Christmas Tree 2022

The Supreme Court of the United States <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/supreme-court-hobby-lobby-decision-contraception-mandate-108429.html">handed down their decision</a> in the Hobby Lobby case. That decision was in favor of liberty. Hobby Lobby has been fighting for the right to not provide and pay for the type of "healthcare" that can cause an abortion of a tiny little baby in the womb. The Supreme Court has ruled that they do indeed have the right, as one would expect in a free country.
After that decision was handed down, my Twitter stream lit up in a blaze of righteous anger from those on the side of death. The general consensus from moderates to liberals is that Hobby Lobby is being allowed to flaunt the law of the land and, what's next, someone refusing healthcare altogether? The shock and horror.
Let me be clear, I think it is immoral and repugnant that any entity is required by the laws of our land to provide anything for anyone. A corporation is run by people with convictions and morals. You would not require of me that I provide for the general welfare of my neighbor <a href="#fn:1">1</a> so why do we require it of employers? We've made corporations this faceless entity that obviously has resources beyond our comprehension so they just need to buckle up, the CEO should sell a yacht or three, and provide whatever we the people want.
It occurs to me that if I had my way, and corporations were not these big legal entities that we see them as today, but were simply seen as individuals who formed a partnership together, perhaps a lot of this wrongheaded thinking would go away. But I digress.
The tack I wish to take here is this; I keep seeing this type of phrase tossed around negatively about the SCOTUS decision:
<pre><code>We live in a country where corporations have more rights than women.
</code></pre>
This is at best a misleading statement, meant to stir up an emotional response <a href="#fn:2">2</a>. The very premise of the statement is based on a false assumption. The assumption is that a right was taken away from women in this decision to allow Hobby Lobby to not fund murder.
In fact, no rights were taken away from Women, and some were given back to Hobby Lobby. Women may still have an abortion in this country, as sick and sad as that may be. What has changed, however, is that Women may not expect Hobby Lobby to be forced to fund such a heinous act. Note that we can still expect Hobby Lobby to be forced to fund all manor of other healthcare needs. <a href="#fn:3">3</a>
But we have devolved in this country — in our modern society — to the point where we perceive that whatever our heart desires is a right. We desire that woman should be able to murder their unborn children and that this service should be rendered unto them for no cost out of their own pocket. Someone has to foot the bill, why not the employers? To us, freedom means free things for the masses. But this is not liberty, this is tyranny.
To illustrate, let us suppose that what I and everyone else in the country these days wants, is for employers to provide a Ferrari to all employees. One of the companies decides they can't afford to do this and so they don't provide it to me. Is my liberty now infringed upon because my employer would not provide me with what I want? Would I say that the employer has invaded my garage and denied me access to a Ferrari? No one in their right mind would answer this in the affirmative, and yet that's exactly what's going on. Only in this case the stakes are much higher. Those in charge at Hobby Lobby have a moral issue with the murder of babies (I mean, I can't imagine why, right?) and so they do not want to be party to those murders. The loony leftists would like to require that Hobby Lobby provide this type of healthcare.
Look, I'm just going to come right out and say this. You can call me out over on Facebook or Twitter if you like. You can accuse me of making this an "us versus them" debate, and that's fine because I am. I draw the line at murder, so sue me. Anyone who cannot see this issue for what it is is party to the evil that has been spreading over this country like a plague. God has sent a blindness upon us so that we no longer recognize good from evil. We cannot recognize the clarity of this situation and what is happening. We can no longer distinguish between freedom and liberty, and the will of a people whose hearts and minds want nothing but wickedness.
So yes, this is about liberty. It is about those who do not want liberty, but want to have their desires met without regard for others, and those who want liberty to be evenly applied to all.
<hr>
<ol>
<li>
Well, at least not directly, but that’s another post. <a href="#fnref:1">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
A more cynical view is that it is an outright attempt at guilt manipulation. <a href="#fnref:2">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
Which I still find morally repugnant. Government should in no way be involved in a business negotiation, which is what is going on in an agreement between employer and employee. <a href="#fnref:3">↩</a>
</li>
</ol>

Hobby Lobby, Rights, and Women

Thirty three years ago today, my mom and dad were married. Ten months and eight days later I was born. I now have seven brothers and sisters.
Over the course of their thirty two years of marriage, my mother and father showed me, and anyone who cared to look, what real love looks like. They loved each other, they loved their children, and they loved their friends. Their marriage and their life have literally shaped who I am today, and provided the role model for how I love my wife and what our marriage looks like. They provided the template and foundation, and Rachel and I reap the benefits. I learned to communicate and to love and care for my wife from my parents.
I do not pretend to know why God chose to take my mother from us last year. But I do know that he is sovereign in all things. I also know that I love my mother and I miss her very much.
Happy anniversary mom and dad!

33 Years Ago

No joke, this is an entirely new site, new installation of ExpressionEngine, new design, new everything. I did import all the old entries of course, dating all the way back to just a couple months before I married my beautiful wife. It feels so good to have a clean system, untainted from all my messing around and not knowing what I was doing with ExpressionEngine over the years.
<h2>Merge</h2>
The first thing to note is that I have merged by personal blog that has always resided on this website, with my tech blog from <a href="http://buzzingpixel.com">BuzzingPixel.com</a>. The reason for this is having a movie blog, a tech blog, and a personal blog felt a bit disjointed. I wanted to consolidate and try to refresh my personal "brand" so to speak. So, all non-movie related items that I want to write about go here. That means you're going to get all kinds of stuff on this blog and if you look back through the entries, you'll find all the old entries from BuzzingPixel as well as the old entries from my personal blog. No more distinction.
<h2>Design</h2>
I think it's important for me, as a <a href="http://www.caddis.co/team/tj-draper">professional web developer</a> to have a slick, good looking website. When I rolled out design iteration four (the previous design) of this site a few years ago, I received a fair number of compliments. But since that time, mobile devices have become ubiquitous, retina screens have become more prolific — I got a retina MacBook Pro and boy did that old, non-retina design look hideous — and the design in general had become quite dated. I wanted a new design that was super clean, lent itself more to reading, was retina and mobile friendly, and in general would make me proud of my own website. In addition, there was not much of a focus on the site for telling the world about me or my family. For the redesign, I wanted to address all those issues.
So, for starters, go ahead and grab the edge of your browser (if you’re reading this on a Mac or PC), and squeeze that window down small. You'll see that the site responds to the browser size (made possible by <a href="http://weepower.com/">Wee</a>!). If you're already reading this on a mobile device, then you'll see that the site looks great on your device. And I paired down the design to a few essential elements. It's clean, it's sharp (to me at least), and I like it.
<h2>Frequency</h2>
I really doubt this means that I'll post much more often — most of my free time is consumed by <a href="http://moviebyte.com/">MovieByte</a>. But I'm going to try to write something here at least once every couple of weeks (go ahead and mark down my failure prediction).
Well, that's pretty much it. It's new, it's shiny, and I like it. I worked hard on it with late nights and weekends and if you think it looks cool, feel free to let me know. If you don't like it, well, remember how hard I worked on it and keep your opinions to yourself! (Kidding... kind of).

I Burned Down the Old Site, Here's The New One


This started out as a Twitter post, but quickly grew too long to fit.
I admit that, as staunchly pro-life as I am, I have not kept up with the proceedings in Texas as much as I would like. But my Twitter stream is a pretty even split between the pro-choicers name-calling the pro-lifers, and vice versa and it keeps nagging at me to write something about it. There have certainly been mistakes on both sides in terms of appropriate behavior — we know that both sides can get rabid and passionate about where they stand. But my revulsion for the rabidity of the pro-choice side is pretty overwhelming. They are, after all, the ones that are insisting on murdering innocent, unborn children who have no voice with which to speak. I mean, sorry folks, I simply cannot get on board the train of murdering unborn children just because you had a few fleeting moments of sexual pleasure with indiscretion. Married sex or not, you had BETTER be prepared to take responsibility for your actions. Committing murder because you didn’t like the results of your pleasure is a far worse crime than sex outside of marriage. This applies even to married couples who want to get an abortion. It signifies one of the worst problems we’re faced with today — a people willing to perpetrate murder so they don’t have to deal with the fallout of their actions. It is the ultimate representation of this generation’s selfishness.
Please, please understand I mean no disrespect to rape victims who have become pregnant. I cannot even begin to imagine or comprehend what you have been through. You were wronged and sinned against in an extremely humiliating and heinous way <a href="#fn:forbid">1</a>. But even in this case, I fail to see how further acts of violence make things right. By murdering the unborn child of this rape, is it not punishing the wrong party? Capital punishment at that.
Rape victims aside — and I am still against abortion in cases of rape, for it is still murder — this is perhaps the most selfish and short-sighted generation of humans to walk the face of the earth. That we would sacrifice our own young, not on the alter of external false gods, but upon the alter of the god of our pleasure is one of the most damning things I can think of for any people to do.
<hr>
<ol>
<li>And God forbid that someone should rape my wife or one of my daughters because I would probably commit a sinful crime of my own by hunting that person down and killing them but for the grace of God. My point is, I think rape is very, very bad. <a href="#fnref:forbid">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Pro-Choice, Pro-Pleasure, Pro-ME - ME ME ME!

One of the hardest questions I have to face is the now ubiquitous, "how are you doing?" or "how are you holding up?"
It's not hard because it's the wrong question, or that I wish people would quit asking it — well, I mean I have heard it a lot and I'm ready for people to quit asking it, but I understand why it's being asked. And yet it's hard because the honest answer is, I don't know how I'm holding up. Sometimes I think I'm doing better because I'm not randomly breaking down anymore. But then I feel bad because I feel like I should be feeling worse, and then that problem is solved.
And then I might read my sister's blog and start crying all over again. Or once in a while I'll be looking at my children and tears will sting my eyes that grandma will not be present in their lives anymore, and the youngest of them — certainly Kaylee — will not remember or know my mom in this life.
Or maybe I think about the fact that I will certainly visit my mom's grave at some point in the future, but that's too painful to think about right now. Apparently some part of me is not ready to admit that her body, her shell, is in the ground, returning to the dust from whence it came.
I also remember from time to time that we have not talked about a headstone at all yet. I have not been able to bring it up with dad, and I don't know if he's thought about it yet. And then I am sad all over again.
So, about that hard question — I still don't know, but it's sort of looking like I'm not doing all that well.

The Hardest Question

Below are some of the hardest words I will ever write. I've written much of those words before writing this part at the top and I have cried — no, I have wept. I have had to stop and walk away for a bit. But I need to write this, I need to preserve it, and I need to tell it.
Sunday afternoon, all eight Draper siblings, the two spouses of the siblings, and all 5 grandchildren (well six technically with one in my sister's womb) gathered together in my parents' home to belatedly celebrate their 32nd anniversary. My dad is a semi-truck driver — owner operator — and he got a well paying load that he needed to take to feed the family, but it would have him out of town over the anniversary. So we decided to celebrate later. And that's what we did.
It wasn't anything special. We talked trucks, politics, life, other mundane things, nothing too exciting. The young grandchildren ran around playing, grandma (my mom) would coax one of them to let her hold them or sit on her lap occasionally.
We gathered around the table and ate food, had brownies and ice cream, gave my parents gifts, etc. Mundane, and normal celebration. As usual, my dad would rib and tease my mom about silly things. Sometimes she fell for it, not knowing (as always) if he was serious, other times, she knew better and didn't fall for it. Occasionally, she would punch dad on the shoulder for some particularly funny tease. And at one point, my parents had a kiss in honor of their anniversary that had us children begging them to get a room. My parents loved each other more than any other couple I have ever known. Yes, I love my wife passionately, but I'm not even sure I know how to love that much yet. It will take me many more years to achieve that kind of love.
As usual, a little while after the meal, and after some more small talk, my sister, her husband, and their kiddo cleared out. And my family also began to clear out. As usual, my three kids old enough to make the rounds on their little feet ran around giving hugs and kisses to aunts and uncles, and especially to grandpa and grandma. And Kaylee was passed around. As usual my mom lingered over the precious little infant bundle.
And then we left with words I don't exactly remember, but were along the lines of, "see you soon." And why wouldn't I say that? As far as any of us knew, my mother was healthy and vibrant. And she was only 56 years old. It turns out, "see you soon," was presumptuous.
My wife and I went home and at bedtime put the kids to bed. As is my habit, I was watching a little TV (I'm re-watching Stargate SG-1 if you must know) when I received a phone call. The caller ID read Charlotte Draper. I answered with something like, "Hi Mom, what's up." It was my sister — the oldest sister still living at home. She explained in an unsteady voice that mom had a heart attack and was not breathing. Dad was trying desperately to revive her with CPR and chest compressions.
I fumbled around the house looking for my keys, a shirt, shoes and who knows what else. I had a hard time finding them all through the tears.
I drove pretty fast. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was afraid an officer of the law would see me and delay me by pulling me over for such outrageous speed. Any time I saw headlights I would slow down to something a little more reasonable. It was the most helpless thing I have ever felt.
After what seemed like an eternity, I arrived at my parents' home where an ambulance had arrived and the medics were trying desperately to revive my mother. My dad was looking on helplessly and praying, standing on the back bumper of the ambulance. Not long after that the ambulance took off.
My dad took off after the ambulance in the car, my sister Johanna jumped in with him. The rest of us didn't quite know what to do. My sister's husband Gabriel was there. Johanna (I believe) had called him to come help and he had been with my dad trying to revive my mom. We prayed, then I wondered around the living room a bit while my siblings sat around bleary eyed and crying. Then I took Gabriel back to their house only a minute away so he could talk to my sister Elise.
I don't remember exactly how, but we figured out we should get in the family van and get ourselves to the emergency room to be with dad.
On the way I got a phone call. We were probably five minutes away. Somehow my dad choked out to me that mom was gone. The doctor had declared death. I was unable to get all the words out to my siblings, but they knew. We all frankly knew that despite CPR and chest compressions, she had not been breathing for far too long. But the finality of it was too much.
There's much more to tell, but it's too much of a blur to untangle at the moment. We were surrounded by friends at the hospital. We made phone calls, we comforted dad, we comforted each other, we cried with friends, we hugged a lot. But nothing helped. My dear mother was gone.
My mom loved her children and grandchildren. She poured her life and soul into us. There was nothing more important to her. There was never a question in my mind that my mom was there. She was a constant in my life. She saw me born into the world, she saw me grow up and learn to ride a bike, she saw me fumble with schemes and plans to elevate myself in the world, to make money, to make a life for myself. She was with me when I hugged her, she was with me when I had a bad attitude from time to time as a teenager. She was with me when I was married. She would wait anxiously for news of her grandchildren's birth. She was there for birthdays, rainy days, thick, and thin.
And finally, my mother was a Godly women who loved the Lord and desired nothing more than that her children should walk in His ways. I know with assurance where my mother is, and that one day I shall see her again.
My mother, in many ways, may have been an ordinary women, caring for an ordinary (more or less) family. But she was one of the most extraordinary women I have ever, or will ever know.

An Anniversary I Will Forever Remember

<blockquote>
While Gray argued that the unborn should be protected in law because abortion is the violent killing of innocent human life, Mercer argued that there is nothing ethically troubling about abortion, at one point suggesting that a baby isn’t a “person” until around 18 months of age.
</blockquote>
Man, my new little "not a person" sure is cute!
<blockquote>
Mercer agreed that the unborn are human beings, and that abortion is the deliberate killing of a human being, but argued that the notion of “human being” is not a “morally relevant concept.” Individuals are not special by virtue of their “species membership,” he said, but become “persons” and worthy of protection because they possess certain “ethically salient properties” such as the ability to experience pain or pleasure, self-consciousness, and rationality.
</blockquote>
This is wickedness, pure and simple. And while current typical pro-choicers may slam this guy as an extremist and not representative of the pro-choice position, this is where it leads. This is where we are headed.

LifeSiteNews.com

Not a Person Until 18 Months

More Kaylee (I need more creative blog titles)

Meeting the Siblings

It is with great joy that I introduce to you our fourth little one, our second daughter, Kaylee Marie, child of the covenant.
<ul>
<li>‎20” long</li>
<li>7 lbs, 1 oz</li>
<li>Dark hair</li>
<li>Brown eyes</li>
<li>Cute as a button</li>
</ul>
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1552__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1560__560.jpg" alt="">
She was not too thrilled when it was time to be weighed and measured, mommy was much more cuddly.
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1577__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1580__560.jpg" alt="">
Sometimes it's just hard to find good help and you have to be your own photographer.
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1591__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1592__560.jpg" alt="">
The first bath also proved a bit traumatic, but somehow she made it through.
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1614__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1617__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1626__560.jpg" alt="">
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1629__560.jpg" alt="">
Our wonderful midwife and nurse. We could not imagine having anyone else.
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1633__560.jpg" alt="">
Our newest addition:
<img src="/images/uploads/1543/img_1622__560.jpg" alt="">

Kaylee Marie, Child of the Covenant

Look okay, here’s the thing. Why on earth would he or anyone need to bring up the “legitimate rape” thing in the context of abortion? Pro-life should mean pro-life. It doesn’t matter how conception took place, it doesn’t matter if it’s a teenager sleeping around, or a woman walking a seedy street in Chicago wearing next to nothing just begging for, and getting it. It does not matter whether it’s my daughter or yours. Being pro-life should mean that you are never, ever for abortion. The reason is because abortion is the taking of a life. Abortion is murder. Murdering a child is never justifiable as a fix for a man and/or woman’s sin.
This is why the whole “legitimate rape” thing is completely silly to bring up. Whether you believe there are cases where rape occurred because a woman didn’t take appropriate precautions (Biblical concept, by the way), or whether you think scientifically that somehow rape victims are not in much danger of getting pregnant (they do get pregnant so it’s a moot point) the fact is if you are pro-life none of this matters. And this is the problem with Akin. He was trying to weasel out of his position, or somehow take the edge off of it. That’s not the kind of pro-life candidate I would be interested in.

Posts tagged “Life” from the blog