Children begging for food -- call to action

I found some very sad videos on Youtube of homeless children begging on the streets for food, and I thought that I would share them with the world so that more people would see them. Here is the first video of children begging in Indonesia:




One of the comments that I found the most regrettable about all of this is when someone from Indonesia said that, in essence, these children are born this way, they will live this way, and they will die this way with no opportunity for advancement.

Here is a second video, this time about children in India begging:



Here is another video from India, this time of children trying to sell crayon drawings to tourists:



If you want to help, the one place that I know you can donate and 100% of the money donated will go to help those in need is the humanitarian fund for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

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"Leave Max Hall Alone" -- BYU

This is an older video about BYU football, but it is still very funny. Leave Britney . . . er, Max Hall alone! Do you guys think that this video is funny?

She can't . . . she's Mormon :)

Gay Mormons, Elder Packer, and Three Myths about The Homosexual Lifestyle

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Elder Boyd K. Packer, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints created quite a stir over the weekend with a talk that he gave in that church's General Conference that, among other things, suggested that engaging in a homosexual lifestyle is ultimately a choice. Predictably, this upset a lot of members of the queer movement, many of whom felt that such a statement was offensive. To me, after reading Packer's talk, I couldn't agree more. However, I'm sure that this statement will be controversial. So, I wanted to discuss some myths surrounding the homosexual lifestyle.


Myth 1: It is not a choice to live the homosexual lifestyle.


Reality: Beyond eating, sleeping, and breathing, most things that people do in life are choices. I see no real reason why living in the homosexual lifestyle is any different. All of us have to make choices in life. For example, I choose not to take illegal drugs, sky dive, or go to the opera. All of those aspects of my life are choices, and I could have easily chosen a path where I did things differently.

Myth 2: It is not a choice to whom one is attracted.

Reality: When I was young and single and had much less experience with sex and the opposite sex, I might have bought this one. However, as I have grown older, I realize that this argument doesn't hold water either. People literally choose every day to whom they're attracted (or not). For example, this is why some guys prefer blonds and others prefer brunettes (or girls with black hair in my case). It's also why most guys, but not all, don't look at porn with fat girls in it and why some guys choose to be celibate and some choose to cheat on their wives. If you're going to claim that attraction in some of these cases is genetically based, why not in the rest of them? What is so different about a guy being attracted to another guy and a guy being attracted to a girl who is 300+ lbs? When the gay rights activists can explain that one to my satisfaction, I'll believe the arguments about attraction being an inborn thing that people can't change.

Myth 3: Homosexuals can't find a satisfying relationship with someone of the opposite sex.

Reality: Anyone whom has ever been married should realize that sexuality is a small part of the overall picture in a marriage. Sometimes the sex is good, bad, frequent, infrequent, hot, not, heavy, nonexistent, or none of the above. If you're married to someone you love, it doesn't matter much anway. Even in situations where the sex is less than ideal, married couples have many other things to focus on in life.If sexual relations were the end all be all of married or couple life, people would break up once the sex stopped.

I think that, in consideration of my personal experiences in life, Packer hit the nail on the head for this one. Lets get a discussion going here -- what do you think? Bring on the hate!

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Mormons Exposed: The Truth About Mormonism

Have you ever wondered what those "Mormons" are all about in life? Do you see their missionaries walking down the street, knocking on doors, trying to get people to read their "Book of Mormon"? Here, I try to answer some questions about Mormonism to explain what drives this movement.
Who are the Mormons?
A: They are a religious group, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. They have a following of approximately 14 million worldwide, and that number grows by about 400,000 annually.
What do they believe?
A: Mormons, like most religions, believe in a lot of things. Specifically, they accept Jesus as their savior and believe in a father God to Jesus, referred to as "Heavenly Father".
Are the Mormons Christians?
A: As I said, they believe in Jesus and accept them as a God and savior. That makes them Christians in my book.
But don't they believe in a different Jesus?
A: I've heard this question a lot, and I'm not sure what it means. They believe in Jesus, and, as far as I know, there is only one Jesus out there.
What about this Book of Mormon that they have?
The Mormons believe that this book is another set of scriptures, like the Bible, that their first leader, Joseph Smith, had given to him by an angel called Moroni. They believe that this scripture talks about a group of people that used to live around the time of Christ somewhere in the Americas. They believe that the stories about these people were written down and that Smith translated these stories into the Book of Mormon that exists today.
Are they dangerous?
A: They can be pushy at times, but I think that they are hardly dangerous.
Are they a cult?
A: One man's cult is another mans religion, I say. Even though they have a few things in their religion that would be strange by some Christian standards, I don't think they eat kids or rape goats or anything as bizarre as that.
Do they have more than one wife?
A: They used to, but they stopped doing that a hundred years ago or so.
But, wouldn't it be cool to have lots of wives?
A: It's hard for me to say. The closest I've ever come is that I used to date two girls at the same time, and that was more annoying than anything. If being married to a bunch of women is anything like that, probably not.
Hey, I thought that you were going to "give the goods" on the Mormons? Are they dangerous, brainwashed, weird, or what?
A: I really don't think that there is anything wrong with Mormons. Dangerous? Only if you're dating their daughters. Brainwashed? No more so than anyone else out there. Weird? Yeah. Or what? Or not.
So, that's the inside scoop on the Mormons. They're just another Christian faith. Nothing weird that I can see.

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