I'm asking for the presidents help to keep our children safe.

     Since the horrific killing of the children and their teachers recently, (their fears and pains are gone and they abide with their ancestors, wanting for nothing), there has been much talk about gun control and keeping our children safe. 
     Let me be clear about myself here, I have no guns in my house and do not want one.  A gun is a tool designed specifically for the injuring or killing of people or animals, it's not much good for anything else. 
     Even so, I see the need for such tools and those trained and willing to use them.  It's to this end that I focus this posting. 
     Our president has two daughters, whenever they are out in public or at school they are watched over and protected by Secret Service agents who are very well trained and willing to do whatever is needed to protect those two girls.
     They are the presidents children and so the expectation is that someone will try to do them harm or kidnap them.  But when has that happened in the past?  Has anyone tried?  The answer to both questions is "Not that we know of."  Why is this?  Because anyone who would try to kidnap or do harm to those children knows they are protected, by people trained and willing to inflict extreme or fatal harm to defend them. If someone, a crazy lunatic or a skilled professional, did try, you can be sure the amount of pain and suffering they could inflict would be very minimal or none.
     Are his children more valuable than yours or mine? Unless you have the president on a pedestal and think he's more valuable than you and yours, any parent would answer that question with "No".
     Are your children as precious to you as his are to him? Do you want them equally protected from harm and horror?  Again, unless you're a member of some cult of personality based on the president, your answer is a "Yes".
     I'm asking the president to extend the protection his children have to all our children, or least at schools. 

Smoking is bad, but sex at 14, you go girl!

OK, so for decades now children have been taught that smoking is bad for a variety of reasons.  Schools, pediatricians, government purchased ads on TV, everything available has been utilized to get people to stop smoking, especially the children. 

But sex?  At the age of 14?  Well, that's going to happen no matter what so we just need to help 14 year old girls convince their boyfriends to use a rubber.  Does anyone else see this as bizarre and nonsensical?   

Here's the link - http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-100000-to-teach-teen-girls-condom-negotiation/article/2514683#.ULktOHDTkuS 

Here's the quote that just floored me... (italics mind)...

"To prepare the girls for these types of situations, the counselors and pediatricians will teach them how to negotiate condom use with their partner. The intervention also helps empower and motivate girls to make healthier choices regarding their alcohol use, smoking and prevention of unplanned pregnancy." 

So there you go, the little girls will taught how to make healthier choices regarding alcohol and smoking, which I'm guessing is "Don't use them", but regarding sex?   Negotiate condom use. 

How about the lesson regarding smoking and alcohol be the same for sex but with an age conditioner,  "Don't drink, you'll make bad decisions. Don't smoke, it'll ruin your lungs.  Don't have sex until you're 18, you're not emotionally established."

Child Slavery is Bad, (except for these countries)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/01/obama_waives_sanctions_on_countries_that_use_child_soldiers

These are the words of our President, "When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed -- that's slavery, it is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we've long rejected such cruelty."

These are the actions of our President - Obama issued a presidential memorandum waiving penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 for Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen, penalties that Congress put in place to prevent U.S. arms sales to countries determined by the State Department to be the worst abusers of child soldiers in their militaries. The president also partially waived sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This should be a major story!  It's a clear and direct case of actions being the opposite of words regarding a revolting and evil act.  There are no excuses for this.  Yes, the administration has some, but no excuse can justify such blatant hypocrisy between words and actions.  This president has no honour, and speaks no truth. 

On Nástrand [Strand of the Dead] is a great hall and evil, and its doors face to the north: it is all woven of serpent-backs like a wattle-house; and all the snake-heads turn into the house and blow venom, so that along the hall run rivers of venom; and they who have broken oaths, and murderers, wade those rivers, even as it says here:

I know a hall standing

far from the sun,

In Nástrand:

the doors to northward are turned;

Venom-drops falls

down from the roof-holes;

That hall is bordered

with backs of serpents.

There are doomed to wade

the weltering streams

Men that are mansworn,

and they that murderers are.

His mother is Northern European, he has a connection to the Elder Kin, I hope they judge him for his oath breaking that will result in the death of children.

I'm ex-Navy and this pisses me off!!

The Navy has thousands of photos approved for use by politicians and others, why didn't they go and ask them for some photos? 

Russian ships displayed at DNC tribute to vets

http://www.navytimes.com/mobile/news/2012/09/navy-russian-warships-displayed-dnc-veterans-tribute-091112

Why I’m a Heathen (or how to explain Asatru to family and friends)

For many years as an atheist I thought that if there were gods I would want them to be the Æsir and Vanir as they appealed to me.  They were exciting and even fun, but there was more, I just couldn’t seem to understand what.  As I’ve read more and more about my ancestors’ religion (many thanks to all those that have translated, researched and written about it), I realized that it matched me, my attitudes, and my way of behaving.  This led me to understand what that ‘more’ was.  It’s a way of understanding the world, how it works and my place in it.  I can ‘hear’ the voices of Odin, his kin and even his foes,  I can ‘feel’ the sense of life found in all the Æsir and Vanir, I see how my life, my wyrd, fits within their wyrd, my ancestors wyrd and the örlog of the world.

What in my life matches to Asatru?

1.      Family bonds

2.      Ethnicity/heritage

3.      Wyrd

What in Asatru attracts me?

1.      Gods that have learned

2.      Wyrd

3.      Orlog

4.      Sense of life

5.      Acknowledgement of fallibility and learning from it

6.      Family bonds

7.      Connection to my life and world

8.      Connection to my history and heritage

Why even bother with any religion?

1.      Makes sense of my past

2.      Makes sense of my life now

3.      Guidance on how to conduct my life and interact with others

How does Asatru improve me and my life?

1.      Applies a structure to existence and life

2.      Provides lessons that can be applied to my being a husband and father

3.      Gives me an ethnic specific identity and religion

Pagan or Heathen? Which is the right title for Asatru?

Pagan festival highlights age old beliefs

So here's the question, if you're Asatruar, do you call yourself a heathen or pagan?  I always use heathen as I've learned that for many it indicates the difference between the witch/wiccan theology crowd and the Moljnir wearing crowd. However, in talking with those outside of those two theologies, the term ‘pagan’ just seems to be catch-all for any non-monotheistic religion found in Western civilization. What’s interesting is that I can’t ever recall anyone calling non-christian religions in place like Africa, New-Guinea, India, etc., ‘pagan’.  Is this a term that would sound derogatory if they did?  

There are differences, and this is good

Are Jews allowed to participate in Catholic services and vise-versa?  Are whites allowed to participate in Kwanza celebrations?  Are non-Native Americans allowed to participate in Native American religious ceremonies and vise-versa? Can a Muslim join a Baptist service and vise-versa?

I ask this because it seems to me that a universal religion is logical fallacy.  There is nothing actually preventing any of the above, no bolt of lightning will strike anyone, but there is an ethnic and cultural separation of peoples that are reflected in our religious systems.  We are all different, physically, ethnically, and culturally.  This is not the same as being inferior or superior, this is analogous to saying there are pine trees, some are Lodgepole pine, some are Western pine, Shore pine, etc., yet all are pine trees. 

This is why we have different peoples having gods and goddesses that are specific to their ethnicity and culture.  Transporting gods from one ethnic and cultural group to another diminishes those gods, and attempting to connect to gods who are tied by blood and history to a group you aren’t a part of would fail.  The connection between the person and the gods must be there prior to acknowledging that connection.

Does this mean an African-American could be Asatruar?  Yes.  Could an African? No.  (Going to annoy many “folk” adherents here, and please “universalists”)

African-Americans are, due to the history of inter-marriage and inter-breeding dating back to the slavery days, mixed with Nordic blood to a greater or lesser degree.  This gives them and anyone else of mixed blood a unique connection to several clans of gods.  If an African-American were to open their heart to Nordic culture and ethnicity, their blood connection, (thin though it might be) to Rigr-Heimdahl and the All-Father, I’m confident the Aesir and Vanir would recognize them as a member of the aettar.  Would this work for an African of purely African blood?  No, for the same reason a Swede of purely Swedish blood couldn’t connect with the gods of West Africa or Australia.  

Irminsul Ættir - Althing

I’m thinking of attending this.  However, my wife, Asynjur bless her, is not that keen on my faith and is uneasy with my getting together with other Asatru.  I think she’s worried it’ll be a hippy-fest and some pot smoking chick will try to tempt me.  If I can convince her to make a day of it and meet with others perhaps it’ll open her eyes a little.  My two sons will enjoy it I think, being kids they’re more open minded.

Irminsul Ættir - Althing

Romney’s Personal Image Remains Negative - Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Wow!  This is the first sentence of the story, “By a 52% to 37% margin, more voters say they have an unfavorable than favorable view of Mitt Romney.” At first this shocked me, and then I read page 2 and scrolled to the bottom to find the sampling size.  Apparently the pollsters are inspired by Loki and Gullveig.  Check out the imbalance! 459 Republicans sampled, 813 Democrats sampled.  Obama voters sampled was 1,068, Romney voters were 753.  This poll is useless!

Romney’s Personal Image Remains Negative - Page 2 | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

The Pentagram and the Hammer

A well done and thought out analysis of the differences between Wicca and Asatru, summed up in this little gem…”… Ásatrúar think of Wiccans as communist drug-addicted homosexual nudists on welfare, while Wiccans see Ásatrúar as militaristic drunken gun-crazy gay-bashing nazis.”

The best part is the section on Communication and Language Use, the two groups have different world views resulting in very different ways of communicating.  Strongly recommended reading.

http://www.heathengods.com/library/wicca_comparison/pentagram_and_the_hammer.pdf

Asatru and Judaism–One Heathens’ View

I’ve sometimes ran across a blog or forum entry in which another follower of the Nordic religion makes a comment indicating their disapproval or hatred of Jews and Judaism.  (This brings up a question, were they anti-Semitic before embracing the religion of Northern Europe, or did they become that way afterwards?  Some serious research needs to be done on that one, anyone volunteer?)

This has always bothered me as I’ve always had a strong admiration for Jews.  The god of the Christians and Muslims belongs to the Jews. Yahweh is theirs and the other two are basically trying to co-opt him for their own purposes.  This relationship Jews have with their god is a long one, their identity as a culture, religion, nation, etc., is tied to that god through literally thousands of years.  Regardless of the ups and downs of the Jewish people, they have held fast to that relationship and their identity as Jews.  This is a thing to be admired and emulated! Would that our heathen Germanic ancestors had done the same in the face of Christian kings and priests. 

So, perhaps those with anti-Semitic views are just jealous?

Daughters of Gullveig - New York Paganism | Examiner.com

I’ve always seen Gullveig as a bringer of discord and chaos, yet in Mr. Corsi’s view she’s a force for positive growth through chaos.  From the Voluspa stanza 12 we read,

The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;
Minds she bewitched that were moved by her magic,
To evil women a joy she was.

Now, this translation may be altered through the ages and views of the writers, but in my reading it seems more like Gullveig is a Vala best avoided due to her corrupting influence.  As such, the stories remind us to be wary of those that love wealth for the sake of wealth and those that try to trick others thoughts and reason.

Daughters of Gullveig - New York Paganism | Examiner.com

Poll Headlines | presidential election polls, election polls, election poll results

Statistical tie. In the Gallup poll Obama is up 46% to Romney at 45% with a margin of error of 2%.  Rasmussen poll has Romney at 46% and Obama at 43% with a margin of error at 3%.  If Obama has been doing such a great job as president, it shouldn’t be this close, ergo, he’s not been doing a good job as president and people know it.

Poll Headlines | presidential election polls, election polls, election poll results

Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet? - WSJ.com

OK, so it wasn’t Al Gore…

Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet? - WSJ.com

More than 100 killed in series of bombings, shootings across Iraq | Fox News

“…and the departure of the U.S. military seven months ago.” I think that sums up the issue here. 

Bombings and shootings ripped across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 103 people in the deadliest day this year. The coordinated attacks in 13 cities sent a chilling warning that Al Qaeda is slowly resurging in the security vacuum created by a weak government in Baghdad and the departure of the U.S. military seven months ago.

More than 100 killed in series of bombings, shootings across Iraq | Fox News

Here’s a good link to Achmed the Dead Terrorist singing “Christmas in Iraq” with the classic line, “…that’s when I got shot in the ass by the U.S. military…”

Obama Ad Accuses Romney of 'Launching a False Attack' for Quoting Obama | The Weekly Standard

Obama Ad Accuses Romney of 'Launching a False Attack' for Quoting Obama | The Weekly Standard

This is just weird, didn't anyone on the Obama team review this before sending it out?  Romney accurately quoted Obama, the ad verifies this but the ad accuses Romney of fabricating what Obama said.  Just weird.

"Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected" - 8,600 results on Bing more with Google

"Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected" - Bing
I read an article with that headline and it seemed to me I've ready a lot of articles with that exact headline or text like that in a news story.  So I did a search for just that head line in Bing and Google.  Bing gave me 8,600 returns with that exact phrase.  Google gave me 52,900.  OK, so are these from just today?  Nope, these are from news articles dating back to 2009. 
This is significant, it means that journalists, economists, and others are NOT expecting jobs claims to rise.  They really expect the jobs market to improve, but it keeps surprising them by not doing that.  So my question is this...are they willfully ignorant of the economic situation, or just stupid?

Medieval bras discovered at Austrian castle

Medieval bras discovered at Austrian castle | World news | The Guardian
It makes sense, and I'm betting they're older than this.  Think about it, some woman in the past wouldn't have to put much effort into creating something like this for her comfort and perhaps even increasing her attractiveness to men.

Obama’s Remorseless Attacks Having Little Effect

Obama’s Remorseless Attacks Having Little Effect | The Blog on Obama: White House Dossier

Pull quote from this article, "...after burning through $100 million of his money on campaign ads, Obama has failed to establish a lead over his rival."  In fact they are in a stastical tie, "Forty-seven percent of registered voters nationwide who lean towards a candidate back Romney, while 46 percent support the president."