I need your thoughts and advice on politics

Hey all

This is a letter that I wrote to a friend regarding socialism and the presidential campaign. I've filled out my entire ballot already except for the presidential election. This is my take and I need some advice on your thoughts and feelings. I hope that I don't offend anyone here and publicly admit that I can be swayed one way or another.

Phil

Tim

Thanks for the dialog. I don't think that most republicans are talking about kicking the poor to the curb and cutting them off. I don't believe that taking care of the poor is socialism. I do believe that our current system is meeting many of the needs of the people in that it doesn't give them everything but does support basic needs. No one in the US needs to starve or be without the basics and I think that few actually are. I don't believe that everyone needs a college education. I don't believe that everyone should be able to get fast food to eat every day. I get the feeling that this is where some left side policies are going. People should struggle. It's been that way for all time.

Socialism is when the government controls all monetary transactions on behalf of the people. I believe that the republicans recently have taken more steps in the socialist direction then any politician in the history of the U.S. I don't believe that socialism is an issue in this election. Both parties are leaning towards it regardless of what they say.

When it comes to the big issues though there is a difference between the candidates. I'm looking at where they stood in January of 08 as I believe that both candidates have publicly adjusted some of these views since then and their original views may be more revealing.

Roe v Wade Obama supports, McCain does not support. I'm on the fence. There are times when abortion is appropriate and Roe-v-wade allows for those times in addition to others.

Education, Both candidates support similar reforms in addition to No Child Left Behind

Energy and Oil Neither candidate support additional drilling in ANWAR or off shore in Jan of 08. Both have moved on this subject since then. This is an issue that I have with both candidates. I am a member to the T. Boone Pickens army and believe that comprehensive energy reform is the answer to many of our future issues including the middle east. Neither candidate actually has any idea how to solve this big issue. Their handlers have had the play lip service to energy but neither actually believe in it.

Guns, Obama supports additional gun bans. McCain does not. I am a member of the NRA and a gun owner. My wife is editing a book written by a holocaust survivor. In that book he speaks about how in the beginning of the nazi power struggle some saw what was happening and wanted to fight back but the government had banned all personal weapons so the only people with guns were the nazis. I'm not suggesting that we're going to be the next Empire or anything but I do believe that we will experience difficult times in these last days and I want to have in my possession the tools and knowledge to protect my family from those who would destroy it. This includes assault rifle style of arms which are designed to defend protect and intimidate. Which is what I need them for.

Immigration- Both support a path to citizenship for Illegals and a border fence. I support both these views. But this is a bigger issue to me then anyone except Sharif Joe is making it.

Iraq- Obama apposes the war and supports troop withdrawal McCain believes the inverse. I'm on the fence here and actually see both sides. We do need to get out of the mess we are in there but we need to do it in a way that is supportive and respectful to the people who we have ditched to their own problems with the Soviets before. Most people don't understand the history of the U.S. in that region very well. I don't assume to have a clear picture myself but I respect that we have had a hand in making it the unstable place that it is and we have had a hand in creating the fierce hatred by our past actions. Besides. all those who believe in the second coming of the Savior understands that there will be a lot going on in this region in the time to come regardless of our political views. If we pull out and it destabilizes the area bringing the second coming sooner I guess I'm ok with that but I still think that we need to do it in a respectful manner and I believe that McCain would actually do better at this. Even though he comes across as a bit of a war monger.

Minimum wage- Obama supports and increase and McCain does not. I've never been a support of the minimum wage.... well since I was 16 that is. I'm a free market capitalist even though we screwed up the housing and lending markets I think that in most areas free market capitalism gets it right. Besides I believe that the minimum wage is supporting illegal immigration.

Same Sex Marriage- Neither support same sex marriage and neither want a constitutional amendment to ban it. Obama supports civil unions and McCain supports something like civil unions. These guys are both taking a politically safe middle ground on this subject. I'm actually a little torn here and wish that I actually had any idea where they each stand on this.

Taxes- Both of these guys are going to raise taxes. I believe that the small business people will be hit the hardest and it's tempting me to scale back some of my own business ideas. It just isn't possible to do the things that we are doing today without raising some capital. This is depressing but I believe that Obama has a more feasible plan.

Finally the VPs Biden is a career politician and comes across as slimy as ever and it's fun to see Obama have to tell him to sit out campaigning when he says stupid things. Pailin is awful. She has been portrayed by the McCain camps actions as a weak stupid woman who can't speak for herself. There are more effective choices he could have and should have made.

I still don't know who to vote for. I believe that Arizona will turn out to be a swing state even thought the poles don't show it to be there are a lot of people here who really don't like McCain. I'm trying not to be a pawn to the media but I have a doubt implanted in my head about Obama and his past/present relationships. Both sides are pushing to either downplay or up play these relationships but I don't know if I believe Obama when he simply brushes them away as nonsense. It just feels fishy to me.

So what it comes down to for me is guns, iraq, energy and free markets. This would put me in the McCain camp but then I just feel like he's a grumpy old man who does some stupid things.... which reminds me of a current president who I'm not very happy with. So do I do as the politicians do and buck my beliefs for someone who appears more intelligent and much more polished?

That's my struggle.

Phil

Holly's Utah Trip Commentary

I received the greatest shock and surprise of my life this weekend at the wedding of Phil’s brother Chris. A few months ago, Chris called us and asked us if Natalie could be a flower girl at his wedding. Phil, confident in our daughter’s abilities, bluntly stated, “Sure, as long as you don’t need her to do anything, because if it requires more than just standing there, it won’t happen.”

Well, the fateful morning eventually arrived. We begged, cajoled, and pleaded with Natalie for us to let her do her hair in a respectable bun. She was very excited about her beautiful blue dress and “diamond” necklace that the bride-to-be, Kiersten, had graciously provided. We showed up at the reception center early for a quick rehersal before the main event.
The mansion was beautiful. The wedding was to be held on the lawn about 50 yards away from the house alongside a waterfall and in a picturesque gazebo. The bride and her entourage, including Natalie, were to walk from the house down about three flights of stairs, pausing for three seconds at each landing, and then walk across the lawn and down the aisle to the front of all of the guests and stand for the duration of the ceremony next to the bride and groom. I stood at the top of the stairs with Natalie (Phil had Alana on the lawn with the other guests) picturing our very opinionated daughter alone with strangers and thought, “Yeah, right! Good luck with that!”
To top it all off, the two flower girls were to descend the staircase immediately before the bride. All sorts of visions of various calamities crossed my mind. I saw Natalie, walking with the older and, we soon discovered, much faster flower girl and falling down the stairs, breaking a limb right in front of the bride, severely crippling the ceremony. I saw her sitting down half way down the steps resolved to go no further, with Phil and me a hundred yards away with the other guests unable to do anything besides helplessly watch. I saw myself, a big pregnant lady, running across the lawn to chase her as she ran, throwing the tantrum of her life, in whatever path would make us most visible for the longest period of time. I saw her jumping into the fishpond and splashing in the waterfall. In my mind’s eye, I saw her doing everything besides walking graciously down the aisle, delicately dropping petals from her silk-covered basket.

And yet that’s what happened (just about). Now we know that miracles happen in our times! She was amazing! She walked without stumbling down all of those stairs, pausing at approximately the right times. She made it all the way across the lawn and even stood with the line of bridesmaids for the entire ceremony! Phil and I just sat there with our jaws on the floor. It was the surprise of our lives. The only hiccup was that we hadn’t practiced dropping the petals, and Natalie had grown so attached to them that she would throw a handful and then stop to pick them up. She didn’t hold up things too much and frankly a lot of people thought it was cute. Since she didn’t destroy anything, we were more than pleased with the way things turned out.

What’s the moral, you may ask? Well, I think that Phil and I will have to work on not standing in our children’s way. We don’t let Natalie try things because we don’t have the confidence that she can do them successfully, when she might have more talents that we are stifling. The bride and groom had more faith in her than we did, and it turned out to be a great experience, both for us and for Natalie. Thanks, Chris and Kiersten!


Some other highlights from the trip were hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, seeing Buddy and the cat, going up and down all of the stairs hundreds of times, visiting with good friends such as the Graves family, Aslynn, and Jodi, and seeing all of our great aunts, uncles, and cousins, and hanging out with Great Grandma. The girls had a fantastic time.


Alana also gained the confidence to walk at the airport. She has been walking short distances for a while, but she just couldn’t make the switch from crawling to walking full-time. When we were trying to keep her contained near our luggage, she saw her opportunity and made a break for it. She wanted to get out in the crowd in the main aisle of the terminal and walk with all of the people. We got looks that could melt iron from busy travelers as I followed this little girl around the crowded terminal and Phil followed with the video camera. Alana has been running around ever since.

Overall it was a fun trip. Thanks, everyone!

It's been 10 years!!!

Well I'm approaching my ten year Mission reunion... Well in 6 months. Regardless as you all have seen I've been a little nestalgic lateley so I thought we might just continue the theme. I was digging though some old pictures. The kind that you have to have developed. I thought that some people might be interested is some good old missionary silliness.


Now as a general rule I try not to post pictures of other people on my blog... I'd hate to be liable but I know most of these people really well and.... they know where to reach me if they don't like it...

This picture is from the MTC. James, Michael and I all ended up in the MTC at the same time! Go figure. A bunch of goofy junior high school friends back together again...

This is by far my favorite picture from the mission. This was probably my most challenging time on my mission but at the same time it was the most rewarding too. This picture and the following are in front of Prague Castle. Prague is in the top 3 most amazing places that I have lived.

Pictures and thoughts of the summer

So summer is officially over now... it's kind of sad but at the same time we have some great pictures and memories of the summer!

These pictures are some of my favorites from Family Reunion at Bear Lake. What a great adventure!

Reflections

So I've been thinking a lot lately about high school. I've reconnected with some of my best friends from those great years. Yes I said that they were great! I truly can't remember many really bad times in high school. There was this time when I took out my best friends secret crush to the big freshman dance. That didn't go over very well on just about every account imaginable... I was late, she had a horrible time and... well I think that's enough of that story.

Everything else was really fun! I don't remember worrying about anything. If we could dream it we could do it. Mike Jensen and I made up some of the best group dates ever and I believe that we really were on the leading edge of the popular creative dating trend in LDS society. One of my favorites was the Plan of Salvation Date. It was so awesome!

I don't remember sitting around very much and it seems like I was always doing some kind of activity with friends, hanging out in the TImimos' man cave (garage), tooling around the Vancouver back roads with Jared only breaking a few traffic laws. I spent a little time at the Ogden household which was the safest and most uplifting place any high school kid could be. Though I think that Emily and Sarah got a little fed up with me at times and i don't think that Brian really liked the idea much. They introduced me to bean soup and tuna on toast! What great times!!!

I don't think that I was best friends with everyone in High School. I can think of a few fellow priests who didn't care for me much but I don't remember that ever bothering me. What I remember most from High School was a that I had friends who excepted me for who I was, with all of my weaknesses and faults. I had friends who helped me set rules to stay pure. I had friends who were great examples!

I feel that I had one of the best High School experiences possible and I hope that those that were there with me felt the same way. It may be true that I only remember the good times and none of the tough times but hey I'm okay with that.

So a special thanks from my wife and I to all those who took part in molding a goofy boy into a semi decent adult. My parents are at the top of my list as they are the most Christlike people I know and at the same time the hardest working... not to infer that the Savior wasn't hard working.... Then in no specific order; Mike, Angel, Tim, Eric, Stacie, Womack, Draper, Lori, Dan and Bev, Jared, Reed, Michael, Ben, and Livvy. I know that there are more people that I missed... always a worry with such a list... I'm sorry if you were missed. Just pretend that you weren't and send me an email so I can add you!

I'm overfilled with joy that I reconnected with some of these people in the past week. A few years have passed since high school but the memories are still very precious to me.

Hard Times

So everyone has been giving me a hard time about my blog and the frequency of my posts.... Needless to say I've never been much of a journal writer and that translates directly to poor blogging performance.

So we've had a lot of family updates lately and though my title "hard times" may be a little misleading our life is still interesting.

So a couple of months ago my company told me that I was to be effected by some corporate downsizing, they're going in another direction and wanted to help me "find a job somewhere else" Lay offs are an adventure in and of themselves and this one turned out to be a good thing. Most people who know me know how much I despise the bank and working for one wasn't a very good fit for my personality. It was still tough to be compelled to make an adjustment on their timeline rather then mine.

I started one month ago with a new much smaller private firm in the same HR job I had at the bank only with national responsibility. It's a great job and a fun company. Most importantly is that they need me whereas I don't thing that a Fortune 20 company really needs anyone. Best of all is that I work out of a home office. I can't believe how much I am able to accomplish in the same workday with out all the office distractions. Being home more has effected my girls in a very positive way too.

So we broke down and bought a mini van... I can only find 3 cool things about the van. 1. the power doors are awesome. 2. the engine is awesome, I love blowing the doors off of sports cars at stop lights in a mini van it's sooooo awesome. 3. I really like the gages, they look like the ones in a Lexus. And that's about it... The space is a plus but no very cool. So with the van I had to sell my car.

I think that summer is finally coming to a close... oh, wait. I just looked at the forecast and it's above 110 all week. Never mind about the summer coming to an end comment that was a "false and shocking statement". But the pool season is still in full swing now the trick is to keep the pool clean! (no rodents allowed)

Alana is on the verge of waling she is growing so fast and gets so excited that the is standing on her own that she falls down. It's an amazing process to watch your kids grow and develop.

Natalie is potty training with is an adventure as she really likes the stickers and treats so she's always asking to go potty.

Finally for those who don't already know we're expecting number 3!!! And it's another GIRL!!! I'm really excited for the lame reason that we don't have to buy a bunch of new stuff. But even though we would love to have a boy someday I guess I have to make up for my parrents 6 boys so I'll take it like a man and be happy. I have told my wife that one of these girls had better be into cars because I'm putting someone into go-cart racing at the age of 8. It's my retirement plan. In fact Natalie has take to reading car magazines upside down. I think that it's a sign... or she just thinks that dad is cool and want's to do the same thing he does.

Well on that bombshell it's time to close another quarterly post. Please leave a comment so that I can subscribe back to your blogs!

Phil

Mother's Day

We Hope that you enjoy the video!!!

Love Phil, Holly, Natalie, Alana, Mahana and the puppy...Tula or Kalani?