South Korea’s Plan to Rank Towns by Fertility Rate Backfires

From the New York Times:  SEOUL, South Korea — For years, officials in South Korea, which has one of the world’s lowest birthrates, have tried ever more inventive plans to encourage women to have babies.

On Thursday,  [the government] rolled out an online “birth map” that used shades of pink to rank towns and cities by the number of women of childbearing age. But the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative, especially among women, that the website was shut down within hours of its introduction.

A woman who came from Changwon

had no wish to be marked a pawn

with birthrate statistics

by clerks or some mystics.

So now she says: "I'll never spawn!" 

And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

Doctrine & Covenants. Section 18:13.


Think not that any gilded shrine
or choirs with their anthems fine
can please our God as much as one
who turns from sin back to the Son!

The world dissolves from day to day,
and nothing permanent can stay;
but God remembers through the years
all those who come to him in tears. 

2016 in Rhyme Review

The year is slowly passing by us,
filled with war and Zika virus.
The Middle East remains aflame;
Aleppo stands for grief and shame.
Brazil don't want its president;
and South Korea seems hell bent
to oust another Park, alas --
she wasn't quite an honest lass.
And Volkswagen is caught red-handed;
its measurements were not quite candid.
Brexit isolates the Brits
(confirming they are awful twits).
North Korea launches rockets.
Big Pharma fills its greedy pockets.
Fake news is all the news that's fit
the reading public to outwit.
We said goodbye to David Bowie,
Judge Scalia (boy, was he showy!)
Harper Lee and purple Prince
their hair no longer wash and rinse.
Bob Dylan gets a Nobel Prize
but stays surly -- no surprise.
And, of course, the Main Event;
the Donald made his great ascent
to be the nation's leader -- oy!
The path ahead looks corduroy.
We hope the New Year brings relief,
since this year was BEYOND BELIEF!

Yes, this is real: Michigan just banned banning plastic bags

From the Washington Post: A new law in Michigan will prohibit local governments from banning, regulating or imposing fees on the use of plastic bags and other containers. You read that correctly: It’s not a ban on plastic bags — it’s a ban on banning plastic bags.  

A lawmaker in Ypsilanti

made banning of bags something anti -- 

No county or town

can bring plastic down;

ta-ta to the green vigilante!  

David Fahrenthold tells the behind-the-scenes story of his year covering Trump

I’ve been a reporter for The Washington Post since 2000, covering everything from homicide scenes in the District to Congress to the World Championship Muskrat Skinning Contest.

David Fahrenthold writing in the Washington Post



Skinning a muskrat must be
something reporters would flee.
But editors cite
their primeval right
to follow their own daft whimsy. 

To tell a lie to stop a lie . . .

 Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.

Doctrine & Covenants 10:28

To tell a lie to stop a lie is folly, nothing more.
Such policy all honest men should certainly abhor.
The truth can be defended without any mean deceit,
whether it is printed, spoke, or sent out as a tweet! 

Advertising’s Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt?

In the zeal to follow consumers wherever they may roam on the internet, advertisers now risk bankrolling sites that are toxic to society, whether by amplifying manufactured political stories or by spreading conspiracy theories virulent enough to drive a man to walk into a Washington pizzeria with a gun. That has inserted a new ethical cost into the automated advertising equation, which promises companies large, desired audiences at low prices with little need for human intervention.

from the New York Times

Mendacity sells lots of news;

it's quick to exploit and accuse.

When automated

it's never outdated,

and pays enough coin to excuse. 

“Large disturbance” leads police to evacuate Aurora mall; similar incidents reported at malls across the country

Aurora police evacuated the Aurora mall Monday afternoon following several fights that spilled into surrounding parking lots and mirrored scuffles occurring nearly simultaneously in malls nationwide.

from the Denver Post

A shopper found out in Aurora

that malls are like Sodom/Gomorrah;

full of much wrath,

a vicious bloodbath;

consumers as carnivora! 

Trump calls U.N. ‘just a club for people’ to ‘have a good time’

Three days after the United Nations adopted a resolution calling on Israel to halt Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian territory, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the international body “is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.”

from the Washington Post

A country club is the U.N.

A regular rich man's playpen.

No good does it do

for me or for you;

it's nothing but impotent zen! 

Seek not for riches

 Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.

Doctrine & Covenants. Section 6:11


Seek not for riches in the gold the world so much desires;
but seek instead the wisdom which all godly folk inspires.
The mysteries of God are such that only saints may find
the richness of their mercy and their worth to all mankind.
Eternal life is granted not to plutocrats or kings,
unless they learn to love the Lord and all his sacred things.
Seek not for riches that decay and turn to useless dust,
but seek the insight that reveals a God that all may trust!