Rachel Maddow produced a good segment on billionaires throwing their weight around. To keep this thread from becoming too political for this forum, please confine the discussion to the mormon references made by Maddow, to the bullying tactics that repress free speech, to the mormon anti-gay culture, and to issues like sexual abuse within the Boy Scouts.

Ignore Mitt Romney.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#46459138

This segment details the actions of Frank Vandersloot, a mormon billionaire.

I posted this one early this a.m. but it's already dropping...

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,422666,422996#msg-422996

If you've got a "throw away" e-mail addy, I'll keep you updated if I hear back from anyone...

Hmmm. Major news. Maddow outs mormon bishops as enablers of abusers in leadership positions, outs mormon billionaires as bullies of gay bloggers or of TV stations, and mentions one of the most powerful mormon men in Idaho ... and that is not an interesting enough topic for discussion?

Morman tactics hit the national news and no one cares?

Admittedly, the first half of the news segment is all about stuff we can't discuss here, p*l*tics donchaknow. But really, it's worth listening to that first half, or scrolling past it to get to the mormon-related good stuff.

Sorry SL Cabbie, that I didn't see your earlier post. It must have dropped below the radar before I checked the forum.
You can send email to laststand (at) me (dot) com. And thank you for offering.

I care, but.

1. I saw the original broadcast last night. Great rant. I have nothing to add.

2. Maddow has been consistently skewering all of the GOP candidates for the past few months. This is not really anything new.

3. On the show right after Maddow, a few weeks ago, the talking head on that show showed the clip of Mittens making that $10,000 bet with Santorum (which Santorum, in a rare classy move, declined to accept). The talking head guy then asked if gambling was allowed in mormon doctrine and went so far as to quote straight from mormon.org, straight from the BoM demonstrating that mormons do not look too kindly on gambling and making $10K bets with other well-funded politicians. It was actually quite pleasant to watch this guy throw mormon doctrine right up in Mittens' face. It's a shame they couldn't get a quote from Mittens in reaction. I would love to see how he justified himself on that one.

4. If you spend 30 seconds listening to Bill Maher, you will learn more about Mittens and mormonism than if you spent a week listening to Rachel Maddow. Last Friday, on Real Time, Maher made fun of Kolob. I think Maher is either really doing his homework well, or he knows an exmo/postmo who is pointing out issues to bring up and research. He really knows what he's talking about.

5. So what do you want us to discuss? Was there a question? For me this is all a no-brainer: politics are corrupt. Millionaires and corporations have been running Washington for at least a couple generations now. The richest guy wins. Voting is pointless and so is donating to campaigns. None of these candidates give half a flip about the average everyday Joe/Jane like you and me. They do not care. So why should I? Whoever gets elected will do whatever he damn well pleases to the degree that he can get away with that and because all these old rich white men have been in each other's pockets since before their fathers were born, there's really not a dang thing any one of us can do except read the articles, shrug, and say, "Welp. Yeah. All these campaigns are supported by rich old white guys who don't care about the little people. And... so?"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2012 02:43PM by dogzilla.

The Idaho Statesman has picked up the story:

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2012/02/17/idahopolitics/saloncoms_greenwald_takes_idahos_vandersloot_thuggish_tactics_ai

Excerpt:

Greenwald's post, "Billionaire Romney Donor Uses Threats to Silence Critics," includes a passage on Boise free-lancer Jody May-Chang, who has heard from VanderSloot's lawyers over the years. Greenwald cites other publications that have withdrawn or altered writings about VanderSloot, but says May-Chang is "determined not to succumb to this bullying or to relinquish her right to opine and report on the conduct of a very significant political figure in her state."

Journalist Glenn Greenwald acknowledged Maddow's coverage in a recent Salon post:

http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/

Greenwald says he has not yet heard from VanderSloot's lawyers.

Here's the original article that stirred up all the fuss:

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/19/billionaire_romney_donor_uses_threats_to_silence_critics/singleton/

Here's an excerpt from the article written by Greenwald:

VanderSloot is a devout Mormon and has been an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) since 1965. Over the last decade, he has continuously inserted himself into the political realm in all sorts of inflammatory and influential ways, clearly making him a public figure and fair game for scrutiny.
---------

I would say that VanderSloot has inserted himself into the cultural realm. He has every right to do that. But the bullying tactics used to silence others are the questionable bit.

The Idaho Agenda website has picked up the story:

http://idahoagenda.com/2012/02/21/greenwalds-vandersloot/

Jody May Chang comments on the story here:

http://may-chang.com/