Happy Solstice!

Warning: The following is sarcasm from the mind of Mr. Perry.
Enjoy!

DRUIDS ROUTED IN SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION

In what could produce ripples through the national educational system, voters in Maine have ousted over 2,000 years of educational doctrine. In a vote of no-confidence, locals have voted out the Druid majority from local school boards. In an overwhelming vote, the communities of Samhain and Cuithe have decided that the time has come to end the Druidian stronghold over their communities.

These communities as well as others scattered across the northeastern seaboard have seen a rapid decrease in Druidian representation. Starting with the defeat of 237 time elected mayor Gaelen the Round of Bath, the Druidian influence has taken a dramatic downturn. "We were simply looking for a different, more enlightened approach to education" said Pierre DeMarco, head of the Samhain Parent Teacher Association.

Under the Druidian school system, students were forced to learn topics like metallurgy, herpetology, stonemasonry and astrology. Senior Douglas Young believed the Druid curriculum was a valuable addition to his core classes. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like we killed dogs or anything." The use of canines for incantations was replaced by felines in the late 1720's.

The news could not have come at a worse time for the Druid community. "We're all pretty tired from the Solstice Ceremony and concert and then we get this news. Everyone is a bit disoriented by these turn of events", said Nigel Tufnel, founder of the band Spinal Tap and Northern 35th Level Druid. When asked about the future for the Druids in Maine education, Tufnel added, "We'll just have to see how the bones fall but we are not ruling out litigation."

John Prine

I believe it is my duty to expose all of my readers to some "enlightened" material.
From time to time, that will include music.
Many have never heard of John Prine, but he is an American icon of modern folk music.
This is one of his finest.
Enjoy!

Crime and Coverup

So if the government believes that torture is wrong AND
If they believe that waterboarding isn't torture WHY
Would they destroy tapes of CIA agents waterboarding terror supects?
It apparently wasn't to safeguard the identity of CIA agents since one of them has come forward publicly to say how he believes that waterboarding is torture?

From the Nation:

By November 2005, three different federal judges had issued ironclad preservation-of-evidence orders in cases involving terror suspects and Guantánamo detainees. That was when the CIA elected to destroy tapes of the interrogations and waterboarding of two suspected Al Qaeda members. To the inherent criminality of torture, add contempt of court.

The revelation of those CIA videotapes and their destruction has inspired a leakfest in Washington and Langley, with fingers pointing everywhere and nowhere. "There are other people at the agency who know about this far better than I," says CIA director Michael Hayden. Meanwhile, "other people at the agency" keep shifting blame between the legal office and the Directorate of Operations. The White House and Justice Department claim they advised the CIA to keep the tapes. But given George W. Bush's passion for extralegal imprisonment and "extreme interrogation," the agency had every reason to see mixed signals from Pennsylvania Avenue. Democratic Representative Jane Harman, informed of waterboarding and other outlaw interrogation practices in 2003, says she filed a classified letter of protest but "was not free to disclose anything." But what secrecy oath requires public servants--not only Republicans but Harman, Nancy Pelosi, Bob Graham and Jay Rockefeller--to keep silent about systematic violations of US and international law?

As Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick write in a pertinent post on Slate, the destroyed videotapes would have had a profound impact on the Moussaoui and Padilla trials, the Guantánamo detainee lawsuits and the September 11 commission report. If that is true, then destruction of the tapes amounts to subversion of vital American institutions and is no sideshow but a central episode in the history of post-9/11 policy. Senator Joe Biden got it right: the CIA tapes' destruction, and the violations of anti-torture statutes they recorded, require a special prosecutor. Only such an independent investigation will be free of the Bush Justice Department's long entanglement with interrogation and torture policy, and the broader culture of complicity that ensnares everyone from anonymous CIA operatives to Congressional leaders of both parties.

Imagine

One of my favorites singing one of my favorites best.
I remember the morning of his death.
Such a tragic day.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No Post needed...this just makes me smile!

What Do You Want To Hear?

From Mitt Romney about his Mormon faith?

In 1960, the south was very concerned about John F. Kennedy's Catholic faith so much that it prompted him to address the potential voters about it. It was enough to put to rest the issues that the Protestant south had about him.

So what will have to be said from Romney in order to put to rest the conservative Christian base of the Republican party?

Romney to take on issue of his Mormon faith
Wed Dec 5, 2007 7:04pm EST
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trying to save his presidential campaign from an Iowa swoon, Republican Mitt Romney on Thursday will take on the issue of his Mormon faith by stressing America's tradition of religious tolerance.

Romney is to make remarks at the presidential library of former President George H.W. Bush in College Station, Texas, not far up the road from Houston, where Democratic candidate John Kennedy in 1960 used a speech to ease concerns about his Catholic faith and went on to win the presidency.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, would be the United States' first Mormon president, although a number of followers of the religion hold elected U.S. positions, several of them in the Senate, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an estimated 6 million members in the United States and is based on the belief that the religion's founder, Joseph Smith, found golden tablets in upstate New York left behind by ancient Israelites.

Some Americans view the Mormon faith with skepticism and the church has spent decades trying to counter criticism that it is a cult and a threat to Christianity.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans view the Mormon faith as a Christian religion, but one in four respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon president.

Romney's most immediate challenge is in Iowa, where the wide lead he once held has now faded, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee winning support from Christian evangelicals to catch Romney in the polls.

Iowa on January 3 holds the first of the state-by-state contests to determine which Republican and Democrat will face off in the November 2008 election. A win there can generate momentum, while a loss can deflate presidential hopes.

"The timing of this speech is a direct result of Huckabee's surge in Iowa and Romney's softening numbers," said a veteran Republican strategist in Washington. "The target is social conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina and being 'acceptable' to them."

'FAITH IN AMERICA'

Romney decided on his own to give a speech with the title of "Faith in America."
"This speech is an opportunity for Governor Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor's own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.

Or, as Romney told CBS News: "I'm not running for pastor-in-chief. I'm running for commander-in-chief."

Experts doubt Romney will talk much about the specifics of his religion.
"The question about Governor Romney's candidacy is not a question about what it means to be a Mormon. The question is about what it means to be president of the United States and respect religion without allowing religion to dictate decisions in the Oval Office," said Welton Gaddy, a Baptist preacher who heads the Interfaith Alliance.

Nancy Ammerman, a professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University, said it is a speech Romney had to give.

Americans need to be reassured that "he really does believe in the separation of church and state and that he does come into the political arena as someone who should be judged on his policies and his record," she said.

Barry Lynn, executive director of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said Romney's speech is another chapter in a U.S. presidential campaign where religion has played a big role.

Huckabee has talked about being a Baptist preacher, Republican Fred Thompson was quizzed on how often he goes to church, and Democrat John Edwards was asked about his biggest sin.
"Frankly this whole election cycle is turning into some kind of theological beauty pageant instead of an electoral campaign for the presidency," he said.

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/category/events/trail08/)