Newsflash: Halloween IS a Pagan Holiday

10:47 AM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »
"Hallowe'en is a perfectly lovely American holiday that came over with the immigrating Irish who escaped An Gorta Mor (what we were taught as the "Irish Potato Famine") in the 1840s. They brought some folk traditions connected with the evening before All Saints Day or All Hallows."

As someone mentioned in the comments, I would much rather have my brain in my head than in my anal orifice like this writer. Please explain to me how an American holiday came over from Ireland.

But ok, I get his point that he's trying to get across is the perennial favourite at this time of year: letting your kids dress up and mug your neighbours for candy is not worshipping Satan.

"Many modern Pagans celebrate Samhain at the end of October. Samhain is based on an ancient Celtic festival and is the third harvest festival, the Festival for the Dead, the beginning of the winter season and the New Year on the Celtic calendar.

It is rather a big deal...but it is not Hallowe'en. It's an important harvest celebration and a time to remember those who have died, whether in the last year or long ago. The Ancestors.

So, all these cranky churches and schools who refuse to celebrate the perfectly American (okay, Irish-American) holiday called Hallowe'en are brainheads."

The modern incarnation of Halloween has about as much connection with its original Pagan origins as Christmas or Easter do.

Outrage of the Day- Special Ed Kids Tortured

10:35 AM Posted In , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »

"A group of parents say their children with disabilities experienced waterboarding-like torture” and other forms of abuse at the hands of two teacher’s aides at a Montana middle school.

Now, the teacher’s aides, Julie Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies, face felony charges of assault on a minor and endangering the welfare of children in connection with the alleged abuse in a special education classroom.

Witnesses say that students were subjected to water torture and forced to eat their own vomit. Further, parents say they suspect students were also confined to closets.

Parents noticed that students came home with bruises, bite marks, burnt fingertips and missing hair.

The students, who have a variety of disabilities including autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, were unable to speak up about the problems due to their disabilities."

First of all, I thought that we left this shit behind in the '50's. Secondly, having volunteered with Special Olympics I cannot conceive of the type of person it would take to commit such atrocities. upon innocent children. My partner said it best, "Instead of jail, they should not be permitted to live."

Reversing Female Genital Mutilation

2:22 PM Posted In , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »

"One day, when Sila Folow was an 8-year-old girl living in Mali, four elderly women held her down on the dirt floor of an outhouse and, in keeping with local tradition, used a sharp blade to cut out her clitoris and most of her labia. Her grandmother and other villagers held a celebration. Sila, bleeding and in terrible pain, could not walk for weeks. Like millions of other African girls who are forced to undergo female genital mutilation—a ritual many women say is intended to ensure that they grow up to become sexually passive wives who will not stray from their husbands—Sila never recovered. She eventually moved to New York, married, and had two children. But she was reluctant to have sex with her husband. It hurt, and the scarring made it impossible for her to feel pleasure.

This May, Sila, now 38 years old, underwent a simple but profound operation to undo the past. She traveled to Trinidad, Colorado, where Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecological and pelvic surgeon, has recently begun to perform "clitoralplasty" or "female circumcision reversals" on African women. A relatively new procedure, it reshapes the anatomy and, in 80 percent of patients, restores pleasurable sensation. "I want my womanhood back," Sila told Bowers when she first spoke to the surgeon about the operation. "I just want to know it's there. To have the feeling that I can fight against this culture." "

It's enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Newer Posts
Older Posts