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“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”


August 26, 2005

Makin' the Papers

The Nation has a neat little article about Starwood, the big NeoPagan festival every July. I haven't been yet, but I know people who have who say it's a blast. ADF is usually represented, too, since it's near the Archdruid's home.

But one thing in the article hit home:

Neo-Paganism may well be a canary in the culture-wars coal mine. Child custody battles are taking place in courts equating witchcraft with Satanism (and therefore child endangerment), people are losing their jobs, trumped-up charges are leveled against witches who come "out of the broom closet." There are now 130 members of Congress who are born-agains, and a President who thinks he's the end result of an Intelligent Designer. As governor of Texas, Bush was part of a movement to deny access to religious facilities for soldiers at Fort Hood who were Pagan. He declared that Wicca wasn't "a real religion." A real religion, of course, believes that there was a pair of dinosaurs on Noah's Ark.

All of which I knew. I also know about the cop in North Carolina who was harrasing a Druid couple; he was cleared of the charges by his own police force. This is pretty typical, unfortuantely. I've even been warned at my job not to let my beliefs get public, or I'll be ostracized by the other employees (they can't fire me, I'm in the union).

Go and read; it's a short article, doesn't really explain what NeoPagans are, but at least it's a start.

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posted by Tlachtga, 11:37 PM

August 25, 2005

Will No One Rid Us of These Medelsom Talking Heads?

You know, it's bad enough hearing Pat Robertson call for the assassination of Hugo Chaves--who, while not a friend of the US, isn't an enemy either. It hasn't cut off oil to the US, hasn't threatened us with nuclear weapons (unlike, say, the Cuban Missle Crisis), and being a 98% Catholic country, isn't too likely to be a base for Islamic terrorists.

But what really kills me is how, apparently, CNN is playing the issue. Now, I don't have CNN (or cable for that matter: $$$), so I'm reading transcripts and checking what others are saying. But get this:

Paula Zahn: Has controversial Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson finally gone too far or is he on to something?

[snip]

So, why pay any attention at all to what Robertson said? Because he's a former Republican presidential candidate, because he founded the Christian Coalition, and because he says one million people a day watch his TV show.

And then there, of course, is the issue of oil. Venezuela, only 1,300 miles south of Miami, is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world. And the U.S. buys more than half of Venezuela's oil, making up 10 percent of our imports.

And President Chavez has said some pretty nasty things about President Bush lately.

Yeah. That's the justification she's giving--Chavez said mean things about Bush, and his country has a lot of oil. This is some of the most irresponsible journalism I've heard about for a while. Or at least since Novak. Or Judith Miller. Come to think of it, this is pretty much par-for-the-course for the media. (Which kills me, as a journalism student--they're breaking every rule I was taught.)

And then today I hear about the following from Digby:

I don't know if I heard this right, but I think that one of the CNN anchorettes just asked a first amendment expert if Pat Robertson's statement should fall under freedom of religion since he was advocating "the idea of taking out one very bad individual to save thousands of others."

[snip]

[W]hen did Hugo Chavez morph into a genocidal monster? I certainly understand that free market capitalists have serious beefs with his economic vision and he's not exactly a beacon of transparent governance and political freedom, but he's no Stalin. He's not even Fidel. Robertson himself said that oil was the main concern. (She would have made sense if she said "saving thousands of others ... a few bucks at the gas pumps.")

Exactly. It's no different then murdering a guy for his wallet.

A year ago, I was abducted at gunpoint and forced to withdraw money from ATMs around the city. I was threatened with rape and murder if I resisted.

CNN, Pat Robertson, they're no different from my attacker.

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posted by Tlachtga, 2:00 PM

Well. Foot in my mouth

Yeah, I said I was quitting. But never take me at my word.

Depression is a frustrating mess. (Where've I heard that before?) I don't have a handle on it, despite being on antidepressants and having gone through years of therapy. But I won't bore you with the details. It's just that every so often, I go off the rails. Still don't know how to deal with that.

So no, I guess I'm not gone. But I am sorry for constantly going off like this.

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posted by Tlachtga, 11:00 AM