United Kingdom - 03/08/08

Will nothing be done?




Spread the word.

I know, I know.

I am probably on a list now.

WE ARE WATCHING YOU

I am not really a fan of dystopian science fiction, but I have quite a lot of it. And because of that I decided to wait a while before I wrote this post. I waited to see if I would calm down. I didn't.

This week we saw the announcement of the Government's new Anti-Terror Strategies. And you know what? They make me really really fucking uncomfortable. Why does it make me feel like this?

Shopping centre and store managers will be among 60,000 workers trained to help deal with terrorist threats.

Will they get special armbands and powers? Are we, the public being trained to spy on each other?

I appreciate that this could be considered quite a simplistic interpretation of what these strategies mean, but I personally think that we could be in danger of slipping down a very dangerous slope. If indeed we aren't already sliding down it with our eyes closed already. (See my post of Phillip Pullman's essay here .)

It is all very well saying that this private group of citizens will only use this training for Terrorist threats, but at the end of the day, who are the Terrorists? At the moment, they are extremist Muslim fundamentalists. What happens when that definition changes? And even before the goalposts change and we have a new enemy to be fearful of, what does this mean to the UK as we know it now. Do we really need specifically trained supermarket supervisors, and security guards watching us while we shop to see if we are doing anything suspicious? What is deemed suspicious? Who makes those judgement calls? Why does this warrant a special type of person looking out for them?

The reasons we are given for why we need these strategies is because this is New, and More Scary. That These People cannot be reasoned with, and we Must Keep Safe and Vigilent. So what, more scary than bombs going off in London parks, and outside major tourist attractions? I grew up with the IRA bombing London. I grew up with my dad coming home to tell us that he had just missed being bombed, and that he had to hang on to the scaffolding on the building he was working on as it shook from the vibrations. Terrorist threats to London are nothing new. There have been no bins in any of London's train stations for years now, and those that do have some kind of litterbags, well, they are see-through. Any unattended bags are watched suspiciously and reported. So what really is the difference?

The difference is now that there will be people around that will be specially trained to watch you and report on you if you are doing anything suspicious.

Is there anybody out there?

Wave please, if you are reading this blog. I am feeling all lonely and unloved. Well, not really but it would be nice to know if someone was here. Otherwise I think I am just barking (mad) at the moon!

Anyway.

The Spring Equinox has been and gone. And the weather was lovely. I didn't do anything on the day itself, but I did get together with a friend over the previous weekend (with glorious weather then too.) It was her first "ritual", although she has been pagan for donkey's years. She is very much not into the "public pagan" thing, and isn't really interested in covens, pagan politics and the like, so we are a very good match.

It was good to know that I could do a ritual from scratch, since although I had worked out a planned ritual, I couldn't find it. (That's the problem with memory sticks, you put them down and they are gone!) My friend felt that it worked, and that's the main thing. We had a bit of Temple Time, which is the phenomenom of being in Circle, feeling like it has taken no time at all to complete, and realising that an hour has gone past.

It is nice to have someone to work with. I have known this person for years now (at least 20!), so finding out that we have so much in common feels like such a blessing. We are working on an exchange of ideas. She is from a more complementary health side of things, whereas I am more esoteric (sort of), so it works out quite well.

Hopefully I will be able to blog more about the Work we do together.

Bitch - Meredith Brooks. LYRICS

(I absolutely love this song. I have claimed it as my theme song. Along with a million other women I imagine! :P)

I hate the world today
You're so good to me
I know but I can't change
Tried to tell you
But you look at me like maybe I'm an angel underneath
Innocent and sweet.
Yesterday I cried
You must have been relieved to see the softer side
I can understand how you'd be so confused
I don't envy you
I'm a little bit of everything all rolled into one

CHORUS
I'm a bitch
I'm a lover
I'm a child,
I'm a mother
I'm a sinner
I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell
I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

So take me as I am
This may mean you'll have to be
A stronger man
Rest assured that when I start to make you nervous
And I'm going to extremes
Tomorrow I will change
And today won't mean a thing

CHORUS

Just when you think
You've got me figured out
The season's already changing
I think it's cool
You do what you do
And don't try to save me.

CHORUS

I'm a bitch
I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you hurt
When you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been numbed
I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way.

The DFhs were right.

Pinched from Hecate's Blog Not worksafe, has rude words in it.

Personal stuff. Please walk past if not interested.

I have been having some stomach issues for a while now, and I am finally getting them investigated. The general consensus is either IBS or Coeliac's, but probably IBS. However, just to be safe I have had some pretty invasive tests to see if there is anything to be worried about.

The ultrasound found something. It isn't anything to do with the issues that I was having investigated. It is a 4cm cyst on my right ovary. It looks benign, and the sonographer said it probably wasn't anything to be worried about since they are really common and usually go away of their own accord. It does mean I have to book an appointment with the GP and be rescanned in about 5-6 weeks.

I am really not sure how I am feeling about this. I have googled for information, as you do and the main thing that I am concerned about is that it might not go away and I have to have it surgically removed. I don't think it is anything worse than that, but obviously it does go through your mind.

But I can't worry about it, since until I have something to worry about, there is no point. Yeah. I know, easier said than done.

I also googled the spiritual implications of ovarian cysts. I don't completely follow the belief that such ailments are caused by spiritual imbalances or past actions, but perhaps there might be something to it. It certainly isn't going to hurt looking down these paths. Especially when certain aspects of it make sense.

I have been complaining like mad that I have let my creative side slip by the wayside. There is part of me that longs to get creative again. And I haven't been. And apparently a cyst of the ovaries (which are considered to be part of the woman's creative centre) means that the creative flow that isn't being released is growing where it shouldn't. Makes for some interesting thoughts.

So this time, if this is a hint to get off my arse and get doing, then I am taking it. I can't afford not to.

“Guest” essay by Philip Pullman (From Issac Bonewits' blog)

This was written by the children’s author for the Times Online, then yanked from their website and scrubbed from Google Cache. I think it’s important enough that it should be widely distributed. If Mr. Pullman objects, I’ll be happy to delete it.:

======================

Malevolent Voices that Despise Our Freedoms
by Philip Pullman

Are such things done on Albion’s shore?

The image of this nation that haunts me most powerfully is that of the sleeping giant Albion in William Blake’s prophetic books. Sleep, profound and inveterate slumber: that is the condition of Britain today.

We do not know what is happening to us. In the world outside, great events take place, great figures move and act, great matters unfold, and this nation of Albion murmurs and stirs while malevolent voices whisper in the darkness - the voices of the new laws that are silently strangling the old freedoms the nation still dreams it enjoys.

We are so fast asleep that we don’t know who we are any more. Are we English? Scottish? Welsh? British? More than one of them? One but not another? Are we a Christian nation - after all we have an Established Church - or are we something post-Christian? Are we a secular state? Are we a multifaith state? Are we anything we can all agree on and feel proud of?

Background:

* £34bn cost of state-run surveillance databases
* Former spy chief says UK is now a police state
* First ID cards are to be issued within weeks
* COMMENT: that’s a bit rich, Dame Stella

The new laws whisper:

You don’t know who you are

You’re mistaken about yourself

We know better than you do what you consist of, what labels apply to you, which facts about you are important and which are worthless

We do not believe you can be trusted to know these things, so we shall know them for you

And if we take against you, we shall remove from your possession the only proof we shall allow to be recognised

The sleeping nation dreams it has the freedom to speak its mind. It fantasises about making tyrants cringe with the bluff bold vigour of its ancient right to express its opinions in the street. This is what the new laws say about that:

Expressing an opinion is a dangerous activity

Whatever your opinions are, we don’t want to hear them

So if you threaten us or our friends with your opinions we shall treat you like the rabble you are

And we do not want to hear you arguing about it

So hold your tongue and forget about protesting

What we want from you is acquiescence

The nation dreams it is a democratic state where the laws were made by freely elected representatives who were answerable to the people. It used to be such a nation once, it dreams, so it must be that nation still. It is a sweet dream.

You are not to be trusted with laws

So we shall put ourselves out of your reach

We shall put ourselves beyond your amendment or abolition

You do not need to argue about any changes we make, or to debate them, or to send your representatives to vote against them

You do not need to hold us to account

You think you will get what you want from an inquiry?

Who do you think you are?

What sort of fools do you think we are?

The nation’s dreams are troubled, sometimes; dim rumours reach our sleeping ears, rumours that all is not well in the administration of justice; but an ancient spell murmurs through our somnolence, and we remember that the courts are bound to seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and we turn over and sleep soundly again.

And the new laws whisper:

We do not want to hear you talking about truth

Truth is a friend of yours, not a friend of ours

We have a better friend called hearsay, who is a witness we can always rely on

We do not want to hear you talking about innocence

Innocent means guilty of things not yet done

We do not want to hear you talking about the right to silence

You need to be told what silence means: it means guilt

We do not want to hear you talking about justice

Justice is whatever we want to do to you

And nothing else

Are we conscious of being watched, as we sleep? Are we aware of an ever-open eye at the corner of every street, of a watching presence in the very keyboards we type our messages on? The new laws don’t mind if we are. They don’t think we care about it.

We want to watch you day and night

We think you are abject enough to feel safe when we watch you

We can see you have lost all sense of what is proper to a free people

We can see you have abandoned modesty

Some of our friends have seen to that

They have arranged for you to find modesty contemptible

In a thousand ways they have led you to think that whoever does not want to be watched must have something shameful to hide

We want you to feel that solitude is frightening and unnatural

We want you to feel that being watched is the natural state of things

One of the pleasant fantasies that consoles us in our sleep is that we are a sovereign nation, and safe within our borders. This is what the new laws say about that:

We know who our friends are

And when our friends want to have words with one of you

We shall make it easy for them to take you away to a country where you will learn that you have more fingernails than you need

It will be no use bleating that you know of no offence you have committed under British law

It is for us to know what your offence is

Angering our friends is an offence

It is inconceivable to me that a waking nation in the full consciousness of its freedom would have allowed its government to pass such laws as the Protection from Harassment Act (1997), the Crime and Disorder Act (1998), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000), the Terrorism Act (2000), the Criminal Justice and Police Act (2001), the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Extension Act (2002), the Criminal Justice Act (2003), the Extradition Act (2003), the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003), the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004), the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2005), the Inquiries Act (2005), the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005), not to mention a host of pending legislation such as the Identity Cards Bill, the Coroners and Justice Bill, and the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Inconceivable.

And those laws say:

Sleep, you stinking cowards

Sweating as you dream of rights and freedoms

Freedom is too hard for you

We shall decide what freedom is

Sleep, you vermin

Sleep, you scum.

Philip Pullman will deliver a keynote speech at the Convention on Modern Liberty at the Institute of Education in London tomorrow (Feb. 28, 2009).

=================

The words he is attributing to the Power Elite sound frighteningly familiar to this American. Pass them on.

Dawgie!

I usually post cute puppehs, but this old guy is adorable...


see more dog and puppy pictures

Response to my email

Apparently they will be using the offerings in an appropriate manner. It is unlikely that I will be going, but lets hope so.

Sent this to some people.

I found a group online that are having a weekend do. In their "stuff to bring" list, they have "biodegradable items such as, flowers, seeds, ribbons and crystals".

So I sent them this,
Dear all at ...............,

I found your site and read with interest about your retreat this year. It sounds like a lovely weekend, which I would love to attend. However, I have some concerns about your list of things to bring with you to the retreat. You list biodegradable items such as flowers, seeds, ribbons and crystals. What would be done with these items? I am sure that you are aware that leaving items as "offerings" is something to be frowned upon if not done appropriately. All of the above items if placed in the countryside without consideration to where they are being put are at best unsightly for others and at worst a menace to the local flora and fauna. Certainly seeds and flowers would hopefully be eaten by the local wildlife, but ribbons and crystals? If the ribbons are completely natural they will degrade eventually, but not quickly. As for crystals, they won't biodegrade at all, and are considered by some to have very negative effects on the local "unseen and unknown".

I hope you can appreciate where I am coming from with my concerns. While I am sure that you would act properly with such items, it isn't unknown for sacred sites to be clogged with debris from ritual work.

Thank you.

Regards

I will be interested to see what their response is...

Patriarchy hurts men too.

Patriarchy doesn't just suck for the women. Let's not kid ourselves, it's pretty shit for men too.

No decent role-models
Who exactly are men meant to aspire to be like? Sporting heroes? Please! Politicians? I don't think so. God? Jesus? Yeah, right! Seriously, sit down and try and think of a decent, real, honest role model. It is really hard to do. Since even the most enlightened men usually have some major issue going on. (Often with women, but what's new there?)The ultimate role model God is a babykilling, hating psychopath when you get down to it. (Read your bible, it's all there). So no wonder men are lost in our starvation culture.

Violent culture idealised
Men must be STRONG. For what exactly? Fighting wars? Or working in an office? The dog eat dog heirachy of the average office, where profit is God is based on the idea that to survive one must kill or be killed. Performance related pay where to get your bonus you must go above and beyond what your actual job is, well, what happens next year when you have to suppass that goal? Work to live, or live to work? What are you doing? Our whole society is geared towards a way of surviving, rather than living. When war and profit are the most important factors of how and why we "live", no wonder we are all losing the plot.

Emotionally crippling
What emotions are men allowed to show openly? Joy? Only up to a point, too much and they are a bit soft. Fear? Only if it manifests in anger. Sadness? Only if it manifests in anger or if your footie team loses. Love? Only if by love you mean sex. Now, of course there are blokes out there that are open with how they feel, but society tends to look at them in a slightly bemused attitude. Like it doesn't know how to deal with them.

Infantilising
Two examples that really really piss me off. They reduce men into either petulant difficult spoilt children, or immoral sociapaths. The first is the response to women on how to treat their men when they have a baby. It basically tells women that they must find time to reassure their men that they still love them, and that they aren't being replaced by the baby. "Make sure you give your man that special time"...WHAT THE FUCK!?! Yeah, if you are talking to a 2 year old then fine. But this is a GROWN UP MAN! You have the intellectual capacity to understand that a baby is a helpless tiny individual that needs 24 hour care. YOU DON'T! Deal with it. It's your baby too. It isn't a case of you "help", a baby is as much your responsibility as the mums. Thankfully, most of the men I know, do realise that they are the adult in this situation, and therefore devote their time and love to their new member of their family. Without being jealous about it. THAT'S WHAT A REAL MAN DOES.
The second one. That men have no sexual control. If there is a woman and she looks like she is "up for it", then you can't help yourselves. What an absolutely patronising crock of shite. Being drunk isn't an excuse (since it isn't for us women either). WE ALL have responsibility for our actions. If a women is guilty for being pissed up and dressed in a provocative manner, then the man is as guilty for behaving like an immoral sociopath. It is that simple. You are the ones in control of your dicks, not the other way round. So it shouldn't matter what the situation is, you can stop. To try to imply anything else is to admit that men are somehow inferior to all other mammalian life. And this woman knows that you are not.

Restricting
Where can you go under patriarchy? We are all made to fit into the role it sets out for us, whether it is right for us or not. Expections from society as a whole expects us to behave in a set way. And it isn't just women that are trapped. You are trapped by lack of real opportunity, real adventure, real meaningful power. We have completely forgotten what it like to be truly free. And if you are gay, well, that's just wrong as far as patriarchy goes. Not on at all, young man!

Dangerous
Ultimately patriarchy kills men. But it's alright, since us women are just here to replace you as quickly as possible. The status quo that says you are working towards this, that and the other, but really you are just another cog in the corporate wheel that is killing you off, and replacing you with the next cog. Patriarchy does not give a shit about you. You are the flesh that makes its money.


AND YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING A GOOD DEAL FROM IT. Wake up and smell the coffee.

F.R.O.Y.W.

Isn't it interesting how long some men stay "liberal" when it's a choice between his job and HER job? "Oh yeah, I am all for equality!" Yeah, right. Until it is a choice of being equal in who keeps their job! Let the part-timers (predominantly women) and those on maternity leave (umm, women) lose their jobs first!

The old chestnuts of "men need to support their families", "women must choose between a career and having babies". Since apparently men don't have babies. That's quite outstanding scientific news. I am surprised there hasn't been more made of it. Since I had always thought men that had babies were called FATHERS!

So yeah, the title of this post stands for FUCK RIGHT OFF, YOU WANKERS!

New community on Ning

www.ukdianics.ning.com

It is the next stage of evolution of the Yahoogroup of the same name. It is quite small at the moment, but hopefully will gain momentum as it goes on. It is a site for Dianic women to get together and interact with each other. We have even set up our first meeting in Real Life!

Now I know that Dianic Wicca has a bit of a reputation. I have even heard Dianics called the Daleks of the Goddess. (Nice, don't you think!) But the stereotype of misandric seperatists is very outdated. (IMHO anyway.) Like all movements there is progress and evolution, changes that make the Dianic movement inclusive and relevent.

I hope that this site will go some way in showing this. So if you are a woman with witchy and feminist leanings, come and have a look to see what you think.