Priestcraft amoung us?

A huge stumbling block that I think (this is the gospel according to MK) we will see in the last day is that of "False Prophets" and "Priestcraft".  I think we need to be very vigilant and remember where divine revelation comes from, and return to the basics of the gospel.  Spending to much time worrying about the unknown leaves your faith, hope, and charity in a venerable place.

Jesus warns of this in Matthew 24:11,24

11. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [Source]

In The Doctrine and Covenants Section 33:4, the Lord revels to Joseph Smith, Ezra Thyre and Northrup Sweet the following:

And my vineyard has become corrupted every whit; and there is none which doeth good save it be a few; and they err in many instances because of priestcrafts, all having corrupt minds. [Source]

So what is priestcraft?  Dallin H. Oaks in a October 1985 BYU devotional address, "The Desires of Our Hearts"

The Book of Mormon illustrates this same principle in its definition of priestcraft, the sin committed by those who preach the gospel to gain personal advantage rather than to further the work of the Lord:


Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. [2 Nephi 26:29; see also Alma 1:16]

Priestcraft is not a sin that is committed solely on the basis of our desires because it involves acts. Those acts becomes sinful only when they are done with the wrong desire, to get gain or praise. The sin is in the desire, not in the act. [Source]

Elder Oaks then adds to his definition in June 1992 a BYU fireside, "Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall".

Another illustration of a strength that can become our downfall concerns the charismatic teacher. With a trained mind and a skillful manner of presentation, a teacher can become unusually popular and effective in teaching. But Satan will try to use that strength to corrupt the teacher by encouraging him or her to gather a following of disciples. A Church or Church education teacher or LDS university professor who gathers such a following and does this "for the sake of riches and honor" (Alma 1:16) is guilty of priestcraft.


Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. [2 Nephi 26:29]

Teachers who are most popular--and therefore most effective--have a special susceptibility to this form of priestcraft. If they are not careful, their strength can become their spiritual downfall. They can become like Almon Babbitt, with whom the Lord was not well pleased because, as the revelation states,

He aspireth to establish his counsel instead of the counsel which I have ordained, even that of the Presidency of my Church; and he setteth up a golden calf for the worship of my people. [D&C 124:84] [Source]

When we hear things that do not come directly from the scriptures or the voice of a prophet, we need to look at the source of the doctrine.  That doctrine should be prayed about and pondered before being followed.  Satan is very crafty, and will try to do anything to lead us down an easy, or slightly wrong path, if it takes us off the path that the Lord wants us to follow.

Some of my (very few) readers will know of what/whom I am talking about, but I am not going to mention any names at this time.  Just be weary of following doctrine that does not come directly from official revelation channels.  Make sure you find out everything you can about the person giving the doctrine, especially if the doctrine predicts the future or adds revelation to things already revealed.

The Great Edible, Choke-able Egg

The Great Edible, Choke-able Egg

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement on Feb, 22, 2010 at 12:01am (ET).  "The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults."

The statement is entitled "New AAP Policy on Choking Prevention".   In their statement, they are pushing "recommendations for government agencies, manufacturers, parents, teachers, child care workers and health care professionals to help prevent choking among children."   Here are their guidelines that they suggest that Federal Government implement policies for.

1. Warning labels on foods that pose a high choking risk.
2. A recall of food products that pose a significant choking hazard.
3. The establishment of a nationwide food-related choking-incident surveillance and reporting system.
4. Food manufactures should design new food and redesign existing food to minimize choking risk
5. CPR and choking first aid should be thought to parents, teachers, and child car providers.

One of the foods that they say causes choking hazards is the Edible Egg, not to be confused with the non-edible eggs.   Following their guidelines, the Federal Government (HR BILL 37589372) has purposed the following regulations on Eggs, and on Egg growers (people who have chickens for eggs).

1. All eggs have to have a choking hazard label placed on them before they are sent to the public for sale as a food item.  This label will include English, Spanish, and visual warnings about the choking hazard that eggs pose.
2. All eggs currently in supermarkets will be recalled so that the warning label can be affixed to them, and their shape can be redesigned.  
3. The Federal Government over the next 10 years will make it mandatory that all eggs no longer have an egg shape, but a more friendly, non choking shape.  It is suggested that all eggs that are produced be the size of a pea so that they do not cause a choking hazard to anyone under the age of three.   They are going to use money that has already been set aside for green jobs.  These monies will be used to genetically enhance chickens so that they lay eggs in accordance to the new Federal Regulation.  Any chicken that is not able to follow the new regulations will not be allowed to produce eggs.
4. All eggs are now to be registered in the National Egg registry so that surveillance and reporting can be established to track choking related egg incidents.  Each egg will be required to be bar coded so that any egg can be found in the food supply chain at any time.  If an egg does choke someone, they will then be able to recall all eggs that were produced during the same time frame by the same egg grower.

Of course, this is not a true bill, but illustrates my point.   PARENTS need to be PARENTS.  Use common sense.  Don't let your kids eat hot dogs, toys, or coins that cause choking.  There does not need to be regulations, mandatory food changes made.  Just watch your kids, and don't feed them things that could cause a choking hazard.  According to their research, that includes peanut butter.   I am sorry, but putting a choking hazard label on foods, toys, coins, etc does not keep a three year old from putting them in their mouth.  I don't think there are may three year olds that can read well enough to understand a warning label about choking hazards.  AND PLEASE don't spend any of my money (tax money) coming up with studies, regulations, and programs to stop this growing problem.   We don't need the government telling us what shapes our food can be in, how big of pieces our food should be, etc...   PARENTS, use common sense, and teach your kids not to put things in their mouths.

Meeting the Challenges of Today - My Thoughts

As I mentioned before, I have been reading/listening to talks while I am on the treadmill, and my favorite recent talk is called "Meeting the Challenges of Today" by Neal A. Maxwell.  This talk was given at a BYU devotional on October 10, 1978.   The reason I picked this talk at first was its reference to the founding fathers and its reference to secularism and establishing irreligion as the state religion.  But that talk has more to do with fore ordination and how we should prepare for what is to come.  I want to highlight several points in his talk, and then give my impressions on those points.

First he warns about the irreligion being the state religion.

We are now entering a period of incredible ironies. Let us cite but one of these ironies which is yet in its subtle stages: we shall see in our time a maximum if indirect effort made to establish irreligion as the state religion. It is actually a new form of paganism that uses the carefully preserved and cultivated freedoms of Western civilization to shrink freedom even as it rejects the value essence of our rich Judeo-Christian heritage.

President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had "never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional, or political life" (CR, April 1941, p. 123). This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ.

We are seeing this.  Where "Resistance to abortion will soon be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened."   We are seeing a time when religion and the belief in Christs prophets is ridiculed by the Secular irreligion groups. 

However, if people are not permitted to advocate, to assert, and to bring to bear, in every legitimate way, the opinions and views they hold that grow out of their religious convictions, what manner of men and women would they be, anyway? Our founding fathers did not wish to have a state church established nor to have a particular religion favored by government. They wanted religion to be free to make its own way. But neither did they intend to have irreligion made into a favored state church. Notice the terrible irony if this trend were to continue. When the secular church goes after its heretics, where are the sanctuaries? To what landfalls and Plymouth Rocks can future pilgrims go?

He then goes on to say that we will loose some of the battles, but "others will step forward, having been rallied to righteousness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds--a majority which was, till then, unconscious of itself."

Fore ordination

This is a topic that I have always had a hard time understanding, I have always felt like the Church was forcing me to be good with this topic.  That we are required, and forced to fit what God wants us to be like, not what we can be like.  This talk opened my mind with that respect.  It is not that God created the plan and is forcing us to act, but he has seen the past, present and future, and has developed the plan in an organized way that allows us to achieve it.

The combined doctrine of God's foreknowledge and of fore ordination is one of the doctrinal roads least traveled by, yet these clearly underline how very long and how perfectly God has loved us and known us with our individual needs and capacities. Isolated from other doctrines or mishandled, though, these truths can stoke the fires of fatalism, impact adversely upon our agency, cause us to focus on status rather than service, and carry us over into predestination.

Elder Maxwell continues:

Yet, though fore ordination is a difficult doctrine, it has been given to us by the living God, through living prophets, for a purpose. It can actually increase our understanding of how crucial this mortal estate is and it can encourage us in further good works. This precious doctrine can also help us to go the second mile because we are doubly called.

In some ways, our second estate, in relationship to our first estate, is like agreeing in advance to surgery. Then the anesthetic of forgetfulness settles in upon us. Just as doctors do not de-anesthetize a patient in the midst of authorized surgery to ask him again if the surgery should be continued, so, after divine tutoring, we agreed once to come here and to submit ourselves to certain experiences and have no occasion to revoke that decision.

Of course, when we mortals try to comprehend, rather than merely accept, fore ordination, the result is one in which finite minds futilely try to comprehend omniscience. A full understanding is impossible; we simply have to trust in what the Lord has told us, knowing enough, however, to realize that we are not dealing with guarantees from God but extra opportunities--and heavier responsibilities. If those responsibilities are in some ways linked to past performance or to past capabilities, it should not surprise us.

This is what Elder Maxwell has to say in conclusion.

Now, as I prepare to conclude, may I point out what a vastly different view of life the doctrine of fore ordination gives to us. Shorn of this perspective, others are puzzled or bitter about life. Without gospel perspective life would be a punishment, not a joy--like trying to play a game of billiards on a table with a rumpled cloth, with a crooked cue and an elliptical billiard ball (from Sir William S. Gilbert's libretto of The Mikado). (Perhaps the moral of that analogy is that we should stay out of pool halls.) In any event, pessimism does not really reckon with life and the universe as these things "really are." The disciple will be puzzled at times, too. But he persists. Later he rejoices over how wonderfully things fit together, realizing only then that, with God, things never were apart.

Elder Maxwell continues;

The doctrine of fore ordination, therefore, is not a doctrine of repose; it is a doctrine for the second-milers; it can draw out of us the last full measure of devotion. It is a doctrine of perspiration, not aspiration. Moreover, it discourages aspiring, lest we covet, like two early disciples, that which has already been given to another (Matthew 20:20–23). Fore ordination is a doctrine for the deep believer and will only bring scorn from the skeptic.

Elder Maxwell has given me more insight into the idea of fore ordination.  We are not being forced down a road.  The Lord has taken what he has, and has made a plan that will work, we just need to have faith and follow the prophets and fit into the plan where we are suppose to fit.

Here is my favorite quote from this talk.  "Let us be perceptive without being pompous. Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash."

You can download this talk in MP3, PDF, or HTML format from speeches.byu.com.

Week of Love - Final Post

I was reading a talk recently by Jeffery R. Holland called "How Do I Love Thee".   (This is the talk I am going to base my Charity talk on for Sunday this week)   In that talk, he talks about the title of his talk. 

I have taken for a title to my remarks Mrs. Browning's wonderful line "How do I love thee?" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese [1850], no. 43.) I am not going to "count the ways" this morning, but I am impressed with her choice of adverb--not when do I love thee nor where do I love thee nor why do I love thee nor why don't you love me, but, rather, how. How do I demonstrate it, how do I reveal my true love for you? Mrs. Browning was correct. Real love is best shown in the "how," and it is with the how that Mormon and Paul help us the most.

I think that Aimee fits the title of this talk, and the comments that Elder Holland made perfectly.  She does not have any conditions on her love for me and our 5 kids.   It is never when, where, or why do I love them, but always How do I demonstrate it.   She demonstrates her love with every action she does.  There are times when she needs her own time, and looks forward to the kids going to bed.  But once they are in bed, she still does not stop with the how.  She is always doing dishes, doing laundry, or letting her husband rub her back and shoulders as she works on a baby blanket for a neighbor.  

Elder Holland says that Charity is the pure love of Christ, and that no one but Christ has done it perfectly.  I would have to say that Aimee is a very close second.   She shows charity on weekly, daily, and every second of her waking hours.

NFL or NBA

In the past year!!!

36 have been accused of spousal abuse


7 have been arrested for fraud

19 have been accused of writing bad checks

117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
 
3 have done time for assault


71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
 
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges


8 have been arrested for shoplifting

21 currently are defendants in lawsuits,

And,

84 have been arrested for drunk driving

Can you guess which organization this is?  NBA or NFL?
 
The correct answer is:
 

Neither,it's the

United States Congress!

The same group that cranks out Hundreds of new laws each year Designed to keep the rest of us in line.

First Couples Photos

The toll on the First Couple can be great.  Here are some pictures of what the First Couple looked like going into the Presidency, and what they looked like after their term in office.

 

Taxes are our Doom.

Tax his land,

Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...

Put these words
Upon his tomb,

Taxes drove me
to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax..



Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

Week of LOVE - Part Three and Four

I have to say I am sorry, because I did not get a post in yesterday for the "Week of Love" (best Barry white voice please when saying Week of Love).  But I took my better half shopping for a treadmill, and out to lunch.  And then I had to put the treadmill together last night.  We bought the Horizon GS1050T, you can purchase the ProForm version at amazon.com (Proform 1050T Treadmill).  Right now they are having a great sale on them at Sports Authority as well (SportsAuthority.com).  Now before I get booed off the stage, I want everyone to know that Aimee has wanted a treadmill for 10 years now, and all I have done is gotten her hand-me-down ones.  This is the first one we have had that she can actually train to run on, which is what she wants to do.

Having said that, the Treadmill brings up a couple of items that I want to praise Aimee for.  The first one is why we need the treadmill.  No, I am not praising her for our Humpty and Dumpty figures, but for her ability to cook.  Aimee is an excellent cook.  All you have to do is visit her Momzoo BLOG and you will see what I am talking about.  She can cook and bake like nothing else.  I love this about her, instead of wanting to feed us what is easy and not necessarily good for us, she spends the time to cook a meal from scratch almost every night.  (Friday nights are an exception, some of the time, because it is date night).   I come home lots of times to the smell of sweet corn bread cooking, bread baking in the oven, or my favorite sweet and sour chicken.  When the kids have their birthday dinner (a tradition at our house), they get to pick what they want to eat for that dinner.  These birthday dinners have never been requests for store/restaurant prepared foods, they are always requests for things that Aimee cooks.  (Kallie this year did want the BIG CHOCOLATE CAKE from Costco this year.)  My favorite treat that she makes is a New York style cheese cake.  It is the BEST I have ever tasted, and it has taken her some time to prefect it.  I have to agree with her Mom, Sisters, and Brothers when they gave her the nickname of "Betty Crocker".   Aimee takes the time to prepare and try new things to have a healthy and happy family. (Check out a typical 2 week menu that Aimee cooks for us.)

The next thing I want to praise Aimee about is her thirst for knowledge and reading.  The joke in our house is, "It is as hard to keep Aimee in books as it is to keep the kids in shoes."   Everyone knows that with kids keeping them in shoes can be a challenge. They grow so fast and need new ones, they loose them, or the just wear them out.  Aimee is the same with books.   She reads them very quickly, but she never looses them, but they do get worn out over time.  There is not a book in our house, except for mine, that she has not read at least twice.  Some of our books have been read hundreds of times and show that in their bindings.  It is not uncommon to see Aimee doing her Mom/Wife duties and not have a book close at hand.  She reads while eating (only when we are not eating as a family), she will read in the shower (something I have not mastered yet), and there is always an open book by her nightstand so she can read before she goes to sleep.   Her favorite anniversary present is a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble and me being willing to spend several hours with her looking through books.  I love this about Aimee.  She has been to every country in the World, has been in every era in History, and has read up on anything she finds interesting.  If she has a question, or wants to learn more about something, we will have a book in the house on it within the week.  But this love for reading has also improved the family.  We have had kids that had a hard time reading, but Aimee's love for reading has worn off on them.  Our kids carry books around all the time now as well, and some of them stay up WAY to late reading in their beds.  The kids love to go to Student/Educator/Parent night at the school, not to see their teacher, but to buy a book at the book fair.  I have never been a fast or fluent reader, but since I have married Aimee, I have read more books in the last few years than I have the rest of my life.  I have found that reading is enjoyable, it just has to something I want to read about.

Aimee always finds time to cook a good meal, and 99% of the time tasty as well, or to increase her knowledge by reading good books.

All HAIL King Obama

Once again, Obama shows that he knows more, and can get more done than Congress.  He has bypassed congress with an executive order, and plans on making appointments during Congress recess.

First, he has created a fiscal commission because Congress did not do it quick enough.

"I've also called for a bipartisan fiscal commission. Unfortunately this measure, which originally had received the support of a bipartisan majority of the Senate and was cosponsored by Senators Conrad and Gregg, Democrats and Republicans, was blocked there. So I'm going to be creating this commission by executive order." [Source]

Second, he is going to use what is called a recess appointment because Congress will not approve his nominations.

"If the Senate does not act -- and I made this very clear -- if the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees, I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess, because we can't afford to allow politics to stand in the way of a well-functioning government." [Source]

As always, our President does not care what the people say or think, and does not care what Congress thinks, or what the Supreme Court thinks.  He feels that what he wants done is best for everyone and he will bypass as many checks and balances as possible.

Week of Love - Part 2

The second post of "The Week of Love" (once again, say it with your best Barry White voice), is Aimee's (aka Momzoo) ability to improve herself and her family.

In todays world, it is common place, and even encouraged to stagnate, and to stay where you are.  There are a lot of factors that make it easier to stay with the status quo and not to improve and change.  Society does not always push you to become a better person.  In fact, I would say that society tells you to do the opposite.  Follow the easy path, and if you fail, then someone else will pick you up and carry you.  (Oh, this is not suppose to be a political post). 

Aimee has an inner drive to be better and to help those around her be better.  Over the past couple of years our family has made some major changes to become more self sufficient, and to become better.  Here are some examples.  We are eating healthier, instead of eating packaged processed food (which is really easy to do now days), Aimee pushes the family to eat healthy, and sometimes she does have to push.  As part of that, we also raise our own chickens, and our green grass is being replaced by garden boxes and other plants.   Last year, we put up several fences, but not your typical fences.  These fences are designed for grapes, blackberries, and raspberries.

Another area she has help the family grow is with tasks.  One of her main goals is to make our daughters and son become productive members of society and to give to society and not drain on society.  To do this, she has setup stewardships for each family member.  Every week, each family member has a stewardship that they are responsible for.  We also have after dinner assignments, and the kids are responsible for feeding and watering the animals as well.  Like all children, they do sometimes complain, but they are learning some valuable traits.

She also is home schooling our oldest daughters.  And in the process she is instilling the desire to learn.  Our oldest daughter use to hate to read, but now she likes to do it.   She has made both of their lives better by teaching them values as well as giving them an education.

I don't know how she does it.  At times, I just want to let everything slide and do what is easy.  I think Aimee is the same way, and would at times like to throw her hands up in the air and say she is done.  But she has an inner drive that does not allow her to do that.  And because of that inner drive, she will continue to become a better person, and in the process she will raise up those around her.

Thanks Aimee, you make those around you better every day.

Week of LOVE - The start

This is the week of LOVE (said with my best low Barry White voice, say it again if you did not use the voice).  My wife is the best wife on the planet (that is why I married her).  For those of you that don't follow here blog, she made last week an extra special week for her Man.  She started what she called "Loving That Man of Mine".   During the process, she had several of her readers treat their Man with more love during the week.  I also got bratwurst during the week as well, also one of my favorites.  Last week was a prefect example of one of the many things that she does that makes me Love her.  Not only did she make my week extra special, but she also got others to follow her example and improve their Mans lives as well.  She does not see it always, but I think she inspires and helps the world be a better place by her blog posts, etc.  She keeps the negative, and politics out of her blog.  She has comment several times that is why I have a blog, and I think that at times she gives me ideas hoping that I will rant about it on my blog.  But not this week.

Back to the week of LOVE (once again, in Barry Whites voice, or the best I can do), I am a guy, and as a guy, I have a hard time opening my heart for the world to see.  But I am going to try to do just that this week, and in the process I will post something good about my wife.  I just hope that after all is said, that Momzoo sees that she is a very important part of my life, and that I rely on her daily.

Today, I want her to  know that I love her for who she is, not what she was.  Lots of times, she complains about the way she looks, and what having 5 kids did to her body.  This is an on-going joke that we both kid about with each other.  But those changes in her body represent everything that I love and hold dear in my life.  Because she is such a devout wife/mother, she does not have time to run miles a day, go to the gym for hours, or have time to work on what she thinks is a perfect body.  She has given me 5 very beautiful/handsome children.  Instead of thinking about what having a child would do to her personally, she put her self interests to the side, and did what most would say is the unpopular thing to do.  She had 5 children and would love to have 5 more.  Instead of doing what the WORLD would do and think about what having a child would do to her, she thinks about what she can give to the child and what the child can do for the WORLD.  In a talk by M. Russell Ballard, he says the following: "Far too many people view marriage as a "couples relationship," designed to fulfill the emotional needs of adults rather than an institution for rearing children. Children are considered a choice rather than a blessing. About 1 million children per year experience parental divorce and its aftermath, and about one-third of all children in America are born out of wedlock. Almost every trend indicates that we are on a slippery slope downward from God's plan for His children. The family, once universally hailed as the cornerstone of society, is losing its essential role." [The Sacred Responsibilities of Parenthood Aug 19, 2003]  Aimee sees children as a blessing, something that society does not view as correct.

This is just one of the reasons that Aimee is my favorite.

College - YES IT DOES MATTER

Being the in Information Technology industry, I have had a lot of people tell me that a Bachelors Degree does not matter.  That if you have experience or a technical certificate you are good to go.  I have even had people tell me that I was an idiot for spending years in college to get my BS in Information Systems and Technology.  But the current state of the job market tells me something different.  The IT industry is changing, and people who don't have some type of college degree are starting to see the effects. 

I have seen three companies do the following thing.  They have pruned their IT staff by laying off the lower levels of the staff.  They then re-open the jobs they laid people off from and in the process change the job description.  The position when first posted, several years ago, did not require any type of college degree, it just required a tech certificate or experience.  But when they post the new job, they have changed the posting to now require a college degree.  This had made some people mad that I have talked to.  But it makes business sense to me.  Because of the job market for IT jobs right now, companies can upgrade their workforce.  And what I mean by upgrade is they can lay-off people without college degrees, and then hire people who have college degrees for the same amount of money but with a higher degree of knowledge and experience.  Basically, they are upgrading their IT workforces.

Now this may sound cold, but this is just one example of why a College degree is so important.  When times get tough and the job market goes hard, having the degree goes a long way.  I don't think that the market will always be like this, and we will see a swing again, but those that have spent the time to get the degree are going to see less of an impact because of the job market.  Those with college degrees are also going to be able to rebound because of a job loss quicker than those that don't have the degree.

This is just my personal observations, and opinions.  And I am a computer geek by hobby and trade, and not an economist.  So take my opinion for what it is worth, it is just my opinion.

But, I do have some statistics that back up my claim. In the recent job report issued by the US Government, they ave a Table A-4, Employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment.  This table shows the unemployment rate for those over 25 based on the level of education they have.  Non-High School graduates are seeing a 17.6% unemployment rate.  High School graduates with no college are now experiencing a 10.6% unemployment rate, which is close to the national average.  Those who have some college or a two year degree are only seeing a 8.5% unemployment rate.  Finally, those who have a Bachelors or higher college degree are only seeing a 4.1% unemployments rate.  You can view the history over the last few months and see that the rates remain about the same.  The entire report can be found here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm.

I am still convinced that IT is the industry to be in.  if you look at unemployment rates by Industry, the Professional and Related Occupations are only seeing a 4.9% unemployment rate, where the construction industry is now seeing a 25.9% unemployment rate. [Source]

Firearm Legislation - Utah

Photo: ImpactGuns.com

There are currently several Firearm (GUN) legislative pieces in this state session of the legislature. 

The first one is SB0011 that is titled "Utah State-Made Firearms Protection Act".  In a nut shell, this acts purpose is to address the manufacture of firearms within the state for in-state use.   It setups up laws that make it so that any firearm or firearm related items manufactured in the state and are used in state are not subject to firearms laws and regulations imposed by the federal government.  So not everyone goes crazy, the bill does not include protection for weapons that require more than one person to use, greater than a 1-1/2 inch bore, or that is considered automatic, or use explosive projectiles.  I support this bill.  The federal government is ONLY suppose to regulate commerce between states, if the gun does not leave the borders of Utah, then the federal government should not be regulating it.

Here is a list of local gun manufactures: Browning Firearms, Christensen Arms, Cobra Enterprises of Utah, Inc, L.A.R. Manufacturing, North American Arms (I have toured their facility, it was pretty cool), Robinsons Armament Compnay, Vector Arms, and Wheeler-Topping, LLC.  So as you can see, there are quite a few choices to buying Utah.  So when you are looking for a gun, look for the "Made In Utah", or "Made in UT" stamp on the gun.  If this Act passes, then those guns will not fall under Federal Regulations if kept in the state of Utah.

The second one, HB0078, "Weapons Revisions" modifies the Utah Criminal code on carrying, displaying, and using a dangerous weapon.  This bill revises what is considered Brandishing a Weapon.  It makes it legal to pull a weapon if an individual believes that the individual or another person is threatened with bodily harm.  It also provides a procedure for a peace officer to investigate an incident of justifiable use of force.  I support this bill.  I have heard people say that it will have people pulling guns all over the place and going John Wayne on everyone.  That is not the case, here is why.  People who have a concealed carry permit have it because they DON'T want people to know they are carrying a gun, that is why they call it a concealed carry permit.  It is LEGAL to open carry a gun in the state of Utah, it just has to be unloaded (requiring more than one action to fire, not including a mechanical safety).  But currently it is illegal to show a weapon unless you plan on using deadly force, so in other words, don't pull it unless you shoot it.  This law will make it legal to pull the weapon if you feel someone is being threatened with bodily harm, not just serious injury and or death.  (There is a BIG difference).   It does not make it legal to just pull a gun out at any time, you still have to believe that there is a threat of bodily harm/injury to yourself or another.  If this criteria is not satisfied, then you are still brandishing a weapon.

A third one HB214 clarifies some of the laws regarding "Concealed Firearm Permit" and modifies some of its requirements.  This bill changes the name of the governing board, changes who issues the permits, clarifies rules for revoking a permit, and some other technical changes.

If you support any of these bills, please let your legislators know, you can find their contact information by visiting the le.utah.gov.

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