07 Mar 2006
Showdown in Dodge City for protesters targeting funerals

These people are beyond comment - protesting at funerals? Gimme a break! What kind of influence do they believe this action will generate? I can guarantee you it won't be a favorable opinion of their pet "fag hating" cause... they're doing more to promote gay marriage than all the LGBT organizations combined! And they're hitting a target audience in the heartland that most urban based groups in favor of gay marriage would never have the credibility to even address, let alone persuade.

So, as a supporter of the right of the people to engage in civil contracts (which is, at it's base, all a marriage is) I want to say "Keep it up, Freddie boy! And thanks for all your help!"

Although I must admit that if my son-in-law had bought it in Iraq, and these bozos had showed up at the services shouting their praise for his killers, the Indiana State prison system would've had a new inmate, and some of the Phelps family would have been attending other funerals. Their own.

This past Saturday morning I found myself in a five-car caravan cutting across the Kansas plains with about 30 religious protesters. In the back of a truck, there were signs that read "Thank God for IED's" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." I was with the Phelps family. They've launched a disturbing campaign to tarnish the funerals of fallen soldiers.

(link) [CNN.com]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Formosan Subterranean Termites in Hurricane Mulch

Formosan Subterranean TermiteThere's a lot of mulch headed north this time of year, and this year alot of it is coming from trees in Louisiana damaged by hurricanes Rita and Katrina last fall. Louisiana is heavily infested with Formosan subterranean termites - one of the most damaging insects in the world, and many of the hurricane damaged trees were already suffering from an infestation of this little beastie.

Be alert! Spreading this fellow north would not be a good thing, especially not if it's to your property! More information can be found here.

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

It's An Ale Hall, After All

My fellow heathen blogger Asahel posted this morning bemoaning the lack of Heathen music. I sent him to several good sources on the Net via a comment, but, of course, saved the best for my own post!

Have you ever had a song get struck in your head: kinda like a endless tape loop, which, if left unfulfilled by some means or another, will ultimately drive you nuts? Such a thing happens to me quite frequently, and one warm summer day in 1994 it happened at work, with that hideous Disney concoction known as It's a Small World.

Well, my kinsman (and Lawspeaker of the Kindred of Ravenswood), Keith Sauers, heard of my dilemma, and immediately deduced that what I really need was new words to the tune. And once delivered, it has become something of a "Heathen Hit", being sung at nearly every moot or gathering I've attended since it first slipped out into the wild.

So without further ado, here it is:

It's An Ale Hall
(to the tune of "It's a Small World")

Here's to Odin, Thor, Freya, Frey and Tyr,
Now let's toast the gods 'cause we got a lot of beer
we've got loot enough to spare, 'cause the monks had some to share:
it's an Ale Hall after all.

Chorus:
    It's an Ale Hall after all,
    Drink some mead and have a ball!
    Grab your horn and join the brawl:
    It's an Ale Hall after all!

There are benchs, tables, the chieftan's seat.
And we hunt and fish so we got a lot to eat.
Fill a horn full of beer, drink and grin from ear to ear:
it's an Ale Hall after all.

[Repeat Chorus]

Well, they call us heathens because we're not a flock.
But we'll keep on drinking 'til Ragnarok,
then they say we shall convert, but we think that they'll get hurt:
it's an Ale Hall after all.

[Repeat Chorus]

Drink a beer before battle, another before bed,
down a brew for the living  and drink one for the dead.
And when your ships sets out to sea, I will drink for you and me:
it's an Ale Hall after all.

[Repeat Chorus]

00:00 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link