Emblems of Belief

Some of you may remember the story of fallen Sgt. Patrick Stewart and his widow's quest to have his VA-issued gravestone inscribed with a pentacle, the symbol of their Wiccan religion.

Mrs. Stewart and other families of Wiccan soldiers both deceased and living had submitted requests for the approval of the pentacle symbol to the VA only to be stonewalled for years, without even being given the courtesy of a decision in the negative. Nor were they given any reason (however lame) for this consignment to bureaucratic limbo. All despite the facts that Wiccan soldiers can (and do) have that listed as their religion on their dog tags and are allowed to hold religious services/ceremonies in military installations.

Well, the VA finally caved.

Wiccan symbol OK for soldiers' graves

The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on government-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.

A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers.

Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wisconsin, a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The settlement calls for the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, to be placed on grave markers within 14 days for those who have pending requests with the VA.

"I am glad this has ended in success in time to get markers for Memorial Day," Fox said.

The VA sought the settlement in the interest of the families involved and to save taxpayers the expense of further litigation, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. The agency also agreed to pay $225,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.

The pentacle has been added to 38 symbols the VA already permits on gravestones. They include commonly recognized symbols for Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, as well as those for smaller religions such as Sufism Reoriented, Eckiankar and the Japanese faith Seicho-No-Ie.

Now, is it just me, or would it not have saved more taxpayer dollars and been more immediately "in the interest of the families" to just allow the pentacle on the gravestones from the get-go? 'Cause then there wouldn't have been the lawyers and the settlement and the families without even a damn gravestone to put over their fallen soldiers who died in the service of the great and mighty US of A and its freedom of religion.

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Quote of the Month

"Elsewhere, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell vetoed a bill that would have made English the official language of the city, saying that it would have discouraged President Bush from visiting."
--the Borowitz Report, 02/12/2007

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Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point -- race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything."

"Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair's-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?
Oh, it's just that your life is at stake."

"You want moral leadership? Try the clergy. It's their job."

"I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives."

"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults."

"The poor man who is currently our president has reached such a point of befuddlement that he thinks stem cell research is the same as taking human lives, but that 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians are progress toward democracy."

"Many people did not care for Pat Buchanan's speech; it probably sounded better in the original German."

"Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention."

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Chilled

Author's note: This post is not about baseball, or knitting, or indeed anything either constructive or happy.

I am so very angry right now.

Last night I was hanging out with my girlfriends and we'd gotten a few cocktails in us when Shrub came on the TV and we decided to MST3K his little speech. And as usual, when he said:

"Blah blah blah blah sectarian violence blah blah steadfast blah blah blah achieve victory blah",

all I heard was:

"I am Emperor Bushus Augustus! Bring me a fiddle! And some matches."

Because really, that's all he ever says, if not in those exact words. But we sat there and we mocked him (it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel) and it was fun.

And then I woke up this morning to the news that the Minnesota National Guard's 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division, which was due to come home in March after 15 months in Iraq, has had their tour extended "indefinitely".

I have been fortunate enough to know only one person who had the bad luck to be sent to that hellhole our wise and gracious leaders have created in Iraq. That one person, however, is a very dear friend. The closest thing I have to a brother, actually.

He serves with the Minnesota National Guard's 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division. He was supposed to come home in March. We were starting to make plans, nothing earth-shaking. He was going to come see my new apartment. I was going to make dinner for him and his wife. We were going to have a beer. These were not plans which would have changed the world. But they were there to be anticipated. The days were being marked off in the calendar of the mind, and March did not seem so very far away.

My temper, when roused, normally burns hot and bright and very briefly. Not today. Today my anger is a cold and heavy thing, and I feel chilled from the inside out. I do not think this chill will be readily banished.

I gave up trying to make sense of this godforsaken war a long time ago, and chose instead to count off the days with all the patience I could muster, and to live in hope. That hope is not dead, not by any means, but it has been given a good swift kick in the teeth. Yesterday was one day closer to his return. Today is one more day in this seemingly endless parade of dangers. Yesterday it was easy to believe that everything would be okay. Today it is difficult.

I am so very angry right now.

He was supposed to come home in March.

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Today's the Day

Well, what are you waiting for?
Get out there.

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Notable Americans: Prudence Crandall

Prudence Crandall (1803-1890)

Founder and headmistress of a private school for girls in Canterbury, Connecticut, Prudence Crandall caused a furor by admitting a black student. Many of the other students were subsequently withdrawn by their families, prompting her to re-dedicate her institution as a school for black girls.

When Crandall's "School for Young Ladies and Misses of Colour" began attracting students from several states, the Connecticut legislature passed a law prohibiting the education of black students from out-of-state. She defied the law and retained her students, once serving a short jail term as a result. In 1834, mob protests forced the school to close and its founder to leave the state.

She continued to teach throughout her life and to champion equal rights and the education of women.

Read the Wikipedia article on Prudence Crandall here.

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Notable Americans: John Eder

John Eder (1969-present)

As a member of the Maine House of Representatives, currently serving a second term and running for a third, John Eder is the highest ranking elected official to come from the Green Party of the United States.

Leaving an abusive home at 15 only to land in a facility for troubled youth, John Eder briefly studied philosophy at the college level before becoming disillusioned with college life and, still grappling with the traumas of his early life, dropping out to study at his own direction while working at a bus station.

Soon he struck out with little more than a backpack to travel the country, supporting himself by doing migrant farm work. He often involved himself in the communities he passed through by volunteering his time, labor and activism toward various social justice causes. In the course of his travels he met many people and came to feel a great hope for America and belief in the essential goodness of its people.

Settling in Maine in 1997 (initially in a solar-powered shack in the mountains) he became involved in the state Green Party and rose to the position of party co-chair. When a seat opened in the Maine House of Representatives in 2002, party leaders asked him to be the party candidate.

Running against one other candidate, a Democrat, Eder piled up endorsements from organizations, individuals, businesses and newspapers on his way to a decisive victory. Declining the traditional path of small-party officials--caucusing with one of the two major parties--Eder sought and won recognition of himself as the Green Party Caucus, securing an additional measure of influence in the legislature.

Democratic legislators succeeded in a redistricting move prior to the 2004 election which separated Eder from much of the district he had been elected to represent and placing the residence of another legislator (a Democrat) within the new borders. In response, Eder simply moved to a new home inside the redrawn district and handily defeated two opponents, the incumbent Democrat and a Republican challenger.

Eder constitutes a critical swing vote in a legislature otherwise split 74-73 between Democrats and Republicans. He has been active on tax reform issues and also champions a variety of equal rights and conservation causes.

Read the Wikipedia article on John Eder here.

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Notable Americans: Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins (1882-1965)

Born in Boston, Frances Perkins earned her master's degree in sociology from Columbia University in 1910 and in the same year was named head of the New York Consumer's League, a position she used to press for better working hours and conditions for blue-collar workers. In 1911, she was eyewitness to the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, an event which affected her profoundly.

On her marriage in 1913, Perkins went to court to retain her maiden name and succeeded. Over the next several years she held various positions in state government, including member and eventually the first female chair of the New York State Industrial Commission. Appointed state industrial commissioner by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1929, she reduced female workers' workweek to 48 hours, expanded investigations of factories and pressed for minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws.

In 1933 Roosevelt, now President of the United States, appointed Perkins as Secretary of Labor, making her the first female cabinet member in US history and the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession. In her twelve years as Secretary of Labor, Perkins played an essential role in forming and implementing Roosevelt's New Deal programs and in the creation and approval of the Social Security Act.

Read the Wikipedia article on Frances Perkins here.

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Notable Americans: John Muir

John Muir (1838-1914)

The third of eight children, John Muir was born in Scotland and immigrated to America at the age of eleven. Though he had little schooling after the move to Wisconsin, in his youth he became a prodigious inventor, creating such things as a thermometer so sensitive it would register the body heat of a person standing several feet away and an alarm clock that worked by tipping the bed and thereby ejecting the sleeper.

Leaving his family's Wisconsin farm for Madison in his early twenties, he came to the attention of several people associated with the University of Wisconsin. Despite his lack of formal education, he was admitted to the university. An early botany lesson inspired in him a passion for the natural world and the wilderness--perhaps a natural product of his rural upbringing when combined with newfound scientific understanding--and for over two years he pursued an eclectic course of study focused on the natural sciences.

Muir spent the next several years working as an industrial engineer (mostly in Canada, perhaps to avoid the Civil War) and taking wilderness trips whenever he could. In 1867 an accident on the job deprived him of the sight in one eye, and the other soon went dark in sympathy. His eyesight did return, slowly, and at the end of this experience Muir felt he had been reborn. He resolved to spend his life among the sights of nature that had been denied him during his recuperation.

Muir walked a thousand miles from Kentucky to Georgia. He turned south, hoping eventually to walk to the headwaters of the Amazon in South America, but he was laid low with a case of malaria in Florida. He rambled across the south of the country and ended up in California instead. There, his quest for wilderness immersion led him to Yosemite. He spent six years there, working as a shepherd, a sawmill operator, and a tour guide, all the while studying the natural world around him.

In time he married and settled near San Francisco, running a fruit farm and writing about his experiences in the natural places of the country, though he often travelled to wilderness sites. In his later travels he became deeply concerned about the effects of domesticated animal grazing on wilderness areas, pushing for protection of the Sierra high country and pushing for the introduction of the Congressional bill that would create Yosemite National Park. The bill eventually passed, but while it did protect the high country it left the Yosemite Valley under state control. Muir then formed the Sierra Club in 1892 to promote conservation efforts.

In 1903, President Roosevelt visited Yosemite National Park with Muir, who told the president about state mismanagement and exploitation of the Yosemite Valley. Roosevelt urged the conservationist to show him "the real Yosemite", and the two men set off on their own for several days, hiking through the back country and sleeping in the open. With the president's support, the Sierra Club pressured Congress to protect the valley, and in 1905 ownership of the valley and of Maiposa Grove were transferred to the national park and placed under federal control.

"Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? And what creature of all that the Lord has taken the pains to make is not essential to the completeness of that unit - the cosmos? The universe would be incomplete without man; but it would also be incomplete without the smallest transmicroscopic creature that dwells beyond our conceitful eyes and knowledge."
--John Muir, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

Read the Wikipedia article on John Muir here.

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Notable Americans: Alice Paul

Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977)

Alice Paul was a leader of the American suffragist movement and instrumental in securing women's right to vote in 1920.

Born into a Quaker family, Alice Paul reached educational heights rarely seen in women of her generation. She received her BA from Swarthmore College and her MA in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She then pursued further postgraduate study in England at the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics before returning to the University of Pennsylvania to complete her PhD in political science in 1912.

As an activist with Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA), she frequently ran afoul of the authorities and was once force-fed while on hunger strike with other WSPU members.

Paul formed the National Womens Party (NWP) in 1916 with like-minded friends and, relying on activist tactics she had learned in Britain, made headlines with demonstrations, pickets, hunger strikes and other such attention-grabbing activities. She and a number of followers were arrested in 1917 for conducting a peaceful, silent picket of the White House. The charges against them were "obstructing traffic", for which dubious crime they were confined to a workhouse.

In protest against poor conditions in the workhouse, Paul organized a hunger strike which was joined by other inmates. The attendant press coverage along with continuing demonstrations by the NWP's free members and sympathizers finally pressured the White House into acknowledging in 1918 that women's suffrage was an important issue. Two years later, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granted American women the right to vote.

The right of citizens in the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Having secured this essential liberty, Alice Paul dedicated much of the rest of her life to fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment, which remains in limbo as of this writing, requiring ratification by three more states to append it to the Constitution. Five states*, it should be noted, ratified the ERA only to later rescind it.

* Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The ERA has been ratified only by the House or the Senate (not both) in Nevada, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.
States which have never even partially ratified the ERA are Utah, Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia.
All other states have ratified the ERA.

Read the Wikipedia article on Alice Paul here.

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Notable Americans: Hiram Revels

In this week before the election, I think we've all heard quite enough (and then some) from and about the candidates in our area. Over the next few days, TBL will endeavor to remain in the political spirit of the season without beating the metaphorical dead horses, by presenting information on some interesting characters from our nation's political past.

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Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827 – 1901)

The first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate, Hiram Revels represented Mississippi during Reconstruction. The son of a free man of mixed race and an emancipated slave, Revels was born free in 1827 and trained as a barber before studying at a Quaker seminary, Knox College, and a black seminary prior to being ordained as a minister. He served as both chaplain and soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War, returning to the ministry at war's end.

After being elected to the post of city Alderman in Natchez, MS, then to the state senate, he was selected to fill the last year of the Senate term formerly held by Jefferson Davis, who had left the US Senate to become President of the Confederate States of America. During his short term in the Senate, he worked with little success toward racial equality.

After leaving the Senate, he went on to serve as president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College and later as interim Secretary of State for Mississippi.

Read the Wikipedia article on Hiram Revels here.

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Wiccan Sign Allowed on Soldier's Plaque

For those of you who have been following this story with me over the past several months, here's a welcome update.

Sgt. Stewart's memorial plaque (but not his headstone) WILL bear the symbol of his religion. Not (alas) because the VA finally got off its collective ignorant ass and approved the pentacle symbol, but because the State of Nevada (bless them) stepped in and dealt with the situation.

Wiccan Sign Allowed on Soldier's Plaque
RENO, Nev. - The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan won state approval Wednesday to place a Wiccan religious symbol on his memorial plaque, something the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had refused.
'I'm honored and ecstatic. I've been waiting a year for this,' Roberta Stewart said from her home in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno.
Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, was killed in Afghanistan last September when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his helicopter. Four others also died. Stewart was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
He was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize and therefore prohibits on veterans' headstones in national cemeteries.
But state officials said they had received a legal opinion from the Nevada attorney general's office that concluded federal officials have no authority over state veterans' cemeteries. They now plan to have a contractor construct a plaque with the Wiccan pentacle - a circle around a five-pointed star - to be added to the Veterans' Memorial Wall in Fernley.
'The VA still has not determined yet if a Wiccan symbol can go on the headstone,' said Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services. 'But we have determined we control the state cemetery and that we therefore have the ability to recognize him for his service to his country.'
Wiccans worship the earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves good witches, pagans or neo-pagans.
The Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration allows only approved emblems of religious beliefs on government headstones. Over the years, it has approved more than 30, including symbols for the Tenrikyo Church, United Moravian Church and Sikhs. There is also an emblem for atheists.

Now, to correct the headstone problem. If you haven't yet emailed the VA to protest their inaction, now's the time.

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Pagan Apologia

Those of you who live in Minnesota have surely already heard about Jonathan "The Impaler" Sharkey, who claims to be a vampire, founded the Vampyre, Witches and Pagans Party, and is running for governor up here in Canada's baja peninsula. No doubt you've seen him on TV, talking about drinking blood and promising to publicly impale terrorists if elected. Perhaps you even heard about how his partner, a school bus driver and practicing Wiccan, was "relieved of her duties" by the school district when her religion was revealed.

And now, just to make things interesting, he's been arrested.

41-year-old Jonathon Sharkey, who goes by the nickname 'Jonathan the Impaler' was arrested Monday night on two felony counts from Indiana.

The leader of the Vampyre, Witches and Pagans party was charged with stalking and invasion of privacy, against his former girlfriend in Indiana.

Sharkey told a Minneapolis television he did nothing wrong because he never signed the papers. 'I never signed the order of probation to begin, never agreeing to it. If the contract was not signed its null and void,' Sharkey said.

Sharkey's partner Julie Carpenter went to visit him in jail Tuesday. She says he's fighting extradition to Indiana and he's fighting to keep his campaign going.

Sharkey announced he was running for Governor of Minnesota a couple of weeks ago. His campaign includes positions on education and taxes, but he drew attention by suggesting that criminals be impaled and by describing himself as a blood-drinking vampire.

Sharkey told reporters, 'Just because I bite somebody it doesn't make them a vampire. It doesn't make them evil, and they're not gonna be, hhhheeeeecccchhhh, all over the place. I mean let's be real here.'

Sharkey is being held on $100,000 bond for escape charges. No bail has been set for the stalking and invasion charges.

Well, we already knew this guy was weird. Now it seems he may also be dangerous. It certainly wouldn't be the first time someone who wasn't playing with a full deck of cards ran for public office.

The thing that bugs me here is this guy is giving pagans a bad name. There are already a lot of people out there who think we're all a bit cracked--witness Ms. Carpenter's recent reassignment, keeping in mind that she didn't do anything wrong. If everyone dating a weirdo were to be removed from their jobs, the unemployment rate in this country would skyrocket. She was punished for admitting to being a pagan. In many people's minds, "pagan" = "dangerous".

So, in the spirit of Imbolc, the pagan festival of light and renewal which just happens to be today, I'd like to shed a little light on who we really are.

I'm not going to try to sell you some b.s. that Jonathan Sharkey isn't a pagan. He is...in much the same way that Fred Phelps is a Christian. (And if you don't know who Fred Phelps is, take some Pepcid and Google him. I'm not going to stain my blog with further discussion of that wretched excuse for a human being.)

We're a really inclusive bunch. Heck, we dont' even require baptism or an equivalent initiation ritual. If you say you're a pagan, that's pretty much good enough. (Some organized pagan groups have their own requirements, of course.) We don't all believe the same things--no religion can honestly make that claim.

Here's a fact that may shock some of you--if you live in the Twin Cities metro, there's a really good chance you already know a pagan. The Twin Cities are positively teeming with us. Minnesota pagans are quiet, discreet, and startlingly numerous. The problem with discretion, of course, is that non-pagans often only hear about the less discreet among us. But let me say this--for every New-Age devotee loudly proclaiming that crystal power has transformed their life, there are a dozen monotheists who believe that prayer alone will cure their cancer. Faith is a funny thing, and no faith is immune to over-enthusiasm.

But the vast majority of us--those startling numbers I told you about--live like everyone else. Most of the pagans I know have jobs in administration or technology. We are professionals in positions of responsibility. We pay our rent/mortgage and our taxes, we vote, we agonize over our spreading waistlines, we do yard work on the weekends, we watch CSI. And we live our faith, or fail to, like any other fallible human beings.

Doubtless the thought of pagans raising children strikes fear into many a heart. And doubtless some of those people wouldn't believe me when I say that the pagan parents I know are raising healthy, beautiful children and teaching them to greet the world with love and wonder. I've never understood why anyone would consider gentle, intelligent, gainfully employed people to be unfit parents simply because of their religion and/or sexual orientation, and I expect I never shall.

We are not all liberals. Most of us are, it's true, for the same reason the majority of homosexuals are politically progressive: the left of the political spectrum is the side that is not in favor of denying us homes, jobs and civil rights. We're talking about self-preservation here, folks. But there are conservative pagans, as there are Log Cabin Republicans. I don't pretend to understand, but that's beside the point.

We are not all or even mostly vegetarians, though I'm sure the percentage of vegetarians versus meat eaters is much higher than in the general population. My friends tend to be quite carnivorous, especially during grilling season. Pagans with live coals and tongs--watch out, America!

Let's see, what other myths can I lay to rest? Oh, yes--we don't all worship in the nude. It's much less common than you'd think, actually. Enough said.

Satanists and pagans are not the same thing. Many pagans don't consider Satanists to be pagans at all--it's just too monotheistic. Most of us don't even believe in Satan.

Pagans do not sacrifice living beings. Anyone claiming to be pagan who does so has entirely missed the point. Our one big rule is "Harm None". Think about that. The trick, of course, is figuring out for yourself exactly what that means. We wrestle with that thorny question every day, like many people wrestle with the true meaning of "love thy neighbor as thyself".

Speaking of loving thy neighbor: we don't hate Christians. Well, most of us don't. Many of us think Jesus was a pretty cool dude, actually. He had some great stuff to say, like the bit about judging not. That's a tough one, too, isn't it?

Blessed be, everybody.

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Change Begins at Home

Don't forget to vote in your local elections today. Most polling places are open until 8:00, but some close at 7:00.

You can find your polling place, anywhere in the US, here.

Twin Cities area residents can find information on races and ballot initiatives here (use the MyVote area).

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Nothing New Under the Sun

What can I tell you that you don't already know?

I could tell you that the Twins have given up on winning and are instead concentrating on finding innovative ways to suck. But you knew that. I could tell you the hitters aren't hitting and the pitchers are too often merely throwing, but I suspect you reached that conclusion long ago on your own.

I could tell you that my company recently went through a major re-organization to maximize its soul-sucking capabilities, and that for the first time in the history of corporate re-orgs the goal behind the chaos has actually been achieved. Would that be news?

I could tell you that the project I am currently working on (for the aforementioned soul-suckers) will eventually end up in the Journal of American Science as scientific proof of Murphy's Law. You probably didn't know that, but it's equally probable that you don't care.

I could tell you that President Emperor Bush recently gave the media the finger. And now his mouthpieces say it was his thumb. I wonder what he calls the short, squat finger that's a bit separate from all the rest, then?

But, back to baseball. Here are a few obscure things, in no particular order, that you may not know about the Twins:

• Kyle Lohse leads the Twins' staff in walks, with 31. Behind (or, if you prefer, in front of) him are three pitchers with 29...but only two of those are starters. I'm looking at you, Romero...
• Eight of Minnesota's 25 active players are under 6 feet tall.
• Everyone knows that Johan Santana leads the staff (and the league) in strikeouts. Which Twin is second in the team standings? You might be surprised: it's Brad Radke.
• Improbable team leaders:
• Justin Morneau - triples (4), fielding percent for an "everyday" player (.994)
• Jacque Jones - walks (41)
• Torii Hunter - stolen bases (23)
• Brad Radke - hit batsmen (7)
• Mike Redmond - errors (0), runners caught stealing (9)
• Juan Rincón has the most innings, lowest ERA and fewest home runs allowed of Twins relievers who have been here all season.
• Slump-O-Rama:
• Lew Ford went 13 for 75 (.173) in July.
• Other July slumps:
  • Nick Punto - 20 for 100 (.200)
  • Justin Morneau 19 for 89 (.213)
• Throwing, as opposed to pitching (July):
• Jesse Crain - 9.28 ERA, ten walks, three strikeouts
• Terry Mulholland - 7.36 ERA
• Joe Mays - 7.36 ERA, four home runs
• Only the Kansas City Landed Gentry have scored fewer runs than the Twins this season, and they're only 3 runs behind us.
• The Twins are third in the league in pitching, behind only the @$#! Whine Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Names That Are Too Damn Long, respectively.

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Required Reading

You. Yeah, you, with the mouse. Read this. Now.

When you've stopped screaming and banging your head against the nearest wall, check out One Pissed Off Veteran. It's a brand-shiny-new blog by a Vietnam veteran who's not exactly thrilled about Iraq, among other things. He calls himself Farnsworth, and he's already got some great stuff out there for your perusal. (For future reference, I've added a permanent link to OPOV on your right, under "Politics and Society".)

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Good game last night. Joe Mays and Joe Nathan both shook the rust off and combined for an excellent nine innings versus the Kansas City Landed Gentry. The Twins won 3-1.

In that brief gap between visitor's batting practice and the clearing of the field for anthems and "first pitches", I was heartened to see all our infielders (and I do mean all) get run out there for a quick round of pepper. Practice makes perfect, boys. And whaddaya know--no errors last night!

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Overheard

One of the great things about public transportation is the conversations you catch bits of.

Person 1: "You know how Bush keeps going on about the 'war against terror'?"
Person 2: "Yeah."
Person 1: "And you know how he mispronounces 'terror' as 'terra'?"
Person 2: (pause) "Yeah, you're right, he does."
Person 1: "Isn't 'terra' Latin for 'earth'?"

Person 1, I salute you.

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And now, the inaugural installment of

TBL's Unofficial, Ever-Growing List of Ways to Cope With Emperor Shrub's Reign

• spend most waking hours plugged into trusty mp3 player, blasting the Levellers
• when Shrub comes on TV, instantly salute with "the finger" (TBL uses both hands)
• watch Daily Show religiously
• learn words to Canadian national anthem
• read fiction
• knit for humanitarian organization (soothing and constructive)
• transfer savings to higher-interest account so eventual move to Canada can be accomplished by truck instead of hand-cart
• primal scream

Add yours in the comments!

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Mainstream This!

Kudos to Fourth Pew Center for tipping me off to this story. I needed a new ulcer.

Beliefnet.com: Indianapolis, May 26, 2005

A judge's order that keeps a man and his ex-wife from exposing their 9-year-old son to their religion of Wicca has been appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Thomas E. Jones Jr. questions an order that Marion County Superior Court Chief Judge Cale Bradford put into divorce proceedings that bars Jones or his ex-wife from exposing their child to 'non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals,' the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday. Jones has asked the state appeals court to look into the case.

The judge's spokeswoman said the judge would not comment on the case, the Star said.

Both Jones and his ex-wife practice Wicca, a pagan religion that predates Christianity and preaches balance between its practitioners and nature. Jones claims that the judge put the paragraph about religions in the divorce papers without either parent asking for it.

Well, actually, Wicca doesn't predate much of anything, but I find this story disturbing for reasons far more serious than that minor factual error.

Remind me who's been foaming at the mouth about the evils of "judicial activism" for the last year or so? Oh, that's right--conservatives. I'd like to see those same lawmakers condemn this piece of judicial activism. Bet they won't, though. They'll just call it "upholding the values this great nation was founded upon" and nominate this idiot judge for a federal post.

Religious freedom--how's that for a value this great nation was founded upon? This judge's unwanted addition to the divorce decree was unconstitutional (like much of the Patriot Act, but I digress). Government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion--ANY religion, with the exception of religious practices which break other fundamental laws, like those against murder. "Government" includes the judiciary. You follow? Then you're ahead of that judge, congratulations.

We pagans aren't the most cohesive bunch. I think our creed actually reads: "And it harm none, do as thou wilt, unless thou wilt organize, in which case, can it." There's not going to be a press conference by the National Pagan Council on the 5 o'clock news to protest this ruling, mostly because I don't think there is an NPC. There's not going to be a Wear Your Pentacle to Work Day, either, because a lot of us work in corporate America and if you really believe there's religious tolerance in this country, wear a pentacle into a cubicle farm. I dare you.

But we knew this was coming, didn't we? Not this, specifically, but this sort of thing. It starts with cases like the above, and if these rulings are not overturned, it expands. This administration has made no secret of its desire to weaken or even eradicate the establishment clause, and unfortunately there are a lot of average citizens out there who think it would be a pretty good idea, because they don't realize it's their freedom under fire, too.

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That's It, We're Moving To Canada

An excerpt from To Pakistan, With Thanks By Joshua Kucera:

The United States imposed weapons sanctions in the 1990s after it found out about Pakistan's secret nuclear bomb program. But then came Sept. 11 and the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan became our new best friend, and the sanctions were lifted. And although Pakistan's military is still overwhelmingly oriented toward India--hardly a major front in the 'war on terror'--Washington has opened up its pocketbooks again. Over the next five years, Pakistan will get at least $1.5 billion in defense aid from the United States.

An announcement made at IDEAS 2004 suggests where some of that money is going to be spent: Pakistani officials revealed that the United States is ready to reverse its longtime opposition to selling new F-16 fighter jets to Islamabad. The chief of the Pakistan Air Force told me Washington wants to provide the F-16s, in part, to help Pakistan fight Islamist extremists in the tribal areas in the northwestern part of the country.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has deftly played the United States since Sept. 11, and Washington has let him get away with it. Shortly before IDEAS 2004 opened, he announced that he will not step down as chief of the army, as he had promised. The United States barely let out a peep. The operations against the insurgents in the northwest are centered in Waziristan, not around Quetta or Peshawar, where intelligence officials and analysts believe most Taliban and al-Qaida operatives are based. One analyst told me the Pakistanis are attacking Waziristan because it's an easy target, and because tribal forces humiliated Pakistani army troops there earlier this year, and now the military establishment wants revenge. Yet U.S. officials praise the operations as an important battle in the "war on terror."

Even if Pakistan were serious about fighting the Taliban, it could certainly find a better way to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars the F-16s will cost. But the Pakistanis gave a clue as to what they really want with the planes: They are requesting that the F-16s be armed with top-of-the-line air-to-air missiles that would be of little use against targets like the Islamists it's fighting on the ground. Other equipment Pakistan is getting from the United States—navy surveillance planes, for example—is similarly useless against a guerrilla insurgency. They would, of course, be useful in a war against India.

Where to begin?

First of all, how is it that I heard of this only because a passing reference on Air America Radio (bless them) aroused my husband's curiosity, which he passed on to me, and I promptly Googled? This should be headline news. It should at least be news! But no, all I see on TV news and read in the paper is something on the order of "Terry Schaivo, school shooting, Terry Schaivo, Michael Jackson, school shooting, Robert Blake, and did we mention Terry Schaivo?".

Second of all, what the hell were they thinking? No, wait, scratch that, it's been over four years and I'm still waiting for the first lucid brainwave out of this administration. Is it too much to hope for, though, that mounting deficits, runaway war expenses, a sinking economy, record unemployment, a burgeoning fuel-cost crisis, and the need to spend our defense resources on actual threats might at least give these folks pause before throwing a $1.5 billion match onto the India/Pakistan fuse?

I love my country, but I fear my government. And frankly, the love's wearing a little thin these days.

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Transit Options

Quiz time, boys and girls!

Today's puzzle is a logic problem.

A metropolitan region has overcrowded streets and highways, high-traffic area parking shortages, increasing pollution levels and problems maintaining drivable conditions on existing roads. Meanwhile, the public transit system is facing a catastrophic budget shortfall because a large portion of its funding comes from a motor vehicle sales tax, and fewer people are buying vehicles in this depressed and unstable economy. A proposed 25-cent fare increase on most rides would offset only a small percentage of the shortfall.

The logical solution is:

A) Eliminate 28 routes entirely and reduce service on 3/4 of the remaining routes, reducing overall public transit ridership by an estimated 4 million rides per year and forcing thousands to abandon transit altogether, adding to the burden of single-occupant vehicles on the local infrastructure and environment.

B) Find new funding sources such as a sales tax and/or gasoline tax increase and not only fund public transit at current levels but increase route frequency and coverage, thereby alleviating congestion, parking woes, fossil-fuel pollution and wear and tear on area roads.

Extra credit (and a nice cold beer) for anyone who can answer the following question to my satisfaction:

Why is this even up for debate?

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