Hasta La Gadget!

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The decision by the Mormon church to excommunicate the founder of a prominent women’s group marks a stern statement at a time when the church is under pressure to recognize gay rights and allow women into the priesthood.

Experts believe the move essentially draws a line in the sand to show church members how far they can go in publicly questioning church practices. The ousting of Kate Kelly is rare and brings down the harshest punishment available on a church member who created an organization and staged demonstrations in a push to permit women to join the faith’s lay clergy.

“It does more than excommunicate Kelly,” said Jan Shipps, a retired religion professor from Indiana who is a non-Mormon expert on the church. “It warns everybody.”

Shipps said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is implementing “boundary maintenance,” using Kelly as an example to show people how far they can go in questioning church practices.

The message seems to be that “organizing pressure groups, and trying to cultivate a following for such groups, crosses a line that will trigger disciplinary action,” said Armand Mauss, a retired professor of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University.

Church officials had no immediate comment Monday.

Kelly’s former church leaders in Virginia notified her by email after holding a disciplinary hearing Sunday. They found her guilty of apostasy, defined as repeated and public advocacy of positions that oppose church teachings.

Kelly’s group, Ordain Women, announced the decision Monday and released excerpts from the letter she received.

Church leaders said she can no longer wear Mormon temple garments, hold positions in church or give talks during services, among other things. After one year, they will consider allowing her back, but only if she displays “true repentance” and shows she has “stopped teachings and actions that undermine the church, its leaders, and the doctrine of the priesthood,” the letter says.

Kelly wasn’t immediately available for comment but called the decision “exceptionally painful” and a “tragic day” for her family in an emailed statement.

She didn’t attend the disciplinary hearing Sunday, instead holding a vigil in Salt Lake City with about 200 supporters. She spoke about the possibility of not being able to fully practice the religion she has been part of since birth.

“I’m just not sure that there is something you can do to prepare yourself for a shunning like that,” she said.

Excommunication is not common in the Mormon faith, reserved usually for cases where members violate the religion’s moral code by having affairs, being charged criminally or committing sexual abuse, said Patrick Mason, chairman of the religion department and professor of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University in California. Church members being kicked out for apostasy is quite rare, he said.

Nobody has solid numbers on how many church members are ousted each year, but it is probably between 10,000 and 20,000, a fraction of the 15 million members worldwide, said Matt Martinich, a church member who analyzes membership numbers with the nonprofit Cumorah Foundation.

Debra Jenson, a spokeswoman for Ordain Women, said the group is saddened but will continue to advocate. Kelly also plans to be part of the movement and work for gender equality in the church.

Kelly was one of two well-known Mormons facing excommunication. John Dehlin, an outspoken advocate for gays and the creator of a website that provides a forum for church members questioning their faith, has a meeting with a church leader in Logan on June 29 to discuss his case.

Scholars say they are the most high-profile examples of excommunication proceedings since 1993. That year, the church disciplined six Mormon writers who questioned church doctrine, ousting five and kicking out a sixth temporarily.

Mormon officials haven’t discussed Kelly’s case specifically. They have said they are open to questions and sincere conversations about the faith but that some members’ actions “contradict church doctrine and lead others astray.”

The church doesn’t usually discipline people who question or disagree with church doctrine or practices — thousands express such views online every day, Mason said. But the church seemed to take umbrage with the way Kelly created a movement and courted media coverage for her demonstrations, the professor said.

“It’s not about policing thoughts, it’s more about public expressions and public movements,” Mason said.

Kelly said she stands behind everything she has done since forming Ordain Women in 2013.

Women can hold many leadership positions in church but aren’t allowed to be bishops of congregations or regional presidents of stakes, which are made up of a dozen congregations, known as wards. The church’s highest leaders, called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, are also all men. The church says only men serve in the lay clergy as prescribed in “the pattern set by the Savior when it comes to priesthood ordination.”

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Follow Brady McCombs at https://twitter.com/BradyMcCombs and Michelle L. Price at https://twitter.com/michellelprice

The financial crisis hit many of us brutally hard — me, me, me, and me! Of all the challenges I’ve dealt with, saving my home has been the most difficult. I worked so tirelessly, and ambitiously, overcoming a tyrant of a boss and a male dominated industry to buy it. But I did it! I had a beautiful three bedroom home, two car garage, and over three bathrooms to keep me company on cold and lonely Jersey City nights. But unfortunately, times changed.

The economy took a nose dive, and my personal life seemed to enjoy its fate of following the downward economic turn very closely. The fact is, all companies that were too big to fail (and didn’t flop) got a bailout — and yes, I am glad our entire financial system did not collapse. But they got a bailout and the average American got the middle finger. No one ever tells you it’s okay to stop paying your mortgage or to fight for a better deal. No one taught me that. The only thing I knew is when I called Bank of America I didn’t get any definitive information. I got diddly squat.

I remember someone telling me, “you can’t even pursue a loan modification until you stop paying your mortgage.” Wait, what?! But, that was not who I was! I was a good girl with a 720 credit score. I paid all of my bills on time. When I found my back up against the wall, it was my only choice to stop paying the bank. I couldn’t sell because properties had started to foreclose and drag the values downward, I was between tenants (would faith bring a miracle?), and after years of flailing I didn’t have the money to cover my misjudgments. I know, after years of betting on the wrong horse I should have known, but I had so much faith in my positive visualization techniques! And I assure you, I am not joking.

I finally stopped paying my mortgage and I had no idea how or if things would work out. Would I lose the only asset I had left and had worked so diligently to acquire and pay for all those years? I got lucky — maybe the vision board did work — and a longtime friend of mine in California, the other side of the nation away from my home in New Jersey, referred me to a company in Massachusetts called HSI Trust – HomeSavers, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization (aka HSI).

It took a while — more than four months — to finally get them to commit to my cause, but once they did I knew I had a real ally in my corner. Where many were screwed (to use a polite term) when the economic crisis hit and charged thousands for a loan modification that never materialized, HSI was charging a very reasonable and affordable monthly fee and showing me solid results. They worked liked dogs (I would get calls at 9pm their time on a Friday, and they wouldn’t rush off the phone!). They understood what I was going through, they weren’t judgmental, and when I needed a calming voice, they provided it.

I remember waking up to a holiday weekend, a time when all you want to do is have fun, and reading an email from my tenant asking if my property would be foreclosed on. I was mortified, sickened, worried, and uncertain. The perceived good reputation I thought I had earned in New Jersey would be destroyed when Sheriffs I used to hire for security at parties would now be serving my tenants foreclosure notices. And of course I was concerned for my tenant who was paying their rent! Would they be escorted out in a week by the local law enforcement? I answered their email immediately and honestly, letting them know that I had no intentions of foreclosure and was pursuing a loan modification with the help of a qualified consultant. Sadly I doubted my own words. Time and time again, everyone would remind me how the odds were against me and it was after all, “just a house.”

After that incident, I frantically emailed Bruce Boguslav of HSI. Bruce’s calming voice would arrive on the phone and effectively say, “Don’t worry, calm down, just ignore them, we will take care of the bank.” And yet another time we spoke he told me of other people who won their fight, received a loan modification and did not lose their homes – those who were willing to fight to the end.

My property is currently a rental home and I did receive a loan modification last year. I began paying the bank every month just like old times. But every now and again, I receive a letter from the bank’s ‘foreclosure prevention department’ and I feel my nerves fraying all over again. I have the luxury to sell at some point soon. I don’t live there and I actually — shockingly — have equity. I have the pleasant option to sell a home I no longer live in and to continue to rent in Los Angeles.

A woman with a home and no children is one thing. A man with a family that lives in the home is another. I am not saying it has been easy and it has taken its psychological toll on me and other single women (don’t get me started on single mothers). But there is an undeniable cultural pressure on a man to provide and to protect his family. To do otherwise is to feel a failure in the most profound way.

Ailton Lima, a Brazilian Immigrant turned American citizen and business owner said it best: “The thought of losing your home is particularly tough. It challenges everything you got, including your manhood. You feel like you’re letting your family down. You’re not doing your job of protecting your family. You’re worthless. How could you do that? Never mind the recession. It’s your fault.”

Growing up, everyone tells you how to play by the rules. But if you’re like me, no one tells you how to break the rules successfully. The world had always been black and white, and now there was this huge gray area I needed to learn how to maneuver. Fighting for my home was emotionally draining and very stressful, but I know now that it is possible because it happened to me, and I want every red-blooded American homeowner to know that there is hope if you are willing to fight for yourself.

Bookworms will be pleased to know that there’s another way to store and display books aside from shelves. In addition to furniture that incorporates space where you can arrange your books (like the Sunflower Chair), there are installations like the Hanging Book Rack that lets you do it with more flair.

As the name indicates, it’s a book rack in the unconventional sense because it doesn’t have shelves where you’re supposed to arrange your books. Instead, it looks like a coat rack, with its wooden plates and all. At the bottom of these plates are waxed cotton strings that hold the books in place, and they function as a bookmark, at the same time, too.

To account for varying book thickness, the wooden plates can be moved from left to right to make sure everything fits. The Hanging Book rack can fit up to twelve books, and that should be more than enough for your Book of the Month reads.

The Hanging Book Rack is available online for $210(USD) from OldandCold’s Etsy shop. A mini version that can fit six books is available for $110.

[via Green Head]

 Based on the actions of Google alone (not to mention other big players in the tech world), it’s incredibly clear that the home is likely one of the next platforms to likely be dominated by tech. That said, R/GA is announcing their second iteration of the R/GA Techstars accelerator, focused exclusively on connected devices and hardware. Last year, Techstars and R/GA partnered for the… Read More

It seems that just about everyone in the United States has owned a Slinky at one time or another. The mesmerizing toy has been around for decades and has entertained generations of young and the young at heart. The main problem with the Slinky was finding a staircase long enough to really be able to indulge in watching the metal spring “walk” its way downstairs. One company is seeking funding on Kickstarter to sell “A Never-Ending Slinky Machine” to keep those springs walking.