At least Andrew enjoys (or possibly recoils from) my political commentary, but I’d like to switch the pace a little. It’s kind of taxing to rant into thin air so I’ll reserve it for special events from now on (I’m lying … I can’t shutup).

Anyway, let’s get to important things in life. It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything about Sophia, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that she isn’t the highlight of our lives. She’s the happiest baby I’ve ever seen. We thought we had captured a special moment when we took a photo of her smiling around 2 weeks old, but her natural state is smiling. Sure there are moments of hunger, frustration, and fatigue but most of the time just looking at her elicits a toothless little grin, followed up by some squealing and cooing.

We try to give her tummy time periodically, and she hates it. She doesn’t cry, but rather yells and, I imagine, curses in whatever language babies speak. To be fair to her, I think the only thing that keeps her from turning over is that fact that her arm is in the way. She’ll raise one of her legs up and shift her weight to one side but inexorably there is a little arm in the wrong place. She kicks and yells. She tries to push with one arm and one leg but in the end the only thing she can manage is bending her little arm. She won’t listen to reason. I try to position her arm to make it easier for her, but inevitably she is her parents’ daughter and must do things her way.

I have a new assignment in church. Oddly enough I can’t really talk about it much suffice to say I’m the new welfare representative for the ward. Compared to other callings or assignments its a decidedly temporal one in the sense that I will be there to assist families/people on the path the self sufficience. Rather than a Sunday School teacher or other spritual instructor, I will be a temporal instructor. To be honest, I have no idea how I will be able to do this. I am young and generally those I will be helping get jobs put their finances in order will be older than me. I have been blessed with a pragmatic wife and a lack of desire to impress with flashy luxuries combine that with working constantly since 16 years of age and we live a relatively financially easy life. I am worried that our own lack of strict budgeting has us hemorraging money that could be saved, but I’ve been blessed with a wife who keeps a vice grip on our finances. The church I attend (LDS/Mormon) has a very large and very involved welfare program for members that really helps those in need. You may have heard of the huge financial reserves of the church iself but I can honestly attest to it’s proper use in helping the needy. Obviously personal matters such as these are kept quiet so this may be the only time I speak of my assignments again.

I turned 27 today. This number seems old when I think of my hobbies and distinct lack of maturity, but when I look at my daughter I feel young. I look at my beautiful wife and feel like a giddy teenager. I sleep in my bed at night feeling like I’m still at a slumber party. I still feel like a kid when I’m at my parents or in-laws house. I hate mowing the lawn. I listen to raucous music. I enjoy video games, and still dream of exotic sports cars. Life is fun. I hope I still feel the same way in 30 years when I have my own grandkids

Categories: BJ, BJ's Life, Sophia
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I browse various blogs and op-ed style articles but few seem to express exactly what they are feeling. Orson Scott Card has been a huge proponent for the Bush administration and I wanted to mention his latest article on the Israeli-Hezbollah war.

Give it a once over, because I’d like to comment on it. Card paints a picture of Middle-east power and a build up to a no-holds barred conflict over Israel and the interests of the Middle East. He compares the Midde-east to pre-WWII germany but he’s getting it wrong. He should be comparing it to Japan. The twist being that the current Middle-East chest beaters are willing to fight vicariously and throw civilian casualties to the wind. The majority of Muslims in the middle east deny Israel’s right to exist. The extremist groups are willing to fight and sacrifice 10 of their men for every 1 pro-Israel fighter. So now we are stuck watching more Muslims slip towards extremism as they watch their families die. The only way for Israel to maintain its borders into the forseeable future is for an almost genocidal war, in which opposition to their existence is wiped out.

Japan surrendered after Russia’s declaration of war and our Nuclear attack. The proposed cost of a land invasion of Japan was somewhere around 1.5 million lives. In this sense there were less casualties even considering a nuclear strike. The difference is that the Japanese emperor who led the empire was a man who could understand his position, who had the power to surrender. In Islam the ideas that lead suicide bombers to blow themselves up only to make a point are built with the dark corners of religion and zealotry, rather than honor to a human emporer. How do you make men surrender who follow, not a man, but God himself?

So, I look on with horror at the direction of the world, hoping that reason will enter into the equation. In some respects, Card might be right, but I don’t think he understands the sheer cost of human life in this very long and very drawn out conflict, that will never be truly resolved until the entire world is Muslim or Islam as we know it, changes.

Categories: BJ, Philosophy etc
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At times, I put myself in difficult situations. I consider myself well versed in current political affairs, and generally try to keep abreast of situations affecting the world. I have an odd aversion to punditry unless it is veiled in humor (daily show, colbert report) and read articles that have liberal slant, only because conservative voices are more incendiary and have a distinct lack of humor. To be honest, most of my news comes from the local NPR station. I listen to NPR about an hour and a half each day. I know, I know they’re liberal … whatever. Yes you can tell which ideas they espouse due to their questioning, but each show on NPR is slightly different so I can’t fault them all. It boils down to a philosphy by philosophy basis, where my own personal beliefs certainly don’t fit within the current molds of neo-con or liberal.

Of particular concern to me are the matters of war and religion. I can’t help but sorrow at the death and destruction caused by intangible dogma and irrelevant chest pounding. I understand that it’s a societal problem that leads to things like the current conflict in Lebanon, but around the perimeter there are people like me. Moderate people wanting to live a peaceful life. Sure their respective government/freedom fighter/terrorist/religious leader uses palatable fear to drive them to think the way they do in hopes of consolidating and extending their power, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them the autonomy of thought. I’m not pro-Israel. I’m not pro-Lebanon/Palestine. I’m not pro-Iraq. I’m anti-war. However, I would rise up in a second to defend my own freedom. It doesn’t matter if its a foreign enemy or a local one, It is my hope that people can taste that and reach for it with the same fervor as the founding fathers of this country. In a free society my enemy is my equal, in a controlled society my enemy is the oppressive hand that binds me to it’s overreaching laws.

Maybe I am a bleeding heart now, but I would rather be harmed by an outside force than withheld and constrained by my own government. I do not understand the mentality of those who would automatically trust someone in government. They fear the undulating throng of people like them and aquiesce to the government, allowing them more and more control. This was the same mentaility that allowed Jim Crow laws to last so long. I’m more and more suprised that this hasn’t happened independently of our intervention in the Middle-east, but the contraints of zealotry impede the foundations of thought.

Death is an unknowable gateway. Lining our thoughts with hopes of glories impedes our understanding of the horrors of war. I find it odd that the line between dying for your beliefs and killing for your beliefs can be so easily crossed. I speak specifically of the religious conflict between Israel and the Middle-eastern islamic nations. What synapse fires that allows you to fire rockets between civilian homes and not expect the return fire to destroy those very homes. If it is a conscious decision, then what gives you the right to sacrifice the life of another for your cause.

I’m really just thinking our loud here, and I can’t guarantee any of this makes any sense to anyone but myself, but this was sparked by some recent discussion that had me wondering how many people believe that we should destroy the middle-east? Obviously being in Texas skews my perspective a little, but I can’t understand how easily people are convinced to hate people that are not like them. Perhaps I am the same way. The difference between me and those I disagree with is that I don’t think we’re “saving” anyone. Just as those who fire rockets between the homes of innocent people, we are making decisions for others we have no right to make. If our cultures do not mesh and our ideals and so different, then the best thing to do is let their culture evolve. If this means revolution in their respective countries then so be it. If sharing freedom means killing the unwilling, then I say we take our ball and go home.

Categories: BJ, BJ's Life, Philosophy etc
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