When Kody Comes Home

Today it was reported by the Associated Press that Jeff Buhman, the Utah County prosecutor has FINALLY made up his mind what to do about the Browns' bigamy case.  He has completed his "investigation".  He has decided that, though guilty of bigamy, the Browns will not be charged, and that his policy (like that of the Attorney General) will be to prosecute bigamy only when there is a "victim" or fraud.

So what now? Do we all sigh a big sigh of relief?

Buhman is asking that Kody Brown's civil rights lawsuit against him be dropped because, now that the county's policy is to not prosecute polygamists, the case is "moot".  This is ridiculous.  It's much like saying, "I'm not hitting you any more, so you shouldn't complain about my hitting you."  One element of 'standing' in a Constitutional challenge is that the parties need to have been harmed or threatened with harm.  Clearly the Browns felt sufficiently threatened that they relocated to Sin City.  The judge (Waddoups) agrees.

The other silliness in this situation is that, however sincere Buhman is in his determination not to prosecute Kody and the four wives, the stupid bigamy statute is still firmly in place and still threatens most Utah families.

OKAY !!! - you and I both know that these idiots are smart enough to absolutely never use this lame statute on consenting adult polygamists, because that would do exactly what Jonathan Turley is doing right now - it would create a watertight test case to challenge the statute on the basis of Lawrence v. Texas (June 2003). The Church dreads this. When the Lawrence decision thoroughly decriminalized gay sex ("sodomy"), Utah did not instantly repeal its sodomy statutes, yet they are VOID nonetheless.  Well, the language of  Lawrence did not confine itself solely to homosexuality - it in fact decriminalized ALL consensual adult intimacies.  This (as Snortleff so eloquently argued in his Amicus brief in Lawrence) reaches all such conduct and inevitably VOIDS Utah's anti-polygamy codes.

Truth is, in spite of Lawrence, Sharkleff and Buhman have for a very long time preferred to "menace" the Browns and their fellow polygamists with the specter of prosecution.  If you are always flinching and cringing under the threat of incarceration, maybe you'll cloister yourself away somewhere in a dark, isolated corner of the state and keep your mouth relatively shut. As a stigmatized, marginalized minority, you can be more easily trampled on, and all the supercilious, pious Church-folk can go to bed at night peacefully knowing that those filthy polygs are second-class citizens - outlaws - lepers - nothing like our brave polygamous pioneer ancestors.

So here's the problem - if the Browns take Buhman at face value, they could perhaps venture back across the state line and resume residence in Lehi, reassured that arrests are now not imminent.  How does this protect them however from the prosecutors in the other counties they might visit?  Two other county prosecutors have charged polygamists in recent years. You get my point.

Let's cut through the fluff.  If no self-respecting prosecutor (besides Sean Reyes) will seriously pursue consenting adult polygamists, why is it SO DOGGONED important to keep that dumb, utterly-unenforceable bigamy statute in force?

Because the Church DREADS this one simple question:

Elder Soandso, now that polygamy is no longer a crime in the United States, will the Church resume its once suspended solemnization of plural marriages and stop excommunicating members who embrace it?

Entitlement

The word "entitlement" has been on my mind lately.  I guess the concept of entitlement has implications in various phases of my life and the lives of other people I know.
 -------------------

Definition:

Entitlement - Entitlement or a 'Sense of Entitlement' is an unrealistic, unmerited or inappropriate expectation of favorable living conditions and favorable treatment at the hands of others.

 -------------------

The other night, a pack of Hollywood celebrities hosted by George Looney gathered for a fundraiser for Balack Obama's re-election campaign.  The event raised $15 million.  Today, I learned that California has a more than $15 BILLION dollar deficit right now.  Do you see the irony?

If you were an astronaut traveling alone through space, and you happened upon a friendly planet with affluent and welcoming occupants, would you expect them to give you a home, a job, and a guarantee of financial support if the job were not to go well?

I think there is a widespread and fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of property and stewardship.  As long as there has been a universe and the procession of time, it has been incumbent upon living creatures to contract with each other.  A contract works best when its outcome is "win/win" for both offeror and offeree.  Consideration is exchanged commutatively, and both parties benefit.  When we stray from this formula, the universe and its occupants suffer.

Property is a concept more ancient than this planet.  Let's look at one aspect of property:


Right to property -                   e.g. - owning an apartment complex
Right to possession -                e.g. - managing an owner's apartment complex
Possession -                               e.g. - occupying an apartment in the complex

Let's look at another aspect of property;

Public property -                       e.g. - the bridge at the end of the street
Private property -                     e.g. - my truck
Personal property -                   e.g. - my toothbrush

In my diatribes about usury and interest banking, I have railed against just one of the tricks devised to bilk others out of their property.  Estate taxes are another vile racket.  It is apparent to me that many of the occupants of this universe spend a goodly portion of their existence hatching schemes to deprive other creatures of their property.  If you cannot simply walk into your neighbor's yard and snatch his lawnmower, maybe you can elect a politician who will do it for you.

Inevitably, the acquisition (nobly and ignobly) of property is intertwined with the tyranny:liberty paradigm.  If you are hell-bent on appropriating the possessions of others, the slickest way to get it done is to oppress them.  War, taxes, theft, usury, democracy, servitude, class warfare, fraud, - - - the list goes on.

We know from the Lectures on Faith that our God does not commit naked oppression.  He is benevolent, honorable, omniscient, and utterly reliable.  He contracts with us so that we can gain benefits.  The veil over our memories causes us at times to forget the agreement we made - - hence the tendency on the part of some to expect to get everything for free.

Before we left the pre-existence and found our spirits tabernacled in a body of fleshly elements, we sat down with our Heavenly Father and worked out the mortal experience transaction.  He said (and I'm paraphrasing):

"My child, if you agree, I am going to put you in a family in the western United States.  You are going to have an opportunity to learn about the fullness of My restored Gospel.  I can't force you to do anything, and the choices will be ALL yours.  I'll collaborate with you if you stay prayerful, and I'll intervene from time to time when it suits Me.  You will face awesome adversities, but it will be worth it for you if you make good decisions.  Do you still want to go to Earth, or do you want to sit around here for a few hundred more earth years?"

Then I said:

"Heck, yeah I wanna go down on earth!  I'm tired of waiting. I want a big family (like Yours). Put me down there, and I'll do my darndest to serve you and support my family.  I'll try to be honorable and respect the properties and liberties of Your other children."

And that was that! The contract was signed.  I popped out in the labor and delivery area and remembered nothing !!!!  Just because we don't remember all the details does NOT mean that the contract is not still in place.  Why else do we plead with God to do stuff for us?  He promised, didn't He?

Sadly, the Hamurabis, Woodrow Wilsons, Franklin Roosevelts and Barack Obamas of the world have taught us that in exchange for aliening away our birthright and right to property (to a foreign banker), we can look to "society" for a cradle-to-grave social insurance blanket.  This is a Ponzi scheme.  If a world-wide government re-distributed ALL of the world's wealth, EVERYBODY would still be grossly dissatisfied.

This is spiritual, folks.  It is the devil who preaches this crap. It is all about morality.  I chuckle when I hear progressives like Van Jones calling for achievers to hand over their excess property to the under-achieving.  The concept of communitarianism is not wrong.  It is a fundamental plank of the higher Gospel law.  The immorality emerges through the creation of oppressive, nanny-state processes that enslave both rich and poor.  Re-distribution of God-given resources must be done voluntarily and by mutually-negotiated contract. 

Are there people in your life who think they are entitled to your stuff - people who get angry at you when you don't give them what they want?  I am fascinated to see what will happen in California.  Governor Brown cannot raise taxes any higher without causing even more Californians to move to Texas.  He also appears not to be able to cut any government expenses and entitlement programs.

So, when California (soon) files bankruptcy, who will be the receiver? - the IMF? - Ben Bernanke? - Alan Greenspan? - Paul Volcker? - George Soros? - Sir Evelyn de Rothschild? - China?

Wait - I can already hear the cries that "California is simply TOO BIG TO (let) FAIL!"  Problem is - if we "bail out" California, then New York will be on the doorstep demanding that it be bailed out, too - - that it has a right to your hard-confiscated tax money.

Maybe we can get God to confiscate the gold and silver from a neighboring planet and bring it over here to Earth where it's most needed.  After all, we are entitled to everything we can confiscate, right?

Last week, JP Morgan Chase admitted that it lost at least $2 Billion in a botched Credit Default Swap transaction.  This ill-gotten gamble is likely to end up costing $4 Billion.  The media went ballistic.  HOW DARE a private bank, the biggest, squander that much private money so irresponsibly?  Calls were made for vast new regulations to prevent this from ever happening again.  Funny - the Federal government wastes that much (of our) money EVERY SINGLE DAY !!!!!