Joining the NRA. Because We Don't Have A Marine Sentry Post of Our Own.

This is a picture of the Marine Corps Sentry Post behind the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, where President Franklin Roosevelt spent much of his time. Aside from the "Servants Quarters" and this Marine Sentry post, it is very much a typical example of a modest American home of the era.

What does this have to do with the National Rifle Association? Well, it is like this: we love our Marines (and we are SO PROUD of the two in our family), but unlike the President, Congress and assorted very wealthy actors, we don't have one stationed full time on the property to protect us. And our modest little American home is no one's "servant's quarters".

 I like knowing that if I ever needed or wanted to, I could choose to learn to shoot and purchase the weapon of my own free choice, and have the capacity to protect my ownself and those around me. And I have always felt very safe knowing that any or all of my neighbors may make that choice for themselves as well.

Without having to get permission from anyone. Especially not from people who are supposed to be servants of my freedom, but who seem to have forgotten that I am not their serf (and God bless you, Joshua Boston, for telling the truth so eloquently. Ooorah!) .(PS Dear Veterans, please see this post about how much we need you here now that you are home again)


So, thanks Mark Levin for the link and the nudge to join the NRA. Right now is as good a time as any. No organization is perfect, but the NRA is a more reliable protector of the US Constitution & the liberties it spells out for us as individuals, than most of the people in Washington are.

Talk to your congresspeople (there are links in my sidebar to sites that will help you id who they are and how to contact them).  We are so grateful to have Governor Rick Perry and our State Representative Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, who are faithful to the best purposes of government in promoting genuine liberty for individuals to make our OWN decisions.

But one of the most powerful ways to make our voices heard right now is to join the NRA. Because the news media doesn't report on how many people are writing our Senators. But the media - and Congress - always notice how many new members the NRA has.

Stand With Hobby Lobby Against Forced Abortion Funding

Yes, Virginia, there are still courageous American companies out there. People who are willing to risk their money for their faith. In a profoundly patriotic move, Hobby Lobby is standing up against President Obama's demand that this company pay for abortions & abortifacent drugs for its employees despite Hobby Lobby's stated mission of "Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles."

Hobby Lobby CEO David Green issued a letter that is printed on the LifeNews.com site, outlining the situation, and announcing his intent to stand up against oppression at the risk of millions of dollars in daily fines for refusing to comply with this unGodly and illegal administrative rule. That's right - it isn't even a part of the actual law, but a lousy bureaucratic directive that President Obama is happily supporting and specifically targeting religious people to try to force us all to bend to his will instead of God's. As Mr Green states in his letter "The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief."

People of faith and those who understand abortion is murder are showing our support. Today has been Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day, and there are still a few hours left. I shopped at HobbyLobby.com because we do not have a local store.  I bought a nice set of Bombay calligraphy inks that I have been wanting. There's a $2 shipping special, and I found a coupon on the Online Shopping Home Page for 40% off the highest priced eligible item.

For whom will they come next?

Maybe next will be mandated birth control pills for teen girls - pills which increase the incidence of cancer and stroke, and can interfere with fertility in later life.  I have never taken the pill - effective, safe, cheap and easy birth control is available at every grocery store and in every convenience store on every corner in the country.  And condoms protect against venereal diseases (sexually transmitted diseases aka STDs) such as HPV (genital warts), Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, and gonorrhea.

Birth Control Pills and Abortion won't protect you against  these diseases or the permanent sterility they often cause, but condoms can help keep you from catching them (abstinence and monogamy are the two best methods of prevention).

Condoms CAN and DO prevent pregnancy, prevent VD, don't have side effects, are inexpensive and available to every woman and man in America - no prescription or insurance needed. Condoms are forbidden by some religions, including the Catholic Church, but they are so cheap that it would not be a hardship on anyone to buy their own.

Why don't President Obama, the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius and Planned Parenthood tell you these truths about "birth control"?

For whom will they come next?



.

The Carol of the Drum

The Little Drummer Boy, originally titled The Carol of the Drum, is based on a traditional Czechoslovakian Christmas carol. The last line always brings tears to my eyes. Merry Christmas, ya'll. :-)

Lyrics to The Little Drummer Boy

Come they told me ( pa rum pum pum pum)
The new born King to see ( pa rum pum pum pum)
Our finest gifts we bring ( pa rum pum pum pum)
To lay before the King ( pa rum pum pum pum)
(Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum).

So to honor Him ( pa rum pum pum pum)
When we come.

Little baby ( pa rum pum pum pum)
I am a poor boy too ( pa rum pum pum pum)
I have no gift to bring ( pa rum pum pum pum)
To lay before a King ( pa rum pum pum pum)
(Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum).

Shall I play for you ( pa rum pum pum pum)
On my drum?

Mary nodded ( pa rum pum pum pum)
The ox and lamb kept time ( pa rum pum pum pum)
I played my drum for Him ( pa rum pum pum pum)
I played my best for Him ( pa rum pum pum pum)
(Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum).

Then He smiled at me ( pa rum pum pum pum)
Me and my drum.

Our Radical, Letterpress Printed, Christmas Card

"The Pecan Corner Press" is operational at last. The first big project is our Christmas card. When I asked Paul what he wanted, he said "I will never send a non-religious card again" and asked for something different than the usual Christmas tree or Santa Claus. What better than John 3:16?

This card goes to all we send cards to (some years we manage to send cards, other years we have good intentions!), without regard to faith or lack thereof. Christmas is not about a generic baby, or some vague non-religious "peace", but about the Son of Man that baby Jesus became.  We owe people the Truth, and the Truth is that:

"God so loves the world that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but will have eternal life."

 The paper is Strathmore Deckle Edge card, in Ivory, and the type is Goudy's Franciscan from Dale Guild via NA Graphics. The ink is copper metallic and black, both oil-based.

 As I learn to print again after a long haitus, I have:
* set type backwards (this means setting it left-right reading in my type stick causing it to print in reverse, instead of correctly setting it upside down and right to left)
* pied formes (this means spilling the tiny pieces of type and having to sort them back out)
* smashed type with the press grippers (this means letting the grippers that hold the paper get too close to the type, causing them to mash into it and ruin it)
* printed 5 out of 10 with some kind of error - mostly register errors where print is crooked compared to other elements (due mainly to that deckle edge!), but also a few scorches in melting the thermographic powder.

But I also learned some good things and am happy with the way they came out. I used dampened paper, and also used thermographic power to raise the print on the front. Between the damping and the heating, I had finally to steam the cards and put them all under the book press to straighten out again. I managed to get about 70 good cards out of 140 blanks that I started with.

Each card required 4 passes through the press, two sprinkles with thermo powder, one pass into the toaster oven, brushing to remove excess thermo powder, and a final steaming and pressing.

I also printed 200 on smaller, panel cards, without thermography, for the American Amateur Press Association December bundle. Because of their smooth surface (no dampening needed), straight edges (no register issues), and leaving off the thermography, I only ruined 4 of those cards. Good to remember for reducing waste in future projects! :-)

Oh! I am happy to be printing again! :-)

(By the way, if you like the idea of a letterpress printed Christmas card, check out G. Johanson's blog - linked from my sidebar. This pro-life printer has a lovely card based on a 15th Century woodcut of the three kings, and some cool Dala Horse designs.)

Saying "No" to The Affordable Care Act: A Real Alternative for Christians

For most of my life, I've been either been covered under my employer's health insurance plans or paid my own expenses out of pocket.  As a healthy person, the insurance companies made profit from the premiums they collected on me. During times when I paid for my treatments, I was able to do so even on a small income - but that was before the ridiculous inflation of the past 10 to 15 years that has made fees - not costs but charges - skyrocket.

For a couple of years recently, until we could not afford it any longer, we paid for private insurance - a whopping $1200.00 a month for two people in excellent health.

I have not had health insurance for about 3 years now. If I need treatment for something, I will get it, and will find a way to pay for it. I have great genes and expect to continue to have excellent health, so this does not worry me much.

But the provisions of the "Affordable Care Act" aka "Obamacare" do concern me. The law and its implementation are gross violations of religious freedom for millions of Christians. And I cannot acquiesce to such a law.

Plus, in recent years, I've had a growing recognition that "insurance" is unhealthy for our economy and our society in many ways - I've blogged about this before.

I also have increasingly nagging questions about how heavily a Christian should rely on insurance within the framework of our faith. It is wise to invest for the future, to guard against want, but at the same time we must not let Insurance become an idol and a false god (which it seems increasingly to be in America).

So I was interested last night to discover,in an article on the Generation Cedar blog, something I had never heard of before: "Health Care Sharing" - a sort of charitable co-op for medical costs. (Do not confuse this long-existing word "co-op", which is short for cooperative aka cooperation, with the Democrats' co-option of the word to define yet another government-fundwasting program called "Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans" - no wonder we are headed toward Babel, when words are redefined to ridiculous extent. But I digress.)

The Atlantic's "A Christian Alternative to Health Insurance" gives a good overview of how they work. Of course, the article has a negative slant, but for realists who comprehend the nature and principles of cooperative organizations in general, the supposed "negatives" are not only acceptable but desireable. To put it another way: what co-op organic food store would allow members to bring in DDT-laden veggies or demand daily access to Kobe beef and foi gras?

Consumer Reports responded to a question last year about signing up for a "health care sharing ministry" with some informative detail, and links to the three largest such ministries:  Samaritan Ministries, Christian Care Ministry’s Medi-Share and Christian Healthcare Ministries.

Here's the exciting part: author Nancy Metcalf says in the article that "Membership in a health-care sharing ministry in operation since 1999 (i.e. any of the big three mentioned above) will exempt individuals from the law’s controversial mandate to purchase health insurance."

Since I haven't had much time to study the pros and cons of medical cost-sharing ministries, I'll just share a few more links. Other articles include:
The Christian Post "Christian Health Care Sharing Requires More Than Religion"
 Charisma News "Alternative Christian Health Insurance Skirts Obamacare"
 USA Today "Health care sharing ministries offer insurance alternative"
 Christian Personal Finance "Medi-Share Review: A Christian Health Insurance Alternative?"

Paul will be eligible for Medicare in April, but I am seriously thinking of looking into this for myself. I'd love to hear comments and testimonies if you have been or are a member of such a ministry! 

Happy Thanksgiving! The Immigrants Holiday Since 1540 AD

Happy Thanksgiving! It is 6:00 am and a beautiful morning. It will be just the three of us today: Paul, me and our granddaughter. I made the pies and cornbread last night, and Paul has the turkey marinating in brine. We added a ham to the menu, as Granddaughter doesn't care for turkey.

We have much to be grateful for.  We are Christians: assured of redemption, and secure in knowing we again will see our loved ones who have gone on before us.

We live in America, free to live, believe, work, think and speak; free to make for ourselves the best life we can on our own, not shackled into some hereditary "class" or trade, not under the thumb of hereditary governance.

We have great wealth, no matter our circumstances. Even the poorest among us have access to warm shelter, sufficient food, hope for a future better than our past.

I have never figured out how to "bump" posts without messing up the timeline, so here are links to Pecan Corner's most "classic" Thanksgiving Day posts. If you like them, please feel free to share. :-)

The Immigrants Holiday: Thanksgiving and The Original Melting Pot 

First Turkey Days! Thanksgiving Feasts in America 1540 - 1640 (or "The Real History of Thanksgiving")

God bless you, and God bless America!

(PS The Photo is of Wild Persimmon Trees on an Oklahoma byway. I took the picture when I went home for a visit last weekend. Mama and I had a lot of fun picking them - this was something she used to take us to do when we were growing up! They ripen in the fall, and are not edible until ripe - usually after the first heavy frost. But don't think just freezing them will work if they are not ripe yet. It won't! So you just have to stake out your tree and try to get there before the possums do! :-)  )

Hope at a Hard Time

"On Christ the solid Rock I stand - all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand."

It's a scary world, tonight. Those of us who have lived and seen how civilizations can crumble, who know the danger signs, who remember the ingredients that generated the good life we've shared across the world, and who remember the hard aching slog to pull out of the mire back onto solid ground: we had hoped to spare our children the toil, but it looks like our efforts have not been enough to push back against the entropy.

Our liberal friends don't understand the despair we feel, and like they did after all the other encroachments against American liberty, they roll their eyes and dismiss our worries as unwarranted silliness. The less charitable, incapable of compassion, continue to project their own feelings onto us: they think it's all a game, that we are just being competitive and write us off as poor losers; they project their own secret "isms" onto people who actually live in unity with true equality, they refuse to recognize that the only place bigotry still exists is in their own hearts and minds.

It tempts one toward despair.

But for just such times as these, God tells us: "FEAR NOT. ALL SHALL BE WELL."

I receive the David Wilkerson Devotionals each day, and these have truly been a God-send, a treasure trove of reminders that God's ways do not depend on human organization or plans. Here's a snip from one called "The Impossible Mission", that tonight, especially, has given me great relief and comfort:

"We must realize that Jesus was talking to ordinary, insignificant, uneducated men and women. He was placing the very future of His Church on their shoulders. They must have been overwhelmed.

"Can you imagine the conversation that must have taken place once their Master ascended to heaven? "Did I hear Him right? How could we start a worldwide revolution? We're penniless and the Romans are beating and killing us. If we are treated this way here in Jerusalem, how will we be treated when we witness and preach in Rome?”

"Another might have said, "How does our Lord expect us to go into all the world with the gospel when we don't even have enough money to go to Jericho? How are we to learn languages when we haven't been educated? This is all impossible."

"It was indeed an impossible mission. Yet our challenge today is just as daunting!

"If all who read this message would allow the Holy Spirit to make this word real to them — to seek Him for His burden and guidance — there is no telling what kind of harvest the Spirit might reap. The truth is, the greatest works for eternity are done not in mass crusades, but with one saint reaching one lost soul."

This bears repeating: "The truth is, the greatest works for eternity are done not in mass crusades, but with one saint reaching one lost soul. "

That is where we came from. Constantly, all of Christian history rises from this. We must know that this pattern will continue into the future as well. God loves His people, and this, today, is an opportunity to strengthen our faith, to look to today with confidence that tomorrow is in the hands of our great Good Father, who will fight for us on our behalf. We need merely stand faithful in Jesus.

Be of good cheer! Hold fast the faith! God will not allow your foot to stumble!