CUEW Triad

Man who walked into Burning Man fire loses lawsuit

2009-09-24T17:11:47Z

The fact that this type of crap even came to court is pathetic. Dipshit walks into a fire and then....OMG...GETS BURNED! Who'd a THUNK such a thing could actually happen?!? Unfortunately, this is what happens when you allow people with no sense of responsibility to attend events, and then have a legal system where you have to pay thousands of dollars to defend yourself against teh STUPID!

And people wonder why CUEW has an ethic of Self Responsibility and tries to assess whether or not you have a brain before allowing you to join.

Anthony Beninati sued the organizers of Burning Man because he said they failed to restrain him from walking into a fire. He lost the lawsuit. 'Beninati's complaint stated that when he approached the bonfire, the flames were still roughly 40 feet high. He walked around the bonfire three times, each time "circl[ing] a little closer to the fire." Eventually, he walked still closer, into what was variously described as an area of "embers," "low flames," "burning remnants," and "a spot where there was fire on either side of him." Basically, he had walked inside a huge bonfire. Then, as you might have expected, he tripped on something and fell into the actual fiery part of the bonfire, burning his hands. 'In his deposition, Beninati admitted he knew "fire was dangerous and caused burns" before he walked into one. He knew there was some possibility of falling into said fire. He admitted no one affiliated with the defendants asked him to walk into the fire or told him it would be safe to do so. But he testified that he did not think it would be dangerous to walk into the fire, although he knew it "was not 'absolutely safe, because there [was] a fire present.'" And, as noted, fire is hot.' [From Man who walked into Burning Man fire loses lawsuit]
[From Man who walked into Burning Man fire loses lawsuit]

Test Blog Entry

2009-09-19T20:17:02Z

Hi everyone. We haven't made any postings here for a loooong time, therefore this must change and we must post. So get posting at once :-)

Looky! It's LLYSSE!

2008-10-28T19:37:39Z

People in the Middle for Obama. If you look under the words "debate" and "negative voter" you will see a woman in a yellow top wearing a CUEW pentacle. She is Llysse Lucas, our First Circle Coordinator. GO LLYSSE!

The Ten Thousand Failings of Eclecticism - A UEW Student

2008-08-01T19:54:08Z

There's a very, very common question that eclectic and solitary Wiccans get asked. Invariably, it's asked by traditional Witches (who are, apparently, not the same thing as Wiccans at all). The basic thrust of this question is this: "Justify your faith! How can you be a real Witch (sorry, Wiccan - no, wait, Witch - oh never mind) if you're self-taught, if you work on your own, if your practises come from cultures all over the world, instead of the received wisdom of your elders? Aren't you just a dabbler? If you don't do things the way I do them, how can you possibly be like me?"

The terrible thing is that I've thought about this question, and the more I've done so, the more I've realised something: they're right. I can't. In fact, as a solitary, eclectic Wiccan and a keen student of all things related to my faith, I found the whole idea profoundly educational to think about; it shed a great deal of light on these people's choices in life, and made me understand my own in a whole new light. I am, I must admit, a recent convert to Wicca; I am scarcely half way through my online study course, and thus far my library of worthy Wiccan tomes has included only such outdated pieces as Gardner's first book on witchcraft, T C Lethbridge's deliciously eccentric mid-twentieth-century examination of the same subject, and Mad Aunt Margaret's memorable 'The Witch-Cult in Western Europe". I understand that later in the course I will have the pleasure of reading Ronald Hutton's 'Triumph of the Moon'. Such paltry supplements to the course material as I have been able to find independently include Francis King's 'Modern Ritual Magic' and a number of terribly narrow-minded books on individual traditions which make no reference to Traditional Wicca at all; Rae Beth's 'Hedge Witch', for one.

It is also, I am ashamed to say, true that I am a jack of all trades and master of none (although ironically, my master's degree is in fact in computer science). During my time at Cambridge, for example, I studied not computer science but modern languages; and following a number of what I can only describe as growth experiences in industry, I am now a professional writer. I am often at a loss to understand how I could have failed so badly in the attempt to pick a path and stick with it; it's a constant relief to me that the experiences I do have at least provide me with ample material to write about. Occasionally, I even find they allow me a measure of insight into myself, and others who may perhaps be like me.

But I am digressing from my attempt to answer this fascinating challenge. Unfortunately I am also inadequate in my abilities in this respect; I cannot describe the impact of pure self-study since while I am both a solitary and an eclectic Wiccan, I am in fact learning in a very structured environment. My mentor is Australian, as I discovered when she asked me to proofread her PhD thesis, and my classmates hail from places as far apart as Britain (like myself), South Africa, Canada and the USA. We are indeed a sorry hodgepodge, a mishmash of cultural mongrels; it is difficult to see what there is of value to be gleaned from the knowledge we each bring to the table. For example, in Australia it's difficult to know which festival to celebrate when because there may be only two seasons, or conversely as many as six; and in the US Wiccan traditions can and do incorporate themselves as churches and attempt to set up disturbingly pseudo-Christian institutions like charitable funds and refuges for the homeless. I ask you, reader: what lessons could anyone possibly learn from a formless chaos like that?

Another personal failing I have is the fact that while I am British born and bred, I have callously and shamelessly ignored my native tradition of Wicca - the original tradition, nonetheless, created by the gods and Gerald Gardner for my personal betterment. What it is that led me to do so I cannot say; perhaps I am simply too Bohemian, an intellectual butterfly incapable of settling and putting in the necessarere sun, mere soil? Where is magic and miracle, where is the breathtaking moment of understanding - in the invisible unfolding of a silly little seed, or shrouded in polyester satin robes and swirling with incense in some dark and vaulted scout hall?

No; I have failed in my duty as a Wiccan. I have abandoned my faith in the divinity of the priests of Gardner, and foolishly placed it instead in absent, abstract gods, things that cannot be seen or touched or spoken to. Not for me safety in numbers, not for me poems and rituals and explanations ready-made; instead I must approach my gods myself, crabwise, sidle up to them through a thousand refractions and gingerly reach out, as if their faces might be totally changed by the touch of a different hand. I have put my faith in the gods and not in man, and my punishment for this crime, this sin, is to be an eclectic: to walk in the wilderness, touching leaves and feeling the sky above me, eternally cast out from the inner circle of the traditional witch. Spare a thought for me as you taste the incense in the air and raise your blade; pity the poor eclectic, the lonely dancer upon the naked Earth.

Young Masters - Jenny Schumaker

2008-03-26T15:26:13Z

Witchvox Article:

Just about everyone has their own story now about the obnoxious 15 year old high priestess they encountered, or the equally obnoxious 14 year old grand high master of Thelema, both of whom know it all. I’m sure there are plenty of them still out there, though I haven’t run into many lately myself, probably because I don’t frequent the same online places I did when I was first starting out in Wicca. In fact, I now see just as many older people making the same claims, which is just as silly (if not worse) for the same reason.

It isn’t the actual age of the practitioner; it’s the amount of practice.

Just because you’re 63 doesn’t make you an instant elder, any more than it makes you an instant Ph.D. in a new subject of interest. Similarly, a 24 year old with a Ph.D. shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand within his or her field just for being young.

Currently I find myself in a place in between. I’ve been Wiccan now for just over eight years. I’m no longer a youngster, but I’m not an elder, either. I’m over 30 and I’m married with children, my coven just celebrated its second anniversary, and I have a couple of batches of offline students behind me.

So far I’ve gained a lot of experience, and yet it all serves to show how much I have yet to learn. Really, this isn’t a bad place to be, as far as things go.

It was much more difficult to start out, and I think that was partly because of my age. If you’re doing the math, I wasn’t a teenager. I started studying Wicca when I was 25, and completed the First Circle of UEW and started the Second before I turned 26. The thing I loved the most was helping even newer students over rough spots they were having.

Teaching has always been a passion of mine, and I already knew I wanted to teach what I knew about Wicca. After less than a year of study I was no great sage, but having finished First Circle I was technically qualified to teach it, and I believed I had a firm enough grip on the material to do a decent job.

Since I would love to have been able to find an in-person teacher, I thought there would probably be others like me, especially in a relatively conservative corner of the Midwest. So, I decided to set up shop.

Ultimately I had three people who were interested in learning UEW—until they met me.

Yes, I was up-front about who I was and what my training was, but apparently these three people didn’t read my biographical info very carefully, because they all assumed I was in my 40s. I even had pictures, and at the ripe old age of 26 I’m pretty sure I didn’t look 40-anything.

They met me, each of them in turn made some remark about my age, and they never contacted me again. My age relative to theirs made them decide I had nothing of value to teach them.

That wasn’t true.

Am I a better, wiser teacher now than I was then? Of course! Or at least I hope so. I learn new things all the time, and life experience is a valuable teacher in general.

It remains that I did have a sufficient base knowledge of my material to pass it along to someone else, and I could have learned a lot from each of him or her in return.

I wasn’t given a chance because of my age.

A lot of people tend to equate age with maturity in general, and in the Wiccan community with which I am familiar, with spiritual maturity specifically. From my own experiences I can say this is not the case.

In and out of the community I see people all the time, of all ages, at various stages of spiritual maturity, just as people are at various points in their educations. Education alone, mundane or otherwise is also no reliable gauge of maturity or wisdom.

The afore-mentioned 24-year-old Ph.D. might be as wise as any sage, or s/he might be an emotional 13- year-old. Most likely it’s someplace in between, but you’ll never know on sight.

A persons words and actions are the only way to get a true reading on maturity and wisdom.

Let’s face it: anyone who spends time fluffing their feathers and shouting to everyone how great they are probably isn’t all that wonderful. “Don’t you know who I am” and ”How DARE you” can come out of anyone’s mouth, regardless of age.

Waiving a title and/or supposed years of experience around as “proof” of your greatness doesn’t work very well when your actions say “7th-grader.” An exceptional 7th-grader might well be able to put you in your place with a little logic or—gods forbid—common sense.

Western society makes it difficult for people who would once have been regarded as adults to be taken seriously. This isn’t all a bad thing.

From some of the earliest times in Western thought there has been a move toward treating children and youth with a little more gentleness than adults rather than expecting them to bear the same burdens.

Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle both regarded childhood and adolescence as different states of life from adulthood (1). That view experienced a backward slide during the Middle Ages, like so many other advances made by earlier civilizations. Again in the 18th Century French philosopher Rousseau put forth the idea that children and youth weren’t just miniature adults (2). Out of that philosophy we gained such things as reform in child labor and education laws.

However, adolescence has now been extended into the early 20s. Young people are often staying in school longer and in greater numbers than ever before, delaying financial and emotional independence from their parents. Of course, just like the two-earner family issues, this is also a function of what it takes to maintain the same standard of living once available with less formal post high school education with only one parent employed outside the home.

Tell someone today that you’re married and purchasing your first home at the age of 20 and they’ll look at you like you’ve grown a second head. I know, because my own little sister married and bought her first house at the age of 20, and I thought she was crazy (but it’s working fine). The young are not incapable simply because of their age, nor are they necessarily bound by what’s expected of them.

Joan of Arc commanded the entire French army at the age of 17. George Washington held his first public office at 17. Louis the XIV took the throne at 5 and actual power at 18, and Julius Caesar became the High Priest of Jupiter at the age of 17. Alexander the Great had essentially conquered the world by the age of 33 (3).

The young in many different times and places have shown not only competence, but also greatness.

Obviously this doesn’t mean that every 17 year old is capable of holding office, ruling a country, leading an army, or conquering (or changing) the world. Most of them are average for their age, just like most of us who’ve been there were average for our age. Some of them are obnoxious idiots, just like some adults.

The thing that official adults should keep in mind is that there are always those young people who are capable of greatness, each in their own way. Greatness aside, another benefit of youth is an abundance of energy and new ideas that come without the jaded filter that grows from life experience.

The young, partly because of their lack of life experience, often see and pursue possibilities that those of us who’ve aged even a little would dismiss out of hand. We call them naïve and foolish, and maybe some of them really are, but those are qualities that can lead to innovation and better ways of doing things.

I see too many people who are quick to say, “that’s just not the way we do it here” without a good explanation of why. Simple resistance to change isn’t a fantastic explanation for a refusal of trying something new.

Youthful exuberance for the novel paired with a solid sense of what’s come before often makes for a powerful mechanism for the better, and I believe that’s the case in religion and magic as well as more worldly concerns like science and technology.

Surely there are capable priests and priestesses who just happen to be teens. I know there are people in their 20s who are making great efforts to becoming leaders in their communities, and who are deserving of our respect for their efforts.

We read so much about the need for the Pagan community to respect and value its Elders, and usually that specifically means elder Elders. Maybe its time we expanded our definition of “Elder” to include anyone who has earned that title through their work and dedication, and stopped limiting it to a single age category.

Our youth need our support and encouragement; such as we can morally give it to them, just as do those in the later years of their lives.

For every one of us is a Star, and a true Master at any age should be acknowledged.

******************************************************
Afterward: For those of you under the age of 18, this isn’t a rallying cry to assault the adult Pagan community demanding to be taught and/or seen as an authority figure, just because you say so.

Responsible Pagan adults won’t typically teach or even regularly interact with people who are not legally adults, in part because of the potential for legal problems, and in part out of respect for your parents. Those of us who are parents want other adults to respect our wishes and our rights to raise our children as we see fit, so we give that same respect.

Continue to study, continue to learn, and most of all, continue to THINK for yourself. It’ll serve you well in the years to come, and when you do enter the adult community it’s more likely to be as a full-fledged contributing member.

If you want respect then show people you deserve it through your actions, and always remember that humility is part of wisdom.

Footnotes:
1. Santrock, John W., "Adolescence." McGraw Hill, 2007.
2. Ibid.
3. Please see Wikipedia article on each historical personage for simple biographical data.

Why Would You Do THAT?

2008-01-28T17:16:14Z

A wonderful article by Jenny Schumaker. She'd never post it herself, so I'm doing it for her :-)

Witchvox Article:

Why Would You Do THAT?

Author: Jenny Schumaker [a WitchVox Sponsor]
Posted: January 27th. 2008

I volunteer with the dying. No One Dies Alone is a national program in hospitals wherein a group of trained volunteers is on call 24/7 to sit with and offer comfort to people who are, for whatever reason, dying alone.

We also come in when friends and/or family need a break from their own vigils and would like to know that someone will be by the side of the dying person so that they can try to get some much needed rest in a very stressful time.

This commentary isn’t really about this awesome program, though I ask anyone who thinks they can do it to go see if their local hospital has a chapter. It’s about the reason behind why I do it, and why it shouldn’t be a shock to Pagans or anyone else that people do this kind of volunteer work.

Believe it or not I actually enjoy this work. There are inevitable moments of sadness. There are times when it’s physically and emotionally challenging, too.

Usually I take the “graveyard” shift, not even arriving at the hospital until at least midnight. Hospital room chairs are notoriously uncomfortable. Sometimes patients are awake, aware, and in distress. Usually there are a lot of machines, and sometimes patients are full of various tubes. It’s usually too bright or too dark in the rooms. But uniformly, the staff is happy to see us.

They are gracious and accommodating, especially if they know you’re a new volunteer. I have yet to relive a family member at a death vigil, but one woman I sat with had only her best friend of nearly 80 years to be with her. The friend could not drive at night and could not stay at the hospital, even though death was hours away.

To her, my presence meant she could say goodbye and that a real person would be there just for her friend. I would do what she couldn’t, and when I had to leave somebody else would take my place.

I shed a few tears with her, and I felt very, very blessed to be there. It was my privilege to witness a deep and abiding love between two friends and provide a comforting presence for both of them. When no one else is around, even if the patient is unconscious, I still know that I’m providing a service through my presence, to both patient and staff.

All of the people I trained with cited a desire for service, to be able to give back from their experiences, as their main reason for volunteering with the program. There was a war veteran who had seen a lot of death years ago, a few lay-ministers, a nurse, and others. Everyone had experienced the death of someone close to him or her.

Most of the trainees in my group noted that they believe that death is a life-passage or rite of passage, and that it should be attended by others just like other rites of passage. This very pleasantly surprised me. Out of a group of maybe fifteen, only two of us were non-Christian, another of us was Jewish.

These were blessedly not the same type of people who attended the church I grew up in (only one older man seemed to be under the impression that he was there to talk to the dying about Jesus, and he was quickly but gently disabused of that notion by our pastoral care sponsor). This isn’t the attitude toward death I had previously encountered in Christianity.

When I first read about the NODA program in the local newspaper, I immediately thought of how well suited Pagans are for this kind of volunteer work. Generally, we already come with the assumption that death is part of the cycle of life. It’s natural. It will happen to everyone.

It isn’t something to necessarily fear, though the unknown can be a bit frightening in and of itself. We believe that there is no default “hellfire” setting on death, and we usually have strong opinions against proselytizing, especially to people in distress.

People dying in hospitals come from all walks of life, and in a public hospital there is (supposedly) no over-riding religious doctrine. A lot of organizations that take volunteers are Christian-oriented. While that doesn’t bother me in particular, I do know Pagans who would rather not, and I know from other people’s stories that not all such organizations are friendly toward openly Pagan volunteers.

NODA doesn’t require formal religious training or expect any religious persuasion. At my local hospital it is administered by the Pastoral Care Department which has the duty of ministering to the spiritual needs of all people of all or no religion. Training is provided. I saw it as an open invitation for personal growth, and to use my specifically Wiccan world-view for good. Also, as a Wiccan minister, aka a priestess, I believe that my duty is to serve. I already serve my coven and my tradition, but this was an opportunity to serve the greater community where I live.

All that being said, as a community I don’t think we deal with death as often as some other religious communities do, and we certainly don’t have the same amount of tradition behind us for guidance, at least not in Wicca and other Neo- Pagan religions.

For instance, when the member of a Catholic church dies, he or she has a large religious community and a highly trained professional member of the clergy to guide him or her on the way to the afterlife. For the dying person and the family there is about 1600 years of established church tradition to guide and comfort them. You will see many older people in a Catholic church. In fact, people in the latter half of life may make up the majority of those in attendance.

I can’t speak for all Wiccan traditions, but in mine the vast majority of people with whom I’m familiar are between the ages of 20 and 50. Our “elder die-off” happened before my day, and our elders were not many. To my knowledge we have not lost an active member to death since I joined in 1999, though one member lost a child and one lost a life-partner, as well as various deaths of parents and grandparents and other relatives.

We haven’t been directly confronted—yet.

But in 20 or 30 years, surely we will be so confronted. When it happens we will have to begin crafting our traditions regarding death in earnest. Undoubtedly other larger and somewhat older traditions are dealing with this.

However, my unscientific guess is that the average age of Wiccans in general hovers somewhere in the 30s because of the massive influx of young members that happened in the 1990’s due to the explosion of the Internet.

Even if it’s ten years older, people in their 40s usually have both parents still living, along with their own children, spouses, and their siblings, not to mention their friends and co-workers, who are probably close in age.

We see death in the news and in movies and video games, but it isn’t close and personal. It isn’t in our living room, and we can turn it off and it goes away.

As a community we don’t have a large body of literature regarding death and dying. In fact, the only book I can think of is Starhawk’s (et al) Pagan Book of Living and Dying and I don’t know anyone who personally has a copy on his/her shelf.

It still surprised me when more than one person asked why I would want to volunteer in a hospital, especially around dying people and all of their issues. One person more-or-less questioned my sanity, and another couldn’t see doing something for no money that wasn’t “fun.”

I clearly recall the first Pagan person who couldn’t wrap his brain around the idea. He really did ask, “Why would you do that?”

After a moment of shocked silence I explained the above. He shrugged and said, “Well, I guess you’ve thought it through.”

I wasn’t freaked out by being confronted with death and a Pagan did not understand why I was not freaked out by death. I don’t get it. I still simply don’t understand.

This is not a matter of constant attendance at deaths of my family members. Almost anyone would be losing his or her mind over that. The death of your immediate family members holds more significance in many more ways.

While I love these people I help, each and every one of them, I do not love them the same way I love my children or my husband or my other close relatives. What I fear in losing family is not actually death, it’s my natural, selfish need to have them near me and available when I want them, amongst other things.

I can think of ways in which I would fear to die, but I have no fear of death itself. My experience with Pagans in general has shown that for most of us this is the case, regardless of what our particular beliefs are about what happens afterward. My experience with these few people has shown again that there are always exceptions to any rule.

I can think back to a time where I was afraid of death. I don’t mean 'ookie' dead things like road kill; I mean I was afraid of Death.

Having been raised with the fundamentalist Christian belief in a literal Hell with literal eternal flames and more, I was desperately afraid that my salvation didn’t “take” at the age of seven, that Jesus did not love me, and that God would send me to Hell forever.

As I grew out of that, I grew out of my fear.

For some I’m sure there’s still a lingering fear about eternal divine retribution… even amongst Pagans. They may not want to admit it, but it’s there and it festers in the mind.

For others, I believe it’s an inability to get comfortable with the concept of not knowing for SURE what’s coming after. Some non-Abrahamic religious traditions have a proscribed set of beliefs about the afterlife, and some don’t. But with the very few I’m familiar with, an afterlife isn’t a certainty the way the “people of the book” have certainty.

For those of you who are afraid of death I ask that you take some time to truly examine this fear and find out why you are afraid. Meditate, write in your journal, whatever method suits you, and take a deep look inside.

It’s true that most people will fear change to some extent and death is a really big change. Many people also fear the unknown. But if this leads you to truly be afraid of death and avoidant of confronting it, you really need to attempt to work it out.

You will be dealing with it eventually, like it or not.

Newsbriefs

2007-09-27T13:04:35Z

Catholic priest announces church and state separation was invented by Christians, and other weirdness. Roman Scholars groan and gnash teeth.
http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=3234

Another Minister manages to write an entire sermon in Bible-esque gobblety gook. Something about Corinth:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6777

UConn has a Pagan Organization:
http://www.dailycampus.com/news/2007/09/26/News/Pagan.Organization.Offers.A.Welcoming.Setting-2992936.shtml

Is Pakistan the next place to find your inner peace?
http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=5256

More Pagan Pride events:
http://www.themaneater.com/article.php?id=27561
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6976979
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/092207/rel_092207099.shtml
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/events.php?oid=381202
Catholics whine about it: http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm?task=singledisplay&recnum=4379

Computer technician leads double life as witch
http://www.gazette.com/articles/says_27689___article.html/sanchez_witch.html

Read a little from Kat's work in Progress

2007-09-13T14:03:48Z

Lately I've been working on a monograph about making biomedical decisions. If you're interested in reading the first topic, which is shamelessly anti-smoking, look beneath the cut.

One thing to bear in mind about this monograph is that I make no attempt to be objective. I give *MY* side, and then a list of questions by which *I* arrived at the decision in question.

If you are a smoker, you might want to not read this, as I refer to smokers as voluteers for lung disease.
Please bear in mind that this is wholly opinion based on fact.

]]> I. Giving Yourself Cancer
People who know me know that I am not just a non-smoker, I’m an anti-smoker and I am one for very good reasons. To understand my view, you have to first understand what I left the leadership of CUEW to do. In 2005, I took up a low-member on the totem pole position in research at one of the United States’ premier Cancer Treatment and Research Centers. Mostly, I took the position because I like to eat and have a roof over my head, but I could’ve made more money in industry, and I stuck to the low-paying, often menial work of physical research because I believe in it.
I walk past the lobby of the hospital part of our center everyday to get to my lab. On mornings when I don’t feel like giving 100%, the sight of some child half dead with leukemia coming in for more drug therapy is like a slap in the face. I love what I do, even when it makes me crazy, because if that child lives and has children of his or her own, and one of those children has leukemia, the drugs I’m working with might save that kid from going through what Mom’s went through.
If these kids were the only cancer patients I ever saw, I would probably do this job forever.
But they aren’t.
Every now and then I come upon a smoker in here for lung cancer who makes me want to throw my beakers to the floor and storm out, never looking back. I don’t mean the 80 year old who smoked back when they didn’t know it was awful for you, or even the under educated immigrant who didn’t grow up with warnings. The smokers that make me want to quit trying to help them are otherwise sane individuals, who began smoking when they already knew it could kill them, continued after scares like non-cancerous growths or throat polyps and stand outside under the no smoking sign with one hand on a cigarette and one hand clutching the stand for the IV dripping cancer drugs into their body.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think that if you are as rich as Bill Gates and you’re going to pay every cent of your medical bills out of pocket then you can smoke cigarettes under a ceiling fan in an asbestos factory while lighting up with hundred dollar bills dipped in coal tar. If, however, you’re in a country where your treatment will be covered by the government, subsidized by an insurance company or otherwise paid for out of, or partially out of, non-smoking taxpayer’s pockets, then you get one warning from your body, tops, before your decision to continue to smoke is just ripping everybody off and should be treated like the theft it is.
There are many things that people do to themselves that waste other people’s money. Some people are obese for no reason other than eating too much, some people do incredibly stupid things like climb mountains because they were there, or ski the highest slope as fast as possible and some people drink massive amounts of alcohol. The thing is that eating, climbing and skiing actually do good things for you...and so can that pint. Eating in moderation keeps you alive, climbing and skiing get you exercise and drinking (again, in moderation) acts as a muscle relaxant and sedative and may even improve your health .
Let’s look at the benefits of smoking, shall we?
The “protective effect” of smoking has been described as an apparent (tiny, but statistically relevant) reduction in population frequency of Alzheimer's disease, endometrial cancer, Parkinson's disease, ulcerative colitis and pregnancy hypertension. On the surface, these minor effects might seem like good reasons to smoke, but in reality, they are good reasons to ingest the active ingredients of tobacco. In fact, these protective effects are probably reduced by the burning of the tobacco.
Burning a compound destroys the essential oils and active compounds. This is why a good herbalist recommends making herbal preparations via cold extractions, such as infusions and cordials, over tisanes when possible, and never making tisanes with boiling water, only with hot water. There is not a single natural compound on our planet which should be burned to get the full effect, and in the case of tobacco and cloves , adding combustion to the equation begets new carcinogens where there were none before and makes the pre-existing carcinogens more effective at causing cancer. Add to that the reality of the existence of non-smoking methods of getting these drugs, including aerosolization and ingestion, and there is literally no reason to smoke except for personal enjoyment.
If you choose to smoke for personal enjoyment and take functional steps to prevent second hand contamination of others and property damage such as smoke residue (for example, if you rent an apartment, you are responsible and clean the smoke damage when you leave) you’re off the hook for most of the responsibility of smoking as long as you’re prepared to reimburse taxpayers and/or insurance companies the price of your treatment should you get something like lung cancer. You see, even if you paid $3000 a year for five years for medical insurance and never used it, you’d still not cover the $26,042 in initial costs that the EPA estimates that lung cancer will cost. That $26,042, by the way, is probably more than your nurses at the hospital who you go to will make in a year, so you might want to apologize to them.
Of course, that’s just the initial assessment. Your actual treatment will be closer to $50,000 in the first year, and 2/3 of that the following one. You should get away with about $12,000 a year every year afterwards, for a total of over $150,000, assuming you live 10 years, which you probably won’t. Tack in another 20,000 in costs for the year you finally die, probably in a slow, painful, extended way. As if that’s not bad enough, these numbers are more than ten years old, and some people claim health care costs double every few years, so we’re looking at a conservative estimate of at least $200,000 for the cancer you volunteered for.
Statistically, when you’re diagnosed, you’ll no longer be required to pay your health insurance, and the government will pick up the bill. Do you think the extra buck tax on a pack of cigarettes is going to cover that? Maybe if you were a 54.7 pack per day smoker for 10 years. If the government ends up giving you other aid, like disability financial payments, you’re looking at needing to smoke more than a hundred packs a day to foot the bill, twice that if you have kids or a government pension for your survivors. Even if you think that only one out of ten smokers will get cancer , you’re still looking at having to smoke ten packs a day to cover the bill.
Our society is so screwed up that spending $30,000 on a cocaine habit is seen as a great tragedy and expecting others to spend $200,000 on your tobacco habit is completely within the bounds of morality.
So let’s step back for a second and think about the fact that most smokers don’t know and/or don’t care that they are costing the rest of us money. Some of them are jerks, some of them are uneducated and some of them have bought into the propaganda of the tobacco companies and really think that they are safe from lung cancer. Some of them are also probably severely mentally challenged, but that’s not their fault.
I’ve only met one Wiccan who was a Republican, and he was pretty strongly against people like the Christian coalition, and many Wiccan smokers in the US are Democrats, or apolitical, or independents, but don’t seem to care that their cigarettes pay for political lobbyists and for special trips for government officials and that those candidates seen as Right-Wing tend to get $3 from tobacco for every $1 given to candidates that oppose them. If you’re an independent, libertarian or other third party, it’s even worse, as your parties get virtually no money from the tobacco companies, and pretty much all of it goes to the big two. Smoking means Republican, and if you’re into that, more power to you.
Volunteering for lung disease is a biomedical decision that each individual should make at the personal health level and the personal fiscal level, but at the same time, our volunteers need to look at the big social picture. Whether you agree with my view or not, the decision to smoke, or to over indulge, or to take high-risk behaviors, should be made with the full knowledge of who pays the bills, who is responsible if things go wrong and stuff like that. A simple set of questions to use when handling this kind of decisions might read like this:
1. Who is ultimately responsible for the decision?
2. If I am responsible for the decision, who else is affected?
3. What are the fiscal, social and cultural risks of my decision?
4. Will those risks be dealt with by me or by other people?
5. If the risks will be dealt with primarily by others, should they have a say in my decision?
6. What else am I supporting by making this decision?
7. Do my beliefs and what I am supporting by making these decisions fall in line with each other?
8. Of the actions open to me, what does the least harm to others?
9. Of the actions open to me, what does the least harm to me?
10. If I choose to do these things despite the reasonable objections of others involved, am I capable of being responsible for the actions or will I be shunting the penalty onto people who’ve not done these things?

To smoke or not to smoke is ultimately the decision of the individual, but Wiccans, who are responsible for themselves must make their decisions with that fact in mind. If it effects others, it’s not your decision alone.

1.According to a August 17, 2005 Cnn/Money story, the worst paid jobs with the most expensive educations belong to Archaeologists, Clergy and a number of other professions I have trained for, including my current profession of Biomedical Research. I would be in heaven if my pay was the median pay of researchers they list in the story, but I make much less. Some of my less fortunate peers make under $15,000 a year and have to pay around $5000 a year in student loans. In one lab in my facility, 9 of the 11 lab techs are currently in default on their loans.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/15/pf/training_pay/index.htm
2. I’ve got a non-functioning thyroid gland, and that’s why I get frustrated with people who volunteer to be overweight.
3. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/inthenews/MedicalReports/Longevity/1088617919.html
4. http://www.quit.org.au/quit/fandi/fandi/c03s14.htm
5. In the case of eugenol, found in cloves, there seems to be great benefit when it is ingested or applied to the skin, and it may even suppress certain kinds of tumors, but when smoked, it causes inflammation and may actually increase the size and speed of development of tumors. 6.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/05/000509003850.htm; Alternative Cigarettes worse than real thing.: 7. http://www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_notes/NNVol18N2/Alternative.html
8. http://www.epa.gov/oppt/coi/pubs/II_5.pdf; all the numbers that follow are based on this report.
9. One out of four will get some form of lung disease. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1721068/posts
10 http://no-smoking.org/nov01/11-26-01-1.html details 2000-2001 data.

Newsbriefs: When I darn well feel like it...lol.

2007-09-13T13:12:11Z

Pagan Pride Day coverage:
http://www.winchesterstar.com/article_details.php?ArticleID=1036 (Winchester, VA)
http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=510921 (Reno, NV)
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS/709080356(New Bedford, MA)
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/09/09/news/local/f1adef14a854cfa28525735200119c5a.txtGlens Falls, NY.

Televangelist dies.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/12779.html

Various and Sundry Autumnal Equinox coverage:
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2007/09/07/pike_county_courier/news/2.txt
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS/709080356

Halifax, Alabama:
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=a0452afc-cba1-4e87-bcb2-9ac569c7463d

From the UEW lists, thanks Lysse:
Once again, Rocks:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12611&feedId=online-news_rss20

Another Pentacle fight with goofy "elected herself our spokeperson" flavor:
http://www.ocregister.com/news/witch-tombstones-wicca-1843163-witchcraft-orange

Wednesday is the New Tuesday.

2007-09-05T14:35:39Z

Title:Don’t Be Fooled – The Final Harry Potter Book Still Teaches Witchcraft
Link:http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?breve883
Snark: Maybe if you don't have English as a first language...

Title:Wiccan Teacher Wins Lottery Jackpot
Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6895921,00.html
Snark: When a Christian wins and says it's his god's Will, who cares?
Other coverage:
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s3i24228
http://www.wmdt.com/topstory/displaystory.asp?id=6352
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.winner03sep03,0,5276264.story?coll=bal_news_local_baltimore_county_promo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/02/AR2007090201203.html
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09032007/news/nationalnews/mystickal_millionaire.htm

Title:Brunswick schools consider book policy
Link:http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/176844.html
Excerpt:"The issue is a valid issue," Hobbs said. "I'm not attacking Harry Potter. When the issue of Bibles in schools came up last year, the ones that raised the most opposition was the group known as Wicca. Does this policy give them a free pass to get their materials into the schools?
Snark: When in Jesusland, do as the Jesuslanders do.

TITLE:Americans United Commends President Bush for Apologizing to Wiccan War Widow
LINK:http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20070830225011346
Snark: Note the CUEW mentioned this apology. Note how OTHER Wiccan newssources did not.
Here's the only side of the story others gave: http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20070830/News/108300034

FROM THE LISTS:
TITLE:Out-of-body experiences are 'all in the mind'
LINK:http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12531&feedId=online-news_rss20
Thanks:Llysse

Newsbriefs: August28

2007-08-28T13:37:35Z

Wisconsin Wackjob wannabe Wiccan, more
Title:Wisconsin Woman Faces Charges After Yelling Chants Around Bonfire
Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293369,00.html
Excerpt:Wicca is a nature-based religion based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.

Christian Crusader crucifies crusty ecopagan movement.
TITLE:The Return of the Old Gods: A Challenge to Green Evangelicals
Link: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/08/the_return_of_the_old_gods_a_c.html
Excerpt: What the anti-Christian Enlightenment thinkers did was sever human moral restraints from human passions, opening the door to the Beast of the primitive mind -- the fruits of Original Sin. Primitivism led to butchery in France, in Russia, in Germany. It caused the slaughter of millions by Hitler (who, along with Rudolf Hess and other Nazis was a member of the occultic Thule Society), by Stalin, by Pol Pot. This butchery was the blood sacrifice demanded by the nature gods that Western secularism had called forth.
Snarky Goodness: The fluffs will not comment on this article-it uses big words.

This weeks letter to the editor curfluffle comes from Alabama, which is know for it's liberality, race equality and freedom.
Title:Sound scholarship
Link:http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1187946999131860.xml&coll=1
Snark: no matter how much you close your eyes and stomp your feet and put your fingers in your ears and go lalala, the existance of the bible is not contemporary evidence for Christ.

Pagan Pride Yatta:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=54da6b8b-a4b4-4ad0-a2e9-eb96781f357c&k=48826
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708270365

Newsbriefs-Tuesday 14 August

2007-08-14T13:52:40Z

Fascinating!
TITLE:Pakistan's founding mothers
LINK:http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=68135
EXCERPT:When asked, in 1942, by Geti Ara Bashir Ahmad, sister of Begum Shah Nawaz whether the "Foundations of our new State (would) be laid on conservatism or whether it would assume the shape of a progressive country", Jinnah categorically said, "Tell your young girls, I am a progressive Muslim leader. I, therefore, take my sister along with me to backward areas like Balochistan and NWFP and she also attends the sessions of the All India Muslim League and other public meetings. Pakistan will be a progressive country in the building of which women will be seen working shoulder to shoulder with men in every department of life."

Not News...
TITLE:It’s Not That Easy Being Green
LINK:http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/JWhite/11551080/
EXCERPT:Finally, we must not have our concern for the environment lead into a Wicca-like worship of the earth, where stewardship becomes transformed into subservience.
Snarky Goodness: We have a special medal for people who try to use a "modern definition" of Wicca and fail. He're your Idiot Medal....UM. BTW, Matthew Fox got the term Earth Stewardship from Scott Cunningham, MORON.

Older stories below the cut

]]> After thinking Fark should have a Binghamton tag, like it's Florida one, I now wish I had the Florida one...

TITLE:High-tech gear helps ghost hunters
LINK:http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070812/NEWS/708120403
EXCERPT: Tina Jordan, a medical company manager, has been interested in the paranormal since she was 13. She reads Tarot cards and is a believer in Wicca, a religion that celebrates nature.
Jordan said she has seen several ghosts. She describes herself as a "high sensitive," meaning she can sense the presence of the paranormal.

TITLE:Christians do defend themselves.
LINK:http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4149653.html
Description: Nonsense in a local letters to column.

TITLE: Same-sex spells (also known as Fiona Horne Nonsense.)
LINK:http://www.generationq.net/articles/Fiona-Horne-Same-Sex-Spells-00001.htm

UEWiccan (Journal) Submissions

2007-08-14T13:50:39Z

It's hard to believe, but October is approaching and that means Issue #2 of volume #1 of UEWiccan.

We're looking for letters to the editor, comments, articles, articles and articles.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!

We know some UEWwies (hint hint) have books (hint hint) that need reviewing or perhaps excerpting...hint.

Note: ANYTHING. We can use ANYTHING.

Newsbriefs: For no particular reason

2007-08-11T14:25:37Z

TITLE:Hope for peace, love, understanding
LINK:http://www.theolympian.com/living/story/187293.html
Excerpt: I am constantly surprised at how many people visit the various pagan and Wiccan rituals and religious observances in Olympia expecting something from a Brothers Grimm tale. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when they leave disappointed and I never see them again.
Snarky goodness: Contains BIZARRE explanation of Wicca as a generic.

TITLE: The reckless arrogance of U.S. presidential politics
LINKhttp://xeniagazette.1upmonitor.com/main.asp?SectionID=17&SubSectionID=452&ArticleID=156174&TM=48325.35
EXCERPT:Is there a real difference between the foreign policy views of the two leaders in the Democratic presidential campaign and those of George W. Bush? Or is there is single American attitude toward the world, and fundamentally a bipartisan policy? Political blackmail plays a part in this, of course: Dissent from the common policy is open to attack as unpatriotic. But there is more to it than that.
WARNING: Political, not religion. I just thought it was interesting.

TITLE:Christianity is America's true faith
LINK:http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary%5Cwb/127460
EXCERPT:As a Christian, I think it's time to rid ourselves of this notion of freedom of religion in America.
Now that I have your attention, let me take a moment to make my case. Freedom of religion has become the biggest hoax placed upon the Christian people and on our Christian nation.

TITLE:Let Somalis Reclaim the Lost Glory of their Religion and Culture
LINK:http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Opinion_20/Let_Somalis_Reclaim_the_Lost_Glory_of_their_Religion_and_Culture.shtml
EXCERPT:Although in the traditional Somali society life was not a paradise for women, yet they were never degraded as people. Fathers never let torrents of tears to indicate the state of sadness for having a new baby-girl. Instead most of Somali parents saw in the birth of a child-girl the sign of good things to come; hence baby-girls were favoured with auspicious names such as Hodon, Warsan, Ebla, Deqa, Aurala, Aulo, Haadsan, Quman, Dhahabo, Meran, etc.

Freaky Fundie of the day:
TITLE:The New Paganism and the Culture of Death: "False gods always demand innocent blood"
LINK:http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6480
EXCERPT:Let no one imagine that the temptation to idolatry and paganism is a matter of the distant past when primitive peoples offered sacrifice to the sun or prayed to stone outcroppings and golden calves. Remember: false gods always demand innocent blood. The evidence that a culture is descending into paganism is always manifest in the body count. This was true in ancient Babylon and it is true in modern America. Who can deny that everywhere today the false gods of liberal secularism are exacting their toll of carnage?
Snark: Grrrrrreat. Now, on top of having bunnies, We Pagans now are responsible for Islam...

Your Tuesday Newsbriefing....

2007-08-07T13:57:01Z

So much news....

Non-News:
Title:Time for a Pagan Seminary
Link:http://www.progressiveu.org/135823-it-is-time-for-a-pagan-seminary
Snarky Goodness:...because, you know, if you google and find one, it doesn't make it real...

Title:Kenya: Something of Value Ignored in Our Midst
Link:http://allafrica.com/stories/200708060486.html
Excerpt:This is what has led Europe to the profoundly mistaken idea that African religion was decidedly polytheistic and to the claim that "monotheism" was a Jewish invention. On the contrary, it was the Nilote Akhenaten - known in Exodus as "Moses" - who gave his Aten (Aton, Adon, Adonis, Adonai) monotheon to his Israelite slaves.
Kat-Flavored Goodness: Where can you see lions? Only in Kenya

Title:'Wicker Man' "re-imagining" on the way
Link:http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a69916/wicker-man-re-imagining-on-the-way.html
http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070805_cowboys_for_christ_lensing_in.html
Excerpt:The director of the original Wicker Man is to write and produce a "re-imagining" of the movie.
Robin Hardy is said to be using the same theme, but set elsewhere and working under the title Cowboys For Christ.
Snarky Goodness: The Wicker man has an evil twin? More like a mini-me. Mmmmmm.Christopher Lee goodness.

More not news, but not in a Farky way....
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/9722/ BEST TEE SHIRT EVER. (Thanks Don)

Not News: Letter to the editor Drama:
Link:http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4146437.html
Excerpty-goodness: Paganism is diametrically opposed to Christianity. It was a paganistic society that persecuted the first Christians. Christianity is about love, truth, morality and justice.
Comment: Who cares?
Earlier LTE:
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4136738.html

Title: How to be a druid.
Link: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/howtonews?articleid=3083353
Excerpt:OK... the first thing I should make clear from the off is that modern druids ARE NOT in the habit of covering themselves in face paint and wearing headwear hastily assembled from twigs and leaves.
Smiley-Goodness: I love the tie...it's like me, only a guy.

Not News:
Ethical Eclectic out....
http://covensteadpress.com/Modern_Monographs.html
http://www.macmorgan.org/Eclectic.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615149006/
Anyone in CFFN, etc. who needs it for an assignment and can't afford it can contact me to make arrangements.