03.29.06
Posted in Freedom at 9:09 pm by
This is indeed a “Hot Topic” these days. If you think about it a bit, just by the very name it is obvious that these folks are criminals. If you do something “illegal” you are breaking the law. You may not LIKE the law. You may think the law is unfair. But the minute you disobey the law you are, by definition, a lawbreaker, a criminal.
Now, there’s a scourge across our land and that is the huge number of folks who have entered our nation contrary to the laws of our nation. Or they have come in according to the law - and overstayed their welcome. That is, they’ve come in as students or tourists or whatever - and then stayed as lawn care, cleaning, farming or other workers. There are folks practicing medicine or dentistry to certain degrees in various parts, catering to other folks who are also up in the US illegally - without benefit of a medical or dental liscence. And sooner or later someone’s going to be hurt and what recourse will they have?
What shoudl be done? Justice should be done. It is NOT just to reward people for breaking the law. Folks who are living illegally in the nation should be required to leave and do things right before they return. With millions of people breaking the immigration laws this is not a simple task. But it is necessary.
There are cases of folks who have lived for years upon years in the US and never learned to speak the language. Of course, we got folks born and raised there who can’t either - but that’s a different subject. To my way of thinking (obviously biased from the way I was raised) if you’re going to live in a country you should learn both the language and the customs of the country and do your best to fit in - as long as the customs are not immoral or require you to go against your faith.
And another thing. I am simply amazed at how the illegal aliens are attempting to subvert our system to their own ends. There are things in the country where I live that I’m not in agreement with, but I don’t go trying to raise a huge number of folks to protest. That’s up to the citizens of the nation! If I don’t like things here, I can go back where I came from! And I figure anyone should have that option. If the illegals don’t like US laws - let them leave and find someplace where they feel more welcome.
But what can I say? I’m a hard hearted fellow. 
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03.28.06
Posted in Faith, Freedom at 4:57 pm by
I’ve been accused of “bashing the US of A”. Is it true? Not at all, in my opinion. Recently I’ve been more attentive of past history, things that have happened in my own family, christian fellowship and nation. I love my family, my christian brothers and my nation. So when I point out weaknesses, am I bashing them? No. I find myself in the role of someone who notices something that “ain’t right” in a beloved person and comments on it. The goal is to hopefully bring about possitive change. None of us like to see our loved ones in a less than favorable light. But to often our constructive (in our own perception) comments are received as horrible criticism of the most insidious type and we become ostracised by the very ones we would like to draw near too.
Although my nation is not perfect, she was founded on solid ground. That is what I long to see her return to. Will she? Not as long as hubris and ethnocentrism blind the eyes of her people. Not as long as her citizens deny their heritage and turn away from their Creator.
These thoughts make me sad.
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Posted in Friends at 4:50 pm by
A friend sent me a link to where I could download the tracks from a CD that he helped make some years ago. If you happen upon a copy of “The Hollands - A Few More Seasons”, snap it up. It’s good ol’ fashioned Bluegrass. Good music. Good vocals. Good stuff all together. Such music isn’t easy to find down here and I’m very grateful to him for sharing it with me.
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03.25.06
Posted in Firearms at 9:27 am by
Yep, that category has sat there for a while - and I’ve done nothing about it. Why? Well, I guess it’s because when it comes to firearms I’m “an enthusiastic ignoramus”. My knowledge about such things is finite - to say the least. That doesn’t keep me from having preferances, opinions and ideas however.
Today’s subject will be “The Ultimate Carry Pistol”. “Pistol” in this case is a referance to a “handgun” and is used in the old way - before folks started using it to refer only to the auto unloaders that predominate in today’s society.
Living where I do we don’t have many choices when it comes to firearms. To say the least. We’re limited to what the Army Store stocks and what the Omnicient General in charge of such things will allow us to buy. But that doesn’t keep one from dreaming.
I’ve carried a K-frame sized Llama revolving pistol for a few years now. It’s my “pillow gun”, “carry gun” and “fun gun” all wrapped up into one. However, it has its draw backs. It’s of a size that can not always be concealed well - which can lead to interesting social interaction should one not excercise extreme caution. Fortunately, most folks around here aren’t used to spotting “heat” - so the occasional bulge or “print” isn’t a huge problem.
Still, I’d like something a bit smaller. The S&W Model 60 comes to mind. It’s a fairly compact little five shooter - but they’re as scarce here as the proverbial hen’s teeth outside of Disney productions. Since we’re talking “ultimate” I’m going to take some liberties. Of course, what I consider “ultimate” today is open to future interpretation and change. I reserve the right to change my mind - many times.
Since this is a flight of fancy I’m going to consider the Model 60 as originally chambered in .38 spl - but rechambered to the 380 Achilles. I’d like to have one with a 3″ barrel and “fixed” sights. The change I’d make there would be to mount a low ramp on the barrel with a windage adjustable front sight. One would have to have a “site clamp” or what ever they call the tool for pushing dovetailed sites from side to side, or else use a hammer and brass stud to tap it over to make adjustments.
Other changes I’d make would include a nice pair of smooth wood grips. Or stocks. Or grippy stocks. Or grabberhandlegrippystockthingies as some may term them. A slight palm swell on the right side and slight “finger grooves” preportioned according to MY fingers would be a nice touch, allowing for greater control of the weapon and more possitive indexing of the same in MY hand. The idea isn’t to have a “generic” feel to the gun but rather to have one made around MY hand.
Now, as to chambering, the .38 spl is a notoriously poor performer when combined with the traditional RNL format of projectile. What to do about chambering then? Well, a couple of ideas come to mind. One would be the creation of the 380 Achilles. This would be modelled after the 480 Achilles and allow for the use of a heeled bullet with a wide meplat on the front. I’d like to play with a 380 Achilles long, however. This would give me more powder capacity and the ability to drive that slug at higher velocity. Would this work? I don’t know, but it’d be fun to play with. The reason for this chambering is to get the most out of the platform without creating a thin chamber wall or having to create a new cylinder from scratch.
Even with the shorter Achilles length cartridge case, the 380 Achilles should allow for decent velocity of a much improved projectile profile - giving a decent amount of THUMP on the receiving end. This may not be “the ultimate” but it will do for today’s weird dreaming….
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:08 am by
I’ve not really published this blog abroad. It’s setting up there in “Cyber Space” but I’ve not gone to any effort to propagate it around the world. Why? Hmmm. Good question. Perhaps it is lack of self confidance. Perhaps I don’t want to bother with trying to debate those who disagree. When I started this blog it was as a “safety valve”. A place where I can “sound off” - kind of like stepping into a padded room, closing the door and screaming one’s lungs out. It’s a great way to unwind and let off some pressure.
At no time do I pretend that this is some “scholarly endeavor”. Not much time is spent in research (ha, ha, ha, ha - ROTFL) so the resulting stuff that spews across this site is based on various and sundry items I’ve picked up in listening to folks and reading about what’s going on around the world. In other words, it’s based on a very subjective viewpoint. Like one of the blind men trying to define an elephant. I do, however, recognize my limitations. I do NOT know everything. There. You’ve got it in writing. A true confession. 
So, am I a coward for not promoting this site? Perhaps. Still, I find it a restful place to hang out and talk with myself. If anyone hears me, well they’ll probably figure I’m nuts. That’s OK because I hope to be “nuts for the Lord”. I may not always do things right, but I do things with a desire to do what is right. Inactivity or silence would be the greater evil many times.
Most of all, I hope that those who stumble on this little corner of my world might be stimulated into seeing things from a different point of view.
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Posted in Christian, Faith at 8:59 am by
I grew up as a conservative Christian in a conservative Roman Catholic country. Around us were many who belonged to different sects and denominations. We made the acquaintance of members of the Presbyterian, Baptist, Assembly of God, Four Square and many other denominations. It was easy to say “They’re wrong, we’re right.” But my dad gave me a love of the Scripture and a desire to learn more about it. So as I studied the Bible more I started seeing that the way I was raised wasn’t necessarily completely biblical. That is, I was taught many things that had to do with tradition more than with the truth of Scripture.
And then I got to know more about folks in other denominations and whaddaya know? They too had tons of tradition that was at least as important to them as the Bible - if not more so. I saw the Roman traditions around me and started studying a bit about Church History. As I studied I found that many things which we’d inherited from The Reformers were things that THEY had inherited from the Roman Church that they were trying to reform. In other words, they didn’t restore things to “the way Christ taught” but rather restored SOME things - while allowing years (centuries) of tradition to be as important as the Scriptures.
One of the greatest problems we have in attempting to restore Christ’s Church is that none of us were around to say “That’s the way things were.” The Stone-Campbell movement tends to seek “an order of worship” and most of the lamentable schisms in their ranks hail from this desire to “Get Sunday Right”. But do we see an “Order of Worship” in the New Testament? I don’t believe so. At least not the “Three hymns, Four Prayers and a Sermon” type of order. I Corinthians 14 does deal with the meetings, but not to set up some “order” but rather to set order into the way they did things- emphasizing that the meetings were to “edify the church”, that “every thing be done to edify the church”. That was the emphasis they had - to strengthen each other - for each person to have a chance to participate - to strengthen each other. This was important as they often faced cruel repression and even death. Their meetings were set up to help them weather the storms of life around them.
Wouldn’t that be a good goal for our weekly meetings? Most of what I see around the world is geared to the idea that God is some kind of megalomaniac Who has to be humored and praised and made to feel important. Wait a minute! He sent His Son to die for OUR sins. Does He deserve to be worshiped and praised? OF COURSE! And yet, doesn’t He deserve even more to be OBEYED? Perhaps we need to take another look at what God has in mind for us. What goals does He have for our meetings?
One of the major errors is that folks head to the Jewish Scriptures to seek out how to worship God. But we are no longer under the Old Testament. The Jewish forms of worship were built around a temple. And Jesus said clearly that the Father seeks those who will worship Him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. He is seeking not just outward forms of worship - but inward changes which are reflected through our daily lives. To allow the Christ to regenerate us is to allow Him to be reflected in the way we live. This is TRUE worship.
Some folks seek to enslave others through their ideas of “what’s fittin’â€. But Jesus came to make us free - and we’re commanded to not allow ourselves to be enslaved any more. Grace. Have you heard that word before? You can translate it as “unmerited favorâ€. God has saved those of us who TRULY believe in Him because of GRACE, not because of any good works or nobility of our own. How shall we now live? Shouldn’t each waking hour be devoted to honoring our Father through our example? Shouldn’t we seek to make His Name known - by living according to His Will? Or is it enough to dedicate a few hours on Sunday to Him and spend the rest of our lives seeking our own desires?
If we’d like to truly restore the Church that Jesus the Christ died to establish - then we’d better start looking at something other than the outward expressions of “Praise†and “Worshipâ€. I find it very hard to believe that The Son of Man who came not to be served but rather to Serve did so in order for us to stand around on Sunday and sing pretty songs. He came as an example. If we want to be His disciples then we’d better start living like them. “By this will all men know that you are My disciples - if you have love one for another.†That love isn’t shown by singing pretty songs to each other - it is best demonstrated by living a life directed by God’s Spirit.
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03.23.06
Posted in Freedom at 7:30 pm by
For some time now the “conservative” party of the US of A has been the Republican Party, the “GOP” (Grand Old Party). In the social battles over the past 30 years or more the GOP has “stood in the gap” for family values and in other important areas. Their greatest gripe for years was that they were never allowed to have the power in order to give us a better, freer government. Now, I’m going to rant here from memory. I don’t claim that following is completely inerrant - but it’s got a solid base if you’ll look up the facts.
“Ronaldus Maximus” is what some folks call Ronald Reagan, arguably the finest president of the United States of America in the last half of the 20th Century although some folks wouldn’t limit it to only the last half and some wouldn’t limit it to the 20th century. Anyway, he was NOT a fan of large government. He brought us a term “Reaganomics” which cut taxes way down as well as spending in many areas of government. And Reagan did this without benefit of a Republican Congress. He was followed by George Bush the First who’s “Read my lips” campaign promis lead to “Bubba Klinton” coming along and taking credit for the solid economy which was the result of the Reagan Years - all the while he was starting to run the country into the ground.
Well the US voters (God bless them in spite of their frequent idiocy) finally got around to setting up a Republican congress and then finally installed a Republican President to give “Conservatives” a chance at setting things right. Yep, the GOP - the bane of liberals everywhere was allowed a chance to show what they could do to restore our freedom.
Lessee, what have we got out of that deal? The Patriot Act. A higher “ceiling” on Federal deficit spending. The TSA. In other words, larger and more expensive government. Where are the tax cuts? Where are the spending cuts? Why does it look so much like the Democrats are in control when supposedly a fiscally “conservative” party is running things?
That’s why I ask. “Isn’t it time?” Isn’t it time to toss both the “Left” and the “Right” on the garbage heap of history and put a new party into the system which would return the US to its historical birthright of freedom? Isn’t it time we demanded our government be more responsible with our hard earned tax dollars? And isn’t it time we demanded that we be allowed to spend our money properly rather than handing it over to the government to squander? What about our retirement? Why is the gov’t so worried about handing more control of our individual retirement to our individuals? Where are the billions of dollars of our hard earned money that they’ve squandered? Most folks of my age will never see a dime of their “Social Security” - it’s been squandered and wasted by a government that’s out of control.
Isn’t it time we stood up and said “No more.”? Isn’t it time we put our house back in order? Or have we, as a nation, become so flabby and self centered and lazy that we don’t “have what it takes” to rake our elected representatives over the coals and demand that they reign in their senseless waste of our resources?
Isn’t it time we demanded that freeborn US citizens be given greater priviledges than those enjoyed by so many of the illegal immigrants? Shouldn’t those who enter our nation against our nation’s laws be held accountable? Or those who outstay their visa, shouldn’t they be tracked down and sent home at their nation’s expense? Have we no more self respect? If someone disrespects my home like so many folks from other nations disrespect my country, they’ll find out real quick where the door is - to say the least. Isn’t it time we as a nation learned that same defense of our home?
I think it is time. And yet, who will stand beside me?
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Posted in Christian, Freedom at 4:52 pm by
I grew up in the Restoration Movement heritage. Some know it as the Stone-Campbell movement. To many it’s still known as the “Campbellites”. Even Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote about Alexander Campbell, relating an incident that occured when he (Clemens) was working in a print shop as a young lad.
Anyway, to sum things up a bit, the movement started as a bunch of folks all over the place starting to think about freedom at the same time. The religious climate at the time was oppressive - to say the least. Folks from some denominations who happened to be visiting in another town or area on Sunday and went to their own denominational church there were not allowed to take communion. This is just one example of the rampant sectarianism which reigned at the end of the 18th century. But a Scott named Alexander Campbell was doing a bit of thinking on his own. He started talking about something which seemed very radical to folks at the time - being known merely as a “Christian”. The emphasis was not on being the only Christians (like many seem to believe about their own little group) but rather to only be Christians with no long denominational sobriquet to tote around and impress folks with.
Even today this is a bit of a radical idea to many. We are used to talking about “Baptists”, “Presbyterians”, “Methodists” and “Unitarians” - not to go off and try to name all of the forty-eleven-thousand different denominations currently in existence. And some folks draw strong lines of demarcation to distance themselves from folks who “aren’t right”.
All this flies in the face of Jesus’ prayer in John 17. To me this is the one that should be called “The Lord’s Prayer” (usually I refer to the one commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer” as “The Model Prayer”) since it is what The Lord prayed for regarding His Apostles and those who would believe in Him through their testimony (that’d be us’ns today). And that prayer was that His disciples would be one - even as He and the Father are One. In other words, that the folks who’d come to serve Him through the Centuries would be nearly indistinguishable from each other - just as it’s hard to draw concrete lines discerning the difference between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Give it some study. Who is the Creator? Who has existed forever? etc. etc. etc. Yes I believe in “The Trinity”, but I also believe that we will never fully understand the concept on this side of the Christ’s second coming. We are finite and so is our understanding - but I digress.  My point is, we should strive as Christ’s disciples to be indistinguishable between ourselves - if we would please our Lord.
One of our favorite activities is to pigeon hole folks. To try and see what makes this person or that group different from us. Wouldn’t it be more productive to emphasize commonality? Now, don’t get me wrong, there are and always WILL be differences between folks. But when we highlight them and emphasize them we drive wedges between us and others. Should we worry about “orthodoxity”? Does doctrine not matter? Yes, it does. But I’ve never met a person yet that had ALL the answers. Much less one that was always right about everything. Why not allow folks the freedom to be wrong? Why not allow them the same right that we’d like to have - the right to learn and grow in our knowledge?
I can’t help but imagine how the Lord must feel when He sees His church so bent on fighting about things rather than living in unity and grace as He intended. “For by GRACE you have been saved, by FAITH, and that not of yourselves - it is the GIFT OF GOD” says Ephesians 2:8 Hopefully someday we’ll understand that and quit fighting against our brothers.
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03.14.06
Posted in Faith at 9:53 am by
Here’s an interesting video.
I saw it this past weekend. I tried to find a way to download it but they’ve got it well masked - guess I’ll let them use their bandwidth for folks who want to view it rather than hosting it on my site. Anyway, I finally got a connection good enough to follow what was going on. It is of a woman psychologist who is of Arab descent and who is talking about the different ways folks think - specifically the Middle Eastern Muslim and the Western “Infidel”. She says “I don’t believe in the supernatural” and immediately a cleric starts calling her a heretic and saying she had blasphemed against Allah and The Prophet. This is typical of “true believers” of many fundamentalist groups. If you can’t handle the debate use a good attack instead. But her basic premise is interesting, to say the least. And it’s something that many folks don’t understand.
What I’ve seen over the years is that everyone tends to view things according to how things are in their own small corner of the world. It is impossible for a Colombian who is born and raised on some small coffee growing farm to understand a KS wheat operation. Just like the KS farmer can’t understand hand planting, tilling and harvesting on near vertical Andes slopes. Oh, you might have heard a bit about it, but “understand”? Not really.
So when it comes to a clash of mindsets, things get dicey very quickly. Folks in modern US of A (not to mention the east side of the pond) have a hard time realizing that there are over a billion people “over there” who have not kept up with the industrial revolution - not to mention “modern” and “post modern” thought. While they may be comfortable accepting behaviors which were abominable to our forefathers (not to mention He Who created all) they don’t understand why such activities are worthy of death, destruction and mayhem to a large portion of the world’s population.
And then there’s the other side of the coin. Folks who want change by force. Me? I’d love to see a much more conservative nation in the US of A. But it’s not going to happen through violence. And it’s not going to happen as long as folks are unwilling to face the situation head on and learn to reason with others. Don’t worry about the died in the wool folks, learn to reason with the “fence sitters”. They, after all, are the “swing votes” and we’d better learn to give them solid reason to slide off on the side of conservative thought and action. And this whole “you have blasphemed” attack pattern? It does nothing towards changing minds - unless causing someone to back away from you and write your opinions off as “worthless” is the type of change you’re looking for.
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03.11.06
Posted in Christian at 12:10 pm by
I never cease to be amazed at what folks put up with. I guess it’s just human nature to try and “get along” or to try and prevent “unpleasantness”. But what does it take to get your anger to burning?
Justice. We’ve supposedly got a department of it at national level. The problem is, there is very little of it being dished out. It’s amazing to look through the Old Testament prophecies and see how often the Lord rebuked Israel for… a lack of justice. In fact, Jehovah said that He PREFERRED justice to the sacrifices that the people wanted to give to Him! Through Amos He said: “I hate, I despise your feasts, And I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 5:21-23)
I find it interesting to hear and read Christians expound on the “need to praise God” or “Our obligation to worship God”. Hmmmm. I’m NOT against praising God or worshiping Him, but what about our obligation to seek justice and mercy and righteousness? Jehovah went on to say through Amos: “But let justice roll on like rivers, And righteousness like a mighty stream.” WOW! Justice. Righteousness. Old fashioned values of no use in today’s society - or the key to turning our nation around?
Where is the Christian’s voice? Where is the call to repent and turn back to God’s paths? Where is the seeking after “liberty and justice for all”? Does your heart ache when you see how “justice” has been perverted? Does your heart burn within you when you see that “justice” is not blind but rather casts judgment according to race or social position? It should! Where is your voice? What have you done to call others to do what is right? Or are you willing to “just go along and not stir up a fuss.”
The United States of America has started down a path which will lead to her destruction. We call good evil and evil things are called good. We discriminate according to race (what else is affirmative action?) and folks who can work the court system through ‘legal maneuvering’ with high paid lawyers go free while innocent folk are hounded by the very government which is supposed to protect them because they have not the financial means to protect themselves. We allow the government to confiscate personal property and hand it over to well funded businesses in the name of “common good”. And these are just a few of the many ills we tolerate - because we do not seek to know God’s will or His ways. His ways are higher than ours, but we’d rather follow our own and wallow in the mire of man-made “justice”. The Bible is very clear that justice is to be blind. It should “not rule for the rich because he is rich, nor for the poor because he is poor” and yet we follow “socialist” policies which do exactly that. “Take from the rich to give to the poor” is the rallying cry of socialist type politicians. Where is the cry for justice?
My heart aches. It burns within me when I see how far my land has fallen from the paths of truth, justice and righteousness. How I fear for my people for they have turned their backs against Him Who has blessed them in so many ways.
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