Posts Tagged ‘Haunted’

Ivy Cliff Plantation Investigation

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Ivy Cliff began as a modest two story home built in the 1790′s by Henry Brown In Bedford County VA near the town of New London. There were at least four additions through the 1860′s. Henry became very wealthy through business and land ownership and eventually owned approximately 3400 acres including Ivy Cliff. He served in the militia during the revolutionary war, was wounded at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, N.C., and eventually made captain many years after the war. Henry served as President of the Board of Trustees of New London Academy, Sheriff of Bedford County, and county tax collector. He even collected taxes from his neighbor, Thomas Jefferson.

Henry Brown’s descendants were activly involved in politics throughout the 1800′s and his grandson, Colo. John Thompson Brown died at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. JTB’s Frock coat he died in has survived all these years and was sold at auction in 2007 for over $100,000! Brown descendants lived at Ivy Cliff until 1923 when the house was sold at auction to the Miles family who lived here until 2005.

Today, Ivy Cliff is comprised of 17 acres, original chicken and carrier pigeon coup, corn crib, servants cabin, water well, early 20th century cow barn, tobacco barn, and chick brooding pen. Since Jefferson was a neighbor, It is the belief of some architectural historians that the triple hung windows were designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend!

Lisa

News & Submissions 5/22/2012

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

News:

As long as the grass grows and the poverty shows
During the election cycle we tend to ask: What does America mean; where are we going? And then someone decides to check on the Indians to find out the answer, as though Indians represent America’s soul hidden in the attic. And of course politicians have long stood next to their “souls” and posed for pictures on the campaign trail.
Within the last year, Diane Sawyer and “20/20″ did a special on the sorry conditions at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and the New Yorker featured a grim photo essay on Pine Ridge too. The New York Times published a piece on brutal crime at the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and another on the deep financial problems at Foxwoods, the Pequot-owned “world’s largest” casino in Connecticut. Indians make the news, but the news isn’t really news, it’s just a way for the country take its temperature. Read full story from latimes.com

Indian Benefits: Misnomer and Propaganda
Contrary to popular belief, especially among non-Natives, American Indians did not simply relinquish their rights to lands, waters, and other natural resources. Indeed, as a result of historic negotiations and treaties between the U.S. government and tribal nations, federal agencies are obligated to provide specific rights, services, and protections as payment for the basic wholesale exchange of the land mass of the United States.

Misnomer—the use of a wrong or unsuitable term to describe something.

The United States contractually owes tribal nations. “Indian benefits” is a misnomer for the debt owed to Native peoples. The federal government pledged through laws and treaties to compensate for land exchanges accomplished through the forced removal of tribal nations from their original homelands. Unfortunately, payment is commonly expressed as “benefits.” This term—benefits—implies giving assistance, subsidy, or even charity, rather than deserved reimbursement. The Department of Interior even describes the obligated recompense for American Indians as benefits on its webpage. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Religion:

Catholic groups sue over federal contraception mandate
(CNN) – The University of Notre Dame and “a diverse group of plaintiffs” filed lawsuits Monday challenging the federal mandate that religious employers offer health insurance that includes coverage of contraceptives and birth control services, Notre Dame spokeswoman Shannon Chapla said.

The Notre Dame suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern Indiana, is one of a dozen filed Monday by 43 separate Catholic institutions in different federal courts around the United States, Chapla said.
The lawsuits are efforts to “vindicate the country’s constitutional and traditional commitments to religious freedom and pluralism,” Notre Dame law professor Richard W. Garnett said in a university statement. Read full story from cnn.com

Media:

Andy Gipson, Mississippi GOP Lawmaker: Gays Are Still Sinners, But I Don’t Want Them Dead (Source – huffingtonpost.com)

Truce between Obama and Romney on faith?
Washington (CNN)– A political truce may be brewing between the Obama and Romney campaigns on the issue of the candidates’ faith and religious practice.  An all-out war over such issues nearly erupted last week, but neither campaign would take up arms. Read full story from cnn.com

Local Pastor Calls For Death of ‘Queers & Homosexuals’ (Source: YouTube -catawbavalleynoh8)

Beautiful Minds: Richard Dawkins (Source: YouTube – Tr3Vel0cita)

Is there a difference between a religion and a cult? (Source: YouTube – Tr3Vel0cita)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

News & Submissions 4/26/2011

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Headlines:

Pagan Freedom Day 2011
An ancient pagan Greek historian and author Thucydides (460-404BCE) once wrote “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” It takes courage to publicly announce ‘I am Pagan’ in South Africa, but that’s exactly what Pagans do every year on Freedom Day.

In January 2004, this initiative was formally chartered as the Pagan Freedom Day Movement (PFDM). Since 2004 Pagans of every religious persuasion, including Witches, Wiccans, Druids, Asatruars and many others, have mingled and shared with other South Africans in celebration of their constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practice their own personal religions, and to gather openly with others of like mind, without fear of persecution or prejudice. Read full story from newstime.co.za

Archeology:

Archaeologists recover massive statue of one of ancient Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs
CAIRO — Archaeologists unearthed one of the largest statues found to date of a powerful ancient Egyptian pharaoh at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the country’s antiquities authority announced Tuesday.

The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a pair that flanked the northern entrance to the grand funerary temple on the west bank of the Nile that is currently the focus of a major excavation. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

Lost City Revealed Under Centuries of Jungle Growth
Hidden for centuries, the ancient Maya city of Holtun, or Head of Stone, is finally coming into focus.

Three-dimensional mapping has “erased” centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings, according to research presented earlier this month.

Though it’s long been known to locals that something—something big—is buried in this patch of Guatemalan rain forest, it’s only now that archaeologists are able to begin teasing out what exactly Head of Stone was.

Using GPS and electronic distance-measurement technology last year, the researchers plotted the locations and elevations of a seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com

Arts & Entertainment:

Spout About: Will “Thor” Inspire Neopaganism? Death to Body Swap Movies! Death of a “2001” Influence
Above is a cropped section of a “Thor” bus stop ad posted to BuzzFeed. You can see that someone has taped a religious flyer to it. Intentional? Is there a minor protest going on against the polytheistic themes of the upcoming comic book movie? Does “Thor” have a soundtrack consisting of Varg Vikernes and other infamous neopagan black metal bands? Is there any other reason for people to worry it preaches anti-Christian messages? I sincerely hope this is just a chance occurrence.

Still, apparently some people are seeing too much in a flashy, potentially campy summer blockbuster. Star Foster at the pagan blog Pantheon looks into why “Thor” matters. Remember how people were turned onto Wicca after seeing “The Craft”? Wait, did that really happen? I knew some Wiccans back in high school, but I can’t recall the movie being a huge influence. Anyway, Foster sees a similar thing occurring with “Thor” and neopaganism: Read full story from indiewire.com

News:

Rebuilding Japan’s disaster-hit towns may take a decade
TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) – The reconstruction of Japanese towns and cities devastated by a deadly earthquake and tsunami last month could take a decade, an advisory panel to the government tasked with coming up with a blueprint for rebuilding said on Tuesday.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which left a large swathe of Japan’s northeast in ruins, killed at least 13,000 people, forced about 130,000 into shelters and is estimated to have caused $300 billion worth of damage.

“The first three years would be needed for tasks like rebuilding roads and constructing temporary housing,” said Jun Iio of Japan’s Reconstruction Design Council, formed after the quake to advise the government’s rebuilding efforts. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

Paranormal:

THE STEYTLERVILLE MONSTER
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A monster plaguing the town of Steytlerville struck again over the Easter!

There were  two sightings of a terrifying shape-shifting monster reported over Easter in the province of Karoo in South Africa.

“Two men were walking near a tavern when they saw another man wearing a black jacket. One of the men, identified only as Nozipho, went up to the stranger and asked him, “What is your problem?” said Nelani.

When the stranger did not respond, Nozipho went closer and saw that the man had no head. The man then turned into a dog that was “very angry” and “as big as a cow”, Nelani said. Read full story from weeklyworldnews.com

‘Haunted Watauga County’ delves in N.C. withcraft folklore
“Haunted Watauga County” by Tim Bullard will be published by The History Press of Charleston in September.

Bullard, 55, is a Laurinburg, N.C., native with magazine and newspaper clips at his website www.timbullard.com. He is formerly a reporter, photographer and columnist at the North Myrtle Beach Times, as well as a former Morning News reporter.

“Haunted Watauga County” delves into the witchcraft that has been reported through folklore in the N.C. mountains. Read full story from tricities.com

Religion:

Coffee Shop Religion: Interfaith of the Everyday
I never learned much about religion until I started hanging out at Muddy Waters Coffee Shop on the corner of Lyndale and 24th in Uptown, Minneapolis.

I was raised to be a priestess (of Hinduism), grew up surrounded by world scripture and philosophy, and was taught by learned scholars and mystics. But my religious education didn’t really begin until I started talking — and listening — to other people from other ways of life. I had a great foundation but it had to evolve beyond what I could experience as an individual. Understanding is a journey, and it’s nice to have company if you can get it. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

KCET lot sold to Scientology
The Church of Scientology is has just bought a bigger pulpit.

The church has cut a deal to acquire the historic Los Feliz studio lot that has been home to pubcaster KCET-TV Los Angeles for the past 40 years. In a lengthy statement, the church said the deal allows it to “establish one of the most advanced centers used by religious broadcasters with the ability to harness 21st century broadcast technology and production power to deliver its message to the the largest international audience possible.” Read full story from variety.com

Sathya Sai Controversies and the Art of Guru Bashing
It is not uncommon now that for many Gurus, Rishis or Seers who have emerged from India, there has always been an unprecedented number of vicious attacks launched on them. These have come in the guise of slander, misquotes, false allegations and myriad smear campaigns.

Moreover it is interesting to note that most of these attackers often turn out to be either individuals who have been suffering from dysfunctional complexes or personality disorders, or pseudo spiritualists, fundamentalists and Christian missionaries working at religions conversion of Hindus, or self-appointed- rationalist experts with highly opinionated, insular theories or dishonest television reporters and interviewers sensationalizing and tarnishing the image of Hinduism and Hindu Gurus, keeping with the trend of unprofessional, ignorant reporting and the highly biased- ‘paid news syndrome’. Read full story from chakranews.com

Media:

Bill O’Reilly: Is There a Hell? (Source: YouTube – AtheistMediaBlog)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

News & Submissions 3/29/2011

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Headlines:

Witchcraft accusations and human rights abuses in Africa
Witch‐hunts have become epidemic throughout Africa. Although witch‐hunts have historically been viewed as gender specific, with a large percentage of victims still identified as elderly and solitary women, recent reports show that victims of witch‐hunts include both women and men of all ages. read full story from paganrightsalliance.org3

Events:

“GhostFest: Paranormal & Horror Convention” – The heads in charge couldn’t have picked a better place than Salem for this weekend’s GhostFest: Paranormal & Horror Convention, which kicks off tonight.

Archeology:

Archaeological research visualizes urban life in ancient cities
A new archaeological research project at the University of Kent, south England, will reconstruct urban life in cities such as Constantinople during a period of history that has long remained hidden from view.

Reconstructions of daily life in ancient Roman cities such as Pompeii are plentiful, thanks to centuries of archaeological research. But that is not the case for the later Roman or ‘late antique’ period (AD 300-650) that saw the long transition from the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages.

This is set to change now – thanks to a three-year project called ‘Visualising the Late Antique City’ – that will see the University’s Dr Luke Lavan, a lecturer in archaeology, leading a team studying artwork, excavated artefacts and the ruins of ancient cities from around the Mediterranean.  Although Constantinople is now obscured by modern development within what is now Istanbul, other sites in Turkey, Tunisia, and Italy are expected to reveal much of the urban landscape of the period. Read full story from pashorizons.com

Arts & Entertainment:

4 Reasons Why David Gordon Green’s Suspiria Remake Could Be Great
In between fielding questions about Natalie Portman’s thong bikini in Your Highness, director David Gordon Green confirmed that he hopes to remake Dario Argento’s horror classic Suspiria next. As someone who really likes horror movies, I’m usually somewhere between disheartened and furious each time Hollywood announces a remake of another one of my favorite 70’s films. But a remake of Suspiria actually has real potential. Read full story from movieline.com

‘Ghost Adventures’ crew to probe `Idol` mansion
Washington: The ‘Ghost Adventures’ crew believes there may be demonic activity inside the haunted ‘American Idol’ mansion and they want to investigate the place as soon as possible.

Zak Bagans, the lead investigator of the ‘Ghost Adventures Crew’, insisted the alleged paranormal activity inside the Beverly Hills mansion where the ‘A.I.’ finalists were staying sounds legit and “possibly demonic.” Read full story from zeenews.com

DVD Review: Devil’s Playground
Devil’s Playground is one of the best examples of a schizophrenic horror film I’ve seen lately – and I don’t mean this in a good way. It hovers between horror, action and movie of the week melodrama, switching in tone so fast that you’ll probably give yourself whiplash as you struggle to make it through the full 90 minutes. Read full story from brutalashell.com

Lifestyle & Religion:

How Can A Bunny Lay Eggs?
While the Easter bunny may play second fiddle to Santa Claus in the pantheon of holiday myths, the wiggly-nosed critter actually has deeper historic roots than ol’ St. Nick.

The Easter bunny’s origins predate Christianity, whereas Santa Claus came to popular attention in the 4th century. Like the Easter eggs it is said to circulate, the Easter Bunny is an icon of fertility. The arrival of spring on one hand is a symbol of renewed life for people, but it also is the mating season for rabbits and hares, and it’s the time when birds lay eggs. If you put that together with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you wind up mixing Easter with the Easter bunny. Read full story from krdo.com

Cambodia: where fear, magic and murder intertwine
BOMNOK, Cambodia — In the midday swelter of early hot season, Pah Eang shivered and walked into a mountainous forest she’d once visited every day. She said she was scared. She hadn’t been to this place, open and silent, in five months. Not since the killings and whispers of magic.

Pulling at her red sweatshirt, Pah dissolved into the Cardamom Mountains that ripple through western Cambodia, and began her search for a place that keeps this 22-year-old awake at night and plagues what’s left of her family. Her path wound deeper until everything was quiet and the only mark of humanity was a bamboo-thatched hut in a clearing so idyllic the savagery of what had occurred there was difficult to imagine.

Last September, Pah’s father and younger brother were killed around 1 a.m. in this hut. The father, Pheng Pah, 46, was stabbed to death while his son, Pah Broh, 15, had his throat slit. When the bodies were discovered the next morning, some villagers in this deeply rural community 25 miles from a paved road rejoiced. They said the father and son were “sorcerers” and had deserved to die. Read full story from globalpost.com

The Episcopal Church:The Way of Balaam
Manchester Cathedral to host tarot card readers and healers at ‘new age’ festival screamed a headline in a British broadsheet. The cathedral will also feature crystal healers and ‘dream interpretation’.

Fortune tellers, meditation experts and traditional healers will fill the pews during the day-long festival in May. The Bishop of Manchester, Rt. Rev Nigel McCulloch, said he wanted to celebrate ‘all forms of spirituality’. Bishop Nigel said the unconventional activities are not incompatible with Christian belief. Read full story from virtueonline.com

Gingrich fears ‘atheist country … dominated by radical Islamists’
Hours after declaring Sunday that he expects to be running for president within a month, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he’s worried the United States could be “a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists,” in the foreseeable future, according to Politico. Read full story from cnn.com

News:

BP managers could face manslaughter charges over Gulf oil spill
The US authorities are considering charging BP managers with manslaughter after decisions they made before the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion last year killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in US history.

Sources close to the process told Bloomberg that investigators were also examining whether BP’s executives, including former chief executive Tony Hayward, made statements that were at odds with what they knew during congressional hearings last year. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Paranormal:

County’s Paranormal Society explores haunted hotel
Could Sonoma State be haunted? You should ask our own team of ghost adventurers, the Sonoma County Paranormal Society (SCPS) headed by Lead Investigator, Sonoma State sophomore and Environmental Studies and Planning major Joshua Goudy and friends. The SCPS spend their free time studying locations rumored to be haunted for proof of life after death.

Goudy and his crew will be visiting the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley, Calif. on Tues, April 12., a location famous for multiple instances of paranormal encounters.

The SCPS is made of a core group of five students of both Sonoma State and the Santa Rosa Junior College with a common interest and the desire to share experiences in their studies of paranormal activity. Read full story from sonomastatestar.com

Science:

Lost in Triangulation: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mathematical Slip-Up
Artist, inventor and philosopher Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was without a doubt a genius. Yet, there is some criticism. In his book 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance (William Morrow, 2008) British author and retired submarine commander Gavin Menzies claims that da Vinci swiped most of his ideas from the Chinese. Menzies’s theory was poorly received by the world of science. Besides, isn’t da Vinci’s brilliance beyond question? Definitely, but the Dutch mathematician and artist Rinus Roelofs did find an error in one of the Renaissance man‘s drawings. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

Media:

FLDS Church elder moves to replace Warren Jeffs (Source: Youtube – ksltube)

Blogspot:

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

News & Submissions 11/22/2010

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Thanksgiving symbolizes Native generosity and kindness
VERONA, N.Y. – When the first immigrants from Europe arrived on the North American shores, they were homeless and hungry. They survived thanks to the generosity and kindness of Native peoples, who helped them through the first brutal northeastern winter and shared traditional methods of agriculture that would sustain them through future seasons.

That tradition of hospitality and help is replayed throughout Indian country during the Thanksgiving season in various acts of kindness by tribal nations. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

My Take: My top 3 books for the hotel nightstand
If you have ever contemplated being stranded in a hotel room without electricity, you might be happy to hear that the Gideon’s ubiquitous nightstand Bibles are no longer your only reading option. For some time, many Marriott Hotels have featured copies of the Book of Mormon, and, now, according to Kate Shellnutt at the Houston Chronicle, Hare Krishnas have placed roughly 7,000 copies of the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita in 100 Houston-area hotel rooms. Read full story from cnn.com

Banned medic vows to fight GMC ‘witch-hunt’
WHEN Doctor Sarah Myhill first began treating sufferers of ME and chronic fatigue syndrome, she saw herself as a pioneer – changing the lives of hundreds of patients who had nowhere else to turn.

But now, banned from practising medicine and under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) for posing a risk to patients’ health, Dr Myhill says her life has been engulfed by legal battles and her ongoing fight to clear her name. Read full story from walesonline.co.uk

Hundreds gather for interfaith Thanksgiving celebration
Members of more than a dozen religious organizations gathered in Central Austin on Sunday in advance of Thanksgiving to show their appreciation for one another.

People packed into University Baptist Church near the University of Texas during a nearly two-hour ceremony that featured prayers and songs from different religions. Read full story from statesman.com

Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims
At 18 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K., researchers have suspended pictures, face up, from the ceilings in emergency-care areas. The reason: to test whether patients brought back to life after cardiac arrest can recall seeing the images during an out-of-body experience.

People who have these near-death experiences often describe leaving their bodies and watching themselves being resuscitated from above, but verifying such accounts is difficult. The images would be visible only to people who had done that. Read full story from wsj.com

Ancient Roman bath found in Jerusalem
Jerusalem – Israeli archaeologists have uncovered a 1 800-year-old bathing pool which proves that Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city built after the destruction of Jerusalem, was larger than thought, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday. Read full story from news24.com

Secret chamber in National Library
KOLKATA: National Library has always been reputed to haunted. Now, here is a really eerie secret. A mysterious room has been discovered in the 250-year-old building a room that no one knew about and no one can enter because it seems to have no opening of kind, not even trapdoors.

The chamber has lain untouched for over two centuries. Wonder what secrets it holds. The archaeologists who discovered it have no clue either, their theories range from a torture chamber, or a sealed tomb for an unfortunate soul or the most favoured of all a treasure room. Some say they wouldn’t be surprised if both skeletons and jewels tumble out of the secret room. Read full story from indiatimes.com

Tiger Extinction: Tigers Could Be Extinct In 12 Years If Unprotected
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching, global wildlife experts told a “tiger summit” Sunday.

The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, a dramatic plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Arguments to take place in Oklahoma over ban on Islamic law in courts
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on a temporary restraining order against an Oklahoma referendum that would ban the use of Islamic religious law in state courts.

Oklahoma voters approved the amendment during the November elections by a 7-3 ratio. But the Council on American-Islamic Relations challenged the measure as a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order November 8 that will keep state election officials from certifying that vote Read full story from cnn.com

Are Some People Not Fit to Be Vegans?
What to eat? It’s still a touchy subject, and posts about food choices here at TreeHugger tend to draw (at best) sprited debate and at worst, heated ire. So here’s more fuel for the fire – dedicated vegan food blogger Tasha at the Voracious Vegan has turned her back on 3.5 years of veganism, drawing support but also ire from her readers. Some people say veganism doesn’t meet the nutritional needs (especially for B-12) of its practitioners. Others, including medical expert Dean Ornish, swear that a low-fat plant-based diet is better for the body and for the planet. Read full story from treehugger.com

A prayer for Fido: Pet lovers flock to Danvers church for monthly service with pets
DANVERS — The Rev. Thea Keith-Lucas began last night’s service at Calvary Episcopal Church in Danvers with an important public service announcement.

“Don’t be afraid if your friend needs to walk around or talk during the service,” she told the two dozen-or-so people and their canine friends.

On cue, in walked Addy, a Chinese crested powderpuff, with her owner, Lis Carey of Lawrence. Instantly, the room erupted in a chorus of barks, as suddenly-alert mutts looked around, angling to get a good glimpse or sniff of the late arrival. When order was restored, Keith-Lucas resumed. Read full story from Salemnews.com

Recent Discoveries Shed Light On Ancient Human Migration & Sport
In 2009, the Norwegian research magazine ‘Apollon’ reported that archaeologists had discovered a 70,000 year old religious site in the remote region of Ngamiland, Botswana. In the year since the announcement, little follow-up discussion and speculation has been undertaken despite the fact the discovery is both profound and history changing.

This discovery can not be underestimated, for not only does it shed new light on the mankind’s earliest religion but also on early human migration, biblical accounts in the Book of Genesis, as well as the historic significance of ancient stick and ball sports. The Ngamiland discovery is the first solid evidence of the ‘Serpent Religion’ being practiced by early man 30,000 years before similar sites appear in Europe and the Near East. In addition, it adds new fuel to the on-going debate on pre-Columbian New World civilizations and their ancient links to Africa and the Mediterranean. Read full story from boxscorenews.com

Public apology to Natives overdue
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – President Barack Obama will be asked – again – for a formal and public apology to Indian country on behalf of the U.S. government for past atrocities, said Don Coyhis, whose White Bison Inc. made a cross-country trek in 2009 fruitlessly seeking such an acknowledgment.

Instead, Coyhis noted, the president issued an “Apology to Native Peoples of the United States” last December that was buried in the Defense Appropriations Act and was “never properly presented to Native Americans and to the American people.”

The apology said, in part, that the U.S. through Congress, “recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the federal government regarding Indian tribes.” Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Islamic community center developer seeks federal funding
The developer behind the controversial Islamic community center and mosque planned for Lower Manhattan has requested federal funding through the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to support the project known as Park51.

The funding would come from money the Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated to help rebuild the neighborhood after the 9/11 attacks.  “Park51 has applied for a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grant,” said Sharif El-Gamal, CEO of SOHO Properties, the developer behind the Islamic center. Read full story from cnn.com

News & Submissions 11/8/2009

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Tibetans delighted with Dalai Lama’s Tawang visit
Dharamsala, Nov. 8 (ANI): Tibetans living in-exile in Dharamsala on Sunday expressed delight over the Dalai Lama’s Arunachal Pradesh visit. Read full story from Thaindian.com

Paganism – supernatural or naturalistic?
People who identify as pagans don’t all believe the same things. Some believe literally that gods or spirits exists, that elaborate ritual is critically important, or that magick can achieve real effects outside of the user’s natural reach. Most books on pagan beliefs and practices belong in this “supernatural pagan” category. This approach is accompanied by a whole panoply of products and paraphernalia, from crystals and cauldrons to chalices, daggers and tarot cards. Read full story from Pantheism.net

Pagan spiritual counseling available for Pagans stressed by the Fort Hood tragedy
A team of Pagan spiritual counselors has been formed by Circle Sanctuary to provide free telephone counseling support this month for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, Pantheists, and other Nature religion practitioners distressed by the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas this past Thursday. Read full story from The Examiner

Haunted
We are all haunted this time of year. Haunted by what hasn’t been done and what has been done, by spirits seen and unseen, by perceptions of who we are that stare back at us from the mirror. Read full story from The Village Witch