Lying For The Lord: "Deception Is The Common Thread"

"Ken Clark, a former LDS CES Institute Director for 27 years illustrates how the Mormon Church utilizes deceptions and out right lies to maintain control over members and potential converts to Mormonism."

Everybody's Laughing At Us (Behind Our Backs,...)

‎One thing I definitely don't like to see in my country is cowardice. You know, "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave," and all that. We're supposed to have balls.

Yet what we're really engaged in, in this feminized era, is pretending to have balls. The real thing - even in print - is scary, or so I'm told. Why, I was recently called "a violent bully" for talking online, without so much as a single threat passing my keyboard.

The University of Michigan is now trying to claim hearing the childhood taunt "you're so gay" can somehow "cause stress, which can manifest in headaches and other health concerns" in an American (I'll wait until they talk to more than "114 gay, lesbian and bisexual students between the ages of 18 to 25 through an online survey" before I'll buy that idea, thanks.) These big pussies.

The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto has a great overview of the presidential nomination process this year and, when looked at objectively, I think it damns our culture as totally chickenshit - check out these lines:

Obama's journalistic supporters live in a bizarre alternate reality in which a politician's actual words mean nothing. When the president says something foolish and offensive, he didn't say that. Meanwhile every comment from a Republican can be translated, through a process of free association, to: "We don't like black people."

He is describing a complete and continual avoidance and/or denial of reality by a massive number of people - enough to be an actual phenomena. What warriors! Or try this:

Obama rose in 2008 as a symbol of racial aspirations--the black aspiration to be recognized as fully American and the white aspiration to redeem the sin of racism. That made it difficult to criticize him, much less to mock him. John McCain's campaign was hobbled by a fear of appearing racist, and Obama himself received a degree of deference that is excessive for any politician.

I don't think the words "hobbled by a fear" can be spun into an expression of strength, do you? Plus he lost - no. Here, one more:

Romney and the Republicans, however, have moved on. This was best exemplified by the nominee's birth-certificate quip, which we wrote about on Monday. Birtherism, once mortifying to mainstream conservatives and Republicans, is now just a joke, although the left continues to take it very seriously.

Gee, guys, while I'm glad you eventually got over it, "mortifying" is one of those shrink words I had to look up:

To cause to experience shame, humiliation, or wounded pride; humiliate.

My heroes.

I started thinking of all this while reading about polygamy and Mormonism in this election. According to Erika Johnsen of Hot Air:

There was much speculating as to whether the Republican National Convention would shy away from using the “M” word and just generally avoid talking too much about religion, but I didn’t think that was the case at all. Quite the opposite, actually,…

She then gives us FIVE examples of this oh-so-obvious Republican bravery - but only one of the five actually mentions the word "Mormon." One that didn't is by Mike Huckabee, who The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan explained "addressed the Mormon issue without ever saying 'the Mormon issue,'" because everyone knows never directly bringing up a subject is how you get to it's core, right?

Sure. How brave,…

 

The Real Skinny (Because Good Info's Mighty Thin,...)

I told you yoga is a cult, and The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington is a cult leader, so what's the natural progression from there (Other than our own self-destruction)? You guessed it:

HuffPo donates $40K to yoga group 

Good ol' Arianna Huffington - until she's stopped (or gathers anyone's on to her) that bitch won't quit.

Speaking of not quitting, I used a photo of the anorexic twin sisters who recently died together in a fire. Pretty bizarre since anorexics can't usually see what's happening to themselves - the mirror image of being twins must've been a death knell for both of them. Sad shit, man.

If you're someone "concerned about your weight," and it's basically normal, do me a favor and be sure to check out the latest study on Calorie Restriction and Longevity.

 It won't save your life, but it might calm-you-the-fuck-down a little bit - you need it,...

We Are The Robots (Synth Britannia)

I fell asleep watching this doc a few nights ago (not because it's bad but because I was tired) and, once I awoke, found it to be quite informative for anyone who wanted to know how some of the biggest electronic Brit Pop bands of the '80s got started. (You might remember I posted two, about Kraftwerk and the early days of German "concrete music," a while back - it's a thing for me right now.)

If you can find the time, you ought to check it out, too - if only to see the guy from Depeche Mode do his funny dance once more,…

ADDED: This is a photo of Toto's Steve Porcaro, who I went to school with, in front of a Polyfusion Modular Synth, one of the biggest ever made. Hard to comprehend how they can put all of THAT into a box the size of a toaster now, but they do. I, of course, was limited to one of these:

Paying The Price (Of Freedom,...)

I just got a donation from MRKT and I really want to thank him after reading that "Half of Americans die with almost no money." I'll probably fall in that category, because I've lived with almost no family, and there's no greater guarantee of poverty than being alone, baby.

I was with a friend a few days ago, and he was whining because he had to possibly borrow money from his father - who is rich but they don't exactly get along - so I reminded him how lucky he was that he had someone to call. He understood, but still grumbled, because his dad is HARD.

I feel lucky, because occasionally - along with looking in the mirror and saying, "I'm good enough, and smart enough, and GODDAMMIT, YOU'RE ONE ORNERY SOMEBITCH!!" - you guys remind me it is so.

Much love - and "Thanks" to you all.

 

Cringe

Hey, the shitty ol' Republican convention is over, so let's shift gears to art: 

Ridley Scott's kid, Luke Scott, has made a sci-fi short called LOOM and you can download it here BEFORE it hits wide release in theaters with 4K 3D, whatever that is.

As you may or may not remember, Luke's dad made the classic, Blade Runner, so this new thing's supposed to have good creative genes or something.

And just to show you the difference between MY iPod collection and those of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, here's "Loom" by the Japanese tech masters, Yellow Magic Orchestra, from all the back in 1981 - the same year Led Zeppelin broke up (I whimpered in pain when Ryan said his collection started at AC/DC and ended at Led Zeppelin. If that's true, the guy needs to get out of the house more…) And on that point, I'd like to remind you THIS WAS ALL CREATED BY MEN - not because I hate women - but because, after three nights of pandering to females, there deserves to be a little ship-righting done around here,...

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Not-So-Ugly After All,...

This was by far the best speech I saw at the Republican convention. I know, Clint Eastwood is an actor, but he didn't appear to be acting here, with the stumbling and unscripted asides, and his theme, ultimately, is one I've stressed many times - especially when warning why we should vet Romney:

"We own this place." 

Clint's appearance wasn't Obama in 2004, or Palin on 2008, but it was a breath of fresh air and - considering the lack of talent on display so far - I was grateful for it.

Now this was an actor practicing his craft! 

Marco Rubio has performed this speech so often, his simple tale on the virtues of sacrifice comes off as slick, and false, and as manipulative as a puppeteer. Sorry - I got that wrong - his speech didn't, HE did in the telling, and all of a sudden I found myself disliking someone I've admired quite a bit.

You know that moment when someone, maybe a friend, finds fortune of some kind and they start making changes to accommodate it, until you're forced to tell them "you've changed - and not for the better"? That's what is happening to Marco. He's acquiring too much polish for his own good, reducing the best thing about him - that he can clearly and plainly articulate what this country is all about - to calculation, revealing his dark side once the authenticity is gone.

He'll never be Antonio Villaraigosa, thank goodness, but, ever so slightly, he's moving in that direction.

And, finally, after taking his own sweet time, glad-handing, while making it to the podium (and I was positive he'd HUG Orrin Hatch, because he's his main Mormon fixer in Washington) Mitt opened by immediately accepting the nomination he's coveted for the last six years, as though he was Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings, finally in reach of "the precious." I don't buy his claim to humility, and that condescending-as-hell "sad eyes" routine, with the slightly tilted head and wan grin, is as grating today as ever - four years of that is going to be excruciating - as are the cutaways to his wife, who has the eyes of a bald eagle deciding what chunk of flesh to tear next.

And the pandering - good God, man, make it stop! FOUR YEARS OF THIS SHIT?!? Paul Ryan loves his mom? Really? Never woulda caught that without you pointing it out (and Ryan laughing, pretending to not know the line was coming - jeez). Mitt also mentioned all the women speakers over the course of the entire convention and, though I didn't couldn't stomach watching the entire speech, I wouldn't be surprised to discover he mentioned that - if you listen carefully - you'll hear women actually speaking everywhere you go. (What's that in the background of my mind? It's Ann Romney on a digital loop saying, "We're the mothers.  We're the wives.  We're the grandmothers.  We're the big sisters.  We're the little sisters and we are the daughters. You know it's true, don't you?" Yes, you silly bitch, I know that everyone who isn't a father, a husband, a grandfather, a big brother, a little brother, and a son, has a vagina and won't shut up about it - got anything else?) And, considering - as a friend pointed out - Paul Ryan's iPod selection seems to have missed at least 3 decades, Romney's "classic Baby Boomer" playlist must suck.

Romney gives a better speech than Paul Ryan, which is a surprise, but he was most effective when he went after Obama. (The pause after saying, "President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans" was especially good.) He wasn't mean, but on-point, which is a fine approach for him. His 5-point plan is a natural rebuke, though not a stroke of genius, but that's not what is called for, to fix the economy, anyway.

The foreign policy section was also good. I heard it while driving in my truck and had to give him a nod.

All-in-all, it wasn't a great speech, but it wasn't bad, and left me feeling (as long as his cult stays out of the way) I can hope he succeeds - because I want our country to - though I still can't vote for him. The LDS's success is tied up in his and I can have nothing to do with that.

Will the Democrats go there? Get desperate and drop the depth-chargers?

We'll just have to wait and see,...

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Waxing Philosophical (On Not Being So Philosophical)

If I'm right - and this tale is only about a *single* "healer" who got caught - then there's a lot more victims, hurt, that we've never heard about:

Swiss acupuncturist charged in 16 HIV infections 

Awww, never mind. Sticking needles into non-existent pressure points is a fine tool. Or rather, tools are fine thinking non-existent pressure points need needles stuck in them. Or rather, non-existent pressure points are fine for needling tools who got stuck.

Wait - no they're not. Those tools are DEAD. Because they weren't skeptical enough to know they shouldn't have been letting some moron do things to them that were completely unnecessary in the first place.

Life, in many ways, may be a joke; but how that elevates quack practices, or the deaths that result from them, I don't know. Making a mockery of the only existence we have can be fun, but dumbing us down isn't the answer to that problem either. I don't dance around no golden calf.

Somehow, someone, somewhere, convinced the previous generation that a firm foundation of knowledge isn't a way to raise a smile, but that being permanently grinning idiots was better than the occasional discovery when you were really and truly happy. They said, "Anything goes," and so anything went, and now it seems like almost everything is gone.

Nothing could stop them. Nothing had to. There was nothing there to begin with. Except for all the hard work, other people had invested, convinced these fools were wasting their time.

What's really funny is, we hard-nosed types are the folks not afraid of death, so we don't find ourselves getting scammed as often. Our last thoughts aren't, "What a fool I've been," but that life can make fools of us all.

There's a comfort in knowing you didn't get struck down - or stuck dumb - and especially for a fee. 

"Believe" me, I've seen it, I know,...

Screwed (In More Ways Than One,...)

Jesus, I just wrote this shit this morning: 

Minus Palin, Convention’s TV Ratings Plunge 

Hell, they shoulda got somebody who can talk. 

 And, man, if they can't even get this right,…

The Master: Welcome To Clown School (Now Go Vote)

The first review is in - and it's being called "a masterpiece":

“The Master” is a dangerous movie. I can’t remember a time in recent memory when I worried about what characters might do when they entered a scene. But when Joaquin Phoenix comes into a frame or scene at any time in “The Master,” you’re really concerned he’s going to hit or kill somebody, or do something utterly wild and unpredictable. His character, Freddie, is an alcoholic and a sociopath. Freddie has just been discharged from the Navy at the end of World War II. He’s a sexual deviant, who we learn later was abused by an aunt. Freddie is also a loner, a drifter whose temper is so bad he can’t hold a job. And then he meets Lancaster Dodd, and his life changes completely. 

Dodd is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He comes with a family–wife Amy Adams, a daughter and son in law, and a son. What is Dodd? He says he’s a writer and a nuclear scientist, among other things. But he’s also already come up with his own religion, a cult called The Cause. His own son says later that Dodd is just making it up as he goes along. But his wife is sold and is his collaborator. The son in law sees opportunity in it as well. And soon The Cause picks up a couple of wealthy female patrons, played by Patty McCormack (star of “The Bad Seed” in the 1960s) and the much missed Laura Dern. (I wish she were in more movies. She’s spot on.) 

There’s so much going on in “The Master,” you almost need two hours and 17 minutes to dissect it. It’s a gritty, edgy, uncomfortable film marked by Freddie’s deviancy and Dodd’s avuncular unease. Phoenix and Hoffman are completely riveting, never once hit a false note, and keep the action moving. Amy Adams peels back a new side of her very interesting, onion like sensibility. She seems to always have new tricks to show us. Knowing that Hoffman and Phoenix are show stoppers, Amy works along the edges until she sees her moment. She’s absolutely terrific. 

The Cause is not Scientology per se. But it mimics it. The courses are called “Applications.” There are kind of EEG machines. There’s a violence to the Cause, mostly instigated by Freddie, that has been associated with Scientology. I was reminded of a lot of things– including Oprah tearing up every time a new New Age guru stops by with a book of aphoristic gobbledygook. Dodd knows he’s making it up as he goes along. Wait for the scene when Dern meekly questions something in his book. He’s contradicted an earlier stand. Dodd–Hoffman–loses it, and we get a glimpse into his Machiavellian mind. 

But the sham that is The Cause is unveiled–at least for the audience. When Hoffman/Dodd finally reveals his big discovery–what will change everyone’s lives–you just shake your head. It’s as mundane as the stuff that comprises other cults’ revelations. The emperor has no clothes.

"Other cults"? What "other cults"? There are NO "other cults". 

There's only prophets, churches, religions, and beliefs, providing us presidential material,…

 

No, You Can't Change Them (Don't Change Anything,...)

Oh, naturally, they know quackery when they see it NOW:

Ex-gay reparative therapy (quackery) ban passes 

Isn't it bizarre, the absolute clarity some get when it's gays? 

No one can tell the difference between water and medicine, but this? Definitely quackery. 

This entire culture is as big a fraud as anything I've ever seen,…

 

Feminists Should Be Forced To Attend This Funeral Like Germans Had To Walk Through Concentration Camps

Holy Shit - Chris Lighty killed himself. 

People are going to say it was taxes, but $5 Mil was nothing to him: He was going through a divorce.

No-fucking-fault, my ass. 

He was a man. Somebody was at fucking fault. 

And everything about this world is wrong,...

 

Silent But Deadly

Hard to "believe," but I've finally found someone who says, "I have no complaint with people who in good-conscience say, 'I can’t vote for either one of these guys.'” It's radio host Bryan Fischer, "a staunch proponent of 'muscular Christianity,' former preacher and unremitting social conservative" (according to Salon.com) and Fischer also says:

You lay Mormon beliefs and teachings alongside Christian orthodoxy, and clearly we’re talking about two different religions. I believe we ought to be able to acknowledge that, we ought to be able to admit that, we ought to be able to talk openly about what those differences are. And then people are going to make up their own minds about how important those differences are. There’s no reason why we should shy away from that conversation.

So, once again, this atheist finds himself agreeing more with a "staunch" Christian than even most of my fellow (for lack of a better term) "open-minded" conservatives, no matter where they land on the spectrum of left or right.

Figures. Unless you're caught up in the manic groupthink of an election - if you're the kind of person who doesn't push aside all other possible concerns for whatever your political goals are - naturally you're going to be more objective and reasonable.

Of course we should be able to discuss Mormonism for what it is, instead of this Keep Quiet campaign that's going on - I have no ambition to participate in a lie, and I lose respect for those willing to do so, merely to win an election. As I've seen it, we were going to win anyway - which also appears to be Bryan Fischer's attitude - so why sully ourselves for it?

Oh yeah - because you were desperate.

You fools. You willingly played yourselves, but GOOD:

The Mormons should print "Pull my finger,…" on Republican ballots,...

 

He Speaks - And Then Pauses - And Then He Speaks,...

I'm only posting these last three minutes of Paul Ryan's speech last night because, sadly, this was the best part. The best because it was almost over, but also because it was the only segment where he didn't pause unwarranted for mechanical applause, didn't deliver his lines as though he thought they were smarter than they actually were, and I didn't have to hear him constantly clearing his throat into the microphone. I don't know if the Democrats are going to do any better, speech-wise, but if not - after Chris Christie's lackluster performance the night before - we might have to say oratory is definitely becoming a lost art in this country.

Don't get me wrong - I didn't disagree with any of the sentiments Ryan advocated - but when I had to whince every time he said, "Mitt Romney and me," because, not only do I dislike the head of the ticket with a passion, but it's bad english, well, let's just say Glenn Reynolds (or the Democrats) should be hawking t-shirts that say "Apparently math ain't the ONLY thing that's hard!"

Susana Martinez saying, "Damn, I guess we ARE Republicans!" was funny - during that one line - and Condi did o-kay, which is weird (I know so-called "people of color" aren't the only ones capable of talking with style and vigor <--Yeah, I'm a Kennedy now) but the night for the most part was a bust, which I know people are going to claim is a result of my deep animosity for Romney, rather my long emersion in a culture that loves verbal dexterity, as well as the conservative's own election year blinders. Like Obama - who they seem to want to emulate in every way this year - they can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Well, actually the Right *might* be able to: 

If I remember correctly, there's a certain "pig wearing lipstick" out there known for knocking 'em dead,...
 

Jon Stewart Stumbles Towards The No-Issue Candidate

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You've got to wade through the Todd Aiken issue, which (I must admit) is pretty stupid when you realize he's a Republican science guy, but eventually you'll make it to a short bit about Mitt Romney being allowed to dictate how much we'll know about him before he's handed power. (How he's gotten away with it this long, facing a liberal media, is beyond me.) It's but one of the major issues just hanging out there to be plucked, but nobody seems to have the balls - not even Stewart - which doesn't give me much hope as the clock winds down. Will Mitt Romney ever be vetted or won't he?

He'd better be - or we're totally screwed,...

 

A Queer & Pleasant Danger: L. Ron Hubbard = "Daddy"

This is both one of the weirdest, and probably one of the most insightful, Scientologists to emerge from the cult - "Kate" Bornstein, author of A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir - the best argument L. Ron Hubbard was a really bad judge of character that could ever be invented. It's like rapping with a talking snake, but whatever:

The great man claimed he knew what he was doing and, I guess, this multi-tattooed "woman," with the chin-piercing and ginormous hands, is the result.

“I worked with L. Ron Hubbard directly. I was first mate on his fucking ship.” 

Wow - still said with (dare I say it?) PRIDE. 

Way to go, L. Ron. Really, thanks for all the "help"…

 

Chris Christie (Not Exactly Throwing His Weight Around)

This is funny. Right after Ann Romney - someone I don't trust - gave a speech about "Love," up jumps Chris Christie - someone I do trust - saying, "Tonight, we're going to choose 'Respect' over 'Love.'" Man, he didn't waste any time queering that deal, did he? (ADDED: Now I half-expect Mitt to emerge tomorrow night saying, "Screw 'Respect' - this is Joseph Smith's party now!")

Christie also emphasized a word I have a healthy respect for - one which even a lot of conservatives have little - and that word is "No."

I am finding conservatives hate "no." Like liberals, they don't want to hear what they don't want to hear, and if you're not agreeing with them, then too bad. And they act just as childish. Witness their response to Todd Aiken, the candidate who said no, he wasn't going to quit his race for saying something stupidly. The conservatives have come back with fine, we're not going to give you the money needed to win your race, even though we need you to win, to win the Senate. That's called biting your nose to spite your face. 

Back to Christie - I didn't like the speech. I prefer Christie off-the-cuff rather than scripted, and calling his father merely a passenger "in the automobile of life" must have stung the old man, considering he was the one who put gas in the car. Mostly what I heard is "War On Women" pandering, which I was a little taken back to hear from Christie, especially delivered with so little of the charisma I'm used to seeing from him. Even delivering lines like, "Our ideas are right for America and their ideas have failed America!" he just seemed to be phoning it in. This was One. Very. Long. Yawner.

Maybe it's because I've already been excluded from this election, but as I watched Christie's speech, it - and even he - seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, drifting further and further away. It's all becoming unreal now, just like in 2008, when I knew we were making a terrible mistake, but there was nothing to be done. There's nothing to be done again.

Now, instead of a good and bad choice, it's between "Dumb and Dumber," a movie I've seen waaay too many times before. Sorry, but even the big man can't convince me to watch it again:

I'm gone. 

 And oh, and oh yeah - Fuck. Mia. Love,…

 

Another Trailer For The Master: "The Basis Of A Cult"

It's almost here, arriving on September 14th, this "story about free will and discovering the constraints that hold us back" by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) that few who have seen it can get their mind's around. We know it's about Scientology, and is a shoo-in for the Golden Lion award at the 69th Venice Film Festival, but little else.

The cult-themed movies keep coming - a clear sign of the times - but none have been able to make a dent; will this one, finally, be different?

I'd cross my fingers but, well, you know,....

 

When It Comes To The Truth, TMR Tells More, M'on,...

"Mormons get double dose of growing religious intolerance"

Oh please. That's almost as crazy as suggesting "Scientology gets a free pass, while 'news' outlets focus on Mormons," when news outlets - even those covering Mormons - are giving the entire issue of cultism a free pass:

Mormons are some of the nicest people—that’s the thing. You’re expecting to be uncomfortable, but people are so nice there. And we had mixed feelings about that, like, people can’t be this nice. There must be something else going on here.

That's Larry Wilmore, the “senior black correspondent” on The Daily Show, who came to Utah for TWO AND A HALF WEEKS and never really tried to get to the bottom of what that "something else going on" was.

I know "Why Mormonism is not Christianity," but then, I know why it's not even a religion, too, and why "most Mormons understand why [Romney] keeps a distance from the church." It's simple, really:

For Mormons - worshiping a belief based on a con - keeping their story straight is HARD. 

Here's a huge quote from Mormon Joanna Brooks' article, "Does Mormonism Encourage LDS People to Lie?" where she admits, half-heartedly, to the answer being "yes" - all bolds are mine:

In some Mormon circles one does hear bitter accusations of “lying for the Lord,” and sometimes one does witness among Mormon people today the remnants of a deep-seated sense that telling a complete, straightforward story is not always good for LDS interests. 

The most penetrating assessment of this Mormon cultural phenomenon comes from linguistic anthropologist Daymon Smith, who ties defensive communication mechanisms—telling outsiders one story in order to protect another version of the story for insiders—to Mormon polygamy and particularly to the decades in the late nineteenth century when federal prosecution of polygamy sent many Mormon men on the “underground.” 

Double-speaking on polygamy continues. I myself wrestle with it whenever I’m obliged to talk about Mormon polygamy in public. Since 1890, LDS Church leaders and members have stated publicly and repeatedly that we do not practice polygamy, that the practice has officially ended. This is an earnest effort to distinguish contemporary members of the mainstream LDS Church from ultra-orthodox splinter groups of fundamentalist Mormons. And it is true that any Mormon who were to marry and cohabitate with a two living spouses today would be excommunicated. 

But polygamy has not been eliminated from Mormon life. 

The fact is that current Church policy does allow for a living man to be “sealed” (married for eternity) to more than one woman at a time. For example, a widower or divorced man who has elected to terminate his civil marriage but not his LDS temple marriage is permitted to marry another woman in an LDS temple with the assurance that both first and second marriages would be eternal. The same is not possible under current Church policies for living LDS women who have been widowed or civilly divorced.  

This may seem like a technicality. But when combined with the fact that polygamy has never been renounced as a doctrinal principle by the Church and that it remains on the books in the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of LDS scripture, it fosters a belief among many mainstream LDS people that polygamous marriages will be a fact of the afterlife. Some mainstream Mormons dutifully anticipate polygamy in heaven. Others take an agnostic view. But many others quietly harbor feelings of grief, anger, and worry. I have experienced these feelings myself, and I hear them from other Mormons all the time. All the time Mormon men and women ask, “What kind of God would expect me to live in an eternal marriage that I would hate?” Not the God I believe in. 

Polygamy remains a fact of mainstream Mormon thought and belief—whether as a doctrinal remnant or as a live article of faith, no one knows for sure. And the tensions created by the dissonance between the Church’s public denial of polygamy and the private continuance of the doctrine creates tensions that lead more than a few Mormons to leave the faith."

See? "More than a few Mormons" know there's a "dissonance" that "creates tensions," but somehow no mainstream or influential outlet can find those "more than a few Mormons" to say what's being said "all the time" - and they won't find them, or the reasons why,...until Mitt Romney gets elected.

Not only that but (I can hear Glenn Kill-The-Messenger Reynolds screaming "Bigotry!" now) that line between telling the truth and defending lies, at the expense of the truth-tellers, is being viciously enforced. 

Face it:

It's the 2008 election all over again - but for the Right.

Is political journalism in this country great or what?