The Truth is not Admissable?

I don't get it. I have never gotten it.

It seems to me that the courts were established for two reasons: 1) to get to the truth of a matter, and 2) to adjudicate based on the established truth. Officers of the court, meaning the judge and attorneys representing both parties, should be aligned in the pursuit of truth. The law itself should be wrapped around this same concept, of getting to the truth and then metering out rewards and punishments based on the facts. The parties who come to court should both be looking for an outcome based on truth. Can we all agree on that?

If so, then why do we have laws regarding "inadmissable evidence"? How can the truth ever not be admissable, if one of the legal system's purposes is to establish the truth? And of course, the thing that I am pondering is Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich's intent to fight being impeached. He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, as evidenced by the wiretaps we all heard on national television and radio. Wasn't that your voice, sir? But his outrageous defense is that the wiretaps were not legally obtained, and therefore the evidence is not admissable. WHO CARES, MR. GOVERNOR? It's not like you didn't say what you said! We heard it!

So why would a legal system not allow the truth to be admissable? I understand the need to protect innocents, but that's not the case here. No one needed protection, the system wasn't out to get anyone and everyone, there was no witch hunt, no widespread fishnet for any little thing that might pop up. A guilty man was caught doing the very thing the wiretaps were put in place to capture.

We just want the truth to be considered by any intelligent person, jury, congressional body, or other competent jursidiction. Shame on any officer of the court who is not dedicated to the same ideal.

Mr. Governor, save yourself further embarassment and save the taxpayers some money. Give us all a Christmas present by resigning.

No, Moroni

Occasionally when I read the scriptures the personality of the writer really comes through, and when that happens I feel a greater understanding of the subject being discussed. I was studying the book of Ether this past week, and in chapter 12, Moroni, the great editor of The Book of Mormon, interjects his personal fears regarding how the things he is engraving onto metal plates will be received, by a future generation. He laments "Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing.... (T)hou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. (W)hen we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words."

Moroni, you wrote to us as if we were present, having seen our generations in vision. And now, I write back to you as if you are present. Your fears may have been realized when some few read your words and mocked them, but those who did so were uneducated, uninformed, and uninspired. As I read your writings, I find them to be incredible. The more I study them, the more impressed I am at how accurate, how consistent with other scriptures, and how inspired and inspiring they are. You helped author the book characterized by a living prophet as "the most correct of any book on earth"! In my 35 years of studying it, I have never found a single mistake--not one inconsistency, and not a single conflict with anything I know to be true. I concluded long ago that anyone who would mock your writings in The Book of Mormon would also mock the Savior himself. You did your job, and you did it with inspiration, enduring all the hardships we can now only imagine, as your people battled themselves to extinction. Mock your writings? No, Moroni, we humbly thank you, I thank you, a true prophet of God, to whom we acknowledge a great debt, you who brought so much to this latter-day generation.

Sorry to Disappoint You

So I'm sure by now you all know that the Guv was caught trying to peddle his influence. I understand from this morning's news that he is choosing to not resign and is going about business as usual. In fact, it appears he might still appoint someone to the Senate. I just wanted to go on record that if he appoints me, I will reject the appointment. I know that is a HUGE disappoint to my fan(s) but hey, I'm a grandfather now and need to get that new role perfected before I take on truth, justice, and the American way (not to mention world peace and the economy).

However, I remain ever at the ready for consultation on an as-needed basis.

The Birds and The Fox

It's that time of year in southern Illinois where great flocks of birds are seen migrating to warmer climates. Lisa and I saw a migrating flock last week that was between 100 and 200 birds wide, and perhaps 10 miles long! And then I was driving on Saturday, going north out of town and saw up ahead a flock of birds on the ground, covering both sides of the four-lane divided road. There were no other cars around, so I slowed to a crawl and advanced towards the birds. They seemed to be calm, and as I approached, they began to fly in a swirling pattern, allowing me to pass through, and landing again behind me. It was amazing because there were so many of them, in front of me and behind me, all in motion It was sort of like being in a whiteout snowstorm, where your visibility is limited to just a few feet. I know this sounds sappy, but for a moment I was just thrilled being there and experiencing being among so many creatures. And I have to admit, Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" ran through my mind also... . I wonder just exactly how migrations work? How do they all decide that on a given day, they will meet up somewhere and begin a journey of hundreds of miles? Who is the leader? Who decides each morning that it's time to go? At the end of each day, who decides this is where they will rest for the evening? And especially I wonder how they all know to turn at the same time? Doesn't it just seem like they would be bumping into each other all the time? And lastly, which one of those birds is responsible for performing the calculation to know that a given power or communications line can support the weight of the whole flock at the same time without breaking? I have to know!

In addition to the fascinating synchronicity of migrating birds, I witnessed another demonstration of incredible precision at the Fabulous Fox yesterday. Lisa, Sarah and I went to a Mannheim Steamroller concert. I have long loved M-S's music, and particularly their Christmas music. The thing I like the very best is the percussion, much of which is performed by Chip Davis himself on their CD's. I've just never experienced a band or even orchestra with better timing and precision than what Davis is able to accomplish with his large variety of modern and historical instruments and electrical gear. The concert was terrific, although I have to admit I was disappointed that Davis wasn't present--he's recovering from neck surgery. A brief video was shown at the start, in which he explained his absence, and I was sorry to see he has a very noticeable tremor in his left hand. I wish him well in his recovery and rehabilitation and hope he will be performing again soon. The concert definitely left us feeling more of the Christmas season spirit!

I'm in heaven! No, no, no, this isn't a message from the other side, I'm speaking metaphorically. I'm just reflecting on the last couple of days with my family. On Thursday I arrived in Provo and held my granddaughter Claire for the first time. What a thrill! She is so precious and so beautiful, perfect in every way. And then Friday I was found in the temple, with Lindsay as she received the endowment. It was a time of wonderment for her and I think a great fulfilling. This is heaven on earth for me--an expanding family, and every one of my children worthy to enter the temple and partake of the great blessings which it holds.

A Terrific Read

I came across a book written a couple of years ago, titled "Financial Armageddon, The Corruption of our Currency", by David Draughon. It has brought great clarity to my thinking with regard to the current financial crisis enveloping our nation. Many of the things which are influencing us are described in layman's terms, such as deficit spending, the gold standard, the Federal Reserve, fiat money, and the root cause of inflation. I highly recommend it. Here are a few quotes:

…the housing market is on the cusp of imploding. –David Draughon, 2006

[Ezra Taft Benson] said that if our nation’s current economic crisis is not resolved, our country will enter a depression that makes the one in the twenties and thirties look like prosperity.

By spending more than is in the treasury and then merely printing extra money to make up the difference…technically … is called ‘deficit spending’. Ethically, it is counterfeiting. Morally it is wrong. –Ezra Taft Benson

I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country…no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and a vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. –President Woodrow Wilson, reminiscing about the manipulations of the Federal Reserve

The very beginning of our troubles can be traced to the day when the federal government overstepped its proper defensive function and began to manipulate the monetary system to accomplish political objectives. The creation of the Federal Reserve Board made it possible for the first time in America for men to arbitrarily change the value of our money. –Ezra Taft Benson

We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon. –Robert Hemphill, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank

The Constitution of the United States gives Congress no power to legislate in the matter of a great number of vital problems of government, such as the conduct of public utilities, of banks, of insurance, of business, of agriculture, of education, of social welfare and over a dozen other important features. Washington must never be permitted to interfere in these avenues of our affairs. –Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat #1

A Rather Shocking Experience

So, I went to the doctor on Friday to have a stress test performed. As if i didn't have enough stress in my life, now my doc wants to intentionally add some more! But since I'm only a doctor wannabe, I decided to follow his advice and have the testing done. I showed up in my sweats, ready to jump on the treadmill and get this thing over with. But when they told me I would be on the treadmill for up to 15 minutes, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I have been out of breath lately just walking up a couple of flights of stairs.

The test began, and four minutes into it, I was feeling very nauseous and light-headed. The cardiologist was looking at the electrocardiogram, and said he saw something "very abnormal" and ordered the test stopped. He also told the nurse to give me some nitroglycerin. I had never had that before but it did add a little more stress to the test when they couldn't find any. But they scrambled and found some, squirted it under my tongue, and I started to feel better.

The doctor then got me set up for an angiogram, the test where they put a catheter in you and inject dye to see what your blood flow looks like. Not too far into the test, he saw a blockage and pointed it out to me on the screen. It was as clear as could be--full volume up to a certain point, and then a small restriction, with full volume again on the other side. He said it was a 99% restriction. Looked like I got my money's worth out of that little section.

The test proceeded, and then I remember feeling like everything was just "shutting down". That's not a very good description; it was kind of like going to sleep, but I couldn't move and couldn't speak. I was becoming unconscious.

When I woke up, I had an oxygen mask on my face, and people were asking me questions. The doctor came over and told me I had given everyone quite a scare (actually he was a little more crude than that). My heart had gone into cardiac fibrillation, and they had to use the defibrillator three times before it started beating normally again. Sarah says they "paddled me".

As it turns out, the hospital where all this was happening (Anderson) is not an "intervention" facility, so the staff there isn't used to dealing with un-cooperative hearts, and everyone was pretty rattled. As they regained their composure, I was told I needed a "stent" to keep the artery open, but stent procedures weren't performed there and I needed to be transferred to another hospital. But then the doctor called a colleague and got him to come to Anderson, and in very short order the stent was installed and I was all better.

I spent the night in the ICU and was released the next morning on my own recognizance for good behavior. As a punishment, my driving privileges were revoked for three days. I'll be jeep'n again Tuesday morning.

I forgot to say, Lisa was in Utah with Claire, and I had called her to let her know the stress test revealed more testing was required. I told her I would let her know what was going on, but that I was in good hands and not to worry. But she became impatient and called the hospital, and was able to get my doctor who ratted me out. What ever happened to confidential information? Despite my protests, she was on the next plane home. While I really didn't want her to have to leave Claire and Katie, seeing her around midnight that night was a sight for sore eyes (and a few other sore parts).

So, I'm on blood thinners and cholesterol medicine until further notice. Stay tuned and if I don't K-T-B I'll find something more interesting to blog about.

All kidding aside, what a blessing it was to be in the hospital when this happened--with a cardiologist and terrific staff by my side, catheter already installed, all the right equipment and medicines there, etc. This could have had a very different outcome had I been on a plane, or in a hotel, or sleeping, or in Houston, as was the case just a few hours earlier. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father, not only for all the marvelous technology that exists today, but especially for sustaining me until I could be in the right place to benefit from it all. My concerns and prayers were answered with a very real blessing.

The Debut of Claire Elizabeth Brewer

So it's official, I have been honored with perhaps my most prestigious title yet, Grandpa. Thank you, Claire! This sweet little baby took her first breath at 11:28 p.m., November 3, 2008 in Provo. She weighed in at 9 pounds even. Claire and Katie are both doing well. Joe and Lisa are tired. Lindsay and Marshall love their new little niece, and all the rest of us are just plain jealous that we're not there! So many prayers have been answered with a blessing.

I can't help but contemplate what life will hold for children being born at this time. Surely they will witness some incredible things and have so many opportunities to exercise their faith in the Lord. I cling to President Hinckley's counsel to be optimistic. And with a prophet like President Monson we can all take heart that the Church will continue to receive inspired leadership, and our children will be in good hands.

And Another Thing

Do they REALLY have to be playing Christmas music already? I heard it on the radio and I heard it in WalMart tonight. We're all burned out on politics, and now we're going to crash and burn on Christmas music. I love Christmas music, but not two straight months of it. Please!

I Have a Problem With That

A politician who wants to re-distribute wealth may or may not have noble purposes in mind. The stated goal is always the same: to help the poor. Even if their hearts are pure (which I doubt), I have several problems with re-distributionism.

1) The politician places himself in a position of knowing who’s rich and who’s poor, and almost always bases this on income levels. This is clearly no way to measure wealth, especially with all the convoluted tax laws in our society. Income is hidden, protected, re-categorized, and just plain un-reported. Plus, income in a given year doesn’t speak to all the other forms of wealth one may possess.
2) Even if income was fairly reported, it ignores the other side of the equation—demands an income earner may have. Just one example everyone will understand and agree with: ever heard of some good person who cares for an ailing parent? Parents are often not “dependents”, so the income earner gets no credit or discount for that parent, despite large outlays of cash to satisfy heavy demands for medical or other living expenses.
3) What makes someone able to judge what is “fair”? Is it being elected by popular vote? Hardly. My life’s experiences have taught me that only God and his inspired servants can know how to fairly judge a person’s heart. To place oneself in a position of decreeing “fairness” for a large population is quite presumptuous, even pompous.
4) The idea of charity for the poor starts with the heart, not with the pocketbook. A gift given unwillingly is not counted as righteousness. My conviction is that all gifts to those in need should be done by those who are willing to help, not by those who are forced to do so.
5) If the “rich” are going to be forced to give some of their wealth to the “poor”, where does it start and stop? If we could develop a system that re-allocates wealth, and it works perfectly, those who are rich today will be less rich tomorrow. Over time, they will fall below the established threshold the politician decided was “rich”. Then, the politician will have to establish a new threshold, and begin over-taxing a new class of “rich” people, albeit they will be less wealthy than those who were previously over-taxed. This pattern will continue until eventually, everyone is at exactly the same wealth level. What’s wrong with that? Just one thing. People figure out very quickly that there’s no need to work hard, because they will be just as wealthy as their neighbor, without regard to what is done to earn a living. People stop striving for higher levels of education—doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, business professionals all end up with the same amount of wealth as the hamburger flipper—so why bust your brain or break your back? Just sit back and let the wealth flow. But of course it doesn’t work that way. Without wealth-creating innovators, the movers and shakers of our society, industry-based nations don’t exist; natural resources aren’t turned into national wealth. Society as we know it collapses and everyone spends their day foraging for food. Just look around the globe and you’ll see plenty of examples.
6) Without individual judgments as to what “rich” means at the individual level, there are only formulas which must be applied to the masses. Formulas ignore why people are rich or poor, and they also ignore whether rich or poor people are good stewards of whatever they may have. Give two people the exact same amount of money each year, and in similar circumstances, one will squander his money on gambling, drinking, and riotous living, while the other will save, invest, and grow his money. How can any rational person think it makes sense to keep taking away money from the good steward and year after year give it to the squanderer, just to keep one from being rich and the other from being poor, and call this effort “noble”?

I could continue, but hopefully I’ve made the point. Our current tax system is terribly unfair, and there are any number of people who are working vigorously to make it even worse with new re-distribution schemes, all while doing an excellent job of brainwashing the people sucked into this unholy effort. Think you’re not being influenced by the brainwashing? Let me ask you a question. How do you feel about the children’s story of Robin Hood? Good guy? Better think again. You may be that robbing hoodlum’s next victim.

Hey, Wait a Minute!

So I was coming home tonight, listening to the radio. I heard a story that said things were almost in place to lend $150 billion dollars to seven banks, as part of the overall $700 billion plan to rescue America from the financial crisis. The story went on to say that the idea was that this would give the banks enough new capital to be able to return to normal lending practices, and calm the nation's fears. WAIT A MINUTE!!! Isn't "normal lending practices" what got us into this mess? For the last several weeks, we have heard over and over that the root cause of the crisis is years of banks making sub-prime loans to people who can't afford them, who don't keep up with their payments, and eventually default on the loan. So now we're giving $150 billion to those offending banks so they can continue the practice? What am I missing?

Housekeeping Police Called on Rich

St. Louis. Houston. St. Louis. India. St. Louis. Houston. St. Louis. Orlando. St. Louis. Houston. Corpus Christi. Houston. St. Louis. All in 3 weeks time. I'm exhausted! Here is a picture Sarah created at Epcot. I hope she stays in school.

So Lisa is in Provo, to be with T-Bird when little Tweetie Bird is born. I was taking Sarah to school for practice on Friday evening, and we had just pulled into the Wendy's parking lot to grab a hamburger for dinner, when the cell phone rang. Some voice on the other end said something I couldn't understand, and I asked her to repeat herself. She said the same thing again, and I still didn't catch the first part of what she said, but then I heard something about my house alarm going off. I figured out this was an alarm monitoring company (not the one we contracted with, however). I explained we had just left the house 5 minutes earlier, and I was sure it must be a false alarm. She told me she had called the police, and wanted to know if she should call them back and cancel the call. She also said the alarm was from the first floor motion detector. I replied that the dog must have set it off, if she wasn't seeing door or window alarms, and yes, to please call the police and cancel the call. She asked me for the "disarm code", which I provided. I asked if I should go meet the police at the house, and she said there was no need to do so. So, we went ahead and ordered and ate, and I dropped Sarah off at school.

Then, Lisa called me to say the alarm had gone off, and Melody was at the house with the police! Melody is the backup in case the monitoring company can't get ahold of Lisa or me. I explained what had happened, and was somewhat puzzled by the whole thing, as we were assured Oreo was too small to set off the alarm. Lisa then told me that the police said the bedroom was a mess. I knew the bedroom was not a mess when I left. Lisa went on to say the police and/or Melody had told her the bed was not made.

I am now a fugitive. I'm on the run, because I am sure there is a bed warrant out for my arrest; I never meant for this to happen, I'm just so used to leaving each morning with Lisa still in bed (even on weekends I'm alway up early) that I never have the opportunity to make the bed, and it didn't even cross my mind on Friday. And now I'm running from the law. And Melody said all the neighbors saw the police at the house. Oh, the shame of it all!

I'm Baaa-aaack

Milkman's here!

Most rickshaws are now motorized, but not all



This is a typical vendor's cart

It's very common to see up to 4 people on a scooter. The driver has a helmet but usually not the passengers!

Woman carrying load on head

Ok, so I'm back from India after my less than a week jaunt. Not feeling so great today but this too, shall pass. Here are a few pix and journal entries from the trip.

My route took me from St. Louis to Newark, and then from Newark to New Delhi. On the way to Newark, I saw something I had never seen before and did not know existed: a 360° rainbow! As we were flying along, I looked out the window, and saw it against a cloud. At first I thought I was seeing things. As the clouds came and went, it became more and more clear. The colors were the same as in every other rainbow, but there was a dark area in the middle of it. As we passed by one particularly close cloud, I realized that the dark spot was the very clear shadow of the plane. It was so beautiful!

We went to a restaurant for lunch and having been told that Indians make better Chinese food than the Chinese, we had to try some--and it was actually pretty good. We ordered spring rolls, fried rice, and honey chicken. They gave us way too many spring rolls and too much fried rice--a little communication problem there. So we asked for take home boxes, which apparently was a foreign concept. They ended up giving us foil bags tied with rubber bands. We made it back to the hotel with it!

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and lentils seem to be everywhere, and everything is spicy, spicy, spicy. One dish I particularly like is called Chole, which is chickpeas in a spicy chili sauce. I had it for breakfast at the hotel (I stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Gurgaon), along with carrots and peas, and grean beans with onions. They had bacon and eggs, which I tried one morning, but those were very different than what you would get in America (not bad, just different).

One of the men living on “Bechtel Street” had taken some of the broken bricks lying on the side of the road (demolition in Delhi results in discarded materials being disposed not in dumpsters but in piles dumped on the road) and constructed himself a little red brick oven on the side of the road. He had some kind of sausages he was cooking on demand. I saw those same sausages sitting in an open wrapper on top of the oven at lunch time, and they appeared to still be sitting there when we left at 6 p.m. Unrefrigerated, of course, in 95-degree weather. Yikes!

When I arrived at the airport, two guards met us at the entrance to the airport itself. The one speaking with my traveling companion looked at his documents and let him right through. However the one speaking with me insisted on seeing my ticket. I explained I didn’t have a ticket, that I was booked electronically, and needed to go into the airport to get the boarding pass. He asked for my “printout”, so I dug around in my briefcase and thankfully came up with my itinerary. He then studied it and studied it. Finally the other guard started speaking to him, and there seemed to be some unresolved question. Their discussion went on for about two minutes. Finally, he closed my passport very slowly, and handed it to me very slowly, as if I was some suspicious character. The other guard seemed to be telling him it was ok, but he wasn’t buying it. As we were leaving, they told us the Continental counter wouldn’t be open for another hour, which made no sense, and turned out to be wrong, it was in fact open. As we walked up, another set of guards asked us for passports again, so we displayed them again, and got a whole host of questions, far beyond the usual “has anyone asked you to carry anything for them” type. Then we got to the counter itself, showed the passports for a third time and endured more questions. We left the counter and went to the immigration line, where we had to show them again just to get in line, and then again at the immigration counter. After getting through immigration, we had to show them again to Customs, again to Continental at the gate counter, again to Continental at the boarding gate, and one final time to Continental at the door to the plane. My poor passport is worn out!

Heading to India Again

The Taj Mahal
Goats and Sheep
Camels
Oxen
Monkeys (how many can you count? And no, they're not in a cage, those bars are to keep me out, not them in!) I'm heading to India tomorrow, my second trip there. My first trip was such a learning experience. I came back feeling very humble, in that seeing the circumstances of so many people in poverty made me recognize once again what a great blessing it is to live in the United States. With all the challenges we have in our country, we would all do well to visit India and other impoverished nations before we complain. I suspect our complaints would diminish greatly. I saw people literally living in garbage heaps, openly bathing on the side of the road, begging for money everywhere, and just struggling to survive at every turn. I took many photos while there, and felt ashamed when I came home and looked at them--I didn't mean to document that great nation's misery. This first picture juxtaposes the great Taj Mahal, a truly magnificent edifice, with the living conditions of many who live next to it. I think one of the most striking cultural differences is how animals are free to roam as they please--and they please to go everywhere! Click on any picture for a larger view.

Today's Amazing Technology

Everyone asks me how I can be so sure that Katie and Joe's little girl (due in late October) will be blonde haired and blue eyed. I have decided to reveal my secret.

Conspiracy Theory

Today brought the largest single run-up in oil prices in history: over $16/barrel. And what does ConocoPhillips stock do? Drops 59 cents a share. Yeah, it's a conspiracy alright.

Samuel Prophesied of This

I took this picture at Bridal Veil Falls, outside Provo, Utah. I could not help but think of the scripture I had just studied, found in The Book of Mormon, in Helaman 14:20-22. It recounts a prophecy made by a prophet known as Samuel the Lamanite. In about 6 B.C., Samuel is pleading with his people here in the western hemisphere to repent, and he prophesies of great signs which will be seen at the time when the Savior will be crucified in the eastern hemisphere (some 39 years in the future). He said:

"But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of thre days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.

"Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up;

"Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath."

Aftermath of Ike

Copy and paste this link into your browser for some incredible pictures of the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html

I am so thankful that none of our family, friends, and colleagues sustained any injuries. After creating much havoc in the Gulf Coast, Ike headed on a direct path to St. Louis. We received quite a bit of rain, perhaps 5-6 inches, in a 12 hour period. Winds were strong, but didn't cause too many problems. We went to church, and the Bishop announced that he was hearing lots of folks were experiencing issues with water, so the sacrament was administered, and the meeting was ended. We knew that our good friends the Raymonds were experiencing basement flooding, so we went to their house to see how we could help. A drain in a swale had plugged, and several homes in their neighborhood were flooded. A backhoe was working to clear the drain, and the water was receding when we arrived, but not before a foot and a half of water found its way into the basement. They were only able to salvage the most valuable things, such as electronics and important personal items. The furniture was soaked.

Jon and several helpers used a sump pump to get the majority of the water out, and within about 36 hours a restoration company was there to begin the dryout and repair process. I guess what impressed me most was Jon and Darlene's attitude--they dealt with this setback in a very positive manner and rather than feel sorry for themselves, they just went to work, cleaning clothes, drying out the house, getting contractors lined up, and keeping the kids focused on what they needed to do to work through this. What I saw was the influence of the gospel; even in the face of disaster, the Spirit of God can bring peace and reassurance to help us deal with life's challenges.

Ex Nihilo

Latin, of course. It means "out of nothing". A common usage is to explain how the world was created--that God somehow created the world in some sort of mystical way, from nothing. My religion teaches that the creation refers to organizing pre-existing materials into the planet we now inhabit. The Latin term for that is "creatio ex materia".

While being far from knowledgeable in the various disciplines of geoscience, I do find the doctrine of organizational creation so much more rational than placing my faith in principles that violate thermodynamics and the laws of physics as we understand them today. However...



You tell me where tomato worms come from. They just appear, every single time I grow tomatoes, in every state in which I have lived. And I have never seen them anywere except on tomato plants. I think tomato worms make the best case one could ever posit for Creatio Ex Nihilo. Don't you?

(click on the photo for a surprising view of a fight; you and i aren't the only ones who don't like tomato worms!)

Who Would Have Guessed...

that the Mississippi River level rises and falls so much? This is a graph from a government website showing the predicted level rising 27 feet in one week! This is the effect of Hurricane Ike passing through the Midwest.

Rich Evacuates Houston

I’ve gotten lots of questions about what impacts Hurricane Ike has had on my company, ConocoPhillips. The short answer is, I don’t know yet.

I was in Houston this week, and as it became evident that the hurricane was going to hit Houston, I decided to cut my business trip short by a day and came home Thursday evening. I knew that Ike wasn’t going to hit until late Friday/early Saturday, but with as many people as were told to evacuate (I heard over a million), I knew I should leave earlier than Friday or risk not getting out. Even on Thursday, the freeways were jam-packed and crawling Thursday morning.

We closed our offices on Thursday at noon, and although my flight wasn’t until 6 p.m., I drove to the airport hoping to catch an earlier flight. However, the wait list was already 70 names long, so I just waited for my flight. However it was delayed, and we didn’t get the wheels up until 8:30 p.m. I was exhausted but happy to be heading home. The pilot told us the weather wasn’t causing the problem; it was all the private aircraft traffic impacting the commercial flights.

We did shut down three Gulf Coast refineries—Sweeney, Alliance, and Lake Charles. Also we shut down at least one offshore platform, and I understand most oil companies shut down their facilities, too. I heard on the news today that gasoline prices spiked to well over $5/gallon in Atlanta. That’s the first time I’ve heard of a price that high in our nation. Hopefully that’s very short lived!

Besides all my friends and co-workers in Houston, I have several relatives there. My cousin Julie White Reames lives in Sugar Land, as does my Aunt Laura and her husband Dave White. Lisa’s nephew Nathan and his wife and children live on the north side of Houston also. I’m worried about them all and pray for their safety from the storm.

Trick Question: Which One is Too Expensive?

Gasoline, $4.00/gallon
Lipton Iced Tea, $9.52/gallon
Ocean Spray Juice, $10.00/gallon
Gatorade, $10.17/gallon
Diet Snapple, $10.32/gallon
Evian Water, $21.19/gallon
Wite-Out, $25.42/gallon
Brake Fluid, $33.60/gallon
Scope Mouthwash, $84.48/gallon
Pepto Bismol, $123.20/gallon
Vicks Nyquil, $178.13/gallon
HP Printer Ink, $4,294.58/gallon

Corvette Day at the Plant

Right to left: Orange C6, Red C4 (mine), Orange C6 Z06, White C3, Pewter C5, Red C5

All I Ever Wanted

"All I ever wanted out of life was a good, home-grown tomato. Well, that, and maybe a jalapeno pepper." --Anonymous

The Summer That Was

It started with graduating from high school as an Illinois scholar. Then, he finished his scout project , and passed his Board of Review, and was later awarded the rank of Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor. Next he completed the last of the requirements for his Duty to God award, which was presented to him in Sacrament Meeting on the same day as the Court of Honor. Also that same Sunday, he was sustained in wards around the stake and later that day, ordained to the office of Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. And just today, Marshall moved into his new home away from home, his dorm room in Heritage Halls, preparing to start his freshman year at the great Brigham Young University.

I will so miss Marshall while he is at school.. Probably more than anyone I have ever known, Marshall has long had the ability and the temperament to mentally joust with me, often besting me in our little competitions, and always competing in a spirit of good humor and camaraderie.

Good luck my son in your new adventures. Take every good thing BYU and its professors, your new bishop, and tons of new friends have to offer as you prepare to serve the Lord as an emissary of the Church, for your career, and eventually for marriage. And leave your mark, too, by being the very best you can. May Provo never be the same!

A Missionary's Prayer

The end of another day,
Of knocking on doors
And even stopping people in the street, asking,
“Can we have a few minutes of your time?”

Another day of rejection,
Of quickly closed doors
And people who are too busy to talk about
The most important thing in the world.

So I sit at my little desk,
Pondering the scriptures,
And thinking about the life
Of another who also found little acceptance.

I don’t know if I can get out bed tomorrow.

Why didn’t that beautiful family
That we taught for weeks
Accept the gospel
And receive all the blessings it brings?

The pain I feel in my feet
From walking all day is nothing,
Compared to the pain
I feel in my soul.

Oh please, Heavenly Father,
Help me to be a better missionary.
Help me to better express
The testimony that burns in my heart.

I’ll work even harder.
I’ll wear out these shoes
And humble myself so that pride and
The pain of rejection don’t show.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’ll get out of bed tomorrow—
In fact I’ll get up even earlier.
It doesn’t have to be me
Who brings that family into the church.

But please, please send them someone
Who can do what I couldn’t.
I only want for them what was also given to me:
The Spirit of God, like a fire in my heart.

My Meetings with Joseph

Even today there’s a lump in my throat,
As I think on our meetings.

Oh, you won’t remember them Joseph,
Because I speak of figurative encounters.
But they are as real as anything I know.
I remember so many of them—

Two years of daily study of the Doctrine and Covenants;
Many readings of the Book of Mormon;
Pondering those old Nauvoo postcards which have no value
To anyone but me.

Singing “The Spirit of God” and feeling that burning
Within my bosom over and over again.
And “Hail to the Prophet”!
I can hardly sing it without shedding a tear.

I have a small statue of you and Hiram sitting on my desk,
A small reminder of the greatness of you both,
And just how much I am indebted to you.

"Teachings" was perhaps our closest encounter,
As I felt the power of God conveyed to me
Through your own inspired and inspiring words.

I visited your home in New York--
Such a wonderful spirit is still there.
I took that same walk you did, into the sacred grove
Where it all began.

Each meeting is a learning experience for me,
Pushing me ever closer to the Savior,
Changing me forever
In so many good ways.

I long to be with Him, and with you.
But for now I must be content--content to work
In my little field
Sowing seeds of the same fruit He first planted.

When we meet in person, you won’t know me—
At least, not my name.
But if you look into my eyes,
You will surely see how much I love you--
A true prophet of God.

First Post

This is my first posting as I set up my website. Nothing cerebral today, just a little test message to see if I'm doing this correctly. Appreciate hearing from you if you are able to access this blog. I promise to post some interesting comments and links and photos soon!

Rich