We wave flags and pin them on our lapel. We say that by being patriotic we are free, but it is the farthest from freedom.
We wear patriotism as a badge of freedom but it is not so. We are bound by it. A person who questions the shredding of the constitution by the “Patriot” Act, is said to be against freedom.
The freedom to speak has been silenced, because our phones are being tapped for “our protection.”
The freedom to bear arms has been shot, because you have become a criminal by owning a gun.
The freedom to check out books from Benjamin Franklin’s public library has been burned, because the librarian has to give up the list of books you have checked out.
The freedom to find out the truth for yourself on the web has been 403′ed, because one can no longer surf with anonymity.
The freedom to worship as you will has been exorcised, because wearing a symbol of your faith can get you killed.
The freedom to tell your government what you think of them has been quashed, because your name will end up on a list of “special interest.”
The freedom to think has been abolished, because to think is to question the government.
The freedom to question the government has been obliterated, because you will be called unpatriotic.
But to question, to think, to speak, to read, to learn, is the true freedom that America once offered, and being free is the only reason someone should be patriotic. Patriotism is not just waving flags, singing the national anthem, or blowing fireworks up. True patriotism is exercising your Constitutional rights and defending them in the face of tyranny.
A lot of people will say this today: “freedom isn’t free;” but right now it would be nice if we had some of these freedoms, for which so many have paid the highest price, back.
-Magus-

Tags: Current Events, General, Government, Magus Dethen, Politics by Magus Dethen
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Over the weekend I posted a new paper to our literature section: “Are things worse in America now than ever before?”

Are things worse in America now than ever before? Barak Obama doesn’t think so. In his book, The Audacity of Hope (review coming soon) he comments that when he hears liberals complain because America is slipping dangerously toward fascism, and our Constitution is being shredded beyond all recognition, he reminds them of darker times our country has faced.

The paper contains my remarks thereon. Once you’ve read it, please add your comments to this post and let us know what you’re thinking. Are things worse in America now than ever before?

Barak Obama’s book is available here:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Price: USD 10.17

128 New and used from USD 4.99

(558 Customer reviews)

BB, and have a wonderful Independence Day weekend.

Vivienne

Tags: Current Events, Government, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich has filed articles of impeachment with Congress and Robert Wexler  has co-sponsored.

Though the argument against impeachment is that it is too late, millions of people across the United States feel that the principle of justice, the preservation of our Constitution, and the prevention of a nuclear war with Iran before November are more important than “political timing.” “Impeachment is necessary.” says Stephen Heller. “It is not a matter of politics, of right versus left, Democrat versus Republican. Rather, it is a matter of law. The current administration has repeatedly violated the Constitution and civil law. If there is no accountability for these violations, then why have a Constitution? Why have laws?” “Without impeachment hearings, the full spectrum of the crimes of the Bush administration may never be known,” notes Barbara Bowley, “and many of the incursions it has made on our democratic society will be hidden in the legal and bureaucratic structures they have developed….. [F]or the sake of the maintenance of our democracy, we must impeach this administration.” Richard Mathews points out that “[u]sing impeachment to get Bush out of office is not what is most important since he is going out anyway. I want to see him impeached even if it happens on his last day in office because we need to set a precedent that this abuse of power will never be considered acceptable.” Bush’s arrogance and hatred for our democracy must be punished. “It is unthinkable” says Tobi Dragert, “to have a president who calls the Constitution, the same one he sends our young men and women to kill and die for, ‘just a goddamned piece of paper.’” (emphases added).

Among the crimes of which Bush stands accused:

Article IX: Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X: Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XIV: Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV: Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVII: Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII: Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX: Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX: Imprisoning Children

Article XXIV: Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV: Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI: Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII: Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII: Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX: Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

and many others totaling 35 articles of impeachment, any one of which would be enough to impeach. The full text of all 35 articles can be found here. Call your congressman today to demand he or she supports Rep. Kucinich’s articles, or sign the petition in support found here.

As an additional note, according to Robert Wexler, on June 20th, 2008 at 10AM, Scott McClellan,  author of

What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception
Price: USD 18.45

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and Former White House Press Secretary, has agreed to give sworn testimony as he has been called to do by Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers.

There is hope for justice yet.

Tags: Current Events, Government, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Tags: Government, Morals, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Alright the election is done, let the election begin.

-Magus-

McCain- That’s not change we can believe in.

Tags: Current Events, Government, Magus Dethen, Politics by Magus Dethen
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On Thursday, May 15, 2008, the Supreme Court of California came down with a momentous ruling that’s reverberating around the country: it is illegal to discriminate against gays’ and lesbians’ civil rights, including the right to marry, based on sexual orientation. The court ruled that the state Constitution of California made such discrimination illegal, and suggested that the laws against same sex marriage were equivalent to the anti-miscegenation laws of the 20th century that made it illegal for mixed race couples to wed. They also suggested that the difference between civil unions versus actual marriage is the same “separate but equal” mentality of the notorious Jim Crow laws that relegated African Americans to the back of the bus and to their own segregated schools and water fountains.

Right wing bigots have vowed to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot in California. Changing the state Constitution to make same sex marriage illegal would have the effect of negating the Supreme Court’s decision, which is based on the existing law as represented by the current Constitution. 694,354 names are required on a petition to get the amendment put on the ballot for November. Governor Schwarzenegger, however, supports the court’s decision and has vowed to uphold the ruling, declaring that he will not support an attempt to amend the state Constitution.

The controversy started in 2004, when the mayor of San Francisco had his city hall start issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, and marriage ceremonies continued for about a month before the state supreme court stepped in to put a temporary halt to the issuing of licenses pending Constitutional review; the state courts invalidated all the licenses that had been issued. It has taken until this past Thursday for the matter to final resolve in this historic ruling.

Let this be a reminder to everyone: this November’s presidential election is of crucial importance, because of the U.S. Supreme Court justices that the next President will be choosing. Unlike Califorinia, we currently have a conservative majority on the Court; if we don’t get a liberal in office, further conservative appointments may result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Brown v. the Board of Education, and any number of other 20th century victories for our civil liberties, rolling us back to the dark ages.

See also: Tom Paine

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Los Angeles Times

Washington Post

Think Progress

The text of the California Supreme Court’s historic 4-3 decision can be read here.

Other sources: The Progress Report [progress@mx3.americanprogressaction.org]

Tags: Current Events, Government, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Here we go the first Dark of the Moon Crone Cast. Vivienne D’Avalon and I’s first podcast together, we go over things from this Election, to Nanobots, to Scientology vs. a group called anonymous, to the FBI taping your Tubes. For the music clip “W’s Duty” by Jonathan Coulton go here.

Bad Moon Rising- Dark of the Moon Crone Cast 1

 

 Bad Moon Rising- Cast 1- Dark of the Moon CroneCast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Christianity, CroneCast, Current Events, Government, Magus Dethen, Paganism, Politics, Religion, Science and Technology, Vivienne D'Avalon by Magus Dethen
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How about me and you have a quick little chat.

After the Pennsylvania Primary I have one thing to say:

GIVE THE FUCK UP!1!!1

Look, you can’t win. You said that we should let the voters decide (and they did). Then, you said that the voters don’t matter because the Super Delegates know best. So when you were in the lead you loved the American Voter, when you got your ass handed to you in 12 states, suddenly they don’t matter. Stop cannibalizing your own party. Fuck.

This post brought to you by a fucking registered Republican who knows Obama can beat McCain and you can’t.

-Magus-

PS. I used to have no respect for you politics or your character. Now I have even less.

Tags: Current Events, Government, Magus Dethen, Politics by Magus Dethen
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Dance Dance Revolution: Jefferson Mix

Alright, say that one of your favorite founding fathers was having a birthday — a person that is considered by Libertarians to be one of the greatest men to have ever held office (dare I say, even better than Ron Paul [yes I mentioned him {and FYI I voted for him} ] so leave us alone about not including him!).
Now for those disadvantaged students that studied American history in an American school, let me introduce you to one of my favorite presidents, second in my esteem only to Roosevelt — Teddy, not commie — Tomas Jefferson.
Let me list a few of the reasons Jefferson was great:

1) He was the 2nd Vice President of the United States and the 3rd President of the United States (third time’s the charm).
2) He was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of America at the time).
3) He considered much of the New Testament of the Bible to be lies, and was deeply suspicious of Catholic priests and bishops, feeling they were a reactionary force promoting ignorance (man after my own heart).
4) He wrote the Declaration of Independence, including the statement “that all men are created equal.” You know, that may even include gays, blacks, pagans, and women. Just a thought.
5) He said:

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical… God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty… What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?”

(One of my favorite quotes.)

Again, a man after my own heart; bring out the pitch forks!

To celebrate this great patriot’s birthday, you might say to yourself, “why not throw a party at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C.?”
The place is open 24/7, or so the website says. So this is exactly what a group of 20 people decided to do — even though “the cake is a lie” — to “party hard” by dancing to music they were playing (silently, using head phones) on their mp3 players.

So — they came, they partied, they left — right?

Right?

Not really. Enter the swine, in the form of a park officer who arrested one of the dancers. You might think there must have been some legitimate reason for the arrest. You know, like fighting back, or even just being belligerent to the officer.

No.

Then what?
The heinous crime was simply asking why the group was being asked to leave.
For this unforgivable sin, one patriotic partier was actually arrested and held for several hours before finally being released.
Don’t just take my word for it — I had a hard time believing it myself. Check out the youtube videos under the cut.
[Read more →]

Tags: Current Events, Government, Humor, Magus Dethen by Magus Dethen
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Tags: Christianity, Current Events, Government, Morals, Paganism, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Alright people, Obama scored a 37 out of 300 bowling.

BOWLING!

How the FUCK does this at all matter to the election?

No, tell me. Really.

Hell, he can beat me in a game of bowling; unless it’s on the Wii, then I can get a 40! W00t!

This just shows you how asinine this election has gotten. I mean, how many delegates would Obama have gotten if he bowled a 300? My guess is, one Spartan.

So again, does this matter when “Delegates Decide the Democratic Candidate: Your Vote Does Not Matter ‘08?” Well, it does matter, because once again it’s coming back to the race issue!

MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman decided to tell America on Hardball, “he should have stuck to shooting hoops.” So I wonder, what would he have said if Mrs. Clinton had scored a 37? “She should have stuck to stitching quilts?” Or McCain? “He should have stuck to shouting at kids on the lawn like other grandfathers?” Or Ron Paul (because if I don’t mention him other bloggers will get mad at us)? “He should have stuck to shouting at kids on the lawn — about the Constitution?”

So this little issue of only scoring 37 pins, 37! Has nothing, NOTHING to do with the election (except, of course, that more underlying racial tension comes to light). This is just as bad as hearing about Britney Spears’ latest crisis. Why don’t we just get this election over with; after all, don’t you know that line 37 on page 666 of the Patriot Act says that Bush automatically gets a 3rd term?

But then, even that might not happen if the Large Hadron Collider kills us all (more about that later).
-Magus-

Tags: Government, Humor, Magus Dethen, Politics, Science and Technology by Magus Dethen
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A recent Associated Press poll article quoted figures to the effect that 10 percent of the population of the United States still believes, erroneously, that Barak Obama is a Muslim, rather than a Christian – even after all the publicity the remarks from his pastor received. The article broke this down over how many whites vs. how many blacks believe this lie; how many Republicans vs. how many Democrats, etc. The overarching message seems to be that some people are willing to say anything to slander an opponent, are willing to take advantage of and even stoke any vile prejudice, to accomplish their goals. No matter who gets hurt. Irregardless of the truth.

It also shows that the people most likely and indeed most willing to believe a hateful lie are just those people who don’t like the person being lied about. Don’t like your neighbor? Make up a nasty story and spread it to the others in your neighborhood. Those who already don’t like the person in question will grab at that lie like a life preserver, just one more justification for their own horrible opinion. Is it true? Who cares? They’d rather have the excuse so they can feel better about their own vile hatred. Troubled by a popular opponent who is winning a competition? Find the strongest, most popular prejudice you can exploit and then label your opponent with it. Sit back and watch the feeding frenzy as the people who already hated him try to chew him up and spit him out using the new weapon you’ve handed them.

Of course, none of this even begins to broach the specific prejudice in question, against Muslims. There is always something. Whether the fear being exploited is of someone’s color, or religion, or gender, or sexual orientation, there is always some group that is demonized by a significant portion of the populace. All anyone has to do is find what that bit of meat is, infuse it with the scent of the target, and then throw it to the dogs and watch the vicious attacks begin.

So why are 10% of the population willing to believe, in the face of truth being shouted from the mountaintops and all over the national media, that Barak Obama is a Muslim, and presumably hate him even more than they do already because of that belief? Is it because he’s black, and some people believe that blacks are more likely to be Muslim because of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, or Muhammad Ali? Is it because of his African name? And why is it such a horrible thing to believe of him in the first place?

We have become a nation that equates a particular religion with violence, hatred and anti-American sentiment. In the past we accused atheists of the same things, and in the future it will probably be pagans or some other belief system. For a nation that is supposed to champion freedom of religion, we are atrociously bigoted and hateful. And it is shameful. We are supposed to be better than this, people! And above all, we are supposed to value truth, and not be so gullible as to glom on to any and every lie that gives us another excuse to stoke our petty, mean-spirited hatreds. Grow the f*ck up!

Tags: Christianity, Current Events, Government, Politics, Religion, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Here at CroneSeraphim we strive to bring civil rights news items to your attention that might not be covered by main stream media. But anyone who has read our “about us” page  or our bios knows that we are not just pundits, we are Pagan pundits. One of our main goals is to share with other Wiccans and Pagans some of the magickal practices we have found useful to positively affect our world.

The main political problem that seems to be on everyone’s mind right now is the Presidential election, particularly the heavily contested democratic primary. However, the spell I suggest here will work equally well for the general election, once the democratic nominee has been selected. It is not meant to take the place of active participation in the mundane political process, but rather to provide a spiritual supplement that will boost the effectiveness of those efforts, as well as provide a psychological boost to help keep you fighting for what you believe.

I’m going to assume that the majority of you reading this have not only made up your minds who you support in the democratic primary, but are either strongly in favor of one candidate or strongly opposed to the other (particularly if you are planning to vote for John McCain in the general election). There has been a lot of bad press directed at all three candidates, but particularly at Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. The following is a spell from the hoodoo tradition, designed to send negativity back whence it came while positively supporting your candidate.

For this spell you will need:

1. a special candle poured with the bottom half black and the top half white (available at occult supply shops that offer hoodoo equipment and supplies);

2. a knife sharp enough to carve and shape the candle;

3. a mirror you can burn the candle on;

4. optional: “reversible” oil, which should be available at the same place you find the candle;

5. matches or a lighter to light the candle with.

[Read more →]

Tags: Current Events, Government, Magic, Paganism, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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