...so little time. Let's see. How about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' refusal to allow the symbol of deceased Bronze Star recipient Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart's religion--Wicca--to be engraved on a memorial brass plaque in the Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Fernley, Nevada? For the whole story, check out this article in the Washington Post:Fallen Soldier Gets a Bronze Star But No Pagan StarThis is yet another obvious example of the current Reich's--excuse me, "regime's"--pandering to bigoted, hate-mongering fundamentalist Christians. The fallen serviceman's own former Unit Chaplain, United Church of Christ minister William Chrystal, says, "It's such a clear First Amendment issue, I can't even conceive of why they are not granting it, except for political reasons." You see, a lot of these folks who boycott The Da Vinci Code or The Omen or Harry Potter, and demand that The Passion be required viewing for all school children, still cling to the Oh-So-17th-Century view that Wiccans (who call themselves witches and sometimes warlocks or wizards) are "Satan Worshippers." To anyone who knows any Wiccans, this is pretty amusing, regardless of what you might think of that nebulous religion that is pretty much the only European remnant of what was once the dominant "religion" throughout the world, "animism." Of course, for fundamentalists, self-described witches are too juicy to pass up. After all, these peopleneedto have "Satan Worshippers" to (as it were) demonize. Because they attribute anything they don't like to the work of Satan, they lunge at any opportunity to "prove" Satan's existence through the (alleged) presence of Satan's Earthly minions. Hint to Fundamentalists: Check out the White House. That seems to be the current hang-out of many of Satan's most virulent minions. Oh, and take a look in the mirror, too. Sometimes what you're looking for is right under your nose.

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Matt Thorn

Department of Comics Production

Kyoto Seika University