Credentials

The principle for discussion on this Constitution Monday comes from Article I.5.1: “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each judge and determine whether or not its members have been properly elected to represent their respective constituencies.” This principle protects the integrity of the Senate and House of Representatives by giving the members of each body the Right to determine the credentials of their fellow members.

The House or Senate assumes its constitutional role of judging whenever a member is suspected of being elected illegally. Congress can issue a subpoena to compel a witness to appear before them or warrants for arrest of witnesses who are hostile and don’t respond to a subpoena.

The House or Senate retains the authority to investigate irregularities or illegal election procedures even if they refuse to allow a newly elected member to take the oath of office. Any state that allows a Senator or Representative to be elected illegally has no right to claim they are not being represented equally.

Temple Work

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we have a Heavenly Father who wants all of His children to return to His presence. The gospel also teaches that the Atonement of Jesus Christ provided the means to be resurrected and to live forever with our families in God’s presence. In order to put the Atonement into effect in our lives, we must obey all that the Savior commands. His commandments include being baptized and confirmed as well as receiving the temple ordinances.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have each been baptized and confirmed by one holding proper priesthood authority. Each adult member also may go into the temple to receive the saving priesthood ordinances performed there.

Many people have lived on the earth that did not have these same opportunities. They did not live at a time or in a place when the gospel was available to them. Because Heavenly Father loves all of His children and wants all of us to return to live with Him, He provided a way for those who have died without baptism or the temple ordinances to receive them. Members of the Church act as proxies to perform temple ordinances for our ancestors.

Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are special buildings built and dedicated to the Lord. Worthy Church members have the opportunity to go inside the temples to receive sacred ordinances and to make covenants with God. These ordinances and covenants, like baptism, are necessary for our salvation and must be performed in the temples of the Lord.

Part of the temple experience is instruction about Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Visitors to the temple gain better understanding of our purpose in life and our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There we learn about our life before we came to earth, why we are here, and what life after death is like.

All temple ordinances are performed by the power of the priesthood. Ordinances performed on earth by this power are sealed, or bound, in heaven as the Savior taught His Apostles, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

The temple is the only place where families can be sealed together forever. Baptism and all other ordinances prepare us for marriage in the temple where a man and a woman are joined as husband and wife for eternity if they honor their covenants.

When a man and a woman are married in the temple, any children born after the sealing are automatically part of their eternal family. Couples who were previously married by civil authority can receive these same blessings by preparing themselves and their children to go to the temple and be sealed to each other. Parents who legally adopt children may have those children sealed to them.

Many of our ancestors died without the opportunity to hear the gospel on earth and now live in the spirit world where they are taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who accept the gospel there in the spirit world are waiting for the temple ordinances to be performed for them here on earth. We can feel the joy of our ancestors as we perform these temple ordinances for them.

In order to do temple work for our ancestors, we must identify them by doing family history. When we have sufficient information, we can take the names of our ancestors to the temple to be sealed into the family relationship. The experience of doing temple work for an ancestor is a special and sacred experience.

Memories of Alaska Highway

Families grow stronger when they share good experiences and learn from their memories. Traveling the Alaska Highway has provided many wonderful experiences for our family, and we often remember and laugh about them.

The Alaska Highway starts at Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Canada, near the Alberta border and stretches north-northwest for approximately 1520 miles to Fairbanks, Alaska. I traveled the entire Alaska Highway only once, but I have been on large portions of the highway about a dozen times.

The first time that my family traveled the Alaska Highway was in 1973 when we moved to Alaska. Our family at that time consisted of my husband, two little girls (ages sixteen months old and one month), and myself. We drove a 1970 Chevrolet pickup and pulled a thirteen-foot camp trailer. Car seats were just coming out but were not yet required for children. Since we had room for only one car seat in our truck, we chose to put the toddler in the car seat and put the baby on a pillow on my lap. Our toddler was very active and hated the car seat so we were able to travel only while she was napping. Our trip up the highway took two full weeks.

My plan at the time of this first trip was to come to Alaska and stay for about a year to allow my husband an opportunity to experience Alaska and get it out of his blood. I thought we would then return to Utah and “get on with our lives.” The trip up the highway converted me to the beauties of the north country. I loved Alaska from the time I entered it in 1973.

For my second and third trips, I drove down the highway with my six children to spend six weeks with family and then drove home. Their ages at that time were 17, 16, 14, 12, 9, and 4 years old. Neither my husband nor the children really believed that I would make the drive – until we actually left. The car was really too small for all of us so we were very crowded. One of my strongest memories of this trip is my fourteen-year-old son trying to find someplace to put his long legs. The teenagers were so bored with all the scenery that they actually slept the trip away as did the younger children. We drove about twelve hours each day and then stopped at hotels at night. One night I woke up to the fire alarm going off but couldn’t see any fire. I called the office, and a man came to change the battery in the alarm. I was amazed that none of my children woke up during the entire experience. The only time that we could not get a hotel room was when we hit Calgary, Alberta, during the Calgary Stampede and ended up sleeping in the car. I awoke early the next morning with two guys looking in the window at my daughters. I hurriedly started the car and got out of there! The children all complained about the travel arrangements, but several of them wrote essays about the trip for their college applications. They learned some interesting lessons on the trip: patience, getting along together, and the importance of family. All of my children have definite memories of this trip!

Several of my children have driven the highway with friends to attend college and had interesting experiences. My oldest son had a funny experience when he and his friend pitched their tent in the dark and woke up to discover that they had put their tent in the middle of someone’s driveway.

My husband’s parents wanted to drive the highway in 1990. They flew to Alaska and then drove with my two youngest children and myself. This time I drove a Chevrolet Suburban and had plenty of room to take belongings for a college student. On the return trip, my older brother drove with me. This time we slept in the Suburban, and we drove the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks and then drove to Anchorage on the Parks Highway. This is the only time I drove the entire highway.

We stopped in Edmonton on numerous trips in order to go to the Edmonton Mall. This mall is really huge – about a mile long. It has all kinds of stores in it including two McDonalds and hotels. There is a wave pool in the mall as well as a place with carnival rides. It was easy for me to see why such a mall would be helpful in a place with months of cold weather.

I drove the Alaska Highway three different times in 2004. My husband purchased a truck in Washington, and I flew down to drive back with him in May. In August I drove down the highway with my youngest daughter when she went to college and then flew home. In October I drove down the highway with my husband to spend a few months helping his parents. I enjoyed every trip!

Driving the Alaska Highway provides many happy memories for my family.

Brush Fires of Freedom

“It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men” (Samuel Adams).

The tea party movement began with a few groups of American citizens who were concerned by the government bailouts of banks and corporations and who thought they were Taxed Enough Already (TEA). The movement continued to grow as the government ran up trillions of dollars in national debt, nationalized health care and failed to secure our borders. Politicians saw and heard their complaints – and then ignored them. The movement now includes millions of patriot conservatives who are clamoring for the rule of law.

Ken Buck, candidate for a Colorado seat in the United States Senate, clearly articulated why freedom-loving Americans are standing up and fighting to take our country back. Check out his comments here. His conclusion: we have a choice; we can either repeat history or make history that will make our posterity proud.

The influence of the tea party is being felt across the nation as many incumbents in the US House of Representatives and US Senate are fighting for their political lives. Conservatives nationwide are telling politicians to stand on constitutional principles and keep their sacred oaths to support and defend our Constitution – or be replaced. The tea party marches are part of a non-violent revolution. Hopefully, we can keep our nation from being “fundamentally transformed” in front of our eyes without this peaceful revolution becoming a bloody and violent revolution.

The words of Thomas Jefferson ring loudly in my ears: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” I believe that only our Second Amendment “Right to Keep and Bear Arms” will save our Republic from total destruction and this is why liberals and progressives want to take away gun rights.

James Madison apparently had a similar belief when he said, “[T]he advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”

Samuel Adams said, “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
I hope that you love liberty more than wealth and will join the cause for liberty along with the tea party movement. This patriotic movement is not going to go away so you might as well join us and add your voice in this fight for freedom. United we stand! Please join the effort to set “brush fires of freedom” in the minds of our countrymen.

Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway means different things to different people. Some people consider it to be a great adventure while others think of it as simply a long drive. I heard one young woman describe it as “a thousand miles too much scenery.” I have traveled the Alaska Highway about a dozen times, but I still find myself wanting to make the trip again – looking forward to it and enjoying every mile of it.

The idea of an overland link between Alaska and the Lower 48 was studied as early as 1930 during the administration of President Herbert Hoover. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, construction of the highway became a military necessity because Alaska was considered to be vulnerable to an invasion by Japanese forces. When the Japanese invaded Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutians in June 1942, there was an added sense of urgency to complete the highway.

The highway to Alaska was approved by the United States Army on February 6, 1942, and construction of it was authorized on February 11 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Construction of this pioneer road officially started on March 9, 1942, and ended on October 25, 1942 = a period of 8 months and 12 days. The military name for this trail through the wilderness was ALCAN, and some people still refer to the Alaska Highway as the ALCAN. There were restrictions on civilian traffic on the highway during the war years. The highway was officially renamed the Alaska Highway in March 1943 and opened to the public in 1948.

The War Department determined that the Alaska Highway would be built on the same general route followed by aircraft flying from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Fairbanks, Alaska, as well as existing winter roads, old Indian trails, rivers, and “sight” engineering. Airfields along this route formed the Northwest Staging Route. More than 8,000 war planes were ferried along this chain of airfields from Great Falls, Montana, to Ladd AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska. The aircraft were flown from Fairbanks to Nome to Russia as part of the Russian-American Lend Lease Program.

A formal agreement between the United States and Canada in March 1942 secured rights-of-way for the road. The United States agreed to pay for construction and to give the Canadian portion of the highway to the Canadian government after the war. Canada agreed to furnish the rights-of-way, to waive import duties, sales taxes, income taxes, and immigration regulations, and to provide materials for construction along the route.

More than 10,000 American troops in regiments from the United States Army Corps of Engineers went north to work on the road. Civilian engineers and equipment were organized by the Public Roads Administration. They located and shipped trucks, road-building equipment, office furniture, food, tents and other supplies.

Soldiers and civilians worked seven days a week and endured mosquitoes and black flies in summer and temperatures below zero degrees in winter. Communication between headquarters and field parties was sparse, and there was never enough equipment. Crews worked from the western end of the road as well as from the eastern end and met at Contact Creek on September 25. Vehicles were traveling the entire length of the ALCAN by October.

The Alaska Highway was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony at Soldiers’ Summit at Kluane Lake on November 20, 1942. It was rededicated on November 20, 1992, during the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway. It was also named an International Historical Engineering Landmark in 1996.

The Alaska Highway starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, at Mile 0. It travels in a northwesterly direction to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory (Historical Mile 635). It crosses the Alaska border at Port Alcan (Historical mile 1221.8). The official end of the Alaska Highway is at Delta Junction, Alaska (Historical Mile 1422), and the unofficial end of the highway is at Fairbanks, Alaska (Historical Mile 1520).

The highway is about 35 miles shorter today than it was in the 1940’s, and it continues to get shorter as reconstruction takes off more miles. The condition of the highway continues to improve with reconstruction. When I first drove it in 1973, there were vast stretches of mud. Today the entire highway is paved, but it is still plagued with frost heaves.

Driving the Alaska Highway is an adventure that everyone should take at least once. I recommend that anyone making the trip take along the latest copy of The Milepost. This book is a “must” for making the trip. In fact, much of the information for this post came from my copy of The Milepost (pages 97, 104).

I Drove the Alaska Highway

My husband and I recently completed a five-day trip from Anchorage to northern Idaho. Due to the lateness of the season, most of our travel took place on the Alaska Highway. I love this trip through the wilderness of beautiful western Canada and have made it about a dozen different times over a period of 37 years.

We left Anchorage about 4:00 on a Friday afternoon with mostly cloudy skies and the thermometer at 46 degrees. We traveled the Glenn Allen Highway to Tok, 330 miles north/northwest of Anchorage. The road winds through Chickaloon Pass, along the Matanuska River, and between Chugach Mountains and the Talkeetna Mountains. The road was dry, but heavy snow was accumulating in the tops of the mountains. The scenery was absolutely spectacular with the snow-tipped mountains in the background and trees covered with brightly colored leaves.

We saw a red fox and three moose before we reached Glenn Allen about 7:00. After leaving Glenn Allen we traveled the Richardson Highway until we came to the Tok Cutoff at the Gakona Junction about 7:30 when darkness fell.
As we neared Tok, we drove into freezing fog, which lasted for several miles. The next morning we left Tok on the Alaska Highway. The thermometer stood at 19 degrees, and the trees, brush and weeds were covered with frozen fog. It looked as though we were driving through a Christmas wonderland. Tok usually has the worst weather on the whole trip as it is the furthest north so we were hoping for good weather for the rest of the trip.

Crossing the border into Canada was uneventful this year because we had our passports handy and the paperwork for our guns properly prepared. Soon after we entered Canada we hit snow. We drove on a snow-packed road for most of our second day. After traveling in snow for about an hour, we reached beautiful Kluane Lake, the first of many humongous lakes on our route. Kluane Lake is the largest lake in Yukon Territory and covers approximately 154 square miles. The road winds around a large part of the lake and at times right on the edge of the lake. The road winds between Kluane Lake and Sheep Mountain. We didn’t see any Dall sheep on Sheep Mountain this year, but we have at various times on previous trips – usually in the spring – counted dozens of sheep. We assumed that the sheep had found refuge from the storm in a more sheltered area than the open mountain side, but we understood that we might be looking right at the white sheep but couldn’t see them on the snow-covered mountain. The mountain pass between Kluane Lake and Haines Junction was open but snow packed. We were relieved to get over the pass as we had seen other vehicles struggling to get up the mountain.

We stopped in Haines Junction for a break and some brunch at Glacier Inn. The owner recognized us. Is this a sign that we have been there too many times? We drove on to Liard Hot Springs and took the time to take a swim. The water is very warm and even too hot in places. We always stop there when we travel this part of the highway. I recommend that all jewelry be removed before entering the water. My shiny white-gold CTR ring turned to a dark charcoal gray effervescent color. The flat areas of my ring returned to dull silver within about twenty-four hours; the edges are still dark after two weeks. I was told that gold jewelry also changes colors. I was also told that Liard Hot Springs is wonderful in the winter when the trees are covered with snow and frost. The hot water heats the body so well that it stays warm on the long walk back to the parking area.

I felt very grateful for all my previous trips down the Alaska Highway. Because I had previously traveled the highway, I knew that beautiful vistas of the Canadian Rocky Mountains lay just beyond the trees lining the road. On this trip, I could see nothing beyond the trees because of fog, clouds, snow and rain, and we were out of the mountains before we hit clear weather.

The road through the Rocky Mountains is narrow with no shoulders and almost continuous twists and turns. It is not a fun road to drive on dry pavement and becomes worse on wet and slippery pavement.

Businesses and towns along the upper portion of the Alaska Highway appreciate the dollars Americans spend while making the trip between Alaska and the Lower 48. The people are always friendly, and some of them show their appreciation by flying the Stars and Stripes side by side with their Canadian flag. Watson Lake lines the entire route through their town with Canadian and American flags. Watson Lake also has a “forest” of sign posts with streets signs and license plates from many parts of the USA and elsewhere. A business at Burwash Landing has a large sign that reads, “Long live the USA.” Businesses in the more populated areas east of the Rockies are not so dependent on American dollars, but some of them still fly the American flag.

Our trip along the Alaska Highway this year ended at Dawson Creek – Mile Zero. We usually leave the highway at either Watson Lake (Cassiar Highway) or just before Fort St. John (Highway 29). This year we drove to the beginning of the Alaska Highway in an effort to see some different scenery.

We always try to begin or end our trip through Canada with a drive through the Canadian national parks. We enjoy seeing the slanted mountains, hanging glaciers, ice fields, glacier streams, and beautiful mountain grandeurs of the parks. We always fill up with fuel in Jasper because it has the cheapest fuel on the entire trip through Canada.

Driving the Alaska Highway is an adventure for us. We usually drive ten to twelve hours each day. We crossed the border into northern Idaho in late afternoon on our fifth day. I can honestly say that I enjoy every single trip that I make on the Alaska Highway.

Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese democracy activist, is the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Price. It appears that he truly deserves the prize – unlike others who have received it in recent years. We have not heard much about the activities of Liu Xiaobo because the European and American media tend to cover up China’s internal and international acts. China considers his writing to be subversive and has censored his name.

Liu, age 54, was born December 28, 1955, in Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China. His alma maters are Jilin University and Beijing Normal University.

Liu, a Chinese intellectual and writer, is also a human rights activist and a political prisoner in China. He was detained on December 8, 2008, and formally arrested on June 23, 2009, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” After his trial on the charges on December 23, 2009, he was sentenced on December 25, 2009, to eleven years in prison and two years of being deprived of political rights. This imprisonment is Liu’s fourth prison term. The Chinese government does not like him because he wants democratic elections, freedom values, separation of powers, and accountable governments.

Liu Xiaobo was first detained in June 1989 for his part in the Tiananmen Square protest. He was convicted on charges of “counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement.” He was then ordered in October 1996 to be re-educated by labor for three years. He was charged with “disturbing public order” for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. Liu was released in 1999, but apparently he was not yet free. The government built a sentry station next to his home and tapped his telephone line and internet connections. His computer, letters and documents were confiscated by the government in 2004 when he started to write a report on human rights in China. Liu was again detained and questioned in 2007 about his articles being published on websites outside Mainland China.

Liu received the 2010 Nobel Peace Price for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” The Chinese government was not happy about Liu Xiaobo being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and warned the Nobel committee that it would be against Nobel principles to give the prize to Liu. All news of the award was censored and some of it was blocked in China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued the following statement, “The Nobel Peace Prize is meant to award individuals who promote international harmony and friendship, peace and disarmament. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law. Awarding the peace to Liu runs completely counter to the principle of the award and is also a desecration of the Peace Prize.”

Human right lawyers and academics attempted to honor Liu Xiaobo with a banquet, but they were stopped by Beijing police. Other meetings to recognize the award were “prevented by authorities, and prominent intellectuals and other dissidents were detained, harassed or put under surveillance.”

After the award was announced, Liu Xia, Liu’s wife, was put under house arrest, but she has not been charged with any crime yet. Facts and quotes are from Wikipedia.

I wrote about Liu in an effort to better dramatize the differences between a democratic republic and a Communistic republic. I think it is very important that people who enjoy liberty be aware that millions of other people live in very controlled environments. I am grateful to live in liberty. Long live the USA!