How About That Freedom of Religion Thing?

Working out well for ya?

Lawsuit By Wiccans Allowed to Proceed

MADISON, Wis. -- A federal lawsuit filed by Wiccans against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will proceed despite a request by the VA that it be put on hold for perhaps as much as a year.

The lawsuit, filed in November, accuses the VA of coming up with "excuse after excuse" for more than nine years for not putting the Wiccan symbol on grave markers of veterans who were members of that religion. The department does not allow Wiccan religious symbols on veterans' headstones in national cemeteries.

Note, gentle reader, the title of that article. Not "Religious Dispute Over Military Gravemarkers Continues" or some such. No, no, that would be too reasonable.

For Gods and Country: The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied.

On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year's end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record.

What happened to freedom of religion? Did the Army just tell this man what religion he's allowed to practice?

Feeling pressured to conform, anyone? You should.

Teacher Sues, Blaming Witchcraft Suspicions for Firing

Brewing accusations of witchcraft are expected to bubble over during a federal trial scheduled to open this week on Long Island, N.Y., where a former elementary school teacher is suing the district for $2 million.

In 2001, Lauren Berrios filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Central Islip saying she was fired because co-workers wrongly believed she was a witch. Berrios is Jewish and said the witchcraft rumors surfaced because she turned down invitations to attend Christian services.

She turned down invitations to attend Christian services. Well, shit, neighbor, maybe she just don't like your church much. Maybe she's Lutheran.

It's Not Just Walter Reed

'It Is Just Not Walter Reed': Soldiers Share Troubling Stories Of Military Health Care Across U.S.

How dare you sons of bitches do this and pretend do "support" the troops.

With friends like this, they don't need any fucking enemies.

Saturday News

Fired U.S. attorney alleges political pressure: He says 2 lawmakers pressed him to step up inquiry into Democrats.

Casualties of Conscience

As criticism of the Iraq war grows at home, some US soldiers abroad are rejecting Bush's mission. On military bases across Germany, many are now seeking a way out through desertion or early discharge.

Committee subpoenas former Walter Reed chief

[Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee Chairman John Tierney asked Weightman to testify about an internal memo that showed privatization of services at Walter Reed could put “patient care services… at risk of mission failure.”

And, now, Weightman's been replaced by Kiley, who's since been replaced by Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker. Oh, and 'bye' to the Secretary of the Army, as well.

So, they privatized, huh. Didn't work all that well, did it. Yeah. Five times more people in that hospital than there should have been, did you catch that in one of these articles? And staff dropped from 300 to 50.

First we send 'em out with no armor, and then we make sure there's no medical care when they get back.

***

In other news, the neighbor kid on the second floor stole money from my other neighbor, who is a bit old-school and carries cash rather than use credit. We're talking at least $300. We're ratting him out to his parents later this afternoon.

Alaska's Flag, To Alaskans Dear

The Alaska Flag Song. Well, if you ever want to hear it sung, you know how to reach me. (Maybe I should record it and post it somewhere. Huh. This is the internet, after all.)

Death By Moot Court - It'll Never Be A Book By Agatha Christie, But There You Have It

(Maybe I should write murder mysteries featuring a fiesty law professor or something. Hmmmm.)

I am dead, by Moot Court. But it was worth it, yeah. Personalized coaching on oral advocacy skills for almost 2 months? Are you kidding? That alone makes it worth it.

We passed the preliminary rounds and made it into the top 1/3rd. (About 35 teams got cut right there.) I'm really happy we made it to the quarterfinals (that's the next rounds after prelim), and of course I wish we'd made it to the semis (only 9 teams -- oo!). That would have been cool.

So, I'm a mix of disappointed, naturally, with a good dollop of pride that we made it as far as we did.

And I'm very, very, very tired right now. Holy cow, I'm tired. And, being me, replaying every answer I gave during my last argument and wishing I could go back and do it all "perfect" this time. Of course, there's no such thing, either going back, or "perfect".

It's interesting, in a sense, oral argument reminds me of something a friend of mine and I were talking about in Japanese culture (we've both studied the language and been there -- me once, she several times for business), that is, the appreciation for the ephemeral event. Oral argument is like that, as are other forms of theater. Yes, I wrote "other forms of theater". It certainly is. Who and where, and all of your preparations come down to an interaction with an audience, the judge(s), at a single point in time. It's transitory, and the two arguments I had on Thursday, and the one on Friday for the q-finals, will never be repeated, even if we had the same people in that room all over again. The moment passes, and a new moment would be shaped instead.

In the end, you're left with a memory to appreciate, after fireworks have exploded in the sky, or an exquisitely displayed meal has been consumed, or an oral argument is complete, and you are changed as you make it, and as you experience it.

Art, baby. Art.

This artiste is tired. But pleased, overall.

Counting Deaths in Iraq

Les Roberts: Iraq's death toll is far worse than our leaders admit

If [U.S. and Britain] have triggered an episode more deadly than the Rwandan genocide, and have actively worked to mask this fact, how will they credibly be able to criticise Sudan or Zimbabwe or the next government that kills thousands of its own people?

For longer than the US has been a nation, Britain has pushed us at our worst of moments to do the right thing. That time has come again with regard to Iraq. It is wrong to be the junior partner in an endeavour rigged to deny the next death induced, and to have spokespeople effectively respond to that death with disinterest and denial.

Irony, Thy Name is Nisshin Maru

The Nisshin Maru, Japanese whaling vessel, is dead in Antarctic waters after a fire that's killed one crewmember, and currently refusing assistance from...wait for it...the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza. (Full story at BBC here.)

What an interesting polarity here: on the one side, the law of the sea, which demands you render aid. On the other, the Japanese desire to not lose face.

There is also some concern from New Zealand that pride may goeth before a leak, here, and the Ross Sea is a sensitive area, ecologically speaking.

This is so cool: Tlingit Superhero!

Alaska comic superhero Comic book creators team up to give classic Tlingit tale a new twist.

70 Million, and he "chuckles"

Commentary: Theaters of the absurd, By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE.

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush's Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine's Soroush Shehabi. "I'm the grandson of one of the late Shah's ministers," said Soroush, "and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized."

"I know," President Bush answered.

"But does Vice President Cheney know?" asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.

Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

Let's be honest: Scientific community offered bribes to dispute global warming is real, affecting us, and something needs to be done about it right now.

Lord Rees of Ludlow, the president of the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific institute, said: "The IPCC is the world's leading authority on climate change and its latest report will provide a comprehensive picture of the latest scientific understanding on the issue. It is expected to stress, more convincingly than ever before, that our planet is already warming due to human actions, and that 'business as usual' would lead to unacceptable risks, underscoring the urgent need for concerted international action to reduce the worst impacts of climate change. However, yet again, there will be a vocal minority with their own agendas who will try to suggest otherwise."

Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: "The AEI is more than just a thinktank, it functions as the Bush administration's intellectual Cosa Nostra. They are White House surrogates in the last throes of their campaign of climate change denial. They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

IPCC Climate Report Coming Out

Landmark climate report: Clock is ticking

Nations back world environmental body

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Al Gore Nominated for Peace Prize

Al Gore Nominated for Peace Prize

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.

Now, *That's* a Presidential Speech

Washington’s Farewell Address Translated into Everyday Speech. And, the original. More on the farewell address at Wikipedia. Includes some useful-looking bibliographic sources.

Oh My God That Is The Coolest Thing Ever

The Beagle Project. Building and sailing a replica of The Beagle:

The replica Beagle will recreate the 1831-36 circumnavigation with international crews of aspiring young scientists aboard, following the same course and making similar landfalls to those made by HMS Beagle when Darwin was aboard. The crew will take part in modern sampling, observation and experiments in a range of disciplines: biology, geology, oceanography, physics and meteorology. Their work will be followed in labs and classrooms worldwide through an interactive website. They will also compare the climate and wildlife observations made by Darwin and the crew of the Beagle in the 1830s with conditions today.

Thank you for re-affirming my belief in humanity.

Homo sapiens. Thinking man. This is what we do.

Oh, he *is* a lawyer after all.

Then I agree with the California bar.

Yes, I know it flies in the face of all our cherished, slimy, greedy, etc., anti-lawyer stereotypes, but we are actually held to a *high* standard of professional responsibility.