Dan's Blog

Blizzard hates me. Titanonsatur has completed his Warglaive set and we still haven't seen a Zhar'Doom or Tempest. Rawr.

Four Peaks' Kiltlifter is a gift from God Almighty.

Also, everything I create is very minimal.

I've been asked by a couple people why I post the Declaration of Independence, in its entirety, with the last line emphasized, without any commentary, every July 4th on this blog. Part of it is quite simply tradition, but as to how it started, why that last line is bolded, and why there's never any commentary - there's a bit more to that. So as I sit here sipping a Sam Adams and listening to Johnny Cash, I'm going to try to explain my thoughts on why I love calling myself an American.

First off, I'm a strong believer that you can and should take interest in your country. I love America. I really do, and I don't mean that I love everyone in it or that I agree with everything it does, but that I love the concept that is America. At least, the concept it represents to me. Almost a century and a half ago, a bunch of men got together - just men, not statesmen or generals, not yet - and decided that they had had enough. Years of oppression forced on them by the oversea British government had finally crossed the line and they decided it was time to do something. That it was time to be free men. And they talked to their families, their neighbors, their churches, and the word spread. People were fed up and decided to do something about it. So on this day, 232 years ago, a lawyer from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson put into words one of the most incredible statements in all of history.

He outlined the cause for which his compatriots stood, he outlined the reasoning, and the motive. He detailed the offenses of the crown against the colonies and the repeated attempts toward a peaceful solution made by those colonies. He concluded that the last resort for the colonies was to break off from Britain and form free and independent states. And then he says a remarkable thing:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

For the support of all that they had said, they relied on the protection of Divine Providence. They did not look at themselves and say "we must be right," but rather they truly believed that God was on their side, that he would find just their intentions, and they trusted in him to get them through the coming times. And, acknowledging that fact, they pledged to that declaration their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Three things they promised, and look at the order they promised them in. They pledge their lives - they are willing to die for the cause. They pledge their fortunes - every earthly possession, putting at risk their wives and children. They then pledge their sacred honor. I love that word, sacred. They hold their word and their name so dear that it's more valuable than their life or wealth. It's their honor, and on their honor was placed this declaration of intent and belief.

Now what was so special about this intent that they pledged everything to? What makes this group of rebels different from any other? Quite simply, they were true revolutionaries, not only in a political sense but a philosophical one. They did not merely exchange one government for another, they exchanged a set of ideas for another. The government was merely a part of that set of ideas. Look at the bold claims made:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Take a close look at a couple of those, specifically. All men created equal. Now, that particular statement took a long time for us to work out fully, but until that point no government had ever suggested that men were equal in any way. And the idea that these people had rights, given them by God, that no government could take away? Unheard of. That government was created merely to secure these rights, not to give them or regulate them, and created by the people, deriving all its power from the people? Again, unheard of. This was truly revolutionary stuff. Ronald Reagan said it very well in his 1981 writing, "What the Fourth of July Means to Me":

Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth… In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.

It's astounding stuff, people. It's really breathtaking, when you think about it. But here we are, 232 years later, and the government has spent those centuries building itself back up to its overbearing self, straying far, far away from what those fifty-four men who signed the Declaration of Independence ever wanted. It's becoming everything that the Declaration - and later, the Constitution - said it should never be. And for every win like Heller, we get to watch a dozen losses. So these days, it's very, very easy to lose hope, especially if you turn on and watch the news for more than about five minutes. Especially if you listen to modern politicians like McCain and Obama, who seem much less interested in representing you or I than furthering their own interests. Especially if you read any of the major "mainstream" blogs, or journals, or magazines, or media in general. You can easily see how bad things have gotten due to negligence, ignorance, and in some (but not many) cases, maliciousness.

Yeah, it's very easy to lose hope.

And I bet Thomas Jefferson thought that things would never get better, too. He didn't even have fake representation - his government said he didn't deserve it. Not that it did much good, mind you - if the king got annoyed with the representative houses for opposing him, he'd just disband them. The king's armies were never too far away, either - sometimes they were in your living room, just because they could, and if they woke up feeling grumpy, well, they might just shoot you. They'd get away with it too. Most of Jefferson's income went straight to taxes - and the rest he was very limited on how he could spend, because trade was throttled so tight it was practically not there. Things were bad. And I can imagine he sat at his writing desk on some nights and asked himself if things would ever get better.

And they did.

And that's what America is to me, my friends. America is revolution. It's where people can stand up and say "no" to the government, and have the government listen. It's where people like you and me have power to change things. It's where ideas can shatter long-held traditions and thoughts can overpower military might. And maybe America today isn't full of that America anymore. Maybe most Americans aren't really familiar with, or fond of, that America. But it's where we came from, and like it or not, without it we wouldn't be here. And I pray we'll wake up before we need to be there again. But if the time comes, we know that God is on the side of freedom, and no government is going to get in the way of that.

And really, I can't say that any better than Thomas Jefferson did.

(x-posted as always to my blog.)

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient suffrance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally, the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever:

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizen taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connection and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

There's a definite upside to being a loner. Makes it easier to stay out of trouble.

DC V. HELLER: AFFIRMED.

Hallelujah there's still at least 5 people in power who think the Constitution means something. It's kind of sad that I'm so overjoyed by such a simple affirmation of what is already there in black and white but we've just been going down the wrong path for so long...

For those not following this, DC v. Heller, it's a case brought before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the DC gun bans. However, their affirmation of the 2nd amendment extends far beyond DC: Chicago, New York, and other cities and states have similar laws in effect that are now ready for striking under this decision. Here's the affirmation, straight from the decision released by the Court:

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Emphasis mine, but look at that! Three of the biggest anti-gun arguments I hear every day shattered in one fell swoop! Thank GOD for those justices right now. I feel like going outside and doing a happy dance.

For those wanting to know more, here are some great related links, which can then be followed for yet more links:

• prester_scott 's writeup on the case.
• SCOTUSblog's summary of the decision
• SCOTUSblog on what's next.
• Videos from NBC and CNN

Cross-posted to my blog.

Via prester_scott: Leave me a comment requesting, and I will ask you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. Then you update your LJ with the answers to the questions, as well as this explanation and offer.

So, we'll start with his request: Most of your blogposts are your thoughts on weighty issues, so I don't get much idea of what you're like in person. So, pick five interests (from your LJ interests list, if you like; or just things that you spend a lot of time thinking about during an average day) and tell me something about each one.

I haven't updated my LJ interests in forever, but lets roll the dice and see what we get...


Also, in other news, I am now two weeks into my new job working for AT&T supporting a really cool new product they've rolled out. The best part of the job so far is the level of trust and responsibility they give you: I am starting off as a tech who has all tools and resources needed to fix problems that come up and I know the system from start to finish. There's no need to refer people to anyone else except for things like sales. Being treated like an adult is a great start at any job...

So, yeah, things have been busy. I've been trying to manage my WoW guild on top of the job, but I think that I'll have to pass management duties on to the other officers here as we move into the Sunwell. Being acting GM takes more time than you'd think!

I keep thinking I'll start posting on here more regularly but I never do. Not sure why, I guess I just don't find my life that interesting.

Put up some thoughts on the subject of corporate worship over at the blog, now available in HD!*


*Not really

Memorial day means a lot to me. I take it very seriously that people have fought and died for this country. I think it's very appropriate that we take a day to honor those fallen troops and remember them. I don't think it's too much to ask that our politicians do the same. But Obama has managed to piss me off again.

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

And this gem from Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

"Memorial Day is a day to honor our nation’s veterans, not a day for political posturing."

For those of us who aren't history majors, let's recap a bit what Memorial day is about.

After the Civil War, the South honored their dead with a special day of mourning, honor, and remembrance. General John Logan, who served in the Union army during the war, was moved by how they treated their fallen soldiers and believed there should be a national day to do so. He went on to announce that a "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed on May 30th, specifically chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. On this day, the tombs of fallen soldiers were decorated with flowers and laurels in remembrance of their sacrifice. After World War II, it was renamed officially to Memorial Day and made a Federal holiday.

Note that veterans created this day to remember and honor their fallen brothers-in-arms. This is not a day to remember the living - although we can be proud of them and should honor them every day - this is a day to honor those who have given everything for God and Country. The veterans have a separate holiday in November.

This ignorant pandering is disrespectful to both the veterans and the dead, and it pisses me off.

And then, to top it all off, Obama rewrites history:

"I had a uncle who was one of the, um, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps."

Here's a video, just in case you ever hear people citing the Washington Post, which glosses over this part. Obama claims his uncle was part of an American division that liberated Auschwitz. Really? Because I distinctly remember the Soviets liberating that place. We weren't anywhere near there at the time. He then goes on to say, "when he came home, he just went up into the attic, and he didn't leave the house for six months." He plays him as a victim, and tries to use that story to push his agenda further and slam John McCain.

It's disgusting. The more I hear this crap coming from him, the more I'm convinced to pull the lever for McCain in November. Like Kim said: I love my country more than I hate John McCain.

I keep thinking, hey, this would be good to blog about, or that. But its just too ridiculous. I can't do it. Hillary invoking assassination fears against Obama? Californian Senator Maxine Waters threatening to nationalize the oil industry? Obama suggesting that McCain, a veteran, doesn't understand the needs of... veterans?

I'm out of things to talk about in the political world. Its insane. These are the rulers of the nation, the elected masters of the people, the ones who write law and enforce its compliance. The ones who make war and forge peace. The ones who set the standard for how people are supposed to act, work, and be in this country.

And it's gotten totally out of hand.

It's not just the Democrats - oh no, I could list other things the Republicans have done easily enough, but I think we've all seen plenty firsthand over the last almost-eight years. But yet the people, while prattling on about how the politicians may screw things up, or how they'd do it differently, don't actually have any clue what's going on, or hold educated opinions about any of the issues at hand.

And they just keep going with it.

I feel like madness has become the norm and I'm outside looking in while everyone else stands about pretending, and believing, that "we've always been at war with Eastasia." I'm completely at a loss here, and it feels like there's no hope.

Is this the country I have to look forward to? Is this how I'm going to live my life?

I want to say - I want to scream - no, but I don't know where to begin. So I start with the people around me and hope that maybe eventually it will make a difference.

It's a doozy, and it's up in its entirety at the blog.

The question: in Acts 1-2, what are the apostles feeling and fearing now that Jesus is gone? How do they react?  This is a long one, so I’ve hidden some of it behind a “more” tag.

The initial reaction to Christ’s resurrection seems to be that the political victory they have desired has now come (1:6) but instead they are told that the political power was not yet coming (1:7) - instead, they would receive the Holy Spirit and become the witnesses of Christ to the world (1:8).   We can see that m any of Christ’s followers, while seeing him as a teacher, also saw him as their (potential) political and military leader as well, expecting him to restore Israel to its former power and glory, expelling Rome and its armies, and freeing the nation.

For many then, this must have come as a huge disappointment, perhaps disillusioning them to the other teachings of Christ. And so the initial fallout starts - first with the political zealots who saw Christ as a purely political leader. Those who remained at this point had to shift their focus away from all of that onto the spiritual implications of what they were told. They were to receive power, this Holy Spirit, and they would use this power to bear witness of his deeds and words to the world. Of note is that Christ immediately covers all ground here - he starts with Jerusalem and Judea, the provinces near where he was, where many of his followers had been or came from. He starts by saying in your own houses and neighborhoods, then goes to Samaria - geographically close, but culturally very different - and then adds “and to the end of the earth.”

He has just taken these people out of their comfort zones. He’s said that the power they now have will take them to places they’ve never been, to places they don’t want to go, but would still be there and working even in their own homes.  This would have different effects on different people, and thus I suspect that the apostles and his other followers all reacted differently to the news. Someone like Thomas was probably trying to process what it meant, what he would have to do, while Peter was thinking of where he would go. But what’s interesting here is that the first thing they do after hearing this news is not to talk about it, or immediately go act on it - instead, they return to the place where they have been staying, about a mile away, near Jerusalem, and the remaining apostles (along with about a hundred other Christ followers) meet in an upper room and elect a new apostle.

( Read More... )

Posted a couple things over at the blog.

Looking for suggestions on new music, in the following categories:

Reverence: think Jars of Clay, David Crowder, and Matt Redman if he had a good band.

Drum and Bass: heavy stuff, too, not that crap you'll hear in clubs.

And um... I guess anything else you think I might like. I'm jonesin' for some new music though.

This, and my other studies, are cross-posted to my Wordpress blog.

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

Jesus here is teaching. He is in a position of authority when the Pharisees show up to pose their question. They refer to the command in Deuteronomy 22:24, referenced again in Ezekiel 16. Jesus does not respond to them directly, but instead bends down and writes on the ground. We don't know what he wrote, or why. It appears from the next line that it did not answer their question, however, as they "continued to ask him."

At this point he stands up (ceasing his writing) and gives his answer. He does not (directly) challenge the law cited, nor the guilt of the prisoner. He also ignores the obvious duplicity of the Pharisees. He says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her," and then bends down and continues writing. I think this is really interesting. First his passive-aggressive approach to the presentation; he does not say the law is correct or incorrect, does not challenge it, but instead challenges those who supposedly seek to uphold it. Presumably, he's speaking only to the Pharisees when he says "among you," as it later says they all left but there's still someone around to record the event. His challenge, then, of saying that only the one without sin among the judges may condemn is very interesting. After they leave, he is left standing "alone" with the woman (presumably not entirely alone - rather still in his position of authority, with his followers watching) and he then tells the woman he does not condemn her, and tells her to sin no more. This is an acknowledgment of Christ's sinless nature, as he did not walk away with the Pharisees, or move on, but instead took the responsibility of resolving the situation into his own hands after the other authorities had left, being unworthy.

This idea shapes a lot of my interactions with those outside the church, and I hope will further shape it in the future. I have always had the idea that if someone does not claim the doctrines and teachings of scripture, it is unreasonable to expect they will follow the teachings. It would be like a member of the basketball team being upset with a member of the chess club for not showing up to morning practices in the gym. Note that this is not moral relativism I am suggesting here: the truths and morals laid out by Scripture are not compromised. I instead suggest that those who reject the Word will obviously reject its morals and teachings. It is not our place to judge them, for we are no more sinless than the Pharisees above. Rather, I have chosen to merely make the person aware of my beliefs and let it rest. Again, my job is not to judge. My job is to act as an emissary of the Gospel. An emissary, "someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else." I [should] represent Christ through my actions and lifestyle, constant preaching or judging is not only counterproductive but inappropriate. Even Christ, when he absolves the woman, simply says "sin no more." We don't know what happened to her. She may have gone right back to her sinful lifestyle. Christ has done his work. He has told the woman what she must do. It is up to her to follow. Similarly, my non-believing friends know that I am a Christ-follower. They, I hope, see some glimpse of his purpose in my life. I represent him to them. It is up to them to follow.

...I'm also really curious about what he wrote.

I'm starting a new study with my old friend and mentor, Brian Aaby. I'll be posting my study texts here with some commentary I wrote for it on what I'm looking at, tagged as "bible study" and using the Irish Cross icon. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to, and can use the icon as a warning to skip the entry. If you do want to read, then feel free to read and comment. I post them here as a method of archival as well as to make myself put them into the open.

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."

"If we had the atom bomb, we would have used it against the British."

Quotes are both from Mahatma Ghandi.

Stolen from Heathir, Amanda, and more:

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on yaoi, favorite type of underwear, graphic techniques, etc. Repost in your own journal so that we can all learn more about each other.

At the expense of the LJ-Strikers!


(I'm still alive, I swear. IM me sometime.)

New hotness at the blog, related to Netflix, Open Source Software, and my experience with them tonight.