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Mormon Media Observer: Top 10 LDS newsmakers of 2009
Mormon Times ^ | Dec. 30, 2009 | Joel Campbell

Posted on 12/30/2009 1:32:39 PM PST by Colofornian

The Mormon Media Observer looks back at the year filled with LDS newsmakers. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tops the list, based on a newsmaker's frequency in the news as well as the significance of their stories.

1. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada

The Senate Majority Leader led the battle to push through health reform in the Senate. News coverage of Reid made a household name and the divisive debate made him out to be both villain and saint. He may still face a tough battle in his home state of Nevada to save his seat.

On Christmas The New York Times wrote:

"WASHINGTON -- It was the pinnacle moment of his political career. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, on the verge of making history by shepherding through far-reaching health care legislation, was called upon by the clerk to cast his vote. And Mr. Reid, who had fought tirelessly for months to get the health care bill adopted, looked up from his desk and said, "No." ...Mr. Reid's oh-no vote capped one of the more remarkable stretches in what is shaping up to be one of the more remarkable careers in American politics, characterized in no small part by the sheer inscrutability of much of what he says and does. In the end, of course, Congressional leaders are judged on one thing alone: whether they come up with the votes. And Mr. Reid -- the miner's son from Searchlight, Nev., the amateur boxer who worked his way through law school as a Capitol Hill police officer, who has a knack for mumbling and off-the-cuff gaffes -- had the votes."

2. Stephenie Meyer

The release of "New Moon" attracted media attention around the world. Here's a sampling of the some of the worldwide headlines: "New Moon takes biggest bite," "Vatican denounces the 'deviant' Twilight Movie," "Mormon who put new life into vampires."

The Sunday Mail of London wrote: "Her teenage vampire books outsell Harry Potter -- but she's a devout Mormon who lives modestly in Cave Creek, Ariz., and eats at the local burger joint. For a woman who has sold more than 85 million books and has been hailed as the new J. K. Rowling, it is a remarkably modest home. Set down a dusty dirt trail, the four-bedroom property blends seamlessly into the desert landscape -- low and sand-colored with just a few cacti for decoration. Only a high-tech camera and newly installed metal gates give some hint of the occupant's desire for privacy."

3. Elizabeth Smart

The young woman endured brutality and came to court this year to face her abuser, Brian David Mitchell. After attending Brigham Young University, she is preparing to serve a mission in France. She was named Utahn of the Year by the Salt Lake Tribune. The excellent tribute by Trib columnist Peg McEntee reads:

"She had wanted to confront Mitchell with her eyes and words, but, predictably, he sang his hymns and was removed from the courtroom. When it was over, Elizabeth Smart strode, tall and straight, into the rest of her life. For so many of us, her astonishing homecoming restored hope when there seemed to be none, and the knowledge that even terrible times can end, and end well. And she taught us this: Faith, whatever its source, can make amazing things happen."

4. Jon Huntsman Jr.

President Barack Obama named Utah's former governor U.S. Ambassador to China. He took his post in August. Huntsman played host to Obama during a visit to China in November. Chinese media lauded Obama for the choice for Huntsman's understanding of Chinese language and culture. Huntsman previously served a U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

5. Orrin Hatch

Sen. Orrin Hatch was a key opponent to health care reform and taken on foes like the Bowl Championship Series. He also played a role in honoring the Sen. Edward Kennedy at his death. Over the years, the pair made an interesting senatorial odd couple. Along with speaking at Kennedy's memorial service, Hatch penned this piece in Newsweek. He also penned a Hanukkah song which was both complimented and parodied on "The Tonight Show."

6. Glenn Beck

The firebrand talk show host continued to attract attention on his national radio and TV shows, through his books and in the news media. The picture of Beck sticking his tongue out made it on the cover of Time magazine and parodied on several comedy shows. Here was Time's assessment:

"Glenn Beck: the pudgy, buzz-cut, weeping phenomenon of radio, TV and books. Our hot summer of political combat is turning toward an autumn of showdowns over some of the biggest public-policy initiatives in decades. The creamy notions of postpartisan cooperation -- poured abundantly over Obama's presidential campaign a year ago -- have curdled into suspicion and feelings of helplessness. Trust is a toxic asset, sitting valueless on the national books. Good faith is trading at pennies on the dollar. "

7. Mitt Romney

Emboldened by conservative supporters, Romney is keeping his eyes on 2012 presidential prize. Romney has been delivering a lot of keynoters and political endorsements around the nation and is getting ready to launch a book-promotion tour. A National Public Radio blog recent said this about who is a GOP frontrunner for 2012:

"Answer: No one so far. Mitt Romney, the venture capitalist and former governor of Massachusetts who ran a pretty good campaign in 2008, remains the class of the field but kept a low profile in 2009. Mike Huckabee led in some polls of Republicans that also found Sarah Palin popular. But Huckabee ended the year uncertain about running (and damaged by a clemency scandal from his days as Arkansas governor). Romney remains too much a general election candidate, a problem for the Democrats to be sure but far from the average Republican activist's cup of tea. His past positions on social issues were too styled to Massachusetts, and his Mormonism still leaves the party's religious base lukewarm at best."

8. Max Hall

BYU football quarterback Hall got his 15 minutes of national fame after the BYU-Utah football game when he said: "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them," Hall said. "I hate everything about them. I hate their program. I hate their fans, I hate everything. ... I think the whole university, their fans and their organization, is classless." He later issued an apology and was sanctioned by the Mountain West Conference.

9. John Yettaw

The Missouri man widely noted in international media for his Mormon faith was held for a time in a Burmese prison charged with crime related to a swim across a lake to one of the world's best-known democracy figures, Aung San Suu Kyi. He left Myanmar with a U.S. senator. Despite his good intentions, Yettaw gave an unfortunate impression of Mormons to the world.

10. Michael Otterson

He was the spokesman behind the LDS Church statement at the Salt Lake City council meeting in early November that appears to be changing the politics in Utah for gays.

"The Church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage. They are also entirely consistent with the Church's prior position on these matters. The Church remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman. I represent a church that believes in human dignity, in treating others with respect even when we disagree -- in fact, especially when we disagree."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2009review; antimormonthread; elizabethsmart; fakemitt; fauxromney; flipflopromney; glennbeck; hallucinatingmitt; huntsman; lds; mormon; reid; romney; topten; vampire; yettaw
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So of these 10, you have a...
...vampire author,
...vampire healthcare bill author,
...vampire healthcare bill guv,
...and a QB who 'hates' the University of Utah folks

From the column: A National Public Radio blog recent said this about who is a GOP frontrunner for 2012: "Answer: No one so far. Mitt Romney, the venture capitalist and former governor of Massachusetts who ran a pretty good campaign in 2008, remains the class of the field but kept a low profile in 2009. Mike Huckabee led in some polls of Republicans that also found Sarah Palin popular. But Huckabee ended the year uncertain about running (and damaged by a clemency scandal from his days as Arkansas governor). Romney remains too much a general election candidate, a problem for the Democrats to be sure but far from the average Republican activist's cup of tea. His past positions on social issues were too styled to Massachusetts, and his Mormonism still leaves the party's religious base lukewarm at best."

So, Romney's a Bay State social issues guy & doesn't appeal to the GOP religious base -- and moderates polled have said they are 11% less likely than conservatives to vote for a Mormon POTUS (& liberals are 9% less likely than conservatives). So how does that make him a "general election" candidate?

8. Max Hall BYU football quarterback Hall got his 15 minutes of national fame after the BYU-Utah football game when he said: "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them," Hall said. "I hate everything about them. I hate their program. I hate their fans, I hate everything. ... I think the whole university, their fans and their organization, is classless." He later issued an apology and was sanctioned by the Mountain West Conference.

9. John Yettaw ...Yettaw gave an unfortunate impression of Mormons to the world.

10. Michael Otterson He was the spokesman behind the LDS Church statement at the Salt Lake City council meeting in early November that appears to be changing the politics in Utah for gays. "The Church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage. They are also entirely consistent with the Church's prior position on these matters. The Church remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman. I represent a church that believes in human dignity, in treating others with respect even when we disagree -- in fact, especially when we disagree."

OK, a man who employs 15 employees in his retail shop doesn't need to "show respect" to a cross-dressing employee by allowing him to represent his business in any "gender affinity" he chooses for that given day.

1 posted on 12/30/2009 1:32:40 PM PST by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian
Mormons are definitely on the move -- I've had no less than 5 calls per day (excepting Sunday, of course) since 12/26 from "Mitt Romney for President" campaign.

Frustrated, finally I asked, politely for them to take me/us off their list.

2 posted on 12/30/2009 1:37:24 PM PST by zerosix (native sunflower)
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To: Colofornian

But, But....they are all so nice!


3 posted on 12/30/2009 1:37:30 PM PST by colorcountry (A faith without truth is not true faith.)
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To: Colofornian

Why is this posted under religion?


4 posted on 12/30/2009 1:40:06 PM PST by LeGrande (The government wants to take over the entire Health Care industry to fix Medicare and Medicaid.)
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To: LeGrande
Because we don't have a Forum entitled “Fantasy”...
5 posted on 12/30/2009 1:44:16 PM PST by ejonesie22
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To: Colofornian

Correction, Stephenie Meyer isn’t a vampire author, she instead, has destroyed the concept of the vampire in literature, turning into a whiny, zit faced, vegetarian, tween brat.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled two minutes of Mormon hating.


6 posted on 12/30/2009 1:50:04 PM PST by mnehring
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To: colorcountry; Colofornian; ejonesie22; Godzilla; reaganaut
Emboldened by conservative supporters, Romney is keeping his eyes on 2012

There they go again, getting their information out of a hat!!

7 posted on 12/30/2009 2:34:22 PM PST by greyfoxx39 (Obamacare: Old folks don't deserve healthcare. They use up too many carbon credits just breathing.)
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To: LeGrande
Why is this posted under religion?

(May have something to do with "LDS" in the title)

8 posted on 12/30/2009 2:39:53 PM PST by Colofornian (If you're not going to drink the coffee, at least wake up and smell it!)
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To: greyfoxx39

9 posted on 12/30/2009 2:46:27 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: greyfoxx39
Romney's a Conservative?

Huh, go figure...

10 posted on 12/30/2009 3:11:01 PM PST by ejonesie22
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To: Colofornian
(May have something to do with "LDS" in the title)

It wouldn't have anything to do with your inability to handle a little criticism would it?

11 posted on 12/30/2009 3:11:02 PM PST by LeGrande (The government wants to take over the entire Health Care industry to fix Medicare and Medicaid.)
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To: ejonesie22
Because we don't have a Forum entitled “Fantasy”...

It is odd what you consider fantasy to be. Do you think what BYU's quarterback said was fantasy?

What part of the article do you consider to be fantasy?

12 posted on 12/30/2009 3:13:48 PM PST by LeGrande (The government wants to take over the entire Health Care industry to fix Medicare and Medicaid.)
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To: colorcountry; Colofornian; Elsie; FastCoyote; svcw; Zakeet; SkyPilot; rightazrain; ...
Watch for this to be announced soon in the Mormon Times:

The LDS church announced today a new program granting emeritus status to members who fall outside of traditional activity.

“As the church continues to grow at a fast pace, many of its members find themselves unable to maintain church activity for a variety of reasons,” said spokesman Dan LeFevered. “Always sensitive to the needs of the members, the brethren have fasted and prayed for guidance and have been inspired to grant these nontraditional members ‘emeritus’ status.”

Currently, statistics are kept on those who do not attend a church meeting in a given quarter. From this point on, LeFevered explained, members who do not attend a meeting in a given quarter will be termed “members emeritus.”

Emeritus members will be counted as members in the annual statistical report, but they will not be counted towards activity rates.

“Isn’t it marvelous?” said church president Thomas S. Monson in a written statement. “Instantly we have the highest activity rate of any religion in the world: 100%.”

LeFevered explained that activity rates will be calculated from members who attend a meeting at least once quarterly, so in effect, all who are counted are considered active. And those who do not attend are considered “emeritus” and will not count.

When asked about those who resign their membership in the church, LeFevered responded, “We don’t think there’s a need for that drastic a step. Rather than go through the difficult process of writing a letter, members can simply choose to grant themselves emeritus status.”

LeFevered went on to say that the new program is retroactive to the beginning of the church. “We have sent out millions of letters to former members notifying them of the change to their status.”

Fred Pecker, professional anti-Mormon, reached by phone in Washington State, expressed outrage intially at the new policy. “Yeah, I got my letter welcoming me back into the kingdom. But I’ve been thinking about it. Maybe it’s time for me to come back, anyway. I’m going to call my bishop today.”

LeFevered explained that the new status would also take the place of disciplinary councils, which had been taking up too much of church leaders’ time. “It’s much easier for a stake president to click an ‘emeritus’ button on a computer than it is to convene a high council to try a case.”

He went on to say that leaders have wide discretion as to how to use emeritus status. “It could be for serious transgression, or it could just be to rein in people who are, you know, a little off.”

Food Sciences professor and FARMS contributor Daniel Midgley-Welch explained that this system has its roots in the Mosaic practice of counting membership by tribe and family, such that no one was left out. “We even see echoes of this in the census that played a prominent role in the Savior’s birth in Nazareth.”

Midgley-Welch expressed bewilderment that he and the entire staff at FARMS have received letters from the First Presidency granting them emeritus status. “Maybe they think we need more time to research the gospel. That’s just like the brethren, always thinking of us.”

“Yeah, sure, if that’s how they want to look at it,” said LeFevered.

All you exmormon FReepers be sure and let me know when you have received your notification of your emeritus status.

13 posted on 12/30/2009 3:20:57 PM PST by greyfoxx39 (Obamacare: Old folks don't deserve healthcare. They use up too many carbon credits just breathing.)
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To: LeGrande
Critique away. Actually, the religion section is a greater free-for-all than news articles. So if you wanna defend the Mormon vampire writer, or Harry Reid, or Max Hall's infamous hate quotes, or other notorious Mormons, have at it.
14 posted on 12/30/2009 3:21:01 PM PST by Colofornian (If you're not going to drink the coffee, at least wake up and smell it!)
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To: LeGrande
Normally I would not respond to you past the initial post, waste of time, however the irony of mentioning BYU in any context when asking me what I consider fantasy is too delicious to pass without notice...

Ah, yes it is...

You may continue with your regular disruptive behavior now...

15 posted on 12/30/2009 3:30:21 PM PST by ejonesie22
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To: ejonesie22

Mitt has conservative supporters? Go figure..of course mormons are conservative unless they are voting FOR a liberal mormon.


16 posted on 12/30/2009 3:48:18 PM PST by greyfoxx39 (Obamacare: Old folks don't deserve healthcare. They use up too many carbon credits just breathing.)
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To: mnehring
Only two minutes?


MORMON!!!

17 posted on 12/30/2009 4:47:28 PM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: LeGrande
Why is this posted under religion?

Dang!

The TITLE didn't show up for me; either!

Mormon Media Observer: Top 10 LDS newsmakers of 2009

18 posted on 12/30/2009 4:56:45 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Colofornian

2. Stephenie Meyer

- - - - —
Showing to the world that “Yes, families CAN be together forever, even if one of you is a soulless blood sucking fiend.”


19 posted on 12/30/2009 5:05:14 PM PST by reaganaut (Ex-Mormon, now Christian - ""I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see")
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To: Elsie

20 posted on 12/30/2009 5:10:05 PM PST by monkapotamus
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