Mormon Bloggers

On the heels of another announcement of mass layoffs this week (23,000 combined from Cisco, Lockheed Martin and Borders, after 41,432 planned cuts in June, plus 142,000 government jobs lost so far this year), I stumbled over this quote this morning: Howard Davidowitz Howard Davidowitz is bipartisan in his criticism, calling the U.S. political system “dysfunctional and deranged.” Still, the restructuring expert is a longtime and vocal critic of President Obama. Today, he said: “There has never been a situation in my lifetime where a guy increases the debt by 40%, GDP growth is on the way down, Food Stamps are up, millions more are unemployed — and to accomplish this we spent $4 trillion.” Further evidence we are indeed living in unprecedented times. WASHINGTON – Following a procedural vote to prevent the “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act” from coming to the Senate floor, Senator Mike Lee released the following statement: “Today, Majority Leader... Read the rest of this entry »

A recent Newsweek article I read has rekindled a longstanding grievance of mine:  The constant, relentless and utterly asinine research into the character and nature of my generation, the so-called “Millennials.”  As with its all-too numerous predecessors, this article falls into the same old fallacies of projecting a particular set of expectations or assumptions about my generation as being some set of “universal truths” that are essentially to understanding us. In the case of the Newsweek article, it was the tiresome rubbish on how we Millennials will use our tech-savvy to bounce from job to job to job in an endless search for new and more interesting work, never settling in one particular job or sector for too long, as we constantly seek to be free to develop ourselves, or some such nonsense.  Seriously, to hear these articles talk, our entire generation seems to be on one long trip of professional nomadism, like we collectively have a case of ADD that drives... Read the rest of this entry »

My name is Lecia. I am 37 years old. I’ve been married for 17 years and I have four children, ranging in age from 15 to 4. I’ve long regretted the fact that I have no interesting hobbies to reveal, but I do love to read and write. I’m currently serving as first counselor in the Primary, where my little charges insist on telling me a lot more about their families than their parents ever wanted me to know! I was born into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I believe I was converted around the age of 16. At the time, I was serving as a youth tour guide at the Arizona Temple Visitor’s Center. Because of this, I was spending a lot of extra time studying the gospel and trying to find answers to questions that people of other faiths often ask about the church. I spent quite a bit more time than usual on my knees during that period of my life, and I just remember one night when I felt a sweet, peaceful feeling that what I was learning and teaching others... Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC has an  Interesting Article on how the economic crisis is leading to an emotional crisis in many men in the face of trouble providing for their families.  The report on a survey that found men are twice as likely currently to report having suicidal thoughts, half as likely to discuss their trouble with friends or family, and while experience mental health problems in roughly equal numbers with women, they go untreated far more often. This is interesting to me for several reasons.  The suffering goes on largely in silence.  Men don’t use health care in general to the extent that women do and they absolutely don’t use mental health care to the same extent.  One could look at this as evidence that women in our society are oppressed, if it suited their purpose.  You could argue that men are healthier because they are more free from the trap of poverty and childcare.  You could also be dead wrong.  This is a perfect example of how using mental health statistics to... Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC has an  Interesting Article on how the economic crisis is leading to an emotional crisis in many men in the face of trouble providing for their families.  The report on a survey that found men are twice as likely currently to report having suicidal thoughts, half as likely to discuss their trouble with friends or family, and while experience mental health problems in roughly equal numbers with women, they go untreated far more often. This is interesting to me for several reasons.  The suffering goes on largely in silence.  Men don’t use health care in general to the extent that women do and they absolutely don’t use mental health care to the same extent.  One could look at this as evidence that women in our society are oppressed, if it suited their purpose.  You could argue that men are healthier because they are more free from the trap of poverty and childcare.  You could also be dead wrong.  This is a perfect example of how using mental health... Read the rest of this entry »