NY Post insults Wiccan Veterans

How does a right-wing propagandist rag--that passes itself off as a newspaper--mark the veteran's victory in the Pentacle Quest? With typical right-wing idiocy, that's how. I could just imagine what would happen if they pulled such a stunt on a mainstream religion! It's a sobering reminder that intolerance is alive and well and we still have a long way to go.

It goes without saying I don't read the NY Post, so I sure won't link to it. But the article that accompanies the insulting picture is just the straight-up AP article. I want to thank Democratic Underground. They have some good comments on it there.

Laura Mallory sentenced to dunking!

Judge Upholds Harry Potter Books

A dunking? Wishful thinking on my part, but it would have been poetic justice. Loopy Dominionist Laura Mallory lost her fight against Harry Potter:

...For an hour, Laura Mallory tried to convince a judge that the Harry Potter books should not be allowed in the public schools because the books promote a religion. What's worse, she said, when the books are read in class, they often convert school children to that religion -- to witchcraft -- Wicca. Judge Ronnie Batchelor ruled right away, saying that Gwinnett County's decision to allow the books into the schools was made properly...

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I'll cross paths with that mythical person who actually became interested in Wicca through the Potter books. Btw, it may be news to critters of Mallory's ilk, but converting, evangelizing, and proselytizing is not something Wiccans do.

A Wiccan Memorial Day

Wiccan pentacle will finally mark fallen soldiers' graves

Our victory in the Pentacle Quest is marked on this Memorial Day. CNN is covering the event:

...Since Korean War veteran Jerome Birnbaum died in 2005, his grave in a pagan cemetery had been marked with only a pile of stones and U.S. flags. On Memorial Day, Birnbaum's grave and those of other military veterans will be dedicated with government-issued markers etched with a symbol of their religion -- the Wiccan pentacle...

"...I like to see our success literally etched in stone, because it will be," said Birnbaum's wife, Karen DePolito. She said winning the fight is vindication for all Wiccans...

SUNY-New Paltz offers Evolution

College to offer new minor in evolutionary studies

I am so proud of my Alma Mater:

...The State University of New York at New Paltz is pleased to announce the approval of an 18-credit interdisciplinary evolutionary studies minor. According to Glenn Geher, chair of the Evolutionary Studies Program Development Committee, the new program includes classes from many departments and will provide students with an education regarding evolution that is both deep and broad in scope. "In addition to requiring multiple courses that focus on the essentials of evolutionary theory,” said Geher, “the curriculum includes courses that apply evolutionary principles in varied areas – such as anthropology, literature, and psychology – as well as courses that address gross misapplications of mischaracterized evolutionary ideas, including a course from the history department, titled ‘Crime and Punishment in American History’..."

Bravo New Paltz! New Paltz is the town that garnered a bit of fame when Mayor West officiated over a plethora of gay and lesbian marriages. Not only that, New Paltz is where my coven meets (Witches of the Crossroads), and near where my whip club has it's crack fests. (Yup, I'm addicted to crack!)

The chair of Evolutionary Studies adds:

“...Ours is the second such program in the nation,” said Geher....For more information about the evolutionary studies minor, which begins this fall..."

New Paltz is a cool place. I majored in Anthropology. Cut my eye teeth in the Archeology Field School. From the bathroom wall in the Anthro House:

I dedicate these flatulent mists
to all you Anthropologists
And if you don't dig it George
kiss my Olduvia Gorge

(Thanx to Green Ghost for rubbing my nose in this link)

Mythic Beasts, alive and well

Exploring the Nature of the Unnatural
A great exhibit at the AMNH in NYC, “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids” will open tomorrow and run through Jan. 6 at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street; (212) 769-5100 or amnh.org. From the NYTimes article by Edward Rothstein:

...it was a brilliant curatorial idea to devote an exhibition to them. One of the remarkable things about this exhibition...is...by the end you are convinced that these creatures should find permanent dwelling places in such halls, not because they are real but because they allow us to glean something about how humanity struggles to make sense of the natural world. Adrienne Mayor, a visiting scholar in the history of science at Stanford University, explains in an accompanying video how she studied maps where the Greeks claimed to have found the remains of fallen giants and discovered that they coincided with maps of major paleontological finds...The Greeks might have found bones belonging to ancient mastodons and mammoths, which were clearly far larger than human remains but also bore a close resemblance to them...As for the cyclops, such one-eyed giants were said to live in Sicily, where the fossilized remains of ancient elephants have been found. The cast of one Sicilian skull is on display; it contains an enormous central hole where the elephant’s trunk was attached. For the Greeks, more than two millenniums ago, that might have been an imagined creature’s single eye socket. What is left unmentioned here, but still haunts, is the human persistence in creating such creatures. Out of the unknown, out of worlds barely understood, out of glimpses of flesh or bone, in one culture after another, humanity has imagined beings whose bodies are mutant composites of incompatible animals...who violate every taboo and disrupt every sense of natural order. They arise out of our imaginings, offering seductive promises and irresistible dangers, as if they were resurrected fossils from a primal human past demanding tribute — which this fascinating exhibition begins to provide...

How true! Mythical creatures have a great deal to teach us, as this exhibit well demonstrates. After the exhibit closes in January, it moves to other museums: the Field Museum in Chicago, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.

Rachel Carlson's Revenge!

Bird Poops on President Bush

...As President Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals involving his Attorney General, he remarked, "I've got confidence in Al Gonzales doin' the job." Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the President's sleeve, which Bush tried several times to wipe off...

Damn, if it weren't for that uppity Rachel Carlson, all those pesky birds would be dead from pesticides by now!

Silent Spring for Rachel Carlson

Republican environmental critic blocks honors for Rachel Carson

Rachel Carlson, who's groundbreaking book "Silent Spring" helped launch the environmental movement, was up for a Congressional honor until a Republican Senator got wind of it. From Raw Story:

...A Republican Senator known for his criticism of various environmental causes is single-handedly holding up two bills in the US Senate that would honor the life of Rachel Carson, author of the well-known book Silent Spring...

Just another exercise in earth-hating, brought to you by the Republican party.

Liberty U, RA! RA! RA!

Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral

Liberty University must be so proud! Dominionist Monica Goodling is testifying before Congress today on how she tried to stifle decent by ripping up the Constitution. Now, another Xtian University student is in the news:

...Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car....The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service...

Oh Liberty, your alumni must be so proud! Is this enterprising student going to get their own tribute page, like Monica got! I blogged about Monica before. I received one noteworthy comment, defending Messiah and politely asking me not to be so quick to judge. Well, I'm judging now. As CrooksandLiars points out, the thought that our government institutions are now peopled with over a 100 officials schooled in such institutions is truly frightening.

Teen Witches, at last!

Witchcraft casts spell on young: It's the feminist-friendly religion, claim its growing number of adherents.

I've known a number Xtain gays and lesbians who have struggled madly to keep faith with a religion that seems to despise them. Usually this involves spending a huge amount of spiritual energy cultivating immense levels of faith. I suppose an overdose of faith makes hanging out with homophobes, Dominionists, earth-haters, and misogynists, a lot less painful. Then again, searching for guidance in a spiritual text so out of step with modern life that it's in danger of fossilization, would try the patience of Job.

Why bother? Why not at least marginally entertain a belief system that's reflective of your life. The article above is from the Independent, and it points up the rise of Wicca, Witchcraft, and Neo-Paganism among teens:

...According to Professor Cush's report, based on interviews with witches aged 18 to 24, it is the attitude to women that most attracts them: "Paganism and witchcraft appealed because of their clear feminist credentials and absence of homophobia. A main attraction is the positive valuation of women in comparison with other religions..."

Over at WildHunt, there's an excellent post concerning this article, along with discussion of others noting the growing rise of Neo-Pagan religions. About our growing numbers, a good point is made:

...These newcomers aren't merely overzealous "Buffy" fans (as some claim), but are making serious considerations about their religious path. This seems to back up claims that Wicca, and modern Paganism in general, will continue to grow at a healthy rate and will soon become a faith category impossible to ignore within the mainstream...

Darn! I liked being a weird minority!

Dominionist Dead

As to my thoughts of Jerry Fawell, no one says it best than the late Moms Mabley:

"I thought he never would die. I shouldn't talk like that about him though. He dead. They say you shouldn't say nothing about the dead unless you can say something good. He dead. GOOD!"

Lest we ever forget, here's some of the wisdom of Falwell:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen."