The Words of a Prophet

I must say that this has been one of the best weeks ever and we're only on Wednesday.

I feel so blessed to be a student at BYU and have amazing opportunites that millions and millions of other members of my faith can only dream of.

On Sunday evening, the Prophet himself came to speak on campus. Thomas S. Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints came to speak directly to the student body. Me and my boy Matt Ballard went straight to the Marriott Center after church and set up camp to wait in line about 5 hours before President Monson's address. Despite the freezing weather we made a great time of it, singing hymns with the other students at the head of the line and all just waiting in anticipation of seeing God's prophet up close. The time finally came when they opened the doors and let me tell you, I've never seen such a mad rush through the door. Think Black Friday. Anyways, my friend and I ended up getting the best seats in the house, the front left floor seating. That way we ended up being directly in front of the Prophet as he made his way to and from the podium.

His address was magnificient. He spoke of the need for preparation in life. He spoke of the importance of education and the benefits that preparation brings to life. What really stuck out to me was his admonishment of not starting out great but then allowing oneself to fizzle out near the end. I think I've really learned from my mistake of second semester of senior year- senioritis. I don't want that to happen again. Anyways, as he was walking from the podium I had the opportunity to be within three feet of the man. It was a drastically humbling and powerful experience.

If that wasn't enough, Elder Holland came to speak to the students at BYU for the weekly Tuesday morning devotional. I have been blessed enough to see Elder Holland speak up close three times in the past year. My friend Jordan and I went a couple hours early and got a similar seat to the one I had on Sunday. His words really brought the spirit to me. He spoke of Lot's wife and her mistake in the longing for the wickedness and sin of her past. He spoke about not living in the mistakes or blunders of the past, or living in the fear of the future. He stressed that we must charge forward with confidence and find joy in the here and now. He also commanded of us that we must bring each other up instead of bringing each other down by bringing up the past.

After it was over I had the chance to shake his hand and thank him for his sacrifice in the church. I am so blessed, this was my second chance to thank and shake his hand in the past year.

I have a testimony that I would still have even if I never got the chance to see these glorious men in person. They are men called of God to do His work here on the earth. The words they speak are truth and scripture and have shaped my life and testimony.

Concerts

I know this was all a week ago but I've been meaning to get around to this.

Last Saturday I had the chance to go to two phenomenal concerts. The first was at Alex Graves' event- This Ain't Yer Granny's Christmas Pageant. I loved it, especially because Cameron Hodges played so much new material. I'm a big fan. Its always a treat to listen to Alex Graves' lyrical poetry. 1950s Alcoholism will always be my all time favorite but I thought his best reading of the night was by far Legalism Pharisitical and She's So Beautiful- I love the jazzy vibe that one brings.

My biggest dilemma of winter break is the fact that Alex's show coincided the same night with the homecoming concert of The Scene Aesthetic. SC is one of my favorite bands, its a two-man band, and it just so happens that the other member has been on an LDS mission for the past two years and just got back two weeks ago. So they finally had a legit concert- on the same night. Anyway, it was vital for me to see them play.

I left over half way through Alex's show and my friend Casey and I arrived at el Corazon in Seattle in the nick of time to catch the headline show of The Scene Aesthetic. It was a phenomenal song. They played my favorite track- So Peter You've Become a Pirate. They also covered one of my all-time favorites- I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I even got the chance to meet up with group member Eric and talk to him a little about his mission. I even got a pic. It was a superb night of music- not one I'll forget any time soon.

Today I got the Melchizedeck Priesthood

So this morning something happened that was a pretty big deal. I was given the Melchizedek Priesthood. This gives me the authority to perform certain ordinances. I have the authority to baptize people into our church. I can give blessings to individuals- the ordinance involves laying my hands on their head and communicating with God- asking him to bestow a particular blessing on the individual.

I'm really excited to have this power- but what is important to understand is that authority only comes through humility and submission to God. All of the power comes through Him and not through me. If anything, this authority gives me the responsibility to act as His servant and His tool. I hope I'm given the opportunity to weild it to help His children.

I want to speak about something that has been very important to me in the past few months. Its a very special belief in my religion, and that is the belief that it is possible for all of God's children to actually become like Him. Our doctrine is slightly vague on this concept but I interpret it as being my opportunity to act as our Father in Heaven does someday and weild the same power that he does.

To some of you that may sound quite outlandish- let me help you understand. One of the consistent traits of fathership throughout humanity is the father's hope for his child to succeed in life. If the father fills his role, it is usually the child's hope to someday become like his or her father. I like to think that our Father in Heaven greatly wants us to succeed and wants us to progress and match Him in power. This is doctrine that can be found in a teaching that we call the Oath and the Covenant- if we use our authority worthily and act as a servant of the Lord then we will have all the Father hath- this can be found in Doctrine and Covenants section 84 verses 33-44 if you want to read it for yourself.

The reason I bring this up is because receiving and living worthily to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood is one step in eventually becoming like my Father in Heaven. God uses the Melchizedek Priesthood to do all that He does. I can only hope to do His work with this new mandate.

Election Without Representation

A ridiculous system of presidential election has run rampant in our country nearly from the day of its inception. It thwarts the will of the majority in an election that is decided by electors and not the American people themselves. How can the United States of America claim to be an example of democracy to the international community if its most important election is lacking fundamental representation? It can’t. In our system of democracy, in terms of electing the highest office in the land, the majority should rule and every vote should be counted as equal. Our Electoral College system of election is outdated and does not serve our country’s needs for adequate representation and needs to be abolished. We need a bipartisan movement to put in place a direct election for president.
Our country’s Declaration of Independence claims very clearly that all men are created equal- yet when voting for president this is very far from the truth. Because of the Electoral College, votes in a small state like Wyoming count for much more than those in a populous state like California. In California, there are approximately 645,455 voters per electoral vote compared to only 166, 666 voters per electoral vote in Wyoming. Because our current system promises at least three electoral votes to all states, Wyoming, with a population of 500,000, is overrepresented in our electorate, with the larger states having less say on who is president of their country. In a direct election for the presidency, a vote in Sacramento would count exactly the same as a vote in Cheyenne.
The Electoral College distorts the campaigning of presidential-hopefuls. Because the majority of states in the USA consistently lean either Republican or Democrat election after election, presidential candidates focus solely on the swing states. Renowned New York Times reporter James Booker said on the matter, “We are hearing far more this year about the issue of storing hazardous waste at Yucca Mountain, an important one for Nevada's 2.2 million residents, than about securing ports against terrorism, a vital concern for 19.2 million New Yorkers.” Candidates focus all of their time, money, and promises on a select few states instead of addressing nationwide concerns. If a direct election were held, the entire electorate would be much more educated and exposed to each candidate and in turn each candidate would be much clearer on his or her policies and promises to the entire nation because the candidates would have to cater to the nation as a whole- not just to the small portion of citizens residing in the swing states. This is because they wouldn’t be pandering to just a handful of the small swings states to gain the “swing vote.”
Under the Electoral College it is possible for candidates to win the election without having the majority vote. A total of 18 elections have ended that way; this means that a total of 1/3 of all of our presidents have been elected with a minority of the vote in the USA (Dahl). How is this democracy? The whole point of a vote is that the public opinion and ideology will be implemented in government through a representative president. This was especially the case in the election of 2000. With such a slim margin of electoral votes between the two candidates, the election was decided by a court case! That is a true testament of how broken the Electoral College system is. When the minority of the population gets the choice in the matter it is not beneficial to the concept of democracy. In the recent 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 365 electoral votes while Republican John McCain gained only 173. The fact is, however, that Obama didn’t receive over two times the amount of votes from McCain. Obama received 53% of and McCain received 46% of votes from citizens (CNN). The Electoral College skews the results and does not directly reflect the public opinion.
The rules of the Electoral College are set-up to possibly cause a great deal of trouble. Firstly, the electors that are elected in the general election are not bound to the candidate they represent. They are expected to represent the vote of the people but they aren’t bound to by law. Any elector could possibly go against the will of people and cast their vote for whomever they want (Dahl). There should be no electors in the first place, they serve no purpose. Instead, all votes should just go directly to the candidate. Secondly, the electoral votes are set up so that it is possible to have a tie. In this case the vote goes to the Congress and each state gets one vote (Booker). This would widen the gap of public opinion even further: one vote for California which has 35.5 million residents and one vote for Wyoming with 500,000 residents. What a large gap of representation!
People will try to make the case that there are many advantages to the Electoral College. It is said that because of this system, not as much money needs to be spent. Because the candidates only have to focus on the swing states that they have to focus less on gaining money or if they decided to take public financing, the public is able to supply less money to candidates to run their campaigns because they have such a small area to focus on. Another case is that there is less chance for corruption- so much focus and attention is on a smaller area because of the way the system works that it would be harder of candidates to win by nefarious means.
While there is some merit to these advantages, the disadvantages greatly outweigh them. Candidates already use a great deal of their resources and time fundraising; they wouldn’t have much more time to spare to raise money if the election was direct. A direct election would also give voice to the minorities of each state and put out a proportional vote where every ballot was counted toward one candidate or the other instead of the majoritarian, winner-take-all formula.
We need to abolish the Electoral College as soon as possible and replace it with a direct election. We need the people to vote for president- instead of voting for unnecessary electors that just complicate the system. So many votes carry no value because of the winner-take-all scheme that excludes third party candidates. In some states votes count for much more than the votes in others- this is completely unfair in a supposed democratic system. It’s time that the people’s voices are heard and have the majority decide who is to fill the country’s highest office.

The Stuff

So Thanksgiving Week is over. It was fun. I still had to go to school on Monday and Tuesday but I had the opportunity to see my family afterwards- they drove down from Washington. That was lovely since I haven't seen them since late August. I especially enjoyed The Stuff- a delicious rasberry jello concoction that my Mom makes on all special occasions. It's achieved a pretty high status within my family and I'm proud to say that I gave it its name.

I've got 3 weeks left to achieve my weight loss goal. About mid-summer I realized that being 216 pounds and just barely 6'1" I was a tad overweight. So I lost around 20 pounds over the summer. I put my goal as somewhere between 180-185 pounds. Right now I'm at 190 (maybe a little lower) and I'm shooting for below 185 by December 20th. Its that last bit that is the most stubborn- at least thats what I've heard- so I"m willing to put in the time.

The 20th will close my weight loss phase and my bulking phase will begin. I've been looking up a lot on bodybuilders.com and I've been really interested in the training routines that body builders undergo. I'll let you know how that one goes.

3 weeks is also all I got left of my first semester at BYU. My plan is to end it with a bang, and just dominate my finals. You see, I let Senioritis get the best of my last year and I ended the year with less than a whimper- kind of embarrassing. I decided that really isn't me. It'll take some good education to eventually get that seat in the US Senate....

Goal Pre 12/20: 183 pounds
Goal post 12/20- Get ripped

Ray Keetch will be missed

So the other day my Dad gave me a call to tell me that my Great Grandpa had passed away. I knew that a few days earlier he had slipped into a coma.

I'm pretty sure that my Grandpa Keetch lived until he was 94 years old. He lived a full, happy life. Heraised a family, and in that family was my Grandma. I remember visiting my Great Grandparents house often when I was really little. I'd talk with Grandpa Keetch about fishing, about boats, and about all the crazy decorations he had adorned throughout his living room. I could tell that he had been all over the world and his memorabilia represented that.

My Dad introduced to me someone I'll always remember- Edgar. My grandparents had a little miniature Eskimo mask they had got from Alaska. My Dad said that his name was Edgar and for some reason that little mask really freaked me out. I'd always try and hide from it whenever we'd visit.

My Great Grandma Keetch passed away a little over a year ago. I think Grandpa really missed her and a big part of him left with her. I'm confident he is very happy right now, reunited with his wife once again.

I never knew my Great Grandparents all that well but I do know this- I loved them and I'm sure a lucky guy to have enough family that it made it all the way up to my great grandpa until now.

Dave won!

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a ray of hope.

I'm happy to announce that Dave Reichert won another election by the space of hairpin. He's a great congressman and I"m really happy to see him back in office. This guy voted against the bailout and is a true conservative. I think what is great is that when my parents went to DC to do a little lobbying for Prader Willi Syndrome awareness, Reichert stepped out of his office and listened to him for 20 minutes! According to my knowledge, people like Dave have pretty full schedules. He deserved the win and I'm happy for him and his campaign.