Open Thread………………………………………………Wednesday, September 3

MoonHowler

queen anneQueen Anne’s Lace in all its simple elegance fills the Virginia landscape in mid-summer and fall.  Queen Anne’s Lace is actually a relative of the lowly carrot.  In fact, you can smell carrot when you pick this plant which grows wild pretty much everywhere.

When I was a kid, I used to stick a bloom or two in ink or food coloring to dye the lace.  I have long forgotten all the plant part names but I think I did learn a little something about how nutrients travel in the plant world by doing this simply kid trick.

Queen Anne’s Lace has other companions that hang out this time of year.  Black Eyed Susans are one such road-side wild flower.  What are other Virginia favorites?

Devil worshippers in Greece? No atheists need apply

MoonHowler

slate.com:

When last we left the town of Greece, New York, the Supreme Court had just blessed its legislative prayer policy, announcing that expressly sectarian prayer, which persisted over many years, prior to town council meetings does not violate the storied tradition of nonsectarian  legislative prayer and is therefore acceptable under the First Amendment. Since that sunny week in May, the town of Greece has been confronted by many well-meaning applicants from across the country, seeking a chance to be the legislative chaplain. This list of supplicants evidently included “someone who wanted to sacrifice a small animal, a man identifying himself as the devil, and a representative of a movement calling itself the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.” So great was the clamor to lead worship in Greece that the town decided last week to enact a formal, written prayer policy to determine who could lead prayers and who could not.

The Supreme Court has handed down some real bone-headed in the past view years.  The Greece decision is one such really stupid decisions, in my humble opinion.  Regardless of intent, when you must pray to participate in government, the government IS establishing a religion, albeit for a brief period of time.

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