Hey Mitt, thanks for the warning!!!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone... - Mitt Romney Let me get this straight, cause you know, we Neo-Pagan Slacker Buddhists, are slow on the uptake sometimes. Our current President is supported by the most fervent religious group in America, the Fundamentalist Christians, and we have seen the GREATEST EROSION of civil liberties and freedoms since the founding of the nation. But somehow, we cannot have freedom unless we have religion? If we converted all those fundies to tree-hugging Wiccans, the nation would probably be better off. At least then we could say "good-bye" to the Fred Phelps of the world. Ya know Mitt, there are first-world countries out there that have a LOT MORE freedom, than the citizens of the United States, who do not have forced or coerced religion or 24/7 Bible-thumping. How can that be? As one of the officials in the Church of England recently commented, many parts of England have gone completely Pagan. England seems to be free. Germany has a great number of Atheists and they too are on the freedom train. The truth, Mitt, is this - religion doesn't have jack-shit to do with freedom, in fact, religion has been one of the leading cause of oppression in world history. Many of your positions are religiously based (on your narrow belief structure). You want to have legislative control of my wife's uterus - YOU want to tell her what she can and cannot do with you own reproductive organs. I really wish you would put my wife's vagina out of your mind. Please. Then there is the issue of Gay marriage. You somehow believe two girls kissing is the end of Western Civilization. I would give anything to have a Lesbian couple move in next door instead of the toothless redneck that lives there now. A special note to my toothless neighbor and his infant, Baby Toothless, please stay off my lawn and for crying out loud, stop coming over and asking to borrow stuff. NO, you cannot borrow my tools... or gasoline and for God's sake, I really don't even want to know what you were doing when you come over a asked to borrow some butter and rope! -- Add Storm Bear as a MySpace friend!

How Wal-Mart Went Bad.

click to enlarge Who would have thunk it? Historically the Walpurgisnacht is derived from Pagan spring customs, where the arrival of spring was celebrated with bonfires at night. Viking fertility celebrations took place around February 25 and due to Walburga being declared a saint at that time of year, her name became associated with the celebrations. Walburga was honored in the same way that Vikings had celebrated spring and as they spread throughout Europe, the two dates became mixed together and created the Walpurgis Night celebration. The main mascot of Walpurgis Day is the witch. But after the death of Sam Walton, the man who insisted every item in the store be made in America, the children, or shall I say, the spawns of Satan, took over. Once in their control, out goes the American merchandise and in comes all the crap from China. Then, and this is the sickening part, Wal-Mart puts on the bright and shiny face of doing well for America. It is the one corporation that reminds me of the Christian Fundamentalist movement here in America - they are so far from their founding roots they became the thing the preached against. And with all Pagan holidays, the Vatican stepped in to ruin everything. The festival is named after Saint Walburga (known in Scandinavia as "Valborg"; alternative forms are "Walpurgis", "Wealdburg", or "Valderburger"), born in Wessex in 710. She was a niece of Saint Boniface and, according to legend, a daughter to the Saxon prince St. Richard. Together with her brothers she travelled to Franconia, Germany, where she became a nun and lived in the convent of Heidenheim, which was founded by her brother Wunibald. Walburga died on 25 February 779 and that day still carries her name in the Traditional Catholic Calendar. However she was not made a saint until 1 May in the same year, and that day carries her name for example in the Finnish and Swedish calendar. Allow me to finish up with a quote from the The Two Towers. The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And... and all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. - Meriadoc Brandybuck