So my little 7 year old has been the target of some bullying from some mothers in the neighborhood.  His only friends 'were' the boys of these women, so we were worried about how this school year would go.  After things escalated with these moms, I felt it was important to protect my son and pulled him from public school.  The principal actually agreed with me because she had been warned by another principal about how vicious the woman was being about my son.  That said he was supposed to be starting 2nd grade.  The private school tested him and placed him in 3rd and they are using 4th grade books.  This private school is amazing!  They only have 30 students from 3rd to 8th grade.  My son is in a class of three 3rd graders and four 4th graders.  He has periods like in middle school with 6 different teachers.  They are really pushing him and doing activities I could have only dreamed about in public school for second graders.  (welding, knitting, karate, history, latin, spanish, math, language arts, technology, science and current events.)  Just yesterday they looked at their own cheek cells under the microscope and knitted a hat for preemies in the hospital.  The teachers started this school because they hated the public school system and the red tape to learning.  They give him tons of interesting homework and he's learning so much- (for example: he has to write a small report on the life of Buddha for history this weekend.) So I'm kind of thankful those damn women made me look into other options for schooling.

The cost is the hard thing and that's what my rant is about.  Why is it that I have to pay for the local public school when I"m paying $6500 a year for a premium education for my son?  Frankly, if none of us had to pay for public schooling, we could all afford to choose a school for our kids.  I'm all for vouchers and think the idea that I have to subsidize a school that is so lacking bugs me.  If we could make schools a free market, the best would win and cost could be kept reasonable.  So much of our taxes goes to public schools, if they would just allow us to pick public or private - better schools would appear and be successful.  Right now, I'm paying for both public school (taxes and property tax) and private (our of my pocketbook).  The whole thing bugs me.  I understand the argument that all children have a right to an education.  My question is why is it that the goverment should dictate which education comes out of my pocketbook?  Frankly, no child left behind ruins it for gifted kids.  They get 'normalized'.  Too many brilliant kids get lost in the shadows and that just sucks - why should I be forced to support a system that fails children when a better option is out there?

 

I just thought I'd post some happy news on here (especially since Garrett had the nerve to assume this little blog is dead.)   My third and final child was born on Sunday.  My brain is fried, but don't worry -  I'm loading up on some tantalizing issues to discuss in the near future.

In my recent experience, I have witnessed a young man being slandered by women in the neighborhood.  I have watched as this young person has been isolated because of the gossip and slander.  The question becomes: what would be the LDS/Libertarian/Humanitarian way to respond to this kind of slander?  I am incensed at the injustice of it all--and yet I see it all around me.  I remember it happening when I was young, and am ashamed to say that I might have been a part of it myself occasionally...which sincerely pains me now.  What would the Lord have us do in this circumstance.  Any responses?

It's Sunday, the recent posts have been amazing, spiritiual stories...but I got nothing along those lines at the moment.  So instead, I will once again discuss local ordinances and how they intrude on people's lives.

Pet limit laws are very much in vogue.  The various animals rights activist organizations are constantly working to pass more and more restrictive laws detailing what, where, and how you can keep animals on your property.  When these laws and ordinances are brought into law, they pat themselves on the back for "helping animals" and never consider the cost, to the people they are targeting or to the animals themselves.

For example, I have a friend who has many animals.  She's a breeder and is also involved in helping find homes for animals that have been given up by their owners (I hesitate to use the common word "rescue" because most or all are voluntarily given up by their owners and while there might have been ignorance on the part of the owner, there usually isn't active abuse).  She had quite a large number of birds at the time, but 1/3-1/2 of the number were tiny zebra finches kept in large colony cages, given to her as people got tired of them.  It wasn't like she had one hundred ostriches in her garage.  All of her animals are given excellent care.  She chose the city where she lives based on the animal ordinances, which only had limits on cats and dogs, which she kept to scrupulously.  Then there were some problems in the bird club we're in which resulted in someone anonymously calling animal control out of spite (the most likely candidate was actually hospitalized in a mental institution not long afterwards to give you an idea of the fun stuff that was involved).  Generally speaking, when someone complains, animal control investigates, so they came over.

 Now, they didn't have a search warrant and my friend shouldn't have let them in without one, but it's an easy mistake to make when you're taken off guard and frightened.  You don't want to get in trouble, so you want to be cooperative so they'll go easy on you.  Animal control made their inspection and were extremely impressed by her setup.  They said she took far better care of her animals than they did, that their report would note that everything was fine, and they even asked if they could call her for help if any pet birds came into the shelter.  Sounds good, right?

Some months later, the city council somehow heard about the incident.  They didn't look at the conclusion from animal control that everything was well cared for.  They simply looked at the numbers and said, "There should be a law!"  So they changed their pet ordinances to severely restrict the numbers of all animals and did not include a grandfather clause.  When my friend inquired, she was told she would be grandfathered in, but could never get anyone to commit to anything on paper.  As if that wasn't bad enough, when she bought her house, she was unaware that the addition that had been made to it was done without a building license.  It needs some repairs before the house can be sold so that she can move somewhere that can't confiscate her animals on a whim, but because of the lack of that building license by a previous owner, she legally can't make any repairs.  She's stuck between a rock and a hard place when she's done nothing wrong.  Her animals are inside most of the time other than reasonable outdoor time by the cats and dogs.  Things are kept nice and clean, no health hazards are present.  She's really not affecting her neighbors in any way.

 Such laws are very intrusive.  Here is an article about a town where citizens are fighting to keep the right to keep their pets.  There are many good arguments made about how responsible owners should not be punished for the misdeeds of irresponsible ones and how people with problems like hoarding certainly aren't going to be stopped by something like a law.  Additionally, so many animal laws are misguided and just plain wrong.  Until recently, ferrets were banned from my city due to being wild animals.  Nevermind the fact that ferrets have long been domesticated and were used for hunting rodents for centuries.  When ferret lovers finally got the city council to see reality, the law was finally changed...but they slipped in a change that cut down on the number of cats a person could have at the same time, apparently just because they could. 

 California is a common battleground with bizarre legislation coming up all the time.  A couple of years ago, PETA and the like were trying to pass a state law that was brutal in its treatment of breeders of all animals, required numerous types of inspection, and even dictated things such as cage sizes, number of material of perches, toys, and so on and so forth.  If it had passed, it would have required a huge amount of tax-payers' money to fund the inspections.  And of course, it didn't take into account the animals themselves even if that was supposedly who was going to be helped by it.  While the average animal control officer can certainly tell if a dog or cat is being treated well, they don't have a clue when it comes to exotics.  Also, by being so nit-picky, the law would have caused serious problems for animals with disabilities or other special needs, which often require living arrangements that would not have met state guidelines.  Currently PETA is trying to pass legislation in California that requires all animals to be spayed or neutered no matter what.  There's a bill frequently brought up at national levels that would require microchipping and registration with the FDA of every single animal in the country, from chickens to horses to cats and so on and so forth.  It hasn't passed yet, but the animal rights activists keep trying, despite (or rather because of) the negative effects this would have on both individuals and the entire agricultural industry.

Where does this intrusiveness end?  Why can we not be trusted to decide for ourselves whether we can handle x number of pets or what to feed them or how to house them?  If they're receiving proper amounts of food and water, are sheltered, their enclosures kept clean and safe, and they're not creating constant noise pollution, why should the government be able to tell us what we can and can't have?  How is keeping two great danes equivalent to keeping two chihuahuas?  A little yard that wouldn't be good for even one big dog could be great for a number of small dogs, or not matter at all if the only animals on the property are kept indoors.  We need to encourage our elected leaders to change laws to make the care of an animal the important thing, not the type or number.  We also need to support the fight to keep this legislation from passing anywhere, even if it's not local, because once something passes somewhere, there are groups that try to spread it.  This is a huge issue for everyone, whether they're animal lovers, have pets, or even just happen to eat meat.

Speaking of conversions from Islam to Christianity leads me to remember that the Lord is also working with His chosen people, the Jews, in Israel.  Although the Church cannot prosletyze in Israel, nothing can forego the Lord's work.  I have a personal example from my latest visit to Jerusalem.

 I was walking down a Jerusalem street, passing by a hotel.  I asked the doorman for directions to a drugstore (I had a killer headache).  He told me, but then said in a low voice: "Are you a believer?"  I was quite taken aback--for some reason this same question is asked of me in every country I visit (China, Egypt, Israel, Europe).  I said "Yes".  He said, "Wait a minute."  Then he went into the hotel, got his keys and said, "I'll take you to a drugstore, but then I want to tell you a story."  So, for reasons I will never understand, I got into his car....a perfect stranger who might have been a psycho killer for all I knew.  And when he took off rapidly, I did wonder for a second "What in the heck am I doing???!"

 As we drove, he told me that he was a believer in the Lord, but that he was also a Jew.  He told me his conversion story: A man had stayed at the hotel a year earlier and had struck up a conversation with him over the course of 3 days.  He gave Mordecai (my new friend) a New Testament, and told him to read it and pray about it.  Well, Mordecai was a Jewish man and was quite offended by the visitor, but he took the New Testament anyway.  That night, he read the entire thing and prayed.  Mordecai told me, "I was overwhelmed with a spirit and a voice told me that it was true....that Jesus was the Messiah I had been waiting for my whole life.  I told the Lord, I can't do this alone....my family is Jewish, my friends are Jewish....I can't do it.  But I knew I had to do it."

Mordecai then told me that the next day, his cousin called him out of the blue, and asked to meet him.  His cousin said, "Something has happened to me.  I believe that Jesus is the Messiah."  Mordecai broke into sobs and told his cousin that he also had been told the same.  They became the best of friends and joined with an underground Messianic-Jewish Christian group.  

The most remarkable thing about this whole scenario is that when my newly found friend went to find the man at the hotel who had, for three days, talked with him and given him the Bible, there was no record of that man.  I exclaimed, "You were visited by an angel, Mordecai!"  And he cried as we drove, and said, "I know". 

Mordecai asked if I would like to meet his cousin.  I said, "Yes."  He took me to a small home somewhere in Jerusalem and introduced me to his friends, all Christian, all having remarkable conversions.  They asked me to lead them in prayer; we formed a small circle, holding hands, and I prayed in English, while one of them translated it into Hebrew while I spoke.  It was an incredible experience.  They told me after that Jews are becoming Christians all over Jerusalem--because of direct intervention from the Lord.

 God is preparing his own people; we don't need to teach them or send missionaries.  It is wonderful!

I thought this transcript of an interview with the son of the leader of Hamas was extrememly thought provoking.  I'm sharing it here (it's long but worth it).

 

JONATHAN HUNT: Why, after 25 years, did you change?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: I believe that all those walls that Islam built for the last 1,400 years are not existing (sic) anymore. They don't recognize this. They built those walls and made people ignorant because they're afraid. They didn't want people to discuss anything about the reality of Islam, about the big questions of Islam and they asked their followers, the Muslims, 'Don't ask about those certain questions.'

But now, people have media. If the father closes the door for his daughter not to leave the house, she's going to go behind her computer and travel the world. So people easily can get information, knowledge, searching (sic) engines, so it's very, very available for everybody to study about Islam, about other religions. Not from the Islam point of view, but from other points of view.

So for the next 25 years this is for sure going to make huge change in the Muslim and the Arab world.

JONATHAN HUNT: You speak from a unique perspective, a man who grew up not just in an Islamic family but as part of an organization seen by many people around the world as an extreme force in Islam: Hamas. What is the reality of Islam? You say people don't see the reality; What is the reality of Islam?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There are two facts that Muslims don't understand ... I'd say about more than 95 percent of Muslims don't understand their own religion. It came with a much stronger language than the language that they speak so they don't understand it ... they rely only on religious people to get their knowledge about this religion.

Second, they don't understand anything about other religions. Christian communities live between Muslims and they're minority and they (would) rather not to go speak out and tell people about Jesus because it's dangerous for them.

So, all their ideas about other religions on earth are from Islamic perspectives. So those two realities, most people don't understand.

If people, if Muslims, start to understand their religion — first of all, their religion — and see how awful stuff is in there, they'll start to figure out, this can't (be) ... because most religious people focus on certain points of Islam. They have many points that they are very embarrassed to talk about.

JONATHAN HUNT: Such as?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Such as Muhammad's wives. You will never go to a mosque and hear about anyone talking about Muhammad's wives, which is like more than 50 wives — and nobody knows (this), by the way. If you ask the majority of Muslims, they will not know this fact.

So they're embarrassed to talk about this, but they talk about the glory of Islam, they talk about the victory, the victories that Muhammad made. So, when people just like look at themselves and see they're defeated, they have ignorance, they're not educated, they're not leading the world as they're expected to do. They’re think they want to get back to that victory by doing the same, what Muhammad did, but disregarding (sic) the timing. They forget that this happened 1,400 years ago and it's not going to happen again.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do they want to destroy Christianity?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Islam destroyed Christianity from the beginning and Muslims don't recognize that they stabbed Christianity (in) its heart when they said that Jesus wasn't killed on the cross. They think that they honor him in this way.

Basically, any Christians understand that this way, (but Muslims) tell Jesus, okay, we don't care, you didn't die for us. Someone sacrificed his life for you, (but) you tell him, okay, you didn't do it!

This is what Muslims are doing basically. But they don't understand that this is the most important part of Christianity: the cross!

So, they are ignorant, they don't know what they are doing and it explains what an evil idea it is behind this Islam.

JONATHAN HUNT: What specific event or events began to change your mind about Islam?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Since I was a child I started to ask very difficult questions, even my family was telling me all the time, 'You're a very difficult person and we were having trouble answering your questions. Why are you asking so many questions?' This was from the beginning, to be honest with you.

But I felt that everybody — and my father was a good example for me because he was a very honest, humble person, very nice to my mother, to us, and raised us on the principle of forgiveness, okay? I thought that everybody in Islam was like this.

When I was 18 years old, and I was arrested by the Israelis and was in an Israeli jail under the Israeli administration, Hamas had control of its members inside the jail and I saw their torture; (they were) torturing people in a very, very bad way.

JONATHAN HUNT: Hamas members torturing other Hamas members?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Hamas leaders! Hamas leaders that we see on TV now, and big leaders, responsible for torturing their own members. They didn't torture me, but that was a shock for me, to see them torturing people: putting needles under their nails, burning their bodies. And they killed lots of them.

JONATHAN HUNT: Why were they torturing people?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Because they suspected that they had relations with the Israelis and (were) co-operating with the Israeli occupation against Hamas ... So hundreds of people were victims for this, and I was a witness for about a year for this torture. So that was a huge change in my life. I started to open my (eyes), but, the point (is) that I got that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. Good Muslims, such as my father, and bad Muslims, like those Hamas members in the jail torturing people.

So that was the beginning of opening my eyes wide.

JONATHAN HUNT: You talk about the good Muslims, like your father, yet you still now renounce the faith of your father. Could you have not been a good Muslim?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Now, here's the reality: after I studied Christianity — which I had a big misunderstanding about, because I studied about Christianity from Islam, which is, there is nothing true about Christianity when you study it from Islam, and that was the only source.

When I studied the Bible carefully verse by verse, I made sure that that was the book of God, the word of God for sure, so I started to see things in a different way, which was difficult for me, to say Islam is wrong.

Islam is my father. I grew up for (one) father — 22 years for that father — and another father came to me and told me, 'I'm sorry, I'm your father.' And I was like, 'What are you talking about? Like, I have my own father, and it's Islam!' And the father of Christianity told me, 'No, I'm your father. I was in jail, and this (Islam) is not your father.'

So basically this is what happened. It's not easy to believe this (Islam) is not your father anymore. So I had to study Islam again from a different point of view to figure out all the mistakes, the huge mistakes and its effects, not only on Muslims — (of) which I hated the values ... I didn't like all those traditions that make people's lives more difficult — but its effects also on humanity. On humanity! People killing each other (in) the name of God.

So definitely I started to figure out the problem is Islam, not the Muslims and those people — I can't hate them because God loved them from the beginning. And God doesn't create junk. God created good people that he loved, but they're sick, they have the wrong idea. I don't hate those people anymore but I feel very sorry for them and the only way for them to be changed (is) by knowing the word of God and the real way to him.

JONATHAN HUNT: Does it worry you that in saying these things — and given your background and your words carrying extra weight — there is a danger that you will increase the difficulties, the hatred between Christians and Muslims in the world right now?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: This could happen if a Christian person will go talk to them about the reality of Islam. They put Christians on the enemy list anyway, before you talk to them about Islam. So if you go to them and tell them, as a Christian, they will be offended immediately and they will hate you and this will definitely increase the vacuum between both religions — but what made someone like me change?

Years ago, years ago, when I was there, God opened my eyes, my mind also, and I became a completely different person. So now, I can do this duty, while you as Christians can help me do it, but maybe you wouldn't be able to. (Muslims) have no excuse now.

JONATHAN HUNT: How difficult a process has this been for you to effectively walk away from your family, leave your home behind? How difficult is that?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Taking your skin off your bones, that's what happened. I love my family, they love me. And my little brothers, they’re like my sons. I raised them. Basically, it was the biggest decision in my life.

I left everything behind me, not only family. When you decide to convert to Christianity or any other religion from Islam, it's not (enough) to just say goodbye and leave, you know? It's not like that. You're saying goodbye to culture, civilization, traditions, society, family, religion, God — what you thought was God for so many years! So it's not easy. It's very complicated. People think it's that easy, like it doesn't matter. Now I'm here in the U.S. and I got my freedom and it's great, but at the same time, nothing is like family, you know. To lose your family —

JONATHAN HUNT: Have you lost your family?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: My family is educated and it was very difficult for them. They asked me many times, especially for the first two days, to keep my faith to myself and not go to the media and announce it.

But for me it was a duty from God to announce his name and praise him (around) the world because my reward is going to be that he's going to do the same for me. So I did it, basically, as a duty. I (wonder) how many people can do what I can do today? I didn't find any.

So, I had to be strong about that. That was very challenging. That was the most difficult decision in my life and I didn't do it for fun. I didn't do it for anything from this world. I did it only for one reason: I believed in it. People are suffering every day because of wrong ideas. I can help them get out of this endless circle ... the track the devil (laid) for them.

JONATHAN HUNT: Have you spoken to your father recently?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There is no chance to communicate with my father because he's in jail now and there is (sic) no phones in the jail to communicate with him.

JONATHAN HUNT: Have other members of your family told you how he's reacted?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: They've visited him from time to time. Till this moment, I don't know his reaction exactly but I'm sure he's very sad (over) a decision like this. But at the same time, he's going to understand, because he knows me and he knows that I don't make any decisions without (believing strongly in them).

JONATHAN HUNT: Is it making his life more difficult among fellow Hamas members?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Definitely. My family, including my father, had to carry this cross with me. It wasn't their choice. It was my choice, but they had to carry this cross with me and I ask God — I pray for (my father), all my brothers and my sisters here in this church, praying all the time for them — 'God, open their eyes, their minds, to come to Christ. And bless them because they had to carry this cross with me.'

JONATHAN HUNT: Tell me about Hamas and the way it works. Is Hamas a purely Islamic religious organization as you see it, and that's where, in your eyes, its faults lie, or are there other parts of it which are a problem for you? Or is Hamas a good organization? What is Hamas to you?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: If we talk about people, there are good people everywhere. Everywhere. I mean, good people that God created.

Do they do their own things? Yes, they do their own things. I know people who support Hamas but they never got involved in terrorist attacks, for example ... They follow Hamas because they love God and they think that Hamas represents God. They don’t have knowledge, they don't know the real God and they never studied Christianity. But Hamas, as representative for Islam, it's a big problem.

The problem is not Hamas, the problem is not people. The root of the problem is Islam itself as an idea, as an idea. And about Hamas as an organization, of course, the Hamas leadership, including my father, they're responsible; they're responsible for all the violence that happened from the organization. I know they describe it as reaction to Israeli aggression, but still, they are part of it and they had to make decisions in those operations against Israel, (for) which there was the killing of many civilians.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you believe Israel blameless in the conflict?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Occupation is bad. I can't say Israel — I'm not against any nation. We can't say Israelis, we can't say Palestinians, we're talking about ideas. Israel has the right to defend itself, nobody can (argue) against this. But sometimes they use (too much) aggression against civilians. Sometimes many civilians were killed because those soldiers weren't responsible enough, how they treat people at the checkpoints.

My message even to the Israeli soldiers: at least treat people in a good way at the checkpoints. You don't have to look really bad and it's not about nations, it's about just wrong ideas on both sides and the only way for two nations really to get out of the endless circle is to know the principles that Jesus brought to this earth: grace, love, forgiveness. Without this, they will never be able to move on, or break this endless circle.

JONATHAN HUNT: You've seen your father jailed, you've been in prison yourself. You've seen Hamas carry out acts of terror against Israelis, and yet you say everybody needs to rise above that?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Definitely. This is the only choice. Nobody has magic power to do something for the Middle East. No one. You can ask any politician here in the U.S., you can ask any Palestinian politician or Arab politician, Israeli leaders; no one, no one can do anything. Even if they believe in peace now: they're part of the game.

They're part of the trick. They can't, even if you find a brave person, like Rabin, who was called by an Israeli to make peace with the Palestinians and give them a state, no one, even if you find a strong leader, they can't do this. You can't force an independent country to give another country independence. (Especially when) the other country wants to destroy it.

Everybody is hurt. Israeli soldiers, they lost their friends. Palestinians, they lost their children, their fathers. (There are) many people in prison still, and many people were killed. Thousands. So everybody will never forget this. If they want to keep looking to the past, they will never get out of this circle. The only way to start (is just by) moving on. They were born under the occupation as Palestinians.

The last two generations, it's not their choice. The new generations from Israel — if we say disregarding the existence of Israel is right or wrong, what's the guilt of those people who were born in Israel and they have no other country to go to? It's their country now, that's how they see it. And they are going to keep their resistance and defense against whomever. (They will) say, 'Get out of this land!' So the only way is for both nations to start to understand the grace, love and forgiveness of God, to be able to get out of this.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you believe that Israel can ever strike a peace deal with Hamas?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water? There is no chance. Hamas can play politics for 10 years, 15 years; but ask any one of Hamas' leaders, 'Okay, what's going to happen after that? Are you just going to live and co-exist with Israel forever?' The answer is going to be no ... unless they want to do something against the Koran. But it's their ideology and they can't just say 'We're not going to do it.' So there is no chance. It's not about Israel, it's not about Hamas: it's about both ideologies. There is no chance.

JONATHAN HUNT: Aren't you terrified that somebody is going to try to kill you for saying these things — which would be approved of according to parts of the Koran?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: They got to kill my ideas first, (and) that's it, they're already out. So how are they going to kill my idea? How are they going to kill the opinions that I have? ... They can kill my body, but they can't kill my soul.

JONATHAN HUNT: You're not afraid?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: As a human, you know, I can be very brave now, I'm not thinking about it at this moment and I feel that God is on my side. But if this will be the challenge, I ask God to give me enough strength.

JONATHAN HUNT: Have you been threatened?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: No, not really. Honestly, most Muslims and Muslim leaders here in the U.S. community, European communities, they are trying to get ahold of me. They are calling my famiily, my mother, and asking for my contacts. They are telling her, 'We want to help him.'

JONATHAN HUNT: They think you need help?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Yeah, they think that Christians took advantage of me, and this is completely wrong. I've been a Christian for a long time before they knew, or anyone knew. I love Jesus, I followed him for many years now. It wasn't a secret for most of the time, and this time I just did it to glorify the name of God and praise him.

They're not dealing with a regular Muslim. They know that I'm educated, they know that I studied, they know that I studied Islam and Christianity. When I made my decision, I didn't make it because someone did magic on me or convinced me. It was completely my decision.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you miss Ramallah?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Definitely. You've been there and you know how a wonderful country (it is). Very, very beautiful. It's a very small spot and it has everything — this is why people are fighting for that piece of land. I definitely miss Ramallah. Jereusalem. The Old City.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you believe you will ever be able to go back?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: I think I belong to that land, and sooner or later I'm going to go back, no matter what. If they want to kill me, they (will) do whatever they want to do. I have a family there, they love me, they completely support me now with my decisions. Maybe they don't want me to talk to the media but they believe that I made a decision that I completely believe in. So they support me, so I love my family. I'm going to go back there again one day. I love my town.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you think you'll ever go back to a Middle East living in peace?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There will be a 100-person peace when Jesus comes back, when he judges everybody. His kingdom's going to be 1,000 years and it's going to be completely peaceful and it's going to be the kingdom of God.

JONATHAN HUNT: What is your basic message to any Muslim listening to this right now?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: My message to them is, first of all, to open their minds. They were born to Muslim families — this is how they got Islam and this is just like ... any other religion, like growing up (in) a Christian family, or growing up (in) a Jewish family.

So my point is that I want those people to open their eyes, their minds, to start to understand and imagine that they weren't born for a Muslim famiily. And use their minds.

Why did God give them minds? Open their hearts. Read the Bible. Study their religion. I want to open the gate for them, I want them to be free. They will find a good life on earth just by following God — and they're also going to guarantee the other life.

 

Is the purpose of a blog to push an agenda?

Is the purpose of a blog to allow free expression from all its readers - whether they are contrary or not?  Should every voice, even those against Mormonism, be allowed to post?  What of those against Libertarianism?  or even Feminism?  Could we handle reading what a Chauvanist might say on our little blog here?  

Is the purpose of a blog to have one voice alone speak to the tone of the blog? 

 - I've been wondering today what exactly the point of a blog really is.  Isn't the point of libertarianism to allow everyone freedom of thought and speech?  If one type of voice is blocked from posting doesn't that go back to 'censorship for the common good of socialism?"   I hope all the readers of this blog know that anyone is welcome to guest post on here so long as it 'sort of stays along the themes of the blog i.e. Mormonism, Feminism, or Libertarianism.  It is my hope that devout members of the church keep in mind others struggle to believe.  And those who don't believe keep in mind that the majority of our readers "Believe" and people don't need condescending diatribes about how silly their religion is.

I think everyone should have a voice on this blog - all people reading it... Please be respectful and scholarly in your responses and posts - without mocking one's religion or politics.   Is it censorship to ask we all be respectful?   

Well... My hubby and I are well into season 2 of Big love and things are going from innocent to dark.

There's a lot going on, but I want to focus on one concept coming into play.    "Collecting"

When someone has the 'moral license" to marry more than one spouse, when does it end?  For Bill, he's starting to flirt with other women - and at least in the series quite ignoring the 3 wives waiting for him at home.  I think throughout our lives we always meet interesting people.  When one marries in a monogamous marriage, we know that even though so and so is fascinating, we have our one and only.  We don't cross the line and even think of going there (or if we do... affairs and divorce are in our future). 

But what of those who feel morally obligated to continue to look for more spouses because of this notion that they should marry more?  I don't think Bill even understands 2 of his 3 wives.  They are neglected and he rarely takes time to make them feel special.  They just pump out his kids (who he ignores even more) His first wife is the strong one (as I mentioned in an earlier post) - she's out doing her own thing.  But the younger two have drama and issues in their lives because of how empty they are.  And here goes Bill looking at a potential fourth wife.  It reminds me of a collector.  "Ooh... she's interesting/sexy/sweet/insert adjective here... I want her and my wives will deal with it!".   If I was 'supposed' to take multiple husbands - I would always be on the lookout for another flavor (even though in the end, my heart is still bonded to only one.)  Any man I'd run across I'd be sizing him up as a potential mate.  It's such a collecting stance and I don't think Bill can stop the attitude.  One thing that makes Bill different than most polygamists is he is a free agent.  In compounds men only get new wives by their loyalty to the 'prophet' and their servitude.  Bill isn't limited by that so he's now looking..  which really bugs me because he should have just stayed with his equal - his first wife.  In the end I think Bill's brother says it best.  "Men who want to have more than one wife are just selfish."

 

So I've been pondering what it means to be a Libertarian.   I think Rand was a capitalist more than a libertarian.  She thought the free market would solve everything.  So what is the number one priority for a Libertarian?

Is it the right to own and protect property?  - Intellectual property, physical property? 

Is it the right to follow the dictates of your conscience? - where do you draw the line?  Would polygamy or prostitution be considered a libertarian issue?

What if the two conflicted? In the 1800's who's side would a libertarian be on?  The slave owner or the slave?

With the above two concepts I see rebuttals in them.  1) property (as stated in the land post) is subjective.  Can one really own land?  As a libertarian do I need to support others choice to live how they want?  What if I think it affects society negatively?  Does that make me have a 'socialist' agenda if I care about the society as opposed to the individual?

These thoughts are swimming in my head.  I'd love to read what some of you think about the definition of libertarianism.

I keep trying to come up with a wonderful, thoughtful, relevant first post here on DB that will blow everyone away.  With such high expectations of myself, of course I've been failing miserably.  So instead, I'm going to dip my toes in the water with a rant about something that's closer to petty than deep.

I've seen libertarian philosophy summed up as, "Get off my lawn."  I can't say I'm insulted by this, because darn it, getting people off my lawn is a real problem these days.  City and county officials think they should be able to dictate what I can and can't do with my own property.  This has long annoyed me, but it's really been driven home how intrusive it is since we bought our first house last month.  We live in an old neighborhood, so we're not having to deal with HOA issues as well (we specifically avoided any such neighborhoods for that very reason), but our city dictates what we can do with our yard, from the height of the fence we're allowed to have, to the height of the grass, and to how much grass is in the yard.  Yes, there are zoning laws requiring a large percentage of a yard to consist of grass.

I live in Utah.  In the middle of a desert.

This isn't unique to my city either.  In the Salt Lake metropolitan area, there have been a number of incidences in various cities where people have ripped out their lawns and replaced them with appropriate desert landscaping with plants that require far less water and are more adapted to the summer heat than Kentucky bluegrass.  Consequently, they've been fined and otherwise harassed by city officials until they've had to put grass back in.  This is so ridiculous, especially with how we seem to be in drought conditions more often than not.  In the Southeast, where they've been having a drought for a while, they're not allowed to water their lawns in some places because of how much water it uses.  Yet in Utah, second only to Nevada as far as aridness goes in the U.S., if you let your grass die no matter what the reason, you can get in trouble with the law.

I don't understand why city officials think they have the right to butt in and dictate what my yard looks like.  I should have the right to do whatever I want with it within reason.  If we can't even get people to back off on a local level, do we really have a chance at influencing less intrusive policies at a state or national level?  Despite how important issues like universal healthcare are, perhaps we need to put more focus on changing the little things at home first.