Yes, I finally saw Sinead O'Connor. I saw her at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, NY. What a great show. For a great review and comments on her current tour, see Cale's page:
...A setlist that includes gems she hasn't performed in over a decade ('Never Get Old,' 'Three Babies') are mingled with spine-tingling renditions from 'Theology,' ('Something Beautiful' and 'If You Had a Vineyard'). Her glorious 'Universal Mother' and 'Faith & Courage' albums are wonderfully represented by moving performances of fan favorites like 'In This Heart' and 'Lamb's Book of Life.' An extra treat is provided by the introduction of 'Back Where You Belong,' a stunning, elegiac ballad Sinead wrote and performed for the upcoming major motion-picture, 'The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.'...The theater was charged with an almost messianic atmosphere as fans screamed approval, wept, sang-along with songs that had been life-defining, and even complimented the petite dynamo on her agelessly haunting beauty....
How true! The opening act for Sinead was the great Irish folksinger Damien Dempsey. His song "Maasai" from the CD "To Hell or Barbados" was one of the most rousing Pagan anthems I have ever heard--I thought the audience was going to start pulling up the seats!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Harry Potter's Dumbledore outed!
J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character
Ah, yet another reason for the Religious Right Wingnut-o-sphere to hate the Potter series:
...Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour"...said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority"...
It's days like this that make me proud to be a Wiccan. :)
Ah, yet another reason for the Religious Right Wingnut-o-sphere to hate the Potter series:
...Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour"...said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority"...
It's days like this that make me proud to be a Wiccan. :)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Another hearty for Capt'n Dyke?
Woman fired after stopping robbery
Walmart is at it again, this time in my neighborhood:
...In the corporate world, the customer is always right. But what if the customer steals handbags and belts and then punches you in the face? What if you, the customer service manager, raise your arm to protect yourself or strike back and then get fired for touching the customer?...
Yup, that's what happened to Victoria Smith. It will be a cold day in Hell (which is weird, because I don't believe in Hell) before I walk into a Walmart. Note that there is a poll at the link above, asking whether people think Smith should be given her job back. I see that, so far, 7% don't think so. What assholes!
Walmart is at it again, this time in my neighborhood:
...In the corporate world, the customer is always right. But what if the customer steals handbags and belts and then punches you in the face? What if you, the customer service manager, raise your arm to protect yourself or strike back and then get fired for touching the customer?...
Yup, that's what happened to Victoria Smith. It will be a cold day in Hell (which is weird, because I don't believe in Hell) before I walk into a Walmart. Note that there is a poll at the link above, asking whether people think Smith should be given her job back. I see that, so far, 7% don't think so. What assholes!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Of Atheists and forskins
Man and God (and God’s Sick Punch Lines)
Shalam Auslander's new book "Forskin's Lament" details his flight from orthodox religion:
“...The people who raised me will say I am not religious,” he writes. “They are mistaken.” He adds: “I am painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious, and I have watched lately, dumbfounded and distraught, as around the world, more and more people seem to be finding Gods, each more hateful and bloody than the next, as I’m doing my best to lose Him. I’m failing miserably...”
In the above article, he revisits the orthodox Jewish community he grew up in, noting the disapproving stares of people who pass him by:
"I try sometimes to see myself through their eyes — as someone who has made a huge mistake. On the other hand, what if the big joke is that God has nothing to do with any of this, and doesn’t care about it at all?...It all feels very ‘Twilight Zone’ to me,” he said. “It seems more and more odd and more and more familiar at the same time.”
From the first chapter of his book:
...The people of Monsey were terrified of God, and they taught me to be terrified of Him, too—they taught me about a woman named Sarah who would giggle, so He made her barren; about a man named Job who was sad and asked, —Why?, so God came down to the Earth, grabbed Job by the collar, and howled, —Who the fuck do you think you are?; about a man named Moses, who escaped from Egypt, and who roamed through the desert for forty years in search of a Promised Land, and whom God killed just before he reached it—face-plant on the one-yard line—because Moses had sinned, once, forty years earlier. His crime? Hitting a rock. And so, in early autumn, when the leaves choked, turned colors, and fell to their deaths, the people of Monsey gathered together in synagogues across the town and wondered, aloud and in unison, how God was going to kill them: —Who will live and who will die, they prayed, —who at his predestined time and who before his time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning...
Shalam Auslander's new book "Forskin's Lament" details his flight from orthodox religion:
“...The people who raised me will say I am not religious,” he writes. “They are mistaken.” He adds: “I am painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious, and I have watched lately, dumbfounded and distraught, as around the world, more and more people seem to be finding Gods, each more hateful and bloody than the next, as I’m doing my best to lose Him. I’m failing miserably...”
In the above article, he revisits the orthodox Jewish community he grew up in, noting the disapproving stares of people who pass him by:
"I try sometimes to see myself through their eyes — as someone who has made a huge mistake. On the other hand, what if the big joke is that God has nothing to do with any of this, and doesn’t care about it at all?...It all feels very ‘Twilight Zone’ to me,” he said. “It seems more and more odd and more and more familiar at the same time.”
From the first chapter of his book:
...The people of Monsey were terrified of God, and they taught me to be terrified of Him, too—they taught me about a woman named Sarah who would giggle, so He made her barren; about a man named Job who was sad and asked, —Why?, so God came down to the Earth, grabbed Job by the collar, and howled, —Who the fuck do you think you are?; about a man named Moses, who escaped from Egypt, and who roamed through the desert for forty years in search of a Promised Land, and whom God killed just before he reached it—face-plant on the one-yard line—because Moses had sinned, once, forty years earlier. His crime? Hitting a rock. And so, in early autumn, when the leaves choked, turned colors, and fell to their deaths, the people of Monsey gathered together in synagogues across the town and wondered, aloud and in unison, how God was going to kill them: —Who will live and who will die, they prayed, —who at his predestined time and who before his time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning...
Saturday, September 29, 2007
John McCain: Dominionist
John McCain: Constitution Established a 'Christian Nation'
In a candid moment, John McCain reveals who and what he really is:
...But, no, I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles....
Uh, what the Hell is he talking about?
...I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith...(I would not rule out)under any circumstances someone of a different faith...I just feel that that's an important part of our qualifications to lead.
Oh, I get it. He buys into the alternative history spun by other reactionary Xtains. Goddess and God help this poor country if this lunatic gets elected.
In a candid moment, John McCain reveals who and what he really is:
...But, no, I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles....
Uh, what the Hell is he talking about?
...I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith...(I would not rule out)under any circumstances someone of a different faith...I just feel that that's an important part of our qualifications to lead.
Oh, I get it. He buys into the alternative history spun by other reactionary Xtains. Goddess and God help this poor country if this lunatic gets elected.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Blessed Be Landover Baptist Church
God Has Zero Tolerance for Wicca!
Absolutely Hysterical:
...Activities Associated with Wicca:
#10) Defecating or Urinating in Public - Especially Near a House of Christian Worship...Wiccans managed to poop out a giant pentagram over two square miles in just three days! The church they marked in the center of the Devil's star was smacked down by Satan and went up in flames on Halloween night! Don't let this happen in your community! Report these people to the authorities...!
Indeed! Now somebody please alert the Dominionist press, so we can have even more LOL's when they fall for this one (like they did the other one).
Absolutely Hysterical:
...Activities Associated with Wicca:
#10) Defecating or Urinating in Public - Especially Near a House of Christian Worship...Wiccans managed to poop out a giant pentagram over two square miles in just three days! The church they marked in the center of the Devil's star was smacked down by Satan and went up in flames on Halloween night! Don't let this happen in your community! Report these people to the authorities...!
Indeed! Now somebody please alert the Dominionist press, so we can have even more LOL's when they fall for this one (like they did the other one).
Saturday, September 22, 2007
This Mabon, keep Esmeralda in your thoughts
'Bewitched' actress Alice Ghostley dies at 81
...From 1969 to 1972, she played the good witch and ditzy housekeeper Esmeralda on TV's "Bewitched." She played Bernice Clifton on "Designing Women" from 1987 to 1993, for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 1992...Ghostley's film credits include "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Graduate," "Gator" and "Grease."
Friday, September 21, 2007
Do you believe in the Little People?
Study Says Bones Found in Far East Are of a Distinct Species
Maybe Richard Dawkins would like to rethink one of his standard comebacks? More evidence that an island species of diminutive hominids, sometimes termed "Hobbit people" in the press, once existed:
...In the continuing debate over the origin of the extinct “little people” of Indonesia, a team of scientists says it has found evidence in three wrist bones that these people were members of a distinct species rather than humans with a physical disorder...
I recently saw an exhibit on these fossils at the AMNH. What's interesting is that a number of scientists who were initially critical of the validity of "Homo floresiensis", now seem to have tempered their views. There's a good discussion of this over at Gene Expression .
But for me, it once again points up the value of myth. The people of Flores had local legends about the 'little people' who lived deep in the forest. There are similar legends in the British Isles.
Kathy Griffin targeted
Christian Theater Troupe Scolds Griffin
Smart, educated, outspoken, AND A WOMAN. The perfect target for the Xtain Right:
...Members of a Christian theater troupe are spreading the word that they're irate about Kathy Griffin's off-color speech in accepting a creative arts Emmy earlier this month. The Miracle Theater in Pigeon Forge spent $90,440 on a full-page advertisement in USA Today that ran nationally Monday, proclaiming "enough is enough..."
Smart, educated, outspoken, AND A WOMAN. The perfect target for the Xtain Right:
...Members of a Christian theater troupe are spreading the word that they're irate about Kathy Griffin's off-color speech in accepting a creative arts Emmy earlier this month. The Miracle Theater in Pigeon Forge spent $90,440 on a full-page advertisement in USA Today that ran nationally Monday, proclaiming "enough is enough..."
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Help for Accused Witches
Fund to fight 'witchcraft' abuse
From the BBC:
...In June 2005...three people were sent to prison for abusing a child they claimed was possessed by evil spirits...The child...had been stabbed, beaten and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes...Five years earlier eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was tortured to death - her killers attacked her in part because they believed her to be possessed...
When she died she had 128 individual injuries...
It's hard to believe that stuff sounding like it came right out of the Burning Times is happening today. But at least people in the UK are doing something about it.
(thanx to Green Ghost for the heads up)
From the BBC:
...In June 2005...three people were sent to prison for abusing a child they claimed was possessed by evil spirits...The child...had been stabbed, beaten and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes...Five years earlier eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was tortured to death - her killers attacked her in part because they believed her to be possessed...
When she died she had 128 individual injuries...
It's hard to believe that stuff sounding like it came right out of the Burning Times is happening today. But at least people in the UK are doing something about it.
(thanx to Green Ghost for the heads up)
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