Please share at will. If you're within driving distance you will want be there! Fillmore to Davis County is driving distance, trust me! Merry Christmas to one and all, and see you at the Twist & Shout Christmas Concert. It will be a night to remember.


What a special night my daughters have planned for Utah in celebration of our Savior's birth and Christmas.

You, your family, your friends and co-workers are all invited to join them for Twist & Shout's Christmas Concert 2011. It will be an evening filled with song, dance, and laughter, and even a little emotion as they celebrate the return of Utah soldiers from Iraq. The concert is on December 20th at 7:00 p.m.

American Leadership Academy
898 West 1100 South
Spanish Fork, UT

Did I mention it's FREE for everyone in attendance. So join them as they celebrate Christmas, joined by special guest, Jessie Funk. Jessie has "gone country" with the release of her new CD "Dance in the Rain." You may have heard her songs on the radio as you drive around Utah.

Jessie has released five solo albums, published five books, has toured 36 states with the Broadway musical “Footloose,” performed as an opening act for Donny Osmond, Josh Grayson and Billy Dean and she has toured with Broadway sensation Maureen McGovern. She has also been hired for hundreds of recording sessions as a studio vocalist including songs heard on TV’s “America’s Got Talent” and “The Biggest Loser,”  as well as Donny & Marie Osmond's Las Vegas show.

And, for a little special something extra, Santa Claus will be in attendance after the concert for the kids to sit on his lap, get pictures with him, etc. And you have never seen a Santa like THIS Santa! Pictures will be $10/ea. please bring cash, if you want to take advantage of this opportunity.

And in case that's not enough, the hosts of the new television show Simply Stated will be there shooting footage, interviewing people and highlighting director, Heather Hunt (my daughter) in a special show they are doing on her. In addition, Candace Salima (my daughter) of Turning the Tide with Candace Salima will not only be performing, but shooting footage as well for her show.

So please help them fill every single seat, all 650 of them, because this will be a night to remember and a perfect celebration of Christmas.

You can pop on over to the Twist & Shout Christmas Concert 2011 and keep updated on all the goings on as the days count down.


We Americans have been free too long. Many of our citizens no longer value the freedom for which our ancestors fought and died, at least not enough to keep it.

Many of us see nothing wrong with trading that freedom for money, inspiring a particularly unprincipled class of politicians to compete to buy the most votes with the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. That’s the money those politicians have sworn to use wisely. Apparently, "wisely" is in the eye of the beholder, or maybe just in the eye of the guy holding the key to the taxpayers’ bank account.

Both that class of politicians and those citizens subscribe to the "Robin Hood" model of government, "Take from the rich and give to the poor." Inexplicably, they consider such "taking and giving" a badge of honor.

Have we truly devolved to this extent? How do we decide for whom we will vote? Let’s analyze some basic human tendencies: Most citizens who vote for the man they think will be the best manager, the best CEO, become Republicans. Democrats like the candidate who grabs their emotions, who dramatically assures them of their victim status, tells them the owner of the corner store is ripping them off, and promises them the goodies they "deserve". If he makes good on that promise, he is guaranteed a lifetime in office, the perks of which he can and will manipulate to set himself up for life.

Basic human nature never changes, but there always have been and always will be aberrations, for which we can be extremely grateful. There are some truly honorable elected officials and some equally honorable voters. 

Such are the last, best hope of mankind’s freedom. And we need more of them!


Gentle Reader,

Our fighting men are being sent on repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have too small a military to do anything else, so our men come home, then go back into combat again and again, guaranteeing horrific consequences most American cannot even imagine.

When I was a young military bride, an old 2nd World War hand-to-hand combat vet told me he refused to sleep in the same room with his beloved wife for a long time after returning to the States. Naively, I asked him why. His answer has stayed with me for these many years: "I knew if she turned over in bed or mumbled in her sleep, she would be dead before I could even wake up."

He was telling me he could, and absolutely would, kill the woman for whom he gladly would give his own life, by sheer instinct. He had been in combat so long, and had been so conditioned that, even while asleep, he reacted with lightening and deadly speed in response to any movement or sound.

According to what I have been told, this very horror is occurring in some of today’s military families. The serial deployments, causing our men to go into combat repeatedly, while fighting on two fronts, is directly responsible for this.

What is happening to our men, who kill their own wives while asleep? Are they charged with murder? And even if they are not, can anyone imagine what it does to both them and their children? Neither will ever recover from such a horror.

The answer? I haven’t a clue. Unfortunately, neither has our Commander-in-Chief, who has never seen, nor will ever see, a minute of deadly combat.

Until next time,
Muriel Sluyter