Good news about a topic I find it hard to talk about.

The VA has finally approved putting a pentacle on military headstones. Article from MSNBC is here for those who want details.

And for proof positive, here is the official VA list for "Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers."

It's a small and somewhat deflating victory but having been on the witness stand and asked to defend Wicca after hearing it described as a cult, this makes me feel a little easier about thing.

Merda! Merda! Merda!

Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Abortion Procedure

By DAVID STOUT
Published: April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 18 — The Supreme Court narrowly upheld a federal law today banning a controversial abortion procedure, giving the anti-abortion movement one of its biggest legal victories in year

The justices ruled, 5 to 4, that a law passed by Congress in 2003 and signed by President Bush does not violate the Constitution by imposing an undue burden on a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. The majority said its ruling reflects the government’s "legitimate, substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life."

(read the rest at the link above)

Planned Parenthood had a few things to day about this.

Nagdabbit! The War on Women has begun once again. And this time Mom is too old to join the marches. I may have to do it for her.

Do not say the name Imus in my presence

It's not so much that I dislike what he said about the Rutgers women's basketball team. It's certainly not that it WAS the Rutgers women's basketball team. (My father, however, might have something different to say about that from wherever he is sitting around watching modern journalists and pundits make assholes out of themselves.)

But if anyone thinks the whole concept of hate speech will end by firing Don Imus, they are delusional. And the way this is being handled in the media, all the coverage and fanfare, leads me to think that is exactly how it's being played. Fire Imus=end hate speech. Translation, nothing Michael "Drooling" Savage says, nothing Rush Limpballs, nothing Billy Boy O'clammy says can be considered hate speech because......they fired Don Imus, dammit!

So now I'm avoiding watching the news at all just so I can avoid seeing more of the media's self-congratulatory analysis of the firing of Don Imus. If there's anything important in the news between now and, say, the end of next week, would someone please let me know? Thanks.

Oh, and AAR has cancelled Sam Seder's daily show. Life is just not getting any better, ya know?

Just sharing my own skepticism.

A Top Aide to the Attorney General Resigns

Uh huh... Here's the paragraph that made me realize how fictional it all is:

Ms. Goodling, who has been on leave as the Justice Department’s liaison to the White House, notified the Senate Judiciary Committee through her lawyer on March 26 that she would invoke her constitutional right not to testify in the panel’s inquiry about the dismissals — not because she had anything to hide, the lawyer said, but because she did not expect fair treatment in the current climate of political hostility.