Who Makes You Think?

Wow. Sara Sutterfield Winn, who writes juicy thealogy, nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award. Since I adore her blog, I feel very honored. That's the easy part. The difficult part about being nominated for this award is that you're supposed to list five blogs that make you think. Of course, there are way, way, way more than five blogs that I read every day and all of them make me think, laugh, appreciate beauty, feel connected. So picking just five of them is v. difficult for me. Here, however, are five blogs that I find thought-provocative. (And being provocative is, IMHO, a good thing.)

1. Robin Artisson. Robin writes posts that are way too long for the medium of a blog. He's sexist and he tends to see the world in dualistic terms of right (him) and wrong (others). He's a big comment-deleting baby when I disagree with him and, as noted above and as the king explained to Mozart, his posts are too long. However, his writing is the best and most serious writing that I've found anywhere on the web concerning Heathenry, shamanism, and Pagan theology in general. His world-view is coherent and he's not just pulling stuff out of his ass, especially when he talks about shamanism. He's must-reading if you want to think about the important intellectual questions facing modern Pagans.

2. Hullabaloo. Digby is an amazingly thoughtful writer. She's one of those writers who, after you read something she's written, you're sure that you'd been thinking the same thing all along because it's so obvious -- after she's done the research and laid it all out like that for you. She's passionate, too, in a wonderful way and she has a way with words that I love. If you read nothing besides Digby and Glenn Greenwald every day, you'd be pretty well-informed and you'd have enough to chew on thought-wise for the rest of the day. (Yeah, that was cheating. I'm a witch, did you think I was going to play by the rules? I may cheat again before I'm through. Watch for it.)

3. Derrick Jensen. OK, technically this is not a blog; it's Jensen's MySpace page, but I'm listing it anway. (See above re: witches, rules, and watching for it). Jensen is not a fun person to read; that's because he tells the truth about our culture and what it does to people, animals, plants, the planet. He also doesn't update very frequently, but what he does have to say, well, it has to be said. There are a few writers in everyone's life, I hope, who completely change the way that you look at the universe, who, actually, completely change who you are. Charlene Spretnack did that for me when I was in my thirties. Jensen did that for me at the tail end of my forties. If you don't want to check his blog all the time, order and read his books.

4. Aquila ka Hecate. Lately, I find myself thinking quite a bit about some of Aquila's posts. A South African witch, she's celebrating Samhein when I'm celebrating Beltane, but she has an amazing ability to cut straight to the core of every topic that she tackles. Her discussions of her spiritual practice are meaty and inspiring and common-sense all at the same time. She reminds me of another of my favorite Pagan writers, Druid Anne Johnson.

5. Twisty. Because she's in a class all by herself, because she's gutsy, because she never pulls any punches, and because, even when she's irritating and you don't want to agree with her, even when admitting that she's right will make it more difficult for you to go on living in this world, well, even then, you know that she's right. Twisty isn't saying what everyone else is saying, she isn't trying to make it pretty or nice, and she isn't going to "just give it a rest, for Pete's sake". I love her for that. She's a national treasure. Long may she blame.

**************

According to Sara, If you’ve been tagged, here’s how you play:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;

2. List to this post at The Thinking Blog so that people can find the exact origin of the meme;

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’.

Who makes you think?

Not Quitting Antime Soon

I got an e-mail yesterday from The Freeway Blogger concerning Cindy Sheehan's retirement from the peace movement. I was feeling pretty sad for our country. In the e-mail, The Freeway Blogger said to me, "Hi Hecate, thought you might appreciate some of my thoughts on a post-Cindy peace movement, and I know you'll get a laugh out of what my resignation letter would look like...

(don't worry, I won't be quitting anytime soon...)"

That made me feel better. I'm not quitting anytime soon, either. I'm bitterly disappointed in the Democrats for caving, but I'm not going to cave. I'm going to keep on working for peace, for the planet, for the bees, for the mystery and magic and whirling opportunity that I know as Goddess.

Here's what The Freeway Blogger wrote:

Cindy Isn't Speaking For You Anymore

Cindy Sheehan was a mother who lost her son and wanted to know why. Her initial trip to Crawford inspired a flashmob of thousands to join her in the ditches outside Bush's ranch and gave, as they say, a "face" to the anti-war movement. Unlike the other faces we see on our TVs, hers wasn't all pretty and polished like the professional pundits - the ones that are paid to tell us what to think. Her features showed quite plainly the sadness of her loss. Nevertheless, Cindy looked better on camera than the real faces of the antiwar movement - the ones that had been shot away or melted off inside a burning Humvee.

To be perfectly honest with you, I've felt like writing a letter like Cindy's damn near every day. Of course, being the Freewayblogger I'd have to keep it short.
When I started doing this, I didn't think it'd take more than a couple hundred signs, at most, for people to "get it": the simple, obvious and irrefutable fact that when you put a sign on a freeway, a HELL of a lot of people read it. With 200,000 people seeing the same sign, day after day for weeks, it seemed reasonable that at least one of them would say to themselves, "Hey! I could do that!" and that the ball would just start rolling from there. Didn't Happen. Which is kind of amazing when you think about it, and frankly still confounds me.

Before I became the Freewayblogger I used to bring clothing to villages in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico. I did this because it seemed that the most useful thing I could do with the resources I had was to collect warm clothes, put them in my truck, and then go find the coldest, poorest people I could. Like freewayblogging, it was a simple idea, easily executed, that practically anyone could do, provided they were willing to break a few small rules in defense of a greater one. (Bringing used clothing into Mexico is illegal, even for charity, if you don't have a bunch of impossible-to-get permits. I'd usually get through customs by explaining who the clothes were for and hoping they'd let me through. If that didn't work, leaving a couple of twenties on the drivers seat usually did the trick. On the rare occasions they sent me back, I just went to a different crossing, or waited a bit and tried again at the same one. I always got through.) It took about three years and a hundred thousand miles of driving, but I managed to clothe damn near everybody living in the northwest Sierra Madres. And believe me, compared to that, sticking signs up on freeways is a piece of cake.

The reason I’m bringing this up is to emphasize the power that one person can have when they decide on a plan of action and then just Do It. Don’t get together with friends, don’t form a group, and for God’s sakes, don’t hold another meeting. Figure out the most useful thing you can do with the resources you have and then Just Do It.

I know most of you out there are afraid to put up signs because you think it might be illegal. Stop and think about that for a moment. Think about it and then think about everything this country is supposed to stand for and you’ll realize what utter bullshit that excuse is.

Here’s a picture of a sign that says “Impeach” with an American flag placed next to a freeway on what is indisputably Public Property. If you honestly think this is illegal, or should be, then I honestly think you should find yourself a new country, because this one’s just being wasted on you.

Last week I got questioned by a motorcycle cop while I was taking pictures of one of my signs. He asked me if I’d put it there and I said yes. Then he asked me to take it down, so I said, “Okay” and did. End of Story.

I suppose if he’d wanted to he could’ve arrested me, or given me a ticket or a fine. On the other hand he could’ve just as easily given me a Citizenship award: America is funny that way. Apart from some awful sort of Rodney King scenario, the worst thing that can happen to you for public signposting is that you’ll have to go to court and explain your actions: that you felt it was your civic responsibility to speak out to as many of your fellow citizens as possible, and that this was not only your right, but your patriotic duty. I’d consider it an honor to be the defendant in such a case, and you should too. In any event, it’s certainly not something any of us should be afraid of. (And let's face it - how illegal could it be if I've done it over 4,000 times?)

Free Speech is an amazing thing: probably the greatest blessing Democracy has to offer, and we’ve got to start using it more effectively. . . .

Cardboard and paint people… cardboard, paint and a little bit of nerve. That’s all it takes.

Cindy isn’t speaking for you anymore.

send pictures to freewayblogger@yahoo.com

The Disease Is Arrogance.

He's definitely not my first, second, or even third choice to be the Democratic nominee (hint: Worst.Secretary.of.Energy.Ever), but I got a letter from Bill Richardson seeking donations today and, on the envelope, it says: The war in Iraq is not the disease. Iraq is a symptom. The disease is arrogance.

I think that's almost right. The difference is that I think arrogance, as well, is a symptom. It's a symptom of patriarchy.

Hope Of Deliverance

From today's EEI newsletter:

Study Says Cutting Non-CO2 Emissions Would Buy Time for CO2 Cuts

A study by an international team of climate scientists found that a short-term focus on efforts to cut non-CO2 emissions would provide a larger window for cutting CO2 emissions in time to restrain the impact of climate change, the Christian Science Monitor reported today.

Lead study author James Hansen warned that CO2 emissions should be cut from their projected levels over the next 10 years by such measures as building fewer fossil fuel-based plants in order to achieve "the alternative scenario" proposed by the study. The study stated that the 10-year window represents a period in which companies need to adjust their spending plans to reflect the goal of cutting CO2 emissions. It cautioned that failing to prevent a 1 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures from their 2000 levels would cause "dangerous" impacts to the global climate.

Team member Gavin Schmidt was quoted as saying: "This is good news. There is scope for effective action, even though it will fall short of stopping human-caused climate change completely."
Christian Science Monitor , May 30.

Fire

A Big Reason Why Abortions Are Up Now And Were Down Under Clinton

Mad Melancholic Feminista hits it out of the ballpark again:

: "The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level is more than four times that of women living above 300% of the poverty level." Not surprisingly, there is a similar gap in access to contraception, leading the Institute to speak of "Two Americas" for American women with respect to the ability to control their reproductive lives.

Coffee In The Moon

The Consecration Of Coffee

to Archbishop Oscar A. Romero

One day of god
drinking coffee in my patio
nothing is normal—
not the calla
with its penis of gold
nor the iris
like purple lava
a volcano spills.
I find in the depths of the cup
chasubles embroidered
with black moths
& red stains—
the sun fires
a scintillation of silver bullets
& of candles drowned—
there is blood in its shine.
I place the cup on its saucer
with a most tender care
as if it were a chalice
& say the litany:
Guatemala
Nicaragua
El Salvador
& one side of my heart
tastes white & sweet
like cane sugar
& the other,
like coffee,
bitter & black.

© Rafael Jesús González 1999

Fuckers

They hate us. They are evil, viscious, greedy Normans, glad to see our children die from tainted meat. No, really.

Retreat!

So, my circle of brilliant women is preparing for, in just a few weeks, our next big annual retreat. This will be tres interresant, because, as you may remember, last year my wonderful circle way, way, way overdid it and got our magical (and physical) asses kicked, big time.

E, the brilliant founder of our circle, developed a series of questions last year that we all ponder, consider, meditate upon, do divination for, and generally live with for a few weeks prior to our annual retreat, held Chez Hecate, although this year the basement is still in une state dishabille. This retreat comes almost directly in the middle of my preparation of a cert. petition for SCOTUS and in the middle of a trip that Son and D-i-L had planned for Ireland just before D-i-L's wonderful mother became ill. So it will be interesting.

My favorite form of divination, when I can find time for it, is to do a Celtic Cross spread with all nine of my active decks, most of which are Tarot decks, but some of which are not Tarot decks, at all. One of the best things about doing a Celtic Cross with several decks is that if, for example, the message really is Two of Cups, as it was for the question about my own personal spiritual developlment over the next five years, well, then you can just pull one form of the Two of Cups after another after another after another. It's a lovely way to let the universe talk to you, if you're willng to let it smack you in the face over and over and over.

Do you ever do this, do a Celtic cross w/ more than one deck? Does your circle ever set aside a day to do magic concerning your circle? Have you ever done so much magic in one day that you could hardly drag your sorry ass out of bed the next?

Retreat!

Comcastsucks.com

It is a v. good thing that the domain name: www.comcastsucksthebigwazoo.com is not available. Just saying. Several amazing posts later this evening when I've beaten these "cables" into submission.

A Ritual For The Bees

Here, with R's permission, is the ritual that she'll be leading in Arlington, Virginia on the Blue Moon:


Intention:
Seeking the wisdom of the Mighty Dead and of the Bee Devas, we then raise our energies and send this out for healing of the bee hives.

*FYI-
Bees have been carved into temples in Greece, Egypt, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico. Numerous historians tell us that Priestesses, and sometimes Priests, imbibed special honey mixtures and then gave prophetic and/or healing messages to people and tribes. Historical accounts also tell of bees and their gifts being used to confer powers on to leaders. Many temples in India and Thailand still keep bees as sacred temple residents.

Also, many cultures believe that insect spirits generally process information in communal ways versus individual perspectives. Devas are commonly thought of as the oversoul of those in the insect kingdoms, with each insect type having a specific Deva. Devas are said to speak the One Truth from the community voice. Most people think of Devas as another form of the Faeries, although semantics usually cloud the discussion.


Ritual for the bees:
Ground/Center
Purify the area/each other
Cast the circle
Call to the energetics of the directions
Call to the Devas
Call to Deity
State the intention
Read a poem for the bees.

The working:

Ask participants to imagine they are standing outside of an ancient temple. On the entry pillars they see bee forms have been etched into the stone. Beside the pillars are vats of honey. They feel encouraged to lift the wooden spoon from the vat and take the sweetness into their body. Then the most intense bee hum ever heard starts coming from inside the temple. A connection has been made between now and the time when bees were worshipped as deity. You are in a time that is not a time and a place that is not a place. You stand before the Mighty Dead that worshipped bees.
*Actually pass around a bowl of honey and wooden spoon if possible.

Call to the Priestesses and Priests of old ask them to send us a message on how to work with, protect and heal the bees of our world. Close your eyes and see/hear/smell, sense.

Now your vision shifts and you are in a lush green field with flowers and plants all around. You see numerous bee hives in various forms.

Call to the devic power that work with the bees. Ask the Deva to ask the bees some questions for us and to help us hear their responses.
Have participants each call out one question.
Wait for an answer between each.
Sit in silence and integrate any vision/message/symbol/color/sound, etc. received.

After a few minutes of silence each participant should call out what they received. Someone should scribe.

Call to the bees, let them know our gratitude for their many gifts and that we wish to help in ways that we can. Let them know our humbleness and other feelings that participants have. Tell them we will listen intently throughout this moon cycle for their messages and that we will share those with others. Tell them that for their gifts, we now give them back a gift…what energy we can raise.

Participants then stand close together, hold hands and while moving quickly as a circle start to hum the BZZZZZ sound. Raise a cone of power while envisioning a bee hive. When the energy has reached its peak each person calls out to a specific place (i.e. to the hives in the area of Falls Church, VA, etc.) to where they are sending this energy. Let the energy flow out….

Sing a song or say another poem for the bees.

Reverse the basics:
Thank all the beings that have aided our work
Thank Deity
Thank the Devas
Thank the energetics of the directions
Uncast the circle

Blessed BEE

~Art found here.

Once In A Blue Moon

In America, there's a Blue Moon this coming Thursday, May 31st. Lots of different Pagan groups, from all around the country, will be doing magic around this powerful moon to help the disappearing honey bees. Aqulia ka Hecate, who lives in South Africa, will be doing her bee-saving rituals next month, during her hemisphere's Blue Moon. Sara Sutterfield Winn and her readers will be joining in the working on Thursday. I'll be working magic twice this week, first with an ad hoc group of D.C. area pagans pulled together by my madcap friend R. and then with my own circle of wonderful women. Two magical workings in one week is a lot for my old body. I think that saving the bees is worth it. Anne Johnson (and maybe her NJ Druids, too) will be participating. Even some non-Pagans are joining their energies with ours: Sravana says that she's in. I'm sure that I've missed some groups or individuals. Let me know in comments and I'll update the list.

Update: R e-mails that T. Thorn Coyle will also be doing magic for the bees.

*************************************************************************

Cupid
Paul D. Haemig

As I walked through prosperous farmland I saw them everywhere
visiting crop flowers, buzzing through the air.
They came from nearby woodlands seeking nectar on which to feed
and when they pollinated crops, they set the flowers to seed.

The seeds were sold by farmers to pay their many bills
to send their kids to college, to enjoy life's many thrills.
Merchants that received their payments prospered well too,
they bought vacation homes in Honolulu.

Pollinated food crops feed many a human mouth
not just in the north, but also in the south.
Most are pollinated by various wild bees,
but some rely on other animals or a windy breeze.

Managed honeybees, we know, pollinate crops too,
but not nearly as many as wild bees do.
With countless honeybees now diseased or Africanized,
their colonies are fewer and their keepers terrorized.

The next day I passed other farms, those of ignorant men,
who had developed all their lands, even hill and glen.
To maximize profits, they'd plowed all they had acquired,
and so destroyed the habitats that wild bees required.

Still others had sprayed their crops with too many insecticides
and so killed not only insect pests but pollinators besides.
They'd even used strong herbicides to kill every little weed
and so destroyed wild flowers that in other months bees need.

The crop yields of these other farms were consequently diminished
for now they hadn't enough bees to get pollination finished.
This resulted in less production, less bottom line for all
less money for them to spend at the brand new shopping mall.

Its amazing to think how our farm economies
are so much dependent on hardworking bees.
These industrious little insects are more than flimsy props
they're absolutely essential to produce great bumper crops.

For each pollinator bee is in fact a little cupid
that creates hot romances between plants thought to be stupid.
Each bee can be considered a matchmaking agency
that arranges introductions for a nominal nectar fee.
Poem © Copyright 2005 Ecology Online Sweden. All rights reserved.

War! What Is It Good For? Absolutely, Positively Nothing (Except For Old White Men)

Senator Boxer's Floor Speech
May 24, 2007

In March and in April I voted for emergency spending legislation that would have fully funded our troops in Iraq, but also changed their mission to a sound one. That mission would have taken our troops out of the middle of a civil war, and put them into a support role, training Iraqi soldiers and police, fighting al Qaeda, and protecting our troops.

The President will not agree to that.

As a matter of fact, the President won't agree to any change in strategy in Iraq, and that is more than a shame for the American people; it is a tragedy.

It doesn't seem to matter how many Americans die in Iraq, how many funerals we have here at home, or what the American people think. The President won't budge.

This new bill on Iraq keeps the status quo. With a few frills around the outside, a few reports, a few words about benchmarks. While our troops die.

I understand why this particular legislation is before us today. It's because this President wants to continue his one man show in Iraq. The President doesn't respect this Congress or the American people when it comes to Iraq. He wants to brush us all off like some annoying spot on his jacket.

We have lost 3,427 American soldiers in Iraq. Of those, 731 (21%) have been from California or based in California. There are 25,549 American soldiers wounded.

And today, after several days of worrying and praying, we received the tragic news of the death of Private Joseph J. Anzack JR., 20 years old, of Torrance, California, who was abducted during a deadly ambush south of Baghdad almost two weeks ago.

One member of his platoon, Spc. Daniel Seitz, summed it up this way to the Associated Press: "It just angers me that it's just another friend I've got to lose and deal with, because I've already lost 13 friends since I've been here, and I don't know if I can take any more of this."

And he shouldn't have to. But with this bill, he will.

The first half of this year has already been deadlier than any six-month period since the war began more than four years ago.

In this month alone, 83 U.S. Service members have already been killed in Iraq.

Let me be clear, there are many things in this bill that I strongly support--many provisions that I actually fought for, for our troops, for our veterans, for our farmers, and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina--but I must take a stand against this Iraq war, and therefore I will vote no on this emergency spending bill


Boxer was one of only two women Senators -- Hillary Clinton was the other and the Republicans are already bashing her for it -- to vote against giving Bush a blank check to continue his vanity war.

Security Doesn't Expect You To Be Carrying Trees

SageWoman is one of those magazines, like Ms., that I subscribe to even though their frequent dry periods. I think that it's important for them to exist, even though at times that seems like the work of an old priestess, tending the temple, waiting for the day when the Goddess will return. This month's SageWoman, cover picture of Joan of Arc with her sword's pommel substituting for nipples notwithstanding, is one of the juicier ones.

Anne Newkirk Niven has a great interview with Starhawk. The whole thing is worth a read. Here are some excerpts:

For me, being a Witch is about understanding that the earth is sacred and that every human being is an embodiment of Goddess. If you really get that and [then] you look around and see that every life support system on the planet is under assault, then you can't just sit back and let that unfold, you have to do something to change it.

******************************************************************************

A verse [that] I wrote for a Spiral Dance ritual expresses the kind of energy [that] I feel we need:

I am the change, I am the tide that's turning,
Your love and your rage,
Passion for justice burning.
And when you take a stand,
I'm the courage that guides you,
I'm in the streets, I take your hand,
I'm marching beside you.

**************************************************

[T]he core belief is that this earth is a living being, and we are part of life. Furthermore, that every living being participates in this larger Being and that this Being has a consciousness. Gain theorists, that is, the scientists, say [that] the earth functions like an organism. They won't go so far as to say that She is conscious. But that is the advantage of being a Witch: you don't have to be respectable; you can say whatever damn thing you want.

Do you like the "W" word? Are you glad [that]we used it? Are you still happy with it?

I think it's important that we use it and I still do. Whenever people take a word [like "Witch"] and use it to say "here are these areas that your are not allowed to think about and not allowed to identify with," then, to me, that says [that] it's important to USE that word, because if you use that word, you take away their power to control you with it. With the word "Witch" what they are saying is "don't identify with this whole constellation: everything from magic and the power of the mind and the power of intention, to the whole idea of women being strong and being empowered in our own right." They are saying, "stay in your place, don't be uppity!" By using the word "Witch" for the last twenty or thirty years, we have helped to take away some of its power to control us."

**********************************

Describing a political action in Cancun, Mexico against the World Trade Organization:

[W]e dressed up as tourists.

In what, Hawaiian shirts?

Yeah, Hawaiian shirts or just tacky clothes, with cameras or whatever it took to look harmless. We went out in small groups infiltrating throughout the day. . . . But at the end of the day, we all converged and took over the street right in front of the conference center. We blockaded the street and shit it down for two or three hours, and we did a Spiral Dance out there right under the conference center. Our Green Block friends came in carrying tres in poets and put them in the center of the spiral. I asked one, "how did you get those trees in there?" He replied, "Security doesn't expect you to be carrying trees."

Water

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

Earth

What A Bunch Of Wankers

Chapter the Ten Thousandth of Xians Being Whiny Ass Titty Babies Who Love to Feel Persecuted. Apparently, the new xian theme is that you're discriminating against them when you won't let them discriminate against others.

Hat tip to Moonbotica.

Vagina Sonnet

Is 'vagina' suitable for use
in a sonnet? I don't suppose so.
A famous poet told me, 'Vagina's ugly.'
Meaning, of course, the sound of it. In poems.
Meanwhile he inserts his penis frequently
into his verse, calling it, seriously, 'My
Penis'. It is short, I know, and dignified.
I mean of course the sound of it. In poems.
This whole thing is unfortunate, but petty,
like my hangup concerning English Dept memos
headed 'Mr/Mrs/Miss' - only a fishbone
In the throat of the revolution -
a waste of brains - to be concerned about
this minor issue of my cunt's good name.
- Joan Larkin

Water

My New Name For A Blog

What NTodd said.

Some Good News

From Today's EEI newsletter.

Analysts Say Costs of Solar Systems to Drop Dramatically, Quickly

Worldwatch Institute and the Prometheus Institute of Cambridge, Mass., have developed an assessment that shows the costs associated with bringing solar projects on line will drop dramatically in the next several years, UPI Energy reported. Wrote the newswire: "Global production of solar PV cells, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, has risen six-fold since 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006. Although grid-connected solar capacity still provides less than 1 percent of the world's electricity, it increased nearly 50 percent in 2006, to 5,000 megawatts, propelled by booming markets in Germany and Japan. Spain is likely to join as a major market in 2007 and the United States soon thereafter."

Janet Sawin, a senior researcher at Worldwatch who wrote the study, was quoted by the newswire as saying: "Solar energy is the world's most plentiful energy resource, and the challenge has been tapping it cost-effectively and efficiently. We are now seeing two major trends that will accelerate the growth of PV: the development of advanced technologies and the emergence of China as a low-cost producer."
UPI Energy, May 22.

and

CO2 Emissions in U.S. Decline for First Time Since 2001, EIA Says

The Energy Information Administration has said that CO2 emissions tied to climate change have declined for the first time since 2001, the Washington Post reported today. The newspaper also said it was the first time that "it has gone down since 1990 while the economy was thriving."

. . .

Wrote the Post: "A number of factors helped reduce emissions last year, according to the government, including weather conditions that reduced heating and air-conditioning use, higher gasoline prices that caused consumers to conserve, and a greater overall reliance on natural gas."

EEI spokesman Dan Riedinger said an increased demand for natural gas could prove costly over the long term, according to the Post. He was quoted as saying: "Investment in advanced coal, carbon capture and storage, and a host of other technologies is essential to making and sustaining significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions."
New York Times , Washington Post , May 24.

Wow

Angela has a great post up and some amazing pictures of the first pentacles on headstones in Arlington Cemetery. How amazing to see the symbol of my religion on my coreligionists' headstones.

Do It Now

Freeway Blogger's Simple and Effective Plan to End the War.

Earth

Fire

Get In On The Ground Floor

From today's EEI newsletter:

New Mexico College to Offer Degree in Wind-Farm Maintenance

Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, N.M., will offer a two-year associate's degree at its North American Wind Research and Training Center in wind-farm maintenance, the Amarillo Globe-News reported. Mitsubishi, Clipper Windpower, and Florida Power and Light Energy helped the school develop the curriculum. Mesalands Director of Public Relations John Yearout was quoted as saying: "We started the curriculum in the fall of 2006 with an online course on the basics of wind energy. At the last board meeting, the total curriculum was approved. You can get an associate's degree or certificates in certain areas."
Amarillo Globe-News via the fort Worth Star-Telegram , May 22.

My New Name For A Blog

What the Mad Melancholic Feminista Said

Water

We Could

We could live sustainably upon the Earth, honoring Her in everything, including our reproductive activities.

We could eat organic food and animals gently raised and honorably sacrificed.

We could treat our few children as great gifts, the responsibility of all within the global village.

We could help each of them to realize hir own gifts and reasons for visiting this plane.

We could treat our seas as great mysterious forces, aligned with the moon and populated by avatars of wonder and beauty.

We could spend some of our time sustaining our bodies and much of our time enjoying our years of incarnation in a garden of triadic sex between sunlight, water, and chlorophyll.

We could experience music as sex, sex as art, and work as the culmination of all.

We could build buildings that grace Mother Earth herself, set just far enough apart from each other to allow the wind to carry seed and the birds to fly free.

We could have time for silence.

We could make decisions in respectful councils where earth, and air, and fire, and water, and spirit, and animals and humans have voices and where the welfare of future generations was the utmost goal.

We could treat sex as sacred, women's bodies as manifestations of the Goddess, men as treasured husbands of the land, in the most literal sense of the word.

We could. We really could.

Art found here.

A Suggestion For Memorial Day.

The Memorial Weekend is coming. It's a time set aside to remember those who died for our freedom. A good time to freeway blog. Make the signs at your cookout and then hang then later that night.

CO2 Worse Than Predicted

From today's EEI newsletter:

CO2 Emissions Said to Have Surpassed U.N. Panel's Worst Case Scenario

CO2 emissions worldwide increased three times as quickly after 2000 than in the 1990s, Reuters reported, citing a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Study co-author Chris Field, of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, said: "This paper should be a rallying cry." The study found the amount of energy needed to produce one unit of GDP is no longer declining.

Nearly three-quarters of the growth in CO2 emissions since 2004 has come from the developing world, especially from China and India, the study indicated. If accurate, the growth surpasses the most extreme scenario envisioned by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Reuters reported. Co-author Gregg Marland of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was quoted as saying: "This is at the core of how we live. We're just using more energy and being more consumptive. ... Putting everybody in hybrid cars isn't going to solve this one."
Reuters , May 21.

Earth

The Shack And A Few Trees

AFTER WORK
by Gary Snyder


The shack and a few trees
float in the blowing fog

I pull out your blouse
warm my cold hands
you laugh and shudder
peeling garlic by the
hot iron stove.
bring in the axe, the rake,
the wood.

we’ll lean on the wall
against each other
stew simmering on the fire
as it grows dark
drinking wine.

You Can Never Say That No One Told You!

Atrios sends me to this rather amazing post at Think Progress which quotes Newt Gingrich, "unannounced" coughhehcouch Republican candidate for president, making the requisite wingnut genuflection at the shadow of Dead Falwell.

Think Progress reports that:

Gingrich claimed Americans draw strength from Falwell’s “life model,” and said that Falwell, who infamously called the 9/11 attacks God’s punishment on the United States, “bore witness to the Truth” and “knew this truth in his bones.”

But perhaps Gingrich’s most controversial remarks came in an interview after his speech, in which Gingrich cited the opportunity “to convert all of America.”

Gingrich said after his speech that Falwell’s death would not slow the Christian right’s efforts.

“Anybody on the left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with them fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created,” Gingrich said.


Wow. Just, wow.

You know, I have a standard rant that i give to women friends about men who say, 'You shouldn't waste your life on me. I'm not worth it. I'll screw things up for you. I'm no good for you." I always tell them, "You should listen to him. Don't fool yourself into thinking that he doesn't mean it. He's tellling you the truth." All I can say about Gingrich and the Republican Party is the same thing. Listen to him. He means it. He's telling you the truth. Pay attention.

These institutions, institutions such as Falwell's, which are tax exempt and, therefore, supported with the taxes that i pay and that you pay, were created to "convert' "all of America." Whether all Americans want to be converted, or not. Let's be clear about what that means. Even idiots like Gingrich (married 3 times, adulterer, xian in name only) and the scholastically-challenged sheep at "Liberty" (hah!) "University" (hah!) don't imagine that they can turn my witchy heart or your pagan heart to jebuz. They don't care. What they do imagine is that, at the point of the government's taxing power, or guns, or torture racks (no habeaus for "enemy combatants"!) or piles of burning faggots, they can get us to "convert" enough for them to be in complete control. If not, they can burn us as examples to others similarly disinclined to "convert."

Do you ever watch The Sopranos? Perhaps the second-most famous episode of The Sopranos is the one where Carmella, the wife of the mob boss, goes to a psychologist to talk to him about whether she should leave her husband. He tells her that she must leave him and must not take any of his money (not what she wants to hear). He says that it's blood money and then he concludes, "Whatever you do, you can never say that no one told you." That's how I feel about this throw-away comment of Newt Gingrich's. Whatever else we do, we can never say that no one told us. Their goal is to forcibly convert us and to control us forever.

Fuck. That. Shit.

Make An Effort To Remember. Or, Failing That, Invent

Sia has a much better memory that do I, and supplies this quote that I've been searching and searching for. I suspect that these internet tubes will make growing older less painful for many of us!

There was a time
when you were not a slave,
remember that you walked alone,
full of laughter,
you bathed bare-bellied.
You may have lost all recollection of it,
remember...

You say there are not words to describe it,
you say it does not exist.
but remember,
make an effort to remember,
or, failing that,
invent.

Monique Wittig

Wicca made a lot of us remember, and then, we've gone on to invent. I love the invention.

On The May Blue Moon, Do Some Magic For The Bees

Sex, Lovers, And The Valentine

by Dennis Arthur Dames
Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Pleasures of the body and soul unite…
In a union between a man and woman… day or night
It’s a time of expressions… where individuality rules
And sessions of connecting, and unifying reign supreme
Sex is an experience that is desired perpetually by lovers…
It is the magnet that attracts, and pulls two together in a profound and unique way…
Sex is mysterious, and it is the language of a spiritual culture…
One that is grossly misunderstood…
Lovers know what it means… sweethearts hold it dearly
It is the gift between a male and a female… not to be taken for granted
Sex is the natural source of life, and its fruits are appreciated by so many.
It is truly sacred…
There is no playbook for sex, because it’s a matter of personal desires…
Sex in the morning, for lunch, for dinner or between breaks…
Whenever the time, enjoy it… take it in strides and do it right
Keep coming… the appetite
Do not be shy in your expressions… give your lover all that you have to offer
Watch out for the missed opportunities, they are gone forever
Do not allow external forces to wreck your sex life…
Always be a lover to your lover
Find time to kiss, hug and explore your sweetheart’s landscape
Slowly enjoy the foreplay
Be your wooer’s friend… without end
Sex is wonderful… it’s something to defend
Sex is pure… in the sea or on shore
It’s the wet dreams… and the erotic moments
It’s the battery that charges a dearest soul…
Sex is something blissful to behold

Teenage Feminine Divine

In comments at Eschaton, Moonbotica alterted me to this interesting article about the growth of Wicca among younger Brits, especially young women.

A study of teenagers and their consumption of books, magazines, kits, film and other media found that there are some 700,000 internet sites for teenage witches. The Pagan Federation claims to have several hundred inquiries a week from young people, and has set up a network for those under 18.

"There has been a noticeable rise in the number of young people identifying themselves as witches," said Denise Cush, professor of religious studies at Bath Spa University.

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

Certainly for me and many women of my generation, Wicca's positive attitudes towards women, including and exemplified by its worship of Goddesses, was a huge part of Wicca's attraction. Interestingly, I assumed that other religions, especially the three main Abrahamic cults, would gradually improve their attitude towards women and the feminine divine, thereby depriving Wicca of some of its attraction for women and slowing the growth of Wicca. I was wrong, xianity and Islam, in particular, have, if anything, gone backwards in their attitudes towards women and the divine feminine over the last twenty years or so.

The article concludes with some discussions with young British witches and their reasons for being interested in Wicca now range from "My mother's a witch" to "My family is xian and that didn't speak to me." You'd have been hard-pressed to find a woman in my generation who could honestly (sixties' dubious assertions of long-lived family trads notwithstanding)have given the first reason to explain her interest in Wicca. It's going to be fascinating to watch the development of this religion over the next generation. How big can a religion grow when at its core it is based upon lack of organization, freedom, and an absence of dogma?

PS: How cool a name is "Bath Spa University"?

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

To the Many
I -- am your voice, the warmth of your breath,
I -- am the reflection of your face,
The futile trembling of futile wings,
I am with you to the end, in any case.

That's why you so fervently love
Me in my weakness and in my sin;
That's why you impulsively gave
Me the best of your sons;
That's why you never even asked
Me for any word of him
And blackened my forever-deserted home
With fumes of praise.
And they say -- it's impossible to fuse more closely,
Impossible to love more abandonedly. . .

As the shadow from the body wants to part,
As the flesh from the soul wants to separate,
So I want now -- to be forgotten...

September 1922
-- translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

Saturday Goddess Blogging

Hail the Morrigan! Triple Goddess of both death and fertility, of battle and cattle. Hail, Morrigan! Pass over the innocent when you choose those who will die in battle. Look, Lady, instead to the evil old men who profit from the deaths of our young warriors and warrioresses. Call your crows, instead, Great Mother, to K Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue, and Downing Street. Call your crows, instead, Magnificent Lady of the Carrion, to the homes of those made rich and fat by oil and this evil war for oil. Hail, Morrigan!

Air

Do Some Magic On The Blue Moon To Save The Bees

Only Diversity Will Save The World

From Blogical:


The message of Drawing Down the Moon has always been that the spiritual world is like the natural world - only diversity will save it. Just as the health of a forest or fragrant meadow can be measured by the number of different insects and plants and creatures that successfully make it their home, so only by an extraordinary abundance of disparate spiritual and philosophic paths will human beings navigate a pathway through the dark and swirling storms that mark our current era. "Not by one avenue alone," wrote Symmachus sixteen centuries ago, "can we arrive at so tremendous a secret."
- Margot Adler, from her Preface to the New Edition

That Cottage Of Darkness

Aquila ka Hecate alerts us to this amazing Matrifocus article by Victoria Slind Flor concerning the relationship between life and death -- a concept that I believe is at the very, very heart of Paganism.

I'm still thinking about a point that T. Thorn Coyle raised several months ago: that Pagans need to do better thealogy. I think that Paganism needs a thorough and well-written exploration of this incredible mystery at the heart of Paganism and certainly at the heart of Wicca. It goes to the movement of our religion beyond duality, to the reason why witches celebrate "creepy" things such as spiders, snakes, bats, worms, darkness, etc. It goes to why we celebrate the Wheel of the Year and to why Samhein, for example, is as wonderful and important to us as is Beltane.

Slind Flor writes about her compost heap, a form of magic that I, too, practice almost daily and which I find always amazing.

My altar to Kali Ma is the yard-square, black-plastic compost bin that takes up one corner of my garden. Every morning I walk out into my garden, lift the bin's lid, and look into the heart of my Dark Mother. Then I pick up a spading fork and turn the compost, chanting "Jai Ma" all the while. I could easily say that turning the compost is the single most important part of my personal spiritual practice.

The compost seethes with heat from the microbial breakdown of the organic material, and fuchsia-colored worms writhe in the mixture. New life is coming from old. Kali Ma eats death and grants us the possibility of rebirth and renewal.

I feed my compost bin the usual kitchen scraps, garden trimmings, shredded junk mail, and coffee grounds. . . .

Whenever I lift the lid, I get a reminder of my own personal mortality. No matter how carefully I tend it, someday my body will be food for worms. The same thing happens in my garden.

I became a serious gardener [when] surrounded by death and loss, I felt Hokusai's great wave was about to swamp my boat.

The only possible antidote was trying to bring something to life. And what I chose was my garden. . . .

The irony of my seeking life in my garden is that every day I also was forced to encounter death. The tulips dropped their white petals, the poppies dried to hay, and the delphinium went dormant and died down to the soil level. Try as I could, there was no way I could defeat the natural cycle of the plants' lives. I had no choice but to trim away what was dead and desiccated and toss it into my compost bin.

I empty out the bin every year around the vernal equinox. I have a full cubic yard of compost and it takes me several days to spread the wealth around. I carry compost by the bucket, and take a trowel to lift and deposit a good-sized mound around each plant. Then I water carefully, and step back to watch the compost work its magic.

At Beltane everything explodes into bloom and life. The pansies are the size of teacups. The sunflowers — this year I am growing 11 different kinds — are growing so fast that I can almost hear their joints creak. Lacy blue lobelia spills from all the pots, and the air is scented heavily with jasmine and lemon blossoms. All the plants' flowering parts sing out their siren Beltane song: "I'm here, come and fertilize me." If I were a prudish Victorian, I'd be tempted to veil some of the flowers because they are so luscious, sensual, in fact, downright erotic-looking.

But they bring me back to Kali Ma. All the plants, fed with Ma's good compost, are rushing onward to their destiny: fertilization, seed-bearing, then death and destruction. This morning I watched as a scarlet and white Danebrog poppy unfolded its wrinkled petals. Tomorrow those petals will fall to the ground, and I'll gather them up to place in Kali Ma's gaping mouth.

Kali Ma and my compost bin teach me the futility of dualism. I can't divide the world into light and dark, death and life. Everything cycles around again. No matter how brilliant the color, how enticing the fragrance, how silky the petals' texture, the plants all have the compost bin in their future.

And so, in a somewhat different way, do I. I place a wreath of flowers on my old gray head and dance with my sisters in a verdant meadow on Beltane morn. But I must remember that my dark mother waits for me. Jai ma!

How would our culture look if we acknowledged the role of death, if we celebrated it, if we looked forward to it, if we didn't try to pretend that it doesn't exist? What would it be like to have a well-written Pagan thealogy based upon death and darkness? Would our shadows maybe cease causing us to create so much death all the time in order to hide from ourselves our own fear of death?

How would your own life be different? What would you do differently this very weekend if you acknowledged the role of death in your life and in our world? Do you have a compost bin? Have you ever used it for magic? My own circle is getting ready to do magic for the dying honeybees. Death magic is all around us. I think that there is no magic w/o death. Do you agree?

My Congresscritter: I Think I'll Keep Him

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Chairwoman, I first want to thank the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and his superb staff for helping redraft portions of this language so that it might be considered. The final language represents a common-sense agreement that I think we should all reach consensus on.

The amendment's purpose is to shed some light on what has become an increasingly invisible world down at Guantanamo Bay.

The first detainees were brought to Guantanamo in 2002 to bypass the U.S. legal system and avoid international conventions and public scrutiny. Since that time the detainment facility has become a blight on American ideals and principles.

We have captured, tortured and interminably held men that we call enemy combatants, some of whom are guilty of crimes against our Nation and should be punished. Others, however, are only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We have created closed military tribunals that offer the false impression of justice, but they fall woefully short of what we should expect from our American system of justice.

Like Abu Ghraib, we've created an unnecessary rallying cry and recruitment tool for al Qaeda and militant Islamists throughout the world. I strongly believe that the continued operation of Guantanamo Bay puts Americans in harm's way and threatens the safety of any of our captured military and civilians abroad.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Rice have agreed that Guantanamo Bay represents a serious problem if we are to prevail in the global war on terror. They both advocated shuttering Guantanamo Bay's detention facilities. Even President Bush expressed a desire to see Guantanamo Bay closed.

This amendment offers a first step in giving the President, the Congress and the Department of Defense policy alternatives to Guantanamo Bay. This amendment will require the Department to develop a plan to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

The report must estimate how many detainees the Department will charge with a crime, how many will be subject to release or transfer, or how many will be held without being charged with a crime, but whom the Department feels that it must detain.

Lastly, the report would include a description of actions required by the Secretary and Congress to ensure that detainees who are scheduled for release are, in fact, released.

This last piece is particularly important, as the Department of Defense has scheduled release of 82 detainees. DOD and the State Department, however, face obstacles releasing these men to their home countries, and in some instances their home nations won't accept their return. In other instances, the State Department won't return detainees to their home nations for appropriate reasons. But we need to know what policy tools Congress can provide to expedite the release of innocent detainees.

All of this information is absolutely necessary for Congress and the administration to make informed decisions about what to do about Guantanamo Bay.

Whether you like it or not, whether you believe that Guantanamo Bay is a blight on our international standing, or whether or not you believe that these detainees should be held and tried in the United States, we should all agree that the policy options before the President and Congress should not be limited by a lack of information.

To opponents of shutting down Guantanamo Bay and my colleagues who believe its closure is a sign of weakness, I suggest that upholding our American principles of justice are not incongruent with our war against terror.

And in a speech before the Republican National Convention in 1992, I would remind my colleagues President Reagan emphasized that our greatest strength as a Nation comes not from our wealth or our power, but from our ideals.

I ask all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this common-sense amendment, to move forward in our battle against anti-American sentiment, and to provide the President and Congress with real policy options for shutting down Guantanamo Bay.

Worse Than A Blowjob

From today's WaPo editorial on the Bush junta's illegal spying on Americans:

IT DOESN'T much matter whether President Bush was the one who phoned Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's hospital room before the Wednesday Night Ambush in 2004. It matters enormously, however, whether the president was willing to have his White House aides try to strong-arm the gravely ill attorney general into overruling the Justice Department's legal views. It matters enormously whether the president, once that mission failed, was willing nonetheless to proceed with a program whose legality had been called into question by the Justice Department. That is why Mr. Bush's response to questions about the program yesterday was so inadequate.

"I'm not going to talk about it," Mr. Bush told reporters at a news conference with departing British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It's a very sensitive program. I will tell you that, one, the program is necessary to protect the American people, and it's still necessary because there's still an enemy that wants to do us harm."

. . .

These are important topics for public discussion, and if anyone doubts that they can safely be discussed in public, they need look no further than Mr. Comey's testimony. Instead of doing so, Mr. Bush wants to short-circuit that discussion by invoking the continuing danger of al-Qaeda.

. . .

The administration, it appears from Mr. Comey's testimony, was willing to go forward, against legal advice, with a program that the Justice Department had concluded did not "honor the civil liberties of our people." Nor is it clear that Congress was adequately informed. The president would like to make this unpleasant controversy disappear behind the national security curtain. That cannot be allowed to happen.

High crimes and misdemeanors. That's what we impeach presidents for in America: high crimes and misdemeanors. I wish a giant fist would pop out of the sky and bash this tinpot torturer in the mouth every time he tries to misuse the deaths of 3,000 people to justify his high crimes and misdemeanors.

(And Godwin can bite me.)

Conservation

From the EEI Newsletter:

McKinsey Global Study Says Efficiency Steps Can Result in Major Savings
A study by the McKinsey Global Institute has concluded that new product-standard mandates will be needed to achieve significant energy savings, the New York Times reported today. The study found that use of compact fluorescent light bulbs and other high-efficiency measures in residential buildings could cut electricity consumption in the U.S. by more than a third by 2020. Other measures cited included more efficient water heaters, kitchen appliances, and room-insulation materials, in addition to the use of standby power. The study suggests forcing these products to become more efficient through more stringent product standards.

Diana Farrell, director of the institute, was quoted by the newspaper as saying: "The study makes a strong case for what economists tend to shy away from — market intervention. But this would be market intervention to correct market distortions that exist." Robert N. Stavins, an environmental economist at Harvard University, doubted the size of the energy savings that the study predicted. The newspaper quoted Stavins as saying: "Often, the reason energy-efficient improvements have not been widely adopted is that there are real costs to many sets of individuals and they are making personally rational choices."

Separately, a plan has been launched by the William J. Clinton Foundation that would provide billions of dollars to improve energy efficiency in urban buildings around the world, the Times reported today. Under the plan, five banks would provide up to $1 billion each in loans to cities or private landlords to upgrade the efficiency of heating, cooling and lighting systems in older buildings. The loans would be repaid with the energy savings realized. The first group to benefit from the plan will be municipal buildings in the cities of Bangkok; Berlin; Chicago; Houston; Johannesburg; Karachi, Pakistan; London; Melbourne, Australia; Mexico City; Mumbai, India; New York; Rome; São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo; and Toronto.
New York Times (Energy standards) ; New York Times (Building energy-efficiency) , May 17.

Hum

What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that's all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They're small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them — haven't you? —
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered — so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn't anything in this world I don't
admire. If there is, I don't know what it is. I
haven't met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It's not hard, it's in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it's love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.

~Mary Oliver
************************************

I love Oliver's paean to bees and find it especially poignant now that the bees appear to be leaving us, disappearing, abandoning their hives in a horror called Colony Collapse Syndrome. It's as if all this time they paid the world the honor of being reluctant to leave it, but now they've just had all that they can take.

There's a Blue Moon on Thursday, May 31st, a powerful time to do magic. Several Pagan groups that I know of (including my own amazing circle of wonderful women)are planning to do magic for the bees around this upcoming Blue Moon. Join your magic to ours, will you? Join us because, as Oliver points out, "[I]t's love almost too fierce to endure, the bee/nuzzling like that into the blouse /of the rose."


Photo found here.

I Want Habeas Corpus Back And I Want It Back Now

Men In Kilts. I Am Just Sayin'

The Silver Apple Of The Moon. The Golden Apples Of The Sun.

Gutsy. Good.

It's True. I Posted That. I'll Gladly Post It Again. The Guy In The Office Across The Street Will Be V. Happy

Jerry Falwell -- Finally Dead

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’” - 9/13/01, on The 700 Club

My New Name For A Blog

What Twisty Said about breast cancer "survivors." And, I'lll just note that I have yet to read an article about a prostate cancer "survivor" who was forced to gush on and on about what a "blessing" prostate cancer was and how "grateful" he is. Just sayin' (We sure are scared of mad women in this patriarchy, aren't we? With good reason. Just sayin.)

My New Name For A Blog

What WGG said.

A President Who Makes You Proud Every Day -- Remember What That Felt Like?

Save The Cape Griffon Vultures

Both Anne and Aquilla have up fascinating posts about efforts underway to save the Cape Griffon Vulture. There are only a few thousand known Cape Griffon Vultures left in the world. The population in Namibia is down to a mere eleven birds. The species is on the knife-edge of extinction due, primarily, to being poisoned (often as a result of eating the carcasses of animals that were poisoned), disturbance of its, breeding colonies, and electrocution. Which is to say, human overpopulation is killing off the birds much faster than they can breed.

Aquila explains that the birds mate for life and that each pair: lay and nurture a single egg, and the chick-adult bonding is strong . . . . But if this chick doesn't make it into a healthy, rickets-free adult, there are Going To Be Consequences.


The Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST) is doing amazing work to try and save these gorgeous and ecologically-important birds. I don't run an annual request for funds, as do some other blogs. Blogging is a hobby for me and, knock on wood, there's enough money in the piggy bank at the end of the month to buy kitty treats for Miss Thing and olives for my martini. But if you read and enjoy this blog, and if you have a few dollars to spare, I would like to ask you to make a donation to REST to support their efforts to save the Cape Griffon Vultures. Let me know in comments that you made a donation and I'll gladly give you a two-card tarot reading in thanks.

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

And, As It's Going...
1907

And, as it's going, often at love's breaking,
The ghost of first days came again to us,
The willow through the window stretched in,
The silver beauty of her gentle branches.
The bird began to sing the song of light and pleasure
To us, who fear to lift our eyes up from the earth,
We who are so lofty, bitter, and intense,
About the days when we were saved together.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, Desember, 2000
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, February, 2001
Edited by Hecate, May 2007

Picture found here.