Marriage vs. Civil Union and the Church

Alright my fellows, I am glad that once again the state of Ca. went about something in the democratic way and what- we feel- is the Lord's way. That said, I have seen it noted a few times that the Church is not against a civil union even including property rights, visitation rights and insurance. Can anyone quote me where we (LDS) make the distinction? Is it just the name that is important, is it the millenia that stand behind the term or what?
Part of my objection to even civil unions was that I knew it would never be enough. Tolerance no longer means tolerance. It means accept it or have your church unlawfully and violently protested against.
Society, i. e. country, nation state, etc., has a right to protect that which is best to perpetuate itself and the continuation of its way of life. Marriage is one of these things. Prop. 8 defined and encouraged that. A man and a woman get married have children- generally-teach their children how to live in that society and promote what it is good about it. This can perpetuate itself. Same gender unions/marriage cannot perpetuate w/o adoption, science or indoctrination. If we were animals, it would die out in a generation. In animals, it does die out.
Help a brother out. :)

Four years of Obama (Carter)

That's all she wrote folks. You can now buy a presidency and elect someone that you do not know. We have a majority of Dems. in both houses, so I hope for the best, but am worrying.

How do you call an election- much more concede!- when there were so many districts that had not completed the count?

Who will be the next Reagan? Reagan lost in the Republican nomination in '76 to Ford. Ford lost to Carter. Many believe that the country needed four years to realize what it really needed. It's like the Book of Mormon cycle. I hope that is what is happening.

No apologies, I did not vote for Obama for some good reasons. I may be poor, but I don't want someone else's money. Associations are important to me now, 20 years ago and 20 years in the future. You are your friends. Life is important on all levels and should not be discarded carelessly. We are a great nation, with faults, and the best thing out there and if the president does not believe it, what does that say?!?

Good night, God bless.

The Costume

As noted, I came up with a costume with which I was pretty happy: Harry Dresden- Wizard, the main character of the Jim Butcher novels that I have been reading. (Timpani adjusted her previous faerie costume to be a specific character from the books named Aurora who is part of the summer faerie hierarchy. She is referred to as the Summer Lady.)

I borrowed a leather fedora from Timpani's step-dad. I made a "blasting rod" out of a 10" light stick and some electrical tape. (In the books, Harry is bullish with his fire magic, so he has the blasting rod to focus it.)


Mok lent me his leather duster. I made a staff out of PVC, electrical tape and a glowstick. (Harry's duster is enchanted to resist physical attacks including bullets.)










This was a fortuitous bit of decoration at the Crane's place. In the books, Harry cannot use computers and most other electronics because magic disrupts them. Because of that, he has a spirit that lives in a skull named "Bob." Bob acts like a computer for research. I thought this would look Harry talking to Bob.










I made business cards that I printed out at the library. Through that wonder that Harry cannot access, the internet, I found what is written on Harry's cards and added the address and phone number which I found on the series' web site. (The series only lasted a season, but was still cool.)

I probably wore the get up less than a couple of hours, left the majority of my business cards in Mark's coat and the light stick never really lit the staff like I hoped, but it was still cool.

My costume

This year I have spent more time and money than I have in many a years on my costume. That is not saying a lot as it is probably going to total to maybe 2 hours- mostly travel- and $10 dollars. I have had to borrow to items to complete my ensemble. I will be finishing up to two accessories today. It's not anything too impressive, but I am pretty stoked none the less. It will all make sense once I post pictures.
More to come....