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Recently homosexual activists have succeeded in gaining medical, employment, and insurance benefits for same-sex partnerships (e.g., granted to federal government workers in June 2009). In California they have succeeded in getting the gay lifestyle into elementary school curriculum with the proviso that kids cannot opt out (passed May, 2009). And in Montana they have succeeded in getting a school district to consider sex education for young children that includes instruction on same-sex intercourse.

It may surprise you to learn that none of these accomplishments is the ultimate objective of homosexual activists. Their grand prize is to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. DOMA states that the federal government recognizes marriage as between a man and a woman, and that no state can be forced to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. The activists are working hard on getting DOMA repealed. One of their covert operatives, an activist judge named Joseph Tauro from NY, recently ruled that DOMA is unconstitutional. 

Don’t be misled about activists’ reasons for repealing DOMA. Repealing DOMA is not about allowing gay couples to marry for the sake of being married. It is about normalizing homosexuality. Even some activists who read this post will be surprised to learn this fact. It is not about marriage; it is about getting society to approve of the homosexual lifestyle.  

If DOMA is repealed, I predict that our fundamental understanding of marriage will gradually be transformed. Indeed, transforming marriage may very well be an objective of some activists. According to the words of one gay activist, after winning the “fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits, . . . [we’ll] redefine the institution of marriage completely, to demand the right to marry not as a way of adhering to society's moral codes but rather to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution” (Michelangelo Signorile, OUT Magazine, December, 1994).

If our society allows a radical altering of the divinely appointed institution of marriage, this will, as stated in the Proclamation on the Family, “bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

As Latter-day Saints we have a moral obligation to support Judaeo-Christian values and, in particular, traditional marriage. Find out what’s going on in your schools and communities and get involved.
 
 
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How well do you know this woman? Do you want her to be the next Supreme Court justice? She's never been a judge, and her paper trail is short, but is that enough to prove that she is not a clear and present danger to the Constitution?

Share your feelings in this online poll.
 
 
Last week the Pentagon announced a 6.4 billion dollar arms deal with Taiwan. The package includes 114 Patriot missiles, 60 Black Hawk helicopters and communications equipment for Taiwan's F-16 fighter fleet. Taiwan is purchasing the weapons in the hopes of boosting national security – against who? China.

Beijing claims that it owns Taiwan. It comes as no surprise that it does not want this weapons deal to go through. So how will China react to the sale? Will it take military action against Taiwan or the United States? No. Will it stop exporting Made in China goods? No. It has a more passive aggressive retaliation.

It could dump its holdings of US treasury notes (dollars).
(http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/10/chinese-see-us-debt-as-weapon/)

China has $800 billion US treasury notes. On Monday February 8, 2010 the Chinese military asked their government to consider selling off US debt securities as punishment for the US-Taiwan arms deal. This is a form of economic warfare that could bring the US economy to its knees. If Beijing dumped those treasury notes it would most certainly drive down the already weakened US dollar, harm our weak economy, and drive up inflation and interest rates.

However, as one economist pointed out, the US and China are in a dance that neither partner can stop. If China dumped its US notes and harmed the US economy, then it would be economically harming its best customer. Also, if China tanked the US dollar by dumping many of its US notes, then it would devalue its remaining US notes; however, it appears the Bush and Obama administrations’ reckless spending policies are already doing a fine job of this. And the US needs China to continue exporting products to feed our insatiable appetite for inexpensive goods, and we need them to hold US debt incurred through costly government bailout programs.

So our dance card is full for the next 100 songs. That wouldn’t be so bad if each slot weren’t filled by the same partner - China. Dancing with the same partner over and over, and never really liking that partner in the first place, is getting a bit tedious.

 
 
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There is a man who once had a drinking problem and a foul mouth problem. But he has two redeeming values that made up for his personal shortcomings – he believes in the sanctity of marriage and he believes in living within your means. It was the latter, his commitment to fiscal conservatism, that catapulted him from a local news reporter to one of the most successful provincial premiers Canada has ever known. 

(For those unfamiliar with Canadian politics, a province is the equivalent of a state, and a provincial premier is the equivalent of a state’s governor.)

During the early 1990s when most Canadian provinces where growing their provincial debts with massive deficit spending, a different kind of politician ascended to the premier’s office in Alberta. His name is Ralph Klein. “Ralph”, as he preferred to be called, campaigned on the promises of cutting deficit spending and repaying Alberta’s 23 billion dollar debt. 

After he was elected premier in 1992, Ralph quickly went to work cutting wasteful government programs. He reduced spending on the arts and on burgeoning social programs for welfare recipients. He even offered to buy bus passes for welfare recipients who wanted to move to other provinces with more generous welfare programs. Ralph closed expensive and outdated medical facilities, laid off unneeded health care workers, and even rolled back the salaries of all government funded employees a few percentage points, including his own. 

I was a student in Alberta when all this was happening. I saw an old hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta named St. Marks get torn down because it was an old building and services could be absorbed by a newer medical facility nearby. I worked in social services with handicapped adults to pay my bills, and heard many people at work gripe about Ralph’s policies of fiscal restraint. Ralph got on a lot of people’s nerves with his unusual ways, but I sensed that what he was doing was good for Alberta, and history has shown this to be true.

True to his campaign promises, Ralph eliminated deficit spending and, in 2005, paid off Alberta’s 23 billion dollar debt. Thanks to Ralph’s fiscal conservatism, Alberta is now one of the most prosperous provinces in Canada. It is the only province without a provincial sales tax. His brand of fiscal conservatism has spread to other provinces that are trying to come to terms with deficit spending and massive debts.

Finally, rather than becoming a life long politician, Ralph voluntarily stepped down as premier in 2006. He went to the premier’s office to bring fiscal responsibility to Alberta. Once that mission was accomplished, he resigned.

Ralph Klein was an unusual politician. I wish there were more like him, especially during these times of life-long politicians and out-of-control deficit spending.
 
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