RSS Feed - Nest Posts - Past 48 Hours http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_thismoon.html http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21399 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21399 A prehistoric burial ground has been discovered on Skye. Six slab-lined graves and six cremation pits have been unearthed on the excavation site close to Armadale pier on the Sleat peninsula. Experts say it is one of the most significant archaeological finds yet made in the Highlands. Flint tools and urns were found inside the graves, although skeletal remains had been damaged due to the tid http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21398 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21398 Defying the Obama administration, the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to remove from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracking non-U.S. citizens in anti-terrorism investigations. The committee, dominated by Democratic liberals, also voted to amend the anti-terrorism law to curb the government's surveillance and records-seizure powers. The bill went to the full House on a 16-10 vote a http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21397 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21397 “More of this is true than you would believe,” we’re told, just a few minutes into the movie version of The Men Who Stare At Goats, which opens today. But how many of the film’s outlandish military research projects really happened? Turns out there’s plenty of material in the movie which sticks quite close to the truth — though reality is a bit more complicated. (Warning: minor spoilers ahead.) http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21396 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21396 While many think of Halloween as a day mainly for kids dressing up as ghosts, goblins and witches, for practitioners of witchcraft, Oct. 31 also is a special time of year. "It is kind of considered the witches' new year," Psyche North Torok said from her Clintonville magical resource store, Fly-By-Night. "It is a time when it is considered that the worlds between the living and the dead are http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21395 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21395 President Obama said Thursday that the federal government was guilty of mistreating Native Americans in the past and promised to forge a new relationship between the federal government and tribal leaders. "You deserve to have a voice," Obama told representatives of 386 tribes at a White House Tribal Nations Conference. "You will not be forgotten as long as I'm in this White House." Obama sig http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21394 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21394 At least one U.S. soldier opened fire Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others, military officials said. One gunman was shot to death, and two other soldiers were in custody, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone told reporters. It was not immediately known whether the victims were all soldiers or civilians, but Cone said at least one of those killed was a civilian police officer and http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21393 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21393 Hallowe'en, as we know it now, is a fake. It was imported from America in the 1980s, which is when British children found out from the film ET (1982) how to go about trick-or-treat. It may not be long ago, but it is long enough to seem immemorial to anyone under 30. To them, Tesco's Hallowe'en Frankenstein cake or Asda's "Bride of Chuckie's very own recipe for Creepy Cupcakes" seem just like the c http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21392 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21392 Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads — and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement — for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate. Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters' rejection of a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed, depicting it as a warning shot th http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21391 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21391 A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said today in what is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline in the United States. The domestic shorthaired cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets — on http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21390 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21390 Just days before the annual Veterans Day parade in Homestead, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) group announced on Wednesday that the Confederate battle flag has been banned from the event. Political observers say the long-simmering feud over the Confederate flag issue contributed to the ouster of Mayor Lynda Bell and three council members from office in Tuesday's election. Officials wi http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21389 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21389 Four Amish leaders in southwest Missouri who chose to "shun" an accused child molester in their community rather than report him to authorities were charged Tuesday with failing to report the sexual abuse. Webster County prosecutor Danette Padgett said all four are bishops and face one misdemeanor count each of failure to report child abuse as a mandatory reporter. Under Missouri law, people http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21388 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21388 Motorists along one of Lakeland's major thoroughfares are being greeted with a billboard asking a provocative question: "Don't believe in God?" Then there's the answer: "You are not alone." The billboard went up Sunday on eastbound Memorial Boulevard near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, making Lakeland the second Florida city to have a billboard sponsored by an atheist organization. The bo http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21387 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21387 Some Hindus and yoga instructors say yoga has religious or spiritual aspects and shouldn't be subject to a Missouri sales tax that applies to recreation. The Missouri Department of Revenue sent letters to 140 yoga and Pilates centers on Oct. 13, telling them they must collect sales tax on fees for their classes. http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21386 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21386 A few weeks ago, Trudie Lamb-Richmond was leading a school group through the Mashantucket Pequot Museum when a question from one of the kids brought her up short. As she often does at this time of year, Richmond was explaining the origins of Thanksgiving from a Native American point of view — how the so-called “First Thanksgiving” was actually part of a much larger cycle of Native American than http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21385 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21385 Holy Tyr! Queens voters made American history tonight, when they chose Dan Halloran as the nation's first openly heathen elected official. Halloran will serve as the City Council member from the 19th district, representing Bayside, Auburndale and part of Flushing. He and Kevin Kim were involved in a bruising campaign to the finish, which included many religious and racial fights and allegations http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21384 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21384 On a recent dark night, under the half-light of a waxing moon, gusty winds swept through Tucson. At the Splinter Brothers and Sisters Warehouse studios, just east of the railroad tracks, a chain-link fence rattled in the breeze. Every once in a while, a train whistle wailed. The weather had shifted, with October's balmy Indian summer suddenly giving way to a wintry chill. Ghostly November wa http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21383 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21383 Each year on Oct. 31, many Americans re-designate their homes, workplaces and learning environments as spooky places, in the spirit of Halloween. They suddenly embrace creepy concepts such as ghosts, zombies, witches and anything else of a supernatural nature. It’s a tradition that resonates with the relegation of death to the realm of horror and fright. Now venture south of the border to Mexic http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21382 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21382 It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that every self-respecting country house is in need of a ghost. Sceptic and believer are both in happy agreement on this point. And if owners and guides are to be believed, they are very rarely disappointed: the ghostless stately home or castle seems a great rarity. But what is the history of these familiar and much-beloved spectres? Did our Tudor forebears http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21381 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21381 A celebration of colour, spiritualism and ritual was held at a farm near Thetford as a pagan couple tied the knot. Leigh English and her husband Peter Stimpson wed in front of family and friends according to pagan tradition and will follow with a civil ceremony to legalise the occasion. The service was held outdoors in front of a priestess at J Trump Game Farm on Park Road in Coney Weston