POLYGAMY BOOKS

MORMON POLYGAMY, A QUASI-RELIGIOUS FACADE

John Llewellyn — 2010-03-09T19:29:00Z

MORMON POLYGAMY, A QUASI-RELIGIOUS FACADE

The following is a reply to a writer who has been hired to do a book concerning the different perspectives on the raid of the YFZ “polygamist” Ranch in Texas. My answers were:

Texas has sent a message that polygamy, Mormon, Christian or Muslim is not welcome. The FLDS has also sent a message, which is, we are growing and spreading from State to State.

Polygamy is no longer a Utah and Arizona problem. It is no longer a regional problem but a National problem. The raid on the YFZ Ranch has attracted more, and more attention to the phenomenon of Mormon polygamy. In 2002, during the trial and conviction of Tom Green, Mormon polygamy was a novelty, now it’s either a nuisance or a new promotional cause for liberals, libertarians and sympathetic Mormons.

Not only is polygamy spreading but where ever it goes it attracts opposition. In Texas a very well organized group calling themselves Americans Against Abuses of Polygamy. (www.tripleap.org) is doing a fine job of educating government and society of the pernicious side of polygamy. In a sense AAAP has taken over where Tapestry Against Polygamy left off and is learning from Tapestry’s mistakes. But then of course, they don’t have the internal Utah, social and political opposition from government that Tapestry experienced. AAAP has put together a united network that is harmonious with anti-polygamist thinking in many states and Canada.

Although I think Texas CPS and law enforcement attempted to do their homework before acting on the raid, I think they could have been better prepared for the expected polygamist defense. In 1953, when Arizona raided Short Creek, now Colorado City, public opinion turned against law enforcement because of the way it was handled - tearing children from the arms of their mothers. It should have been expected that the FLDS would once again attempt to portray themselves as victims of religious discrimination. The raid should have been conducted accordingly - not giving them any more opportunity than necessary to cry discrimination. Otherwise I applaud Texas for not pussyfooting around like Utah and Arizona. (So much for hindsight)

Canada is also taking a stand where opposition is organizing to oppose a political movement to decriminalize the practice of polygamy.

What it all boiling down too is a debate over whether Mormon polygamy is really a religious practice that should be protected by the First Amendment, or if it should also come under the umbrella of Lawrence vs. Texas, (a pervert’s right of privacy).

It is my opinion that just passing laws against polygamy is not enough to discourage the practice. The practice of Mormon polygamy must be dissected and exposed intellectually and rationally. This is what the organized anti-polygamy groups are now attempting to do. Having lived the lifestyle, rejected it, studied it and exposed the pernicious side by way of books, essays and civil law suits, I have been asked several times to contribute my opinions.

In a nut shell, organized Mormon polygamy has evolved into quasi-religious cabals, the driving force being “conflict, ego, power, sex and wealth.” Conflict, ego, power and sex are the means - the end being wealth. Section 132 is an irrational belief that is taken on faith alone. What makes it viable is not that Jesus Christ allegedly communicated with Joseph Smith, but because it appeals to the male ego and his Y-chromosome. The religious argument is an illusion. The rational fact is that Section 132 provides the backdrop for merchandising plural wives. It has been proven to be a multimillion dollar business (Hill vs. Allred, AUB, LaMoine Jenson, et.al.).

How does conflict work in the equation? Mormon polygamists need devils more than they need gods. They portray themselves as perpetual victims – righteous underdogs. At the same time they want the “religious freedom” to brainwash and oppress females so they can cultivate harems and merchandise the culls to men with excited Y-chromosomes.

The religious aspect (Section 132) is a facade providing the surreptitious justification of establishing dominance over women and pursuing sex with many wives – which is a tremendous ego builder. In essence, what the “Jesus Christ of Section 132 is saying, is: “the male libido will pay big bucks for the ‘priesthood’ privilege of having sex with many women.

CIVILIZED SAVAGERY

John Llewellyn — 2010-03-03T23:34:00Z

CIVILIZED SAVAGERY

Mormons teach that there is a pre-existence where un-embodied spirits chose to follow one of two plans – Jesus’ plan or his brother, Satan’s plan. Those of us who chose to follow the godly, free agency plan had the privilege of being born at key chronological, historically significant times and to superior parents.

Some spirits in the pre-existent, heaven-like place were more valiant then the common spirits, foreordained to do great things while on earth. Examples of these noble souls are Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

A belief of this kind is called “predestination,” a belief that is shared by many non-Mormons, Calvinism for example.

A positive image of predestination can levitate a true believer’s self esteem. For example, a Mormon fundamentalist is assured a white skin and parents who are among the chosen. There are non Mormons who view men like Churchill, FDR, Abe Lincoln, Hitler, Stalin, and Obama as men who were born to do what they do – impact cultures that effect the rest of us.

Beliefs of this nature give rise to the concept of elitism and inferiority, the superior and the inferior. These beliefs are so firmly planted in our genome that no amount of political correctness is apt to obliterate the illusion of superiority and inferiority.

Political correctness has succeeded in elevating the African American from inferior servant status to an athletic, entertainment, military and political par with his white counterpart. As fair as that may seem it has only scrambled the notion of elitism. If we interject the phenomenon of adoration or hero worship we see that elitism is still alive and well.

Is it possible to adequately describe the human ability to adore and worship? Is glorifying another an emotional, irrational, silly experience that is a gross exaggeration where rational respect for one’s position or accomplishments should be sufficient?

It is an empirical fact that there is a preconditioned tendency to envy, love and adore the rich, powerful and famous. This apparent inherent tendency to grovel is notably exemplified by the vassal/feudal lord era of European history. The culture defined one’s status and there was nothing you could do about it. Although I believe the tendency to grovel has a genetic origin, just when, how and who to truckle I believe is learned.

We see self-debasement all through the animal kingdom where dominance or might-makes-right, determines the right to breed. The person who watches Nova or the History Channel on TV cannot escape this genetic phenomenon. The classic example is the dominate wolf who governs the pack and the subordinate wolves roll over and expose their throat.

In the human ecology we call those subordinates who make a profession of submissiveness sycophants, toadies, remoras and kiss-asses.

I remember as an adolescent how the Bobby Sox generation fawned conspicuously over Frank Sinatra. For some reason my hero-worshiping genes or memes didn’t kick-in because I viewed the behavior of those throngs of mesmerized, stage-door girls as irrational and demeaning. I watched the same illogical antics over a gyrating, mediocre singer named Elvis.

These fawning, groveling waggeries are usually asexual, colorblind, apolitical and non denominational. Fame, fortune and power are the knee-jerk driving forces. It was articulation and charisma rather than patriotic, executive experience that got an African American named Barak Obama from the streets of Chicago elected President of the United States. With the job came an endless supply of sudden insight, wisdom and superior thinking about what was good for the people of the United States.

I don’t believe in predestination. Déjà vue is a trick of the mind. Nor do I believe birth is an accident. However, I do believe in chromosomes, genes, memes and evolution. We didn’t choose our parents and nobody chose them for us. The color of our skin, the shape of our eyes etc. is determined lottery fashion when our father’s sperm unites with our mother’s egg. A new, unique DNA happens – us!

We are, what we do with that our parents pass on to us, in the particular environment we find ourselves. We are born with the potential for competition, aggression, creativity, compassion and spirituality. We were not born with an inherent desire for equality and fairness. Those are learned attributes. The tendency to unite into herds, tribes, flocks and families probably has a genetic antecedent but even there, there is an unmistakable pecking order.

We may be the most agreeable, easy going guys in town under ordinary circumstances but when it comes to power (status), sex and wealth rules are tossed out the window and we tend to revert to what I call “civilized savagery.” When it comes to survival genes almost always trump memes.

So how do we equate spiritual deeds like “bleeding the beast,” “milking the gentiles,” “blood atonement,” and “ethnic cleansing,” and rulers like the “Philosopher Kings?” Are they genetic or memetic?

TRAUMA THAT WON'T GO AWAY

John Llewellyn — 2010-02-21T23:36:00Z

TRAUMA THAT WON’T GO AWAY

Since 1994, when I became an opponent of organized polygamy, I have interviewed at least two dozen ladies who have been victims of Mormon polygamy. Most of these interviews occurred while I was an adviser to Tapestry Against Polygamy.

In the last few months I have had an occasion to converse with a few of these victims and found, I’m sorry to report, that they are still hounded by sordid memories 10 and 15 years after the fact.

In times of war they call this phenomenon “post traumatic disorder syndrome.” The same symptoms are present in some of these women.

It’s not just the loss of money and assets that trouble these unfortunate women but the loss of self esteem, dignity and spirituality.

When a woman submits to a religious belief her commitment is generally more genuine, sincere and complete than that of a man. Both mind and body submits. When the realization eventually hits her, that she is nothing more than chattel, that is, property to be bartered and sexually exploited, the hurt to her ego or psyche is deeply imprinted. Ten and fifteen years after escaping from Mormon servitude the trauma is still there.

Religious bondage is both sadistic and theological. Her conversion dictates that she must submit to the plural marriage revelation (D & C 132) and serve her prophet, husband and priesthood. Her submission cannot be negotiated for the prophet may arbitrarily take her from one man and give her to another.

What happens to the women who are fortunate enough to muster the courage to escape from the shackles of Mormon fundamentalism? What they all do is try and rebuild their lives, especially for their children – if they are fortunate enough to flee with their children. There are cases where Utah courts have ruled that children must remain with the polygamist father.

Some women are so angry that they find it therapeutic to go public with their stories. Others write books. But eventually most just want to put it all behind them and get along with life.

When these women were converted they were highly spirited and filled with the desire to serve the Lord. Some still hope to serve the Lord and have gone back to the LDS Church or become affiliated with other faiths.

The significance of all this is that a good portion of these women reject Mormonism; the reason being they were brainwashed into worshiping the prophet and his corrupt priesthood, not God. They sometimes feel that the LDS Church was complicit in their servitude because it was the Church that canonized Joseph Smith’s plural marriage revelation, and still considers it to be a sacred doctrine. The fact that the Church still retains Section 132 compounds the hurt suffered by some victims of Mormon polygamy.

It is not unusual for victims of polygamy to lose respect for all religions. Christianity promotes Jesus Christ as a champion of the oppressed, the lame and underprivileged. Traditionally it has been the hungry, the abused and the ostracized that looked to Jesus for comfort. But the prayers of some of these abused women apparently bounced off the deaf or nonexistent ears of the deity. If Christ really exists, how could he allow such terrible men go unpunished?

As a deputy sheriff I worked sex crimes for eight years, and the trauma suffered by victims of Mormon polygamy are very much like the trauma suffered by rape victims. In a sense that is what victims of Mormon polygamy are, rape victims. When they submit to sexual intercourse because the doctrine dictates they must, or be damned, it is a form of rape. But it goes further than that; their mind, dignity and self esteem are also raped.

JIM HARMSTON AND THE TLC SELLTE LAW SUIT

John Llewellyn — 2010-02-15T18:28:00Z

Jim Harmston and the TLC Settle Law Suit

In 1997, I was asked by Attorney Don Redd to investigate a suspected theft perpetrated by James D. Harmston, prophet and leader of the True & Living Church, a polygamist group headquartered at Manti, Utah. Harmston was suspected of defrauding two TLC members, Kaziah May Hancock out of $250,000.00, and Cindy Stewart of $15,000.00.

I spent several days interviewing the victims, witnesses, obtaining tape recordings and affidavit, besides researching real estate and other leads that came to my attention. I was able to obtain probable cause and prima facie evidence and a complaint was filed that same year. I had the privilege of serving the papers on the prophet Harmston.

A jury trial resulted in a verdict for the Plaintiff’s. When interest, attorney fees etc. were added on to the money the ladies lost it came to a nice piece of change. Justice had been served, so we thought.

But for some reason, according to one of the plaintiffs, the presiding judge had a problem with the verdict. His lack of further action was frustrating as days, weeks and years dragged by. Finally the matter went before an appeals court in Provo who sent it back to the District Court for a new trial. And there it sat, and sat, while Harmston was said to be advising his true believers that if they were patient it would eventually go away.

In the mean time a new judge was on the bench and according to reliable informants he didn’t much like the idea of another trial and recommended “arbitration.” The arbitration took place about three weeks ago, presided over by a retired judge, Roger Livingston.

I am told the attorney for Harmston convinced the arbitrator, Attorney Redd and one Plaintiff that the prophet Harmston and his church were suffering from a state of pecuniousness – that means they didn’t have very much money. So the settlement was reduced to a mere $60,000.00, to be paid in monthly installments of $3000.00 a month. If Harmston missed a month the amount would jump up to $120,000.00.

Attorney Redd took a third, attorney Redd said the appeals attorney should have a third, that left a third to be divided between the two plaintiffs. By the way, the Plaintiffs, according to a reliable informant, had to pay the arbitrator fees of $150.00 per hour.

Everyone was apparently cool with the settlement except for one Plaintiff. She didn’t believe the defendants were as penury as they claimed. She lived in Manti where she could observe new cars, new houses, new cosmetic surgery, and new ATVs driven conspicuously by Jim’s family up and down the Manti streets.

Part of the settlement was a disclosure clause in which the Plaintiffs were to agree not to talk about the settlement or give any details to the media. But this one Plaintiff, still upset over the settlement’s pittance, has so far refused to sign. (Good for her!)

I suppose I might be considered part of the media inasmuch as I’ve written a few books about Mormon polygamy. In case you’re interested you can see a picture of the great prophet, James D. Harmston, in Polygamy Under Attack, From Tom Green to Brian David Mitchell. You can also see some pictures of other folks, some good folks and some bad.

This arbitration settlement may or may not have been just – nevertheless, the fact can’t be changed that this is the second successful law suit against a polygamist group. It’s successful because I can report they have been exposed. A jury found them culpable, presumably a technicality bought them time, about 13 years to be exact. And during arbitration Jim apparently decided to give the Plaintiff’s attorneys $60,000.00 of his true believer’s tithing money -- so he could get the Plaintiff’s attorney and one of the plaintiffs off his back.

However, in both cases deception, manipulation and dishonesty were exposed. If we bring the FLDS and AUB into equation we can add immorality and the illusion of entitlement in what appears to be a pattern of exploitation endemic to the organized polygamist groups.

Polygamy is no longer under attack in Utah. “Politically,” we in Utah “feel sorry” for guys like Jim Harmston. He’s quite a guy you know, just a simple Mormon prophet diligently going about the work of a prophet, which is building up his kingdom, and the kingdom of God. He builds up his kingdom by accumulating as many wives as he can for the purpose of “multiplying and replenishing the earth.” To assist in this holy endeavor, God, or Mother Nature, depending upon your view point, planted in the testes of the male and ovaries of a the female, a hormone biologists call “testosterone,” better known as a powerful, pleasurable incentive to fulfill the sex urge.

The prophet builds up God’s kingdom by “merchandising plural wives and a celestial exaltation,” which has proven to be a very lucrative occupation – where people’s lives are exploited and sacrificed in a deadly game of conflict, power, sex and money.

You can read more about James D. Harmston and how he goes about building up his kingdom in Polygamy’s Rape of Rachael Strong, a true story, and you’ll see why polygamists are no longer under attack in Utah. Now, in the Lone Star State of Texas, it’s a different story. If a polygamist breaks the law he can expect to be prosecuted. And Canada isn’t standing still either. There is a viable movement of concerned Canadians hell-bent on permanently outlawing the practice of polygamy because of its inherently, exploitive nature.

I’m not suggesting Utah should go after all polygamists, just because they are polygamists - economics and decency doesn’t justify that; what I’m saying is that when these phony prophets use religion to exploit men and especially women, and the victims complain, we should go after them with whatever laws are available – criminal or civil -- and that includes bigamy.

If prosecutors like the Utah Attorney General and the San Pete County Attorney are not going to enforce the crime up bigamy, which has been upheld by the Utah Supreme Court, then the prosecutors should seek an amendment to the State Constitution and repeal the clause that says “polygamy shall forever be forbidden,” and then let’s debate the issue before the Utah State Legislature and make it a public issue. Let’s hear what the public has to say.

How I Became A Skeptic

John Llewellyn — 2010-02-03T22:41:00Z

HOW I BECAME A SKEPTIC

How I got into polygamy is another story. I was wrong, but had I not, I would not be able to do what I’m doing – exposing the crime, corruption, blatant dishonesty, deception and lasciviousness that seems to be endemic to the Mormon fundamentalist subculture.

However, how I got out of polygamy is germane to the title of this entry –“How and why I’m a skeptic!” They use to call it “muckraking” (exposing corruption) and “iconoclasm (challenging cherished believes).

The lust for wives is so great among many polygamist men that they prey upon each other, and some women, likewise, find ways to go from one family to another in an attempt to better themselves. James D. Harmston, prophet of the True & Living Church calls it the “Doctrine of Rescue.” In AU B, a man with a greater priesthood can take the wife of a man with a lesser priesthood. That way her salvation is made more sure.

A man who I thought was a friend seduced my first (legal) wife into divorcing me and become his fifth wife. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, I was told it was a sad thing to lose a plural wife. “No,” I replied, “the guy did me a favor!” My first marriage was not good and when she divorced me it was worth every cent.

It didn’t take long for me to become disenchanted with Mormon fundamentalism. In 1978, when the LDS Church was inspired to allow African Americans receive the priesthood it sent shock waves throughout the subculture. AUB and the other polygamist groups, each took the position that the LDS Church had lost the priesthood keys. AUB now claimed the sacred keys belonged to them and they promptly reorganized to supplant the LDS Church.

Obedience to priesthood and authority became the main subject of priesthood sermons. They claimed infallibility, the very thing they had impugned the church for claiming.

In the mean time, I was aware of the women and children that were being neglected. Some were forced to go on welfare. Tithing money was used to finance building projects that enriched the elite or blue bloods, as they called themselves. Owen gave a talk to a priesthood group in Southern Utah telling them it was only through the good will of the priesthood that they could be exalted and the way to show their appreciation was through their pocket books. A few pious priesthood men made the rounds among the new, naïve members, attempting to induce them into investing in ridiculous money making schemes. The priesthood leaders were no better, promoting one failed money making scheme after another.

AUB claimed to be living “higher laws” but it looked like to me it was a haven for scam artists and pedophiles. In 1994, I learned that the two most prominent leaders in AUB, Owen Allred and J. LaMoinie Jenson were suspected of being involved in the theft of 1.54 million dollars from a gentile woman name Virginia Hill. It was my ticket out. I became one of two investigators for Virginia Hill which as you know resulted in a Utah Supreme Court Ruling that AUB and their priesthood inner circle had engaged in “a pattern of criminal conduct.”

In the mean time I reread Mormonism, this time from a secular view point and found the whole thing wanting, especially Section 132. Verses 6, 7, 55, 64 and 65 were clearing coercive. I started checking into the behavior of the other polygamist groups and found them also wanting. I became the investigator in a law suit against James D. Harmston of the True & Living Church. Harmston like the AUB leaders was suspected of “theft by deception.” It too ended in favor of the plaintiffs I worked for.

And then I became an adviser to Tapestry Against Polygamy. I was asked to interview several women who had been victimized by unscrupulous men. You can read about some of these women in my books. Their stories were heart-wrenching and I felt drained when there was nothing I could do to help them.

I asked myself, if these unscrupulous men really believed in God why were they doing these terrible dishonest things; and why did they allow members to neglect and abuse their wives and children. I concluded they didn’t really believe in God. All they had to do is convince their gullible followers they not only believed in God, but represented God. In reality they were God. And they knew they could get away with it because there was no God to shower upon them, retribution from on high.

I researched the Mormons from Kirtland, to Jackson County, Nauvoo and across the plains to the Great Basin and found the same disgusting, deceptive, manipulative, abusive things going on – marrying sisters, mother and daughter, half sisters, nieces and 14 year-old girls, “milking the gentiles” and Blood Atonement. The same thing that go on now. And why not, Section 132 and the Y-chromosome haven’t changed.

When I specialized as a sex crime investigator in the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Division I thought WOW, about 70% of human behavior can be traced to the sex urge. But now with my misadventure in Mormon polygamy I have to add religion to the equation. 90% of human behavior results from the sex urge and irrational religious believes. In fact the source of these two behaviors has been traced to the same part of the brain.

I can now rattle off dozens of books, in case your interested, written by reputable scientists that explain irrational religious behavior from a nature/nurture perspective. For me it is much more meaningful and promotes survivability far in excess of what a pope, prophet, priest, oracle, pastor, which doctor, shaman, rabbi or imam could conjure from some supernatural angel, devil or god.

Although what I did, practice polygamy, was wrong, I make no apology because I was one of the lucky ones. I am the father of some of the best kids and grandkids a father could hope for. I was the father to 7 wonderful kids who might never have had a father. How can I apologize to them?

I know of several polygamist men who when they got tired of supporting their families simply abandoned them. For the life of me, I don’t know how they could do it.

In order to maintain an orderly, creative, productive polygamist family you must inculcate upon the pretty minds of your wives that God demands that they obey priesthood, submit to their husband, overcome jealousy and envy, never doubt husband and priesthood, do as your husband dictates and he will resurrect you in the order of your obedience, and then if the prophet will allow you through the pearly gates (Doctrine of Introduction), you may be exalted.

I couldn’t bring myself to do it because it was all a great big, cruel lie! So now I’m a happy monogamist and skeptic. If there really is a God, I don’t want a middleman speaking for me, no pope and no phony prophet, I will work out my salvation on my own.

A REPLY TO ERASTUS

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-29T18:03:00Z

A REPLY TO ERASTUS

Thanks for the comment Erastus. As it pertains to respect, how can you respect a leadership that arrogantly engages in a “pattern of criminal activity?” How can you respect a belief (Section 132) that is inherently coercive towards women?

I believe in repentance. But the criminal conduct of the AUB leadership back in 1990 cannot be dismissed as a mere mistake. What they did was clearly premeditated. They had ample opportunities to make things right but their pride would not let them do it. The only way that repentance can now be accomplished is for them to start negotiations to make things right. Unfortunately for them, because of their stubbornness the court is punishing them where it hurts most and that is in the pocket book.

The AUB members who have a huge investment in AUB will do as you suggest, let God take care of it, and will continue to be loyal followers. Part of the fundamentalist mythology is that the leaders are assumed to have been picked by God whether they are honest, stupid, brilliant or crooked. If the people believe they [the AUB priesthood] have the “sacred keys” to the salvation of the people, they are stuck with them.

In this country our Constitution allows citizens to worship as they see fit as long as their religion does not harm or interfere with the beliefs of others. I don’t care who AUB appoints as their leader and I don’t care what kind of authority he claims, nor do I care if individuals believe his claims and give him money. But when a religious group uses God as justification for scamming others, it becomes everybody’s duty to expose them.

Why do you suppose Mormon fundamentalists hate apostates so much? It’s because they generally have information that the leadership does not want the general public to know.

There are so many improbably, irrational and absurd beliefs and corrupt conduct involved in Mormon fundamentalism that a great portion of those who abdicate in disgust become atheists and skeptics. AUB is one of the more liberal polygamist groups and probably has the highest turnover rate. People come and go like a revolving door -- because of the elitism, inequality [double standards] and corruption [deception]. The prophet and his priesthood cronies are only responsible to God, and they define God. It’s a foolproof system if you believe in them. Thank goodness we have a judicial system that can hold the “unaccountable,” accountable whether they like it or not.

HOW CAN I ENCOURAGE MORE COMMENTS?

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-27T20:28:00Z

HOW CAN I ENCOURAGE MORE COMMENTS?

I know from the statistics that people are looking at my blog but since I first started updating Hill vs. Jenson et.al, there have only been three comments, the latest from Vern. Thanks Vern. It will be posted shortly.

I did receive a comment from a beautifully spirited young lady who had a personal question. She was one of many young girls tragically born into polygamy, trying to make sense of her roots, and the despicable treatment she received. She is one of many heroic young ladies that have totally rejected the polygamist lifestyle, its fraudulent leaders, and on her very own, carved out a respectable, meaningful life. These young people, both men and women, go unsung in rebuilding their lives. I don’t know where they get the strength but like all who overcome adversity, they are the very best among us.

I also know there are those who read this blog who don’t agree with my thinking. I also know from the statistics which subjects seem to stimulate the most interest. But interest doesn’t necessarily mean agreement.

When I write who do I have in mind? When I update Hill vs. Jenson et.al. I have the members of AUB in mind. I would really like to hear from an AUB member who disagrees with me so we can establish a dialogue. I will respect all reasonably presented, anonymous disagreements. Why would I like to hear from an AUB member? Because, like Vern, I think the AUB members are being screwed over by the AUB priesthood.

I have no animosity towards the AUB members. Throughout the investigation, trial and Supreme Court appeals Rod and I have done what we could to safeguard the AUB member’s interest. But now that Judge Eyre’s Augmentation of the remainder of Virginia Hill’s award has been received the AUB members are apt feel the pinch. Not because that’s what Virginia wants, but because LaMoine and his priesthood cronies are going to strategically and diabolically try to shift the burden of the Augmentation onto the shoulders of the members. For example, Judge Eyre has awarded Virginia 10 % interest on 3.8 million, going back to 1990 – and that doesn’t include attorney fees. I’ll bet Rulon Allred is turning over with disgust in his grave.

Going back when Ormand Lavery and Marvin Allred were alive the priesthood has worked hard to inculcate a presumption that the priesthood is infallible and watched over by God. I still remember Ormond at a general priesthood meeting declaring – “God will not let us (the priesthood) lead you people astray.”

The Virginia Hill law suit has acted as a unifying agent – unifying the true believers behind the priesthood. Adversity has a way of stimulating unification. The AUB leadership knows that , and that is why cult-like organizations like AUB that tolerates dishonesty needs devils more than they need gods.

A lot of untrue salacious accusations have been said about Virginia to make it look like stealing from a wicked woman is no sin. But I know her correct background and her heart. I know her feelings towards the people of AUB. She has more compassion towards the AUB membership than they have for her. That is because of the lies the priesthood has told about her. As for integrity and morality, she stands head and shoulders above the men who profess to be God’s anointed, men who used God to justify the theft of Virginia‘s money.

A message to AUB true believers: Virginia is not at all like you have been told. By the way, in that same general priesthood meeting, Ormond said, “I would lie, lie, lie through my teeth to save the priesthood!” Suggesting those who heard him should do the same thing. During the 1905 Smoot Hearings it was called “Lying for the Lord.” Because lying is permitted, Mormon fundamentalists are among the best liars in the world.

I’d like to hear from someone in AUB. I’d like someone to challenge my thoughts if they think I’m wrong.

HILL VS. JENSON ET. AL.- AUGMENTATION UPDATED

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-19T19:19:00Z

HILL VS JENSON ET. AL. AUGMENTATION UPDATE

The Fourth District Court has upheld the Motion and Memorandum in Support to Augment the Utah Supreme Court Ruling concerning the conduct of the Defendants. This means the lower Court has concurred with the upper Court that Utah’s Pattern of Unlawful Activity Act applied and a new determination of damages and liability is required – especially concerning “the imposition of joint and several liability.” (Dated 1-13-10)

“Although there is an apparent dearth of state case law on the topic, the federal common law is clear and unequivocal; joint and several liability is not only proper, but necessary in these cases” … “because all defendants participate[d] in the enterprise responsible for the RICO violations.”

“…”it is the impression of this Court that the Utah Supreme Court believes joint and several liability should be properly imposed in this case.”

Next comes the ruling pertaining to “the prejudgment interest amount.”

“If a defendant has deprived the plaintiff of a specific sum of money, he has also deprived the plaintiff of the interest which the money would have earned in the absence of defendant’s breach of duty; unless the plaintiff is paid interest for the entire time that he is deprived of the use of his money, her [she] will not receive full compensation?”

“The correct damage award, therefore, will double the $1.54 million amount and add to it prejudgment interest calculated from May, 1990 on the original $1.54 million amount only.

CONCLUSION

“… Plaintiff’s Motion to Augment Judgment is granted. Counsel for Plaintiff is to prepare the appropriate judgment and order, which should reflect prejudgment interest calculated as the Court has indicated above, submit it to opposing counsel for review and then to the Court for execution.”

We will wait to see how much interest should be added to the 3.08 million.

This ruling does not bode well for AUB, Jenson Lumber and others. It has been a long time coming but well worth the wait. Justice and reality have finally clawed its way through all the lies, deception, treachery and recalcitrant attitude of the AUB priesthood.

As I have mentioned before, according to reliable informants Owen Allred wanted to sit down and negotiate a settlement with Virginia but he let LaMoine and his priesthood flunkies overrule him. According to Mormon priesthood precedence Owen should have had power to override LaMoine’s objections. Had he done so it would have saved not only AUB money and assets but the mortification of being labeled a “criminal enterprise.”

The AUB membership needs to pull their heads out of the sand as ask themselves, if LaMoine was badly in error in his handling of the Virginia Hill law suit, where else has he departed from what is right, true and proper? Is he really God’s anointed? If he was really free of all blame would God have let this calamitous ruling be handed down?

MORMON POLYGAMY - A SYMBIOTIC DEBACKLE

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-13T20:55:00Z

MORMON POLYGAMY, A SYmBIOTIC DEBACKLE

Symbiosis means a mutual exchange; I’ll slap your back if you’ll slap mine.

Dr. Robert Anderson, a psychiatrist, in his excellent book, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, diagnosed the relationship between Joseph and his followers by discerning what went on in Joseph’s mind: “I will be what you want me to be. If you want me to be a prophet, I will be a prophet.”

Joseph gave his people a new identity that built esteem, gave them meaning, and made them a “peculiar” people. Joseph acted as the people’s conduit to God – receiving timely revelations that at times tended to serve the people, and other times served him. In any event, the people wanted a prophet, someone to interpret the will of God; and Joseph needed the people to support him and feed his ego. They needed each other. It was an unwritten mutual agreement, in other words, a symbiotic relationship.

A religion is an organization where a concerted group of people worship a Supernatural Being or Entity in exchange for His blessings and His hoped-for intervention in behalf of their affairs. If the people follow His edicts and adore Him and his prophet, as in the case of Mormonism, He will reward the people with an exaltation much richer and more pleasurable than the salvation of non believers.

The relationship between God and His believers is an abstract, recondite, cognitive affair because the faithful believers never really make material contact with God – all the devotee knows about God is what someone else wrote or told him. That is where the middleman comes into play. His role is to present God in a rhythmic, poetic, healing, and repetitive way so that it might stimulate man’s propensity towards spirituality, inducing that warm, comforting feeling and an occasional epiphany. This middleman is thought to have authority which the people are expected to trust, respect and honor. The middleman’s propaganda is usually designed to impress upon the believer that the middleman or his priesthood is the one and only conduit to God, and he, the middleman, controls the salvation and resurrection of the people. In the case of Mormon fundamentalism, the middleman becomes a surrogate god.

Although the people may be deserving of blessings directly from God such as good health, healings and inspiration concerning personal and family matters, as it pertains to the individual’s exaltation, salvation and resurrection, he is dependent upon the middleman. There is a presumption that the middleman – prophet, pope, priest, oracle, pastor, shaman, witch doctor, sorcerer, imposter, revelator or whatever – is set apart to save the souls of the people. However, if the people are going to receive God’s blessings and have their souls exalted, they are expected to do as God stipulates – which is communicated via the middleman.

The symbiotic relationship is often instituted in the form of a church where the rules of worship are “engraved in stone” – (a figure of speech). The rules, such as the Ten Commandments, or Section 132, are non negotiable and immutable unless amended or rescinded by believable revelation. The relationship between the prophet and people is a reward and punishment agreement predicted upon belief because there is no way to rationally confirm the existence of God. In other words, because God is ineffable, the symbiotic relationship occurs between the middleman and the people. If you please Joseph Smith, Warren Jeffs or J. LaMoine Jensen, your exaltation is more assured.

If the symbiotic relationship is well balanced the church grows exponentially and everyone benefits. However, as in the case of Mormon fundamentalism, the affair gradually becomes lopsided. Instead of the middleman serving the people, the people are manipulated into serving the middleman or surrogate god.

There has been a decade of corruption in AUB. The evidence is as follows: (1) The cover-up of alleged sexual deviates among the ruling high priest apostles. (2) The use of tithing money for building projects that enrich the elite – the elite being certain priesthood leaders and their sycophant inner circle. (3) The demonizing of dissidents who speak out against corruption. And of course (4) the theft of 1.5 million from Virginia Hill.

There is nothing democratic about a religious group where all the authority and power resides with one man and an oligarchy. When corruption penetrates leadership, it also penetrates the invisible, ineffable, immutable god of the leadership for He, their God, takes on a persona congruent with the middleman. The God and the middleman reinforce each other. This was made evident when Owen Allred asked the Lord what they, AUB, should do with Virginia Hill’s money. The apparent answer was: “Don’t give it back, and don’t tell anybody….” This unscrupulous answer permitted the AUB leadership and its inner circle of roguish disciples to engage in a “pattern of unlawful activity. The AUB God became an accessory before the fact.

What can we say about the honest AUB adherents – the members who would never do what their leaders did? The actions of AUB leaders were unquestionably dishonest and shameful. The facts are documented in Hill vs. AUB and the subsequent Utah Supreme Court Ruling. Why then haven’t the members spoken out or demanded that their leaders repent and make restitution? Is it because they lack the power, or lack the will? Or is it because the leaders have convinced the people that Virginia Hill and her team of lawyers and investigators are being driven by the Devil?

If the honest members of AUB really objected to the criminal behavior of their leaders what could they do? They could threaten to apostatize, refuse to pay tithing, and the women could refuse to give the men sex.

So what stops the laity from cleaning up the corruption in the AUB priesthood? Let’s list some possible reasons: (1) The faithful have been programmed to believe the AUB priesthood (right or wrong) is infallible and holds the keys to their exaltation. (2) To accept the facts that their leaders are corrupt is tantamount to the realization that their leaders and the God they worship are frauds. If the priesthood and God are imposters then that means the member’s investment -- time, talent, money and adoration – was for naught. Rather than start over, they seek to save their investment by making up excuses for their leader’s criminal behavior.

Only a tiny, tiny … less than 1% of the AUB faithful had the temerity to rebel over the Virginia Hill scandal. In the mean time how do we explain the lack of membership outrage?

There are individuals that will tolerate a doctrine that dictates he should serve his master. (Mormon fundamentalism) There are individuals who will also tolerate his master exploiting a third person. (AU It is not until either he or someone very close to him is exploited that the individual is more likely to rebel.

An axiom: There are religious devotees who like some conservatives, liberals and atheists that think their position and argument is so correct and solid that there couldn’t possibly be an opposing view worth considering. Author, anonymous.

Plural Marriage, Fact or Fiction

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-06T21:05:00Z

PLURAL MARRIAGE, FACT OR FICTION

Susan Ray was raised in the Church of the Firstborn, a Mormon fundamentalist group with headquarters at Colonial LeBaron, Mexico. At age 15 she was married to Verlan LeBaron, a man in his forties. As a plural wife she was compelled to live mostly in primitive or pioneer conditions that by today’s standards would be considered squalor.

Verlan was a General Authority in the Church of the Firstborn presiding over the Twelve Apostles. Verlan’s brother, Ervil LeBaron, became a mass murderer. Susan had been indoctrinated to believe that the Church of the Firstborn was God’s one and only church. However, the following circumstances caused her to doubt that this church was really God’s true church or that plural marriage was really a correct principle:

The squalled conditions she and her sisterwives were compelled to live under.

Her husband’s lack of financial support

Her husband’s continual absence, away doing church work.

The jealousy, envy and resentment of the plural wives towards each other.

Her husband’s perpetual chasing pubescent females to wed.

The senseless murders perpetrated by Ervil LeBaron.

By the time she mustered enough courage to seek out answers to her questions she was a mother in her early twenties with five children. She couldn’t go to the church authorities for answers because to question the church’s authority was taboo, so she turned to the scriptures.

She found where the Book of Mormon said that man should have “but one wife.” She found in the New Testament where Paul said the same thing, “one wife.” She reread Section 132 realizing it was coercive and women had no more standing than chattel. In the Church of the Firstborn women were expected to submit to extremely sever living conditions. Her inner self told her “God’s alleged polygamy commandment” was all wrong. She apostatized. (See His Favorite Wife by Susan Ray Schmidt)

Today, Susan and her children are living normal, highly productive lives taking advantage of all the wonderful opportunities a free society has to offer.

Most every Mormon fundamentalist knows of women and children that are being abused or oppressed but generally blame the oppressor rather than the principle. The indoctrination that plural marriage is a “sacred religious belief” is so strong that until either a loved one or themselves have been victimized they don’t seem to lack the fortitude to rebel. Even then some women are manipulated into being so dependent upon their husbands and priesthood that they resign themselves to their ignoble fate. That is because Mormonism is designed, like Islam and some forms of Christianity, to turn women into impotent servants and brood mares.

There is enough clear and convincing evidence in the scriptures, along with the research of historians, to make a convincing argument that God does not compel women to become plural wives. There is also enough clear and convincing testimony from Mormon leaders to make a compelling argument that plural marriage is required for a celestial exaltation.

The questions concerning Mormon plural marriage are so emotion packed that it is almost impossible to scripturally and objectively get to the truth – especially if the scrutiny is predicated on a belief in God or Joseph Smith.

Scripturally scrutinizing Mormon plural marriage is seldom objective. For example, we can approach Mormon polygamy from the premise that it is false and then attempt to prove it; or we can stipulate Section 132 is true and hope to prove it. In the latter case especially, irrational data (that which is accepted on faith rather than fact) cannot be avoided.

The only rational way to get to the truth of Section 132 is the scientific method – in other words, by secular methods and not spiritual necromancy. (See soon to be published, Mormon Polygamy, Virus of the Mind)

True Believers are reluctant to go the secular route to find truth because what is bound to happen is not only that plural marriage and Mormonism, but religion in general, will be found to be an invention of man that exists only in the mind.

This does not mean there are no social redeeming values to religion. On the contrary – religion has made the lives of millions more meaningful. My contention is with the prophets, popes, priests and clerics responsible for religious wars, torture, deception, murder, tyranny and the wholesale oppression of women. I deplore so-called pious men who are enriched by the tithes and alms of others. I rank men who use religion to beguile women for sexual pleasure among the most ruthless and loathsome criminals. Men who merchandise plural wives are nothing more than “holy pimps.” These irrational atrocities have declined over the years in direct proportion to scientific based facts that contradict irrational beliefs, but atrocities are still a long way from being eradicated from the human condition as we plainly see in fanatical fundamentalism.

The human brain has evolved a spiritual component that some geneticists refer to as the “God Gene.” Inherent spirituality (supernatural beliefs) helped our primitive ancestors make sense of the unknown, making life more survivable. Consequently, ever since the beginning of recorded history, unsavory men claiming divine authority have exploited man’s predisposition for irrational beliefs.

A note to the apologists who believe the Pentateuch is the express word of God: You can’t bring the dead back to life. You can’t turn the clock back and restore dignity and respect. You can’t undo the humiliation and pain suffered by pubescent Muslim girls during circumcision. I could go on and on but I think you get my point. In my opinion, the atrocities outweigh the benefits of religion. If religion had had its way we would still be living in the Dark Ages, still believing the world was flat.

WHEN AN IDEAL BECOMES AN IDEAL (HILL VS. AUB)

John Llewellyn — 2010-01-03T18:39:00Z

WHEN AN IDEA BECOMES AN IDEAL (Hill vs. AU

Joseph Smith had an idea – a way to “legitimize” having sex with many women. The idea was Section 132, the infamous and highly controversial plural marriage “revelation.” Little did Joseph know that Brigham Young would turn his idea into an “ideal.”

The word ideal has two meanings, both of which apply to Section 132. An ideal is something that exists in the mind – the imagination. Ideal also reflects perfection – a standard of excellence worthy of imitation.

AUB purports to be the apotheosis of Mormonism – not only in practicing all of God’s laws, but as the one and only group having God’s authority. Of course there are other self-appointed prophets and groups making the same claim – FLDS, TLC, Church of the Firstborn, the Kingston Clan, etc.

What, if anything, do all of these “ideal” groups practicing “God’s ideal principle” have in common? They are accountable to no one but themselves and that means they can make up their own rules when it comes to obtaining plural wives, protecting and strengthening their power base.

It is a matter of court record that God approved of AUB stealing Virginia Hill’s money. Presumably that means in God’s eyes and the “blurred” eyes of the AUB faithful, AUB is innocent of any wrong doing. In regard to the current prophet of AUB, J. LaMoine Jenson, his “innocence” is implied in that God would certainly not allow his chosen prophet to be a thief. And Jenson’s innocence is implied by his claim that neither he nor his Lumber Company kept any of Virginia’s money. The fact that he was complicit in a conspiracy to unlawfully launder a half million dollars of Virginia’s money into an AUB bank account, he thinks, does not impugn his good name.

Sometime in the first two weeks of the 1010 NEW YEAR we should hear from Judge Eyre and how he has treated the augmentation of the rest of AUB’s legal obligation to Virginia Hill. How are the “ideal” prophet and “ideal” group expected to react to the “augmentation?” Rumor has it that they will once again appeal.

Reliable information reveals that the “ideal” prophet and his “ideal” priesthood sycophants are hitting up the more affluent members for additional donations to help fight the evil Virginia Hill, her investigators and attorney. So how will this money be used?

If AUB appeals and they want to prevent Hill from going after AUB assets while the appeal is being considered, AUB, Jenson, et. al., will be required to post another bond. The last bond was in the neighborhood of $750,000.00. Depending upon how the Augmentation reads another appeal bond could be much more. Where will this money come from? Where did the first bond money come from? According to informants, the money came from AUB members and not the actual men who committed the “pattern of criminal activity.”

In order to justify using tithing money and inducing additional donations from affluent members, the “ideal” prophet and priesthood must convince the laity that Hill and her investigators, former AUB members, are evil and they, AUB leaders, are innocent in God’s eyes of any wrong doing. How they do this in the face of overwhelming culpable evidence is an abstruse but explainable conundrum.

The AUB God is an imaginary deity that is created to approve of the acts and pretensions of the AUB priesthood. One such pretense is that it is a sin to question the infallibility of the AUB priesthood.

What a burden the AUB priesthood is expected to place on the shoulders of the faithful, philistine-like members. It comes after Xmas, near tax time, in a weak economy, donating money to an exorbitant bond that will only delay the inevitable and will be lost just as the first bond money was lost.

The “ideal” fundamentalist group is justified in lying, deceiving, cheating, stealing, exploiting females and even killing nonconforming members and gentiles. The “ideal” fundamentalist individual or group is working towards imitating the homosexual protagonists in establishing a “politically correct” portrayal of how they think society should view them – not by the merits but by a defective, corrupt ideal.

Some suggestive reading that will support the above:

His Favorite Wife, Trapped In Polygamy, A True Story of Violent Fanaticism, by Susan Ray Schmidt. Susan was born and raised in the Church of the Firstborn, the “ideal” church of the LeBaron clan, from which mass murderer, Ervil LeBaron evolved.

Stolen Innocence, My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs, by Elissa Wall. Elissa was born and raised in the “ideal” FLDS.

A PROPHACY ABOUT TO BE FULFILLED

John Llewellyn — 2009-12-25T21:16:00Z

A PROPHACY ABOUT TO BE FULFILLED

THE MORMON PRIESTHOOD WILL SAVE THE CONSTITUTION WHEN IT HANGS BY A THREAD

The Mormon who has not heard the oft referenced Joseph Smith prophecy that when our government will be on the verge of dissolution it will be the Mormon people who will save it, is a Mormon who has not researched his religion. The following is a Joseph Smith quote from the ENSIGN, a church publication.

“The time would come when the constitution and government would hang by a brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands but this people the latter-day saints will step forth and save it”

Mormonism is a latter-day belief system, in other words, it is focused on the “end of times,” that is, the end of mortal reign, a time when Christ shall take over the governments of the world.

Since the introduction of Mormonism in 1830 there have been several historical periods when the loyal Saints have thought the downfall of the American government was at the threshold. Parley P. Pratt wrote the following in 1841 about the time the Saints were being forced out of Jackson County, Missouri.

“The government is fallen and needs redeeming. It is guilty of Blood and cannot sand as it now is but will come so near desolation as to hang as it were by a single hair!!!! And this is the redemption of Zion when the saints shall have redeemed that government and reinstate it in all its purity and glory!!!!

Whenever the Saints have been persecuted or the economy or sovereignty of the government is threatened Joseph’s dissolution prophecy is remembered and talked about. The critical times have been when the Saints were expelled from Nauvoo, when the government came down on the polygamist saints in the 1880s, during the First and Second World Wars, during Jimmy Carter’s reign as President of the United States.

In the 1990s Owen Allred predicted that our currency was about to be replaced by a new currency and the government was about to fail. He called together select priesthood brethren and in secret they planned how they were going to fulfill prophecy and designating witch government buildings they should take over. The plan was reduced to writing in what was called “the blue book,” because of the color of it cover.

With the current recession and the socialist-like programs and proposed legislations of the Obama administration, the Mormon fundamentalists appear once again to be posturing for the total collapse of the government. It is reported that government collapse is the main topic of the AUB laity. Government collapse and the “injustice” of the Virginia Hill court decision is reported to be the favorite topic of the AUB oligarchy.

If you listen to Glen Beck on Fox TV and his conservative interpretation of how the Constitution has been ignored and passed over by liberal Obamaites, it’s enough to cause even a non Mormon like myself to wonder if Joseph’s prediction has merit. Glen Beck, a Mormon, his clowning makes sense and Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is expected to run again for President of the United States. And it doesn’t take a political science major to see the socialistic predisposition of the American left.

The state of our economy and our binge-spending socialistic congressmen is scary enough without the absurd thought of Apostolic United Brethren (AU priesthood sycophants taking over the government. Jenson and his priesthood cronies, according to informants, have whipped up the true believers into a near state of hysteria. They are stocking up on food storage and sequestering it places where the gentiles won’t find it. And it’s a safe bet that there are plenty of guns and ammunition to defend their stash. If the government doesn’t collapse there is going to be lot of disappointed AUB followers.

HILL VS. AUB, JENSON, ET.AL., UPDATE

John Llewellyn — 2009-12-12T22:04:00Z

HILL VS. AUB, JENSON, ET. AL., UPDATE

Dec. 10, 2009, Fourth District Court, Nephi, Utah, Judge Donald J. Eyre presiding

Plaintiff Hill’s first motion asked that the appeal bond monies deposited by the Defendants be released and ascribed to the judgment owed by the Defendants. After both sides expressed their arguments, Judge Eyre granted the motion. The release of funds amounted to several hundred thousand dollars. The money will be used to pay expenses incurred, especially appellant fees.

The Plaintiff’s second motion addressed the question of augmentation in view of the Supreme Court Ruling. The judgment or award to Hill must be augmented to reflect the double damages because of the racketeering and the second Assignment of Trust Deed that was overlooked by the District Court. And then there is the interest and attorneys fees that must be factored in. Judge Eyre said he would issue a ruling within two weeks.

After the proceedings started about 20 AUB men filed into the courtroom led by high priest apostle, Ron Allred. Shortly after that a uniformed deputy sheriff appeared at the court entrance and stayed until the proceedings were over. He was obviously summoned as additional security, a sensible precaution. But the burly AUB men, except for the dour expressions on their faces, behaved like gentleman.

During the proceedings Virginia whispers to me, “I feel sorry for the AUB member who will have to foot the bill for the criminal conduct of their leaders.”

I could tell she was sincere, and I thought, she was more empathetic towards the AUB people than they were towards her. The defendants, especially Matthews and Putvin had done all they could to sully Virginia’s reputation, and the majority of the AUB people believed their lies.

It is interesting that after all the damaging evidence that was submitted to the courts and after two Supreme Court Appeals, members of AUB still make excuses for their leaders “pattern of criminal activity.”

According to reliable informants Owen Allred wanted to initiate a settlement with Virginia and put the matter to rest before they went to court. But apparently, J. LaMoine Jenson and his priesthood henchman overruled Owen -- according to the informant. Had they done what Owen wanted it would not have cost AUB nearly as much money, not to mention the ignominy and shame it has brought on AUB and its leaders.

The report we get from inside AUB is that the priesthood council, behind closed doors, want to continue to fight and drag things out. It is easy for them to do because the money spent to drag the inevitable out doesn’t come out of their pockets. If the AUB people want to save what is left of AUB’s reputation they should rise up and display their disgust and shock, and demand that their leaders do the honorable thing. AUB is not being lead by God or Jesus Christ, it is being led by the selfish genes of J. LaMoine Jenson and his priesthood lackeys.

There are a dew current members who apparenty believe that LaMoine as a leader is greater than Owen. After knowing them both when I was part of AUB, and watching how they conducted themselves during the investigation and trail, in my opinion, Owen had more integrity in his little finger than LaMoine has in his entire body.

The criminal conduct and intransigence of LaMoine and his priesthood sycophants have manipulated the AUB members into believing it is their duty to serve the priesthood rather than the other way around. The AUB laity, whose pockets the leaders will eventually empty, can therefore feel lucky that during the trial the Plaintiff’s attorney did not fully convince the judge that the theft was an AUB enterprise. The defense made it look like it was a Putvin/Matthews enterprise. However the facts are Owen made Matthews a bishop to oversee the dispersing of the stolen 1.5 million. Matthews recruited Jeff Norman to launder $500,000.00 back into AUB via J. LaMoine Jenson. During the laundering episode, which was only one facet of the entire enterprise, the bulk of the money sat in Owen Allred’s closet. In other words, the two Assignment of Trust Deeds were tools in which to transfer a half million dollars in currency to AUB’s checking account. The Judge mistakenly ruled that the Assignment of Trust Deeds represented AUB’s actual damages when it should have been 1.5 million.

When the IRS and Sheriff’s Office started investigating Norman and the money laundering, according to Putvin, Matthews and Owen panicked and Owen told Putvin, “Get it (the currency) out of here,” meaning his house. When Norman was sacrificed (went to prison) and the heat was off, Owen and Matthews wanted the money back. Putvin told them to “stick it.” Putvin the stole the money from AUB and took over the used car lot (Diamond Automotive Specialties, Inc.) which was also suppose to be an AUB enterprise, fronted by Jim Sandmire.

AUB has tried several legitimate businesses and they all have failed. They tried stealing Virginia’s 1.5 million and that didn’t work out either. The only thing they are good at is merchandising plural wives and a phony promise of a celestial exaltation.

I know there are some good, well-meaning people in AUB. I hope that someday they will build up enough tenacity to clean up their corrupt priesthood or get out.

Homosexuality's Assault on Monogamy

John Llewellyn — 2009-12-03T17:51:00Z

Homosexuality’s Assault on Monogamy

Question: Is the gay crowd’s fixation on same sex marriage as simple a question as equal rights or do the homosexuals have covert, alternative objectives that would come into play if “same sex marriage” becomes law? If the United States Supreme Court were to rule that the states must recognize same sex marriages would that be tantamount to a biological promulgation that homosexuality is a natural and normal orientation?

Just how society ought to react or should adjust to homosexuality is a highly sensitive conundrum. It is a problem because the homosexuals, although a minority, have succeeded in organizing to the extent that they appear to represent a viable voting block and have captured the empathy of liberal minded Americans.

There are various ways of looking at homosexuality, from a legal perspective, moral, religious, biological and politically correct perspective. In response to the latter, a derogatory remark about homosexuality could result in a crippled political career. Of the several moral issues debated by concerned Americans like race, religion, government and war, same sex marriage seems to generate the highest state of tension. Tension begets attention. If the liberal media interprets a sexual comment as incendiary it could result in the commentator being branded a bigot. In that regard, political correctness has become a powerful tool in manipulating free expression. We all pretty well know what the politically correct consequences are in publically opposing homosexuality. It could indirectly affect employment and public standing if one’s occupation is associated with public approval such as a cartoonist.

A cartoon about Mohammad appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005. The Muslim world took it as an insult which sparked demonstrations throughout the Middle East. As if on cue Muslim’s swarmed into the streets, violence erupted, Danish Embassies were attacked, as the crazed Muslims called for the death of any and all Danes connected with the “blasphemous” cartoons. Stunned by the ferocity of the rioting over such a trivial reason The Vatican and a couple of other Christian leaders sided with Islam in denouncing the cartoons, the illustrator and newspaper that printed them.

The Vatican’s reaction qualifies as political correct as opposed to free speech on the part of the Danish cartoonist. It is also an example of caving in to intimidation. European Muslims are more easily provoked than American Muslims.

Homosexuals also demonstrate but they are usually the victims of violence rather than the other way around. They have been shrewd enough to turn senseless violence against their fellow homosexuals into an asset. It is a strategy that gay activists and polygamy activists have in common, turning discrimination into a politically correct resource.

So much for political correctness – what about the moral factors? Is homosexuality perversion or deviant behavior? In the 1950s it was considered a perversion but since the 60s there has been a gradual but definitive relaxing or incontinent trend in how society views sexual behavior. Laws against adultery and sodomy are now considered archaic. Cheating on one’s wife may be grounds for divorce but not criminal punishment. Since Lawrence vs. Texas, two men in the privacy of their bedroom can engage in buggery to their heart’s content because the Texas Supreme Court ruled it’s no one’s business, including the state.

The homosexual lobby has succeeded in using polemics to rationalize that homosexuality in and of itself is a natural consequence. If homosexuality is a natural orientation among the human species, then it is implied that the oral and anal love making techniques, as disgusting as they may sound to heterosexuals, are natural. Going one step further, Lawrence vs. Texas suggests that sexually, anything goes among consenting adults except where minors are involved. Public sentiment draws the line with minors. By drawing the line at age 18, is it a rational or emotional decision? What is the difference between an 18 year-old boy performing sodomy on a 50 year-old man and a 50 year-old man performing sodomy on a 17 year-old boy? Is it the act or the idea that is offensive?

Where homosexuality is concerned, it seems that religious entities have drawn a line in the sand at same sex marriage. Religious belief can safely skirt political correctness and oppose homosexuality. In the case of Catholicism and Mormonism, although they openly oppose homosexual unions, the churches are against discriminating against gays especially where housing and employment is involved. How can they not? Nevertheless, when the LDS Church agreed to a city ordinance against discriminating against gays in housing and in the market place the gays seemed to take it as a victory.

Gay activists claim that homosexuality has a genetic origin. There has yet to be scientific conformation but many scientists lean in that direction. If homosexuality has a genetic causality why couldn’t an aversion to homosexuality also have a genetic origin? There are geneticists who suspect a fear of snakes is a genetically induced aversion. In that regard there are other human quirks common to all cultures that geneticists suspect are genetic.

When I was a young man in the US Navy, while on liberty in San Francisco, it was not uncommon to be hit on by homosexuals. The common reaction of the sailor was instant aversion; there was no thinking about it, no discussion, just instant revulsion just as there is instant dislike and fear when you suddenly come across a snake.

As long as we are on the subject of genes it may be germane to acknowledge that there are a number of genetic disorders that affect behavior – such as Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, Turner Syndrome and Sickle cell disease. The people with Down syndrome are easily identified, they stand out, but I know of nowhere where they are discriminated against. But then they don’t cause any trouble or intrude on the privacy of others, nor do they deface public or private property, nor do they solicit sexual congress with strangers.

You may have already guessed where I am going – into that erotic homosexual domain where some politically correct gays think I should not tread.

There is no doubt that many gay men and women are upstanding citizens, patriotic Americans and law abiding. There are homosexuals that have made meaningful contributions to the arts and in other cultural endeavors such as business, academics and politics. These individuals should be respected for their humanitarian accomplishments the same as heterosexuals. But there is also a faction of homosexuals whose unorthodox behavior has brought upon the gay culture in America moral condemnation. The aberrant habits of this faction I believe have resulted in deserved or undeserved animus (you decide) among the heterosexual majority. Political correct intimidation I also believe has kept the annoyed majority from speaking out but has not changed their thinking or natural aversion to homosexual erotic habits.

What I intend to say next is not speculation or fiction but qualified facts from my experience as a sex crime investigator while a detective in the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

I frequently came in contact with homosexuals due to the following complaints: child molest or pedophilia and disorderly conduct.

Some male homosexuals seek out occupations or hobbies that bring them in contact with adolescent boys – occupations like school teachers or Boy Scout leaders. In discussing this “malady” with a prominent psychiatrist he told me that homosexuality in men was an extension of the masturbation stage. With that in mind, I noticed that predatory homosexuals often target that age group where young boys are experiencing testosterone stimulated interest in the opposite, in other words, the initial masturbation stage.

Most contacts are with children in the immediate family or neighbors, someone known to the homosexual. Hitchhikers are often targeted as are young boys in public restrooms. A common ploy is to show victims nude pictures of women and when the boys are sufficiently stimulated the homosexuals then attempt to take over where the pornography leaves off. My psychiatrist friend said that if a boy has a particularly satisfying homosexual experience, and a disappointing heterosexual experience, as he grows older, there is tendency to revert back to the more satisfying experience. This hypothesis gives credence to a nurturing explanation for homosexuality.

Homosexuals find places to meet. Public restrooms, parks and bars are the most common.

As a result of handling both homosexual and heterosexual sex offenders I formed the opinion that per capita there is a much larger pedophilia incident rate among homosexuals than heterosexuals.

With many homosexuals there seems to be an inordinate preoccupation with eroticism that compels them to take dangerous chances. It is not unusual for some homosexuals to participate in as many as 25 to 50 sexual contacts a night, the majority of contacts being strangers. It’s like a sexual binge that’s hard for heterosexual people to understand. It’s no wonder aids is so prevalent among homosexuals.

In the 70s the consensus was that homosexuality was an environmental (nurturing) disorder. In that regard I maintained close professional contact with a psychologist who developed a “shock” form of therapy. What he did was attach an electrical shocking devise to the penis of his patient then showed him a series of homo and hetro photographs. When he showed the patient a homosexual photo the penis was shocked. The psychologist thought this Maslov type of therapy conditioning put the patient’s sex urge back on the proper, heterosexual, track.

Today it seems that therapy designed to change sexual orientation is so unsuccessful that some social scientists now treat the patient so he reconciles to his sexual orientation.

I am convinced that homosexuality has a nurturing origin and “probably” a genetic impact. Many homosexuals are bisexual – married with children living a cryptic, secret homosexual life. The men genuinely love their wife and children but when it comes to sexual pleasure, they are more fully eroticized by a homosexual act. These bisexuals frequent restrooms to make contacts or recruit a covert lover on the side.

Speaking of restrooms, homosexuals can be very destructive, defacing the walls and partitions between stalls with filthy graffiti and human excrement. They bore holes in the partitions in which to offer their penis to the guy next door. And as we recently learned from a politician, playing footsy with the guy in the next stall is another way of making contact. When homosexuals dominate a public restroom it makes it very uncomfortable for heterosexuals. It’s no wonder parents will not allow their children, especially boys, to enter a public restroom alone.

Parades and public demonstrations symbolize solidarity and power. Almost without exception when homosexuals demonstrate there are those few that kiss, hug, dress and carry banners that they know annoy heterosexuals. Taunting heterosexuals is not an appropriate way to gain their support. This kind of behavior conveys the message that, “we are now powerful enough to get what we want in spite of you.” I think that heterosexual resentment is now evident in the recent surge of political opposition to same sex marriages. It symbolizes, “enough is enough.”

If we approach the claim of homo-naturalness from a biological prospective I believe that objective research will debunk the proposition that homosexuality is normal and natural because the obvious natural order of things is procreation with emphasis on heterosexuality and monogamy. This does not preclude that some species practice polygamy like a pride of lions, or that some species like chimpanzees engage in homosexual play. As it concerns our cousins, the chimps, when a female comes into season it is a free-for-all, the males, including those who have engaged in homosexual play, compete for the opportunity to pass on their genes. The chimps have been known to go so far as to gang up and kidnap fertile females, then the males fight with each other for the right to copulate, or they take turns, depending upon the hierarchy.

To say that because chimps engage in homosexual play is proof that homosexuality is normal, I think is flimsy and degrading polemics.

Homosexuality has no interest in procreation. All the interest is in “selfish” pleasure and domination. The sex urge in homosexuals is misdirected. Neither god or evolution meant for sex to be restricted to pleasure only. The pleasure and bonding factors are primarily to encourage a continuation of the species. Unlike a god, Mother Nature’s concern is not with individuals but with species.

The obvious conclusion is that homosexuality whether genetic or environmental is deviant behavior. It deviates from the biological evidence and reasoning that all life is programmed to procreate. Natural selection, for whatever reason, tends to eliminate that life which is unfit. If all humans were suddenly turned into compulsive homosexuals humanity would cease to exist.

Homosexuality is a disorder and should be treated as such the same as other genetic disorders. I think that societies are gradually accepting that reasoning by relaxing the laws against sodomy and not intruding upon the erotic behavior of gays as long as it is done in private. Very few people object to two or even three men or women purchasing a house and cohabiting together – doing whatever erotic acts they desire as long as it is consensual and the participants are adults.

Same sex marriage does not prevent gays from cohabiting, negotiating contracts or engaging in erotic behavior. So what is it that same sex marriage will really do for them?

I suspect it is the implication that if the United States government recognizes same sex marriage the people of the United States must also recognize that homosexuality is a legitimate form of sexual orientation. This would give zealot homosexuals the justification to pursue young males the same as heterosexual men pursue young females. And I suspect that although shelved by pro-gay activists for the moment, there is the notion that homosexuality as an alternative sexual orientation should be taught in the public schools.

I doubt that the vast majority of American parents want their children indoctrinated with the thesis that homosexuality is normal, safe, stable, pleasurable and acceptable when from a biological view it is a disorder. If anything should be taught in the schools it is reality, not what political correctness or religious irrationality thinks “ought” to be. In defense of responsible gays, if homosexual orientation is irreversible, as some academics claim, it only effects sexual behavior and doesn’t prevent people affected by the disorder from becoming a respected, responsible, productive citizen.

In spite of attempts to alter human nature by economists (Karl Marx), psychologists (B. F. Skinner), religious leaders (Joseph Smith), and politicians (Obama), in the long run human behavior can only be manipulated not changed (Matt Ridley).

My Birth was No Accident

John Llewellyn — 2009-11-26T15:45:00Z

My Birth was No Accident

Nor was yours

There is no such thing as an accident of birth. It is no accident that a child is born in India, Russia, Egypt or France. Nor is the color of one’s skin, hair or shape of one’s eyes an accident.

Some people believe in preordination and preexistence, that we were once disembodied spirits with a mind in some utopian place like a heaven.

For example, some people believe the biblical character Abraham was suppose to be Abraham and was programmed to put a knife to his son’s throat with the intention of sacrificing him to some macabre deity. They believe it was “written” or “decreed” before the world was created that men like Moses and Joseph Smith were predestined to come to earth and do what they did. The rational half of my brain will not permit me to perceive of such things.

No god, angel, demon, devil or supernatural entity rolled the dice and said, “Well it looks like your name is going to be John and you will be born in 1933 to some Jack-Mormons with Welch, Scottish, English and Danish heritages.”

Why don’t I believe in religion? For several reasons, one of which is over the years there has been too much deception on the part of organized religion. I can’t see gamma rays, X-rays or ultra violet rays but the scientific method of falsification has shown me that although I can’t see them with my naked eyes, through experimentation, I know they exist. On the other hand, religion has not been able to show any evidence of a soul, preexistent or an afterlife.

Take John Calvin, what a despicable piece of work. He promoted the dogma of infinite punishment for the non elite, a condemnation that was foreordained long before the individual was born. No amount of good works could change the primordial sentence. Calvin roasted Michael Servetus while he was still alive for the crime of heresy. Servetus was a devote orthodox Christian as well as a scientist but he didn’t believe in the Trinity. Calvin was a religious reformer who made criticism of himself and church a crime. He passed laws dealing with morality and everyday life including how a person could dress. He was a fascist by definition who used the state to do his dirty work. Servetus by comparison was a free thinker and a scientist. The religious Calvin was a zealot where belief trumped facts. He put to death Servetus whose scientific research made life better – while Calvin’s faith dictated how people should live their lives or be punished – another reason why I’m not religious.

There is still far too much Calvinism in all religions for me. I just don’t know about all that irrational, supernatural bunk but let me tell you something I do know … that when my father’s sperm cell was embraced by my mother’s egg I was conceived. It was no accident and it is the only reasonable, authenticated explanation for my being alive. And my purpose for being alive, the reason I’m on this earth, is to procreate – have sons and daughters of my own so they too can procreate …. That explanation comes under the heading of biology and thus far no one has been able to provide evidence to disprove it.

Each human genetic receipt or genome is unique. Hopefully our parents passed on to us the very best characteristics that had been passed to them. But just as each sibling has much in common there is enough variation that each is unique and special.

The meaning of life must be to sustain life and to make life as safe and meaningful as possible. Life is meaningful if we can control the environment so that the lives of our offspring are more meaningful and productive than our own.

We can’t all be movie stars, rocket scientists or pro football players. It’s what we do with what we got that counts. We aren’t accidents or the creations of a caprice god. We are the natural order of things with consciousness. Genes are our eternal life.

Why Would an American Want to Convert to Islam?

John Llewellyn — 2009-11-24T15:32:00Z

Why Would an American Want to Convert to Islam?

Islam is an authoritarian, specious, demanding religion that discriminates against women. I have read enough of the Koran and Hadith to know I don’t want anything to do with Islam for many reasons but basically because it condones hate and violence.

I think that under those burkas and veils are some beautiful women. Whose idea was it anyway to obscure the face and body of Muslim women? Was it Muhammad? Female behavior is mysterious enough without embellishing it with the use of shrouds and irrational rituals.

Islam is so alien to the free thinking democratic ideals of our Constitution that I think the most meaningful way to answer the question, “why would an American want to convert to Islam,” is by asking other questions.

Why would anyone want to cover their body with tattoos?

Why would any man want to let his hair grow long and coiffure it into a pony tail?

The owner of a tattoo shop told me people get tattoos to make a statement and because they intimidate. Normal people are generally fearful of men and women with grotesque tattoos are their arms and neck.

Christopher Marc Nemelka has long hair he wears in a pony tail. Chris has founded an anti LDS religious movement and claims to have interpreted from gold plates, “the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon.” I asked Chris, “Why the long hair?
His answer, “It symbolizes rebellion.”

I have consistently argued that the secular motives for converting to Mormon fundamentalism are more compelling than the religious motives. I feel the same about Islamic Americans.

Nidal Malik Hasan and the Power of Belief, Part Four

John Llewellyn — 2009-11-23T22:20:00Z

Nidal Malik Hasan and the Power of Belief

Part Four

How does Hasan relate to Mormonism? Like Islam, Mormonism is a theocracy that wants to control every aspect of the devotee’s life. The LDS Church has shelved those arcane theocratic beliefs and practices of the Nineteenth Century and is now a benign religion that adheres to American principles and Constitutional law. It’s goal now appears to be building up the church as opposed to the political takeover of the world. However, the Mormon fundamentalist’s goal is first the theocratic takeover of the United States and then the world. Joseph Smith predicted that the day would come when the Constitution would hang by a thread but would be saved by the Mormon priesthood, if Joseph said it, then it must be so.

As Hasan remarked, “I’m a Muslim first, an American second,” how many times have you heard Mormon fundamentalists on nation television say, “If God’s law conflicts with man’s law, I will follow God’s law?”

A Mormon fundamentalist is a Mormon first and an American second. Within the Mormon fundamentalist doctrines are the indelible seeds of rebellion and violence. There is no need to recount the bloody exploits of Ervil LeBaron and the Lafferty brothers. In this respect Islamic fundamentalists and Mormon fundamentalists are alike. The difference being, Mormons are not charged with killing unbelievers.

The organized fundamentalist groups behave as sovereign theocratic entities masquerading as a religion so they can be entitled to First Amendment protection. They attempt to exert absolute control over every aspect of the true believer’s lives which includes holding their own priesthood courts. The design of the fundamentalist leaderships is to control information, control the lives of the people, mass fortunes, not attract government or public attention, and exploit the American government to subsidize their power base.

Most Islamic leaders in America do not want to rock the boat. They will be careful not to antagonize either the government or the powerful Islamic fundamentalists. Sharia and Fatwa are instrument of power and not paths to exaltation.

Apparently there are schools where Muslims learn to become Imams, Mullahs and Ayatollahs but a clever Mormon narcissist with a workable knowledge of Mormonism can become a prophet and expert on every aspect of life. In America a clever, educated narcissist with a workable knowledge of politics can get himself elected to a public office.

AUB is a theocracy and as such has attempted to create numerous secular money-making businesses – all of which have failed. Nepotism and spending money not earned is the usual result of failed secular business ventures. A theocracy can be as oppressive and insensitive, if not more so, than socialistic, communistic and dictatorship forms of government.

Every religion, sect or cult is a special interest entity and when it wants to become involved in politics it should be viewed with circumspection. According to the Internet the fastest growing religious faction is the unaffiliated. In other words, the surveys indicate that the largest group of Americans who have some belief in a god-like entity are those who are not affiliated with any organized religion. It also means that more and more Americans are becoming disenchanted with religion. Most people don’t want to be bothered and want missionaries to leave them alone. They have no opinion and don’t care to investigate in order to form an opinion.

A skeptic on the other hand knows enough about religion to be skeptical. He may wavier between deism and atheism and in most cases wants to be left alone and will refrain from promoting his skepticism unless badgered by religion.

Christians think they make the best Americans because they know best. Thomas Paine was labeled a “dirty little atheist” by Teddy Roosevelt. Actually, Paine was a deist like George Washington, Benjamin Franklyn, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and you can’t get any more American than those men.

Nidal Malik Hasan and the Power of Belief

John Llewellyn — 2009-11-18T23:37:00Z

Nidal Malik Hasan and the Power of Belief

Part Three - Nov. 18,2009

Why is the Obama administration playing down the probable cause that Hasan committed a terroristic act of war, and that Islamic fundamentalist beliefs explain his motives? Is it a stratagem, strategy – or compassion?

President Obama seems to be going out of his way not to antagonize or insult Islam.

We infidels can be glad that Islam is not united under one supreme leader like Catholicism and the LDS Church. For example the Grand Ayatollah of Iran, Ali Khomeini like the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and other Ayatollahs seem to be laws unto themselves, dispensing Sharia (divine laws) and issuing fatwas (legal opinions) as they see fit. In 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa against Salman Rushdie for authoring the novel, Satanic Verses.

Islam like Mormonism is a way of life – a theocracy that intrudes into every aspect of life. According to Wikipedia in 2000 there were 4,596,000 Muslims living in America. According to Kathy Lynn Grossman who is quoted by an American pro-Islamic website there could be over 6 million Muslims in America. That is on a par with Mormon demographics. If true there are as many Muslims in America as there are Mormons.

Wikipedia tells us there are 1,571,198,000 Muslims worldwide in over 50 countries. That makes the Mormon worldwide number of 13 million look pretty small.

Just think of the chaos that could be created if only a third of the Muslims were united under Osama bin Laden.

In scanning an American pro-Islamic website it condemns terrorism and the Fort Hood attack. According to other Internet sources the buildup of Muslims comes primarily from emigration. Most American converts are African Americans and those Americans living in high density urban areas.

These statistics tend to corroborate my contention that Islam appeals to the impotent population, just as Mormonism appealed to the impotent factions of the British Islands in the Nineteenth Century. Even now when you talk to recent emigrants from the UK they say the main reason they come to America is for a better life and opportunities for their children. An important part of Mormonism’s appeal in the Nineteenth Century was as an instrument or means to come to America. Islam, like Mormonism, gives the impotent a feeling of being unified with a powerful entity or cause.

As a theocracy and way of life Imams in America are encouraging Muslims to become involved in American politics as a means to demonstrate their benign nature and so that Islam will be represented in American politics. This of course should be no surprise.

So what might we expect if Islam continues to grow at its current pace and Muslims are elected to powerful political offices?