Category: Politics, Religion & Money

An Inconvenient Truth

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Does Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth live up to the hype? Well, y’know, now that I’ve seen it I don’t think the buzz can be called hype.

I’ll put it this way. Nothing I heard four years ago from the Bush administration about the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was convincing, let alone compelling. Not a single word of any of it rang true.

But everything in “An Inconvenient Truth” is compelling. There are a few moments when the story is about Al Gore, but they always lead back to the topic of global warming.

Frankly, I was doubtful that Al Gore, the stuffed shirt, could come across as personable and persuasive as I had been told he is in An Inconvenient Truth. But he pulls it off masterfully, and George Bush looks positively pitiful by comparison.

It Was The Best of Buys, It Was The Worst of Buys

Best Buy, a store I like visiting (I bought my new Canon Pixma MP600 there), is coming under scrutiny for deceptive pricing and poor customer service.

George Gombossy, of the Hartford Courant, reports that the Connecticut Attorney General is now investigating the existence of an internal Web site used by Best Buy sales people to convince customers that items are no longer posted on bestbuy.com at the “previously” listed sale price. Click here.

A quick search reveals there are other unhappy recent Best Buy customers. They tell some interesting stories; this one in particular, because it involves a soldier stationed in Afghanistan.

Pratt Attack – 9

Mitt Romney is no longer governor of Massachusetts. Now he’s running for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.

Being a resident of the state (or, like Virginia, “Commonwealth”), I feel Romney did one thing worthy of note. He forced Billy Boy Bulger, brother and protector of the infamous crook Whitey, out as president of the University of Massachusetts. Other than that, I’m inclined to agree with Mike Dobbs‘ opinion of Mitt Romney.

What does this have to do with my family name? Romney’s great-great grandfather was the infamous Mormon leader and polygamist Parley Pratt. Yes, the very same Parley Pratt who had 11 — no, 12! — wives, and was murdered in 1857 by the former husband of one of them. Whew!

Here’s the story of the Romney-Pratt connection:

Polygamy a prominent feature in Romney’s family tree

By Jennifer Dobner, Associated Press Writers | February 24, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY –While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate’s great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

Romney’s great-grandmother, Hannah Hood Hill, was the daughter of polygamists. She wrote vividly in her autobiography about how she “used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow” over her own husband’s multiple marriages.

Romney’s great-great grandfather, Parley Pratt, an apostle in the church, had 12 wives. In an 1852 sermon, Parley Pratt’s brother and fellow apostle, Orson Pratt, became the first church official to publicly proclaim and defend polygamy as a direct revelation from God.
Continue reading Pratt Attack – 9