Don't support abortion? You just might be a "rightwing terrorist"

The blogosphere and conservative talk shows are all abuzz over the Department of Homeland Security report that warned of potential "right-wing" domestic terrorists, even though there is no evidence of the sort.

The report labels as extremists those who:

* (U) Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups),and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Huh, I fit the bill on several of those descriptions! If they find out about all those guns I own, I expect to see a "florist" van full of guys with headphones outside of our house any day now! Who knew that belief in the First, Second and Tenth amendment makes you a threat to freedom!

As Rush Limbaugh points out, this report comes out to coincide with the Tea Party rallies around the nation. Suppose that is a coincidence?

David K. Rehbein, National Commander of the American Legion, wrote a scathing letter to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the DHS, condemning her clumsy blanket warning about the potential radicalization of returning military vets. The report warned that:

The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.

Nice to know that our vets are considered potential threats to national security, the same national security they risked their lives defending. What is ironic is that we already have domestic terrorists in this country. They tend to be left-wing nuts in groups like PETA and Earth First!, as a markedly less publicized report from DHS pointed out earlier in the year.

What is really disturbing about this report is that the DHS admits that there is no specific threat and yet they still feel free to lump pro-life Americans, returning vets, gun owners, people suspicious of big government, etc in with the Klan and Timothy McVeigh. Apparently anyone who owns a gun or refuses to walk in lockstep with the most left wing, pro-abortion administration in history has become an enemy of the state, a "counter-revolutionary".

Viva la counter revolution!

Just in time for the Coronation

I am not a big bumper sticker person and I am not a big unsolicited email person, but I saw an email ad in my spam folder, checked it out and had to order it. I am proudly sporting this bumper sticker on my truck. It kind of says it all.

You can order yours here, only a buck for shipping and handling!

Yet another reason to dislike Obama

Would-be appointees quizzed on guns

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is asking potential appointees detailed questions about gun ownership, and firearms advocates aren’t happy about it.

The National Rifle Association has denounced the move, which has already led one Republican senator to consider legislation aimed at ensuring a president can’t use an applicant’s gun ownership status to deny employment.

It’s just one question on a lengthy personnel form — No. 59 on a 63-question list — but the furor over the query is a vivid reminder of the intensity of support for Second Amendment rights and signals the scrutiny Obama is likely to receive from the ever-vigilant gun lobby.

Obama’s transition team declined to go into detail on why they included the question, suggesting only that it was done to ensure potential appointees were in line with gun laws.

Anyone think that Obama, with a far left agenda and a power hungry liberal majority is not going to go after gun owner rights? Think again. Might be time for me to buy another firearm or three...

John Piper is indeed fallible...

...and he is dead(ly) wrong in this case

In a brief and kind of random post, Pastor John Piper posted a brief note on the Desiring God blog regarding the recent decision overturning the D.C. gun ban. His full post reads as follows:

What do the supreme court ruling on guns and the martyrdom of missionaries have to do with each other?

Noël and I watched Beyond Gates of Splendor, the documentary version of End of the Spear, the story of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint in Ecuador in 1956. That same day we heard that the Supreme Court decided in favor of the right of Americans to keep firearms at home for self-defense.

Here’s the connection. The missionaries had guns when they were speared to death. One of them shot the gun into the air, it appears, as he was killed, rather than shooting the natives. They had agreed to do this. The reason was simple and staggeringly Christlike:

The natives are not ready for heaven. We are.

I suspect the same could be said for almost anyone who breaks into my house. There are other reasons why I have never owned a firearm and do not have one in my house. But that reason moves me deeply. I hope you don’t use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun. Better to find some missionaries like this and support them.

With all respect due to John Piper, and he is a man I respect theologically as much as almost anyone out there, that is a poor argument. Should these missionaries, intentionally in harm's way to bring the Gospel to an unreached people have shot the natives? Of course not. But is it the same thing as defending your home against a criminal? What if the natives had attacked the family of the missionaries?

Dr. James White responded on his blog and his response is far better thought out than John Piper's original statement.

This is the best part of his response...

In the spirit of Christian freedom and with the deepest respect for brother Piper, I could not disagree more strongly with the sentiment here expressed. First, I see no parallel whatsoever between missionaries in the jungle seeking to open contact with a violent and primitive tribe and a meth-laden gang member seeking to rob, rape, and murder. In fact, I see many, many reasons to view the two very, very differently. The gang member in the streets of Phoenix has every possible opportunity to do good, to obey the gospel, to work and abide by the law. But he chooses, purposefully and knowingly, to do otherwise. He chooses to enter into my home, threatening the lives of my family. And he comes armed. In the second place, I don't believe a Christian is a martyr if they fall prey to the random, drug-induced violence of a gang member or criminal. There is a difference between being a victim because you did not take the proper precautions and being a martyr because you purposefully expose yourself to danger and even death in the service of the gospel.

From my stand point, in agreement with Dr. White...First, we are not called on to cast our lives aside randomly, for no reason. Should a Christian not drive a car because he might get in an accident and kill someone else? Well it is OK if I die, but I might kill an unbeliever!

Second, I would imagine that John Piper, a man who has published a number of hugely successful books, lives in a pretty decent house in a nice neighborhood. And good for him, he is a talented and blessed writer and speaker. Unfortunately the people who are left defenseless under confiscatory gun laws probably don't live in a similarly nice neighborhood. Dr. Piper has never really had his gun rights under our Constitution violated, but those who live in D.C. have. They have lived in fear all of these years and been left with a choice: arm themselves against violent criminals and in doing so become law breakers themselves or leave themselves at the mercy of the worst criminals in our society and hope the cops show up before the criminals get in.

Third, Piper is one of the strongest proponents of the sovereignty of God in salvation. I hardly think that God would permit one of His elect sheep to break in my house, only to have me gun him down defending my family and thwart His will to save that person. He will let no one snatch from His hand any of those given Him by the Father. There is no exemption there for knuckleheads who break into my house.

Again, Dr. Piper and his ministry have blessed me greatly along with countless other Christians, but I believe in this case he has let an emotional reaction override his judgment. If Dr. Piper chooses to not have a firearm in his home, that is his right and I respect that. But when he suggests that I ought not defend my family from potential harm, with faulty reasoning I believe, I choose to respectfully let him know he is wrong. I am in total agreement with Dr. White's closing statement:

And should any evildoer think of looking up my home, thinking he will find an unarmed victim, think again. I will be glad to proclaim the gospel to you today, but if I find you coming through the window of my bedroom tonight, you will be ushered into eternity post-haste. Some decisions are, indeed, final.