Project X13

Religious Debate Embroils Turnpike Project

June 22, 2009

http://www.wftv.com/news/19820717/detail.html

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Florida's Turnpike officials and some residents in Boca Raton are clashing over a proposed SunPass interchange because of religious concerns.

Turnpike officials say Palmetto Park Road is the best location for a $119 million interchange to relieve congestion in the area. But residents who live near the road say an interchange there would impact the community's large population of Orthodox Jews, who walk on the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays.

Officials say the proposed interchange is part of a study to widen 10 miles of the turnpike in the populated corridor in north Broward County and south Palm Beach County. They say access to the turnpike is limited in that area.

A public hearing will be held in September.

I BUILT MY OWN PAGAN CIRCLE IN MY BACKYARD #3

It took a lot of the large cement blocks to make the Alter I had some old ones on the property and bought 18 of them, to make sure that the Alter was right height, and 6 bags of 40lbs of white play sand inside the Alter to keep the blocks stable, then I went to my local lowes which I had been buying the items for the circle at, and had planned on using red bricks for the top of the Alter but once I was there and saw the peach colored ones which turned out to be the same price I then went ahead and bought 30 of the peach colored ones instead of the red ones.

It really helps to have a good wheelbarrow and shovel I can tell you **** I have one of the two wheeled ones which can hold a lot of weight.. I also added a nice birdbath... on the bottom I added one bag of white play sand, & one bag of river rock, I also put two bags of white play sand and two bags of river rock under where the firepit is now

once I did all of those .. the next thing I did was to find out what are the Directions in the circle so I know where to place the alter in the North, and different designs I wanted for south, east and west, so I brought out a lantern that I have that has a compass on the top of and marked the area's, for North, South, East, and West.

then I went inside and drew up the designs and desided how large I wanted the circle and what I wanted to incorporate into it.

I desided that since our priest told me that there might be up too 13 people in the circle for yule and at times we have had a goodly amount in one.

(and watching the priest having problems with having enough room for himself and the priestess to move around by the alter at times),

As Pagans we are in a unique position of deciding what we believe without the need of orthodoxy and religious protocol. This leads me into the question what is. Where does religion start and what is the difference between Religion and Spirituality?

To me all religions have a form of Orthodoxy, even Pagan ones, look at Keneptic for instance a belief in the Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. In addition looking at other Pagan religions such as Wicca, many Wiccans are different but the common belief of Wicca is there one God and one Goddess. This shows us that censuses belief exists in all faiths.

Witches claim religious discrimination after church ban

A group of witches is claiming religious discrimination after church leaders banned them from using its social club.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5558521/Witches-clai...

Sandra Davis, High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron, was banned from hiring her local social club for her Pagan's group's Annual Witches Ball Photo: MENS
Sandra Davis - High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron - had reserved Our Lady's Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport for her Pagan group's Annual Witches' Ball.

But when she rang to make payment arrangements she was told the event could not be held there and - despite already having printed tickets - another venue must be found.

The Diocese of Shrewsbury have since confirmed witches are not 'compatible with the Catholic ethos'.

Sandra, 61, said: "I'm appalled.

Is Consumerism Consuming Us?

http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warming/blog/consumerism/

I spent the last semester studying abroad in Spain. I lived with a host-mother, and noticed that she didn't own anything plastic, and rarely used paper towels. Upon returning to the US, it struck me that we are simply wasteful in comparison to most other parts of the world. If everyone consumed as much as North Americans, we would need five planets to sustain our habits. We live in an insanely consumer-oriented society and many Americans don't think twice about using paper towels. But my host-mother in Spain thinks it's weird and unnecessary; as a result, she never has much garbage to take out at the end of the week. It's just a difference in how we are used to thinking.

White House Releases Disturbing Global Warming Report

The White House released a major scientific report today that should finally end any last lingering doubt about the extent of global warming.

Release of the report, a decade in the making, had been slowed by years of foot-dragging by the Bush administration.

Its message? Global warming is manmade. It’s irrefutable. And it’s occurring a lot faster than we thought, not only in remote polar regions, but throughout the fifty states.

Our broken food system and the American farm crisis
By Lenny Russo

http://www.startribune.com/yourvoices/47888547.html

Some time ago, I began researching the roots of what I consider to be our broken food system in an effort to understand how we ended up with a system that seems to benefit no one but a few very large and wealthy companies. It certainly doesn't benefit the American people who are the consumers and taxpayers most affected by our current farm policy.

It's not benefiting the small and mid size farmers who have suffered immeasurably during the ongoing farm crisis beginning in the 1980's.
With the growing number of starving people across the globe, we don't appear to be feeding the world as we are often told is the case. The increasing numbers of health problems associated with poor nutrition such as obesity and type-2 diabetes have dramatically risen in recent

NORTHERN VIRGINIA PAGAN PRIDE
DAY
SAVE THE
DATE!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Lee District Park
6601 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, Virginia

Mark your calendars and join us Third Annual
Northern Virginia Pagan Pride Day! Pagan Pride Day is an event that is held in
many cities and areas all over the world. These events are always open to the
public. The goal of these events is to bring non-pagans together with pagans to
explore what paganism is, as well as to bring together pagans with other pagans
in the area.

Some things to look forward for at
the 2009 NoVa PPD:

1. Food Drive: Attendees are
encouraged to bring a non-perishable canned food donation for a local non-profit
organization. We seek to share our abundant harvest with those in need.

2. Public Rituals: The cornerstone
of Pagan Pride Day is a public religious ceremony so that the community can come