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I always thought the Pilgrims and Indians were the first to celebrate Thanksgiving. False.

I always thought that President Abraham Lincoln was the first President to call it a holiday. False.

I thought it was about eating loads food. False.

President George Washington was the first President to ask the nation to celebrate it. It is about being thankful for the Constitution we have. And it was a day of fasting and prayer in thanks to God for establishing our country.

Have a read about the TRUE meaning of Thanksgiving in Benton's blog.

My only question is: Why did I not know this before?

Watching our new President-elect's acceptance speech yesterday was a surprising thrill. I found myself caught with some emotion and I felt proud to be an American as our country symbolically steps away from racism.

Proposition 8 also passed. This was an enormous relief for me.  An answer to prayer and a wonderful win to protect the family and hold off a collision course between gay rights and religious freedom.

 But my emotions were bittersweet. Obama's rhetoric is downright socialist and scary and the gay rights activists have already filed suit against Prop 8. I was listening to Glenn Beck just during the election. A young man called in and asked, "What do I do now?" Glenn gave some great advice: "Get a copy of and study the constitution. Learn everything about it. Read the Federlist Papers. Learn what Founders really taught."

If you are a Mormon then you might have already heard Elder Packer's talk last month on the Constitution called "The Test". Here he talks about a celebration the Saints held in honor of the US (a country that had just chased them from their homes):

"Three things about that 1849 commemoration were both symbolic and prophetic: first, that the young men carried the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; next, that each young woman carried the Bible and the Book of Mormon; and finally, that the old men—the Silver Greys—were honored in the parade.

"After the program they had a feast at makeshift tables. Several hundred gold-rush travelers and 60 Indians were invited to join them.

"Then they went back to work."

Lets celebrate the peaceful elections this country just afforded us. Let's honor this historical moment in our history as we prepare for our first black President. Let the rising generation grasp to the Constitution and Declaration of Indepenence in hand with our holy writ, and let us turn to our wise "silver greys" for council. Now I got to get back to work. (:

As the election has neared, my attention has left the Presidential Election and gone to the Proposition 8. I have donated to the campaign and spent many hours in the front lines of the blogosphere. It has been messy and disturbing to say the least. Who will win tonight, I do not know. But my feeling is that all the big media and money against Prop 8 will not hold when it is placed up against the tight knit communities of churches and close families. My feeling is that family and trusted friends still wield the greatest influence, even over Hollywood and the Media elite.

But even if Prop 8 pulls out in a win, a sobering realization has set in on me, a time of great religious discrimination is not far from us. We have been framed as "Haters", "Bigots", and "Discriminators".  If I was an outsider reading and watching their statements about the Yes on 8 campaign, I would wonder if Prop 8 was the re-institution of slavery. In contrast here are the actual words to be added to the constitution: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Google (who openly opposes 8) is in hot water for allowing Yes on 8 ads to display on sites that disagree with Prop 8.

I like TechCrunch, but this is just a tizzy-fit. What about freedom of speech? Who says marriage is a "fundamental right"? A few judges? Let the legal process take its path and let people hold their opinions. Influence will not come by banning those who are in favor of it. You are asking for the same thing you claim to be against, discrimination.

Even scarier is this ad showing "Mormon missionaries" invading a home to tear up a marriage certificate:

I take serious offense to this as I served a two year mission in Ireland, paying my own way just to answer a call from the Lord to serve His children. Everyone who knows Mormons knows this is plain false. This ad is just plain WRONG and segregating us because we put our money behind our opinions and beliefs.

What is the result of the unfair labeling and name calling? Homes have been vandalized, tens of thousands of Yes on 8 signs have been stolen and destroyed. People have been attacked in the streets (there have been a little both ways, but very little on the Yes on 8 side). And the Mormon church, whose members should be admired for coming out and standing for their standards even with their wallets in a time of recession and economic collapse, have been attacked with nothing less than hatred.

Actions speak louder than words and the only people I see inspiring words and actions of hate, discrimination, and bigotry is the No on 8 campaign. 

I don't know when. Why I am even more clueless, but AncestryPress changed their name to MyCanvas.com. From a branding standpoint it just seems strange. Why confuse all your customers with a new name after over a year of being up? They also have this strange loading bar that generically says: "Powered by MyCanvas". In the top left it has Ancestry.com still written. I am wondering if they are going to try and use MyCanvas to move cross platforms to MyFamily.com as well?

The new MyCanvas barrows a lot of UI ideas from MemoryPress, particularly the sliding panes on the right side (they are on the left in MyCanvas). Although MemoryPress is still a typesetting system for real books while MyCanvas is a glorified photobook.

I have been struggling lately with getting things done. I bounce aimlessly from one subject to another.

Here is an idea my wise mom (yes I am still a moma's boy) gave me to help me get things done:

Early in the morning (or the night before) make a list of the 5 most important things you need to accomplish for that day. Then focus all your efforts on just getting those 5 things done first. Everything else kind of just fits in the corners. It is that Rocks and Sand in a jar concept. If you put the sand in first you will never fit the rocks. Likewise, when I spend my time on my hobbies first, I never get what is most important done.

Try it out and see what you think. Let me know how it works.

Happy Constitution Day! Here is a list of 10 things you can do to celebrate the day:

1. Get a FREE copy of the Constitution The Heritage Foundation provides free pocket copies of The Constitution
2. Read the Federalist Papers
3. Donate to BJ Lawson and other candidates that will fight for the constitution:
   
   
4. Join Campaign For Liberty.
   
5. Get an education version of the film "A More Perfect Union" and take it to your local school.
6. Join my facebook group: 1,000,000 strong against McBama & the Republicrats
7. Teach your kids a lesson on the importance of the Constitution.
8. If you are a Mormon (like me) read Our Divine Constitution by our past prophet President Ezra Taft Benson.
9. Attend Constitution Week.
   
10. Here is a nice song to listen to that my mom sent me: A Fortress Strong
    

All and all, the best way to celebrate the day is to educate yourself and others on our inspired constitution.

I was speaking to one of my Professors at BYU the other day. After we had talked about Ron Paul he said this:

My response to his email will be my blog post for Constitution Day:

Goldwater! That is great! I totally agree that a love for the constitution is not limited to one person and definitely not one party. Ron Paul is just one of those people who champions the constitution. I am a Ron Paul republican for the moment, but I think long term the only place I fit is with the Classical Liberals.

And I agree, freedom and liberty are often attributes of the young and the young at heart. We are too young to know what we can't do. The US wouldn't exist without the idealistic youthful ideas of freedom.

I thought this might interest you. Read this blog post I wrote awhile ago about the prophecy of the constitution hanging by the thread (it takes a different view than you might have seen previously). Sometimes I wonder if the Elders of Isreal are ready to stand and uphold the constitution.