I found this quotation from George Orwell, written in the middle of WWII, to be fascinating (ht to “The Corner”):

In his Tribune column “As I Please” Orwell wrote (August 4, 1944) that death and destruction were not the most evil thing about war:

“We shall all be dead in less than a hundred years, and most of us by the sordid horror known as “natural death.” The truly evil thing is to an act in such a way that peaceful life becomes impossible. War damages the fabric of civilization not by the destruction it causes (the net effect of war may even be to increase the productive capacity of the world as a whole), nor even by the slaughter of human beings, but by stimulating hatred and dishonesty. By shooting at your enemy you are not in the deepest sense wronging him. But by hating him, by inventing lies about him and bringing children up to believe them, by clamoring for unjust peace terms which make further wars inevitable, you are striking not at one perishable generation, but at humanity itself.”

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I’m sure we’re going to be hearing about this “scandal” for the next two years (at least). Romney supporters had the audacity to discuss his campaign with other Mormons!!!!! Doesn’t he know that Mormons are not allowed to vote and organize for candidates? It’s been that way at least since Missouri in the 1830s.

As for reaching out to other religions besides the Mormons, what do the writers of this ridiculous article think he has been doing with evangelicals and Catholic leaders for the last decade? So, it’s OK for him to talk to other religious leaders for support, but it’s not OK for him to talk to Mormons?

UPDATE: The Deseret News provides crucial information denying the meat of the Globe story here.

The National Journal further debunks the Globe here as does the Article VI blog here.

To sum up: the only thing wrong that took place here was an e-mail sent to about 150 BYU alumni, a mistake that has already been corrected and apologized for. This Globe story shows tremendous political bias, has gaping factual errors and incomplete reporting and is insulting to members of the Church and the Romney campaign.

FURTHER UPDATE: Read the SL Tribune story here. The story has new information on the latest Boston Globe revelation.

Also, read this Newsbusters article on the Globe’s bias.

This article takes a look at current demographic trends and predicts that Europe, like the United States, will end up becoming more religious and conservative over the coming decades, not less so. And the author is not just talking about Muslim religious identity — he believes Christianity will rebound as well.

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Bryce’s post about playing the piano brought several comments bemoaning the lack of pianists in wards and branches. I find myself wondering if someone in my bishopric reads this blog because today in Sacrament Meeting a new Sunday school class was announced. During Sunday school, any who are interested are to meet the Relief Society room for piano lessons. We have very few pianists in my ward, and those few spend Sunday being shuffled from piano to piano, and the bishopric would like to add more people to the mix. Thus, this new class is being created to hopefully get some more people up to the level of playing the simplified hymns and/or a set of Primary songs.

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I’ll simply link a few editorials on our Mormon minority leader Harry Reid and the recent reporting about the $700k windfall from a recent land deal, and then I’ll link the response from TPMMuckraker.com that Jonathan Green referenced on T&S.
We report, you decide.

1)Washington Post on Harry Reid.
2)The Philadelphia Inquirer on Harry Reid.
3)TPMMuckraker.com defends Reid.