This is sort of a continuation or "Progression for my blog "OK now my fur is ruffled!!!" I am just so tired, and frustrated.... On the main page of our Multi National Corps - Iraq main page is "Experiencing God in the Workplace Bible Study" now in all fairness if I sent something with experiencing something paganistic in the work place or workplace magic yes they would have to put it up there and they would... but the almost immediate and unrelenting tirade of emails talking about saving me or trying to witness tome through e-mail or calling me a Satanist, telling me that I am going to go to hell for my beliefs... Well no worries on that one at lest...LOL it's just.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!
Understand this... The section that I work in is a great section. Most know that I am pagan and truly have no cares about it. I work with some great people... It is once you get outside these doors of the building that I work in that the world just goes to crap. It just disgusts me that people would make a vow so frivolously without understanding the meaning of it and how it compares to there own personal values. How could someone say that they are going to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States and then turn around ad bash me for what I believe? Now I am no saint so to speak, I Christian bash with the best of them but I really try hard not to. I know I should and truly I don't make fun of Joe Generic Christian, but the fundies are in my cross hairs, especially when they say they live by the utmost of Christian values and just do the most devious stuff. Anyway I digress... I am just frustrated that we have a country that in its own founding bylaws states that we are to have freedom of religion but that anyone who is not Christian is so persecuted for our beliefs. I am just so sad that with all of our progress that we are still a country that has racism, bigotry, and religious persecution...
Yes it is a most auspicious occasion that our fallen Pagan soldiers now can have the recognition that they so earnestly deserve but that was just a battle folks, and we won it. The war however still rages on. To be brutally honest though I don't know that we can win the war. I would love to think we can but how can we ask a partially intolerant society to accept us for who we are when we preach so much tolerance and we can't even tolerate each other. I know I am just in a depressed mood right now... I am generally much more chipper but I just can't muster it today... Truly as I slowly bring this to the end of this Blog, I am not really frustrated or angry even, I am filled with an almost overwhelming sadness. I am in this horrible war we are in and what are we really teaching the Iraqis to quote the infamous Rodney King "Can't we all just get along" and sadly no matter where I look No, No we can't....

 

Ok... Here I am, a humble pagan, sitting at my desk. Growing weary of seeing nothing but Christian Easter gatherings coming across the Camp Victory MWR mass distribution list (The army equivalent of spam...LOL) Now understand, I do not begrudge the Christians for their holiday. I am very happy for them and their celebration for their God. Anything that brings anyone closer to Deity I am all for it. When what do my eyes behold, The MWR mass distro comes across with an Announcement for the Open Circle that I am apart of... I was taken aback. I was so thrilled. And yes there was my HPS signing off as the POC (Point of Contact) (Sorry Acronyms are a military thing) this was an amazing thing... Then just as we all internally knew it would but did not want it to happen, the hate mail started pouring in to my HPS. Christians wanting to pray for our souls, trying to witness to my HPS through the email, trying to tell us we were devil worshipers and the most upsetting one was one Navy LCDR (O-4) saying that the announcement was so disgusting that he wanted to be removed from the distribution list. Now, I am not upset because of what was said. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how wrong it is or misguided. What really upset me was the fact that all of these Hate E-mails came form Military People. These are people who have raised their right hand do defend and uphold the constitution of the United States. Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, and Expression: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This is a part of the constitution that they agreed to uphold, so obviously they were not truthful when they raised their hand and said: "I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD." I am just so disgraced that people would flippantly take this oath and banter the words around and not mean what they say. Talk to Tommy Elf in my friends list he will tell you. He was in the Air force for eight years, and to this day he still holds true to the oath that he took when he enlisted. This is not just an oath that you take lightly, this is a lifetime oath. Even when I retire, I will go to my grave honoring this original oath that I took on October 20th, 1987... Ok steping down from the soap box for now... Thank you all for taking the time to read this...
Love, Blessings and Friendship,
Bill

Greetings My Fellow Pagans,

I got this from my Open Circle's Web site today. I belong to the Victory Base Open Circle here in Iraq. It is time for the pagan voice to be heard. If I can come over here and defend the Iraqi people, or evenin peace time where I am there onthe home front protecting our constitutional rights, should I not be affordrd the right to have my religious symbol on my headstone or plaque. Covenspace members I implore you to let your voices be heard regarding the VA procedures on religious symbols approval, etc.

Love, Blessings and Friendship,

Bill

----------------------------------------------------------
From Circle Sanctuary on how to see the new VA procedures
on religious symbols and how to give public feed back to the VA.

http://www.circlesanctuary.org/liberty/veteranpentacle/VARuleComment.htm

Reviewing & Commenting on Proposed VA Procedures
The US Department of Veterans Affairs has proposed a new set of
procedures for emblems of belief approval for use on VA-issued
memorial headstones, markers, and plaques honoring deceased
veterans.

DEADLINE for submitting comments: March 20, 2007
SHARE CONCERNS:
We have a variety of concerns about these proposed procedures,
including:

â?¢ There is still no requirement that the VA make any decision
on an emblem of belief application.

â?¢ There are no time limits for decision making on applications.

â?¢ These proposed procedures contain vague wording that seems
to permit the VA to continue to pick and choose which religions to
accommodate and which symbols to approve.

Essentially, if these new procedures are adopted and go into effect,
the Pentacle could still be kept in limbo with no decision being made
at all, and it possibly could even be rejected should a VA official
deem our symbol not appropriate for state and federal veteran
cemeteries.

Symbols for other religions, including other forms of Paganism, may
also be kept in limbo or be rejected.
Some additional background:
â?¢ VA's present list of approved emblems of belief
â?¢ Other VA info about its Memorial Markers program
â?¢ Summary of Pentacle Quest History with the VA (1997-2006)
HOW TO REVIEW & MAKE COMMENTS:

Although we cannot directly link to the comments page on the proposed
revised procedures, we have included directions below on how to view
the regulations and submit a comment.

To find the text of the regulations & submit comments, do the following:
1. Go to this website: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main

2. Use the "Keyword or ID" search box, and type in the document's ID:
VA-2007-NCA-0008-0001
3. Once you are at the website entitled: Regulations. gov you will see
"Document Details"

4. Print out a copy of the proposed rules under the heading of "views".
You can click on either the PDF icon or the Word Document icon.

5. Once you are looking at the document details, find the little yellow
conversation bubble, and click on it to submit comments.

6. Once you have printed out the rules and you are ready to comment
and have clicked on the yellow bubble you need to fill out the required
fields that are indicated.

7. When you comment on a rule find the rule you want to comment
on and cite it -- for example, rule on page 2481 paragraph number 3
beginning with the words, "On occasion."

8. State the reason why you think this rule is potentially discriminatory,
ambiguous, or otherwise problematic.

9. You can create a Word document or WordPerfect document for all
your comments and attach on the bottom. One way is to attach it and
then doing a cut and paste into the comment box.

10. You can also copy the image of the Pentacle from the Circle
Website and attach that to the comments and ask for the Pentacle to be
approved. It then becomes public record and will appear in the courts.

11. Be sure to click on Privacy and Link Notice - on the blue link
on the toward the bottom of the form that says "Privacy Statement."
Please read completely. This explains that the information collected on
this site is public information, may be distributed or copied and is to
support the United States government in its rulemaking process.

12. Once you have read the privacy statement click on "submit"
button on the bottom.

13. Send a copy of your comments in a word document to LLL.
The text of the emblems of belief rules was published in the Federal
Register (72 Fed. Reg. 2480) on January 19, 2007. There is a sixty
day public comment period, with final comments due on March 20,
2007.

If you wish to comment, please keep your remarks polite and
professional. You do not need to disclose your religious orientation
in contributing comments. If you are a veteran or on active duty, it
would be helpful for you to state that you have had military service
and when you served.

We would appreciate a copy of any feedback you send about these
proposed rules.

Send us copies of your comments:
by email: liberty@circlesanct uary.org

or by fax: (608) 924-5961
or by postal mail:

LLL Veteran Pentacle Quest
c/o Circle Sanctuary
PO Box 9
Barneveld, WI 53507 USA
Thank you very much.