Monthly Archives: May 2012

What happens if Obama wins popular vote, but not election?

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Doug Gibson

Conservative talk show host Michael Medved has an interesting column in The Daily Beast in which he offers the scenario that Mitt Romney could get the 270 electoral votes needed to be elected president while losing the popular vote to … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments

In Lee v. Skousen tiff, LDS Church sided with the man who liked strippers

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Doug Gibson

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) One of the more entertaining Utah political tiffs was the battle between Salt Lake City Mayor J. Bracken Lee and Salt Lake City Police Chief W. Cleon Skousen. … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Catholic dioceses, colleges will likely beat Obamacare in the courts

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Doug Gibson

It hasn’t received a lot of press coverage across the nation, but earlier this week dozens of federal lawsuits were filed against Obamacare “on behalf of ” dioceses, health care clinics and schools. The issue is whether employers must provide … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Book on ‘Mormonizing’ of America is Bible-bookstore anti-Mormonism fodder

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Doug Gibson

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) It’d be cool to read a mass-market — non-scholarly — book on the culture of Mormonism that doesn’t take an overt side. In other words, not a Deseret Book … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , | 49 Comments

Will gay marriage issue spur a ‘Moral Majority’ revival?

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Doug Gibson

Will the re-emergence of gay marriage as a presidential issue start a revival of the “Moral Majority”-type revival of religious voters coalescing into a significant activist voting bloc? I think it’s probable, particularly in the southern and Midwest Bible Belt … Read More

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Why is prayer defined as a genie who grants selective pleas?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Doug Gibson

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here.) Why do so many church lessons about the power of prayer always have to follow this format: Either the man upstairs magisterially — like a genie — grants … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Religious left: Jesus frowns on Paul Ryan, deficit reduction

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Doug Gibson

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as several dozen other leftist Catholic clergy, have decided that Jesus Christ does not approve of GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s 10-year deficit reduction plan. According to these left-wing heirs to the previous … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , , | 25 Comments

LDS Church is slowly, but consistently moving to tolerance on homosexuality

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Doug Gibson

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here.) We have an online letter in our newspaper, describing homosexuality as a crime against nature. (Read) Not surprisingly, it’s generated a lot of heated responses, most opposed. I … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , | 45 Comments

‘Julia’ ad fascinating for its sheer ideological purity

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Doug Gibson

President Obama’s new web campaign ad, “The Life of Julia,” (watch) is perhaps the most blatantly statist political advertisement yet from one of the two major parties. Pitched, I suspect to single women, primarily those college-aged and worried about the … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Jon Huntsman is still dissing his GOP presidential opponents

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Doug Gibson

Jon Huntsman resurfaces with a vanilla boring interview in the Deseret News (here) The “news” is that he will campaign for fellow Mormon Mitt Romney, since he’s the “best of the options we have” running for president. But outside of the … Read More

Posted in The Political Surf | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments