Another old warrior gone. Viet Nam veteran and Congressman John Murtha has died.

One imagines glee on the other side of the aisle in Congress.
Fools and cowards, if so.

Semper Fi, John….

Worked outside all day….the DVR set to record. And after a shower and shampoo, we sat down to watch SuperBowl 44.

Great game! No boredom, evenly matched defense and of course, best of all, the Saints marched right on in to VICTORY!

Oh, my chiropractor (who told me Colts by 20) is going to hear from me, lol!!

A thing of beauty watching that gold-panted runner dancing down the field with the ball….for the final New Orleans touchdown! And I drank Absolute New Orleans vodka—to celebrate and kill the ache in my back and neck!

We all know ‘who dat’ is now!

I am sure most of us have seen the occasional legal show on television, or movies about real cases. In some of those, the defense makes an effort to move a sensational case to a town a bit distant from whatever horrific crime set the trial in motion. The idea is that you can’t get a jury pool that is anything but angry, hostile, and horrified if you are too close to the site of the crime.

So, as you can imagine, the prosecuting attorney usually would prefer a site as close to where the crime was committed as possible, to use that passion to convict. But the topic of this post is far beyond “imagine”….and the chosen “venue” of the trial in question is far from the scene of the crime, too.

The crime? Oh, writing a song is the crime. A soldier named Marc Hall wrote an angry song to protest being stop-lossed when he thought he was all done playing soldier in Iraq. Like a lot of the rap songs that make the news for lyrics about shooting cops, Hall’s song talked about shooting up his military superiors. And that pretty much cooked his goose.

Marc Hall is facing court martial for his “threatening” song. And even though he is stateside now; his trial is to be held in IRAQ—where he likely won’t be able to summon any witnesses to his defense. And lest you think there might be a silver lining in it for him—after all, there might just be some angry stop-lossed troops there who would sympathize and be on his side? That won’t matter. There aren’t juries, twelve men tried and true.

A court martial can be headed by a panel of as few as three superiors (usually officers) and only two of them need agree for a verdict. A General Court Martial can consist of a single military judge and a panel of five…likewise no need for unanimous action, and if I recall correctly, the judge can overrule the panel.

So where better to take a stupidly angry young troop for trial…than before a panel of officers who would be his presumed shoot-em-up targets? Iraq. Where he simply didn’t want to go. I agree, Hall was an idiot and acted rashly, especially in the aftermath of the Ft. Hood massacre. But setting the trial IN Iraq? Come ON! It’s a song, written by a likely PTSD’d young imbecile.

Take action to support Marc by calling Ft. Stewart Public Affairs Chief, Kevin Larson at 912-435-9879. Tell him that 1) you are opposed to holding Specialist Marc Hall’s court martial in Iraq and 2) all charges against Marc should be dropped.(if you think that) If you are a veteran, mention that during your call. And light a candle for the young fool.

The moon is half-full, heading for the dark again. Dark as black mourning bands on sleeves….for the many good men lost.

US Marine Sgt. David J. Smith, 25, of Frederick, Md., died Jan. 26 from wounds received Jan. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

The two US Army men below died in combat ops in Afghanistan on January 29:
Capt. David J. Thompson, 39, of Hooker, Okla.

Spc. Marc P. Decoteau, 19, of Waterville Valley, N.H.

US Marine Lance Cpl. Michael L. Freeman Jr., 21, of Fayetteville, Pa., died Feb. 1 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

US Army Staff Sgt. Rusty H. Christian, 24, of Greenville, Tenn., died Jan. 28 in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device

Two US Army men died in Afghanistan when an IED exploded near their vehicle on February 2, 2010:

Capt. Daniel Whitten, 28, of Grimes, Iowa; and
Pfc. Zachary G. Lovejoy, 20, of Albuquerque, N.M.

Cpl Liam Riley, 21, of Sheffield, England, and
LCpl Graham Shaw, 27 of Huddersfield, England both died in Afghanistan on February 1 when two IEDs
detonated near their foot patrol.

Pvt. John F. Romero Meneses, 21, of Columbia, was killed in Afghanistan on February 1 when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Spanish armored troop vehicle.

Three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom died Feb. 3 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. They were the first Americans killed in Pakistan and were there serving to train Pakistani personnel.

SFC David J. Hartman, 27, of Okinawa, Japan.
SFC Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller, 35, of Callettsburg, Ky.
SSG Mark A. Stets, 39, of El Cajon, Calif.

…because this one is an insertion job. Got the dynamite candle? For whom, you ask? His name isn’t “Richard” for nothing, do you suppose his middle name is cranium?

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

Seriously, there is no good excuse for this sort of thing—and this is the party that screamed about bipartisanship (is it Freudian that I wanted to spell that bipartiZanship?) and now they block everything by requiring a super majority? But he will lift the hold if a multi-million dollar defense contract is steered to his state? Wow, blackmailing the nation…..stay classy GOP!

I tell you….a guillotine is too good for some people.
Hat-tip to Earth Bound Misfit, just spreading the word.

Someone once said to me, on a multi-faith message board, “Well, we will HAVE to tolerate some proselytizing from the born-again Christians; it is a tenet of their faith to spread the word.” Really? The board was pretty much wrecked by that attitude. Everyone got sick of being preached at in very dogmatic, boring fashion—no good discussions, just a lot of “the Bible says…” or “the Pope says” and most posters simply left.

But in the real world outside the computer screens, it is a far more ridiculous idea that we must tolerate any sort of bad behavior simply because the label “religious tenet/requirement” is attached. A commenter to this blog decreed that I was narrow minded for thinking it utterly wrong, as well as illegal, to put encoded Biblical verses on weapons issued to members of the US military.

Let me refer anyone who thinks just ignoring the Biblically coded serial numbers is a “tolerant” response to a bit of history on this story. And specifically, the ABC story is cogent in this argument. Let’s step away from that, however, and examine how this allegedly perfect “religious tolerance” would play if demanded FROM Christians instead of BY Christians, shall we?

For instance, if we MUST bear Christian proselytizers, would it be acceptable to inscribe Wiccan pentacles on rifles? That would certainly cheer up the neo-pagans! And the Christians should not take offense, right, but only ignore it.

If we should tolerate the religious strictures of others, would folks like it if their workplace banned coffee, tea, smokes, and booze (after hours) because the Mormons condemn such usage and are offended by the odor of any of the above?

Since in Islamic nations, sale of alcohol is usually prohibited, and America has Islamic citizens of good standing—to cater to their need for abstinence from alcohol, should we bring back Prohibition?

America has Hindu citizens as well—-beef would not be for dinner if their religious sensibilities were imposed upon ALL for their comfort. Should we be thus tolerant?

Both Judaism and Islam believe males should be circumsized—it is the civilized thing to do, according to these religions. Shall we line up ALL males and demand the same so observant Jews and Moslems don’t think the rest of us are barbarians? But no, after all, Americans do not countenance another religious habit—the female mutilation known as “female circumcision” at ALL if they can help it. So, apparently, it is only the peccadilloes of Christian belief that we are to be so sanguine about?

To carry it further, if there were still members of the small cult of Hindus who worshiped their goddess Kali by ritually murdering travelers—-should we not prosecute any of them captured for doing so? After all, it WAS a command of their faith, just like Christians proselytizing.
But, you will say (perhaps), proselytizing doesn’t kill anyone.

Are you sure? When Afghans and Iraqis have turned and shot their American allies with these rifles, are you utterly sure that it was not because they took umbrage at being insulted by someone telling them what the serial number meant? Can you be sure? And it has gotten soldiers who complained beaten, harassed, and sent on dangerous missions more than was their honest turn because their complaint meant they were “not accepting Jesus” sufficiently for some gung-ho Christian superior.

And if we should tolerate religion, since some very devout and fanatical Islamic members consider holy war a tenet of their faith; should we have simply acknowledged the act of faith that was knocking down the Towers on 9-11? No? Why not? After all, it was a religious act; should it not be tolerated? I rather thought not.

And that brings me, at long last, to the crux of the matter. Religious toleration means any person may practice their religion with their co-religionists in their own time. It does NOT mean they can impress their beliefs on random others at any place in the work world or public space. It does not mean they should be able to enforce their rules upon people NOT sharing their faith. It does not mean you can murder people for being a religion you don’t like. It does not mean you can force others to kowtow to YOUR religion. After all, I don’t march around parking lots telling folks with the Jesus fish that Athena is going to “get them for that”, do I?

Believe me, I find it a disgrace that ANY religious emblem be engraved upon a weapon. To force ONE symbol on all members of the service, yes, that violates the Constitutional precepts of the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment AND the Unified Code of Military Justice. I’d gripe just as heartily if it WAS a Pentacle being engraved on the gunsights.

My irate commenter told me to stop “hiding behind the Bill of Rights”…the imputation being I just hated Christians and bore them ill-will. No, I hate idiocy and anyone who tears down the wall between Church and State. That is why the Bill of Rights is there…..there is no way a civil society of many faiths can equally cater to and please ALL; thus it behooves government to not cater especially to ANY one of the many, for the protection of all.

But I will happily stop “hiding behind the Bill of Rights” as soon as the numbers of believers are reversed and non-Christians are the majority. But I somehow feel sure that by then, the Christians themselves would find a hidden adoration for the First Amendment.

It made the news recently that Colorado’s famed Air Force Academy had acted to show the world that all their staff and cadets are NOT Fundamental Christian Nutjobs (FCN) by building a space especially for the Wiccans and other neo-pagan faiths to practice, as is often their wont, outdoors. And now, already, the news changes.

The new circle was found desecrated by the presence of a large wooden cross. In addition, many hateful internet posts have appeared relating to this worship site. Apparently, still, at the Air Force Academy, freedom of religion is basically presumed to mean “free to be Christian or suffer consequences.” Air Force Academy officials trivialized the incident; but then, these are the same three blind mice sorts who declared earlier that “No religious discrimination exists at the Academy.” They are not even mounting an investigation to catch the perpetrators, in spite of pagans calling for one because they consider the desecration a hate crime.

I see a cadet whose life has been a disappointment, whose grades are not great, whose finances are a mess, whose family is too busy to give a damn—and he has espoused himself to “Jeeeesus” as his last chance at making it all work. And “By Gawwwwd , there isn’t going to be any of this demonic goddess worship happening on HIS campus!” Pitiful, man, that is what you and your Religious Right (so wrong!) friends are…pitiful.

It simply adds one more reason to be pagan to my list:
We pagans are more tolerant and have better manners.
WE don’t need to desecrate YOUR worship sites. We are not suffering from a massive insecurity complex. Oh, and by the way, Blondie? You make the baby Jesus CRY!
With friends like you, he figures if he comes back, he’ll end up BACK on that cross!

February begins tomorrow. Wiccans and several other neo-pagan traditions celebrate Imbolc immediately. When I first acknowledged the “heretical” urgings of my own heart (privately in 1986, publicly in 1993), I “tried on” the traditional eight holidays to see which ones “grabbed” and Imbolc simply did not move me.

It is normally still very deep winter here on Feb 2nd; and although we occasionally were sick of it enough to stage a roaring bonfire outdoors in hopes of calling back some warmth and life, it simply did not become a ritual event in my mind.

However, about five years ago, my life-battered eldest son came home on leave in February. And since his birthday was near, we built a huge fire in the pit and sat long around the leaping flames lighting the cold wet night. A bird gave a lonely solitary cry from the firs as midnight neared. And a male figure appeared at the edge of the Labyrinth, and as he vanished from my astonished sight, I cried out for his name. He replied “Hrolf”….which, as near as I can fathom, is related to names that mean “Wolf Counselor.” Since his coming, apparently to the large rock under the cherry tree, my duties on the Walk have felt lighter. He came to my need, as we celebrated a neo-pagan Lupercalia in the February rains of Washington State.

We have celebrated a February festival annually since. We call it the Feast of the Wolf. I make a gingerbread cookie with a wolf’s head imprinted upon it, and we burn the storm downed wood of the winter. We often hear both the captive wolves of a nearby breeding facility and the coyotes in full cry as we sit fireside. This was inspiration, perhaps, for us to think of this fire fest, in the midst of winter as a time to welcome into ourselves all the unbidden wildness our hemmed in hearts can hold.

America is mostly an urban culture. Rules for every aspect of life crowd in on the much lauded “freedoms” of our nation. We are free, alright…to starve, to die for lack of health care; free to take jobs where labor laws are blissfully ignored and more and more workers are treated almost as badly as medieval serfs. Bright lights are on everywhere to illuminate everything anyone might want to steal. There is no escape from glaring lights and they make the stars fade out of sight.

There is little room for darkness except in the hammering frenzy of our frantic hearts. There is no place for the darkness of nature—a bird cry, a wolf call, the tiny shriek of something captured by the night-flying owl. We are all to be “civilized” and take our lumps from the richer “betters” of our ever more stratified society. To accept in good grace that our lacks and sufferings are all our own fault; and never hint that the game is fixed.

And for the most part, that is what Americans do. A friend, at Yule, with a bitter look, saying she got no sick days, no paid holidays at all (in violation of federal labor law—but since they call her an “independent contractor” it plays anyhow), and she missed working Christmas because the money loss was a problem. She followed this with the statement “But that’s ok,” because she is a good Republican and it is her place to work hard and not complain. Yes, soon, we all will be “independent contractors” to companies that will make fortunes for their top folks and stock holders who do not labor for the riches made off the sweat of others. Oh, yes, of course….we are all free to be stockholders, too? And lose our homes when the stocks fail and they take what little we have? The game is rigged.

We seem, as a nation, trapped in good behavior. Religion is resurgent—and I believe for the precise reasons Marx elucidated so long ago—to keep the poor from killing the rich. Karl Marx laughs from whatever afterlife he inhabits. Russian peasants were not his target audience; but they had more of a hold on the wild, within and without, than the average American.

Light a candle, light a bonfire. Sit in the night and turn off the lights. Let in the wild, remember running with wolves and howling. Eat your meat rare, find something that knows survival and cling to it.

You recall Jamie Leigh Jones, right? The young woman who took a contract job with KBR in Iraq and was gang raped so severely that she needed reconstructive surgery to repair the damages? And yet she has not been allowed to confront her rapists in a court of law because KBR reserves the privilege to “mediate” this “labor situation.”

Basically, KBR says that rape should be considered an average workplace “disagreement” subject to moderation. Moderation like being locked without food or drink in a shipping container for over 24 hours in a desert environment, right? Al Franken went to bat for her in Congress, 30 male Republicans voted against her having her day in court.

The battle goes on; apparently she doesn’t get a day in court. KBR thinks any woman working for them should understand that being a night-time sex toy is an understood part of the contract?! Is YOUR Congress critter one of the infamous 30?
Where is your phone call? Where is your letter? KBR is willing to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to keep Jamie Leigh Jones from having her day in court. And seeing how they just sold elections to the highest corporate bidder….we can likely guess how that is going to go, right?

So yes, LIGHT A CANDLE! Burn up some deserving folks…and other garbage! SCOTUS? Are you listening, you black robed sons of bitches?

The full moon rides the clouds, lighting up the billows of vapour carrying snow to my mountains. The bright light keeps me awake nights. And gives me, like those mourning the fallen below, too much time to think about the losses of the wars. Too much time to wonder what these men’s lives bought, for all they lost. May wisdom prevail….and soon!

US Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy M. Kane, 22, of Towson, Md., died Jan. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Rifleman Peter Aldridge, 19, of Folkestone in Kent, England, died in Afghanistan on January 22, from wounds caused by an IED detonating near his patrol.

The following US Marines died Jan. 24 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan:

Sgt. Daniel M. Angus, 28, of Thonotosassa, Fla.

Lance Cpl. Timothy J. Poole, 22, of Bowling Green, Ky.

Lance Cpl. Zachary D. Smith, 19, of Hornell, N.Y.

Soldier Claes Jochim Olsson, 22, of Gressvik, Norway, died in Afghanistan on January 25, when his vehicle hit an IED.

LCpl Daniel Cooper, 22, of Hereford, England, died in Afghanistan on January 24, of wounds resulting from an IED explosion.

US Army Sgt. Carlos E. Gill, 25, of Fayetteville, N.C., died Jan. 26 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center of an illness. He was evacuated from Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2009, where he was supporting combat operations. He was a member of the local Ft. Lewis, WA Stryker Bde.

US Army Pfc. Scott G. Barnett, 24, of Concord, Calif., died Jan. 28 in Iraq, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations.