Surf almanac with menu above. Click here to consult your free I Ching and Tarot while waiting (opens in a new window).
The Blogmanac: "On This Day" ... and much more
Think universally. Act terrestrially.
For in a hard-working society, it is rare and even subversive to celebrate too much, to revel and keep on reveling: to stop whatever you're doing and rave, pray, throw things, go into trances, jump over bonfires, drape yourself in flowers, stay up all night, and scoop the froth from the sea.
Anneli Rufus*
*Ø* Blogmanac | Obituary: Deputy Prime Minister and hip leader
James (Jim) Ford Cairns, PhD (1914 - 2003)
Antiwar and social change activist, policeman, academic, parliamentarian, counter cultural theorist
By Takver, Thursday October 16, 2003 at 12:46 AM
"On Sunday 12 October Jim Cairns, former policeman, academic, Labor politician, anti-war activist, Deputy Prime Minister, and countercultural activist and theorist, died at home at the age of 89. Jim Cairns will be remembered for his idealism and his commitment to social change using different strategies over his life.
"Dr Cairns was a senior lecturer in economic history at the University of Melbourne before standing for Parliament. He was a Member of the House of Representatives from 1955 to 1977 and served as Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Treasurer from 1974 to 1975.
On the 8th May 1970 Jim Cairns led 100,000 people through the streets of Melbourne in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam war. Tens of thousands of people marched in other cities around Australia. The Vietnam Moratorium movement was the culmination of several years of anti-war agitation. The Moratorium movement acted to legitimate street protests - the right of people to peacefully occupy and reclaim the streets as an act of protest.
"In 1976 Jim Cairns was the primary initiator for the first Down to Earth Confest held at the Cotter River in Canberra. Bob James describes the organising of the event:
"'Somewhere in there I ran into Karen Rush, an aide to Jim Cairns who was looking for a local Canberra group to provide logistical support for an idea he had. After he and I had talked, "Alternative Canberra" became the co-ordinating group in the run-up to the first Down to Earth Confest. I've often laughed about going to meetings in No 2 Caucus Room, in the old Parliament House, straight from "the farm", and deciding we'd go just as we were. The security guards knew exactly who we were and said nothing as we walked up the steps, sometimes in just our "Halleluja hats", underpants, t-shirts and big rubber boots.' http://www.takver.com/history/journey.htm
"Dr Graham St John, from his thesis: "Alternative Cultural Heterotopia: ConFest as Australia's Marginal Centre" elaborates further:
"'In 1976, preceding his retirement from federal politics the following year, Cairns produced a manifesto: "The Theory of the Alternative". The document encapsulated his ideas about, and intentions for, cultural revolution, and as far as later developments were concerned, it was embryonic. In it, Cairns revealed his principal aim: "to transform society and bring an end to alienation, oppression, exploitation and inequality" (1976:16). "Survival now [Cairns stated] requires a radical break with the past; it demands a future which has to be created. Survival demands a revolution in the way of life of everyone' (ibid:3). The necessary radical elision would be achieved in four stages. 1) 'Cultural preparation or consciousness raising'. 2) 'Building up radical groups or alternative enclaves of all kinds based on real needs of the people'. 3) 'The development of a community for change, of a peoples' liberation movement, with the capacity to challenge the structure of authority'. 4) 'The radical groups or alternative enclaves [would] take over as self-governing and regulating communities and replace the bureaucracy and machinery of the centralised, nation-State'" http://www.confest.org/thesis/threephaseone.html
IN the old days when London Bridge was lined with shops from one end to the other, and salmon swam under the arches, there lived at Swaffham, in Norfolk, a poor pedlar. He'd much ado to make his living, trudging about with his pack at his back and his dog at his heels, and at the close of the day's labour was but too glad to sit down and sleep. Now it fell out that one night he dreamed a dream, and therein he saw the great bridge of London town, and it sounded in his ears that if he went there he should hear joyful news. He made little count of the dream, but on the following night it came back to him, and again on the third night.
Then he said within himself, 'I must needs try the issue of it,' and so he trudged up to London town. Long was the way and right glad was he when he stood on the great bridge and saw the tall houses on right hand and left, and had glimpses of the water running and the ships sailing by. All day long he paced to and fro, but he heard nothing that might yield him comfort. And again on the morrow he stood and he gazed -- he paced afresh the length of London Bridge, but naught did he see and naught did he hear.
Now the third day being come as he still stood and gazed, a shopkeeper hard by spoke to him.
'Friend,' said he, 'I wonder much at your fruitless standing. Have you no wares to sell?'
'No, indeed,' quoth the pedlar.
'And you do not beg for alms?'
'Not so long as I can keep myself.'
'Then what, I pray thee, dost thou want here, and what may thy business be?'
'Well, kind sir, to tell the truth, I dreamed that if I came hither, I should hear good news.'
Right heartily did the shopkeeper laugh.
'Nay, thou must be a fool to take a journey on such a silly errand. I'll tell thee, poor silly country fellow, that I myself dream too o' nights, and that last night I dreamt myself to be in Swaffham, a place clean unknown to me, but in Norfolk if I mistake not, and methought I was in an orchard behind a pedlar's house, and in that orchard was a great oak tree. Then me-seemed that if I digged I should find beneath that tree a great treasure. But think you I'm such a fool as to take on me a long and wearisome journey and all for a silly dream. No, my good fellow, learn wit from a wiser man than thyself. Get thee home, and mind thy business.'
When the pedlar heard this he spoke no word, but was exceeding glad in himself, and returning home speedily, digged underneath the great oak tree, and found a prodigious great treasure. He grew exceeding rich, but he did not forget his duty in the pride of his riches. For he built up again the church at Swaffham, and when he died they put a statue of him therein all in stone with his pack at his back and his dog at his heels. And there it stands to this day to witness if I lie.
*Ø* Blogmanac October | National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, USA The Board of Sponsors of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is dedicated to increasing awareness of breast cancer issues, especially the importance of early detection of breast cancer.
This message is communicated through a nationwide educational campaign to audiences including women in all age and ethnic groups, the general public, state and federal governments, women's health care professionals, and employers. Learn more about how you can help by becoming a program leader or you can download the 2003 promotion guide.
*Ø* Blogmanac | How many billion stars do you see from your house?
"It is not too late to save our skies, your active participation and campaigning with the International Dark-Sky Association can help insure that the nights are restored ..." Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey
How many stars do you see when you step outside at night? Is your sky a blaze of starlight as in the picture at right, or dulled by human-made electric light like the picture at left?
Until about a century ago, all human societies on all continents had evolved with the Milky Way above, and the constellations clear above their heads. Stars shone brightly. Now most of us have come to believe that the "sky" is that hazy dark stuff above us. Wrong! That's like believing that cows and hotdogs are the same creature. We are allowing our heritage to disappear before our eyes, but it's not too late to change things. Here is an organisation campaigning to bring back wonder to our lives – something our children might never know – something we might even have little knowledge of ourselves.
A correspondent of mine wrote that, at age 40-something, she had never seen the Milky Way. To my mind, she might as well have said she had never made love.
I believe that reclamation of the stars is a cause well worthy of support and action and I commend it to all Almaniacs:
I remember being there upon Horn Fair Day, I was dressed in my landlady's best gown and other women's attire, and to Horn Fair we went, and as we were coming back by water, all the cloaths were spoiled by dirty water, &c., that was flung on us in an inundation, for which I was obliged to present her with two guineas to make atonement for the damage sustained, &c. Fuller's Whole Life, 1703
The Horn Fair was held for three days annually from St Luke's Day (October 18) and was named after the custom of carrying horns and wearing them. A foreign traveller in 1598 wrote that there was at Ratcliffe, nearby, a long pole with ram's horns upon it, representing “wilful and contented cuckolds”. The horned man, or Green Man, was a representation of the ancient horned god Herne (who derived from the Celtic horned godCernunnos), and it is interesting to note that the fair, revived in 1973 and now held at Hornfair Park, was formerly held at Cuckold’s Point, East London.
At the fair there was a procession, which went three times around the church, of people wearing horns. There were many wild practices, such as men dressed as women whipping real females with sprigs of furze, giving rise to the expression “all is fair at Horn Fair”.
Toys made of horns were sold; even the gingerbread on sale had horns. All kinds of goods made of horns were sold at the Horn Fair. There used to be a sermon preached on the day at Charlton Church, but by 1872, "the fair had degenerated into an all-out orgy and was suppressed”. "The practice was created by a bequest of twenty shillings a year to the minister of the parish for preaching it." (Hone, William, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, Vol., 1, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878)
St Luke is represented in art as an ox, or writing with an ox or cow beside him, so it is likely the ancient Herne cult was transmuted into a cult of Luke. The church at Charlton had stained glass windows, though largely destroyed in time of the troubles in Charles I's reign, showing St Luke's ox with wings on its back and horns on its head.
The Legend of Herne There is an old tale goes that Herne the Hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest, Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns; And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle, And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner. You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know The superstitious idle-headed eld Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age, This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth. William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.iv
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
"NATO: The US and European states clashed at NATO over ambitions by a pioneering few in the European Union to build an EU military structure independent of the Atlantic alliance, diplomats said yesterday.
"The heated exchange at a meeting of NATO envoys on Wednesday came as Washington stepped up pressure on its closest European ally, British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, to block the quartet of EU states pushing for closer co-operation on defence. One diplomat said US Ambassador Mr Nicholas Burns lambasted the initiative as the 'most serious threat to the future of NATO' ...
"France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg -- Europe's fiercest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq -- agreed at a summit in April to set up a military planning headquarters in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren for EU crisis management operations.
"Mr Burns has criticised the proposal as both wasteful duplication of NATO's capabilities and a challenge to the US-dominated alliance's 'pre-eminence'." Source
Meanwhile:
"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground" Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command Story
What is it with these people? They like to line up their wars 20 years in advance? Yes, it's depressing and I'm sticking to posting light entertainment for a wee while, if I can! - N
*Ø* Blogmanac October | Who we gunna turn to now we're the sheriff, John?
By Margo Kingston October 16, 2003
"Is Australia your deputy sheriff in the region, Mr President?
"'No. We don't see it as a deputy sheriff. We see it as a sheriff. There's a difference.' He's outsourced policing South East Asia to us. What an honour! Umm, but doesn't that bin our latest insurance premium? Who we gunna turn to, John? Who we gunna turn to?
The occasion of the emperor's announcement of this enormous responsibility? A closed press conference with seven hand-picked journalists from Australia and the Asian region.
Wild. Just wild. John Howard sort-of-called Australia a deputy sheriff to the Yanks in our region in a 1999 Bulletin interview, then ran a mile from it when the shit hit the fan from our Asian neighbours. Not helpful in the region. Not helpful at all, especially now, when we need cooperation from our neighbours to combat terrorism and don't need terrorists in our region targetting us. (For reaction in Asia see Asia unhappy with Bush's sheriff comments and Australia is 'puppet, not 'sheriff')
Howard hadn't told us about our promotion – as usual he left it to the boss.
It puts Howard's decision to expel the public from their own parliament when George addresses our representatives in a new light. I've never heard of that happening before, but we've never been the US President's sheriff in South East Asia before.
The symbolism is obvious. Democracy has no place in the world of Bush, supreme commander and Howard, sheriff. The world as fashioned by Bush - Howard as echo chamber – is too dangerous for democracy. They're creating a world in which they wield absolute power. In America, George's thugs are making sure of that by rigging the voting system with the help of his big corporate mates (All the President's votes? in The Independent) ..." Source: Sydney Morning Herald
*Ø* Blogmanac October 17 | Feast day of St Etheldreda, or Audrey (C of E)
She gave us the word 'tawdry'
Now Etheldreda shines upon our days, Shedding the light of grace on all our ways. Born of a noble and a royal line, She brings to Christ her King a life more fine. The Venerable Bede
Northumbrian Queen Etheldreda was canonized under the name Audrey.
Third and most celebrated of the saintly daughters of Annas, or Anna, king of East Anglia (of the family of the Uffingas, descendants of the Norse God, Odin), by his wife, Saewara; a sister of Saint Jurmin, Etheldreda, or Audrey, was born at Exning in Suffolk, circa 636 and grew up wishing to be a nun like her two sisters.
Said to be “twice a widow and always a virgin”, Etheldreda kept her vow to be a nun although her parents twice forced her to marry to Saxon princes. She was widowed after three years marriage to Tondbert, King of South Gyrwe, an East Anglian subkingdom in the Fens; As part of their marriage settlement, Tondbert gave his wife an estate then called Elge, later known as Ely. Legend says that the marriage was never consumated, because Etheldreda had taken a vow of perpetual virginity.
For reasons of state, probably to secure an alliance for the house of the Uffingas with the powerful Kingdom of Northumbria against the aggressive Mercians – she she married a second time, to Egfrith, the second son of Oswiu, King of Northumbria. Her new husband knew of her vow, but grew tired of living with her and having no sexual relations, and began to make advances on her, but she refused him. He tried to bribe the local bishop, Saint Wilfrid of York, to release her from her vow. Refusing, Wilfrid helped Audrey escape to a promontory called Colbert's Head where a seven-day high tide, considered divine intervention, separated the two; the young man gave up. The marriage was later annulled, and Audrey became a nun.
Later, as she travelled, on a very hot day, Etheldreda was overcome with fatigue. She stuck her staff into the ground and lay down to rest. When she awoke, the staff had grown leaves and branches, and it afterwards became a mighty oak tree, the largest for many miles around.
After many days of tiresome walking, Audrey arrived on her own lands in Ely. Here she found a good piece of fertile land, supporting six hundred families and surrounded by swamps (fens), forming protection from invaders.
Here, in 673 CE, Etheldreda built a large double monastery where she died on June 23, 679. Her relics were translated, or moved, on October 17, 695. When she died, Audrey had an enormous and unsightly tumor on her neck, which she gratefully accepted as divine retribution for all the necklaces she had worn in her early years. However, according to Saint Bede, when her tomb was opened by her sister Saint Sexburga, her successor as abbess at Ely Abbey, ten (or 16) years after her death, her body was found incorrupt, her face was beautifully youthful, and the tumor had healed.
When Etheldreda’s shrine at Ely Cathedral was destroyed during the Reformation, the saintly Queen Etheldreda’s hand was preserved by a devout Catholic family. Her hand, still incorrupt, was enshrined when a little Catholic Church was re-established in Ely. According to an apocryphal tale, Queen Elizabeth II, on a tour of the cathedral, met the cranky Irish priest of the small Catholic Church. When she asked him if it wouldn’t be a "nice gesture" to return the hand of St Etheldreda to the cathedral; he replied that it would be a nice gesture for her to return the cathedral to the Catholic church.
We get the word ‘tawdry’ from her name. At the fair of St Audrey, at Ely, were sold ‘tawdry (saint Audrey) laces’, cheap necklaces, associated with the neck disease suffered by the saint. In time, the word ‘tawdry’ came to apply to any piece of glittering trash or tarnished finery.
Her feast day is commemorated this day in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church and in the Catholic Church on June 23. She is patron of Cambridge University, neck ailments, throat ailments and widows.
One time I gave thee a paper of pins, Another time a tawdry lace, And if thou wilt not grant me love, In truth I'll die before thy face. Old English ballad
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
I’m not a particular fan of Armageddon for obvious reasons, well obvious to me anyway. I’m pretty much an optimist believing in R Buckminster Fuller’s dictum that as long as we’re around as a species, then we must be considered a success as a species. However…
It would appear that the lure of filthy lucre overwhelms our sense of self-preservation, at least amongst those of our species (mostly male and mostly white) who have the power and the resources to bring the entire process to a screeching halt in spite of my protests.
There’s no doubting that the accumulation of wealth (and the power that inevitably goes with it) has all the hallmarks of a disease, or a fetish as K Marx described it. And as anyone with a fetish knows, money and power is powerful stuff, an addiction as strong as crack cocaine, perhaps even stronger because not only is it socially accepted, it has all the appearance of being a ‘natural’ state of affairs, over which we have no control.
Which brings me right back to addiction, but are we being asked to accept the idea that ‘human nature’ is a kind of addiction too? If so, with the kinds of power we now have over nature, the game is surely up. This would appear to be the state of affairs we are being asked to accept when it comes to genetically modified life.
*Ø* Blogmanac October 16, 1854 | Happy birthday, Oscar
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, novelist and poet, born on October 16, 1854
A true friend stabs you in the front. Oscar Wilde
Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde
1854 Oscar Wilde (d. November 30, 1900), Irish playwright, novelist and poet (The Importance of Being Earnest; The Picture of Dorian Grey).
Imagine, if you will, that the spirit of Walt Whitman mysteriously comes to life in an autographed first edition of his famous anthology, 'Leaves of Grass', in Oscar Wilde's personal collection.
Imagine, too, that the ghost of Whitman swears to make amends for a great injustice done to the Irish playwright -- the forced auctioning of Wilde's beloved library.
Imagine that book passing through several hands, all the while containing the outraged soul of the American poet, who swears:
A festival going back more than three centuries. Each drum float, or Taiko-dai, decorated with cloth woven with gold and silver tassles, weighs about two tons. It is carried by teams of over 150 men called Kakifu. More than 30 drums and their Kakifu teams parade throughout the town, and competitions are held at three places of the city.
Progress has been slow in efforts to reach the World Food Summit goal of cutting by half the number of the world's chronically hungry and under-nourished people by 2015. This goal will not be met if we continue doing "business as usual".
FAO estimates that 840 million human beings on our Earth remain chronically hungry, 799 million of them in the developing world. The number has been decreasing by barely 2.5 million per year over the last eight years. At that rate, we will reach these goals one hundred years late, in 2115.
*Ø* Blogmanac | Bloodbath slows but doubt persists over US intentions
October 14, The Irish Times
"Leaving Baghdad once again, Lara Marlowe reflects on the political shambles to which an incoherent US policy has condemned Iraq"
"America's road to hell in Iraq is paved with good intentions, the promiscuous use of lethal force, and the absence of a coherent strategy. If there is a well-defined plan for restoring security, rebuilding the country's infrastructure and achieving the transition from occupation to self-determination for the Iraqi people, US officials are doing a good job of keeping it secret ...
*Ø* Blogmanac October 15, 1940 | Gandhi: Civil disobedience in wartime acceptable
What we should aim at is the creation of people power, which is opposed to the power of violence and is different from the coercive power of state. Vinoba Bhave (September 11, 1895 - November 15, 1982) the first Satyagrahi in Mahatma Gandhi’s Anti-War Individual Satyagraha movement, October 15, 1940
A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behavior. Vinoba Bhave
1940 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, sanctioned individual civil disobedience in wartime. He started the Anti-War Individual Satyagraha movement with Vinoba Bhave (September 11, 1895 - November 15, 1982) as the first Satyagrahi.
*Ø* Blogmanac | Dalai Lama Asks West Not to Turn Buddhism Into a "Fashion"
Says Beliefs Cannot Be Unified With Christianity
"MADRID, Spain, OCT. 8, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, appealed to the West not to embrace Buddhism as a mere cultural fashion.
"Under questioning by reporters, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and exiled head of the Tibetan state, denied proposing in his meetings with the Pope a sort of mixture or unification of Buddhism and Christianity.
"The religious leader made these statements following a talk in the 21st Century Club at the Eurobuilding Hotel of Madrid.
"Asked if the future of Buddhism is in the West, the Nobel Peace Prize winner replied: 'People from different traditions should keep their own, rather than change. However, some Tibetan may prefer Islam, so he can follow it. Some Spanish prefer Buddhism; so follow it. But think about it carefully. Don't do it for fashion. Some people start Christian, follow Islam, then Buddhism, then nothing.'
"'In the United States I have seen people who embrace Buddhism and change their clothes,' he said, laughing. "Like the New Age. They take something Hindu, something Buddhist, something, something. ... That is not healthy.'" Source
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
*Ø* Blogmanac | Dalai Lama wants to form 'world peace dream team'
"The Dalai Lama is calling on respected world figures to join forces and intervene in major disputes.
"The exiled Tibetan leader says luminaries such as former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu could defuse situations such as the turmoil in Iraq.
"He says he can't do much alone, but world figures associated with efforts to promote peace could be effective.
"Taking time out during a visit to France, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner says he had considered travelling to Baghdad before the war.
"The free Paris daily Metro quoted the 68-year-old as saying: 'But I said to myself "A Buddhist monk, who has absolutely no friends in Baghdad ... I'll walk in the streets, get a bomb on my head and die!".
"I deeply believe that if certain very respected personalities, such as Vaclav Havel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others, go there, they could represent peace, humanity and not this or that government."
The Dalai Lama says he has written to Havel and is to meet him next week. He says he'll propose 'that when a violent crisis threatens to explode, these leaders of peace be more active. It's possibly a way to find a solution to problems.'
"In the Metro interview, the Dalai Lama added China's frequent displeasure with his activities limits his ability to intervene in world crises.
"'I alone can't do very much. I represent the Tibetans and I would be more of an inconvenience to those that I want to help by provoking the anger of Beijing,' he said." Source
*Ø* Blogmanac | Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF This Year and Make a Difference
For most of us, Halloween means costumes, candy and parties. But, for a special group of children across the country, it means saving the lives of children around the world. These exceptional children are those who choose to participate in "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF."
For 53 years, children in the United States have shown their commitment to their global peers by carrying the little orange box on Halloween and collecting funds for UNICEF -- a global organization whose goal is to bring health, education, equality and protection to every child in the world.
Since its inception in 1950, "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" has raised $119 million to help support UNICEF programs around the world. That figure is all the more impressive considering that a meager amount of money goes a long way. How can one small box full of change dramatically improve the lives of so many children in need?
With only one dollar, UNICEF can: * Immunize a child against measles, a deadly disease that claims more children's lives each year than wars, famines and natural disasters combined. * Immunize a child from polio, a disease on the verge of eradication thanks in part to the children who have made the commitment to "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" over the past five decades. * Provide 98 notebooks for students who want to go to school.
The Fire This Time: Why Kucinich May be the Right Guy at the Right Time By Daniel Patrick Welch
Kucinich may be the only guy who can win this [US Presidential] election. [Emphasis added. -v] Sounds far-fetched, right? What the Brits would call Loony Left delusional thinking. The U.S. press would just ignore the whole thing, naturally, until it's no longer possible. Just plain crazy. But is it? Every finely tuned ear has recorded the spike in interest every time someone has had the guts to speak up about various aspects of the nascent fascism we are confronting. From Gore's early comments breaking the taboo of criticizing Bush to Byrd's articulate blasts, mainstream politicians have received a grateful roar from the rabble with each thrust, the bolder the better.
Of course, political parties have never been comfortable with movement politicians, and the Boy Mayor of Cleveland is no exception. But these, of course, are no ordinary times, and along the political spectrum, from Chomsky to, say, Chenoweth, people would be hard pressed to say the old rules will work this time around. Along with positive notes from Chomsky, Studs Terkel, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's, Lynn Woolsey of the Progressive Caucus, and left/liberal websites like Democrats.com and Citizens for Legitimate Government, the Kucinich campaign crossed new threshold when he took second place in the Moveon.org online primary, itself a fascinating exercise in online democracy.
It was a remarkable surge in just a few days, and his grassroots organization now spans all 50 states. While the polls don't reflect it--as they didn't for Clinton or Carter at this point in '92 and '76, respectively--It is only a matter of time before people start voting where they really want to--the buzz is that Dennis is people's "I would, but..." candidate. And all the notables who take note of Kucinich, even some who overtly or implicitly endorse him, "concede" that he doesn't have a chance.
I think they may be selling their man short. My answer to those who say we can only win by playing the same game is that--what seems completely logical to me--it's the only way we can lose. The money and the media will always favor the right--unless we can learn to run an insurgent, Kucinich--type candidate and campaign and win successfully, we are screwed. Why is this news? Why should U.S. elections be so special--they are some of the most corrupt and money-polluted scams in the world.
We need to look elsewhere for models and quit whining and focusing on old-school gamesmanship. It is nothing new for progressive populists to run against moneyed candidates with "only" the Truth and the People on their side. Why should this be a losing proposition? Lula did it in Brazil. Chavez did it in Venezuela. Allende did it in Chile before the CIA mowed him down... Not only is it possible--it may be the only way to win, especially as time goes on and the demographics further favor such insurgency. It's still Jackson's model: without bringing millions of new people into the process, by energizing and mobilizing base constituencies, the left is suicidally following the right's game plan and ignoring its own overwhelming strengths. The Emerging Democratic Majority may well be ours--but we have the power to blow it by convincing future generations of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and others that their growing numbers are not of interest to us and they have nothing to gain by participating. The right is quite justifiably following a smart strategy which is the only way they can win. They have even succeeded in getting most Democrats to follow a strategy which is the only way they can lose.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a blog unfamiliar to me had linked to ACT. When I checked it out I was impressed with what I found: a loving and devoted site dedicated to Neil Young and everything that that entails. It's refreshing to find a blog that is about something and Thrasher's contribution to the blogosphere is worth a visit by anyone and everyone, regardless of their music likes or dislikes. Neil Young's sphere of musician influence--those who influenced him as well as those he influenced, to say nothing of the places, events and non-musicians of influence throughout his life all have a place in this brilliant history of all of us. It should come as no surprise that the following is the post I selected to sample here, but don't stop. Continue on and enjoy. I'm sure you will! -v
"Too many pundits, in these troubled times, assert that music and politics don't mix. They say music cannot be a source for change. Indeed, it is hard to measure just how much of a tangible effect music has on anything. But, have they forgotten about the 60s ? That turbulent decade showed us the potential power of music as a source of mobilization. It was songs like Dylan's 'The Times They are a-Changing' and the Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man' that provided the soundtrack to the great movements of the '60s. Music was a driving force, a catalyst, a mode of angered expression. It was through music that a whole generation expressed its hopes, dreams, and aspirations. When the Beatles sang 'All You Need Is Love' in 1967, they were speaking for millions of people who wanted to believe in something greater than themselves. "
Bill Douglas writes: "A man in some country was recently taken, handcuffed, down into a subterranean interrogation room in the bowels of a police station and asked by a police investigator, 'when I look into your writings will I find anything subversive?' This sounds like something one might have heard coming out of the former Soviet Union. However, it wasn't. The country was America, the man was me, and the interrogation room was in the basement of the massive and imposing Kansas City Jail on 12th street (Tuesday, Sept 16th, 2003). (I'm a writer who's contributed to many publications worldwide, including the Kansas City Star, and the Kansas City Business Journal). This event emblazoned into my mind that something has drastically changed in my America . . . our America. I had earlier been arrested for attempting to attend a protest of Laura Bush's visit in Kansas City."
*Ø* Blogmanac | Some trivia -- and some not so trivial
"SAS soldiers carry tampons and condoms in their emergency survival packs -- but not for the purposes typically associated with these items. The tampon is used for kindling; the condom for carrying water."
* Ø * Ø * Ø*
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is the first dual citizen to be elected governor in the United States. But he cannot -- yet -- run for president as candidates must be US-born. One of Arnie's political buddies, the Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, has put an amendment before the senate to change that."
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"... a survey by Perseus has found that of the estimated four million weblogs that have ever been created, one million had not been updated since the day they were made. 2.7m had not been updated in two months. Fewer than 50,000 blogs were updated every day." More details
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"PIN thieves need no longer peek over your shoulder before trying to half-inch your Switch card. Organised crime gangs now fit pinhole cameras to cash machines, and sit in a nearby car with a laptop linked to the camera." Full story
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"In his time as Pope, John Paul has created 476 saints, more than all his predecessors combined."
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"Mice, goldfish, spiders, and even kittens are the unlucky stars of a new trend of snuff movie being made in the UK, animal welfare organisations warn. The films, known as squish or crunch movies, involve beautiful women killing the animals by a variety of methods, eg spearing them with a stiletto heel."
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
" ... Britons profess to prefer pets to children. Only one in four adults said they had more affection for their kids than for Fido or Tiddles in a survey by the National Children's Bureau." Full story
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"Military sonar may be giving whales and dolphins the bends -- which could be the cause of many unexplained strandings and deaths. Zoologists say sonar signals may cause bubbles in the animals' tissue, in much the same way as divers can suffer decompression sickness." Full story
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
"Forget Jack and Chloe -- parents are naming their babies after luxury brands. In 2000, Americans named 269 girls Chanel, 273 boys and 298 girls Armani, and 353 -- all girls -- Lexus. Chivas Regal, Evian and Guinness have also cropped up. Britons, too, have taken inspiration from the drinks cabinet -- last year, 51 girls were named Chardonnay, and a further 14 Chardonay."
*Ø* Blogmanac | Blair chaired meeting that led to unmasking of Kelly
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian October 14
"The key policy decisions which led to the unmasking of David Kelly, the Iraqi weapons expert, were taken at a Downing Street meeting chaired by Tony Blair, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence disclosed yesterday.
"Sir Kevin Tebbit told the Hutton inquiry that decisions were taken at the No 10 meeting both to issue an MoD press statement giving details of Dr Kelly and to confirm his identity if journalists put his name to ministry officials ...
"After Dr Kelly's apparent suicide on July 17, Mr Blair said he played no part in the naming of the government scientist. He told the inquiry in August that the government had to reveal the fact that someone had come forward admitting having spoken to the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan about the Iraqi weapons dossier ...
"On the final day of the inquiry's hearings, Lord Hutton made clear that he may take longer to deliver his report than previously thought, perhaps even after the new year."
*Ø* Blogmanac October 14 | Winter’s Day/Vinternatsblót (Viking)
Vinternatsblót, or haustblót, to bid winter welcome. This marks the beginning of Winter season in old European calendar. “Long distance sailing and other Summer activities also stopped on this day, as preparations for the Winter took priority.”
“The images of the gods were placed in a half-circle in the shrine. At the center stood the altar (stallr), upon which lay a large gold ring (baugr), upon which all solemn oaths were sworn. The bowl containing the blood of the sacrificed animals (hlautbolli) was placed on the altar by the priest (goði), who, with a stick (hlautteinn), sprinkled it on the images of the gods, and on the persons present. The meat of the animals was boiled, and served to the assembled people in the large hall of the temple, where toasts were drunk to the gods for victory and good harvests. The sanctuary and the grounds belonging to it was called vé, a holy or sacred place, and any one who violated its sanctity was called varg i véum (wolf in the sanctuary), and was outlawed. Three religious festivals were held each year: one at the beginning of winter (October 14), the vinternatsblót, or haustblót, to bid winter welcome; another at midwinter (January 14), midvintersblót, for peace and good harvest; and a third, sommerblót, held on the first day of summer (April 14), for victory on military expeditions.
“The temples seem to have been quite numerous, but especially well known were the ones at Sigtuna and Upsala in Sweden, at Leire (Hleidra) in Denmark, and at Skiringssal in Norway.” Gjerset, Knut, PhD, History Of The Norwegian People, p. 105 Source
*Ø* Blogmanac October 13, 1955 | First reading of 'Howl'
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night ... From ‘Howl’, by Allen Ginsberg; his famous poem was first read publicly on October 13, 1955
You feel like you are going through the gutter when you have to read that stuff. I didn't linger on it too long, I assure you. An elocution teacher, at the obscenity trial for 'Howl'
1955 American poet Allen Ginsberg organised a poetry reading at Six Gallery, SF (featuring also Michael McClure, Philip Lamantia, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Kenneth Rexroth) and brought down the house by reading ‘Howl’ publicly for the first time.
“The first printing of Howl was mimeographed by Marthe Rexroth, using the version typed by Robert Creeley, for Kenneth Rexroth's poetry class at San Francisco State College in May 1956. The mimeo includes the title-page, with quotation from Walt Whitman, the dedication to Kerouac, Burroughs, Cassady and Lucien Carr, in addition to 15 numbered pages of poetry, including ‘Howl’, ‘A Supermarket in California’, ‘Sunflower Sutra’ and ‘America’, all unexpurgated. ‘Howl’ is dated at the end of the poem on p.9 ‘San Francisco 1955-1956’; (the next three poems are dated Berkeley 1955 and the last poem is undated)." Source
Anyway I followed the whole gang of howling poets to the reading at Gallery Six (Six Gallery) that night, which was, among other important things, the night of the birth of the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance. Everyone was there. It was a mad night. And I was the one who got things jumping by going around collecting dimes and quarters from the rather stiff audience standing around in the gallery and coming back with three huge gallon jugs of California Burgundy and getting them all piffed so that by eleven o'clock when Alvah Goldbrook (Ginsberg) was reading his, wailing poem ‘Wail’ (Howl) drunk with arms outspread everybody was yelling ‘Go! Go! Go!’ (like a jam session) and old Rheinhold Cacoethes (Kenneth Rexroth) the father of the Frisco poetry scene was wiping tears in gladness. Jack Kerouac; Dharma Bums Source
*Ø* Blogmanac October 13, 1944 | The witch of Scrapfaggot Green
At midnight on Friday the 13th, a ceremony was held in Great Leighs, Essex, UK, to replace a 2-ton stone in the ground that had been dislodged some days earlier by a bulldozer. The stone was traditionally believed to pin down the evil spirit of ‘the witch of Scrapfaggot Green’, a witch who had been buried with a stake through her heart in the 17th Century. The local village had been beset by extreme poltergeist activity since the stone's dislodgement.
*Ø* Blogmanac October 13 | Feast day of St Edward the Confessor
(Born at Islip, England, c.1004, died at Westminster, 1066; canonised 1161.)
Edward was the son of Ethelred II, king of the English, and Emma, sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy, and he lived in that country from about his tenth year till he was recalled to England in 1041. In the following year he succeeded to the throne, and in 1045 married Edith, daughter of the ambitious and powerful Earl Godwin.
Edward's reign was outwardly peaceful and he was a peace-loving man; however, he had to contend with Godwin's opposition and other grave difficulties, and he did so with a determination that hardly supports the common picture of him as a tame and ineffectual ruler. His anonymous contemporary biographer gives a convincing portrait of him in his old age that has obscured the evidence concerning his middle life. After his death, movingly described by the biographer, a religious cultus of the king was slow in developing until after his actual canonisation.
The belief that Edward was a saint was supported by his general reputation for religious devotion and for generosity to the poor and infirm, by the relation of a number of miracles (he was the first sovereign reported to ‘touch for the King's Evil’, scrofula), and, too, by the assertion that he and his wife were so ascetic as always to have lived together as brother and sister.
Edward and Edith were certainly childless, but that this was due to lifelong voluntary abstinence is unlikely in the circumstances of their marriage and is not supported by adequate evidence.
St Edward was buried in the church of the abbey of Westminster, a small existing monastery which he had refounded and endowed with princely munificence; with one uncertain and obscure exception, he is the only English saint whose bodily remains still rest in their medieval shrine, which was set up in its present position behind the high altar in 1268.
He is called ‘the Confessor’, that is, one who bears witness to Christ by his life, to distinguish him from King Edward who followed. His emblem is a finger ring. When St Edward was dedicating a church to St John the Evangelist, a pilgrim came and asked alms in the saint's name, and St Edward gave him a ring from his finger. The pilgrim was none other than St John the Baptist. He revealed himself to two English pilgrims in the Holy Land, bidding them to take the ring to the king in his name, and ask him to prepare to leave this world. After this they fell asleep and awoke in Barham Downs, Kent, England. They took the ring to St Edward, on Christmas day.
On the vigil of Epiphany (January 5) Edward the Confessor died and was buried in Westminster Abbey, wearing the ring of John the Baptist.
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
The King's Evil On January 9, 1683, Britain’s King Charles II issued orders for the future regulations of the ceremony of touching the King's Evil.
This was the name used then for scrofula (a tubercular infection of the throat lymph glands), a disease which from the time of King Clovis of France in 481 CE was believed to be curable by a touch of the monarch's hand. Shakespeare mentioned it in Macbeth. The famous English diarist, Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), recorded in his diary for April 10, 1661 that he saw the cure effected by the king.
In Cornwall, it was believed that the seventh son of a seventh son was able to touch-cure the disease. The seventh son of a seventh son was widely believed in the British Isles to have all kinds of powers.
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
The Marcou In old France it was believed that if a seventh son was born into a family, and he had no sisters, he was called a marcou, and a fleur-de-lis was branded on him. If anyone with the King's Evil (scrofula) touched the tattoo, it was supposed that they would be healed.One particular marcou, a cooper (barrel-maker) named Foulon, set up a business in Orleans, and on Good Fridays the cure was supposed to be most efficacious. Hundreds of gullible people would gather, but eventually the police stopped the practice.
Bush inspires readers; let us count the ways By Rob McKenzie and Julie Smyth National Post
From the dozens of entries penned by aspiring satirists across the nation, the National Post has selected two winners in its Political Love Poems contest.
In the domestic category, the honour goes to Ivan Ivankovich of Edmonton. And in the foreign category, the champion is 15-year-old Lianne Merkur of Toronto.
The contest was inspired by news on the weekend that George W. Bush, leader of the free world, had taken time to write a love poem to his wife, Laura, concerning her European tour. It reads in part:
"The dogs and the cat, they missed you too/Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe/The distance, my dear, has been such a barrier/Next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier."
The Post asked writers to create love poems by other politicians and public figures. Entries satirized not only Mr. Bush but also Saddam Hussein, Joe Clark, Gary Coleman, Adrienne Clarkson, Jean Chrétien, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hillary Clinton, Ralph Klein, Gordon Campbell, Svend Robinson, Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay, Sheila Copps and Larry Flynt. In a sign that separatism is waning, no poems concerned Lucien Bouchard, Bernard Landry or the silver-haired guy who currently leads the Bloc Québécois.
Mr. Ivankovich's poem, short and sweet, is entitled "To Aline":
Roses are red But I am blue I keep thinking about Paul Rather than you
Ms. Merkur's Schwarzeneggerian poem is entitled "Ode to my Biceps":
Of all of your neighbours None do compare To you, my lovelies, My fine bulging pair. Through the turmoil Of decades, pageants and more You are the only ones Whom I truly adore. You are the best bumps In my entire sculpted bod. You're even better than My pecs, my calves and my quads. Gleaming and flexing and rippling, You have always made Daddy proud. Pay no mind to those mean critics; I still say steroids should be allowed. Don't be alarmed, my sweets; Because I'll never let you die. Even now, as Governor, You're the apples of my eye. And when I win, I'll convince them all To put you even more on display. Yes, all of California will regale In an Arnold's Biceps Day!
A dozen red roses and a box of National Post chocolates (hard and crusty on the right side, and on the left side -- well, actually we got rid of the left side) are on their way to the winners.
In other poetry news, George Bowering, Canada's poet laureate, who has been opposed to Mr. Bush and his policy on Iraq, told the Post he is not impressed with Mr. Bush's non-UN-approved incursion into poetic territory, regardless of his politics.
"Every husband leaves messages -- like Roses are Red messages -- somewhere," Mr. Bowering claimed.
"And I have seen a lot of them and this is maybe the worst I have seen. It is just awful," he observed.
"It's not poetry anyway. I don't know what was going through her [Laura Bush's] mind -- why she made it public. She said it was cute, or something. She says it was lovely. It was not lovely. She says he's quite a poet. He's not anywhere near a poet. It is just absolutely horrible."
The liberator of Iraq and Afghanistan also lost points for his inadequate rhyming abilities.
"I would compare it with an average kid in Grade 6," Mr. Bowering said in what appears not to be intended as a salute to our nation's 11-year-olds.
Mr. Bowering contributed his poetry to an anthology of anti-war writing one week after Mrs. Bush cancelled a gathering of poets at the White House in February upon learning some of those invited planned to use the event to protest the war with Iraq.
"When she organized that event, I thought, 'Hey, maybe she knows something about poetry.' If this is what she thinks poetry is, I am really glad us poets put the kibosh on that," he said.
ONWARD AND UPWARD -- Motivation and Inspiration for Activism
[Not specifically an action, reading this article is a study of history, notably very recent American history, which gives us the coordinates by which to determine where we are and how we got here. William Rivers Pitt has been on that road with us, but with a wiser, more open eye focused on the key players. We're lucky to have him on our team! Information he shares reveals ways our activism can shape our future and motivates us to "just do it!" Please click through to read this article in its entirety. I believe you'll be moved, as I am, to work harder. The confidence gained from the knowledge and understanding provided here will carry us far in dealing with those of unlike minds. -v]
The Mission By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t | Perspective Friday 10 October 2003
" 'The right-wing politics that had forced the scandal were alien and unknown to much of the White House senior staff. To them, what the right was doing seemed so far-fetched, so impossibly convoluted, that they couldn't quite credit it. The self-enclosed hothouse nature of the right-wing world made it difficult to explain what was going on to those who lacked contact with it. Many had never even heard of people like Scaife.' " -- Sidney Blumenthal, 'The Clinton Wars'
"I am writing this essay from an internet cafe nestled in a blue-collar neighborhood in Berlin, Germany. I have been, in the last week, to Amsterdam, Antwerp and The Hague. I will go from here to London, Oxford and Paris. I have been giving talks to ex-pat American groups and large crowds of confused Europeans. The Europeans are not confused because they are ill-informed; they are, in fact, far more aware of what is happening in America than most Americans are back home. These Europeans know all about the Project for The New American Century, they know all about the Office of Special Plans, they know all about the lies that have been spoon-fed to America and the world. They know all of this, simply, because the news media in Europe is not owned and operated as an advertising wing for General Electric, AOL/TimeWarner, Viacom, Disney or Ruppert Murdoch.
"What these Europeans don't understand, and what they keep asking me, is why. "America had everything going for it," said noted Dutch author Karel von Wolfen to me the other day. "America had the respect of just about the whole world. No one here can possibly fathom why they would so quickly and so brazenly throw that all away."
"Explaining this whole phenomenon is a bit like trying to unravel a Robert Ludlum plot. It is part fantasy, part madness, part greed, bound together with the barbed wire of an unyielding ideology. I try, again and again, to make it all clear.
"I tell them that all this started in 1932 with the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This election ushered in the phenomenon known as the New Deal -- the rise of Social Security, the eventual rise of Medicare, the development of dozens of other social programs, and the enshrinement of the basic idea that the Federal government in America can be a force for good within the populace. Even in 1932, such an idea was anathema to unrestricted free-market profiteers and powerful business interests, for the rise of a powerful Federal government also heralded the rise of regulation.
"Within the ebb and drift of American politics, those who stood against the concepts espoused by FDR and his adherents drifted inexorably into what is now the modern Republican Party. This drift was aided by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which motivated the last vestiges of the old, racist, Confederate Democratic Party to bolt to the right. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society plan further widened the rift, and the progressive activism in the 1960's and 1970's solidified the battle lines. Once the shift was completed, the stage was set for the kind of political to-the-knife trench warfare that has been happening to this day.
"Many issues were bandied about in the no-man's land between the lines, but at the end of the day, the issue to be tested was that basic premise brought by FDR: What will the place of the Federal government be in the lives of the American people? Can that government be a help?
"Those who argued against this idea had ample rationales for their resistance, some of them uncomfortable to hear in the light of day. The activism of the Federal government brought about racial desegregation and the rise of minority rights, something a segment of the right finds unacceptable to this day. The activism of the federal government made it difficult for unrestricted free-market loyalists to secure the privatization of available mass markets like health care, insurance and Social Security. The activism of the Federal government kept mega-businesses from the ability to grow to whatever size they pleased, even though such growth was death to the basic capitalist concept of competition. The activism of the Federal government forced these businesses to spend a portion of their profits on pollution controls. The list of complaints went on and on. In a corner of their hearts, many who stood against FDR's plans did so because the rise of an activist Federal government smelled a little too much like Soviet-style communism for comfort.
"And so the trenches were dug, the bayonets were fixed, and the war dragged on and on. The right howled that such an activist government would require the American people to be taxed to death. The right howled that public schooling did not work, and they de-funded public education on the state and local levels to prove their point. The right invented bugaboos like the "welfare queen," with her Cadillac and ten children, who avoided working and lived off the sweat from the honest man's brow. Often, the American people listened to their arguments. The rise of Ronald Reagan is evidence that their message had strength, if not merit.
"The problem, as ever, became clear before too long. Unrestricted free-marketeering, deficit spending, tax cuts for the richest people in the country which would purportedly cause the trickling down of monies to the rest, unrestricted polluting, unrestricted defense spending, and the deregulation of absolutely everything, is poison to any economy that is subjected to it. George Herbert Walker Bush was left holding this particular bag in 1992, and he was not enough of a salesman to convince the American people that it was still working.
"This, I tell my European counterparts, is when all hell really began to break loose."
Pages
of Days
Almanac
President
IN the old days when London Bridge was lined with shops from one end to the other, and salmon swam under the arches, there lived at Swaffham, in Norfolk, a poor pedlar. He'd much ado to make his living, trudging about with his pack at his back and his dog at his heels, and at the close of the day's labour was but too glad to sit down and sleep. Now it fell out that one night he dreamed a dream, and therein he saw the great bridge of London town, and it sounded in his ears that if he went there he should hear joyful news. He made little count of the dream, but on the following night it came back to him, and again on the third night.
"It is not too late to save our skies, your active participation and campaigning with the International Dark-Sky Association can help insure that the nights are restored ..."
How many stars do you see when you step outside at night? Is your sky a blaze of starlight as in the picture at right, or dulled by human-made electric light like the picture at left?
I remember being there upon Horn Fair Day, I was dressed in my landlady's best gown and other women's attire, and to Horn Fair we went, and as we were coming back by water, all the cloaths were spoiled by dirty water, &c., that was flung on us in an inundation, for which I was obliged to present her with two guineas to make atonement for the damage sustained, &c.
The Legend of Herne
"Is Australia your deputy sheriff in the region, 
She gave us the word 'tawdry'
Which brings me right back to addiction, but are we being asked to accept the idea that ‘human nature’ is a kind of addiction too? If so, with the kinds of power we now have over nature, the game is surely up. This would appear to be the state of affairs we are being asked to accept when it comes to genetically modified life.
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
A festival going back more than three centuries. Each drum float, or Taiko-dai, decorated with cloth woven with gold and silver tassles, weighs about two tons. It is carried by teams of over 150 men called Kakifu. More than 30 drums and their Kakifu teams parade throughout the town, and competitions are held at three places of the city.
Progress has been slow in efforts to reach the World Food Summit goal of cutting by half the number of the world's chronically hungry and under-nourished people by 2015. This goal will not be met if we continue doing "business as usual".
Says Beliefs Cannot Be Unified With Christianity
With only one dollar, UNICEF can:
"The key policy decisions which led to the unmasking of David Kelly, the Iraqi weapons expert, were taken at a Downing Street meeting chaired by Tony Blair, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence disclosed yesterday.
Vinternatsblót, or haustblót, to bid winter welcome. This marks the beginning of Winter season in old European calendar. “Long distance sailing and other Summer activities also stopped on this day, as preparations for the Winter took priority.” 
At midnight on Friday the 13th, a ceremony was held in Great Leighs, Essex, UK, to replace a 2-ton stone in the ground that had been dislodged some days earlier by a bulldozer. The stone was traditionally believed to pin down the evil spirit of ‘the witch of Scrapfaggot Green’, a witch who had been buried with a stake through her heart in the 17th Century. The local village had been beset by extreme poltergeist activity since the stone's dislodgement.
(Born at Islip, England, c.1004, died at Westminster, 1066; canonised 1161.)
