Recommended Reading

You know, because I am too lazy for an actual post - here are some things I found interesting over the past couple days:

Steven Pearlstein of The Washington Post asks: Is Capitalism Moral?  (Reminds me of this blog post of the good old days)

The Good Folks at the Tax Policy Center talk about Corporate Welfare.

An awesome Mormon blog tackles faith and not having all the answers.

And, I'mma let you finish, but Google Reader was the best of all time, and this was a great tribute piece.  I shall miss Google Reader!

Finally, this is why I like Pinterest:


I realize it makes me a terrible person, but I don't like talking to people.

Happy 170th!

Today is the 170th birthday of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I love this organization, and I am glad for the great influence it has been in my life, and the many wonderful women it has brought into my life.  I sometimes can be cynical about humans and human nature, but the Relief Society has shown me women who believe and live its motto, "Charity Never Faileth."

Courage!

It probably wasn't deliberate, but this recent Mormon Message is really all about Women's History Month.

"Courage" - Mormon Message featuring Esther and latter day Mormon women 

Wisdom From 1950

One of my political heroines is a Republican (well, several are Republicans, but I'm talking about one of them today).  You may never have heard of her.  It's Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

She represented the state of Maine in Congress for over 30 years.  For her many "firsts," she is, of course, a heroine.  One of her best remembered speeches (which is in a book I own called "In Our Own Words" - an interesting collection of speeches by Americans) was given in 1950, just as Joseph McCarthy was beginning his reign of fear and intimidation.  It's become known as the "Declaration of Conscience," and you can read the whole speech online here.  I think it's very relevant in today's political world where it seems that politicians of both sides resort to smear tactics and innuendo to vilify their opponents.  Some of my favorite excerpts are below:

I speak as a Republican, I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American.

The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.
...
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism --

The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.

The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know some one who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn't? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in.

The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as "Communists" or "Fascists" by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others. The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases to cause nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the unproved, sensational accusations.

...

As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges that have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle.

I don't like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity. I am not proud of the way we smear outsiders from the Floor of the Senate and hide behind the cloak of congressional immunity and still place ourselves beyond criticism on the Floor of the Senate.

As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of "confuse, divide and conquer." As an American, I don't want a Democratic Administration "white wash" or "cover up" any more than I want a Republican smear or witch hunt.

As an American, I condemn a Republican "Fascist" just as much as I condemn a Democrat "Communist." I condemn a Democrat "fascist" just as much as I condemn a Republican "Communist." They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.

Unfortunately it would take another three years for McCarthy to be brought low.  He was excoriated by Joseph Welch in 1953 for his lack of decency, and he was censured by the Senate in 1954.

In Our Brokenness

On each Sabbath day (Sunday for me), Mormons partake of broken bread in remembrance of the broken body of Christ. Psalms 51:17 states: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." I don't really know what a "broken heart" is (I don't think it's talking about the broken hearts we have after a romantic relationship goes bust). But I know that God loves us when we feel broken or downhearted, and comforts us in those awful moments. Today's awesome womanly quote is from Chieko Okazaki and one of my favorite gospel books: "Lighten Up!"

"Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief."
- Chieko N. Okazaki, Relief Society Presidency, "Lighten Up." 1993, p. 174

Be imperfect today, and realize that God is there for you, even when you are imperfect and broken.

Ideals

One of my favorite quotes ever, that I re-read again this week:

"Ideals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat ourselves with."
    - Barbara B. Smith

I feel like I often use my goals to beat up on myself instead of using them as inspiration to reach higher.  Just today, I realized that one of my happiness goals for the year is to learn to bake different kinds of bread, and I haven't even started on that.  Yeah, and 1/6 of the year has already passed!  Ok, time to re-calibrate and realize that I still have plenty of time in 2013 for figuring out what makes me happy and how to find time to do it!

Women's History Month Begins

In a parallel universe, I majored in history/education and became a high school history teacher.  So, for the month of March, I'm going to feature some awesome quotes from women.  Some will be Mormon, some will not.  Some will be politicians and some will not.  This might not be an everyday thing, but an occasional women's history post series during Women's History Month.  If you have any favorite women quotes, send them along!

Today's quotes are from Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader of the suffrage movement who lived to see the 19th amendment pass.  She urges us:

"To the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that needs assistance, To the future in the distance, Give yourselves."

In a speech to Congress, she declared:

"Behold [Uncle Sam] again, welcoming the boys of twenty-one and the newly made immigrant citizen to "a voice in their own government" while he denies that fundamental right of democracy to thousands of women public school teachers from whom many of these men learn all they know of citizenship and patriotism, to women college presidents, to women who preach in our pulpits, interpret law in our courts, preside over our hospitals, write books and magazines, and serve in every uplifting moral and social enterprise. Is there a single man who can justify such inequality of treatment, such outrageous discrimination? Not one ...."

So grateful for all the suffragists who gave me the right to vote!