uhg. la times requires registration. boo.

Nothing about Ted Haggard being "completely heterosexual"?

Kim: please refer to the other 500 Slog entries that have already been put up on that subject.

Interesting that the "worst year ever" for air passengers is actually the BEST year ever, in terms of not dying. Which is perhaps a tiny bit more important than seat discomfort. Most of my complaints about flying are generated long before I reach the door of the plane (fuck you, TSA).

PS: I'm sure the "first ladies" bit is hysterical, but polygamy has been illegal within the LDS church for over a century.

@3 - unless you're in a chopper.
@4 - yet, probably 40 percent of LDS offshoots in the areas of ID,UT,and nearby states are still practicing it.

As far as ragging on Romney's Mormonism goes: I think it's a cheap, easy gag. It also is based on the assumption that there exist religions that are less messed up, dysfunctional, and insane than Mormonism - there are not.

That said, Romney sucks, and Mormonism is pretty kooky.

Will, how come every post of yours that has a number in it is either blatantly wrong, or (intentionally?) misleading?

If you're suggesting that 40% of Mormons practice or even tolerate polygamy, you're full of crap. If by "offshoots" you're referring to the tiny handfuls of kook jobs in Colorado City, it's irrelevant; they're not Mormons. You could just as easily say "40% of neo-nazi groups hate Catholics" for all that it has to do with real life.

Mormons are a little weird in their religious beliefs and practices. Being a little weird in your religious beliefs and practices is a defining American trait, and always has been. Big deal. Romney's got about fifty problems with his campaign right now, zero of which have jack-all to do with polygamy.

Props to Fnarf.

And I think, like 62.5% of white people are white. I read it on the internets somewhere.

PS to Will in Seattle: There is a reason there are "off-shoots" of religion. Mainly, when one group wants something that the main religion will not permit. That is why there are bat-shit crazies that have gone out to the really rural areas. Mormons do not have multiple wives. Look it up.

72% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

call it what you want - have you ever lived there or do you know people who do. the stats reported publicly don't match the reality that exists on the ground.

oh, and parse what I wrote - I said "LDS offshoots". I didn't say mainstream LDS, I didn't say non-LDS, I said "40 percent of LDS offshoots". Grok?

But you make it sound like these "offshoots" are important to the mainstream, which they are not. Christian Identity is an "offshoot of Christianity", but that doesn't make Barack Obama a white supremacist. 40% of practically nothing is practically nothing.

And yes, I have spent time in Mormon Country, and know Mormons.

Polygamy was a fundamental tenet of Mormonism, thanks to the raging libido of LDS's founder. It seems like that issue is one of the main reasons why there are LDS offshoots in the first place.