I've held my tongue, till now...

Our friendly TSA

2010-11-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

As a doctor I am expected to practice evidence based medicine. That means that everything I do must be based on evidence. Medical doctors will often complain that they loose patients if they don’t prescribe something even if evidence says not to. The patients will think that the doctor isn’t doing his job if they don’t get some medicine. This has led to super bugs that are antibiotic resistant and other such problems. That is why this new standard of evidence based practice is arising.

Are we as a country practicing evidence based security. What evidence do we have that these screenings even work. Does it make us safer or does it just make us feel better like that pill the doctor gives even though he knows you don;t need anything.

Lets do some double blind studies to see if the risk to benefit ratio is worth it. The risk is loss of liberty the benefit is security. If we lose all our liberty for complete security is it worth it? If we lose most of our liberty for relatively little security it definitely is not worth it.

Millions upon millions of people fly every year in this country and we have not heard of screening like this catching even one terrorist before they get on the plane. You better believe they would publicize it if they did catch one. One question any good doctor should always ask is what would happen if we did nothing. What is the true risk of death by terrorism on a plane if we had no security? 1 in a million? 1 in 10 million? That’s better than many legal drugs.

Florida? Really?

2009-09-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, about 24 hours ago I received an email from the navy trying to bring my bid for a contract down. This was news to me as I submitted the bid back in June. Also interesting because the position in question starts in one week. I submitted and was then told that I was officially being offered the contract. I was actually using this submission as practice as I was not at the time qualified, but now am. I was hoping to get one of the 11 positions announced to open this fall. They have not yet been announced. Senator Bennett's office is on that one with me. But this one out of the blue was dropped in our lap. I let them know that I would not be able to report by the 1st of October as that is my wife's due date. But that I would be honored to serve in that capacity.

So the short of it is we are moving to Jacksonville Florida. -Soon-

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Our Government is Trying to Silence Us

2009-08-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Does our government work for us or do we work for our government? I don't want to work my whole life to support my government officials. I will happily give of my time however to participate in my own governance. I will participate in government I will remain active. Our government should be by the people not by politicians. Watch what happens when the government steps out of the way in this town hall meeting.

The governing body abandons the people. The people then conduct an orderly discussion happily hearing all points of view that wish to be presented. They governed them selves. No fights broke out but ideas were presented. When organization was needed a volunteer stood up to help lead the discussion. No one paid him. Taxes were not raised. The mic was taken away. Only the bare minimums were needed.

An Excellent and Timely Speech

2009-07-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

This man was a true patriot and spoke well then and still speaks well for today.

Make Congress Eat the Food They Make

2009-07-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Support House Resolution 615 that would require congressmen and senators to have to use the health care that they force upon us the everyday citizens. Currently there is a clause in the Health Bill that allows congress to opt out of using it so they can keep their own wonderful health insurance. If they aren't willing to be on this plan why would any of us.

Understanding Hope

2009-07-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

Faith, Hope and Charity, you've heard the talk. We also get talks on charity or talks on faith. Since reading a talk in the Ensign about Hope: The Misunderstood Sister I've began pondering This other of the big 3. These are some less than put together ideas that I have. I would love to discuss them so that I might bring my thoughts into better focus. To discuss it, I will first try to put into perspective faith and charity.

Faith is a principle of action. It is that courage to act, not knowing. Faith is the power to DO, without sure knowledge.

Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is his atonement. It is the only absolutely positive of the three. Faith and Hope are usually thought of in the positive direction. However, if you plant the seed of a bad tree and choose to nourish it, you will reap bad fruit. Charity cannot bring forth bad fruit. His atonement is still there. We can share his atonement in every act of kindness or service that we do. We become someone's savior, doing for them that which they cannot do for themselves, this is charity.

We must have faith to access charity. Because we must choose to accept the charity offered to us. This reaching out action is faith.

Hope allows us to not be led blindly. It is experience. If we take hope with us then we have sight of the end, we may be taking that one step into the darkness, but hope is with us and knows. Hope is what we can rely on when we can't see the way our selves. Hope is a gift, it's something you have not something that you do. I have hope because Christ atoned for me. But how did I get that hope. Someone who doesn't know of the atonement cannot have that hope. Hope is gained through the experience of the Holy Ghost(Moroni 8:26). I have hope, not because I was taught the gospel, but because the Holy Ghost testified to me of it's truth. Every spiritual experience allows you to gain a greater hope. I have experienced Christ's atonement in that witness.

Hope urges faith, and faith leads to greater hope. (Moroni 10:20, Moroni 7) I would venture to say that hope is "the secret." It is that force by which we draw things to us, when we gain experience whether it be good or bad (hope or anti-hope) we have greater support in the same. Hope sees the end, what ever it may be and we can lean on hope in our efforts toward the end of our choosing, but it is our choosing. Hope merely sees the end and supports us towards it (or it to us). The end that hope sees is our choice.

What is the difference in these 2 sentences:

"I have hope that the Lord will bless my life with success."
"I hope that the Lord will bless my life with success."

When we say, "I hope it rains today" it is truly as useless a comment as it sounds.

Tell me what you think.

Fallacies...

2009-07-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Lately I've heard too many people trying to avoid thinking. The purpose of debate/argument is not to destroy the other person, or to be right, but to discover what is right and to open our minds. You should recognize and acknowledge your feeling, but put them aside for the purpose of discussion. If you are able to discuss ideas you will learn, and the people you are talking to will also benefit even if their thought proves wrong. This is basic humility, don't take offense when you're wrong. In all fairness I must admit I was wrong once before to so I know where you're coming from. :)

As a way to foster discussion and to enable us to not be sidetracked I present a list of the logical fallacies. These are commonly used and most of them can be stopped just by pointing them out. When all parties see the fallacy it falls away. (Satan's lies look pathetic when you have the Holy Ghost with you.)

An incomplete list of logical fallacies:

ad antiquitatem (appealing to tradition). This is the familiar "it's always been done that way." That may be true, but that fact does not justify its continuance.

ad hominem (personal attacks). Calling Barack Obama a communist may be true, but it doesn't make his idea wrong. This fallacy is used to engender suspicion of the person and distract from the actual idea. This is also used to discount an idea due to personal bias for example white people arguing against affirmative action, rich people arguing for lower taxes, etc. Remember you're trying to figure out if the arguement or idea is valid not the person.

ad ignorantiam (argument to ignorance). Assuming something is true because it hasn't been proven false. For example "chiropractic can cause stroke." Lately this claim has been made by a certain group who is against chiropractic. The reality is that the risk is so small that it is too small to study and disprove. Until chiropractors can get a double blind case study with tens of millions of people their enemies will continue to use this. They will simply say prove that it doesn't. The same thing goes for Obama's "save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs." No one will ever be able to prove that he didn't save those jobs. No one will ever know if this economy got better or worse because of his policies because we can't see how it would have been. He can go on claiming that it would have been much worse without him because it can't be proved. To combat these you simply point them out.

ad misericordiam (argument or appeal to pity). We have to pass cap and trade or "Our children's children won't have a world to play in." You may have noticed that every single bill put forth has an emotional plea to save the poor, the elderly, the children, the helpless. It's a distraction. It might affect helpless people, that's good to know, but that doesn't make the bill good or the idea true. Fight the fallacy. Point it out.

ad nauseam (argument to the point of disgust; i.e., by repitition). No matter how many times you repeat something, it will not become any more or less true than it was in the first place. "But, I want a cookie" comes to mind. Even if it's true repeating it over and over doesn't make it a good argument. If you want a cookie tell me why you should get one.

ad populum (argument to the public). Everyone else is doing it!

ad verecundiam (to authority). This is used in the news all the time. They put someone on the screen for a few seconds who has a title of doctor or professor. They ignore the fact that he's a doctor of medicine and doesn't know anything about chiropractic. It's like quoting celebrities political views. They're famous so they must be right. It of course does not mean they are wrong. A celebrity may have a very well thought out political message, but your job is to measure the message not the messenger.

Circulus in demonstrando (circular argument). Circular arguments can be hard to spot especially with politicians as they speak a lot. They speak so much that by the time they get back to use their original argument as justification supporting that very same arguement you've already forgotten that they used it.

Complex question. "Why did Sarah Palin resign in the face of so many major allegations?" "Have you stopped beating your wife?" They are getting a dig in, in the form of a question. It forces you to answer more than one question and makes you look like you're avoiding the subject. You'll also see politicians and news people asking questions that have to be answered in stages. You have to address the false claim, by pointing it out. Then you don't even have to answer the question because you defeated the purpose of it.

Cum hoc ergo propter hoc (with this, therefore because of this). Correlation does not equal causation. The chiropractic stroke is an example of this. "People who go to a chiropractor have a stroke, so the chiropractor must have caused it" The reality is that people having a stroke go to a chiropractor because of their headache and neck pain he didn't give them the stroke, but treated the symptoms. Or if the economy comes roaring back during Obama's term he will be heralded as a great econimist even though he may have made things worse and the economy overcame them anyway.

Dicto simpliciter (spoken simply, i.e., sweeping generalization). Stereotyping! When you're the one in a million, statistics don't matter in the slightest.

Appeal toNature. Poison Ivy is all natural, I still don't want it in my shampoo. People who use herbs for healthcare often argue that it's all natural. Everything on this earth exists in nature. The human animal has developed computers, they are natural then. Those who argue that we should save the baby seals are also the ones that we should teach survival of the fittest in school (see if you can find what falacy I'm using there). Now just because it happens in nature doesn't make it a good idea per se.

Non Sequitur ("It does not follow"). "Racism is wrong. Therefore, we need affirmative action." What?! You skipped at least one step and leaped to a conclusion with that. The wrongness of racism does not imply a need for affirmative action without some additional support such as, affirmative action would reduce racism. Now we have a real debate.

Petitio principii (begging the question). Example: "The fact that we believe pornography should be legal means that it is a valid form of free expression. And since it's free expression, it shouldn't be banned," Don't get me started.

Red herring. This is the most obvious distraction. Also called a wild goose chase.

Slippery slope. I used this one with the legalization of gay marriage. It's not always a fallacy. A slippery slope implies that you can't stop yourself from going that direction once you start. I said that gay marriage can open the way for human animal marriage, child adult marriage, and any other kind of union you'd like to make. That may be true it may open the way, but gay marriage consists of two consenting people of legal age to make contracts. A dog cannot make contracts. This is not entirely a fallacy, but can be used to distract and appeal to emotion.

The Straw man. I use this one often. It's not always false, and is a great way to step back and see the big picture. You can use it by drawing a picture of what the other person is saying in a way that allows them to see through your eyes. When it becomes false is when all you use are the worst parts of their argument and don't show an accurate picture, but instead a bloated negative view of their idea with your own fallacies slipped in. A straw man that we may all be familiar with is that, "Mormons are not Christians." They build up that argument using their beliefs and not ours and often times not even the audience. They do it because once they can get people to believe that then they can easily knock down the idea of mormonism.

Tu quoque ("you too"). This is one I use too often with my wife. I try to use it only to bring perspective to the discussion, but sometimes end up using it for less honorable purposes. It's a distraction. No matter how many people choose poorly it doesn't make your choice good.

So... now you know. Don't be bullied by the press, politicians, talk radio hosts, or your friends like me. :)

Freedom to Fail

2009-07-04T18:23:00.001-07:00

Have you ever seen those motivational ads about how many failures successful people went through in order to succeed. Isn't it great that this country is designed in such away to allow us the freedom to fail as many times as we need. Look how many times we've messed up in our elections. But we have terms for our leaders and we will be able to try again. Hope is not lost.

Ask any great man how many times he failed, and it will always be more often than the one success that you know him for. Our founders gave us that right to fail. God gives us that right. He lets us fail because with out the possibility to make wrong choices we could not choose the right ones either. The only true failure is to give up. I will not give up on the United States of America. She has not given up on me. God Bless the USA.

Nation of Babies

2009-06-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Have we become a nation of children? When my child gets a splinter they don't want me to take it out because it will hurt. They don't realize that it will hurt more if we leave it in. We are willing to sacrifice our future and the future of our country for a little bit of comfort now. It's the extreme of the have it now mentality. Our country would rather put off the Pain of a depression than have it now. We'd rather think more about the immigration problem than suffer a little higher prices or fewer votes.

Have we lost the idea of struggling to achieve? Working hard for something? Where is the nation that understood that sacrifice now led to a greater happiness later?

Great Visualization

2009-04-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

No intro...No Explaination...Here you go:

I Wasn't Going To Say Anything...

2009-04-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

But, that's what my blog is about, loosing my tongue. So here it goes. Twilight... Trishelle you can put a link to this on your blog as my rebuttal.

Trishelle got me to watch this movie by convincing me that I could watch it like MST3K and mock and laugh the whole time. I tried. I tell you, there wasn't enough content to mock. There was no story line in this movie (well there was, they just decided not to include it, you know the whole back story, werewolf Indians protecting us from vampires etc...). There was no dialogue it was like watching a romance without the sound. It was like looking at a video of someone else's scrapbook, "oh, do you remember that honey." They needed a snarfblat! Got very boring!

Now beyond the fact that it took 2 hrs to show 15 min of plot there were major problems with that 15 minutes. I'll start at the beginning, honestly her family didn't need to be in the movie they didn't advance a story line, and you could have saved some time by just removing her family. She narrated the whole beginning anyway, so why not just sum it up in a brief narration.

Every single high school scene seemed as though it was written by someone who was home schooled.

Next, who goes online to lookup a book then drives to town to buy it only to glance through it and instead of reading the information in the book goes online to lookup what the book says.

Every relationship begins with a really weak confrontation for some reason. No one talks, but they each offend grossly and then suddenly it's forgotten and they're friends now.

Baseball! Honestly! I guess Harry had Quidditch so Vampires have to have something.

The final climax with the bad vampires was weak, unexplained and uninteresting a whole lot of running and still no talking. Even though this girl is now in the inner circle they still don't ever explain anything to her, but she's ok with that because she just wants to be a drooling slave to a vegetarian vampire who thinks of her as food.

Did you notice the make-up the vampire's face was white while his neck was normal color same with his hands vs. arms.

Do you remember the special effects. You did see those wires right (look at the picture)? Jumping from tree to tree, and running up a mountain with a person piggyback. At least I got a laugh out of those. It's as though they forgot to pay the effects guy!

There's more, but I can't take this much more. I felt dumber for having watched this movie. I'll leave you with one last thing to contemplate...

Glitter?!?

Obama's Not Invited To My Birthday

2009-04-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong I think it would be awesome to have anyone who holds the office of president of the United States at my birthday party. I have completely different reasons for my ban than politics. It all comes down to this. He's a lousy gift giver. Here he is the President of the United States. He has access to just about anything he could want, but no... Let me show you what I mean.

On his visit to the USA, Gordon Brown presented President Obama with three gifts; a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert’s authorized biography of Churchill (ok so it's history books, but an amazing set), a framed commissioning paper for HMS Resolute, rescued by an American whaler in 1856; part of HMS Resolute was later made into the desk presented by Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880, and used in the oval office still today. (That's a cool chunk of history)

And the third present, a pen holder fashioned from the timber of HMS Gannet, a sister ship of the Resolute that also served for a time on anti-slavery missions off Africa. This isn't just any anti slavery ship though, it wasn't around for the civil war and freeing the slaves in America, though the suggestion is obvious. This ship was actually used to stop the slave trade from Kenya. Were it not for this ship and Britain's fight against slavery Obama's grandfather might have been an Arabian slave. Obama might not exist were it not for this ship. This gift has ties to the historic desk in the oval office, anti-slavery, Britain's long freindship and support of the United States, and Obama's own family history. That is an AWESOME gift!

What did Obama give the prime minister? 25 DVDs of American movie classics. Ignoring the fact that they were American DVDs and incompatible with British DVD players; Brown is blind in one eye and has difficulty seeing movies! What did he get Brown's kids? Toy models of Marine One. (Can we go to the gift shop and pick out our own gift next time.) While the Obama girls got British designed dresses with matching necklaces and a selection of books by British authors not yet published in the USA.

Oh but wait. Today Obama got to meet with the Queen of England. He's had a little time to learn and improve. You know what he got the Queen? An ipod. Seriously, does he think the queen can't get an ipod? Oh but wait, you say there was more thought in it than that. Obama did learn something. Yes the ipod came with video of the Queen visiting the USA in 2007, and 40 Broadway songs. YES! Obama made her a mix tape! Ok I'm making fun of him they were cool songs mostly from American shows and Broadway is uniquely American, and they did come with a signed songbook from Richard Rodgers of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

But really, I think he has no sense of history, and give horribly unthoughtful gifts. He is totally not invited to my birthday.

In Honor of Pi Day

2009-03-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of Pies that I want to eat. In no particular order.

Pecan Pie
Shepard's Pie
Banana cream pie
Strawberry pie
Blueberry pie
Spinach pie
Lemon Meringue pie
Coconut Creme pie

and CHEESECAKE!:)!

The LDS Church on YouTube

2009-02-21T16:34:00.001-08:00

Most of the time when people are bored and browsing YouTube they end up watching a whole lot of junk and often get roped into seeing things they'd rather not. I just found a great Channel on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/MormonMessages Check it out. They even have video mormon ads.

Dafinitions

2009-02-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

This last Sunday in Primary. The children were learning the song "How Firm A Foundation." One of the verses begins with the line "Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed." When the music leader wanted to help the children to understand the meaning behind the words she asked if anyone knew the meaning of dismayed. To which one bright young boy replied "It means that you don't have a maid anymore."

I Love This Law

2009-01-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

This is just the best law I've ever seen proposed, not because it is a valuable law, but because it draws great attention to an issue needing it. Proposed by John Carter of Texas.

He calls it the Rangel Rule. It would allow average citizens to be forgiven of any IRS fees or penalties if they are caught fraudulently not paying taxes just like Charles Rangel (D-NY)(left), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who writes our tax law, and our new Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner(right), who enforces those laws. You can read the article about it here.

Shouldn't Laws be Constitutional?

2009-01-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

I thought so myself. That is until I found out that this bill died. It is called the Enumerated Powers Act, so named because it refers to the 10th Amendment which limits the federal government's powers to things specifically enumerated in the Constitution. It states:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

This bill would require congress to list the constitutional authority for each bill brought forward to become a law. It makes sense to me. If you want to pass a bill you should know by what authority you are doing so. The problem is that this bill has been proposed by Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) since 1995, and it has yet to come up for a vote. This last year it finally had 53 co-sponsors in the House and finally saw the senate floor thanks to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). But despite being the most obvious law ever it hasn't made it anywhere. It's been killed.

I am convinced that this bill keeps being relegated to eternal committee because no one knows about it. If we push our legislators to advance it then it will pass. It is up to us. Our own government has successfully hidden this issue for too long. Open people's eyes please. Draw some attention to this bill and to what our representatives are doing. There is a great article about the entire issue at the great Heritage Foundation website. You can find out what happened to the bill here. Check it out and see if your representative signed on to it. I haven't completely vetted this site, but on the surface it looks great, and has already begun the campaign to bring this issue to a vote.

Laying on Hands

2008-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

In my scripture study I have come across an interesting passage. Tell me what you think. I give you Luke 13:11-13

11 ¶ And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

13 And he ^alaid his ^bhands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Now think like a chiropractor. :)

Election Day is Next Tuesday

2008-10-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Living in Utah I am presented with a unique circumstance. My vote for president truly does not count. That leaves me free to vote for whom ever I think would best represent me without the fear of throwing my vote away. I am taking this opportunity to throw my support behind Kenobi.
I'm joining in with all the other supporters. That doesn't mean I'll vote for him, but I'll support him all the way :)

The Wound

2008-10-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

It's hard to see here, but you can see it a little. There's the dark part furthest left that's the main hole, and the red line from there curving in a nice baby bite pattern to the right is about a half inch wide. It was much more grusome yesterday before she slept it off. You couldn't even see it at first due to the blood. My, but tongues can bleed.

She was more willing to hold still for this one.

Tongue Piercing

2008-10-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

First off, I'm opposed to tongue piercings. I will allow my daughters to get their ears pierced once, but if they want to defile their body they will have to wait until they are out of my house to do it. Well, parents aren't always able to enforce the rules that they set, no matter how hard they try.

We've had a little rebellion in our house lately. In the last 2 months Evie has tried to pierce her tongue twice. And, this time she may have succeeded. I'll post pictures when I can get them. After all she doesn't exactly stick her tongue out on command. We don't even know what happened this time. Last time she was walking with her tongue and fell flat on her chin. This time she was in the other room alone when Trish heard screaming. No other children were around so this must have been self inflicted.

Perhaps she thinks that this is the easiest way to get a Popsicle to suck on in the winter. Or she really wants a tongue stud. What ever the reason, I drove up and Holly came running out to the car to tell me, "I have to come get you! Evie's tongue is all bleeding! Hurry!" When I get in there she is happily sucking on her otter pop in Mommy's lap. Since we don't normally stitch tongues in the medical world unless they are dangling we didn't go to the emergency room. We'll just use q-tips dipped in Hydrogen Peroxide, which it turns out Evie likes to suck on too. So it's a nice clean bite with a hole about the size of a pencil.

We'll watch it, but don't be surprised if she grows up with a divot in her tongue if she tries this too many more times.

Do You Remember Slam Books

2008-10-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that much of blogging is very self centered, and juvenile. I suppose that's the point, but well let me give you some examples. First of all I am addressing an audience as though many people read my blog, when in reality very few people follow my work, and even less read it when they happen upon it. That doesn't stop my self centered delusion. I continue to write, odd as it may be with the recognition that few are really reading. It is a great way to get your opinions out there and resolve the desire to be heard without really doing anything.

Next there is the example of this tagging thing. My wife has done many now, where someone asks you to tell 100 random things about yourself, or 6 quirks about you. Then you have to pass it on to everyone in your blogroll or tag 6 other people. The only thing this is missing is the standard, "tell who in the 7th grade you would kiss." Do you remember Slam Books from Junior High School? The funny thing is that people that I know would delete these as SPAM if it came in email readily embrace these things on their blog. Now the slam books I remember as a kid were very tame and usually got passed around a very limited circle of friends. These ones on blogs are public, but they still only get passed around circles of friends. In fact just like the junk email you get them over and over again because each of your friends gets them and they all tag you and you tag them etc... I've refused to participate thus far, but I don't know how long I can hold out, after all everyone is doing it, and they were sooo fun back in junior high. I enjoy reading everyone elses, so...Nah...

For now I'll stick with my narsisistic rants, and observations, and pass on the e-slam books. Now I expect everyone to take a trip down memory lane and post all of your memories about junior high. I look forward to reading them.

We Don't Need No Stinking Bailout

2008-10-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

What ever they want to call it. We don't need to go into more debt to fix this economic "crisis." We will rebound if things go bad. We are the United States of America. We can cope, and chances are great inventions and new ideas would come from us having to struggle through a down time. We my become more united, and less hateful of each other as we as a nation usually do in time of crisis. We will come to love each other more, and that's what we need. Less bickering and more working together. The people get it, why can't congress.

Dave Ramsey has a great idea to "fix" this. I don't think we need to do anything after all look what has happened in the stall so far. The House bill bombed, and the stock market plummeted. It came back the next day. Banks were about to fail, and other banks saw the low price of their assets and swooped in and bought them. The economy can take care of it's self. Let's get the government out of the economy instead of deeper into it.

No one can guarantee that our economy will tank if the government fails to act, and no one can can guarantee that it won't even if the government does act. Leave it alone. If something must be done, and if you want to do something read Dave's site and send that document to your representatives in Washington. Contact your government, and tell them what they must do, or they will loose their opportunity to govern. After all this is our government.

Millstones and Us

2008-10-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

-It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. [Luke 17:2]

I don't remember much about this event. I remember the setup and the resolution, but I don't remember making the decision or getting to the location of action. Two days ago my family and I were at a restaurant owned by our soon to be family (my brother is marrying their daughter). There was a family that came in and began eating. Occasionally we would hear kind of a scene coming from their table. An older gentleman was yelling at a young girl and sometimes slapping her hands. This was awkward, as it always is to see this kind of thing in public. I am for disciplining children, and feel that even spanking can be a useful tool at times. I also am for parents rights. I feel that parents should be the ones to teach values and discipline to their children.

Here is what I gathered from my observations of the situation. The family had gone out to eat, and as a form of discipline the little girl was not allowed to eat with them. This may seem cruel at first, but I realized that sometimes in our family if a child is disobeydient they may loose a reward such as desert. While the whole family sits around eating our ice cream they are allowed none. I thought that may be what they are doing or some variant. I hate to do this to my children, as I hate having to put my children in a corner. It pains me, but I know that it is better for them than not teaching them. Anyway, I accepted this, then I noticed that they had stuck a piece of pizza in front of this little girl, and the had slaps were for her reaching for the food because she was hungry. Ok, that was a little farther than I would go on the cruelty scale, but still within my toleration. The next thing I noticed was that this girl appeared to be mentally handicapped. Now I was seriously uncomfortable with the situation.

At one point I noticed that some of the children in our group had gotten up. I went outside to check on them, as I passed the window by this family I saw the older man strike this young girl in the face repeatedly. I don't remember how I got from outside to standing behind the man, but somehow I did. I remember thinking to myself, "be calm" then I tapped the man, (who was at the time still striking this girl) on the shoulder and said, "excuse me sir, if you continue to strike that child I will have to call the police." The man came towards me, and I remember noting how old and frail he looked to me. He was yelling something to me angrily, I stood my ground, and hoped I didn't have to hurt this sad form of a man. Then I began worrying for the little girl, and wondering if I had just done the right thing, or if I had made it worse for her. Things blur a bit at this time in my memory, and the next thing I remember is most of the people in the restaurant standing there informing this man and his family that what he was doing was abuse and that discipline is not what he was teaching, but fear.

That's pretty much it from my point of view. The family left with some screaming and some foul language. I heard later that license numbers were written down and police were called. I hope that was enough to save the child from her situation. I don't know what else to say. I felt uncomfortable when people told me they were proud of me, but I think it felt good to them to say it. I think what I did was a good thing (I'm not sure good will come of it) and it's good to reinforce those good things that people do, but it still feels weird to be thanked for doing something like that.

I pray she's alright tonight.

I Hate Health Insurance

2008-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

The whole idea of health insurance is wrong. Insurance protects from rare things. Health care is not rare. (Now, accidents and catastrophic health problems are rare, and insurance can be a good thing there.) As a society we have been trained to use health insurance. If you don't believe me go ask your doctor how much he charges for a sports physical. He doesn't know. He doesn't do the billing, and chances are it's different depending on your insurance. What's even more telling is that most people wouldn't even think to ask their doctor how much a procedure costs. They blindly pay the co-pay and their premiums and just live with it.

The annual premium that a health insurer charges for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $12,100 in 2007, and that's for big companies (source). Most plans have a $500-1000 deductible. Prices have gone up nearly 10% a year recently, so that puts you at paying a minimum of $14,000 per year before your insurance company will actually pay for anything. Is there anything else in your life that you pay that much per year for, oh yeah, maybe your house!

That's not the end of it. After ripping you off the insurance company then sticks it to us doctors. They set the amount that we can charge, and then after telling us what to charge they tell us what they will pay. (It's not what we charge). Then they send the bill to us saying we'll only pay this much and you already have a co-pay, so if you want the rest then you have to be the bad guy and go after the patient.

Here's the situation that I ran into today. A patient was treated. I am a provider on her insurance plan. We billed the insurance company. They said that I was not covered because her plan is just the basic plan and not the standard plan, so her plan only covers preferred providers not participating providers. So they will not pay anything. I am stuck with the horrible task of either taking no money for my services or charging this patient the ridiculous amount that the insurance company requires us to charge, but never pays. I can no longer legally charge her our cash rate because it is not the same day of service (a wonderful law passed thanks to insurance companies). Boy it's a good thing she's paying her $14000 to the insurance company to take care of her this year.

For $14000 she could probably see me for the rest of her life. Everyone think about it. What could you do with that extra $14000 you could save by not having health insurance. Now think about this what would happen if you took that $14000 and put it into a high yield savings account for 5 years. That's right you'd have $70,000 saved up plus interest. You could probably then leave that in an account gaining interest every year and only pull money out to pay cash for your physicals, dental visits, and even having a baby. You'd shop around for the best health care deals. You could find doctors who were willing to give you a discount for paying at the time of service so they didn't have to deal with insurance companies. You could still get catastrophic insurance with a $30,000 deductible which you can cover with your Health Savings Account. That's right, that's what they're called, and you can contribute to them before taxes. Make sure you find the right one that doesn't just make the money go away at the end of the year, but rolls over. Here is the link to the governments FAQs on HSAs.

If you followed this plan at the end of 5 years you'd probably end up with an extra $5,000 - 10,000 each year. Now what could you do with an extra $10,000. That's quite the raise to look forward to.

Fantastic Contraption

2008-09-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

If you like puzzles and physics and making things, and I know you do all you MacGyver fans out there. You'll love this new site I've found. It's called Fantastic Contraptions (http://fantasticcontraption.com) it's a game that challenges you to build something with limited tools to try to achieve a goal. I'm almost done, with the 21 challenges, but then I can go back and come up with new ways to do it. Once you've beaten a level you can then view other ways that people have beat it. Just try it, and link your contraptions on here so we can see how you think. Here is one of mine. Now you try it.

Voting For Someone

2008-09-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

I have in the past lamented elections where I felt that the choices presented no option to vote for someone or something. I don't want to vote for Obama, and I don't see my self voting for McCain either. I thought that during this presidential election I would have to find some third party candidate that I agree with. If you've ever tried it's hard. Third party candidates are always a little extreme. I was to the point that I was just going to focus on the local elections. After all that's where it really matters. I still will focus close to home.

I am glad to announce that I think I can vote for Sarah Palin, and almost regret that it is for VP and not for President. Sure I have my doubts as I've blogged before, but I feel confident that she is a leader, and has taken things prayerfully into consideration and is doing what she feels is right for her family and for this country. I like her, and I like what she stands for. Her views and stances on the issues of our time are similar enough to mine that I would happily vote for her, and that's a good feeling.

Gov. Palin Visits Kuwait CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait -(July 28, 2007) Gov. Sarah Palin stands underneath the Alaska flag with Lt. Col. David Osborn during the governor's recent visit to Kuwait. The governor was visiting Alaska Army National Guard Soldiers who have been deployed to the country since October 2006. Osborn is commander of the Guard's 3rd Battalion, 297th Infantry, and lives in Anchorage.

Laws and Why We Make Them

2008-08-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's the situation running through my head. In Texas the justice department is thinking about not only prosecuting the abuses committed by the FLDS church members, but also the bigamy. They actually want to prosecute polygamy.

So here's the question I have for our society. Why is polygamy against the law in the same country where Hugh Hefner is heralded as a hero of the sexual revolution. This says to me sleeping around is perfectly fine, just as long as you haven't made a spiritual commitment to the people you are sleeping with. If you don't promise to take care of them you can have sex with whomever you want.

I think that I want Texas to prosecute for bigamy, only so that the constitutionality and hypocrisy can be challenged. Wouldn't it be ironic if the prosecuting attorney were having an affair while taking on polygamists or if he had been divorced and remarried many times. It would certainly bring attention to the wonton disregard for morals that this country has allowed to develop.

I don't want Texas to prosecute, for other reasons entirely. I don't think that our society as it is should be the group to legislate marriage. I'm scared that if we open up this can of worms that society will just say that anything and everything is ok and we should just be tolerant. Satan would just love to completely destroy marriage and family in this country, by destroying the deffinitions.

Growing Up Too Fast

2008-08-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

We went on a walk the other day to find Mommy who was at the gym. It was a happy and sad experience for me. My oldest daughter rode her bike through daring obstacles steering past the most difficult of challenges. The middle one rode her tricycle the whole way racing and chasing people down with it. If that wasn't bad enough my youngest is starting to walk. Last week she walked to Daddy and back to Mommy, but couldn't be motivated by anything less than her parents. Now she has decided that this walking thing might be useful in more situations.

I'm turning 31 this month, boy am I old. It was just yesterday that we bought that bicycle with the training wheels for Christyn, and Holly could barely reach the pedals of her trike if I moved the seat all the way up. Pedaling was out of the question. And, Evie, well she shouldn't even be crawling yet if you ask me. My children are becoming independent. What's a dad to do.

No Stupid People

2008-08-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have a quote that I use often, that is statistically accurate, but on the surface doesn't sit well. The quote is that 50% of all people are below average. Think about that for a minute. It has to be true. What ever the middle is half are on one side and half are on the other. That's one in every 2 people. But what does that mean.

Are we all below average in some things and above in others. I know at my second job my co-workers, and sadly sometimes even myself, make comments about some of our below average customers. They may be below average at using the software that I support, but they are building contractors and insurance agents. I would probably make some pretty dumb mistakes if I were trying to do their job.

I know that most of my patients don't know a lot about what I do before they come to me. I try to educate people because the more knowledge we have the better we can make life for ourselves and for others. Where much is given much is required.

I think the only thing that can keep us "below average" is ourselves. If we ever choose to stop learning, doing and growing, then we damn our own progression and we are doomed to be below average. I suppose there are some people out there who will choose to be below average, but I hope it's far less than 50%.

Ahhh Memories...

2008-07-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

I remember this song. I didn't know it was a commercial.

Let's see what else I can find...

I thought these were the value tales or something. Does anyone know the source of these, my childhood memories?

Life Before our Conversion and Repentance

2008-07-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

If you've never heard Glenn Beck's conversion story. This is a great interview. I like hearing conversion stories. If it wouldn't be mocked I think it would be great to have a collection of conversion stories on a website somewhere. However some things shouldn't be cast before swine. This however is well done.

I love the Lord and the changes that He can make in our lives if we will just let him. We were talking to some friends tonight and the conversation turned to intolerance among Mormons. Not that it is a big issue, but some sins are easier to see, and we as a people need to see others as god sees them. When that guy with the tattoo walks into church, or the woman who used to be a prostitute, or the man who just got out of prison, we need to see them as God sees them. We need to love them. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't take precautions, but if Christ's atonement is good enough for us, then it is good enough for them. We should accept them as people who are trying to come to Christ just like we are. For we are all sinners. It's not up to us to determine if their repentance was sincere. It is not even up to us to forgive them, (unless they wronged us). We are all brothers and sisters, equal in our ability to utilize the atonement.

Mormons Volunteer?

2008-07-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

We've got it pretty bad here in Utah. All of us horrible people we never help each other out. Ours is such a selfish community. Well I've got news for you. According to new rankings of the percentage of adults who volunteer.

"By state, Utah had the highest rate, 43.9 percent, followed by Nebraska, Minnesota, Alaska and Montana. Nevada had the lowest state rate, 17.7 percent; Florida and New York were the next lowest.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Portland, Oregon; were the highest-ranked big cities, while New York City and Las Vegas were the lowest-ranked after Miami. Among 25 mid-size cities, Provo, Utah, came first with a 63 percent rate -- the highest of any jurisdiction in the report." (CNN Source)

I know it's no suprise to those of us who live here, but quite often we get a bad rap. It's nice to see the recognition, but I wonder how much higher it would be if they counted eagle scout projects, Relief Society baking dinners for women having new babies, youth clean up projects, teaching sunday school, or for that matter any of the volunteer work we do in everyone of our callings.

Determination

2008-07-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

I am determined to get into a hospital with my chiropractic. I've contacted UVRMC (Utah Valley Regional Medical Center)about being able to massage the staff. People have a much harder time turning me away when I show up with my massage chair ready to give free massages. I will massage everyone at that hospital if I have to. Besides, me getting 10 minutes of their time so that they listen to me is worth the massage.
If anyone knows anyone who works at the hospital please let me know so that I can contact them for free massage. If I can get into the hospital it would be huge for me and for chiropractic in general.

An Old Draft That I Forgot to Post: "Evie is Standing"

2008-07-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, you heard it right on about her first birthday our youngest daughter began standing on her own. She pulls herself right up and even dances a little. Yesterday I saw her even try to take a step. She wasn't confident enough to go through with it, but she definitely tried. It is so exciting to see her grow up. Holly seems impatient for it. She wants a younger sister that can run and play with her now!
I enjoy the time that I can spend with them even more now because I'm working two jobs, to pay the bills.

My chiropractic business is picking up though, and for those of you who don't read my professional blog my business site even made it to the front page of google. The sooner it picks up the sooner I can come home at a reasonable hour and spend some quality time with my girls. Till then...

Searching for a VP

2008-07-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not a presidential candidate, but being so disappointed in the choices that I do have I am looking for a good VP that might help me actually vote for a particular candidate. I have found Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska to be a very interesting choice. She appears to be ethical, honest, conservative, and full of useful ideas. Her background is very interesting. She is an average person who has not actively sought politics, but fell into it by being an active citizen. She has a degree in journalism, and could combat the journalists of today. She is a member of the NRA, and is currently fighting for the rights of Alaskans to user their land as they see fit. She has many great accomplishments to her name, but has not grown up in a privileged life. Her husband is a commercial fisherman, and she has 5 children the oldest of whom is in the Army. She has approval ratings in the 80-90%. And has fought to bring back Alaska's Republican Party from corruption.

There is one drawback that discourages me. She is a mother of 5 one of whom, their last, is a disabled child. There are two sides to this. I believe that a mom's most important work is with her children, and feel that the position of VP may harm her family. The second side of this is that she has here choice, and is entitled to her own inspiration about what she should do that would be best for her and her family. I feel like most great leaders are thrust into the role rather than seeking it. I feel that she is willing to serve her country if called upon to do so, but that it would be a great sacrifice for her family.

Anyway. I think she would make a great Vice President of the United States of America. For those interested in VP info regarding this great governor there is a movement out there already.

In an election where people all seem to tell me that I should vote for the lesser of two evils it would be nice to have someone that I could really vote for. After all isn't the lesser of two evils still an evil. I would rather vote third party, because I can't vote for someone I don't believe in.

Here she is on Glenn Beck. Take a listen and see what you think of her. There is a lot more info out there about her. Please tell me what you think. Could you vote for her.

Here's what Glenn thinks of Gov. Palin, and her qualities, oh and her new baby:

I Didn't Plan on Doing Anything Big

2008-07-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

I just thought it would be good to have a personal blog site. The one that I normally post on is my professional site. It's unprofessional to talk politics or religion or things like that, so... I guess this will be my outlet for that, as well as posting good things going on in my life. Anyway, I just helped my wife set up her blog, and thought it might be a good idea to tune up this one a bit, you know add some links etc. Who knows maybe I'll even post a little on here.

Oh, the first one

2008-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, the first post is always hard, so I'm getting it out of the way.