Christians BEWARE!!

And you think they have the same values that evangelical Christians do? Think! Use the brain God gave you; really understand what is going on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11548419/?GT1=7756
Polygamist judge forced off bench in Utah
Man flouting state polygamy law has three wives, 32 children

Associated Press Updated: 4:47 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY - A small-town judge with three wives was ordered removed from the bench by the Utah Supreme Court on Friday.

The court unanimously agreed with the findings of the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission, which recommended the removal of Judge Walter Steed for violating the state’s bigamy law.

Steed has served for 25 years on the Justice Court in the polygamist community of Hildale in southern Utah, where he ruled on such matters as drunken driving and domestic violence cases.

A year ago, the commission issued an order seeking Steed’s removal from the bench, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and had violated Utah’s bigamy law.

Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Utah punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

“Judge Steed’s relationship with his three plural wives for more than 20 years clearly runs afoul of the prohibition,” the ruling said. “When the law is violated or ignored by those charged by society with the fair and impartial enforcement of the law, the stability of our society is placed at undue risk.”

The initial complaint against Steed was filed with the commission in November 2003 by Tapestry Against Polygamy, a group founded by former polygamous women who help others leave the secretive religious colonies.

Three wives, 32 kids
Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married — or “sealed” as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it — to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985. The three women are sisters.

Steed has 32 children by the three women, according to court documents.

A receptionist at the Judicial Conduct Commission said neither the commission nor its attorney on the case, Colin Winchester, would comment.

Attorneys for Steed scheduled a news conference for later Friday.

In the court’s November hearing, justices focused their questions on two issues: whether Steed’s conduct impugns the judicial office and whether he should be removed from the bench if he has not been criminally tried and convicted of bigamy.

Friday’s decision did not address the trial-and-conviction issue. It only said that the illegal behavior is something Steed acknowledged and that he “has given every indication that he intends to continue his ‘plural marriage’ arrangement.”

Plural marriage holdouts
Plural marriage was an original tenet of the mainline Mormon church, but the faith abandoned the practice in 1890. About 30,000 polygamists, who split from the main church into various fundamentalist sects, are believed to be living in Utah, the Southwest, Mexico and Canada.

Justice Court judges are appointed to four-year terms by city councils or county commissions to handle class B and C misdemeanor infractions, charges with penalties that don’t exceed up to six months in jail or $1,000 in fines.

Judges are not required to have any legal education or training prior to appointment. A truck driver by trade, Steed was paid a few hundred dollars monthly for serving in the part-time position.

What do we understand?

"My problem is I say what I'm thinking before I think what I'm saying." ~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter

We understand little these days, other than what is near to us. Worldly distractions continue to pile up at our doors and windows trying to get inside to influence our minds. Constant onslaught cannot be avoided, it may however be evaded. Not by ducking and running, not by scrambling to hide, but boldly standing by our principles.
Situations that normally cause distress are handled with grace and compassion for all involved. Morality is not just rhetoric and words spoken to incite or illicit a response; it is how we daily live our lives. How people really perceive us. Actions do really speak louder than words. If we live this way daily it is done without thinking it becomes our nature.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James

"A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint." ~ Albert Schweitzer

"Never trust a person who’s always critical, and always distrust a person who’s never critical." ~ Dr. Mardy Grothe

Time to Think?

These past few months, I have been able to watch the unfolding and dis-assembly of the Bush administration before my eyes on national television and in the media. Whether it be electronic media or written in the pages of our newspapers, blogs, or online news control has slipped into cronyism.

Richard Reeves said on Charlie Rose the other night that his respect for Reagan had changed since he died. Mainly because he did a few things well, but only those things. He did not know people's names, he did not have a wide scope, he had a very narrow focus. He was easily distracted. Not because of his age, he did not care to be concerned for anything that did not interest him.

That is probably why the majority of Americans now like him so; he was simple minded. Easy to distract, he would have loved Fox News and its tabloid style. Compare the irony of Fox News and its perceived morals to Fox Network Televison's purely trash television offerings, he would have loved that also.

I have noticed the Reaganites are the best examples of polar opposites in one individual that you can find. One of my best friends is one of them: He boasts of his morals and stiffs his ex-wife on child support. He condemns abortion as illegal acts, yet uses many truly illegal drugs and alcohol. He lambastes liberals for supporting socialized medicine, then leaves the country to receive social medicine in Germany as an ex-pat. He spends all day listening to Neil Boortz for social commentary and Bill O'Reilly for sexual advice.

But it is easy to see why he and the masses were attracted to Reagan and now to Bush, simpletons are like magnets, they attract each other. They actually believe some day that they will earn enough in their job to become one of the upper 5%. They just don't get it that the harder they work the more they have to earn to become a 5%'er. They are under some kind of assumption that 5% starts at $40,000 per year. Boy are they in for a surprise.

"The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His." ~ Roger Ebert, film-critic (1942- )

"Let people think they govern, and they will be governed." ~ William Penn

"I'm not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why." ~ Bernard Mannes Baruch

So you wonder why W can't save your money?

I love the folks at truthout.org. They don't care who they piss off. Word is now that another reason we are in such debt is that the sadministration is spending so much telling us why we have it so good! Go figure.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022206D.shtml

And just when things in the domain of W the little start to slow down, he screws up and peeves both sides of the aisle by saying that the Dubai based company will control up to six (6) US ports. Which strangely enough he has connections to through his staff. Even boasting about no VETOES!!!.

TAKE AMERICA BACK!