Dave Easterly’s Bravo Sierra Blog

I cannot BELIEVE this shit…

September 21, 2006 on 3:13 pm | In General, Political Musings |
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It appears that the IRS is now trying to revoke a church’s tax-exempt status because of a sermon that happened shortly before the 2004 Presidential election. Look here to read the story as reported by the L.A. Times. Apparently being critical of Bush’s War is now the equivalent of “endorsing” the challenging candidate. So my question is “What about all those churches that had PROMINENT right-wing political candidates actually SPEAK (speaking in this case is actually “campaigning”) at their churches? How is that NOT endorsing a particular candidate?”

Those who know me well know that I am an Atheist and that I could not care even the smallest iota about the religious rhetoric and dogma of any denomination or faith. I have respect for their beliefs and most importantly their RIGHT to HAVE those beliefs but to me it is no different than arguing about whether the Easter bunny or the Tooth Fairy is more real than Thor or Zeus or Hastur. But these people are being attacked by the IRS for simply saying that Jesus would not have chosen war. Now I don’t want to blow my own horn here but I think that _I_, even though I am an Atheist, am probably WAAAAY more like Jesus than many of the people who claim to be Christians nowadays. If that offends or upsets anyone, that’s just tough shit. _I_ believe in peaceful solutions to our problems. “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the Earth.” I believe in the futility of war and the value of diplomacy. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” I believe in helping our fellow man when they are in need. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” I get angry and want to change things when I see evil people making this worse for everyone else. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Now if all this Sermon on the Mount stuff were true, it would be a great and wonderful thing… but it ain’t. Jesus was an idealist and an optimist but the truth is that right now it’s the bad guys who are running the show AND these fuckers are WINNING. Corporations are BUYING legislation like the DMCA, the Broadcast Flag, and so on. Evil men who want to destroy are liberties like Arlen Specter are trying to make it legal for our own government to SPY on us. And if you DON’T agree with “The Man” then you’re a target, just like this church.

If you’ve never seen the movie “V for Vendetta” you need to. There’s a line in there that is worth remembering:

“People should not fear their government. A government should fear its people.” This is almost directly echoing the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said “When people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.â€?

Think about it this November.

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Playing (and just a little partying) with Royal Bliss!

September 14, 2006 on 11:25 am | In General, Music, Personal |
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Last night LoveCrymes opened for Royal Bliss at Kruzer’s and MAN, what a night it was! Sadly, it was Pete Massaro’s last show with us on guitar, but his farewell show was beyond awesome. We cranked up the funk for about the first hour and then Royal Bliss absolutely rocked the roof off. If you missed it, you missed on HELL of a good time.

I Got Married!

September 3, 2006 on 9:51 pm | In General, Personal |
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Well, the deed is done and it’s official! Carrie and I tied the knot yesterday.

The ceremony was short and sweet. Our good friend Dan Daggett officiated and the whole ceremony took less than 5 minutes and was followed by a solid SIX HOURS of partying. Many of our best and dearest friends were there as well as my mom and stepdad, Carrie’s mom and dad, brother, future sister-in-law, grandmother, and others. We had folks from Alabama, Florida, and even Canada come to spend our special day with us.

Here’s a photo of us:

Here we are immediately after taking our vows:

This is my _beautiful_ new wife:

And this is part of the aftermath from the karaoke-fueled mayhem that ensued for the next several hours:

(The identity of the not-so-innocent has been concealed for their own protection. )

All in all, it was by FAR the funnest wedding I (or most of our guests) had ever been to. If you missed it, you really missed out. The day was incredible (thanks, Mr. Weather Man!), the food was AMAZING (super-special thanks to Carrie’s mother Ann and her Brother Kendall!!!), the music was a blast (ultra-mega thanks to Ryker for playing piano AND DJ-ing the karaoke), the flowers were spectacular (thanks to Kendall’s fiance Manda!!!), and having all of our loved ones and friends with us made it all even more special.

A huge and genuinely heartfelt “Thank you!” also goes out to all the following people:

Dan and Chika Daggett ; Bill (The Best Man) Taylor, Michelle, and Hanna Marie ; Jim (The Ultimate Groomsman) Morrison and Marlen ; Kathy Smith ; Brian “Mav” Gergens for his stirring renditions of “Baby Got Back” and “Strokin’” as well as just being plain-old awesome ; Lynn Friel for Carrie’s make-up ; Binary Buddha ; Brandon Rogers of LoveCrymes fame for use of the awesome P.A. system ; the _OTHER_ Dave and Carrie – the Hornbachers ; Kim Parker ; our awesome neighbors for not calling the cops ; Fran and Willie next door ; Katie Murdock for being such a sweetheart ; Stoney, Boyea, MacKenzie (sp?), and everyone else at the “Cool Kids’ Table” ; Bob and Jodie R. ; Dana and Lanny – Kash’s maternal grandparents for the AWESOME gift and for babysitting ; Carrie’s family that took the time to travel all the way here to join us – Aunt Karen, “Little Grandma” Lila , Alan, Mary, et. al. ; Ryan and Malinda – without whom we wouldn’t have had the AWESOME house in which to throw this little bash ; my mother, LouAnn – You’re the greatest, Mom! ; my step-dad Mike who was AWESOME in helping out with Kash the entire time they were here AND did an amazing job on the back yard landscaping (Thanks again Mike!!!) ; all the sweet and wonderful folks from Carrie’s work ; all the other too-numerous-to-name folks who came to be with us or had some other part in this special day that I haven’t named here — THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

With much love to all of you,

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Easterly and Family

p.s. There are lots more pictures in my photo gallery.