" /> Non Fluffy Wicca: September 2007 Archives

« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »

September 30, 2007

My Short Theatrical Stint

I have just finished my first play in 25 years, and I had SO much fun! I'm going to have to do it again. Most of our performances of Coriolanus were in Laurel's Sellers Theater. Our final shows were held at DC's Warehouse Theater.

Got to the theater way early last night. Final nights of a run have a feeling all their own, and this one was no exception, people remarking that it would be the last time they wore that costume, or said this line. The audience began arriving relatively early as well, and just KEPT arriving. When the citizens took the stage for the first scene, we were rather surprised that it just seemed there were lots more people than had attended the other nights. When we exited through the audience, we could hardly believe that the place was PACKED FULL and people were still arriving, causing our intrepid director, to scramble to find them chairs.

The show went exceedingly well, and I must say that applause from a large group sure beats applause from a few stragglers and a few echos. Striking the set went relatively quickly, and the cast party was a much needed time to bid adieu to all the wonderful people with whom I was privileged to perform in this show, as well as the great technical crew who kept us in the right place at the right time with the right light and sound. I won't be able to audition for the next Rudes play, as we will be in Bonaire (which totally sucks because I live right around the corner from where rehearsals will take place...), but I'm hoping to maintain the contacts and the friendships established by the months of work for this show. I am planning to audition for Julius Caesar and the Tempest as they come up, and perhaps will be able to do my second and maybe third play in 25 years of acting only in the occasional courtroom :-).

This has been a wonderful experience with a group of people who were exceedingly welcoming to the newbie and gave me a true sense of home. Heartfelt thanks to all of you, and please keep in touch.

September 14, 2007

DOJ bans all religious books in prisons not on secret list

DOJ bans all religious books in prisons not on secret list:


According to the New York Times:


Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries. . . .



Prison chaplains, and groups that minister to prisoners, say that an administration that put stock in religion-based approaches to social problems has effectively blocked prisoners’ access to religious and spiritual materials — all in the name of preventing terrorism.


The story reports that chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to remove all materials not on a list of approved resources, permitting a maximum of 150 book titles and 150 multimedia resources for each of 20 religious categories. The DoJ says it relied on religious “experts” to compile the lists, but the identities of the experts -- and the list of pre-approved books -- have not been made public.  

Prison chaplains call the project unnecessary:


Chaplains routinely reject any materials that incite violence or disparage, and donated materials already had to be approved by prison officials.


The Bureau stated that this effort, the “Standardized Chapel Library Project,” is a means of barring access to materials that would “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

Two inmates have filed suit in New York, claiming violation of their freedom of religion under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The lawsuit says:


This purge is an unnecessary, unconstitutional and unlawful restriction of the ability of federal inmates nationwide to practice and learn about their religion and has substantially burdened their ability to exercise their religion the lawsuit says.


The Associated Press reports:


The Muslim portion of the chapel library has been reduced to the Quran and two other titles after the removal of prayer books, prayer guides and the Hadith, the most important source for Muslim practice and faith after the Quran.




NYT story on standardizing prison religious literature

NYT story on standardizing prison religious literature:


“We really wanted consistently available information for all religious groups to assure reliable teachings as determined by reliable subject experts.” Because when you're a government agency conducting a purge of religious texts, what you really want is reliability of the few that remain. Actually, "reliable" is a really good word here, because it makes obvious the basic problem with government evaluations of religious texts. Where the approved religious texts "reliably" support the state's view of religious matters, everyone should worry. Here's a slightly different view of reliability: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that...

WorldNetDaily: If they're not criminals, what are they?

WorldNetDaily: If they're not criminals, what are they?:


It has been six years since Americans were murdered in the cowardly attack of terrorism carried out by pagans who had overstayed their visas, which made them illegals. Yet, even though the ability exists to track a quarter pound of contaminated beef back to the cow from which it was born, little or nothing is done to rid our shores of the criminal contaminants flooding our cities and communities today.

And once again, to stress the point – they are criminals. It doesn't matter if they attend church, care for the sick and/or sing hymns to geriatrics – if they came here illegally, they are criminals. Their criminal activity is compounded by the use of false documentation and identity theft, to mention but two additional crimes. Not only doesn't the White House and Congress grasp this reality, but neither do many so-called intellectuals and those running for president.

Rudy Giuliani, the uber liberal masquerading as a Republican, told radio/television talk-show host Glenn Beck and his listening audience that illegal immigration isn't a crime. Giuliani told Beck: "I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime … in fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, its not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding."

I'll tell Rudy what's hard for people to understand – it is that six years after the most horrific act of violence enacted against unsuspecting citizens in the history of our nation, and 14 years after the first attempt to harm New Yorkers – the former mayor of the city that suffered the greatest loss of life, property and resources in said attacks argues that illegal immigration isn't a crime.

I may not be a lawyer, but I'm an American with a head on my shoulders. Therefore, when illegals abrogate the sovereignty of my country – illegally – that's a crime. And when these same people compound their illegitimacy by murdering and/or attempting to murder my fellow citizens – in my mind, that's a capital crime. I submit anyone who hides behind lawyer-speak and pseudo-intellectualism in defense of flawed thinking, is not much better than the illegal criminals perpetrating those acts.

Twelve of the al-Qaida terrorists who took part in the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. were illegal immigrants. Fadil Abdelghan, a participant in the plot to bomb New York landmarks, was an illegal. Lafi Khalil, who was involved in the plot to bomb New York subways, was an illegal. Had Mohamed Atta been treated like an illegal criminal, it is safe to say that thousands of Americans would be alive today.

Yet, Mr. "I wanna be president too" parses words and obfuscates reality. One can but wonder whether or not the victims' families, specifically their left-behind children, would share Giuliani's reasoning.

Some essayists go so far as to applaud Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., and supposedly the families of the college students who were murdered by illegals for "doing the right thing" by not blaming the murders of their children on un-enforced immigration policies, and/or by "feeding the myth that illegal immigrants are America's new gangsters" – when in reality that is exactly what they are.

One is hard-pressed to fathom the logic of such a wantonly auxotrophic lack of cogent reasoning. But we can be sure that if a white police officer, in the dispensation of his duties, put handcuffs on someone too tightly, there would be public outcry from these same people.

Robert Pape and the professorial elite present "left-handed" arguments as they attempt to make facts fit their biased theory. In his book on suicide terrorists, "Dying to Win," Pape deduces through an exhaustive study of suicide-terrorism bombing reports that if the United States and every other country so-involved would simply pack up and withdraw from any and all Islamic areas, all acts of aggression and suicide bombings would cease almost immediately.

Of course, nowhere in his treatise does he even attempt to explain that the object of Islam is world domination through the world's submission to their paganism. He fails to explain how their stated intent of same can be brought about peacefully. His lack of prescience notwithstanding, I am not one given to edulcoration with people who believe their illegal status gives them hegemony over my rights as a U.S.-born citizen.

Giuliani, Pape and Earl Ofari Hutchinson should try explaining to the remaining family members of 9/11 victims and the parents of the children murdered by illegals in Newark just how their positions make sense. Let them explain themselves to the remaining family members of approximately 9,000 Americans killed and murdered by illegals every year.

If we should have learned anything from 9/11, it is that our borders should be sealed, illegals should be rounded up and deported, and that no place on earth should be safe for those who would murder Americans.




September 07, 2007

Coriolanus Opening Night

www.rudemechanicals.com. Be there or the barbarians win! SEE Coriolanus vs. the Volsces. SEE the Volsces vs. Coriolanus. SEE the Citizens. SEE the Tribunes. SEE the Soldiers. SEE the marvelous high tech effects. You will laugh and you will cry. You will feel light and heavy. You must attend, or all will fall in broil!

September 05, 2007

Religious institutions allowed to award religious degrees in Texas

firstamendmentcenter.org: news:


AUSTIN — The Texas Supreme Court reversed lower court decisions late last week and ruled that state restrictions on what unaccredited religious institutions can call themselves and their education training violate the First Amendment.

The court, in its Aug. 31 ruling, said banning an institution like the Tyndale Theological Seminary in Fort Worth from using the term “seminary” in its name violates the Constitution.

Three religious organizations waged the legal fight. Tyndale, one of the schools, was cited in 1998 for violating a law that requires seminaries to be accredited and prevents unaccredited institutions from awarding degrees. It was fined $173,000 by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute represented the schools and argued before the court in 2005 that the state has no business regulating how pastors are trained.

State law requires institutions to meet certain standards if they call themselves a college, university or seminary. The court ruled that the law as it pertains to seminaries intrudes upon religious freedom.

“This decision is a huge victory for all seminaries not only in Texas but nationwide,” said Kelly Shackelford, the institute chief counsel. “Seminaries are going to now be free to be seminaries. ... The shackles are off.”

The case is not about secular teaching and degrees, but about purely theological education, he said. Shackelford said the ruling means the plaintiffs can try to recover attorneys fees incurred in the case.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office represented the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and told the court that the state law aims not to regulate religion but only the quality of post-secondary education in Texas.

The law was written to crack down on degree mills that issue certificates but require little or no coursework.

Stephanie Elsea, spokeswoman for the Higher Education Coordinating Board, said the ruling could have “far-reaching” implications but that the board would withhold further comment until it had time to review the entire decision.

The Attorney General’s Office had no immediate comment on the ruling.

Under the law, the Tyndale seminary, operated by HEB Ministries Inc., was fined for issuing 34 degrees without the coordinating board’s approval.

Tyndale was founded in the early 1990s to offer biblical education for those entering the ministry in churches and missions. By 1999 it had a small campus and enrollment of 300 to 350 students, with most of those taking correspondence courses, the court opinion states.

The Southern Bible Institute in Dallas and the Hispanic Bible Institute in San Antonio joined in the suit seeking to overturn the fines and the law.

So, should any government have our DNA on file?

Worried about your personal information being compromised? Do you trust the government with the most personal of personal information?

Judge wants everyone in UK on DNA database | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited:


The entire UK population and every visitor to Britain should be put on the national DNA database, a top judge said today.
Lord Justice Sedley, one of England's most experienced appeal court judges, described the country's current system as "indefensible".

"We have a situation where if you happen to have been in the hands of the police, then your DNA is on permanent record. If you haven't, it isn't ... that's broadly the picture," Sir Stephen Sedley told the BBC.



Click on the above link for more