Disqus - Latest Comments for Chino_Blanco

Re: Who is leaving the LDS Church?

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 09:21:08 -0000

You have four adult children and you want to understand why they left the church?

Why don't you ASK them?

Re: LDS book details '5 Strategies for Building a Formidable Family Fortress'

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 14:45:11 -0000

I'm reading this and thinking to myself: I dodged a bullet not having Debbie Bowen for a Mom. Poor kids.

Re: On Spiritual Defiance

Chino_Blanco — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:13:14 -0000

The twin relics of Mormonism have always been 1) managing revenue streams, and 2) managing expectations. As a Mormon, if you're paying attention, you'll eventually learn that your place is at the receiving end of one of those functions. Those who benefit from the former remain enthusiastic about the project. Others, increasingly less so. Go figure.

Re: A Mormon in Prison: How I Found Freedom Behind Bars

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 09:32:16 -0000

Lots of questionable editorial choices in posting this:

- Anonymous felon is provided a platform to wax (self) righteous while concealing what exactly landed him in the Federal clink.

- Aspects of this story that strain credibility aside, are we meant
to assume that the anonymous author is a fit young black man, as the
photo would seem to suggest?

Enabling, racist and irresponsible.

Re: Something Broke Open Today

Chino_Blanco — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 18:51:10 -0000

Oh, I tend to agree that it's a kind policy. I just wish Todd would've announced plans to extend the kindness to the kids of straight couples as well. Doesn't seem fair that only some kids qualify for protection from this lunacy.

Re: Mormon Homophobia and the Unintended Theological Crisis

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:51:23 -0000

Uh, a few years back, Dan Peterson posted and then retracted some big "reveal" on his blog with my IRL name. Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not the droid you're looking for. I've never been a participant in the apologetic discussion board subculture where apparently someone by the handle "Scratch" is somebody's archnemesis, or something. The only scratch in my world is the one I got scratching my head over the Keystone cops who somehow fingered me. It was good for a few chuckles at a family reunion that year.

Re: Mormon Homophobia and the Unintended Theological Crisis

Chino_Blanco — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 08:38:12 -0000

Huh? Lost me there, Russ. But thanks for reminding me again of those famous closing lines from Second Coming...

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Re: Something Broke Open Today

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 12:24:59 -0000

I don't know how anyone couldn't have seen it.

The pain of those targeted for marginalization has always been irrelevant to this church. Ask Sonia Johnson. Ask hundreds of dissenters before and after her.

What the LDS leadership fears is not pain, but strength.

I suppose it's different this time, what with little kids being the new target, and sentiments like this making the rounds on social media:

"If the wheat really is being separated from the tares, I'm going to take my chances in the pile with the discarded children."

Re: Mormon Homophobia and the Unintended Theological Crisis

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 09:15:26 -0000

Mormonism's Second Coming is beginning to look an awful lot like something straight out of Yeats.

Re: Something Broke Open Today

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 05:38:25 -0000

Nothing is broken. The LDS church is functioning as it always has. The only thing that's changed is our increased access to the spectacle.

That said, admittedly, this latest move to define little kids as the new out-group was audacious, even by Mormon standards.

When the landscape becomes too dreary, pioneers pick up and move on to better ground.

Re: So what kind of church is this?

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 02:49:48 -0000

The kind that people of conscience are leaving.

Re: Private: We Messed Up On This Article: Why Are Mormons Defending Warren Jeffs But Denying Salvation To Madison Brown?

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 13:55:57 -0000

Let's not play that game. Prof. Gedicks got called out by name here. Did the author of this post do any homework before citing a 2011 letter from an anonymous friend to someone who wasn't Gedicks?

I've been on the receiving end of enough batshit insane email forwards from wingnut Mormon family to not have much patience left for folks who don't spare a moment to do their homework.

Edit: Wow. Hat's off to the author and folks who run this site. Being able to acknowledge concerns and make corrections... you've earned admiration and respect. Rock on.

Re: Private: We Messed Up On This Article: Why Are Mormons Defending Warren Jeffs But Denying Salvation To Madison Brown?

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 13:42:51 -0000

I'd suggest reading Denise Lieberman's explanation of why the ACLU represents unpopular clients..

http://www.deniselieberman....

It's a big complicated world. I wandered over here from r/exmormon and am certainly no fan of LDS shenanigans (in terms of LDS doctrine and institutional church actions, my sense is that it's all thoroughly instrumentalist, fungible and motivated by expedience) and even less of a fan of the FLDS (big shout out to Lindsay Hansen Park and all the good work her crew is doing down on the UT/AZ border to counter the batshit FLDS insanity)... that said, putting a TMZ level gloss on what's going on here helps no one.

Re: Private: We Messed Up On This Article: Why Are Mormons Defending Warren Jeffs But Denying Salvation To Madison Brown?

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 13:00:07 -0000

I would encourage you to read Gedicks' piece in the WaPo regarding the Hobby Lobby case.

https://www.washingtonpost....

This guy is not the institutional tool you're looking for.

Re: Private: We Messed Up On This Article: Why Are Mormons Defending Warren Jeffs But Denying Salvation To Madison Brown?

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 11:34:59 -0000

I would suggest contacting Prof. Gedicks and posting a follow-up once he's been afforded the opportunity to offer his own explanation regarding his involvement.

Re: Mormon women poised to march to Temple Square

Chino_Blanco — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 23:15:15 -0000

If Harvard had asked for and received years of my voluntary efforts to recruit and/or build up their endowment, you can bet I'd be unhappy if the best they could offer me was no more than what's already on offer to all comers.

Re: Mormons again say no to news cameras on Temple Square

Chino_Blanco — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:29:34 -0000

Time to dust off the fedora, get my suit pressed, buy a pack of Luckies, and find that PRESS card of mine that went missing in the same bygone era this crew seems to be dialing it in from.

Re: “Same-sex marriage will likely be reversed”

Chino_Blanco — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 10:56:32 -0000

As predictions go, Robbie George already correctly called how this was going to play out way back in '08:

"Just as the nation could not endure half slave and half free but eventually had to go all one way or all the other, we will not be able to get by with a situation in which some couples are married in one state, not married when they move to or travel through the next, and married again when they reach a third.

If same‐sex marriage is legally recognized in a small number of states, it will spread throughout the nation, either through judicial action under the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause or by the working of informal cultural pressures. Some states - Utah would be one - may try to hold out, but sooner or later they will be whipped into line."

-- Robert P. George, (former) Chairman, National Organization for Marriage, speaking at Brigham Young University, October 28, 2008

Re: As typically happens on a Friday, Utah get marriage equality - Good As You:: Gay and Lesbian Activism With a Sense of Humor

Chino_Blanco — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 19:16:14 -0000

I've been saving this Robbie George quote for five years just so I could post it today:

"Just as the nation could not endure half slave and half free but
eventually had to go all one way or all the other, we will not be able
to get by with a situation in which some couples are married in one
state, not married when they move to or travel through the next, and
married again when they reach a third.

If same‐sex marriage is legally recognized in a small number of
states, it will spread throughout the nation, either through judicial
action under the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause or by the
working of informal cultural pressures. Some states - Utah would be one -
may try to hold out, but sooner or later they will be whipped into
line."

-- Robert P. George, (former) Chairman, National
Organization for Marriage, speaking at Brigham Young University, October
28, 2008

Re: How the Mormons Make Money

Chino_Blanco — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:44:44 -0000

There are 2 classes of Mormons in this world: those who give to their church and those who take the perks of member-financed ventures. Pity the giving class for their naïveté, but don't forget the 3rd class that enables the "takers": Americans oblivious to their own subsidizing of the scam.

Re: Mormon money: Business magazine probes church's finances | Following Faith | The Salt Lake Tribune

Chino_Blanco — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:20:20 -0000

Re: The Odd Couple: Story and Community

Chino_Blanco — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:27:54 -0000

"...incoherence can also eat itself from the inside out." Other times, it stumbles punch drunk around the Internet, calling people names, looking to pick a fight.

Not your finest moment, Ms. Welch. Just out of curiosity, what void was this post intended to fill? Because as far as I can tell, it's just a rehash of one of the favorite themes of the online Mormon commentariat. Do you really suppose that people struggling with their Mormon faith haven't already encountered the jeering of preening post-modern Mormons like yourself who seem to delight in implying that any Mormon unwilling to believe in needlessly complicated ideas must be suffering from an incapacity for complex thought?

Re: Notable artists who have left the LDS Church | The Salt Lake Tribune

Chino_Blanco — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:08:26 -0000

Hmmm, looks like we'll need to update our list... http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: American Parasite: Romney\'s Bain Represents Capitalism\'s Worst

Chino_Blanco — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:39:41 -0000

Mitt should write a sequel to his first book ("No Apologies") and title it "No Thank Yous" http://www.reddit.com/r/pol...

Re: "They Without Us Cannot Be Made Perfect"

Chino_Blanco — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:24:00 -0000

I like Brigham Young's answer (thank you, exmormon.reddit.com for actually taking the time to respond with this quote):

Let the father and mother, who are members of this Church and Kingdom, take a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from whence they sprang.