I am Grateful to Live in a Civilized Nation

Last night, The Local Tattoo shop, Artistic Ink, had a fund raiser for Kathy Keeton. This was a great show of community spirit. Kathy has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately Kathy is one of tens of thousands in Alabama that has no health insurance. Without payment for her transplant the medical industry would rather send Kathy home to die. Sorry, no help for you.

I find this tragic in a country that boasts at being civilized. We want to save the world and refuse to save our own citizens. Our country has people trying to save the lives of stem cells and of the unborn (which I have no problem with) while lives of people that are walking and talking are ignored every day. What about these people? Are their lives less important than our stem cells and our unborn?

And the thing is, even if Kathy would have had insurance that might not have helped. Our so called insurance system tries every day to not pay for procedures that are life saving but very costly. Bottom line, they have to show a profit for their shareholders and don’t forget the CEO making 15 million a year. Insurance companies tell us how much they care until the bill comes then they seem to forget about all that wonderful caring. There are thousands and thousands of people sent home to die because their insurance won’t pay for the procedures. And let’s not forget about preexisting. Why give someone heath care insurance to a previous problem? I accepted it years ago, insurance is a legal scam. These guys are flim flam men in disguise.

My point to this rant? Don’t tell me how civilized we are when good people are dying because we refuse to pay the bill. Civilized countries understand that human beings have rights. Food and health care for all people not just the ones that have the cash.

Loki

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I found an interesting article.

Wisdom of Ages closing it’s doors

Another pagans-are-nature-oriented/">pagan store closing. It is happening all over the country. pagans-are-nature-oriented/">Pagan stores are hurting all over. Between Gas prices and food prices no one has any money. Ebay hurts us some also. It is important to buy local when we can or our choices are going to be wallmart and ebay.

The Cool Store Sales were down last year and so far for 2008 the trend has continued. We are continuing to look at ways to change this trend and bring business in but the bottom line is that people have less and less disposable income.

I am not asking for anything more from our community. I am not writing this article asking for more sales. I am very grateful for our community. We have a great community and I know that every one is doing what they can. It is hard for us all. Life is tough right now.

The reason I wrote this is because I read this article about this store closing in Michigan and I felt fear and not just for the store, but for a way of life. Don’t get me wrong, I love the store, I love what I do. But I do know that there is life after the store if that is the path Spirit directs me to take.

This store closed in Michigan, not Alabama. I get stuck in my life and the place I live. But this article woke me up to what I already knew: people are suffering all over our country. Middle class Americans are loosing their disposable income. Much of the disposable is now going to gas, food and medical bills.

My fear, after reading this article, centered around, Gas prices and food prices becoming outrageous and wages staying where they are and not keeping up with the rising costs. It seems to me that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The gap between the poor and the wealthy seems to be growing every day.

Personally I think our politicians are blowing smoke and red herrings. I am not feeling the love. I see them band aiding the problems rather than actually addressing the issues. To address much of the problems would constitute change that they are not willing or able to make.

Then again, maybe I am just a pessimist and everything is ok.

L

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I survived Christmas.  I had a great day.  Patti, Leah and myself spent Christmas with my son and his girlfriend in Nashville.  Actually North of Nashville on the Kentucky line.  It was quiet.  I really enjoyed myself.

Today is my favorite day of the year.  The day after Christmas and all the craziness is over.

We had nice Yule at the store on the 22nd.  I had thought around 10 would show up and we had 23.  I have never thought that ritual was my gift but I think Patti and I did all right.  All in all it was a night of fellowship and celebration.  Just think, the only reason the sun showed up Thursday was because we brought it in.

If anyone would like to host Imbolc, or any other holiday, at the store let me know.

Loki

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California recently outlawed plastic bags. I learned that this was a great idea because few of us understand the environmental problem presented by plastic bags. I have shared the California law with many around here including friends and grocery store clerks. For the most part I get stares of disbelief, some questioning my sanity probably afraid that I am one of those environmental kooks you read about.

I found this blog Save Our Planet One Bag at a Time . The writers of this blog explain things much better than I ever hoped to, possibly due to my poor communication skills.

If we want to save oil, doing something about this problem will help. I don’t know if the price of gas will go down (gas prices are high for those who have not noticed) but it can’t hurt. The more bags we don’t use the longer gas will be around and that must be a positive thing (maybe, maybe not?).

Bottom line is that dependence on oil and oil products keeps our country in the Middle East and keeps us neck deep in Middle East politics. I am pretty sure that this is not a good thing.

Using recyclable bags might actually be a good thing. It can’t hurt. The only problem is that it is inconvenient and most of us don’t like a little inconvenience. I know I don’t.

I have not made a move yet or taken any action in my personal life about this problem. I was ignorant till California passed their law and I saw it in the news. It takes me a while to jump on a bandwagon. I have visited large urban areas (Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis etc) and have heard talk about the bag problem but thought what the hell” it probably has nothing to do with Alabama and besides people will think I am an idiot if I go to the store with my own bags. It is much easier to take an environmental stand when it is popular. Standing alone can be very scary. I must pick my battles wisely. Who knows what the future will bring?

Loki

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Many of you know that I have been looking for new ways to bring in new sales. Maybe I should sell fresh Donkey meat?

Seriously, different countries have different cultures and eat different food. Here is an article about a Chinese man advertising fresh donkey meat using a real live donkey. The locals have no concern about selling donkey meat but have concerns over the problems with donkey dung.

The article states: Animal rights are still a strange concept to many Chinese, who enthusiastically consume donkey, horse, dog and even cat and think little of keeping those meant for the pot in terrible conditions. This statement seems to show how different we here in the states look at animals and the way animals are viewed in China.

The article also states: Last year though, banner-wielding animal rights protesters swarmed into a restaurant serving cat meat in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and forced it to shut. After reading this statement I thought about how many jokes I have heard about going to the local chinese restaurant and being served dog and cat. Little did I realize that in China they served cat in restarants. We would call that messed up but the the Chinese call it normal.

Loki

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The dead zone this year coming from the Mississippi River is amazingly large. The dead zone is an area in the Gulf that has no oxygen due to the nitrate run offs from the fertilizer used in large farming. If you have never heard about the dead zone I would look it up for a good fright (the real horrors of this world are not in the movies). Nothing lives in the dead zone, absolutly nothing due to the fact that life needs oxygen to live unless it is silicone based. The dead zone increases every year and will continue to grow untill we stop using nitrogen fertilizers.

I was reading The Slow Cook Blog about nitrogen fertilizers that are killing our soil. The bitch about this is that this unnatural fertilizer is not unnecessary for healthy crops. Crop rotation and natural fertilizers work very well. The problem is that if you rape the soil you have greater profits in the short run but minimizes production and profit in the long run.

Farmers are getting smarter and waking up to these environmental problems. I hope to see the trend continuing.

Loki

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I found this ‘Disgust’ over white stag death and it hurt my heart.

I have been around a while and I have grown a hard skin and a cynical nature towards the human race but I am still surprised at what some people will do for money.

I would of liked to seen this magnificent animal. His picture was impressive. A gift from creator.

Loki

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As Pagans, most of follow some form of “The Wheel of the year”.  It may be the seasons, the harvest, or the sacred king cycle there are many ways to look at the turning of the wheel.

For me Samhain is an ending and a beginning.  It is the end of my year.  It is the beginning of the next year.  I take the dark time between Samhain and Yule to  reflect on the past year.  I look at what my accomplishments were and how well did I advance my goals and my life plans.  I look at what happened throughout the year and how well I did or did not deal with situations.  I look at what works well for me and what I need to improve. This is the time of year that I go inside and take inventory of myself.

From Yule to Imbolc is the time for rebirth.  The Sun comes back ever so slowly and the ground becomes ready for seeding.  The Ewes are ready to give milk and the promise of spring is in the air.  This is the time I began planting and seeding in my personal life.  I look at the what my goals are for the next year and I come up with plans to make these goals possible.  Wishing is just that…… Wishing.  To accomplish things one must take action.  Faith without works is dead. This is the time of year to reflect on the actions I plan to take.

From Imbolc through the spring equinox and Beltaine and I start on this action.  By Beltaine I am ready, my passion is high and I am waiting for the fruits of the harvest from the actions I have taken.

From Summer Solstice through, Lughnasdah and Mabon I begin to see the rewards from my actions, what has been accomplished and what needs to be worked on to keep mu harvest coming.

I come back to Samhain and start over once again.

This is a very simple explanation for a rather deep process that I have been practicing for a long time.  Much of the process now is subconscious and takes much less thought than it did in the beginning.  I I have evolved and learned to take an external spiritual idea and apply it to an internal process that has created much growth in my life.

Loki

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I thought I would let everyone know about Chrissy’s Group Bile Ratha: An Online Celtic Spirituality Guidance Group.

If you are interested in a Celtic/Druid path this is the place to be. It is a small community but I can see it growing very fast. She has not only started a community but has put together a course for the Celtic Path. Right now she has a history put together that can be accessed in the file section. She promises to put more up as time goes by.

think this is a great project that enables someone to get involved at the ground level.

Check it out!

Loki

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Well it looks like Judge Roy Moore lost the Republican nomination for Govenor by a landslide. Bob Rilet recieved 64% of the vote. I guess Alabama says “NO” to Mr. Moores Religious crap. I for one am happpy. The best senario for me would be for Mr. Moore to run as an independent and split the Republican Party. Then Lucy Baxter would be a shoe in. I have hads enough of big business and republicans for a while, but then that’s just me.

Alabama also said “NO” to gay marriage. We will have a new admendment preventing same sex marriages. I personaly think that it is a mistake to have the state or any government body legislate this issue. I know many people have moral objections to same sex marriages and are satisfied with the new admendment. My thought on this is that we let the state lefislate morals like this then it opens up to more morals being legislated and who’s morals do we go by? I think some of these conservatives would be up in arms if thier was an amendment passed that limited their rights and theit beliefs. It may be only a matter of time when conservative fundamentalist try to pass more of their narrow beliefs on all of us through state admendments. I say let’s keep the state out of my house and especially my bedroom.

Just anothewr rant.

Loki

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Most of you know that yesterday was 06-06-06 or Satan’s Day, 666.  There has been a little hoorah put out about this day.  There was a few CD’s released.  The remake of “The Omen” was released.  A few Christians predicted the end of the world which turns out did not happen.  I read about a lady who wanted her pregnacy induced so she would not deliver the Anti-Christ.

The funny thing about all this is that now with lasers, researchers have found that the number in revelations is not actually 666.  It is a different number. I forgot what number it is but the number is the number that they used for Caligila back then.  During the time revelations was written there was no free speech and the Emporer of Rome was considered a God.  So if they had a problem with an Emporer they could not just speak out or they would be killed.  So they assigned numbers to the Emporers when they wanted to give them bad press.  The mark of the breast happens to be Caligila’s numbers because he was a bad, bad man!

So many got all excited about 666 and it is not even the real number of the beast.

In recoginition of Satan’s Day I give you the mark of the beast Website.  I thought it was pretty funny.

Loki

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Today I voted in my first Republican Primary for the privilage to vote against Judge Roy Moore.  I feel very strongly against Mr. Moore and his using Christianity to further his political ambition.  So instead of voting in the Democratic primary I voted for Bob Riley in the Republican primary.  I hope Alabama sends a clear message to Mr. Moore that we did not want his crap when he was judge and we sure don’t want it as Govenor.

I rant because I can, a clear free speach right and a clear understanding of the separation of Church and State that Mr. Moore seems to ignore.

Loki

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10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong:

10) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

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I for one believe in free speech. I also believe that laughing at oneself can be very therapeutic. Poking fun can help us see the silliness and senselessness of rigidity and unbending ideology. That is one reason I have always liked South Park. I have not always agreed with South Park but I have respected their 1^st amendment rights to attack and expose the insanity of society.

In recent weeks fox has censored South Park twice. Once they were canceled for an episode including Mohammad and the second time for canceling an episode about scientology. You can read more about it here.

I can understand Fox’s reasoning behind the Mohammad episode. I may not like it but I understand it. In the world today that episode would have added fuel to the fire and people may have died from the angry protests that could of ensued. But Scientology? When did Scientology become a censorship issue? You can make fun of Jesus but don’t mess with Ron L Hubbard? Are thier Millions of Scientologists ready to riot if thier diety is symbolized on national TV?

I am not putting down Scientologists. I believe that Scientologists have the right to their own belief system just like the rest of us. I also think they have the right to people making fun of them, just like the rest of us. I don’t think they should be treated any different.

This issue is just another rung in the ladder that convinces me that people are taking things way to serious and need to lighten up. Let it be known now that if the writers of South Park want to put “The Cool Store” or “The Sacred Paths” through the ringer, they have my blessing.

Loki

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It is so easy to get Nukes into the country the feds are doing it

This artice: :

“U.S. Customs Fails Border Security Tests” confirms what most Americans have known since George Bush has waged war on the terrorists, it is very easy to get a nuke here in the US.  It is so easy to get nuke in that the Feds have been doing it to prove to us how easy it is.  Of course I think they are just preaching to the chior since most of us Americans already knew that borders and containers were left wide open to terrorist attacks.  But now we have proof.

Loki

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