FIGHTING FOR OBAMA IN UTAH ...or will the real OBAMA stand-up

But it is disappointing that in a Church whose theology is founded on individual responsibility to seek wisdom and learning by study and also by faith (note that it's both, not just the latter), so many Church members seem to accept instantly without question anything they hear as long as it aligns with their previous beliefs and (sadly) prejudices. That is a natural human tendency, I know. But in the LDS Church we at least profess to aspire to something ....... Utah is ground zero of scare tactics. A visiting teacher of a friend of mine told her that she had heard that Obama was the anti-Christ. My own father says he's moving to Canada.

SOMETIMES...we need to see the bigger picture

PART 1 OF 6

BLOOD SPORT: day3: SILENCE of the LAND

Although I don't hunt just for the game....9 hours of hiking...no deer or deer sign. I know this is 'TREE HUGGERISH" but things are changing. More dead pines & quakies. More EROSION. More fires & hard Summer micro-bursts. We have one area that looks like "pick up sticks". Another area..healthy pines blown over all over the place because when loggers came in they left an occasional single tree but with group protection during big winds they fall. I have surveyed for archaeology thousands of acres of dead sagebrush & pinion pine. Junipers the hardiest tree of all ...splitting down the middle. Drought> less sap> bug invasion> collapse

day 2 BLOOD SPORT: I HATE IT .... I LOVE IT

I LOVE it when I see an OMEN. It is a sign of something good. I happened upon this arrowhead. I will KILL!
I HATE it when I hear shooting not far off...jealousy!
I LOVE it when I see an ELK mangled juniper tree. I think, "some elks nuts are making him nuts".
I HATE it when I come across some Forest Service sign out in the middle of nowhere that warns me that trees can fall down so stay alert. Duh...I can take care of myself..Sherlock. And to think someone got paid with my meager tax dollars to carrry this metal sign into nowhere.
I LOVE it when you come to the edge of some craggy canyon and think F&*#%... how am I going to cross this and then I find a game trail and have no problems.
I HATE it when my blood sugar bottoms unexpectantly out and I'm laying in the trail and people step on me.
I LOVE it when I can take a nap off the trail just because I want to.
I HATE it when I see a monster buck and find out its a tree limb.
I LOVE it when you find one of your old quakie signatures from when I was a little kid.
I HATE it when i'm taking care of business and a buck passes by.
I LOVE it when I discover some Pioneer trash out in the hills
I HATE it when out in the BOONIES I come across BUBBA and his beer can.
I LOVE it when out in the BOONIES I come across BooBoos

GUARDIAN ANGELS

I know I'm not suppose to hunt cross-country with my ATV. I just got my 4-wheeler out of the shop with ten welds and various pieces of missing frame replaced. Over sagebrush, cactus, down gullies and washes. This one was steeper and deeper than I had anticipated. As I descended I found my self hanging on by a handbar as the ATV was balancing on one front wheel. I could feel the force of the bike throwing me. It was like being frozen in time. I had time to know exactly what was happening. I thought to my self you've f&%$# yourself bad this time expecting the bike to land on me in descent. Without time passage I was on the ATV at the bottom in control. A space in time lost. Guardian Angel or physics? I don't know for sure. And this after falling off the wagon with a bout of P & MB. I must have some worth. Last year it was broken ribs followed by a collar bone. I am a screw-up (no pun intended). Why can't I be normal?

BLOODSPORT day 1

I know some choose not to hunt and I respect that. I hunt for tradition, for sanity and because I live in Bush's America and need the protein. This was a healing day...... beautiful, quiet and majestic. I'm big on hunting but not on shooting. I usually site my gun in late afternoon of the day before the hunt. I take care of my own deer. It ends up in bottles and as Jerky.

Prejudice and Misconceptions:

What do people really know about Mormons?
In a world that is scared, jealous, and prideful it isn't hard to get caught up in the tangled web of bigotry. One group of people that gets the beating out of this mess, are the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (abbreviated LDS, often called "Mormons".)
Fortunately, society mainly discourages bigotry against most social groups. Oddly enough, prejudice against Mormons is more socially "fashionable". A recent Bloomberg poll from the Los Angeles Times indicates that original bigotry against Jews and Catholics is "less popular".
Only 10% of Americans stated they would never vote for a Catholic president, and only 15% said the same of a Jew. Disturbingly, 40% of the population said they would never vote for a LDS president.
Of course, the bigots of the world are not the people quietly disagreeing with Mormon doctrine; the bigots are the people who purposely spread lies and slander to discredit the LDS church. This is the source of misinformation that causes misconceptions.
One example of this protest against the Mormons happens twice a year when the Church holds a biannual General Conference for its members. Some members travel to Salt Lake City (LDS Headquarters) to see it live, rather than broadcasted.
Unfortunately, these poor people have their spiritual experience interrupted by the "street preachers" who scream at the participants to let them know that they are "going to hell". What would a Muslim do if these bigots displayed themselves at Mecca? How would the Jew feel if this kind of hatred visited the Wailing Wall?
The internet is another great place to find examples of anti-Mormon prejudice. But if these web-masters really wanted people to find out the "real truth" about Mormonism, why don't they ever provide links to www.lds.org or www.mormon.org? (Official sites of the Mormon Church)
Could these enemies of the Church really know more about the LDS members than the members themselves? What a concept! In fact, you could also discover all about Jews from the Nazis, and learn more about African Americans from the Ku Klux Klan!
So, why is it that people do not like Mormons? Many people claim that they do not hate the Mormon people but simply their doctrine. Some people believe that Mormons are not even Christian because they do not believe in wearing or displaying "the cross".
Others find they do not like "Mormonism" because they simply feel it is "stupid", "far-fetched", "brain-washing", or "satanic"
The Bible says "By their fruits, ye shall know them" look around at what the Mormons are doing. What is so bad about not getting drunk and beating your family? What can be said wrong about avoiding STDs and the emotional stress of premarital sex? Who can call a man evil when he stays faithful to his wife and teaches his children to be honest and forgiving?
So, next time a LDS person walking, don't assume to know all about them because of watching South Park episode 712. Walk up and ask them what they truly believe.
They should know, right? They live it everyday of their life! The world is a vicious place but it doesn't have to be. Don't be a bigot; find a way to open the mind to other's beliefs.

I am DIFFERENT....

Especially my father points out that I am different....but I already know it. He is very critical of "ME" not being Republican, not having one with the boys, hanging out with granola people, being sensitive, caring about social injustice, going out into the wilderness alone, not communicating with him, avoiding politics with him, liking black people, being a youth leader, belonging to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, driving an X-Terra....and much more. I KNOW I AM DIFFERENT. It has something to do with SSA. I see it as a spiritual gift. Reflecting back...I took care of people when they needed care. Friends sacking out at my place when they had been kicked out of their homes, fishing trips to just get away, listening, not much advising as I didn't have the answers of justice & why me & so on. When no one else would coach..I would. When no one else would take them on a fifty mile hike..I would. When no one else would buy them a shake..I would. Is this my purpose? Is this a gift...a spiritual gift. Does the Lord need people like me? IS THIS WHY I HAVE SSA? The downside is the Aunts, "Why aren't you married"? "You shouldn't be doing that. You should be looking for a wife." "Why can't you be like #@*&"? Then there is the evil eye. The unconscious signal that someone knows. " You better keep your distance from my kids." " Why is he single...I wonder"

By the strength of my arm, by the sight of my eye,
By the skill of my fingers, I swear,
As long as life dwells in me, never will I
Follow any way but the sweeping way of the wind.

Along I will follow the dark trail, black void on one side and unattainable heights on the other, darkness before and behind me,
darkness that pulses and flows and is felt.
Then suddenly, an unreal breath of wind coming from infinite depths
will bring to my ears again the strange,
dimly-remembered sound of the rushing water.
When that sound dies, all dies.

On canyon trails when warm night winds blow
Blowing and sighing gently through the star-tipped pines,
Musing, I walked behind my placid burros
While water rushed and broke on painted rocks below

Adventure is for the adventurous.
My face is set.
I go to make my destiny.
May many another youth be by me inspired to leave the snug safety of his rut,
and follow fortune to other lands.

God, how the wild calls to me.
There can be no other life for me but that of the lone wanderer.
It has an irresistible fascination.
The lone trail is the best for me.

At evening I would go out into the glade and climb
high above the river to the base of the cliff.
I would gather scarlet flowers and come down when the stars gleamed softly. Sighing winds would eddy down the canyon, swaying the tree tops.
Then the leaves would cease their trembling;
only the sound of rippling water would continue, and the spirit of peace and somnolence would pervade and the red embers of my fire one by one turned black and shadows deepened into a gently surging slumber.

Beauty isolated is terrible and unbearable,
and the unclouded sight other kills the beholder.
His only refuge is in insignificant things,
in labor that keeps the mind from thought, and in companionship
that gives back to the ego some of its former virility.
But he who has looked long on naked beauty may never return to the world,
and though he should try, he will find its occupation empty and vain,
and human intercourse purposeless and futile.
Alone and lost, he must die on the altar of beauty.

I thought that there were two rules in life—
never count the cost and never do anything unless you can do it wholeheartedly. Now is the time to live.

Always I shall be one who loves the wilderness:
Swaggers and softly creeps between the mountain peaks;
I shall listen long to the sea's brave music;
I shall sing my song above the shriek of desert winds.

When I go I leave no trace.
The beauty of the country is becoming a part of me.
Now the aspen trunks are tall and white in the moonlight.
A wind croons in the pines,
The mountain sleeps.

Say that I starved, that I was lost and weary;
That I was burned and blinded by the desert sun;
Footsore, thirsty, sick with strange diseases;
Lonely and wet and cold, but that I kept my dream!

Alone, I shoulder the sky,
And hurl my defiance
And shout the song of the conqueror
To the four winds,
Earth, sea, sun, moon, and stars.
I LIVE!