The truth is non-partisan

Dear Friends,

In the aftermath of the recent election, we may find ourselves oddly
on the defensive regarding our support for the Yes on Proposition 8
cause. Our young people have been especially subject to mean-spirited
comments by high school friends and teachers. We have nothing to be
ashamed of. We did nothing wrong. In fact, we did everything that a
civic-minded American can and should do. I have put together a few
facts that help me to appreciate our position better. For example:

1. Mormons make up less than 2 percent of the population of
California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total total
population of approximately 34 million.Mormon voters were less than 5
percent of the yes vote.

2. If one estimates that 250,000 LDS are registered voters (the rest
being children), then LDS voters made up 4.6 percent of the yes vote
and 2.4 percent of the total Proposition 8 vote.

3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) donated
no money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Individual members of the church
were encouraged to support the Yes on 8 efforts and, exercising their
constitutional right to free speech, donated whatever they felt like
donating.

4. The No on 8 campaign raised more money than the Yes on 8 campaign.
Unofficial estimates put No on 8 at $38 million and Yes on 8 at $32
million, making it the most expensive non-presidential election in the
country.

5. Advertising messages for the Yes on 8 campaign are based on case
law and real-life situations. The No on 8 supporters have insisted
that the Yes on 8 messaging is based on lies. Every Yes on 8 claim is
supported.

6. The majority of our friends and neighbors voted Yes on 8. Los
Angeles County voted in favor of Yes on 8. Ventura County voted in
favor of Yes on 8.

7. African-Americans overwhelmingly supported Yes on 8. Exit polls
show that 70 percent of black voters chose Yes on 8. This was
interesting because the majority of these voters voted for
President-elect Obama. No on 8 supporters had assumed that Obama
voters would vote No on 8.

8. The majority of Latino voters voted Yes on 8. Exit polls show that
the majority of Latinos supported Yes on 8 and cited religious beliefs
(assumed to be primarily Catholic).

9. The Yes on 8 coalition was a broad spectrum of religious
organizations. Catholics, evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews,
Muslims -- all supported Yes on 8. It is estimated that there are 10
million Catholics and 10 million Protestants in California. Mormons
were a tiny fraction of the population represented by Yes on 8
coalition members.

10. Not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Our faith accords
that each person be allowed to choose for him or herself. Church
leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility,
respect and love," despite their differing views.

11. The church did not violate the principle of separation of church
and state. This principle is derived from the First Amendment to the
United States' Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof?" The phrase "separation of church and state", which
does not appear in the Constitution itself, is generally traced to an
1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, although it has since been quoted in
several opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court in
recent years. The LDS Church is under no obligation to refrain from
participating in the political process to the extent permitted by law.
U.S. election law is very clear that churches may not endorse
candidates, but may support issues. The church has always been very
careful on this matter and occasionally (not often) chooses to support
causes that it feels to be of a moral nature.

12. Supporters of Proposition 8 did exactly what the Constitution
provides for all citizens: they exercised their First Amendment rights
to speak out on an issue that concerned them, make contributions to a
cause that they support and then vote in the regular electoral
process. For the most part, this seems to have been done in an open,
fair and civil way. Opponents of 8 have accused supporters of being
bigots, liars and worse. The fact is, we simply did what Americans do
-- we spoke up, we campaigned and we voted....

These are my personal opinions and thoughts; any errors are mine and
in no way reflect official church policy or doctrine.

Thanks,
Kevin Hamilton

MormonTimes.com is produced by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

In Missouri each time someone buys a a fishing license the state gets
back $11 in federal aid. If a person buys a hunting license, it's
$17. Apparently the federal aid comes from federal excise taxes on
firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing gear, and motorboat
fuel.

Firstly, why do we pay federal excise taxes on these things? Control
of these items is not within the Constitutional powers of the federal
government. (See Amendment 9 and 10 at
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rights1.asp#9)

And then secondly, why is the state on the federal dole? The lesson I
have learned from working for government and government agencies is
that whenever government gives something they want something in
return. For now it may only be reporting the number of licenses
purchased. Tomorrow it will be something else. We lose our
self-determination and independence whenever we take from government.

So what can Missouri do (and other states as well)? Opt out of
receiving federal aid and stop sending the federal government
information or being involved in federal programs. I'm sure this like
No Child Left Behind is just the tip of the federal ice berg.

This section from the Missouri Department of Conservation website is
very interesting. Read more at
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/regs/permitfaq.htm

3. Q. What can Missouri do to maximize the amount of federal aid we receive?

A. Every time anyone purchases (anywhere in the U.S.) a firearm,
ammunition, archery equipment, fishing gear, or motorboat fuel that
person pays a federal excise tax on that purchase.

An elaborate formula—based in part on hunting and fishing permit
sales—is used to determine how much each state gets back. When hunters
or anglers are exempt from purchasing permits, they are not counted in
the formula.

These funds accumulate in two programs: the Wildlife Restoration
Program (Pittman-Robertson Act) and the Sport Fish Restoration Program
(Dingell-Johnson / Wallop-Breau Act).

Every person who purchases a Missouri hunting or fishing permit is
counted as a paid permit holder, and we report the total number to the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The FWS then calculates how much of the
federal tax can be returned to Missouri, which is then used for
habitat restoration, wildlife management, boat ramp construction, and
other good works. In 2007, for each person who purchased a fishing
permit, Missouri received $11 in federal aid. For each person who
purchased a hunting permit, $17 in federal aid was returned to
Missouri.

Consequently, the more paid license holders Missouri can report, the
greater our potential return of federal funds. Landowners, lessees,
people over age 65 and others who receive no-cost permits or are
exempt cannot be counted.

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most
memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the
terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is
the story of the making of that poem as described by an author at
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South
African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the
screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard
enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major
McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating
from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating
injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in
the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae
later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that
seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day
if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would
have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former
student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell
burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in
the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had
performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the
dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards
north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The
major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical
texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang
up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes
of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two
year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted
McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on
writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was
very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around
from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from
Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO.
Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us
both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually
were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred
to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me
just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it,
McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and
sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected
it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

"The free market works so much better than a centrally planned
economy," writes Congressman Ron Paul. "With central planning,
everything shifts from one's own judgment about safety, wisdom and
relative benefits of a behavior, to the discretion of government
bureaucrats. The question then becomes 'what can I get away with,'
and there will always be advantages for those who can afford lawyers
to find the loopholes. The result then is that bad behavior, that
would quickly fail under the free market, is propped up, protected and
perpetuated, and sometimes good behavior is actually discouraged."

Let's See-----

A Guy named Joe, who happens to be a plumber with ambitions for a
bigger business, questioned and challenged a Guy named Barack, who
happens to be running for President of the US/Leader of the Free
World.

And within 24 hours the Media has given us more information about
Joe's life than they've give n us about Barack's life in the past 18
months.

Thanks to a diligent press corps, we now know about Joe's professional
licensing status, his income tax situation, his employment history,
his domestic squabbles, his voting record, everything associated with
his personal identity; his education. It's probably been reported
somewhere whether he wears boxers or briefs.

Thanks to a lazy press corps. We still don't know what grades Obama
made in college; how he got into Harvard; when he met Bill the bomber
Ayers; when he stopped doing illegal drugs; his medical history ;
whether he still smokes cigarettes; the extent of his affiliation with
socialist/communist organizations; why he's no longer a licensed
attorney; whether he lied on his Bar application;

Whether he qualify for a security clearance if he were just an average
Joe; what passport he used to travel to Pakistan in 1981; who his
ex-girlfriends are; whether he was or still is an Indonesian citizen;
why his Kenyan grandmother insists he was born there; whether he was
ever legally named Barry Soetoro or anything else besides Barack
Hussein Obama;

Why he needed the help of a crook to purchase his family home; where
he was on Nov. 6 and 7, 1 999; what the long-version of his birth
certificate says; why he helped an anti-American, pro-Islamic
candidate for Kenyan President against US interests; why he listened
to Rev. Wright's sermons for 20 years; how many times he took his kids
to a Rev. Wright sermon; what he actually did as chair of the
Annenberg Challenge; the depth of his relationship with ACORN.

Well, you get the idea.

But, really, I am SO relieved that the Mainstream Media has done its
job vetting Joe The Plumber, who is NOT running for public office, but
who had the AUDACITY to challenge Barack Hussein Obama, who wants my
vote for President of the United States of America."

-- author unknown

And now this from the Washington Post:

Joe the Plumber is not exactly a plumber, he's "not even close" to making the kind of money that would result in higher taxes from Democrat Barack Obama's proposals and has such an aversion to taxes that a lien was filed against him by the state of Ohio.

Such is the whirlwind of information that has come out about Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, since Republican John McCain made him famous in last night's debate. McCain mentioned him more than 20 times to use him as a symbol of hard-working Americans who would be hurt by Obama's tax policies. Obama and Wurzelbacher met earlier in the week in Toledo, where Wurzelbacher said Obama's plans to raise taxes on those making $250,000 a year or more would penalize him in his plans to buy the plumbing business for which he works.

Wurzelbacher since then has been on Fox News, interviewed by CBS's Katie Couric and appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America."