethnic prejudice, the second was uncritical obedience to der Fuhrer. The Germans believed they were "the Master Race," and they also believed that the Jews, nearly two-thousand years after the fact, were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Hitler, operating on this prejudice and using it as a pretext, ordered the concentration camps and the mass executions. The German military and the German people obeyed his orders uncritically. They just accepted as fact that their supreme leader knew what he was doing, that he was doing what was right, and complied wit

The Divinely Inspired Constitution

There are some folks in this country who claim to believe that the US Constitution was divinely inspired. Some of these same people also argue that, since the voters in California passed Prop 8, that the amendment to the California constitution should not be overturned by judicial review. Since the only basis a federal court could have for overturning the referendum result would be that it violates the US Constitution, it becomes clear that either there is a serious deficiency in the civics education these people have received, or that they are insincere when they claim divine inspiration of, and love for, the Constitution. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who once said that "democracy is two wolves and a sheep taking a vote on what's for dinner." One of the chief arguments against ratification of the US Constitution in 1787 was that government would usurp authority beyond what was intended by the framers. Many states made their ratification of the Constitution contin
This very sad story posted yesterday in the UK's Independant: They came from across China to protest under the watchful gaze of the police, brandishing handmade placards with pictures of their missing children. In a sign of growing discontent, the parents' rare demonstration in the centre of Beijing was aimed at pressuring the authorities to do more to investigate the cases of tens of thousands of children snatched and sold every year. Although the story notes that many of the children stolen in China are not sold to westerners, but to Chinese seeking boys or to brothels seeking girls for prostitution, it is still worthy of noting that But the US State Department's trafficking report for 2010 said that despite significant efforts, the government did not comply with the "minimum standards" for eliminating trafficking. It said there were continued reports of children being forced into prostitution. China does not give figures, but an estimate based on reports for a

Conventional Wisdom Meets Reality:
There Ought Not to be a Law

The "before" picture of an intersection near Bristol, England: Maximum traffic of 1700 cars per hour and about 300 pedestrians. Commute time for some people using the intersection over 20 minutes in rush hour traffic. The "after" picture: Traffic flow increased to 2000 cars per hour, and still handles the 300 pedestrians. Commute time reduced to just 5 minutes. In the eight months since the change, there have only been two minor incidents, and not a single person (motorist or pedestrian) has been injured in an accident. How did they do it? What new technology did they use to effect this miraculous change? They took out the traffic conrol signals! Yes, you read that right, the traffic lights were removed. By removing all of the red, yellow and green lights, the motorists became more courteous, more cautious, and more sharing of the road way. In complete defiance of the conventional wisdom. This experiment raises a lot of very interesting questions. First, do our pre

"To be, or not to be?" Hamlet at Pioneer Theatre

This afternoon, my wife and I took our three teenage children to see the Pioneer Theater Company's production of Hamlet. The highest praise that I think possible for this production is to report that my 12 year old son enjoyed the performance and understood the story. Many people are first exposed to Shakespeare though the mandatory 9th grade reading of Romeo and Juliet and are turned off by struggling to work through the early modern English prose and poetry. Other are told that Shakespeare's works are "the greatest literature in the English language," and are scared that they might have to think to understand the bard as "literary" work. More's the pity. While Shakespeare's work is wonderful literature, Shakespeare's work was meant to be performed and watched by an audience, not read. The plays weren't even published until after the playwright's death. While the themes are deep and thought provoking, the 16th Century audience also dema

The Recession is Officially Over (???)

One of today's lead news stories reports that the NBER has determined that the "longest recession since the Great Depression" ended in June of 2009, after a "record" four consistent quarters of negative GDP growth. That news, besides being a year untimely, would be great if it were true. Well, okay, it is true if you use the NBER and government definitions of economic data. The problem is that the data is skewed and just a bit unreliable. First, the calculations of GDP are corrected for "inflation" by using the Consumer Price Index as the correction factor. The CPI was "tweaked" by Alan Greenspan back in the 1980's and doesn't measure the same fixed market basket of goods that was used previously, and makes allowances for people switching to alternatives if the price of one commodity increases. According to John William of Shadow Government Statistics (ShadowStats), who publishes comparisons between current practices and prior practi

Discrimination on Two Fronts

Reflecting on the "Baby Emma" case currently before the Utah Supreme Court, it strikes me that Mr. Wyatt, Emma's father is experiencing discrimination on two separate fronts: his gender, and his marital status. First, marital status: If Mr. Wyatt was married to Emma's mother, not even the Utah courts would require him to prove his paternity or his parenting skills. Even if the child were not genetically his offspring, the law would presume him the father, and would assume that he is a capable parent unless there was compelling evidence to the contrary. Without his express consent, Emma could not legally be freed for adoption in Utah or any other state. As an unmarried father, Mr. Wyatt is forced not only to assert his paternity and his parenting ability, but the Utah laws and courts are requiring him to meet a strict standard of dotting the i's and crossing the t's in a maze of legal paperwork designed to support the profits of the adoption industry at the exp

Haiti Adoption Story

Most of us have seen or read stories of adoptions of Haitian children following the earthquake last month. Some of the stories have had a positive slant (the charity has saved children...) other's have had a negative slant (the "missionaries" who kidnapped and tried to smuggle 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic). At a family gathering yesterday, my wife heard a story about a couple that was "finally" able to adopt a child they've been trying to adopt for about 4 years. As the story was related to me, this couple had originally been matched with this child about 4 years ago, but the adoption was cancelled when the parents of the child took her back and parented her themselves. After about three years of caring for the child, the natural parents returned her to the orphanage because both of them had been diagnosed with tuberculosis; a death sentence in Haiti. (Mortality for untreated TB is about 67%.) The adoption was finalized just befo

It's Official

It's official. I am no longer a member of the Mormon church. I received a letter from church headquarters about a week ago saying that my name has been removed from the records of the church. This was done at my request after the church's leadership refused to respond to my three letters on their policy of encouraging all unwed mothers to relinquish their babies for adoption. I had been playing the Mormon game for several years, but had not really believed the LDS dogma for a long time (if I ever really believed it). I had felt that LDS doctrine was pretty benign it did no harm and actually did some good. Until I was confronted with the church's policy. This policy is not benign. My research found significant evidence that infant relinquishment is traumatic for both the mother and the child, and the damage caused is lifelong for both. Causing unnecessary harm to these infants by imposing a generalized policy promulgated by a "prophet" is, in my opinion, an institu