Notes from All Over – through June 7

Comment here on the Notes From All Over for the past week.
We’ve numbered the comments for your convenience.

1. “Public Affairs” as Church Diplomacy
   • Mormon Diplomacy Part II: Public Affairs. By Nils Bergeson. Mormon Thinking, June 6, 2009. “As part of my calling, I have been lucky enough to receive some training in the public relations system of the Church. They have a very grand objective: To bring the Church out of obscurity. In other words, they seek to help more people who don’t know anything about the Mormons know something about them, and most preferably, something positive.”
2. Could the Lord have carried out the restoration in a British America?
   • Why I am a Tory. By Russell. Mormon Matters, June 6, 2009. “I have often shifted in my seat uncomfortably as I sit in classes at BYU and in the church house while folks accept as axiomatic all the talk about the American revolution as merely the harbinger of the Restoration.”
3. Apostles Visit Site of Historic Benson Sermon
   • Apostles recall historic sermon at a Moscow church. LDS Church Newsroom, Jun. 06, 2009. In 1959 Ezra Taft Benson, then the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and a member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of worshipers in Moscow’s Central Baptist Church.
4. Do Political Disputes “Stop at the Water’s Edge?”
   • Flashback: Romney Once Insisted That Politics Stop At Water’s Edge. By Sam Stein. Huffington Post, June 4, 2009. Despite that claim in the Bush years, Romney criticized Obama’s recent foreign trips for “apologizing.”
5. LDS Couple Struggles With Life, Themselves to Raise Conjoined Twins
   • Mother shares ‘The True Story of the Herrin Twins.’ By Jesse Fruhwirth, Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau. Ogden UT Standard-Examiner, June 5, 2009. Multiple doctors encouraged Erin Herrin to terminate her pregnancy that resulted in the birth of conjoined twins Kendra and Maliyah, now 7, who were surgically separated in Salt Lake City in 2006.
6. The Preparation of Elder Eyring
   • Flood prepared Ricks President Eyring. By Nate Sunderland. Rexburg ID Standard Journal, June 6, 2009. Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the president of Ricks College during the flood following the Teton Dam failure June 5, 1976. His example of leadership during that time still resonates.
7. LDS-Oriented Credit Unions in Las Vegas Weathering Recession, But Lose Cash
   • Credit unions operating in LV lose cash in quarter. By JOHN G. EDWARDS, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jun. 06, 2009. Cumorah Credit Union and Ensign Federal Credit Union both saw increases in bad loans during the quarter.
8. UEP Trustee Decides to Take FLDS Check
   • Court-appointed CPA to accept FLDS housing payment. By Jennifer Dobner. Associated Press, June 5, 2009. Bruce Wisan initially rejected the Monday payment of $192,600 made “under protest” by the Fundamentalist LDS Church. The fees are half of what’s owed in occupancy fees on homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The homes are held in the church’s United Effort Plan Trust, which was established in 1942.
9. Kyiv Temple in the Right Place, Says Uchtdorf
   • ‘Right place for a temple.’ By Kimberly DeGroff. LDS Church News, Jun. 06, 2009. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf began a long-anticipated visit to Ukraine and Russia on May 28 by visiting important historical areas of Kyiv, presenting new imaging equipment to a medical diagnostic center, and touring the construction site of the Kyiv temple.
10. Another Profile of Mesa Mayor Scott Smith
    • Mesa mayor used to shaking things up. By Gary Nelson. The Arizona Republic, Jun. 5, 2009.
11. How Mormon Conversts Brought a Xhosa Youth to Idaho
    • COLUMN: You can’t top Gobo Fango’s Idaho story. By Steve Crump. Twin Falls ID Times-News, June 5, 2009. Ruth Talbot, wife of an English farmer who had immigrated to South Africa, found year-old Gobo sitting in the branches of a tree… His mother, who was dying, had left him on the Talbots’ property… The Talbots raised the boy as their own… The Talbots converted to Mormons and left for Utah…
12. First LDS Seminary Building Closes
    • Inaugural LDS seminary closes. By Scott Taylor. Deseret News, June 4, 2009. With today’s formal closing of Granite High, the Granite Seminary becomes an associated casualty, the final class conducted Thursday morning for a program whose graduates include former LDS general authorities President James E. Faust and Elder Neal A. Maxwell, former U.S. Sen. Frank Moss, columnist Jack Anderson, former Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Jerold Ottley, entertainer Robert Peterson and author-lecturer Dian Thomas.
13. “I sustain and honor stay-at-home-mothers, but I also understand it’s a relatively modern luxury that used to be reserved for only the truly upper class.”
    • Traditional Roles for Mothers and Fathers. By Papa D. Things of My Soul, June 5, 2009.
14. C.S. Lewis’s disdain for religious “teetotalism”
    • What C.S. Lewis thought about Mormons. By Michael De Groote. Mormon Times, Jun. 05, 2009. Authors Marianna Richardson and Christine Thackeray looked at the famous Christian apologist in their book “C.S. Lewis: Latter-day Truths in Narnia.” They wrote about the letters Lewis sent to many of his readers.
15. Deseret Book pulling Twilight… a P.R. disaster for the Church in Italy?
    • The big news in Italy: ‘Twilight’ author is LDS: Romney, LDS temple in Rome dwarfed in news accounts of Meyer’s faith. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. The Salt Lake Tribune, June 4, 2009.
16. Shawn King asked to audition for part as villianess in Broadway’s upcoming “Spider-Man”
    • SPIDER NEMESIS. By Richard Johnson. Page Six, New York Post, June 4, 2009.
17. Remembering Dr. Tiller.
    • Patients Pay Tribute to a Murdered Doctor. By Lisa Belkin. Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting, June 4, 2009.
18. Things that the Word of Wisdom protects us from.
    • Mix an Exploding Drink. By Daniel Dumas. Wired How-to Wiki, 21 May 2009.
19. “Orthodoxy needs to effectively respond to the discoveries of modern Bible scholarship or come up with a better theory of revelation.” Sound familiar? It’s not what you think.
    • Little Foxling and the Documentary Hypothesis. By Bruce. Three Jews, Four Opinions, May 12, 2009.
20. A Profile of the LDS Church in Inner City Philadelphia
    • Logan: Mormons Go Mainstream. By David Nescio and Kelly McManus. Philadelphia Neighborhoods, June 2, 2009. Here in Philadelphia you will find a meeting house at 4720 N. Broad St. Built in 2005, the building houses three wards. The word “ward” refers to the type of local congregation. The Broad Street meeting house contains the Logan Ward, Independence Ward and the Spring Garden Ward. Being set in Logan, a culturally diverse section of the city, the congregation follows suit. “Our congregation consists of African Americans, some Vietnamese, Jamaicans, South Americans and Hispanics,” said Bishop Richard Storm, leader of the Logan Ward. Brother Dalyn Montgomery, the first counselor to the bishop of the Independence Ward, has spent time in numerous cities. He described the Philadelphia congregation as “by far the most diverse following” he’s ever seen.
21. Nauvoo University to Open in the Fall
    • LDS-themed University to open in fall. By Todd McMurtrey. BYU Daily Universe/Newsnet, 3 Jun 2009. While not affiliated with the LDS Church, the University will follow LDS standards. Nauvoo University is currently accepting applications and hopes to have about 50 students during the first semester.
22. RM Named Freshman All-American in Baseball
    • Cuthbertson wins All-American honor. St. George UT Spectrum & Daily News, June 4, 2009. Southern Utah’s Bo Cuthbertson has been named a 2009 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American as recognized by the Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
23. BYU Snags Nation’s Top Quarterback Prospect
    • QB Heaps picks BYU. By TODD MILLES. Tacoma WA News Tribune, June 4, 2009. Jake Heaps, the quarterback with 26 NCAA Division I scholarship offers before his senior season, announces he will play at Brigham Young University, multiple sources confirmed. The Provo Daily Herald confirmed Heaps is already in Utah, and will be one of the 100 or so prospects participating in BYU’s Junior Day starting Friday. Heaps, who is LDS, has said on previous occasions that he would leave on a church mission early on in his tenure, regardless of what school he chose.
24. Archuleta Hints May Not Serve Mission
    • David Archuleta: Already serving a mission. By Scott Iwasaki. Deseret News, June 3, 2009. When asked about his own plans for serving an LDS mission, Archuleta, who doesn’t turn 19 until December, said he feels as if he’s already on one. “There is so much that I want to give back to the One who has blessed me with this gift,” he said about his singing abilities. “I feel that there must be a reason why I’m here, doing what I’m doing. And I want to make sure that I do what is expected of me before it all ends. I don’t know when this all will end, and I want to make sure I do all that I’m supposed to before that happens. I have this opportunity and want to make the best of it.”
25. Feds Stop Sale of Accused Ponzi Mastermind Merriman’s Wildlife Trophies
    • Federal government halts sale of Colorado Ponzi schemer’s safari prizes. Swindler’s trophies in demand. By Miles Moffeit. The Denver Post, June 4, 2009. More than 100 wildlife trophies — among them Russian black bears, African bongos and zebras — bagged by Merriman during his worldwide safaris are being prepped for sale by the federal government, many priced at thousands of dollars apiece.
26. LDS Woman, Orange County Female Athlete of the Year, Will Play Soccer at Stanford
    • Nogueira relishes the ride: Senior, who will play soccer at Stanford, has been star for Marina athletics in her high school career. By Matt Szabo. Huntington Beach CA Independent, June 3, 2009.
27. LDS Woman’s Squash Comeback Hits Snag Over Sunday Play
    • Rorani’s comeback strikes snag. By JONATHAN MILLMOW. The Dominion Post. 04 June 2009. Two-time British Open squash champion Leilani Rorani could be shut out of this weekend’s North Island championships because of her Mormon commitment of “no play on Sunday”. The 35-year-old mother of three has decided to get serious with her squash again, revealing to The Dominion Post that she has set her sights on competing at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi. But her religious beliefs threaten to play havoc with her plans and yesterday came her first setback with Squash New Zealand chief executive Mike Thompson effectively ruling a line through her entry into the Friday-Sunday tournament in Hamilton.
28. Mormonism’s Fascination with Chaim Potok
    • My Name is Apostle Lev. By Menachem Wecker. Culture, The Forward, June 03, 2009 for the issue of June 12, 2009. AMV’s William Morris alerts Jewish writer to popularity of Potok among Mormons.
29. Yettaw Trial Extended Because of Appeal by Suu Kyi
    • Trial extended for Missouri man in Myanmar. BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Columbia MO Missourian, June 3, 2009. The case, which was set to conclude Friday, will push into at least next week after a divisional court agreed to hear a defense appeal to readmit three witnesses, one of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Nyan Win, said Wednesday. The court will take up the appeal Friday. Also, Suu Kyi has called Yettaw sincere, and rebuked some of her followers who have called him a “fool” and a dupe for getting her into trouble.
30. No Charges in Mormon convert kidnapping
    • No charges in Mormon convert ‘kidnap’ case. By Nate Carlisle. The Salt Lake Tribune, 06/03/2009. Tribune updated story suggesting that charges would be filed soon to say that police decided not to file charges.
31. Kickin’ ‘em to the curb
    • Curbside goodbyes at the MTC. By Scott Taylor. Deseret News, June 3, 2009.
32. Skull ruled out as massacre victim, identified instead as belonging to a Vietnamese woman.
    • Skull not victim of massacre. By DAVID HOLSTED, Times Staff. Harrison AR Daily Times, June 3, 2009.
33. Now Its Polygamists Baptized for the Dead
    • Evil-doers take back door into heaven. Polygamous fundamentalists baptized by proxy, researcher says. By Kristen Moulton. The Salt Lake Tribune, 06/02/2009. Prominent fundamentalist Mormons, most of whom were excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for practicing polygamy while they were alive, have been posthumously re-baptized in LDS temples, a Salt Lake City researcher says.
34. BYU reconsiders YouTube ban
    • BYU reconsiders YouTube ban. By Robert Walz. Salt Lake City UT KUTV TV4 6/02/2009. Reports that the Church’s youtube channel is reason for reconsidering ban.
35. The LDS Mission of Mesa AZ Mayor Scott Smith
    • Fear in Bolivia forges a future Mesa mayor. By Gary Nelson. The Arizona Republic, Jun. 2, 2009. To look at him now, a prosperous man well into middle age, is not to see the 19-year-old kid with fear in his eyes and a lump in his gut as he landed in a place so poor his cheap suit cost more than most natives made in a year.
36. We can’t fight the problems of the past until we know them. So go, and read Ardis’s very ugly post.
    • The Ugliest Post Keepa Has Ever Published. By Ardis E. Parshall. Keepapitchinin, June 02, 2009.
37. Why do women hide behind their children on Facebook?
    • Get Your Kid Off Your Facebook Page. Why do women hide behind their children? By Katie Roiphe. double x, May 13, 2009. If Betty Friedan were to review the Facebook habits of the over-30 set, she would turn over in her grave. By this I mean specifically the trend of women using photographs of their children instead of themselves as the main picture on their Facebook profiles.
38. “The world of women is hormonal and mysterious, and we men don’t have the semblance of a clue.”
    • My Brief Life as a Woman. By Dana Jennings. New York Times Blogs: Well, June 2, 2009. I was in the middle of treatment for an aggressive case of prostate cancer last winter, and it included a six-month course of hormone therapy. My Lupron shots suppressed testosterone, which is the fuel for prostate cancer.
39. “Parenting is hard. Work. So much harder than I ever dreamed possible.”
    • I Never Cried In the Bathroom At Work. By ECS. Feminist Mormon Housewives, June 2, 2009.
40. Ted Jacobsen, 90, headed Jacobsen Construction, Remodeled Hotel Utah
    • Construction magnate Jacobsen passes at age 90.Buildings his company erected are all around the valley. By Mike Gorrell. The Salt Lake Tribune, 06/01/2009. Theodore (Ted) Christian Jacobsen helped build his family’s construction business into a Utah powerhouse, whose legacy is visible just about any direction one looks, from the University of Utah’s Huntsman Center to Utah Olympic Park outside of Park City.
41. LDS WNBA Star Named to Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame
    • Rasmussen missed NBA, but still a pro. Okemos, MSU standout hopes to inspire girls. By Neil Koepke. Lansing MI State Journal, May 31, 2009. During a stay in Spain, playing in Varagoza, Kristen Rasmussen’s life changed in 2005 when she met her husband, Jamie Tarr, of Australia, on a Sunday morning at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) service.
42. LDS Convert “Lived a Life of Lies” And Killed Mother, Says Prosecutor
    • Son on trial in mother’s murder. By Bill Mckelway. Richmond VA Times-Dispatch, June 2, 2009. Clayton Lynn was leading a double life that consisted of two marriages, a child by each woman, a history of criminal convictions for larcenies, and, finally, a switch to the Mormon church, which infuriated his devout Baptist mother.
43. Baltimore Baseball Ace Guthrie is “Old Man” of the Staff
    • Baltimore ace and Roseburg native Jeremy Guthrie adds experience to a youthful staff. By John Hunt. The Oregonian, June 01, 2009. Jeremy Guthrie, the No. 1 pitcher on the Baltimore Orioles staff, is in his third full season in the major leagues and admits he’s still learning the craft at age 30. He’s the old hand on a staff that has seen four pitchers make — and win — their major league debuts this season.
44. Former Mormon Missionary “Preserving dance, one student at a time”
    • Preserving dance, one student at a time. By Kristen Peterson. Las Vegas NV Sun, Jun 2, 2009. Roth heads the College of Southern Nevada’s dance program. He is artistic director of Kelly Roth & Dancers and director of Dance in the Desert, an annual dance festival in Las Vegas.
45. FLDS Late Payment, Made under Protest, Rejected by Trustee
    • Polygamist church’s late payment rejected in Utah. By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer. INO.com, June 2, 2009.
46. Yettaw Acted Alone, Says His Lawyer
    • US intruder to Suu Kyi home acted alone: lawyer. AFP, June 2, 2009. Yettaw was not paid by or taking orders from any outside organisation, his lawyer said ahead of final arguments in the trial of Myanmar’s democracy icon.
47. Most Successful Brazilian LDS Politician Turns Mission President (Portuguese)
    • Moroni a caminho da aposentadoria política. By Erivaldo Carvalho. O POVO, 01 Jun 2009. Moroni Bing Torgan, once an influential Federal Deputy (Congressman) in Brazil, will become President of the Portugal Lisbon Mission.
48. “For me, facebook has offered me a way to keep a constant flow of friendship going, even during those times when I couldn’t dream of actually meeting someone for a movie night or dinner.”
    • A Year of Facebook: Observations and Thoughts. By M. Almost, But Not Entirely, May 30, 2009.
49. Catholic Diocese to CT: “We’re Not Lobbyists”
    • Catholic diocese sues Conn. over lobbying laws. By The Associated Press. First Amendment Center, 06.01.09. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport sued Connecticut officials in federal court on May 29, after being told it needs to register as a lobbyist to hold rallies and use its Web site to oppose legislation.
50. Swine (H1N1) Flu: 3 Missionaries at Provo MTC Quarantined
    • Three missionaries at LDS Church’s Missionary Training Center have H1N1 swine flu. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. The Salt Lake Tribune, 06/01/2009.
51. “They call it affinity crime for a reason.”
    • Walsh: Capitalist, Mormon, Dad — and under indictment. By Rebecca Walsh. The Salt Lake Tribune, 05/30/2009.
52. Lies my mission president told me.
    • Missions, Numbers, and Lying. By Eve. Zelophehad’s Daughters, 29 May 2009. “The Sunday-night ritual of calling numbers in was becoming distinctly unpleasant; the ZL was constantly critical of the weekly results we had to report, unwittingly heaping discouragement on me during what was already, for me, a very difficult time, one of the lowest of my mission.”
53. “John Brown was not a hero. John Brown was scum. And you are not even John Brown.”
    • Abortion doc gets offed. By Adam Greenwood. Junior Ganymede, June 1, 2009.
54. Give it away, give it away, give it away now.
    • GIVEAWAY! Integrated LDS News for iPhone and iPod Touch. mulling and musing. June 01, 2009.
55. Abortion Doctor George Tiller murdered
    • Wichita abortion provider George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church. BY STAN FINGER AND JOE RODRIGUEZ. Wichita KS Eagle, May. 31, 2009. “However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence,” President Barak Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.
56. “The Mormons Are Coming!” ad is “disgusting bigotry.”
    • “The Mormons are Coming, the Jews are Coming!” By Awaskow. The Daily Kos, May 31, 2009.