News is not always bad. Read the headlines and You're bound to find some news that will lift your spirits. However, searching for the good news among the bad can be a perlous jouney. Do not read the news every day. Do not get into the habit of watching the 11 o'clock news every night. Stay on top of the headlines, but don't let CNN take over your life.
This Weeks News...Do you believe in GOD? Big letters, like it's something to be feared if I answer incorrectly. This is not the question. The question should be, how can you take at face value, a belief syster that stems from a handful of men sitting around a table, creating a 'supreme being' that will help answer all their questions? However, each of them take a turn at writing a chapter about it but never read each other's work to look for discrepancies? A Messaiah is born. Because this man makes a few eloquent speeches, he is dietized, he is sacrificed, then written about...for centuries. Christianity is a made-up religion...modified by each sect in a hope that an individual will find something in the ideology to cling to. Example: Christianity began as a soft-spoken, loving-each other type of religion. It had hopes to draw people away from idol worshipping, which the empowered government controlled and commercialized. Thus it began in the streets, and was opposed. After Jesus was killed, the government realized that they had created a martyr...(I believe governments have finally figured out this is a bad thing). Thus through the following years, the government of the area, covertly at first, built 'churches' and 'clergy' to take over the religion that had gained in such popularity. Down through time a wild Mythos grew around Christianity. And then there is the reason I keep away from the masses; religion is the cause of so much death, destruction and unhappiness in the world. Nature, in the meantime, has endured, even though humanity has tried so hard to destroy it. History will define us, even though so many leaders, both religious and military, try to change it. Science will take away the fear that cause humanity to create fantasies about things they do not understand. But we have faith that humnanity will learn from past mistakes. Faith cheers us on even though the same mistakes are made over and over again, through the millenium. So...when someone asks me why I do not believe in GOD?, I am just cavelier enough to answer flippantly, 'which one?' But I truely would love to be serious and explain that I am a free thinker, unburdened by the brainwashing the 'majority' has undergone since childhood. History may back me up, science may explain it for me, but nature will be there to laugh at us all. We need to pay attention and WAKE UP!
Past News...A Republican for California Govenor who is an actor...who would have thunk it! Never before. Well, yes. Once before. The thing that really worries me is... how many are now coming out into the open and running under independent? I say...good for them! At least it gets the juices flowing and people interested in a government by the people, for the people, etc... What 'Arnold' has done is bring out the non-politicians to give a damn, to have a real interest in the political arena, and hopefully make a difference in how California is run. Read here if you want to get totally frustrated about closed minds spewing garbage and flasehoods.
Wiccan vs Zealot No excuse for this type of closed-mindedness. Again...the absence of TOLERANCE. Taught by all self appointed (and non-appointed) martyrs. It was forgotten once religious monies came pouring in.
...I am still perplexed by the intolerance found among every day people. The newspaper is the best source for finding these fools and last week bore that truth. Not only did people object to the ten commandments being dismantled from in from of public buildings, but they tried to physically block that project. Zealots, though misguided, this is a supreme act of intolerance and unacceptance of thers and how they are being treated within the public domain. In MY letter to the editor I mentioned that our country WAS NOT founded on Christianity, as those morons pointed out, but upon the freedom of expression and the right to have those freedoms preserved.
This has been an upsetting week. It brgan with a winding down of the war, Bush explaining how victory is at hand....troops arriving home after 6-9 months overseas. These are good things. Then occurances, which officials assure are normal under the circumstances...protests getting out of hand, civilian Iraqui shot and killed. Fires erupting in Bagdhad. This is normal? I just read a piece about the US government sponsering a news station out of a BBC religious station broadcasting to Iraq. Has everyone forgotten that the Bush said he was directed to become president by God? Not that this man could not be receiving messages from a spirit, but I'd say a long term plan to convert the world to Christianity is going too far. ."President Bush knows that America's democratic government cannot guarantee a fair distribution of its promises to all of its citizens without regulation and specific rights enumerated in our Constitution." Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. Wow! Gunboat diplomacy. This means the man Bush and his cronies have got an agenda. A well thought out plan that encorporates years of organization where each piece of the puzzle must fall into place. #1. Get the Amercan economy in a state of upheval. #2. Wage war, even if it means instigating the action. #3. Use excuses and scapegoats to capture as much valuable foreign land as possible. #4. When instability arises and everyone is questioning the intellegence of staying as a conquerer in a foreign country, #5. re-focus attention to the failing economy...Well, I could go on and I probably will. Absolute power corrupts absolutely...or so the saying inspires, or attempts to keep those who listen, from trying to take full control of a situation until there is no room for growth. Bush has been conpared to Hitler in the Arab world, and fear follows his name. The Arabs see children being killed, maimed...fathers, mothers, being blown to bits by cooalition fire. People left in the streets without food or water. They may be some of the poorer people of Iraq, but why should the US cater only to the rich. (No, I do not want to talk about the tax-cut fiasco) The Arab world is frightened that the US will want more after Iraq is conquered, occupied. This is the analogy they make with Nazi Germany. "A little piece of Poland...a little piece of France..." Is the US comopleting where Germany left off? Or maybe Isreal has a little piece of Bush. Mmmm! The US has gottten in a bind, howerer. It can not leave Iraq...surely all the other countries wait for the opportunity to jump in and scoop up a piece for themselves. I am continually amazed at the ignorance of people. America is a country of religious freedom, freedom of speech, etc...but I can't help notice that from the very top religious indoctrination has been going on for years. Never more intensly than now. While those who fight overseas for our freedom from persecution, the leaders of this country are not so quietly pushing their values and ideas on all. Shame on you Mr. Bush! for not considering others when you so blandently try to make others believe your beliefs and asume eveyone believes as you do. PC is not a bad abbriviation, misunderstood all through the 90's, but its ideal was an origional concept. Especially in America!
...So the war is on, and all the brightest and best our country has to offer is in a battle situation, their future questionable. As the US invades Baghdad, I can't help but wonder what we will think of this conflict in the near future, what will the history books say about the Unites States going into a foreign country and taking over the government. Sure, with altruistic intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions. Half the US armed forces are out of country. Fortunately we are not left unprotected here. But I bet, sitting on Bush's desk is a bill he willl PUSH through Congress to reinstate the DRAFT. I bet it has been sitting there for a long time. He and his minions have just been waiting for the right time to bring it to the forefront. If things do not go well in capturing Baghdad, we will see that bill come to play and the administrators crying 'we need more troops!'. When I heard that Syria was getting testie about the US telling them NOT to send war materials into Iraq, I was really perturbed. Was Rumsfeld's accusations a threat? Even if it wasn't, it brings up several what ifs... What if....Syria becomes a real threat to the US? What if...Iraq manages to compile alliances with other Arab states ? What if...this pissing contest gets way too out of hand? I fear for my Syrian friends. In this small town with many small minded people...what will happen to them? Yes, the body bags are starting to pile up. But America is NOT turning tail and running away as Saddam suggested would happen. Bluff is a tool used by the military when it knows it has the weaker defense, and that's just where Hussain stands. I have to agree with Michael Moore, however, who stated on last night's Oscar's "Shame on you Mr. Bush!" For putting us in the position of being the aggressor. Now we will hold that guilt forever and be written in the history books as the BULLY. Past News...Anti War Rally's spring up, sometimes spontaneously, throughout the United States. In support of our troops, whether you are for or against the war, everyone supports the men and women who have put themselves in harm's way. In my small town at the busiest intersection of town a group of thiry or forty people hold signs and chant, "Give Peace a Chance"! Bush's War. What have you gotten us into?
Okay, I've become a CNN junkie. Sometimes I'll just leave the sound on, no picture. Help! There are so many things we, as Pagans can do to help quell the panic and stress that accumilates when war begins. Although I can image what it was like to know that there was a war somewhere on a fadded map, that was horrible. Each day communication that may be two weeks old, is given to the people and we interpret the information. Now it's ZING! instant news, instant insanity. Yes, things progress rapidly because otherwise the people might loose interest, gone beyond the ability of their attention span.
Last week a friend of mine told me her daughter's deployment to Afghanistan has been increased 6 month and possibly more; the military has left the date open-ended.My nephew may be sent back again (2nd time) and my cousin is fighting somewhere in Iraq (they won't tell us where). Fear is a funny word when you don't understand what a creepy-hostile, underhanded and dubious word it can be.
Sacrifice is a funny word. What we give up for another. People do it every day. In every moment of your life you make sacrifices. The ones to your job, the ones to your family. But some are for the good of others and others are for your own good, and then again, some are for your own sacrifice. It's hard to recognize the difference. Sane View of the War "Bush Shrugs Off Global Antiwar Protests ", the top story on ATT world net top news...Shrugs off? Shrugs off? Gee, Mr. Bush, democracy is a beautiful thing but you're going to do what you want anyway? Yes, that's the democratic way. Anybody sense irony in these words? He's going to make us secure whether we want it or not. I can't help but feel sorry for all those families saying good-bye a few days ago at March Air Force Base. The women crying, the men being stoic, the children confused. It's time to bring back the music of the late 60's and ask...where have all the flowers gone? Here's an interesting quote I found in todays' paper. "Worker complaints of religious discrimination jumped more than 20% in 2002 to 85% over the past decade." Wow! There's the story of the woman who applied for a job and was turned down because her Pentecostal Christian faith forbids her to wear pants....The postal worker who is suing for harassment of his Wiccan beliefs. This is an awesome reference for those really interested in religious tolerance
Un bias!! Don't bother with the Society for Human Resources Management site. It is unmanageable and you have to be a member to receive any information. However, the Tannenbaum Center for Inter religious Understanding web site is a plethora of info and links. Claims of religious discrimination. I am well aware of the feeling of discrimination. From the moment we moved to this Valley being placed as an outcast, whether self induced or thorough misunderstandings, I have know it. However, there is a difference between prejudices in your community and conflict in the workplace, or school. Although I do not agree with his political aspirations or ideas, for that matter, Senator Joseph Lieberman made a great point when he spoke before the United Nation on May 2002. " Sometimes we focus so hard on the cracks that threaten to split us apart that we fail to appreciate the glue that holds us together as human beings." Way to go Joe..
A teen at a local high school decided to form a PEACE club on campus. Although the club was approved, he found that he was not allowed to stage a protest, post leaflets and was denied the same rights as other clubs on campus, including the military. The military are allowed by Federal mandate, to influence and recruit teens on the high school campus. As a result of an article of same listed in the morning paper, the local UC sent a dozen students to help the hs club stage a protest. In the pouring rain, the anti-war protesters handed out flyers urging people to think about peace, not war. To think about war as a last solution. I understand this example is being replayed all over the United States. There must be another solution besides once again endangering our young people, our property. our way of life, our freedom, to the Bush War Machine. Terror is on everyone's lips and anger in their eyes. Reading the newspaper or listening to the news on radio or television has become a test of endurance. Disaster after disaster in a country where we used to feel safe and secure in a lifestyle of comfort and pleanty, now it is an effort to get out of bed in the morning or stay asleep at night. I was in the car yesterday and happened to switch on a call-in radio station. A young mother was begging the therapist what she could do to sleep at night, to get through the day without the building anxiety over pending war making her loose weight and take up smoking once again. Everywhere she looked it's WAR. Prepare to be gassed, prepare to be bombed. I didn't realize we lived in such a backward country where scaring young children and their parents was an every day occurance. how can we go to that picnic on Sunday? How can we watch that funny movie at the cinema? Shouldn't we be hiding under our beds, gathering supplies for the apocalypse, training our children with firearms for self defense? I realize we cannot go back to 1950, but then 1950 wasn't really so great. With simple words.."Why can't we all just get along?" Religious intolerance, refusal to share in the worlds resources, are just a few of the problems that have brought us to this end. What happened to Save the Planet? Feed the world? Save the whales? Alas these have been relegated to parodies on Saturday Night Live television.
With Samhain fast approaching much news is based around discrimination of religion. In our neighborhood there is a vast diversity in religious make-up. However, there is a loud voice that comes from the Mormon community, those who breathe intolerance, that will not accept tolerance, will continue to condemn Pagans and align Paganism with their image (the Christian image) of a Satan.
Most widely seem in the grocery stores...once where Halloween items took up rows and rows of space, rarely do we see more that half an isle of items. The types of costumes seen now range from cartoon and super hero figures, and less of the grotesque or 'scary'. Specialty stores are now the only place to find the traditional 'witch' costume or the red-horned one. Freddy Kruger, and the beast from 20,000 fathoms is too scary, too much the reminder of deviltry.
You presume that everyone believes in a god....the Christian God...you presume that a nation created for the benefit of those who were escaping religious persecution should remain passive while this administration enforces laws put upon us by the Eisenhower administration, worried that 'godless communism' would consume us and create a war between the Soviet Union and the United States. You miss the point of the struggle put before us at this moment. The point is not whether or not I should recite the pledge or say the pledge without the two words cited, it is the fact that mixing church, and belief, and a state or federally run school is unconstitutional and objectionable. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The point is that my children should be able to attend a non-discriminatory school, especially those paid for by taxpayers money. (Besides the fact that most Christians object to swearing oaths in the first place) Returning the Pledge to it's original text is what I would propose. By stating we are a nation 'under god', the pledge takes on a blatant pro-religious espousal of a non-secular belief, the existence of a god and the belief in monotheism. You're right...the responsibility of religious teaching is up to the parents, to seek one's own spiritual truth. The affirmation by a government of god does not unit us, it divides us along religious lines. Though you site Christianity as the majority belief in this nation, though you recite the ten commandments as though they are handed down from the Supreme Court, I believe we are first, and foremost, Americans.
My age aside, and I never just leap into anything...I got a tatoo today. It's a picture of an ivy vine, green-leafed and escalating from my right top breast to the middle between them. I love it. My husband loves it and it's pretty. Unique for sure. I have been reading Wilwheaton.net and have decided I really like his way of thinking on many subjects. My sons agree. The other day he was commenting on how depressing the news had become. I've gotten to a point where I will not listen to the station news. I will read the newspaper and magazines and occasionally listen for national weather...but local news is out and LA news is just crazy. International news sucks as well, but I do like the interesting side bars you can read about on world events. I am constantly being reminded by the press of the schism that lies between the religions of the world. The petty fighting and out and out mass destructiveness of organized religion. Makes me glad for the promise of tolerance. In the local paper, the Associated Press reported (Pope Addresses Moscow flock via video link) of the satellite video link up that was created for many Catholics in Russia. This electronic genius brought Pope John Paul 11 to the many epople who would otherwise be without a connection to their pontiff. In a way it was a resurgence for them of their faith. However, as it is in many cases of intolerance within faiths, The Russian orthodox leadership cause a ruckus claiming it was an invasion of their hold over the Russian faithful. Of course they would never admit that the pope was anything other that a wholly connection to their god, but at the same time want no interference for those who have control in Rome. The churches, who have finally gained back their congregation since the Soviets imposed restrictions, were suprised at the spiritual attack. La di da!
I just finished reading a story about a woman who follows Druidism. She practices psychic readings and considers herself an expert of Egyptology. (Working Mother and Witch)
She uses a crystal ball, a palm pilot and a vampy wardrobe. Now, I am not one to criticize, and I will be the first one to defend someone's right to be 'different'. I am the model of different, as anyone who knows me would attest. However, it is articles like this one that gives witches a bad name. And I don't mean that it will entice mobs to burn this woman at the stake. It's more like she comes off as a fool, practicing archaic magic and gypsy spells. The Wiccan rule, "An ye harm none, do what ye will", is reminisce of Peter William's book "Ain't Nobody's Business if you Do". Witchcraft is not a consensual crime, it is a way of life like Confucianism or taoism. Witchcraft is not 'tricks', nor is it a religion, although the government and other religious organizations would like to think of it that way. It is a philosophy, not too far from the pagan belief system, infused with the Gods and goddesses that make up some of the Pantheons. Then, Wiccan is very private. Like sex it is between a person and her beliefs. Sharing is optional. The piece in the newspaper trivializes a belief into four columns, belittling something that many take very seriously. I was told by someone that it is our belief system that keep us moving in a moral direction, (think it was my Religion teacher). Perhaps. The Christian have their God to fall back on, to blame, to commiserate with, to lean upon...other religions let its followers depend upon rules and regulation to follow to lead them toward enlightenment. Some beliefs have been around for thousands of years and others began yesterday with two people joining over the internet. All follow a code or a rule or a belief...but all want to be known.
Wiccan should be known only to its follower. It's nobody's business and it does no harm, and it's something personal...to be shared only with those who have interest and will not judge. We've been through the 'burning times' and have no desire to go back. Br careful...we are on the Brink!
