RSS Feed - Nest Posts - Past 48 Hours http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_thismoon.html http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19662 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19662 Make. It is a simple word, a verb. Yet its connection to our First Amendment is rife with historical meaning. Recall, the 1791 guarantee begins with the words: “Congress shall make no law ... .” But why that word? What did it suggest? What evils was it directed against? And what does the constitutional history of the word teach us today? Among other things, the notion of making something sugges http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19661 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19661 U.S. consumers have the least 'green' habits in the world in terms of energy use, transportation, travel, and goods, according to National Geographic and polling firm GlobeScan. Blame the American appetite for large, two-car, gadget-packed homes located far from work, along with a general disregard for conservation and eco-friendly products. The Greendex results, released Wednesday, are base http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19660 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19660 A federal judge in Montana has rejected a request by the government to delay a lawsuit seeking to place the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, saying he's "unwilling to risk more deaths." At least 39 of the Northern Rockies' 1,500 gray wolves have been killed since they lost federal protection in March. That action placed wolves under the authority of state wildlife agencies in Wyom http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19659 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19659 A congressional leader, citing complaints from Bay Area mayors and lawmakers, wants the Drug Enforcement Administration to explain its increased use of "paramilitary-style enforcement raids" and property forfeiture orders against medical marijuana patients and suppliers in California. With drug trafficking and violence from international cartels on the rise, "do you think the DEA's limited reso http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19658 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19658 Cindy Corriveau of Salem and Nancy Krissoff of Norwich are kindred spirits: Both are paranormal investigators, about 48 years old, and members of the Salem Lions. They are also co-hosts and producers of Ghost Chat New England: History, Mystery, Legends, and Ghosts, a zany local television show all about anything that has happened— or will be happening—in Connecticut and beyond. The show is carr http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19657 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19657 Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting Berkeley's controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center. The women's anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for "Witches, clowns and sirens day," the last of the group's weeklong homage to Mother's Day. "Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and t http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19656 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19656 A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not become "useful idiots" exploited for partisan gain. One in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical Protestants, giving them serious clout in a country where religion and politics often mix. Conservative evangelicals have become a key support base for the Republican Par http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19655 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19655 Local governments and state universities in Michigan can't offer health insurance to the partners of gay workers, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court ruled 5-2 that Michigan's 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies affecting gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers. The decision affirms a February 2007 appeals c http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19654 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19654 If there is one state that can ill afford an ineffective chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union it arguably is South Carolina. Proposed Christian license plates. Legislative assaults on equality for non-heterosexuals. The case of Darla Kaye Wynne. If Wynne’s name doesn’t ring a bell, she is a pagan who a few years ago sued Great Falls, just north of Columbia, for its Town Council sayi http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19653 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19653 In just a few seconds' time during the April Town Board meeting, Jennifer Zarpentine made Greece history. Zarpentine, a Wiccan, delivered the first-ever pagan prayer to open a meeting of the Greece Town Board. Her hands raised to the sky, she called upon Greek deities Athena and Apollo to "help the board make the right informed decisions for the benefit and greater good of the community." http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19652 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19652 During trial Tuesday in La Salle County Circuit Court, defendant Johnathan T. Pinney said he meditates, practices magic and casts spells. It remains to be seen whether he has bewitched a five-woman, seven-man jury. The jailed 23-year-old Pinney is representing himself in his trial. The former Norway man is accused of biting through the uniform sleeve of an Ottawa police officer and breaking http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19651 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19651 An EPA official said Tuesday there's a "distinct possibility" the agency won't take action to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has contaminated public water supplies around the country. Democratic senators called that unacceptable. They argued that states and local communities shouldn't have to bear the expense of cleansing their drinking water of perchlorate, which has http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19650 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19650 Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday. Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death. "I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble — and belie http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19649 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=19649 The arrival of the merry month of May has special significance in the Isle of Man and was celebrated in the past with a Druidical festival called Beltane when bonfires were lit on hilltops and various ceremonies were enacted. One custom was to gather a small bunch of primroses and leave it on the doorstep on May Eve to keep the witches away. Another, still observed, is to make a crosh cuirn