Tag Archives: Popular Discussions

Do You Know This Drug?

I recently heard about this new drug, salvia. It’s legal in 43 states and is being compared to LSD. (not to be confused with my religion, LDS 😀  )  I looked it up on wikipedia, so if you’re clueless, like me, check this out.

It’s a hallucinogen from Mexico. Apparently it’s really easy to find, and being legal, anyone can buy it.  Teens are taping themselves and their friends while they’re high and putting it on YouTube.  As if teenagers don’t do enough stupid stuff, they’re adding a legal drug to mess up their brains.  How addictive it is is not well-known, as well as long-term effects of usage.

I just think it’s really scary that anyone can just go buy this hallucination-inducing drug. I also wonder where this will go, as far as legalization.

So, I thought I’d just bring this up for anyone who’s not heard of it and the controversy surrounding it.

What Do You Think?

Ok, I’m going to post a topic I find interesting. But I want to say now, that immature and personally attacking comments will not be tolerated. This is meant to be an intelligent discussion, and if you can’t play like an adult, don’t try.

I recently watched a show that talked about gender identity disorder. This is when a person, child in this case, feels like their mind and body don’t match.

A little boy, at 3 years old, told his parents he wanted to be a girl. He leaned towards Barbies, girl clothes, and ballet. His parents tried to steer him toward boyish stuff, like trucks and baseball, but it didn’t seem to work. When he was about 6, his mom let him have his way. He began dressing like a girl, grew out his hair, and went to dance class. And she began referring to him as a “she.” At 8 yrs old, this boy now lives entirely as a girl.

Another woman came on the show and her son went through the same thing. Now, at 16, he no longer had the desire to be a girl and went back to being a “straight guy.”

Statistics show only 20% of children that feel they’re of the opposite sex actually grow up to dress/live as that sex. So there’s only a 20% chance that the little boy will continue to live as a woman as an adult.

The parents of the boy and the boy himself said, “God made a mistake…I’m a girl in my head and a boy on the outside.”

Personally, I don’t think God makes mistakes. But I do think it’s possible for small children to get either confused or have the desire to go outside their gender, whether to explore or just as an interest. My son plays Polly Pocket occasionally with his sister. He also wears her pink slippers sometimes. But he knows he’s a boy and she’s a girl, and by nature AND nurture, his role in life is that of a boy.

There are gender roles and they’re not bad…women are made to be sensitive and nurturing (in general). Men are made to be strong and rough-and-tumble (in general).  I know many men who aren’t afraid to shed a tear, and I know women who would rather be on a 4-wheeler than baking. But they know who they are.

Children learn…by nature, they’re directed a certain way, but it’s up to the parents to guide them and be role models. Why else would the 20% statistic be so low??

What’s your take?

What Would You Do?

Your brother (your only sibling!) was born with one kidney. Now it’s failing. You are a match to donate. Would you do it? I think most would.

Ok, let’s add a catch. You’re an athlete and you have a career ahead of you. Giving up a kidney would sacrifice your dream. Would you still do it? I’d still say most would. It would be tough but I think most people would to save a sibling.

Let’s make it a little more tricky. Your brother drinks, smokes and has taken drugs (cocaine & marijuana for many years. And even now that he’s on dialysis, still does. You know that this not only jeopardizes his body’s acceptance of your kidney, but that doing these things will ruin it.  Would you still do it? Is it your obligation to do your part to save your brother? Or would you make stipulations?

Personally, I’d have to see my brother turn his life around. If he has another shot at life, he would need to appreciate the gift.

(this was taken from Dr. Phil yesterday)

McCain’s New RunningMate

Holy smokes! I predicted Leiberman, but I’m glad I’m wrong.

She’s Sarah Palin, 44 years old, the governor of Alaska, a mom of 5…the oldest in the military and the youngest a baby with Down’s. I could go on, but I’m sure you’ll hear about her if you haven’t already. This is huge.

I’m thrilled. I love many of the things she stands for (anti-abortion, anti-big government) and I think it was a great move of McCain. Hillary has pretty much no chance of taking office anymore, so people that would vote for her just because she’s a woman may vote for McCain/Palin. Yeah, not a good reason to vote for someone, but as I say IRL, “People are sheep.”

No, she doesn’t have a lot of experience, but what does Obama have? IMO, Obama’s as popular as he is because he’s incredibly charismatic, young, and half-black. I think having a half-black president would be great for the country as far as racial divide goes, but that’s no reason to vote for someone. Just like the female issue. He doesn’t have experience like McCain does and his head is in the clouds. I don’t think he’d get as many things done as he thinks he could…he’s a little overly optimistic.  Anyway, I digress…

She’s the first female runningmate for the presidency…and if they win, or Obama wins, this is hugely historical. Especially if McCain doesn’t make it full term, which a lot of people are worried about. She could actually be the first female VP and then President.

I’m very excited. I’m really looking forward to seeing her more and hearing more of what she stands for. And I can’t wait to go vote!

Natural Gas in East Coast

This could really be big to the local communities if drillers find enough natural gas. It is one of the three largest potential onshore resources of natural gas in the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Marcellus shale, named after the town in New York where it was found, is mostly in western New York and Pennsylvania and much of West Virginia. The area also dips down into Maryland’s Garrett and Allegany counties, as well as a few others. There’s reports of small towns’ hotels filling with drillers and speculators hoping to dip into this. It was originally found 25 years ago, but set aside as the gas crisis the US had passed.

Even if no very large discoveries are found in this region, drilling activity here could have a great impact on our local economy, as well as to those to the east of us. It would produce many jobs, raise paychecks of workers, tighten labor supplies, and hopefully result in lower energy costs. And since our energy cost has gone up so much in January, I’d love to see drilling. It’s rumored that drillers are paying local farmers $1500-2500 an acre for drilling rights, then royalty on top of that if gas is found.

So we’re really going to keep an eye on this, seeing that it’s our area!

Watching China


I’ve kept a close eye on the Chinese teams in particular (after the US teams, of course). They have the most gold medals by far and are clearly doing well. Yesterday I watched the men’s volleyball, China vs. Japan. The stand was full of Chinese who came to support their team. They won the first 2 rounds, lost the next 2, then played a tie-breaker game and won. What was interesting to me was to see the people in the stands.  Their support and enthusiasm for their team was deafening.

But it also made me think. China and Japan have had such bad blood for so many hundreds of years. Their history is bloody, brutal, and cruel. I couldn’t help but wonder how much of the cheer was simply that China was beating Japan and not just in a game. It’s sad to think there would be so much animosity still deep-rooted between the 2 countries (justified or not). I hope I am wrong.

One controversy that has popped up is about the little girl that sang in the opening ceremonies. During the auditions for her part, they were looking for a girl that was cute, could sing well, and was “flawless in character”. They found a little girl, but she wasn’t cute enough, so they had her sing behind the scenes while they had a cuter little girl sing out front (the one we saw).

Of course the media has gone nuts with this, saying how awful it is. And it’s not good. But China is putting their best face out there. They want to look good to the world. They want everything to appear perfect, because we all know it’s not. So they cut a couple corners. And they admitted it; the behind-the-scenes girl’s picture is all over the media. They invited the world in to their home and are serving the best. We all do the same.

Another controversy is that the youngest gymnast girl is 13, instead of the required 16 during the Olympic year. That’s still to be found out entirely.

Like I said in an earlier post, it will still be interesting to see how the games continue to go.


I really, really find something I read today amusing. 😀

Barack Obama’s new book, “Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama‘s Plan to Renew America’s Promise”, is coming out Sept. 9th. This is a policy book! Hah!

I find this amusing because now we have a book to pull out when a Dem flip-flops on a topic–we can go back and see what his POV was 2 weeks ago.

Of course, many will see this as a great thing, and I can see why. People that love Obama will enjoy reading some of his speeches that are in the book and can get a better understanding on where he wants to go as future president. Back in 1992, Clinton and Gore released “Putting People First,” a book of their plans that actually did very well and stayed that way for awhile even after they were elected into office. So I’m guessing that Obama’s will do well, too. So much of the world’s eyes are on him right now.

I guess I’m just not the type to buy a policy book. However, if Rice wrote one, I could see myself reading it.

What’s Next with China?

There’s much speculation about China around these Olympics. China is notoriously closed-minded to the outside world in many ways. They have magnificent technology, as we all know…think back to the opening ceremonies on the 8th with that huge LED screen on the ground. And they’re open to tourism…I definitely would LOVE to go to China. But the government is strong against change. Tienanmen Square in 1989 was an example of that. Sure, that was a long time ago and they got dirty looks and “what the heck!?!”‘s from the rest of the world. But they still didn’t open up much.

So with the games going on, many people, including myself, are wondering, “What’s next?” How is this going to change our views on China? How is this going to change the Chinese government’s attitude/behavior to the rest of the non-communist world?

I thought it was interesting how much cheer Cuba got in the opening ceremonies from the Chinese. No country was boo-ed, but it was palpable when a favored country appeared. The US got cheered quite a bit, too, another interesting note. China is doing well, as far as golds go. And I think that’s a good thing in some ways. It may elevate the “outside’s” opinion of the people and country. But I also wonder if the govt. will say, “See? Told ya we were right.”

During the opening ceremonies, there were also quite a few bold statements. A large group of children presented their flag to soldiers, who, in strong military style, stiff-stepped it and hoisted it up the flagpole. A woman, beautifully dressed and dancing, stood on a platform carried by many men. In the very beginning, a couple thousand men in total unison banged on drums. The messages were quite clear in each instance. Paul and I just looked at each other and our jaws dropped!

But, overall, I’m very excited. I hope things open up and attitudes become more positive.

Polygamy from a Mormon’s POV

Back in the early days of the LDS church, yes, polygamy was practiced. It started because many men were killed in massacres and fighting and the women and children left behind needed care. Then it continued on, and was declared official in Utah in 1852 by Brigham Young. Years later, when Utah was trying to become a state, the US government said, basically, “You can become a state, but the polygamy has to go.” In 1890, under Wilford Woodruff, Utah agreed to ban polygamy.  When Joseph Smith was alive, he wrote the Articles of Faith….13 short statements of what we believe. One of those articles is to obey the laws and follow the rules of the government. And the church was willing to follow the laws of the government. Utah became a state 6 years later. (There was a lot of controversy and tension between the Utah territory and the government between 1852 and 1890, so I’m just giving a quick overview.)

Many in Utah felt that the government had no right to tell them how to practice their religion; they felt that if a commandment came from God, it couldn’t be revoked by man. So they splintered off the mainstream group and continued polygamy. (One thing I don’t understand is if the group still believed in Joseph Smith and the Articles of Faith he wrote, how they could not follow the one about following the laws of the government.) They were (are) called the Fundamentalists, which group still continues today.  This group is not associated with the mainstream LDS church in any way. If someone in the church is found practicing polygamy, they are quickly excommunicated.

Sometimes we (me, Paul, my family, many “Mormons”) often joke about polygamy. I’m writing this because there are so many lies and distortions about the church floating around. It amazes me that people still think this is something we do. Which is why I’m putting it out there, as many others have.  If Paul ever came to me and said he had a revelation that he should have more than one wife, I would tell him that it was fine with me. But not to include me in that number! Besides, I think if he had 2 of me, he would change his mind pretty quickly. 🙂