John David Evans

I'll miss you Dad. Look for me when I get there so we can sit and have some iced tea with lemon and talk about old times.



February 19,1932 to June 3, 2011

Ticket Home

That was the subject line of the email my Mom sent out after the doctor appointment for my Dad where he was told there wasn't much that could be done for him other than try to make him comfortable. His cancer has spread to his liver and a kidney. The cancer in the lymph glands kn his legs is making mobility extremely difficult. The swelling of the lymph glands affects the circulation in his legs and they are collecting fluid. They feel like telephone poles. Thick, heavy and the skin is very tight. He is very constipated from pain meds. Just another issue to pile on top of all the others. I know both he and my mom are not afraid to die. They are both confident with the promises God has made. They are however concerned at times over the manner in which they get there!

Exclusivism That Welcomes All

I've been looking for a readable presentation on this topic for some time. While it could be headier than most care to read, I found it easy to follow. Even the circular philisophical questions make sense. If you have any interest (or even none for that matter) in the subject it's a very interesting read.

Exclusivism that welcomes all

Our Out Of Control Government

Just perusing the recently retracted Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis Domestic Extremism Lexicon "Reference Aid". It apparently classifies a large portion of the population as extremists. It's overarching broad descriptions of "extremist" groups opens up a myriad of possibilities for agencies to target individuals for their perceived extremist views. As an example, I fully support 2nd Amendment rights. If I actively pursue forms of support for repealing gun laws or protesting new legislation I may be targeted as a militia member according to the lexicon description. Read through some of these to see which extremist group YOU may be a "member" of according to the DHS.

The bracketed (U) stands for unclassified and (U//FOUO) stands for unclassified, for official use only. The post title is a link to the document.

(U) alternative media

(U//FOUO) A term used to describe various information
sources that provide a forum for interpretations of events and
issues that differ radically from those presented in mass
media products and outlets.

Apparently media other than "mainstream" is subversive and dangerous. The truth is not important, the source is. The DHS is of the opinion that as long as the sheeple continue to watch the alphabet soup networks (abc, nbc, cbs, etc.) they will be fully propagandized.

(U) hate groups

(U//FOUO)A term most often used to describe white
supremacist groups. It is occasionally used to describe other
racist extremist groups.

Racism of any form is antithetical to everything I believe. God created us in his image and we are all his children (there's a radical notion we should fear!) However, it is troubling that DHS describes "hate groups" mainly as white supremacists. Is not Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam a hate group? La Raza? The lexicon descriptions of the various minority extremist groups do not describe them as racist even though their actions are. If you are a minority is it not possible to be racist as well?

(U) patriot movement

(U//FOUO) A term used by rightwing extremists to link their
beliefs to those commonly associated with the American
Revolution. The patriot movement primarily comprises
violent antigovernment groups such as militias and sovereign
citizens.
(also: Christian patriots, patriot group, Constitutionalists,
Constitutionist)

O.K., this is really confusing. The term "patriot" is now being given a negative connotation. Can someone be antigovernment without being violent? Of course. Lets also throw in "Christian" as well. Saying that the movement "primarily" comprises violent antigovernment groups does not specify that if you are NOT violent you are not an extremist because you believe the government to be too big and too powerful. While revolutions can be violent such as the American Revolution, a revolution in general terms can mean many things other than violence. Associating the American Revolution with an extremist group is an subversive way of targeting those who would want more of the freedoms our Founding Fathers intended and less government intrusion. There is a quote that goes something like, 'When people fear their government, that is tyrrany. When government fears the people, that is liberty.'

(U) rightwing extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of rightwing groups or individuals
who can be broadly divided into those who are primarily
hate-oriented, and those who are mainly antigovernment and
reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.
This term also may refer to rightwing extremist movements
that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to
abortion or immigration.
(also known as far right, extreme right)

Just having the term "broadly divided" in the above description should scare everyone. Somehow rejecting federal authority for state and local authority is a bad thing? Can anyone provide me with an example of some statute, program, code or law that can be equally applied and relevant to all fifty sates? Under this definition of rightwing extremism, the Founders are just that. They believed in a weak centralized government and strong state governments.

(U) tax resistance movement

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who vehemently believe
taxes violate their constitutional rights. Among their beliefs
are that wages are not income, that paying income taxes is
voluntary, and that the 16th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution, which allowed Congress to levy taxes on
income, was not properly ratified. Members have been
known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts
of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their
extremist goals. They often target government entities such
as the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(also: tax protest movement, tax freedom movement, antitax
movement)

My head is going to explode. I am an extremist because I think the government takes far too much money from me to give to people, places, causes and events that I do not wish to support. They believe that my hard earned dollars are theirs to use in whatever way they see fit. A good example is sending hundreds of millions of dollars to "community groups" such as ACORN that perpetrate voter fraud. Their mention of the 16th Amendment in the context of "it's in the Constitution" gives the impression that anyone who opposes is a radical. The 16th Amendment which was ratified to fund the Civil War snowballed over the next century into our current confiscatory tax system. What's not to like about that? Raise your hand if you support higher taxes and more debt. Anyone?

(U) skinheads

(U//FOUO) A subculture composed primarily of
working-class, white youth who embrace shaved heads for
males, substance abuse, and violence. Skinheads can be
categorized as racist, anti-racist or “traditional,” which
emphasizes group unity based on fashion, music, and lifestyle
rather than political ideology. Dress often includes a shaved
head or very short hair, jeans, thin suspenders, combat boots
or Doc Martens, and a bomber jacket.

Here the problem is a radical group being identified by it's fashion and music among other things. Um, I actually own a pair of Doc Marten shoes. Not boots, but shoes. I also have a pair or two of jeans. I guess I've slipped into the dark realm of the skinheads.

The entirety of this report should be troubling to all of us as Americans. That your political or personal views can be deemed extremist by the government and could possibly put you on some terrorist watch list should frighten everyone. This lexicon broadly describes so many belief systems that nearly everyone in America could find some portion of one of these groups that they would be in agreement with.

A Fun Couple of Minutes

Here's a short video from the band Hawk Nelson. It's not a music video it's just the guys having fun on the road in Sacramento. They are a Christian Pop-Punk band. I needed to post some fluff so my head doesn't explode from the government takeover of private industry and our continual march towrds socialism.

Sharing Some Wisdom

Today I'll not berate the sparse few who have meandered over to this diminutive corner of the series of tubes called the internets. I will take it upon myself to impart some wisdom. Unfortunately that wisdom is gleened from the minds of others. I know I have some but I think I misplaced it somewhere. A mind, that is.

I'll start with the quote below that is specifically intended to describe the current political atmosphere here in Amerika.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis

For my buddy, Joe

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

C. S. Lewis

and...

"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning..."

--from "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis

Joe and I can probably agree on this one as well. Only we come from different perspectives.

"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst."

--Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis

Again I ask, "What Happened To My Country?"

This is incredible that the parents in this article are being interrogated for sincerity in regards to their religious beliefs. The topper is that it was instigated by a school district! These people earn their living taking OUR hard earned MONEY!!

Bastards!

Atheist Plaque Next to Nativity Scene in Washington

The post title links to the article of the same name posted at OneNewsNow.com. The paragraph that jumped out at me and makes an incredible amount of sense is the following;

“I don’t believe in unicorns, so I just go about my life as if there are no unicorns. You’ll notice that I haven’t written any books called The End of the Unicorn, Unicorns Are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion, and I don’t spend my time obsessing about unicorns. What I’m getting at is that you have these people out there who don’t believe that God exists, but who are actively attempting to eliminate religion from society…There has to be more going on here than mere unbelief.”

That's a quote from Dinesh D'Souza in an interview for Salvo magazine. My buddy Joe would disagree with the premise if I'm not mistaken.

Today's Quotes

This first quote from Samuel Adams is aimed specifically at Barack Obama and his associations that are rightly being called into question -

"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections." --in a letter to James Warren, Nov. 4, 1775--

This too, is directed at Obama in regards to his "spread the wealth" viewpoint he expressed to Joe the Plumber

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
- Thomas Jefferson

This one can definitely be said of most of the recent sitting Congress'

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
- John Adams

The next two just happen to be for Joe. I know he'll give me a bucket of chum in return. I expect it and welcome the banter.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.
- John Adams

It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.
- Patrick Henry

An appropriate quote in regards to the current financial meltdown throughout our country and the world.

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance.
- James Madison

Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded.
- Noah Webster (the father of public education in America)

Palin In The Post

Amazingly, the Washington Post did a fairly decent job on a biographical article of Sarah Palin and her family. In reading it I was getting the impression that it was leading up to a punchline that never came. There were a few paragraphs regarding her faith and background in hunting that were written rather condescendingly but never viscious. I think you see them for what they are. A conservative reader would see the valuable lessens she learned growing up in the environment she did. An urban liberal would see it as silly backwards upbringing. It depends on what you value in life. Self-relience, strength of character, rugged individualism are usually not the qualities the left looks for in a candidate (IMHO).

Hats (slightly) off to WaPo for a relatively non-hit piece. Click the post title for the link to the article.

Newsweek Columnist Sam Harris Displays Sexism, Religious Bigotry

Elitist bigot Sam Harris believes Sarah Palin is not qualified to run as a candidate for VP because, in a nutshell, she is a regular person and has religious beliefs. Her beliefs are tantamount to lunacy.

He writes, " If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could."

Why is it whenever a candidate on the right has religious beliefs of any type they are steering our country towards a fanatical religious theocracy? I hear no fears from the left that Obama will do that. He supposedly has a twenty year association with a racist extremist pastor and nobody bats an eye. This pastor stands in the pulpit preaching "God Damn America" and no one on the left flinches. The reason? The left are in agreement. Obama only distanced himself from Pastor Wright when he absolutely had to because the story was mushrooming out of control. When he did finally speak out he made it sound like this was the first time Wright ever made any inflamatory remarks by saying, "Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed as a consequence of this". What would "this" be? The exposure of Wright as a racist. You cannot attend a church for twenty years and not know something like this about your pastor. The left was defending Wright the entire time. In fact an editorial in the Kansas City Star calls the concern over Jeremiah Wright's racist sermon's a "made-up issue"

Harris deems Sarah Palin to be ignorant because she expresses confidence. Yet if an elitist, Harvard educated male unswervingly said, "I'm ready, willing and able", Harris would be seen cheering in the crowd. He would not be asking, "Why is he so willing to do the job?" Here he provides a ridiculous scenario as an example of his viewpoint.

"What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."

"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."

"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."

Harris displays a frightening stance on Palin's minor daughter's pregnancy.
He espouses a position that a mother should not have any control of her minor daughter's unplanned teen pregnancy. The only topic he touches on is abortion. One track mind.

"We know, therefore, that Palin believes that she should be the one to decide whether her daughter carries her baby to term. Based on her stated position, we know that she would deny her daughter an abortion even if she had been raped."

He goes on to explain that she is ignorant because she is a regular person.

"What doesn't she know about financial markets, Islam, the history of the Middle East, the cold war, modern weapons systems, medical research, environmental science or emerging technology? Her relative ignorance is guaranteed on these fronts and most others, not because she was put on the spot, or got nervous, or just happened to miss the newspaper on any given morning. Sarah Palin's ignorance is guaranteed because of how she has spent the past 44 years on earth."

Read the whole editorial by clicking here.

A Basic Human Right - The Pusuit Of Happiness

Unless you live an Islamic nation like Iran. Instead, they just kill you if you try to find happiness or disagree with them.

Leftists say we have nothing to fear from Iran trying to use nuclear power for it's countries energy needs. We need to have a dialog with them. We need to understand them.

Right.

A country run by neanderthal fanatics who could care less what the rest of the world thinks shouldn't be within a hemisphere of a nuclear reactor.

Click the post title for the full story.

Here We Go Again

Muslims asking for preferential treatment. Fortunately JBS Swift & Co. had the stones to fire them. When you get hired for a job, you understand the hours that you will be working. My company doesn't pay me for my lunch, why on earth would they pay me for a prayer break at sundown! Here's the link to the article.

I've been at my job for 21 years and have arranged my personal religious holidays and events around my work schedule. Six months out of the year I don't attend church services because I have to work on Sunday. I don't walk out in protest. I understand that this is the configuration of my job and I make do.

Christian Rockers Have Fun Too!

Check out the bands MySpace page if you had fun - http://www.myspace.com/familyforce5

Too Cute!

Regardless of your belief system, this video is just way too cute!

Interesting short from the Not Religion website. Do you wonder why people pray? What are they trying to accomplish? Check it out. It may answer your question.

Prayer
Not Religion! - Monday, 20 August 2007

©Not Religion!

Founding Fathers' Faith - more stuff

I was surfing through my first day of vacation and came across a really interesting post about a book on the Founding Fathers' faith. The post was from January so the book has been out for awhile. Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost has a mini "review" of the book, "The Faiths of the Founding Fathers" by historian David Holmes. It brings up the interesting idea that while not all of the Founders were, by any means, "Christian", none were atheistic. While the difference in type and scope of faith can be debated, there were no Founders that could be construed as atheists. While atheists may lay claim to the opinions of the founders showing that they were not "Christian", there are no quotes that can be construed as advocating atheism. It would appear that those of faith have more in common with the Founders views than those that cherry pick quotes to fit their agendas of debunking America as a nation of citizen's of faith.