BYU's Honor Code and Standards

Recently Brittany Molina created a viral sensation when she posted a note somebody gave to her, and a picture of her dress that the note commented on.



BYU has an Honor Code that all students are expected to abide by, part of which stipulates that skirts and shorts need to reach the knee. Now, Miss Molina's skirt clearly isn't reaching her knee, but she is also wearing leggings, and nobody could argue that this is immodest. But the policy does say that skirts must reach the knee, so in the mind of the note writer, this ^ is unacceptable.

So every woman that attends BYU should be wearing knee length skirts or shorts, right?












Whew, for a University that doesn't allow short skirts, that is sure a lot of leg flesh showing. It sure seems hypocritical for BYU to disallow this kind of dress for everyday students, presumably for morality and modesty purposes, and then make the official sports uniform for many female athletes short, as if fit female athletes aren't sexually attractive.

The fact that they do this, and then with a straight face talk about Standards, is one of the reasons why I went to the U, (and excluded myself from a decent PR program) instead of going to BYU. University of Utah is not exactly a den of iniquity, where the women wear nothing but thongs and body paint. In fact, if you are 5 minutes late to church at the Institute of Religion, you WILL NOT find a parking spot.

But at BYU, you can be assured that the women will all be covered up.




Unless they happen to be in great shape, and have tried out for a sports team. Now, the BYU runner is wearing shorts that are shaped like shorts, which are slightly more modest than the horrible bikini design of that sinful Duck behind her.

BYU does have a women's uniform that adheres to the Honor Code.



The reason why men's and women's basketball uniforms have knee length shorts is because that's the current fashion. Basketball uniforms used to be ridiculously short.



Thank goodness that's not a trend anymore.

Coincidentally, the reason that modern women's uniforms are so short also has to do with current trends, plus comfort and ease of mobility while engaged in the athletic event. That's a valid reason. But BYU shouldn't pretend like it's not also attractive, and therefore running afoul of their Tradition of Honor and Standards.

I got these from the official BYU drill team Website.

"The mission of the Cougarettes is to provide the very best high quality halftimes and dance performances all while maintaining the standards, spiritual focus, and atmosphere of Brigham Young University and the LDS Church."

and on the Welcome page we see this-




With all the immodesty that's officially sanctioned at BYU, there is not a rash of on-campus orgies. People, for the most part, behave themselves and act like adults. On the flipside, even if you require all women to look like this



there will still be people who are going to have sex against the rules.

Right now BYU has official uniforms that violate it's own modesty standards, which many see as hypocritical. They either need to fully commit to it, or they need to let people act like adults and, you know, 'govern themselves.'

Mormon church in need of reform?

Recently I read this article published in the Washington Post.

Mormon Church in Need of Reform

I think the timing may have had something to do with a certain Presidential candidates good performance in the polls. . . . .

It starts off giving a snapshot of recent gallup polls concerning church members, pretty standard stuff about how the general public perceives us, and then she throws in a line about how the church "isn't exactly welcoming of outsiders."

Huh?

How many missionaries are there in the world trying to bring 'Outsiders' into the church?

And of course, using that phrase paints the picture in the mind of her readers of a group of paranoid zealots, afraid of anyone or any culture that is different from the fundamentalist, small town Utah culture. Many readers probably instantly thought of the scary polygamist cult leader on Big Love.

She then goes on to establish her credentials as an Ex-Mormon, even naming a few former Mormons who are famous (I guess).

Her explanation for being in the church is that she had prominent Pioneer ancestors, whose story was well established in her own family, and that the 'mantle' of her pioneer forebears weighed heavily on her mind. She also talks about how the church is a big part of her identity.

But then, when she gets to college, she starts to discover differing viewpoints. Different types of scientific evidence seem to contradict claims made in the Book of Mormon. She's concerned and brings her concerns to the people around her. These people get angry with her, tell her to just not read that stuff, and to just get married and not worry about it. One guy told her it's ok to question, as long as you don't tell anyone else.

Distraught at the advice given to her, and not wanting to risk leaving her community, she eventually leaves the church. Doing so gets her shut out of her parents home for five years, and some of her friends shunning her.

She tries to make the argument that the church is too stuck in it's ways, and needs to get with the times, and that this is what you vote for if you vote for Romney.

It occurred to me that the people who she talked to, who gave such bad advice, are idiots. They obviously don't understand the doctrine. Nowhere does it say that we should avoid learning about history and science. Nowhere in the scriptures are women told to turn off their brain and just get married if they have doubts. Nowhere are mormons told to respond by shunning or disowning a friend or family member with doubts.
That's BullCrap. Very Easily Dismissed if you understand the doctrine and know for yourself that God and His Son are at the head of the church.

Then it occurred to me that her story of her faith was not about how she studied the scriptures, and prayed, developing a familiarity with the God, and how she therefore knew that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. She didn’t talk about the moment of comprehension when the truth of it all became perfectly clear in her mind.

No, her foundation was that her ancestors, over a hundred years ago, had joined the church and walked across America, and that her all her current friends and family were Mormons.

She hadn’t paid attention. Her whole life, she had missed the point of three hours of church each week, plus youth activities. Sure, she probably learned a lot of facts along the way, memorized all the talking points. But the biggest takeaway point of nearly every discussion, and the subject of a whole hour of sacrament meeting once every month, is that each church member needs to learn for themselves that the church is for real. It’s also known as gaining a testimony.

A testimony is gained by study and prayer. You need to study the Bible, Book of Mormon, whatever, and then ask God for a confirmation of the truth of what you read. It’s not a Ouija board; if you have no intention of acting on the answer you‘ll receive, then you probably won’t get anything. Why? It would do you no good if you weren’t intending to act on the knowledge.

When a person has faith in something, they believe in something so strongly that they are willing to act on their belief. When you pray about the Book of Mormon, and intend to let the answer define your life from that moment forward, then you will start to see some results, answers to your prayer.

The reason it works this way is that God cares about every single person. He wants all of us to become better people. He wants all of us to improve, to be the very best that we each can be. He doesn’t just want Keith Sohm to learn improve himself and make sure his kids are enrolled in church, he wants Keith’s grandson Dave to learn the truth and humble himself, and become a better person, and want to return to God’s Presence.

He wants the best for everyone, individually.

Carrie Sheffield, the writer of the article that appeared in the Washington Post, missed this. She didn’t take it seriously. She attended church to keep up appearances, because her Pioneer forebears and all her friends would be disappointed if she didn’t.

Lacking the spiritual foundation, she couldn’t dismiss the callous and wrong advice given to her. She couldn’t tell herself, when confronted with slyly crafted ‘evidence’, that she KNEW that the Book of Mormon was real, and that it didn’t matter what anybody else said.

She coasted through all those years of instruction, her mind elsewhere, or just content to be descended from people who had great faith. And now she has admitted as much to the whole world.

And by the way, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints IS God’s church. The Book of Mormon IS a religious history of a society that lived on the American continent before even the Vikings discovered it. The priesthood IS in fact the power of God to bless and heal, shared with worthy men on earth, right now. I know that it is. And you can know too.

Funny things said by children around christmas time

During our travels, we have heard goofy sayings from kids.


"Ok, maybe we can take our shoes off and put up some Christmas Lights or something."



"Let's Decorate. Let's decorate. . . . . the car! Let's put a Thomas up on top and uh, a snowman!"




"Oh look! It's a dog! It's a Christmas Dog! Oh wait, that's not a dog, that's a kid!"

Eric Holder should be in Prison

I heard the latest development of 'Fast and Furious' from Michael Bane's podcast.





This is a photo of a letter to a gunshop owner, ATF Supervisor David Voth specifically said that he was authorized by the government to buy 6 AK pistols, and hinted that the guns would be exported to another country.

The letter was published along with this story from Fox News.

Emphasis added by me.

Link

U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds to Buy, Sell Weapons During 'Fast and Furious,' Documents Show

By William Lajeunesse

Published September 26, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.

This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another. Instead, it heightens the culpability of the federal government as Mexico, according to sources, has opened two criminal investigations into the operation that flooded their country with illegal weapons.
Related Interactive

Documents Detail ATF Involvement in 'Fast and Furious'

The following documents detail the role the ATF played in buying and selling weapons as part of its controversial "Fast and Furious" operation.

Operation Fast and Furious began in October 2009. In it, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encouraged gun stores to sell weapons to an arms smuggling gang, then watched as the guns crossed the border and were used in crimes. Each month, the agency allowed hundreds of guns to go South, despite opposition from some agents.

All told, the gang spent more than $1.25 million for the illegal guns.

In June 2010, however, the ATF dramatically upped the ante, making the U.S. government the actual "seller" of guns.

According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic Draco pistols -- two of those were purchased at the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor.

Dodson then sold the weapons to known illegal buyers, while fellow agents watched from their cars nearby.

This was not a "buy-bust" or a sting operation, where police sell to a buyer and then arrest them immediately afterward. In this case, agents were "ordered" to let the sale go through and follow the weapons to a stash house.

According to sources directly involved in the case, Dodson felt strongly that the weapons should not be abandoned and the stash house should remain under 24-hour surveillance. However, Voth disagreed and ordered the surveillance team to return to the office. Dodson refused, and for six days in the desert heat kept the house under watch, defying direct orders from Voth.

A week later, a second vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons. Dodson called for an interdiction team to move in, make the arrest and seize the weapons. Voth refused and the guns disappeared with no surveillance.

According to a story posted Sunday on a website dedicated to covering Fast and Furious, Voth gave Dodson the assignment to "dirty him up," since Dodson had become the most vocal critic of the operation.

"I think Dodson demanded the letter from Voth to cover both himself and the FFL (Federal Firearm Licensee). He didn't want to be hung out to dry by Voth," a source told the website "Sipsey Street Irregulars."

Subsequent to this undercover operation, sources told Sipsey, "Dodson just about came apart all over them (his supervisors). In a 'screaming match' that was heard throughout the Phoenix office by many employees, Dodson yelled at Voth and Assistant Special Agent in Charge George Gillett, 'Why not just go direct and empty out the (ATF) arms room?" (to the cartels), or words to that effect.'

After the confrontation, ATF managers transferred Dodson to a more menial job. Months later, after the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, Dodson blew the whistle and went public about the federal government's gunrunning operation.




The Watergate Scandal, the one that built the careers of legendary journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, that forced the resignation of Richard Nixon, was about a cover-up of a burglary. Mexico is saying that at least 200 mexican citizens have been killed using guns smuggled into Mexico by the United States Government. 200. That's about the size of the University of Utah Marching Band.

And that's just based on the numbers or weapons that have been recovered at crime scenes so far. A couple of thousand weapons made their way into Mexico as a result of this evil, hideous act of our government.

The people responsible, up to and including Eric Holder, (and probably President Obama as well) need to be prosecuted and thrown in prison for a very long time.

Idaho Sunsets

Whoever said that California has the best sunsets, obviously hasn't spent any time in Idaho.

Sabbath Day Thoughts

Our bodies and our spirits are much more similar than I had previously thought.

Today in Sunday school we were discussing the importance of the sacrament, why we have it weekly, and it got me thinking.

Our bodies are performing a continual balancing act, between the amount of force we exert, or exercise, and the need to conserve energy. Muscles don't just appear and make us look good, we develop muscle as we apply resistance. I've been riding bikes with my family recently, and the first time we rode an 8 mile loop around our town, I was dead tired and filled with rage when we got back, but just a few days ago when we rode it again, no rage and a good worked out feeling.

What happened?

I made my body perform at a higher level than it was used to, and it adjusted to meet that demand. If I were to go on 8 mile bike rides every day, or try to do the 8 miles faster, then my body would adjust more quickly.

Our spirit gets exercise by learning truths, following promptings, praying and getting answers, etc. . . Except I think that it's nearly impossible for us to strike a balance between activity and inactivity, spiritually. We are either growing, learning and progressing or we are lapsing into atrophy. One purpose of God calling prophets to direct the church on earth is to push us to continually exercise our spirit. The job of the church is to get us to expand our spiritual capabilities. Our spirit does not have the same physical limitations that our body does, and therefore we can continue to learn and increase our understanding and perception of the world around us, forever.

Taking the sacrament is a weekly reminder for us to improve ourselves. When we take the sacrament we renew our covenants and commit ourselves to do better. If we really want to get more out of it each week, then we put in effort during the week to improve, and then the sacrament on Sunday has greater personal meaning.

On the flipside, if we just think about repenting during the 6 minutes that sacrament takes place, then it will become an empty routine. Our minds will get bored and will start to wander. We will see church as a chore, a set of well-meaning rules that don't work out in real life. Eventually we just stop going to church, then we start forgetting things we've learned, and on and on.

For our bodies to stay healthy, they need exercise. They need something to push against, to make them tired, to make muscles grow. For our spirits to be healthy, they need to constantly be learning, stretching, growing. Taking the sacrament every week to renew covenants is a good place to start.

A really stupid opinion posted in Forbes

For some reason, after a big shooting incident that makes the news, it seems like a number of writers for news papers need to comment about how it's a good thing that none of the victims had their own guns, because it would have been SO much worse if they did.

The recent Evil in Norway has proved to be no exception.

Some smart guy wrote a short article for Forbes Magazine.
Click Here

First off, he says, "In fact, it’s quite likely that more people shooting guns in such a scenario would lead to more confusion and possibly more deaths, some of which might be accidental." Yeah, and it's also quite possible that the good guys with guns would clearly identify the man shooting innocent teenagers and direct their bullets accordingly. And it's quite possible that Godzilla may decide to show up and smash your office building, so why even go to work every day?

I can imagine very few situations where it would be unclear who the homicidal maniac was. Especially a situation that is consistent with the historical record of the acts of violence. The Columbine shooters were a bit of a fluke because there were two of them, but most of the time there is only one person involved, because if they had tried to involve anyone else, they would certainly be turned down, and probably reported to the cops.

The attacks in Mumbai involved multiple attackers, but even there the attackers quickly identified themselves by shooting innocent people. So walk with me here, you are at a mall and hearing loud pops and screaming. You turn the corner and see people running away in a panic, others lying on the ground, and one man going from person to person, shooting each one. Who do think is the bad guy?

Also, the killer picked a summer camp being held on an island miles away from shore. There was no way to escape and no way for a rapid response time. The killer had over an hour before the SWAT team pulled up. He killed SEVENTY THREE people. How could this possibly have been WORSE if one of the camp counselors had pulled out his own Glock 19 and fired back at the killer? What could be worse than this?

I think people who make comments like this can't think rationally about a situation like this. It's too stressful to think about finding yourself in a situation like that, and so they never get beyond, "Gosh that would be terrible." And then when they do get into a situation like that, all they think is "I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is happening." Then they freeze. It's what happened to Colin Goddard, he stuck in "I can't Believe this" for like ten minutes. It's not because he's stupid, or bad, he just hadn't really thought about it before.

Well, the people who apply for concealed carry permits HAVE thought about this type of thing. Those thoughts are likely what led them to purchase a handgun and apply for the permit in the first place. They've "gamed out" a response in their mind. Usually it involves running away.

But the people who write editorials like this would never carry concealed, and therefore don't think of these situations in terms of them winning. They think of it in terms of the bad guy will stop when the police show up, or he'll just eventually kill himself.

I used to have an attitude of 'if I die, I die.' But that all changed when I got married. I married the most beautiful, smart, affectionate and valuable woman in the whole world. If she and I were had been at Trolley Square that in February, she would have been in danger of being brutally murdered, and I would have had nothing but my shoes to fend off the bad guy. That was simply unacceptable. I felt helpless, because I had been at work, she was at home, and the shooting had already long since ended by the time I heard about it. The panic I felt at being unable to protect her even if we had been together set the gears in motion for carrying concealed.


So, in conclusion, don't believe everything you read in the paper. Use your own brain, do research, and make your own decisions. Don't let anyone discourage you from taking measures to protect yourself just because they don't like guns, or don't want to think about a scary situation.