New Puppy Pictures
For some serious "awwww" factor, you can see the puppies at six months at This Handy Puppy Link.
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For some serious "awwww" factor, you can see the puppies at six months at This Handy Puppy Link.
Just goes to show that bigotry knows few bounds.
CNN.com - Expelled students sue school - Dec 30, 2005:
RIVERSIDE, California (AP) -- Two 16-year-olds who were expelled from a Lutheran high school because they were suspected of being lesbians have sued the school for invasion of privacy and discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks the girls' re-enrollment at the small California Lutheran High School, unspecified damages and an injunction barring the school from excluding gays and lesbians.
Kirk D. Hanson, an attorney for the girls, said the expulsion traumatized and humiliated them.
"Their entire support network was pulled out from under them because of suspicions about their sexual orientation," said Hanson, who declined to say whether his clients are lesbians.
When one runs a Wiccan webshop, one often gets quite interesting emails, ranging from those who wish to "save" your soul, to those who want you to give them names and addresses for all your suppliers so they can go around you, to those who want you to be their guru, those who want free love spells, and finally, to those who have difficulty with calendars.
So here we are, after a VERY busy holiday season, where this year we had essentially FOUR holiday days. Solstice was 12/21, Yule was 12/22, Christmas was 12/25, and 12/26 was another holiday day. Most customers were very careful to order gifts they expected for any of these holidays well in advance, and those who needed things at the last minute contacted me to ask for overnight shipping, which I did my best to provide.
Imagine my surprise when I got an email blasting me to the heavens and threatening to give me bad reviews across the Internet because an item marked "usually ships in 5 to 7 business days" and ordered 12/21, wouldn't be shipped until next week. The shop that makes the piece closed for the week of the 25th so I won't get it until next week. *sigh*
After shipping a TRUCKLOAD of stuff this month, hopefully this is the only difficulty we will encounter. Hopefully our happy fun post office will have delivered everything on time and in the same number of pieces as left the shop :-).
Year end blessings to all, and to all a good night. Especially my mom whose birthday is today. Happy birfday MAAAAAAA.
Ok, I'll admit that I'm rather confused by most of this issues surrounding this purported War on Christmas and Christians. Last night a friend suggested that part of the reason for this is that Christians are feeling backed into a corner, and are fighting back in any way that they can. The loud and vocal push to call things "Christmas" seems to fall into part of this purported struggle. The idea that there is now some sort of a backlash because Christians are being somehow discriminated against, and therefore they are now fighting mad, and taking it out on the "rest of us" is something that I really haven't considered before. I was told that perhaps this was a reason for my other friend not wishing to assist Pagans, for the newfound exclusionary "do not use Happy Holidays" rhetoric, and for the new pushes to install "Intelligent Design" and nativity scenes and 10 Commandments rocks everywhere possible.
But what is this so-called discrimination that they feel must be fought against? Is it truly discrimination, or is it, instead, a backlash to the backlash? I say this because we have a President who is a self proclaimed fundamentalist who invokes his God as evidence that what he is doing is correct. Nobody wishes to call him on that point for fear they will look "anti-Christian." Those who feel their President has a mandate from the people, then "push the envelope" by attempting to impose religion on others in public settings, often at public expense such as "intelligent design," nativity scenes and biblical rocks, as well as proclaiming trees and parties as "Christmas" and not "Holiday." If anyone objects to that, they are "anti-Christian" and "anti-American." Then, their failed offensive is re-cast by the screeching pundits of Fox News, not as a failed attempt by Christians to encroach further upon a secular state, but as those naughty evil ACLU lovers bashing Christians.
The idea that inclusion was Christian bashing is definitely a new one on me. My father's shrill statement that he was "offended" if someone says "Happy Holidays" to him is but one example of "in your face" confrontation for its own sake that I honestly don't understand. It MAY be the result of Christianity losing ground in the United States as other religious groups are rapidly growing (for example, the studies showing that Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the world, as Protestantism declines). It may be the result of the misplaced sense of entitlement because of the still held although disproved notion that America is a "Christian nation." It may be because of the "election" of George Dubya. But whatever it is, I just can't get over the double talk and twisting of facts that are being used to justify exclusion of others, and feigned horror that the holidays in December can still be called holidays and not "Christmas."
More later.
Throughout our news, etc. we hear a lot about religious discrimination. People often fear what they don't understand, and thus try to avoid it, or openly revile it, or even use passive aggression against it. Oftentimes, you won't know why the discrimination is taking place, or even THAT it is taking place. It is quite easy to keep it relatively hidden, or be quite subtle about it, for example if you are in charge of hiring, and you deny a candidate because of their religion but justify it in other ways. Up until now, I hadn't knowingly experienced religious discrimination personally, or at least found anyone with the guts enough to tell me that I was being discriminated against because of my religion.
Imagine my surprise and confusion when a friend that I had known for over 10 years told me that he would not provide a service (for pay) to a group I am affiliated with, because we are Pagans. I am still rather in shock over it. Of course, I tried to get him to tell me the reason for this, but he refuses to say why Paganism bothers him to that extent.
Of course, I feel personally betrayed in a way. While obviously an individual has the right to deny services to anyone they see fit under many circumstances, my feelings are hurt, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I believe that a person's religion shouldn't matter so long as they didn't try to impose it on others or use it to hurt people. Perhaps it's because I thought that this friend was more open minded than to discriminate against an entire group of people. Perhaps it was because I thought he liked me, and this had never come up in the previous 10 years. Or, perhaps it's because he won't TELL me what issues he has.
This is definitely something I'm going to have to mull over for quite some time. It is quite difficult to consider.
It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to be oblivious to the behavior of their own children, and how they will continue to bring ill behaved brats to solemn occasions in which concentration is paramount - such as solemn rituals. I now see, with great clarity, why there are rules banning children from some events, and why many churches banish the children to "Sunday School" while the "real" services are going on.
I was at the Wiccaning of a baby over the weekend. The child's parents were High Priesthood in a tradition, and owners of the Temple in which the event was taking place. The heads of the Tradition flew in especially for the event, as did many guests from different parts of the country. Clearly, this was a "big deal" and a very solemn event in which a non trivial amount of energy was being raised to protect and bless the child. If you had a child who had previously disrupted rituals, would you have brought such a child to this ceremony? Only, in my opinion, if you were either deluding yourself as to the extent of the disruption or if you were ridiculously selfish.
There was a child of about 8 or so standing next to me, dressed up as if going to church, who stood quietly and solemnly, carefully mimicking the actions of her mother across the circle. She was beautifully behaved. There were a few other young people scattered around the circle, who were also well behaved, quiet, and respectful. However, there were two who had caused difficulty and hard feelings before, who again lived up to their histories, yapping incessantly (despite being shushed by a Priestess several times) and one even LOUDLY answered for the baby at the most important points in the ceremony. The parents did nothing.
I had heard, but had not seen, previous horror stories about various out of control children at high rituals, knocking things over deliberately, dancing in front of the altar during a non dancing ritual, blocking the clergy from performing the necessary acts, screaming at the tops of their lungs despite being WELL old enough to know better, and generally making a mockery of proceedings while one or both parents stood by doing nothing. One actually became totally offended when someone ELSE told the particular child to sit down and behave properly or leave.
In many cases, the anti-social behavior is glossed over by the parents with the attempted excuse that the child has ADD and is therefore uncontrollable. It truly frightens me that a parent would say that a child is "uncontrollable." Does this mean that the child should be in a locked institution? I am confused by the concept that any parent can't control a child who is perhaps 1/4 their size. If they TRULY believe that the child is uncontrollable, I pity the poor teachers in whatever school the parents place such child. Obviously, said uncontrollable child should NOT be foisted upon the rest of the community during such events as high rituals.
I have ADD. I had ADD when I was a child. I did not misbehave in public, or my parents would remove me from the situation immediately, and there would be "holy hell to pay." My boundaries and limitations were clear. When I was outside with the other kids, I could run around until the cows came home, but in public places including school, the lines were drawn with neon paint. Why is it not that way with others?
I clearly do not understand the concept of imposing one's child upon others if the child can't behave themselves. And yes, I have a child, and yes, she has misbehaved. In those cases, I have removed the child from the public situation immediately, told her that her behavior was inappropriate, and took action as befit the situation. She soon learned that disruptive behavior resulted in the opposite effect than she desired and governed herself accordingly.
Each method of parenting is different, of course, and each person has the right (within legal limitations) to bring their children up in any manner they desire. However, they do NOT have the right to impose a child upon others who has no respect for either the ritual being performed, or the rights of the group.
Perhaps a disclaimer to be signed that allows for the removal of any person who disrupts a ritual, regardless of their age, and if under 18, at least one parent must accompany said disruptive person out the door. Said removal shall take place by burly and strong individuals picking up the annoying person as quietly as possible, and tossing them out the door.
So Mote it Be!
Hooray! Finally a court has ruled against mythology as science in the public schools.
U.S. judge bars school district from teaching 'intelligent design' as evolution alternative:
By MARTHA RAFFAELE AP Education Writer (AP) - HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania-A federal judge has ruled "intelligent design" - the belief that a higher power, rather than evolution, created life - cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a U.S. school district.
I have to admit, I was quite confused on this "War on Christmas." I saw the news stories on the grandstanding politicians complaining about inclusiveness and diversity, demanding trees be named "Christmas" and parties be named "Christmas." I saw various silly lawsuits. I saw the latest rehash of the "our kids can't sing Silent Night in school" hogwash, and I couldn't figure out what the issue was. Then I saw an interview on CNN yesterday with a Jewish radio host who stated that it was all set up in order to raise more funds for radical Christian groups trying to stir up trouble. That makes complete sense.
I have been Pagan since 1967, although I didn't really know what it was until 10 years later or so. I'm "out of the broom closet." I sometimes wear religious jewelry in public. However, if someone says "Merry Christmas" to me, I am not "offended" as some of these groups are claiming. Why should I be upset that someone has wished me a happy day on December 25th? I hope they have a happy day too. It doesn't hurt me, degrade my faith or offend me that someone has said something that they feel is a wish for my well being. I usually respond with "and a happy holiday to you too" or "same to you" or sometimes just "thank you."
When a person says "God bless you" they are bestowing a high honor upon you as they understand it. No one has ever said "God bless you" to me in anger, or for "bad" reasons (well, except for one case at a wedding when a guest came up to the bride after the Pagan ceremony, stared at me for a second, then spit out "God bless your marriage" turned on her heel and stomped off. My response was "the more blessings the better."). I tend to take the compliment as intended by the person, and thank them, meaning it because they truly meant it in a good way.
I have an interesting laugh about those who demand that decorated trees be called "Christmas Trees" when they are actually Yule Trees that have been usurped by Christianity for their celebrations. But that's another story...
That being said, I will stand up and scream if a public school is using my tax dollars to teach children to sing songs to any particular Deity or perceived Deity. This includes "Silent Night" or any other such song. These songs are inappropriate in the public school setting. The old argument that "we have a menorah therefore we are inclusive" just doesn't cut it in a country with Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, etc. Same argument has gone on for years regarding organized prayer in schools, and thus far the courts have all said no. So basically this is yet another non issue being made a big deal of. It's just another means of "stirring up outrage" that sometimes leads to more donations to various radical groups.
Recasting separation of church and state into a so-called "War" ignores the fact that most people, even most non-Christians, simply don't CARE if someone says "Merry Christmas" to them, or even "God Bless You." As for demanding to exert possession over parties and trees, that seems to me much less a "War on Christmas" and more like a "War on Non-Christians."
NY appeals court overturns decision allowing same-sex marriage:
[JURIST] A New York appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed a same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] in New York City. Earlier this year, New York City Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan had ruled [PDF opinion; JURIS
So we have this issue. We find that Mr. Alpizar and his wife were in Columbia on a Christian Missionary trip. We also find that the man had severe mental illness. This brings us many more questions.
If Mr. Alpizar had been of almost any other religious persuasion than Christian, there would be definite questions regarding whether his religion had any link to his mental illness or his agitated behavior which led to his death. The tenets of the religion would be scrutinized for clues to explain his behavior. For example, if he were a Scientologist, it could be theorized that this could be a reason for him not to have taken his medication.
Since his religion was Christianity, I very much doubt we will see any references to biblical passages or other Christian teachings as a cause for his behavior. Is that "fair?" Is it appropriate to scrutinize a person's religious beliefs, regardless of whether it is a "popular" religion when the person commits dangerous acts? Is it ever appropriate to do so? Let's see those comments :-)
Passengers
Didn't Hear Alpizar Say 'Bomb':
By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer (AP) - MIAMI-The airline passenger shot to death by federal marshals who said he made a bomb threat was agitated even before boarding and later appeared to be desperate to get off the plane, some fellow travelers said.
Why do people have to break the law, and stuff their religion in everyone else's face? Why should their myth take precedence over anyone else's myth? And why do the rest of us put up with this nonsense? DC should immediately enforce the law and deal with this type of blatant flaunting of everyone else's rights, or we should erect a huge pentacle on the same plot of land.
wtopnews.com:
WASHINGTON - One man's quest to get the ten commandments displayed in government buildings is taking an unusual turn: a nativity scene located across the street from the Supreme Court.
Reverend Rob Schenck says the manger -- set up in the front yard of his office across the rear entrance to the Supreme Court -- is part of a national effort.
Schenck, a member of Faithandaction.org, needs a special permit for the religious display since his front yard is technically public property, but he never applied for one.
Instead, Schenck says he is challenging the city to force him to remove the nativity scene.
If the city allows Schenck to display the manger, his next step will be to "ask the city, 'Why not a permanent public display of the ten commandments?'"
In a totally intelligent move, these proponents of "Intelligent Design" used their hands rather than the much more difficult and time consuming idea of actually using discourse. So how does this square with the Fundamentalists' book about "turn the other cheek" and the rest of those things that talk about getting along peacefully with others?
Morons in the News: Criticize Intelligent Design, Get Assaulted and Beaten:
A Kansas University professor was hospitalized after religious
fanatics who disagreed with his position on Intelligent Design
attacked him...
Kansas University religious studies Professor Paul Mirecki is no
friend to fundamentalist Christians who support the teaching of
the non-theory of "Intelligent Design" in science classrooms.
And a pair of Kansan thugs have made it clear that in...
God asked to overturn election:
Norway: Jan Hanvold doesn't like democracy, especially if the pesky electorate doesn't vote the way he wants them to. So, what is a fundie preacher to do? Ask his imaginary friend to bring down the government, of course.
The Labor Party and the Center Party we can swallow, but the Socialist Left stands for a de-Christianizing stance that we just cannot support,Hanvold said on his live program on Thursday evening, the Christian newspaper Magazinet reports.
Several Christians have asked to pray for the government, but I pray for a Cabinet crisis,Hanvold said. The recent Socialist Left party call to boycott Israel was the final straw.
Praying for Cabinet crisis—Aftenposten, 2nd December 2005.
Morons in the News: More IRS Trouble for Focus on the "Family":
Another watchdog group is asking for an investigation into the
anti-gay hate organization's political activities...
Back in February, we reported that the Citizens Project had
asked the IRS to investigate whether Focus on the "Family," a
virulent anti-gay organization, had abused its non-profit status
to engage in partisan politics. Non-profit, tax-exempt...
The War on Christmas?
Conservative leader Jerry Falwell is steaming mad about the war on Christmas, fuming at the top of his lungs to all who will hear him about how the various and sundry liberals are taking away the Christian people’s deity-given right to call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree and a Christmas break a Christmas break. He calls it a downright war and is rallying his troops. This ranting isn’t ringing quite true to me, and I don’t think it has much to do with my being a liberal. It has more to do with me having a perfectly good memory.
The war on Christmas that I, as a liberal, am supposedly engaging in, basically has two parts, calling the Christmas holiday “the holidays” and calling Christmas trees “Holiday trees.” While I find the holiday trees thing silly, I’d like to address why this liberal calls the holidays the holidays…
Like many non-Catholics, I went to Catholic School for a while. My school prided itself on having the best academic calendar there was, with very little time off. This was, in fact, why my then-newly single mother chose it, because it was a lot cheaper to have me in school than to pay a sitter for when I wasn’t in school. Our financial situation at holiday time was made a little harder one year when the school decided that we were no longer going to have a Christmas break of three days and a New Year’s Day break of one, but a week and a half long holiday break covering both Christmas and New Years, like the secular schools did.
Out of nun-like attention to proper grammar, the school did not call this break “Christmas and New Year break” or even “Winter break,” but “holiday break.” I can assure you, and I expect the Vatican will back me up on this, that this school did not have a war on Christmas, but instead was practicing a Roman-like efficacy on the cheap paper calendar. No “winter interim break consisting of Christmas, New Years Day and the spaces in-between where your children are obnoxious with greed and high on sugar” but instead the elegant “holiday break.”
I am certain Kwanzaa, Diwali and Hanukkah did not enter into the minds of these nuns when they were whirling the drum of the ditto machine, turning out the pale blue copies to send home to my mom, who grumbled and called the sitter when I thrust it into her hands. The holidays for these Christ-loving Christmas practicing front line assaulters on Christmas consisted of two dates- Christmas and New Years. Thus it became holidays, not to get rid of Christ, but to save ink.
It was the seventies, and saving money was in fashion, and it was around the same time that the employers in my area, and I assume all across the country, started ditching the traditional Thanksgiving party, Christmas party and New Year’s party and started doing a sort of new wave syncretic thing in early December, a sort of one-size fits all party to celebrate all three which they called a “holiday party.” Now, as a liberal, I’m willing to believe a lot about the nasty corporations out there, but I don’t think that killing Christmas was the idea, here. I think it was saving money. In fact, it was a wonderful thing for my poor family, because the holiday bonus would be given out at the party, with time to spend it before Christmas.
I watched the trend to consolidate the holidays continue as I grew up. My choir stopped having Christmas and Thanksgiving and Halloween concerts, and instead got a big “holiday” concert at the end of the year which included plenty of songs about Jesus, something about a sleigh ride and a song I distinctly remember as ending in “and a Happy New Year” and therefore not rightly being called a Christmas carol. Indeed, what was and was not Christmas was a very big deal to these nuns, and a bunch of other Christians I met with.
In the eighties, the moral majority and their friends made it clear that they were disgusted with the sleigh bells, Santas, reindeer and trees, because these were NOT “of Christ.” Indeed, today you can simply google the words “Christmas Tree” and “Anti-Christ” and find sites like Bibletruths, Raptureready, Demonbuster and much more that are more than willing to explain to you how the Christmas tree, that thing that Falwell thinks people are calling a holiday tree out of hatred of Christians, is not of Christ, and is, in fact, a Pagan symbol that should probably not be affiliated with their messiah’s holy name. In honesty, when I met my first “holiday tree,” I thought it was these concerned Christians that we were trying to appease, not liberals like myself. My own tree gets called “the tree” more than Christmas Tree, although its gone through a slew of names, because I sort of agree with these righteous Christians- it’s not about Christ, so his name shouldn’t get slapped on it.
I think public righteousness is just the new flavor this year. People see things, and get righteous without every stopping to wonder why. I mean, you and I might know that the abbreviation X for Christ comes from the letter Chi and an attempt by priests to be respectful, and you and I might suspect that a Christmas Tree is called a holiday tree to explain why its kept up through January (mine goes to the mulcher on the 26th) even though Christmas is over. You and I might know a lot of things… but other people don’t, and it’s easier to suspect the unseen creeping enemy than to realize things happen just because people are trying to be more efficient or are being lazy or anything boring like that.
I am a liberal. I would love it if the term “the holidays” was being bandied about to be more inclusive, but inclusiveness is not the way the world works these days- this “holidays” thing is about greed, efficiency and often, accuracy. It is naïve to think we liberals have had anything to do with this. We can’t keep George W. Bush from being reelected and Falwell thinks we have the power to take on Christmas?
As a registered member of the liberal party of the great blue state of New York, and a pagan, and a woman married (not civilly unioned) to a woman, who is also pro-choice, and an academic, I can assure you that if liberals were having a war on Christmas, I would have gotten the memo by now. We have lots of wars we’re involved in, like the war on ignorance, for example, and the war on poverty, and the war on AIDS… we’re just too busy with those wars to bother with something like Christmas, especially when most of us celebrate it quite happily.
Kaatryn MacMorgan is a liberal author and researcher with degrees in Biology, Psychology and Anthropology and describes herself as a chronic observer of the human condition. Until recently, she was the acting head of CUEW, but stepped down to dedicate her life to cancer research. She lives with her wife and son in Buffalo, NY.