The audacity of wanting something for nothing.

Editor's Note: I'm trying to remain positive. I really am. But it's getting harder and harder to sit silently on the sidelines and watch the political posturing and masquerading that is filling the airwaves and inspiring the minds of those who can't think any further than their interests. That said, I'm speaking my mind.

When I hear Obama offer hope to the hopeless, it leaves me in a perplexed state of wonderment. Who are these hopeless and what exactly are they hoping for? He tells us that health care is too expensive and it is out of reach for the middle class. Maybe he's right, but does he stop to mention why it's out of reach? It's not because doctors are making a killing, it's because free health care is making a killing - and the dying patient is the one who in the past has been able to pay his own doctor bill.

Like health care, Obama inspires the masses of those looking for something for nothing: Money without working, a lifestyle for the undeserved and anything else this group sees their prosperous neighbors enjoy. It's spoils without the labor. It's the little red hen times ten.

Certainly the constitution offers equality, but it's the equality of opportunity it talks about and not a redistribution to those who - to be candid - have not made the most of their chances.

Obama and his wife have lived a lavish life, attended the best schools and made their way on the backs of tax payer dollars, not from the work they've produced along the way. So maybe, what he's offering is a road map for those who feel neglected and wish to follow his lead.

Obama would have us believe that we are enslaved by government that serves only the rich. But look around. The poor of America are more blessed than the poor of any other country, including Obama's own brother who lives in the ghettos of Kenya. In this blessed land, there is medicine for the sick, warm food for the hungry, schools for the desirous and beds for the cold and tired. Even our prisons house the incarcerated in places where the guilty are safe, fed and rested.

The appeal of Obama, I believe, is the appeal of Robin Hood as king. The trouble is - I'm not so certain the Robin Hood on the ballot is offering what working people really need.

A Simple Message for Our Day.

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

¡Viva Vicente!

I know I'm about 50 years late discovering this Mexican idol - Vicente Fernandez - but I've just got to tell you that if you've got a single drop of curiosity about great Mexican music in a wide variety of styles, you've got to buy this album from itunes. The seven dollar price tag helps out too.

The Abundant Life.

There's a growing gap between how I feel when I watch the news or read up on the latest verbal barrages between the parties - whoever they might be - and how I feel when I do something as simple as walk alone under the starry canopy of an early morning sky.

It's strange to feel so outraged and so constricted by the words and wisdom of those that should be the greatest minds of our generations as they banter to and fro, this way and that, about our situations, or prognosticate about our fate as a nation and a society.

Just this morning - adding to a growing list of other mornings - I began my day by kneeling in prayer at my bedside, followed by sitting alone in the cool of a still starry morning. Doing so, I can hardly believe how the cares of the world melt away.

Years ago, Elder Neal Maxwell said something like this, "We live in a time when their is a great polarization between that which is good and that which is evil." I feel that pull every single day.

That said, life continues to be a rich blessing of great moments flowing into my life. My biggest challenge is to recognize the blessings and to do all I can to be a blessing to others.