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Blogmanac team
Jeannine Wilson (USA)
Veralynne Pepper (USA)
Pip Wilson (Australia)
Carpe diem!
Seize the day with more than 150 articles at Wilson's articles department
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and casualties of poverty and authority all around the planet
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Saturday, December 13, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac December 13 | St Lucia/Goddess Lucina
 Feast day of St Lucy of Syracuse
(Cypress arbor vitae, Thuja cupressioides, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint)
It’s December 13 and we see that the Solstice is close, whether we speak of the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, or Winter in the Northern. As today is one of the shortest days of the year in Sweden, the locals celebrate a festival of light (which is appropriate because the root for 'Lucy' in Latin, lux, means 'light'). On this day the youngest daughter in many households, dressed in white as ‘Sankta Lucia’, wearing a headdress of evergreen leaves and a crown of lit candles, wakes the rest of the family with coffee, rolls, and a special song. Swedes begin their Christmas celebrations with this day, and traditionally her patronal day marks the end of harvest.
St Lucy (283-304), with her associations with light, is the patron saint of people who are blind or have eye trouble. She was born in Syracuse, Sicily, the daughter of noble and wealthy parents, and was raised a Christian ...
Saint Lucy/Goddess Lucina
In the Roman Empire, Lucina was an epithet for Juno as "she who brings children into light". Lucia is still honoured on St Lucia’s Day as the girl wearing the candle crown, usually the first-born daughter of the house, is symbolic of pagan symbols of fire and life-giving light. Lucina was the goddess of childbirth who safeguarded the lives of women in labour.
Juno was the equivalent in Roman Mythology of the Greek goddess Hera ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Bush, you turkey
Turkeys on the Moon
Michael Moore
"Dear Mr. Bush,
"Well, it's going on two weeks now since your surprise visit to one of the two countries you now run and, I have to say, I'm still warmed by the gesture. Man, take me along next time! I understand only 13 members of the media went with you -- and it turns out only ONE of them was an actual reporter for a newspaper. But you did take along FIVE photographers (hey, I get it, screw the words, it's all about the pictures!), a couple wire service guys, and a crew from the Fox News Channel (fair and balanced!).
"Then, I read in the paper this weekend that that big turkey you were holding in Baghdad (you know, the picture that's supposed to replace the now-embarrassing footage of you on that aircraft carrier with the sign "Mission Accomplished") -- well, it turns out that big, beautiful turkey of yours was never eaten by the troops! It wasn't eaten by anyone! That's because it wasn't real! It was a STUNT turkey, brought in to look like a real edible turkey for all those great camera angles.
"Now I know some people will say you are into props (like the one in the lower extremities of your flyboy suit), but hey, I get it, this is theater! So what if it was a bogus turkey? The whole trip was bogus, all staged to look like "news." The fake honey glaze on that bird wasn't much different from the fake honey glaze that covers this war. And the fake stuffing in the fake bird was just the right symbol for our country during these times. America loves fake honey glaze, it loves to be stuffed, and, dammit, YOU knew that -- that's what makes you so in touch with the people you lead! ..."
Found at ollapodrida, a tres cool blog.
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*Ø* Blogmanac December 12, 1731| Happy birthday, Erasmus Darwin
 1731 Erasmus Darwin, English physician, scientist and poet, polymathic genius; grandfather of Charles Darwin and of Francis Galton, founder of eugenics; great-grandfather of George Darwin, Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge.
Erasmus was also an inventor, coming up with a steam car ("a fiery chariot"); a wire-drawn ferry; a horizontal windmill; and an artificial bird. He invented a speaking machine which could trick some people into thinking they heard real a person saying "mama" or "papa", a copying machine and a carriage steering system later used in motor vehicles.
Darwin was co-founder of The Birmingham Lunar Society, a small group of intellectual friends who met on the full moon. “The lunar men” included Joseph Priestley (preacher, politician and chemist, the first to discover photosynthesis and isolate the element oxygen); James Watt (‘father of the steam engine’); Matthew Boulton (engineer and chemist, business man backer of Watt); Josiah Wedgwood (mineralogist, chemist and potter to the Queen; related to Erasmus by marriage as Charles Darwin and his cousin Emma Wedgwood married).
Erasmus Darwin was the first to explain how clouds form and to describe the full process of photosynthesis in plants. As a young man he expounded the theory of biological evolution (as we have come to know it), later publishing E Conchis Omnia – ‘Everything from Shells’. In this work, the grandfather of the world’s most famous evolutionist expressed his belief that all life comes from a single microscopic ancestor, a radical idea that brought him condemnation in society and perhaps prevented him from obtaining the position of Poet Laureate.
Rejection by society did not stop him, and he wrote a long, precognitive poem, The Temple of Nature or The Origin of Society, tracing the progress of life from microscopic entities in primordial oceans through fishes and amphibians to humankind, as he calls us.
His ideas sometimes presaged those of his more famous grandson, Charles:
Some birds have acquired harder beaks to crack nuts, as the parrot. Others have acquired beaks adapted to break the harder seeds, as sparrows. Others for the softer seeds of flowers, or the buds of trees as the finches. Other birds have acquired long beaks to penetrate the moister soils in search of roots, as woodcocks; and others broad ones to filtrate the water of lakes, and to retain aquatic insects. All of which seem to have been gradually produced during many generations by the perpetual endeavour of the creatures to supply the want of food.
Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia Book I
... He was so corpulent he had to have a half-circle cut out of his dining table so his huge stomach would fit. Incongruously, perhaps, he also became the first Englishman to fly in a large-sized hydrogen balloon.
The 'Lunatics'
Around about 1765, Darwin helped to found the Lunar Society, a discussion club of a number of prominent geologists, chemists, engineers, theorists industrialists andscientists, who met regularly in the latter half of the 18th century. The society's name came from their practice of scheduling their meetings at the time of the full moon (the better light ensuring a higher attendance as generally the streets were unpoliced and very dark.). Meeting in, among other places, a house on a crossroads outside Birmingham, England, between them they managed to launch the Industrial Revolution, discover oxygen, harness the power of steam and pioneer the theory of evolution.
Venues included Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, and Great Barr Hall.
They were a very influential group in British science and industry of the time – amongst those who attended meetings more or less regularly were the following remarkable men:
Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Samuel Galton Junior, James Keir, William Murdoch, Joseph Priestley, Josiah Wedgwood, James Watt and William Withering.
More peripheral characters and correspondents included:
Sir Richard Arkwright, John Baskerville, Thomas Beddoes, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Anna Seward, William Small, John Smeaton, Thomas Wedgwood, John Wilkinson, Joseph Wright, James Wyatt, Samuel Wyatt.
Antoine Lavoisier frequently corresponded with various members of the group, as did Benjamin Franklin, who also visited them in Birmingham on several occasions.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today, including Iceland's Yuletide trolls and more on the Virgin Mary/Aztec goddess connection at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Light brought to a halt in scientific first
"(AP) -- Physicists say they have brought light to a complete halt for a fraction of a second and then sent it on its way, an achievement that could someday help scientists develop powerful new computers.
"The research differs from work published in 2001 that was hailed at the time as having brought light to standstill.
"In that work, light pulses were technically "stored" briefly when individual particles of light, or photons, were taken up by atoms in a gas.
"Harvard University researchers have now topped that feat by truly holding light and its energy in its tracks -- if only for a few hundred-thousandths of a second ..."
Source: CNbloodyN
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*Ø* Blogmanac | BATTLE LINES BEIN' DRAWN -- War and Peace
"There is nothing new in the world except
the history you do not know." -- Harry S. Truman
The 9/11 "investigation"– sometimes priorities dictate
By Kerry Tomasi
Online Journal Contributing Writer
"My father's no different than any other powerful man.
Like a senator or president."
"You know how naïve you sound? Senators and presidents
don't have men killed".
"Oh. Who's being naïve, Kay?"
—Michael Corleone in "The Godfather"
Suppose you were a detective assigned to investigate a rather brutal murder, one in which the victim had been tortured for several days prior to being killed.
At the scene of the crime you get what appears to be a lucky break—the suspect's wallet seems to have been
'carelessly' dropped. It contains his name, address, and phone number, and is someone you recognize as having connections to an organized crime family.
Problem is, you also find your name and address in there, as well as those of your children, grandchildren, and all of your nieces and nephews.
The message is quite clear, and your priorities dictate. You pocket the wallet, and any other evidence you happen upon, and the crime goes unsolved.
Now suppose you were a congressman assigned to investigate the 911 terrorist attacks. As you begin, it becomes apparent that certain members of the US government had conspired to allow the attacks to occur. In fact, it's just lying there, slightly below the surface, right out in the open. You immediately realize you're dealing with the kind of people who would—at the very least, and simply to further a political agenda—look the other way while 3,000 civilians were murdered.
And if that wasn't troubling enough, you then get a 'friendly' visit from someone you've never met before, inquiring into how well your daughter is doing at that overseas university in Dorm Room 305, and if your nephew made it into that prestigious preschool at 735 S. 4th Street in Atlanta.
You might even get a little note in the mail—laced with a powdery substance—just to help you sort things out in your head.
The message is quite clear, and your priorities dictate. When the "investigation" is complete, no governmental complicity in the crime is revealed.
As Henry Kissinger once theorized (as related in Paul Krugman's book "The Great Unraveling"), when a revolutionary power seeks to overthrow an existing and stable system, it begins first by refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of that system, or it's rules. Those living within the system do not realize this, and therefore reject the notion that anyone would, for instance, disobey 'the rules' so blatantly and permit the murder of 3,000 people purely for political gain; even though such an action (or inaction) would hand the conspirators the cover to achieve virtually everything they could have ever dreamed of politically.
Anyone who tries to suggest that they would actually do such a thing, or attempts to find out if they did, is derided as an alarmist and unpatriotic by those within the existing system, and given subtle, or not so subtle, 'encouragement' by the conspirators to 'pocket the wallet.' Thus, the revolutionary power is able to proceed unencumbered, without fear of oversight or challenge.
Could this be where we are in this country right now? Does anything else make sense? [Emphasis added. -v]
What else would justify the silence and/or acquiescence of certain 'in-the-know' members of our society to the flagrant economic, environmental, and societal devastation going on today? Why are the Democrats, the media (those not controlled by the 'revolutionary power'), the intelligence community, and even traditional conservatives, so cowed by this movement? Why won't they investigate, or at least speak up?
It can't simply be that they're worried about losing their jobs, or want a big tax cut that bad. Not with so much at stake. There has to be something more sinister in play here. Something most of us thought could never happen in this country. Not on this scale anyway.
I know this all sounds somewhat cynical and a bit paranoid. That's probably because I am quite cynical and a bit paranoid these days. I've been paying attention—I can't help but be.
But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong.
And if I am right, we are truly in a dreadfully serious situation.
Addendum:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI)—Former Sen. Max Cleland, a Democrat, has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the board of the Export-Import Bank. As a result he will have to leave the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The statutes governing the panel, formally known as The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, bar anyone who holds a federal job, like being on the Ex-Im Board.
Cleland has been one of the more outspoken members of the commission, accusing the administration of delaying access to vital documents in an effort to run out the clock on its investigation.
My best wishes to Mr. Cleland, and all of his family members.
Sometimes priorities dictate.
SOURCE
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Truth, lies, and the legend of 9/11
Part 7 of 10 parts: Polishing the legend: A new 9/11 mastermind
By Chaim Kupferberg
December 6, 2003—With the foregoing background in mind, we are now in a
position to chronicle and analyze the final crystallization of the 9/11 Legend.
Continue here, go back to the beginning, whatever; just do it!
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Blogroll Us Thursday, December 11, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac | Promises made, promises broken . . . so, what else is new?
From DUG:
WALL STREET JOURNAL:
PRESIDENT BACKS OFF PLEDGE TO FUND GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT
The Daily Mis-Leader
By the Staff of MoveOn.org
 The Wall Street Journal today reports, "President Bush plans to ask Congress for relatively small funding increases to fight AIDS and poverty in the developing world, stepping back from his highly publicized pledge to spend huge sums to help fight them." The President's decision is just the latest step in a calculated effort to slowly -- but surely -- abandon his own commitment to fully fund the global fight against AIDS. [Emphasis added.]
Just last year in his State of the Union speech, the President said "I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years...to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean. Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many." At face value, it was an historic request, with Congress and AIDS activists ecstatic about the promise to pump $3 billion a year into combating AIDS throughout the world. U2 Singer Bono, who has been one of the leaders of the AIDS fight, "hailed" the President's speech, saying "If we can turn the president's bold long term vision into near term results we're excited," adding, "any delay in increased funding means more lives lost and an even bigger check in the future."
Unfortunately, as the LA Times reported, just five days later, the President introduced a budget in which he "only sought $2 billion for the year" for AIDS -- 33% less than he had promised. The Senate later voted to increase the President's request, and Bono visited with the President to urge him to keep his promise. Nonetheless, the White House "repeated its strong opposition to any funding beyond $2 billion" while claiming with a straight face that the President was doing all he could. When questioned about the discrepancy, White House spokesman Scott McClellan simply refused to address the issue, saying only "The President has shown unprecedented leadership in the fight against AIDS."
Read the Mis-Lead -->
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Statue of Iconic Goddess Needs New Home
"CARACAS, Dec 13 [sic] (IPS) - María Lionza, goddess of the second leading religion in Venezuela, has emerged from the depths of the forests and waters that she has protected since the era of the Spanish Conquest, according to her followers, to end up smack in the middle of a bitter cultural debate.
"An estimated two million Venezuelans, of a total population of 24 million, are followers of María Lionza, but most also identify themselves as Roman Catholic, the faith of the vast majority in this country.
"For the past half a century, a cement statue of this goddess, protector of nature has dominated a stretch of grass along the main highway of Caracas. María Lionza is depicted nude and muscular, astride a tapir and lifting a pelvis bone -- symbol of fertility -- to the heavens ..."
Source
Another item via Pagan Prattle, with thanks.
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I'll be moving house over the next few days, and all the shite that entails. My intention is to blog and do the ezine and Book of Days uninterrupted, as well as keep up with my correspondence. But you know how it is, moving house on a showstring. If I miss a beat, fret nyet, OK? When I get settled I'll post some pix of the river, bush, beach and farms around my new "country estate". Please bear with me while I cart boxes of books in 30-degree (Celsius) heat and 90% humidity LOL
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*Ø* Blogmanac | World Human Rights Day
Amnesty International:
"USA: More state killing on Human Rights Day"
"On 10 December 1948, the international community adopted a vision of a world free from state killing and cruelty. What does it say about the USA's present-day attitude to such aspirations that it is set to mark the 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by killing two more people in its death chambers?
"Sadly, it is business as usual for US executioners. Last year, President George W. Bush proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in the USA. Seven people were put to death there that week, designated by President Bush as Human Rights Week. This year, four people [are] scheduled for execution between 9 and 11 December.
"These calculated killings are casting a growing shadow on the United States in an increasingly abolitionist world. Today 112 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The USA's political leaders should be promoting abolition in their country, too. Their failure turns to hypocrisy when they trumpet the United States as global human rights champion.
"On 14 January this year, President Bush, whose five-year governorship of Texas saw 152 executions there and whose presidency has seen the first federal executions since 1963, issued a proclamation promising that the United States will 'continue to build a culture that respects life'. On the same day, the USA carried out its first execution of the year, and has conducted 64 more since then ... "
For more information please see: USA: A lethal ideology: More state killing on Human Rights Day as 900th execution looms
For current and background information on the death penalty please visit the dedicated Death Penalty Pages
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Blogroll Us Wednesday, December 10, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac | A Helpful Guide for Surviving an Australian Christmas
Australia: Hark the Herald angels sing — your complete guide to the festive season Downunder.
Advent: One of the oldest traditions of Christmas, in which the older generation get to vent their frustration at the commercialisation of the festive season, as expressed in the Ads. An event which is renewed by the changing nature of Christmas, Advent now involves parents complaining about how presents used to be made from a better grade of plastic.
Bethlehem: The birthplace of Jesus, who brought peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Located in a disputed area between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, just next door to Iraq.
Boxing Day: Traditionally the day after Christmas, both that in which unwanted gifts are rewrapped to be exchanged and the point in the holiday season in which tired and hungover relatives sharing the same house start punching each other.
Bush Christmas: Surprise bombing of Iran.
Christmas Eve: The unhappily married female colleague at the office party who, as you pause to take out photos of the triplets, asks you to pull out a loose thread from her skirt with your teeth, your hands being full and all.
Traditional Carol: Irritating, bossy relative who insists on digging up some obscure Christmas tradition and imposing it on the entire family, i.e., This year, as they do in Bratislava, we'll hit the small children with badgers and drink cheese through straws to signify the birth of the Saviour .
Charades: Behaviour relatives display towards each other from December 24-26.
Christmas Cracker: The office-bound relative who harbours ambitions to a career in stand-up comedy and helpfully relieves tension by telling jokes for six days straight.
Epiphany: The 12th day after Christmas, traditionally the moment when you feel a sudden and all-encompassing awareness, such as the recollection that your office has a glass wall (see Christmas Eve; everyone else did).
Hanukkah, Chanuakah, C'hanakkah: A trio of Jewish celebrations held on the same day close to Christmas. A Jewish theologian has this to say about it: It's a very important celebration to do with the temple or something, or maybe it's Egypt. Can I call you back? Orthodox and reformed Jews call it the Festival of the Seventh Night, while Liberal Jews term it Christmas.
Manger: Makeshift accommodation lined with straw and smelling of domestic animals. It is now thought that Mary and Joseph were staying in a friend's son's bedroom.
Kwanzaa: A ceremony of African origin, developed by African-Americans as a Christmas equivalent. However, critics accuse it of having none of the depth and real tradition of the Christmas celebration as rooted in Coca-Cola advertising campaigns of the 1920s.
Nativity Scene: Ugly three-way confrontation that occurs in September (see Christmas Eve).
Prince Albert: The man responsible for popularising much of the Christmas activities which we now regard as traditional; also what your 16-year-old daughter announces she got her boyfriend as a present this year.
Santa's Little Helper: The big fat one you toke out back before diving into the second hour of the conversation about how great Pauline Hanson is.
Season's Greetings: Get out of the way ... That's mine ... Get out of the #%@! way ... I wanted the deluxe model ... Get out of the #%@! way you *&##$@! &!ing $$%! ... Go ##@!$@#! %$%!@#*&;! @$#!
The Turkey: Kim Beazley.
Stuffing: Simon Crean.
The Pudding: Sweet, suety mass set alight and then carved up wi ... Yes, you're way ahead of me, it's Beazley again.
Three Wise Men: Traditional Christmas figures, whose title derives from the fact that they spent the entire holiday season away from home. The wise men brought gifts to the infant Jesus, which consisted of:
Gold: Traditional present for an infant in 0th century Judea, although many complained it was a poor substitute for a jewel-encrusted ark of the covenant or the head of Salome (see Advent).
Frankincense: Low-rent Babylonian fragrance, the equivalent of picking up a stick of Brut 33 on Christmas morning and wrapping it in the car.
Myrrh: Actually the third wise man was drunk and this was not a gift, simply the only thing he said all night. Experts believe he may have brought a Black and Decker workbench.
Yuletide Log: That which is passed on December 27, after the ingestion of eight pounds of turkey, stuffing and Kim Beazley.
I'd recommend adding some hard core sun block and your favourite hangover cure to the list.
Wiser men decided that it was time to skip the pudding - The Sydney Morning Herald, 6th December 2003.
Via:The Pagan Prattle, a cool site
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*Ø* Blogmanac December 10 | August Spies, Armand Hammer: No relation
 1865 August Spies, German-born American labor activist, one of the Haymarket anarchists framed and hanged; victim of anti-anarchist repression.
All the men were found guilty: Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, Louis Lingg and George Engel were given the death penalty; Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden and Michael Schwab were sentenced to life imprisonment. On November 10, 1887, Lingg committed suicide by exploding a dynamite cap in his mouth. The following day Parsons, Spies, Fisher and Engel were executed.
The Haymarket Square Bombing, May 4, 1886: A bomb killed seven Chicago, USA, police officers as they attacked demonstrators at a rally protesting police brutality the previous day at McCormick Reaper Works. On June 26, 1893, Neebe, Fielden, and Schwab, not already hanged by the state of Illinois the previous day, were pardoned by Illinois governor, John Peter Altgeld. The show trial and convictions were a travesty, but this effectively ended Altgeld’s political career ...
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
1990 Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 - December 10, 1990), CEO (Occidental Petroleum), all-round villain, died at 92.
Regrets and recriminations only hurt your soul.
The Armand Hammer philosophy
New York-born Dr Armand Hammer led a most extraordinary life as an American businessman and a confidant of US presidents and Communist dictators. As a youth, he met Lenin and was the first capitalist to gain a business concession in the USSR; during the 1920s he was a courier for the Soviet government to the American Communist Party.
The new Marxist-Leninist regime in the USSR gave Hammer the rights to sell old Czarist paintings in the West, and he amassed a fortune as a young man. Many American and other art galleries and institutions as well as private collectors still own Russian masterpieces that the Communist regime and Armand Hammer shipped out of their rightful homeland.
His autobiography painted him as a philanthropist and worker for peace, though other biographies portrayed him as a liar, a Communist propagandist (and possibly an espionage agent through several US administrations), a bully and a briber. He always seemed to skirt prosecution, perhaps because his fortune and fame protected him, though he did come under investigation for a bribery scandal in Venezuela where he had oil concessions. A man of immense energy, he created the multinational giant Occidental Petroleum after he was 65 years old, and worked till 91 years of age.
In his autobiography he boasted that when he bought the corporation that owned Arm and Hammer Baking Soda Company, he was fulfilling a childhood dream of owning his namesake. He wrote that his father Julius Hammer had named him after a character, Armand Duval, in La Dame aux Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. In fact, according to a biographer, his former press agent of many years, Armand Hammer was named after the arm-and-hammer insignia of the Socialist Labor Party that became, under Julius's leadership, the Communist Party of the USA.
These are just small snippets of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Buddhism intersects with Christianity in the Middle Ages
 Saints Barlaam and Josaphat are the main characters of a 7th-century Christian legend, a favourite subject of writers in the Middle Ages – but the Catholic Church now acknowledges that they are entirely fictitious.
Although Barlaam and Josaphat are included in the Roman Martyrology (November 27) and in the Greek calendar (August 26), the story is actually a Christianised version of a legend about Siddhartha Buddha and the details, while slightly different, are in broad terms similar in Indian, Ceylonese and Tibetan texts.
I didn't have this story written for the November 27 Book of Days page, but it's there now. I think it's quite fascinating, so I'm not waiting till next November to tell you it's there. I hope you enjoy it.
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Blogroll Us Tuesday, December 09, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac December 9 | Virgin Mary or Aztec goddess?
 Feast Day of St Juan Diego, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the goddess Tonantzin
From Mexico comes a quaint story involving a goddess and the Roman Catholic Church’s holiest lady, Mary, mother of Jesus. On December 9, 1531, a 57-year-old Mexican Indian farmer by the name of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec who had converted to Christianity, was minding his own business as he walked to early morning Mass, passing by the hill known as Tepeyac, between his village and Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).
Juan Diego was born in 1474 in the calpulli or ward of Tlayacac in Cuauhtitlan, which was established in 1168 by Nahua tribesmen and conquered by the Aztec lord Axayacatl in 1467, and was located 20 kilometres (14 miles) north of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City).
Tepeyac had for centuries been of significance to the people of what is now called Mexico – the Aztecs and their descendants – because it was the site of a shrine to the goddess Tonantzin. Tonantzin (pictured), associated with the snake goddess Coatlique (perhaps cognate with the Judaeo-Christian Eve), was worshipped in the Winter Solstice celebrations at around this time of year.
Tonantzin wore a white robe covered in feathers and seashells, which adorned her as the goddess promenaded among the worshippers and was ceremonially killed in a scene reminiscent of the apparent death of the sun of winter. The goddess was also known by the name of Ilamatecuhtli (‘a noble old woman’) and Cozcamiauh (‘a necklace of maize flowers’).
As Juan Diego walked to Mass (some sources say he was walking to the shrine of the goddess), he heard celestial music and the sound of beating wings. Presently, a maiden appeared to him, dressed in the attire of an Aztec princess, a lovely apparition who, speaking to him in his native Nahuatl language, introduced herself to the startled peasant as Maria, the Mother of God ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | If you watch no other TV this year ... watch this
 "A compelling documentary, almost haunting at times, which takes one of the biggest political bones on the current global landscape (broadly, the war on terrorism and, specifically, its impact on Afghanistan) and chews it to pieces.
"While the public relations machinery of Western governments recycles positive imagery as a way of allaying fears about the conflicts which have engulfed the world, journalist John Pilger reports from the front line of what appears to be a new and frightening cultural and political conflict.
"Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is a city reduced to rubble. Much of the damage, reports Pilger, has been done not by the Taliban but by the US-backed warlords who now run the country. The government functions on less than $US300 million and there is no budget for reconstruction.
"Of the millions in aid which poured into the country, only a fraction of it has been spent rebuilding the country and - astonishingly - Pilger claims a large slice of it has been spent on military rebuilding.
"Deposing the Taliban may have brought music, education and some freedom for women back to Afghanistan, but you have to wonder if there has been any real victory in a country which, in parts, still subjects women, caught outdoors with an unrelated man, to a 'chastity' check.
"Coupled with the re-establishment of the opium industry and the fact that Afghanistan's US-backed president never leaves his office without his 42 US Special Forces bodyguards, you have to ask just who is running the country?
"From there, the program broadens into an examination of the 'truth and lies' in the war against terrorism, including the training of terrorists and the funding of terrorism.
"The program is astonishing. The information it presents is as disturbing as it is compelling and, undoubtedly, some of its claims will sound long and loud after this hour ends."
Source
You won't want to miss John Pilger's interviews with some top American State Department and military officials who seem to have no idea of what's happening in the world. Then there is a former top CIA official, a friend of George Bush Sr, who has fascinating insights to what he said were always called "The Crazies" ... people such as Perl and Wolfowitz. When Pilger asks him if he agrees with Norman Mailer that the USA has entered a pre-fascist era, he says "I hope so". Because he thinks America is already in a fascist era. It's chilling, as is the whole documentary by Australia's best-known doco journalist.
You can watch it here for free online with Real Media, thanks to the good folks at Informationclearinghouse.info Please view it and spread the word.
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Blogroll Us Monday, December 08, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac December 8 | Festival of Neith, ancient Egypt
 In Egyptian mythology, Neith was a psychopomp, the beautiful but fierce predynastic goddess of war and weaving, was the goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the patron goddess of Zau (Sau, Sai, Sais) in the Delta whose temple was at Sais on the Nile.
Ancient tradition held that the city of Sais was founded by the Greeks before the flood, and Greeks were kindly treated when in this city. As the mother of Ra, the Egyptians believed her to be connected with the god of the watery primeval void, Nun. Shrouds worn by the mummified deceased were said to be gifts from Neith. She was often portrayed holding a set of bow and arrows, occasionally a harpoon.
She was linked to with a number of goddesses including Nephthys, Isis, Bast, Wadjet, Nekhbet, Mut, Anouke and Sekhmet. As a cow, she was linked to both Nut and Hathor. She was also linked to Tatet, the goddess who dressed the dead, and was thus linked to preservation of the dead. Her son, other than the sun god Ra, was believed to be Sobek, the crocodile god ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there. There's also plenty on John Lennon, who was killed on this day in 1980.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Bhopal activists hacked?
http://www.bhopal-justice.com/ was a link in my December 3 ezine story (also posted at the Book of Days for Dec. 3) about Bhopal. A reader has informed me that the link sent him to what he referred to as an "adult site". I haven't bothered to closely check out the link I was sent to when I hit http://www.bhopal-justice.com/, but it sure looks like the Bhopal justice people have been hacked by someone or other. Thank you to the reader, whose name I've forgotten unfortunately, who alerted me.
Announcing Corrigenda
 From today, I have placed a page at the Scriptorium called Corrigenda where I have alerted readers to the bad links. At Corrigenda I will make notifications of annoying things like that, and any errors that I have found and corrected, or important amendments made, following publication in Wilson's Almanac ezine or anywhere else. Corrigenda also has a Tagboard like the one at the top-right of this page. There, all readers are welcome to make comments and advise of errors and so on. That's for the ezine and the Scriptorium website, of course. If you want to make comments on the Blogmanac, there are plenty of opportunities on this page.
The reason for Corrigenda is that, while I can correct things on this blog, I can't amend anything kept in the Yahoo! Groups archive of the ezine. And, less importantly, search engines only index every few weeks, so there might be things showing on, say, Google, that are weeks old and contain incorrect info. It's a fine point, but I think this is worth doing. I don't want people quoting the Almanac's mistakes. So please drop into Corrigenda, say "g'day" and let me know of any errors or suggestions. You're very welcome to tell me when I'm wrong.
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The item in Wilson's Almanac ezine, by the way, said this on December 3:
Dec 3, 1984 In Bhopal, India, more than 20,000 people were killed (over time) and hundreds of thousands injured when the Union Carbide factory leaked 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate. The US Government later blocked extradition of Union Carbide officials facing criminal prosecution in India. UC paid about $500 compensation for each victim, while denying responsibility for the accident. Greenpeace and other activists have been arrested trying to clean up the site.
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*Ø* Blogmanac December 7, 1985 | Bye bye Graves
 1985 Robert Graves (July 24, 1895 - December 7, 1985), English poet, novelist (I, Claudius; IV Claudius; Claudius the God), mythographer, critic and historian, died in Deya, Majorca, Spain. Graves wrote more than 140 works.
In 1946 Graves re-established a home in Deya, Majorca, and he married Beryl Hodge in 1950 and went on to a series of affairs and lesser amours with his 'muses'. In 1948 he published the controversial The White Goddess in which he explored and expounded upon a central theme: that "true poetry" or "pure poetry" has inextricable links with the ancient cult-ritual of the White Goddess and of her Son and deals with goddess worship as the prototypical religion. In 1961 he became Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, a post he held until 1966.
Just two snippets from today in the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days ... and here's another:
Happy birthday, Noam!
Born on this day in 1928: Noam Chomsky, linguist, anarchist, social critic, activist. Critic in the manner of the great IF Stone – and just as ignored and vilified by the establishment.
Chomsky learned a lot about linguistics from his father, William. Among his many accomplishments Chomsky is most famous for his work on generative grammar, which he developed from his interest in modern logic and mathematical foundations ...
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*Ø* Blogmanac December 7 | St Columba and the first sighting of Nessie
 Columba is the source of the first known reference to the Loch Ness Monster. According to the story, in 565 he came across a group of Picts who were burying a man killed by the monster, and brought the man back to life. In another version, he is said to have saved the man while the man was being attacked, driving away the monster with the sign of the cross ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | If you haven't already, meet Barry Crimmins
From A-Changin' Times (ACT):
 Yippee! Some more good news!!! Our friend, Barry Crimmins, whose quips often fill this space [Words and Works at ACT -v], is a writer and commentator for the
new liberal radio network out of Boston. They (or we) couldn't ask for a better guy--the format is "comedy and content" and Barry is the cream of the crop of the genre. I can't wait to hear his words and works on a daily basis. Way to go, Barry!
This message from Barry:
Fellow Rabble,
Did you see W in the bulletproof box at the Pageant of Peace? Some jokes come pre-written.
Two major developments to report:
My upcoming book from Seven Stories Press has a title.
"Never Shake Hands With A War Criminal" should be out in time to help make the case against electing Bush (just this once) next fall.
The other development can be found in the Dean Johnson story from today's Boston Herald. I hope these two items help to explain why I've been less prolific than usual in recent weeks. A big year is headed our way and the required preparations are ongoing and extensive.
With warm wishes from a cold mountaintop,
Barry Crimmins
More from Barry:
W's Proudest Planks
Barry summarizes George W. Bush's strong suits in this essay originally read (available in audio version or text version)on the Christmas Comedy Coup Players 9/4/03 audio assault on WBAI (99.5 FM -- Pacifica in NYC). Judging by Barry's remarks, the Committee to Reappoint the President (CRAP) will have to fix a lot more than the Florida vote to keep their boy in office.
Want more?
More QUIPS
To join the CrimQuips mailing list please click: Crimquips homepage on Riseup
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