At the rate I'm going...

*steward — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:09:29 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

I just may get all of 2008's vacation pics uploaded before taking any vacations in 2009.

Maybe.

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor / Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven, / You can justify it in the end.

Happy Lupercalia! (same post as two years back)

*steward — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:01:52 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

Just clearing out for the next 12.5% of the year

*steward — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:02:32 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

Happy Brigid's feast, all.

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor / Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven, / You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing / Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after... / One tin soldier rides away." â...

The Antidote to 'Keep Christ in Christmas'

*steward — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:19:21 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

Just a reminder (or something new for people who hadn't seen my journal post a couple of years back) - a great song by the Pagan-Celtic band Emerald Rose, with lyrics and a 100% legal MP3 file available on their Witchvox page, here.

And remember, take Scrooge as your role model for the Yuletide!

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor...

Where I've been

*steward — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:13:00 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

Took a bad fall back in mid-September; nothing broke, but my hand tendons were hyperextended to the point where I could barely type. I'm mostly recovered now although typing is still rather slow...

Meme: Image Profile game

*steward — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:04:21 PDT

Recent blog entries (click list to go...

Common sense wins out

*steward — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:02:52 PDT

Recent blog entries (click list to go...

SPECIAL BLOG: Help a cancer survivor graduate!

*steward — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:13:52 PDT

Recent blog entries (click list to go...

Moving Favs into Collections

*steward — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:34:05 PDT

Recent blog entries (click list to go...

So-so month

*steward — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:56:41 PDT

Recent blog entries (click list to go...

Less-productive month

*steward — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:19:33 PST

Recent blog entries (click list to go to my blog):

Finally got all the WitchCamp 2007 pictures uploaded. I really love that new DIY category feature.

My father's memorial site, including a lot of family pictures (many of which I'm neither the subject nor the photographer, so I can't post them here) is at http://senior.john-deltuvia.net. It also includes audio of the choir my father directed from '69 to '83, and recordings of some of my grandparents singing. Cassette-to-USB transfer devices are really great things.

As I posted before, most of my bloggish stuff will not be on this site. However, the list of my five most recent posts is below (and if the WordPress plug-in works correctly, it will update this post without me updating it!) To s...

Fall Foliage

*steward — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 07:57:13 PDT

and other things.

I'll be getting back to the rest of the WitchCamp pics eventually. I'm not even sure if any of the people who went to the Camp actually look at them. (It's easy and free to sign up for an account and leave comments or even post your own art, just click here.)

I'm using this journal now only for specifically dA things... I've consolidated all my bloggish stuff at http://blog.stewardspiral.net/. If anyone knows how to export dA journals to WordPress, drop me a note on how - if I could get dA journals to do a full RSS export it could be done, but it won't give me the whole thing in an RSS file.

"Go ahead and hate your neighb...

Medicated for your protection

*steward — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:20:20 PDT

Not for the same reasons as the original artist , but a great depiction of how I'm feeling after the SpiralHeart meeting this past weekend...

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You ca...

Other dates to remember

*steward — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:16:18 PDT

Time for the annual deluge of remembrances of 9/11/01 in New York, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon.

Yes, 9/11 was horrific. But that date will be lost to time for most, the same as these other dates of great losses of American life - and even more horrible, Americans killing Americans:

July 1-3, 1863, Gettyburg, PA: 51,112 dead

September 19-20, 1863, Chickamauga, GA: 34,624 dead

May 1-4, 1863, Chancellorsville, VA: 30,099 dead

May 8-19, 1864, Spotsylvania, VA: 27,399 dead

September 17, 1862, Antietam, Maryland: 26,134 dead

How many people really remember these dates?

And one other date, an overnight period, coming on us fast: the night of September 12-13, 1814. Only four American lives lost to an attack on the Mainland US by another country, the attack immortalized in t...

Front page customization is great!

*steward — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:18:44 PDT

That is, when it works. It seems to be broken about 40% of the time.

Be that as it may, I've found some wonderfully snarky and transgressive anime/manga popping up there. Three marvelous deviations:

has two that I think are stunning -

and

I'm starting to get ready to go to SpiralHeart's 14th annual camp in WV this August. I'll probably have lots of nice Witchy pics to post when I come back from it.

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after...
One tin soldier rides away."
âCoven
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minor manipulations...

*steward — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:30:05 PDT

As I slowly figure out Fireworks, in my copious (!) free time.

My homepage

So what is this Lupercalia, anyway?

Lupercalia is the *original* "Valentine's Day". In fact, St. Valentine's day, as appropriated by the Christian Church, has nothing to do with romantic love. The Greeks had three different words for love: Agape (divine love), Filios (brotherly love), and Eros (romantic love). While the Lupercalia had to do with the fierce, unbridled expression of Eros, the Feast of Saint Valentine has to do with the other two.

"One of the most revered spots in the city of Rome in ancient days was the cave at the base of the Palatine Hill called the Lupercal, with the sacred fig tree hard by, under whose shadow, as the story went, a she-wolf suc...

CNN:Bush blames al Qaeda in Iraq

*steward — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:14:25 PST

According to CNN, US President Bush is blaming al-Qaeda in Iraq for the sectarian strife.

Yep, I imagine al-Qaeda is in Iraq now.

After all, the US overthrew al-Qaeda's most formidable enemy head-of-state in the region - Saddam Hussein.

As for the sectarian strife, the strife has been going on between the Sunni and the Shia for over a millennium. Long before al-Qaeda was on the scene. When an external force removes a minority (Sunni) dictatorship, and replaces it with a majority (Shia) government, two things are likely to happen:

1.) The formerly oppressed majority is going to want to settle up on some scores; and

2.)...

But why would AFA people shop at WalMart anyway?

*steward — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:42:03 PST

The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of WalMart over American Thanksgiving weekend. This action was triggered by WalMart's announcing "their support for the homosexual agenda".

I don't understand why anyone connected with the American Family Association, a group of conservative Christians, would be shopping at WalMart in the first place. WalMart buys many of the products they sell from the People's Republic of China - a Communist country which has mandatory abortions. In fact, 10% of all the PRC's exports to the United States are bought and sold through WalMart. It seems strange, considering that American conservative Christians tend to be fiercely anti-Communist and just as

Currently reading: Made you Laugh!, by Joe Garner.
Click here for my recently read books

And it's even readable!

(Mostly. )

"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My homepage
Shoutboard and old journals
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

HollaBack!

*steward — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:35:13 PDT

Currently reading: Made you Laugh!, by Joe Garner; Exodus, by Josepha Sherman; and Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter.
Click here for my recently read books

Here's a nifty little site for getting back at street harrassers in New York City. Tired of the whistles, the rude gestures, the come-ons by passerbys?

Holla Back New York City offers the means to post photos and descriptions of these lowlifes. The 'net is a wonderful thing sometimes...

The site also has links to similar sites for Arkansas, Boston, California, Canada (I guess sort of in general), Cape Ann, Chicago, Colorado, DC, Miami, the Pacific Northwest of the US, Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Seattle, and Texas. The days of the rude whistler and the flasher may be numbered...

My homepage
Shoutboard and old journals
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Even the censored version...

*steward — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:16:20 PDT

Currently reading: Made you Laugh!, by Joe Garner
Click here for my recently read books

Even the "redacted" - which means "censored" - version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq admits that the US invasion of Iraq has been a windfall for Al-Qa'ida:

"Al-Qaâida, now merged with Abu Musâab al-Zarqawiâs network, is exploiting the situation in Iraq to attract new recruits and donors and to maintain its leadership role.

"â¢ The loss of key leaders, particularly Usama Bin Ladin, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and al-Zarqawi, in rapid succession, probably would cause the group to fracture into smaller groups. Although like-minded individuals would endeavor to carry on the mission, the loss of these key leaders would exacerbate strains and disagreements. We assess that the resulting splinter groups would, at least for a time, pose a less serious threat to US interests than does al-Qa'ida.

"â¢ Should al-Zarqawi continue to evade capture and scale back attacks against Muslims, we assess he could broaden his popular appeal and present a global threat.

"â¢ The increased role of Iraqis in managing the operations of al-Qa'ida in Iraq might lead veteran foreign jihadists to focus their efforts on external operations."

Bush has gotten the US into an unwinnable war, where the redacted NIE also states that if al-Qa'ida, if it perceives itself as having won, will gain even more power. If al-Qa'ida has a Medal of Honor, they should award it to President Bush.

It's not all Bush's fault, though... the Congress voted him practically unlimited power, and the House has to keep funding that power. Maybe it's time to change that Congress around a little. After all, what are we paying 535 salaries for if all they do is rubber-stamp the President's every whim?

Currently reading: The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales from the Round Table, by John Matthews Click here for my recently read books

Just back from SpiralHeart WitchCamp 2006 and there's another flood of pictures - and one poem - coming...

My homepage
Shoutboard and old journals
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

The latest health hazard

*steward — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:25:11 PDT

Currently reading: The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales from the Round Table, by John Matthews; Book Four and The Book of Thoth, by Aleister Crowley; Click here for my recently read books

Cadbury-Schweppes PLC has recalled several of its varieties of candy, due to possible salmonella contamination. I find it highly suspicious that the company knew about it before the easter chocolate selling season, but doesn't think failing to inform consumers about possibly poisoned chocolate is a coverup.

As for me, I'll be changing my buying habits on this one. I used to buy several Cadbury-Schweppes products, among them A & W Root Beer, Halls cough drops, and Schweppes' Ginger Ale. No more.

Of course, substitution may be difficult; they seem to have enormous market concentration under several brands (see list of US brands here). I think I'll be annoying my Congresscritter on this one, both about inspecting imports and about dismantling market concentration. I may even annoy my local supermarkets...

My homepage
Shoutboard and old journals
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

End of the flood

*steward — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:53:31 PDT

Currently reading: The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales from the Round Table, by John Matthews; Book Four and The Book of Thoth, by Aleister Crowley; Click here for my recently read books

The great picture flood is over... I've posted all 85 or so pics from the Dandelion Gathering. In the meantime, I seem to have caught a mild strain of the virus that's making its way around the Mid-atlantic area in the US.

At least there's no shortage of pictures to look at on here.

My homepage
Shoutboard and old journals
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

The Great Picture Flood

*steward — Sat, 27 May 2006 20:49:26 PDT

Currently reading: The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales from the Round Table, by John Matthews; Women who Kill, by Ann Jones; Book Four and The Book of Thoth, by Aleister Crowley; Click here for my recently read books

Last weekend, I attended a gathering of Reclaiming Tradition Witches from throughout North America - and at least one person came from Europe. The Dandelion Gathering is intended to allow people who practice Reclaiming but who never meet each other in person to be able to gather from time to time to meet each other in person.

This year's Gathering also had some serious business - the creation of the "Broader Intra- Reclaiming Council Hub" (BIRCH). This is an attempt to introduce some amount of order and organization into a heretofore very loosely-connected assemblage of highly-anarchic Witches. (Witches, and many Pagans, tend to be anarchic in the first place; so we're talking people here who are anarchic-squared and hang a highly-multiplier on it.) Naturally, there were several working groups formed, which have the power to make interim decisions on certain matters - but whose decisions can be overturned at the next Gathering, in two years, wherever that's held.

And, of course, if any group that currently identifies itself as Reclaiming doesn't like the interim decision, well, it's a time-honored practice in Paganism to just form a new tradition. (And in other religions as well: in Christianity, it's called a "schism".)

So, with a nice new camera, a few hours of sunshine the very last day of camp, and people sleeping in so that I didn't need to worry about getting photography releases from people, I managed to get about a hundred pictures of the scenery and decorations. It's much simpler to just post here than to wait for the working group that handles pictures (actually there seem to be at least two groups, possibly three, with that jurisdiction) to figure out when and where to post them. I'm my own spiritual authority and all that. Besides, more people are likely to see them here, anyway...

Some links:

Reclaiming Tradition Homepage
Reclaiming Tradition WitchCamps
The Pagan Cluster (does not work in Opera)
B.I.R.C.H.

"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobe...

Actual Real Live Camera

*steward — Mon, 15 May 2006 20:09:28 PDT

Currently reading: The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales from the Round Table, by John Matthews; Glimpses of the Left Hand Path, by the Magan Lodge; Women who Kill, by Ann Jones; Book Four, by Aleister Crowley; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman; Click here for my recently read books

I just couldn't pass up the sale at Staples. Especially since I've had a 0.3 megapixel camera (or would that be a 300 kilopixel camera? ) for a few years now. $200 for an Olympus FE-140 six megapixel camera, with a built-in lens cap, auto-settings for specific situations, and a general auto setting as well. They even threw in a 256 M memory chip as part of the deal.

My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Actual Real Live Pictures

*steward — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 07:26:57 PDT

Currently reading: Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Orson Scott Card's Ender series, Mind Performance Hacks; Click here for my recently read books

Yes, I've actually uploaded actual pictures of me! And they can even be used for stock, which means I have to write stock rules!

STOCK RULES:
--------------------------------------

This is a mixed account; some pictures are stock and some aren't. You may only use pictures specifically marked as usable for stock as stock.

When using pictures for stock:

You do not need to obtain prior permission to use a "usable for stock" picture for stock, but you must note me with the location of the deviation.

You do need to obtain prior permission to use a "usable for stock" picture outside of deviantArt. In such cases, please note me with the intended use and placement and I'll get back to you.

"Usable for stock" pictures may be used for deviantART prints without prior permission, but please note me that you are doing so.

My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Annoying my Congressman

*steward — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:45:10 PDT

Currently reading: Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Orson Scott Card's Ender series, Mind Performance Hacks; Click here for my recently read books

So today I received another solicitation from a bank offering to help me protect my identity from theft, for the low low rate of $12.95/month. It's the second in a week.

It's the banks' laxity that's created the whole identity theft problem, and now they have the gall to make a profit stream from it, too? Most identity theft cases happen when banks give out credit cards without making any attempt whatsoever to verify that the person that they're dealing with is who he says he is. Isn't it about time that banks weren't allowed to pursue debts in disputed identity cases when they can't prove due diligence in identity verification to the satisfaction of a court of law (in the alleged debtor's state, of course, because one of the things that the bank should have to prove is that the person they're going after agreed to only sue them in South Dakota)?

If you get credit card solicitations, and throw them out, shred them first. I'm not kidding. Click here for the story of someone who tore an application to pieces, taped it back together again, put a different address on it - and still got the credit card at the different address!

I've written my Congressman to complain about the problem. He's got a supply of form letters he mails (US Congresspersons get free postage); it'll be interesting to see what his response is. I sent him the above link, too - if nothing else, it should give his staff a chuckle or two.

Oh, by the way, if you live in the US, the House of Representatives makes it easy to annoy your Congressperson. Just go to http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and supply your state/territory of residence and zip code. You don't even have to know who your Congressperson is - the House website figures that out for you.

My blog
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Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

The Clueless Gov of Alaska

*steward — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:02:26 PDT

Currently reading: Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Orson Scott Card's Ender series, Mind Performance Hacks; Click here for my recently read books

In the State of Alaska, right now, marijuana has been decriminalized. Citizens of Alaska can possess up to 4 oz. for personal use, legally.

Governor Frank H. Murkowski wants to change that. On his official website, he states:

"One can only imagine the devastation and destruction that these drugs cause to impacted families, children and young people."

It'd be nice if American governors and legislators remembered that the basis of law in the United States is minimal restriction on the people, maximum restriction on the government. If Governor Murkowski can openly admit that the only excuse he can provide for restricting people's use of marijuana is seated in his imagination, rather than in facts, then maybe it's time he stopped pushing to recriminalize marijuana in his state.

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Just fancying up...

*steward — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:42:48 PDT

Currently reading: Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Orson Scott Card's Ender series, Mind Performance Hacks; Click here for my recently read books

Just tidying up the journal a tad, and adding a thumb (hope it works)...

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

What, me worry?

*steward — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:34:28 PST

CNN quotes US President Bush as saying today: "People don't need to worry about security."

If he really believes that, then why does the United States Department of Homeland Security still have an "elevated" threat level, which means that the US Government believes there is a "significant risk of terrorist attacks?"

If people don't need to worry about security, then maybe USDHS should change the threat level to "low risk of terrorist attack".

Or maybe USDHS has its communications screwed up again, like they did for getting relief supplies to Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Too much sweetness?

*steward — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:55:13 PST

If today's sweetness is driving you to distraction, you might want to take a look at Leigh Orf's Valentine's Day Survival Kit.

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog
My homepage

Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Banning things offensive to religion

*steward — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:16:36 PST

There's some ridiculous suggestions coming out of the rioting in primarily Muslim countries, but what I find most amusing is the idea of banning speech offensive to religious views. Which would, of course, ban most religious texts in the process.

For instance, there is a book in the Koran, "Mary" or "Marium", which describes in part the birth of Jesus. Starting at vs. 29 (Dawood translation), it says:

======

"She made a sign to them, pointing to the child. But they replied: 'How can we speak with a babe in the cradle?'

"Whereupon he spoke and said: 'I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Gospel and ordained me a prophet. His blessing is upon me wherever I go, and He has commanded me to be steadfast in prayer and to give alms to the poor as long as I shall live. He has exhorted me to honour my mother and has purged me of vanity and wickedness. I was blessed on the day I was born, and blessed I shall be on the day of my death; and may peace be upon me on the day when I shall be raised to life.'

"Such was Jesus, the son of Mary. That is the whole truth, which they are unwilling to accept. Allah forbid that He Himself should beget a son! When He decrees a thing He need only say: 'Be', and it is."

======

Really looks like that part of the Koran is "offensive" to Christians, whose statement of beliefs (set at the Council of Nicaea, 325 CE) says in part:

======

"We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made."

======

So, if they push through this offensive stuff, I guess either the Christians'll have to drop their Creed, or the Muslims'll have to drop the Koran.

And just wait until us Witches get going on the lot of 'em - Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, all of whom accept the Torah/Pentateuch, on Exodus 22:18 - "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Sounds pretty darned offensive to me.

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Pat Robertson: Exemplary Xian

*steward — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 05:03:14 PST

So Pat Robertson is taking a lot of heat again for preaching the Bible. At least it shows he's read the tripe.

It'd be nice if those criticizing him would also read the thing and realize that if any supernatural forces were involved in it, that those forces were that of a war god (the pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic Mass actually referred to their deity as the "Lord God of the Armies") and that they or it really are as putrid and as nasty as Pat Robertson says it is.

"But when I see throughout the greatest part of this book scarcely anything but a history of the grossest vices, and a collection of the most paltry and contemptible tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it by his name." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Scrooge as a Role Model

*steward — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:15:05 PST

Why not? Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge, was, like all of us, "only human". He tried to get ahead and stay ahead in an often cruel and unfeeling world, and in his humanness, reflected what he felt was the natural way for humans to behave within that world. He achieved a sole proprietorship, a bastion of success.

But thenâ¦

Scrooge was visited by four spirits: his former partner, and by agents of Time â of past, present, and future â who showed him how the interactions of many, only human, affect each other, only human. The last spirit to visit him showed him specifically how his actions affected others â and how others would, in turn, affect him.

Scrooge had to be willing to listen to what the spirits had to say to him; or else all would have been naught. Being willing to listen to the spirits, Scrooge learned â and changed.

Sometimes people are unwilling to listen and to change. They see the size of the change that might come over them, and plead for a stop â they're only human, after all. Sometimes, that word only presents a barrier to change in and of itself.

Only human, Ebenezer Scrooge from that point on was a totally different human, far different from what he was before. He was wise enough to listen to the spirits, and to change his behavior, realizing that what he did was important to the lives of so many others â and realizing the great potential that is stored in being human.

"He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him." (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol)

A person could have a worse epitaph than that.

Scrooge as a role model? Think about it. A few more Scrooges just might make another, better, world possible.

-----------------------
"â¦what stops my despair?
This;ââtis not what man
Does which exalts him, but what man
Would do!"

âRobert Browning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Kick the "Christ" out of Yule

*steward — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 05:04:12 PST

It's getting close to Solstice now (the weather here in NJ feels like it's a month past Solstice), and the signs are starting to pop up on the Christian churches about "Keep Christ in Christmas". Of course, the reason that Pope Julius I chose December 25 for Christmas was to take over the Solstice holiday in the first place.

One nice, gentle reminder of the true, true meaning of the Solstice celebrations is Emerald Rose's song "Santa Claus is Pagan Too!" The lyrics, and a link to a completely authorized and legal MP3 file, can be found on their Witchvox page, here.

"Yeah, you can call it Christmas 'cause you got us way out-gunned
But just you wait till Beltane, then we`ll see who's having fun!"

-----------------------
Indict Bush and Blair for crimes against humanity!

Indict Bush and Blair. NOW.

*steward — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:47:20 PST

Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate for Literature, called last night (Dec. 7, 2005) for a war crimes tribunal against Bush and Blair. His speech was erudite, informed, and yet witty in parts (his mockery of bushspeak is a howler!).

The nobelprize.org site has the speech available on the Web in four languages:

English

Swedish

French

German

Some samples:

"Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass. It is estimated that 75,000 people died. Why were they killed? They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved. That belief immediately qualified them as communists. They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright."

[...]

"It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis."

[...]

"The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain."

(Above summary quotes allowed per the Nobel website provided copyright notice is given, viz: © THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2005 )

deviantART: by:steward

Ain't Gonna Happen

At the rate I'm going...

Happy Lupercalia! (same post as two years back)

Just clearing out for the next 12.5% of the year

The Antidote to 'Keep Christ in Christmas'

Where I've been

Meme: Image Profile game

Common sense wins out

SPECIAL BLOG: Help a cancer survivor graduate!

Moving Favs into Collections

So-so month

Less-productive month

Fall Foliage

Medicated for your protection

Other dates to remember

Front page customization is great!

A few minor manipulations...

CNN:Bush blames al Qaeda in Iraq

But why would AFA people shop at WalMart anyway?

HollaBack!

Even the censored version...

The latest health hazard

End of the flood

The Great Picture Flood

Actual Real Live Camera

Actual Real Live Pictures

Annoying my Congressman

The Clueless Gov of Alaska

Just fancying up...

What, me worry?

Too much sweetness?

Banning things offensive to religion

Pat Robertson: Exemplary Xian

Scrooge as a Role Model

Kick the "Christ" out of Yule

Indict Bush and Blair. NOW.