Someone Didn't Think This Through

I received this ad today as a 'Top Supporter' of the Republican National Committee. I'm not sure how I wound up on this list, but they do get a lot of funding on the backs of gays...

Doesn't anyone remember what a 'White Elephant' is any more?

Time to Make a Move!

I am afraid that, with Blogspot's shift to Google, this site has become hard for me to update. Ben Carter of BlueGrass Roots created it for me, and he has moved on to better things.

So, I've created a new home at Google for this blog! Please go to:

http://rainbow-wind.blogspot.com/

in the future for political rants and weird observations. Or is that weird rants and political observations?

Sarah

Hillsborough County, Florida, appears to be the first county in the country to have a 100% secular calendar. Normally, I’d be happy with the idea that certain religions weren’t going to be favored over others by the authorities, but this particular example reflects an unpleasant aspect of fundamentalist thought: it’s better to deny everybody privileges than to share them. Hillsborough County is no bastion of liberalism; it has a long track record of anti-gay discrimination and sour-faced ‘real Christians’ running the government.

What’s worse is that the people being blamed are not the people who decided that no one got their holidays off, but the poor folks who just wanted their holiday off, too.

... many of the people who sent more than 3,500 e-mails on the calendar issue last year blamed Muslims for taking away established Judeo-Christian holidays. The move to a secular calendar followed a request by the Muslim community for a day off for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

This is the same crap that happened with the airport in Washington State this past December, and the same crap that happened with the Gay Straight Alliance at Boyd County High School here in KY. When the school board realized that it couldn’t ban the one club it disapproved of while other, including religious, clubs met, they suspended all clubs for the school year.
Now Utah is trying to pass a law that lets certain clubs be banned for 'moral' reasons. Of course, it won't pass muster because the U.S. Supreme Court has already said that sort of ban won't fly. So, I foresee a costly court battle, followed by Utah cancelling all school clubs. And the gay students will be blamed, since we certainly can't blame the people who won't share.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Yes, I know I haven’t posted in a while. Once again, real life has interfered with my blogging. I had a great Yule and a Happy Birthday, but after that my life went straight to hell. Let’s just say that 2007 appears to be the year when my wife and I have to repair everything.

I hope that everyone had a happy Imbolc. We attended a local celebration where we got to meet a large number of local Pagans that I’d only known as posters on the Kentucky Pagan Forum. We planted seeds as part of the celebration, and it looks like at least one is germinating. We figure it’s the squash. The ground should thaw before it gets too big for the pot (holding the remains of our late lamented rosemary).

Yesterday, we celebrated Fornacalia. I realize that this sounds dirtier than it is. It’s the annual blessing of ovens (‘fornax’ = ovens, stop thinking ‘fornix’, you pervs!), and we normally bake bread or cookies (this year was oatmeal cookies). Naturally, since the name sounds suggestive, we have people who usually make lewd shapes with the dough. This year was unusually tame. The closest thing we had to a pussy was a fellow who made cookies shaped like his kitty cats.

It was a pleasant, calm get-together, though. The celebration was followed by people receiving 2007 Tarot readings (the January session was snowed out) while the rest watched Eddie Izzard on DVD.

Anyway, I hope to post more in the future.

Sarah

Who's really launching a war during Christmas?

December is upon us, and, once again, we're hearing screams about the "War on Christmas". The evil godless liberals are striking again, removing Christ from the holiday and forcing merchants to quake in fear of the forces of political correctness.

I got annoyed with this bullshit last year and made several remarks, mostly about fundamentalist churches who were hypocritical enough to complain about the secularization of Christmas, but cancelled services Christmas morning (the 25th fell on a Sunday last year) so everyone could stay home and open presents instead. This year, I’m going further, making some observations and suggestions to the wanna-be victims of ‘persecution’ out there.

1. Stop assuming that, when someone wishes you ‘Happy Holidays’, they’re attacking your religion. There are a number of other faiths that have holidays during this time, too, and we like to be included in well-wishes. Hell, even Lou Dobbs is telling people that Christmas gets most of its elements from Pagan religious holidays. We are out here, and we’re celebrating, too. Since our money is just as green as yours, don’t get angry at merchants who want our business. Besides, New Year’s Day is a holiday, too, hence ‘…and a Happy New Year’. ‘Happy Holidays’ is plural and shorter to say and print on banners, ads, etc.

2. Most people have no problem with being told to have a ‘Merry Christmas’ when it’s an honest sentiment instead of an announcement of one’s religious, and often political, views. I’ve even wished Christians ‘Merry Christmas’ back. Even the militant rabbi that caused all the flack at Sea-Tac this week didn’t ask the airport to take the holiday decorations down. He just wanted a big honkin’ menorah put up, too. It was the twits at the airport who decided to take everything down (if people have to share, the modern solution seems to be cancelling everything).

3. Learn to play well with others. Asking to have non-Xian faiths represented in decorations is not the same thing as attacking Christianity. If one of my grandsons claimed that putting up his brother’s drawings alongside his own on our refrigerator constituted an attack on him, he’d be told to stop being silly (or even selfish).

4. Finally: If you want more respect from Pagans, then stop bitching about Halloween! I’m tired of Xians complaining about people using the term ‘Happy Holidays’ when many of them are actively trying to ban recognition of Halloween, or are trying to morph it into a generic ‘Fall Festival’. Thanks for noticing that it’s a holiday, though. Now how about giving me the day off? I’ve worked over Christmas often enough.

Looking forward to the day when we can all wish each other well without worrying about insulting the wishee,

Sarah G