My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule...

Those words were spoken by Gerald Ford after he was sworn in as President.  He entered office after the resignation of Richard Nixon, a resignation that only happened after it became clear to President Nixon that he was going to be impeached, and would most likely lose.  

The nation was in pain, then, and impeachment proved to be the painkiller.

This was written for a board where not everyone may be a liberal/progressive, so I had to do what for us is re-stating the obvious.

Recently, I got a message that set me to thinking.  Actually, I've gotten it about a half-dozen times in the past week and a half, through e-mail, broadcasts, and other means.  I'm sure most of you have seen it too.

It's a very stirring message that usually comes under the title of "We Miss You!", and it compares our relatively easy lives stateside with what our brave brothers and sisters are going through in Iraq.  It starts out with extremely captivating imagery:

"You stay up for 16 hours...He stays up for days on end."  "You take a warm shower to help you wake up...He goes days or weeks without running water."

And so on.  Reading this piece, I started thinking about what it really means to support the troops...and what reprehensible things some will do to take advantage of them.

This got me thinking.  So, for a Friday "fun" diary, I offer the following song parody:

One thing that I hesitate to do, however, is use such simple colour coded phrases like "white" and "black" to discribe magick.  They're culturally popular, and I will use them occsiaionally to drive home a point, but I still find it distasteful.  Call me a bleeding-heart liberal, but I think it a tad bit racist to think that every thing bad and evil is "black" and everything positive and good is "white".  I know a great many African-American magicians who would take issue with that.

How did I find out?  Follow below the flip...

Ok Ohioans...where are you?  HippyWitch here, "Taliesin" over at Street Prophets, and I feel like a get-together.  Especially since I can't make it to yearly Kos!

I'm in the Akron area, and have a standing reservation at the VIP room at Panera's in Akron.  Anyone who's up for a night of coffee and liberal-conspiring, drop me a line in the comments or via e-mail.  We'll set on a date for a mass of us to get together and have a groovy time.

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2006 --  A bloody videotape shot by a local Iraqi journalism student has prompted the Pentagon to launch a criminal investigation into an incident that left at least 15 Iraqi civilians dead in the city of Haditha.

More below the flip:

Now, this is not news to any of us...we've known for a long time that there are no moderate republicans.  However, finally someone in the TM is paying attention, and speaking out.

Complete story after the flip...

I'll update as I get more information on this.

*UPDATE:* ABC has the story here. The AP has it here.

There are times, especially when there is an over-riding threat to the common good, where well-intentioned people of radically different ideologies can come together to set aside differances and work together for the elimination of a common foe that threatens all.  These are times where a combination of situational difficulties combined with an uncommon willingness on the part of all parties to co-operate can lead to inspiring accords that transcend the (seemingly) petty issues of the day and embrace a wider perspective.  

Now is not that time.

Very few words are as loaded (and abused) in our culture than "cult".  Even though anthropologists consider a cult to just be a small religious movement, modern usage has turned it into a term to be thrown at any religious movement that one has personal disagreements with.

Really, the problem groups are the authortarian cults, the ones based on manipulation and control.  But how to spot these groups...that's the hard part.  Many destructive groups are quite good at appearing benign, and far too many people get caught up too deep before they realize that these people may not have their best interests at heart.

How can you tell the dangerous from the unfamiliar?  More after the flip...

In the days since the Washington Post assistant managing editor apologized to his paper for failing to reveal his role in the CIA leak controversy, Woodward, 62, has found himself under fire not just over this incident but for his very approach to journalism. His unusual relationship with The Post, and whether he hoards newsworthy material for his books, have also come under fresh scrutiny.

More under the flip...

There's been a lot of talk on both Daily Kos and Street Prophets lately about Christians and the persecution complex.  Irishwitch's excellent piece has only brought this issue out even more.  We all know it's bunk, but the right-wing demogogues have ridden this trojan horse of fear to great heights in this country, and it's time we took them down.

Confrontation alone won't do it (though standing up to the truly moronic statements of Pat Robertson and his ilk are never bad).  What we need to do is to sap the religious wingnuts of their strength and their numbers, and possibly alter the political landscape forever in the process.  How can that be done?  Read on, my friends...

Political non-involvement by Pagans and Wiccans is an issue that I have long taken issue with.  I have, for a long time, thought that non-involvement in the political sphere within Paganism was dangerous, and now, with the events of the day, feel justified with that concern.

I whole heartedly agree with the idea that a Democracy is like raising a child, that it takes great care, and yes, invoolvement, to make it a healthy, thriving entity.  Unlike a child, however, there is no time where one can breathe a sigh of relief and let it go into the world.  No, good government is an ever-growing thing, and even a short period of neglect can bring disasterous results.

"We've had quite enough dynastic politics over the past decades. (Considering the trouble I have had with Benjamin and William Henry Harrison, I pity the schoolchildren of the future who will have to remember who was who in the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton presidential alternations from 1989 to 2017.)"

Interesting...Hillary Clinton hasn't even declared for the Presidency yet, but ol' Chuck here already has future generations learning of her administration...for two terms yet!!!

Has he gotten his message from God???