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<\/a>Nine Things I Think is an irregular feature whenever I have a list of things I want to talk about that aren\u2019t long enough for their own individual posts.\u00a0 There\u2019s no theme, just nine things I want to bring to your attention.\u00a0 Feel free to expand on any of these topics in the comments section.<\/p>\n1) Last week\u2019s papal visit to the United States generated polarized comments from the Pagan community.\u00a0 Some Pagans love him<\/a> and point to his emphasis on the poor and the environment<\/a>.\u00a0 Others hate him and point to his refusal to consider ordaining women and to his backward views on gender, sexuality, and reproductive issues.<\/p>\n When Francis was elected pope two years ago, I said this<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Catholic church has a long tradition and an immense bureaucracy and like a large ocean liner it cannot be turned quickly \u2013 assuming it wants to turn at all. It is not reasonable to expect this pope to reform his church in the ways those of us on the liberal side of the religious spectrum would prefer. But there are things he can do within the bounds of traditional Catholicism that will make our world a better place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Francis has done exactly what I hoped he would do.\u00a0 He\u2019s brought his church from the 15th<\/sup> century into the 19th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 That\u2019s not enough, but it\u2019s progress, and I\u2019m happy for it.<\/p>\n As a Pagan, that\u2019s all I can expect.<\/p>\n 2) Volkswagen has been found to have manipulated engine programming<\/a> in order to pass emissions tests on their cars with diesel engines.\u00a0 When the car is operating in a way consistent with testing, the engine retunes itself to lower pollution, but at the cost of both performance and fuel economy.\u00a0 Under normal operations, these cars emit as much as 40 times more pollutants than allowed.<\/p>\n Almost all diesel engines use urea injection<\/a> to reduce emissions \u2013 VW was the exception.\u00a0 They managed to meet the requirements without it \u2013 that saved money for VW and for VW owners.\u00a0 Now we see how they did it.\u00a0 Fixing this is going to be expensive for VW and for owners, regardless of how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n When Cathy and I were in England in 2007, we had a diesel Golf for a rental car.\u00a0 Over a week of mostly highway driving, I got 47 MPG \u2013 and that\u2019s US gallons.\u00a0 My Prius only does a little better and the diesel Golf was a lot more fun to drive.\u00a0 I thought about getting a VW diesel last year, but the Prius has a much better reliability record.\u00a0 I\u2019m really, really glad I stayed with the Prius.<\/p>\n 3) Some of my libertarian friends like to rant against government regulation.\u00a0 This is a perfect example of why we need good regulations and strong enforcement.\u00a0 Left to the \u201cfree market\u201d VW and other auto makers would have continued to do like they did for years \u2013 dump harmful pollutants into the atmosphere at whatever rate they liked.\u00a0 As someone old enough to remember breathing before the Clean Air Act<\/a>, I\u2019m very glad we have environmental regulations.\u00a0 I just wish we had adequate regulations on carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also worked in corporate environments long enough to know that executives are very concerned about the costs on their books and completely unconcerned about the costs on anyone else\u2019s.\u00a0 If they can pollute and leave the cleanup and health costs to others, they will.<\/p>\n Fortunately, corporate executives live in mortal fear of bad publicity and are terrified of going to jail. \u00a0Regulations force them to include the public good in their decision making.<\/p>\n Kris, thank you so much.\u00a0 I love the pendant and it goes perfectly with my new robe.<\/p>\n 5) I\u2019ve been to the East Coast Gathering for five straight years.\u00a0 This year was the first time I made a side trip to Bushkill Falls, which is about a half hour south of the camp.\u00a0 Others have been talking about it for years \u2013 I don\u2019t know what took me so long, but I\u2019m glad I finally went.\u00a0 It really is a beautiful place.<\/p>\n Bushkill Falls bills itself as \u201cthe Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s nowhere near as large as Niagara, but it is a nice series of smaller falls.\u00a0 I had planned to spend about an hour there \u2013 Cynthia (who was traveling with me again) and I ended up going on a longer hike and being there for over two hours.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in the area, stop in and enjoy the falls.<\/p>\n River of Stars has big plans for future events.\u00a0 If you\u2019re an OBOD member within driving distance of Dallas, check out their Facebook page<\/a> and make plans to attend.<\/p>\n 7) Now that we\u2019re past Alban Elfed \/ Mabon \/ Autumn Equinox \/ pick your name, it\u2019s time to start thinking toward Samhain.\u00a0 If you\u2019re in the North Texas area, I encourage you to celebrate Samhain with Denton CUUPS<\/a>.\u00a0 We will honor the Gods, the ancestors, and the spirits of the land.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have an ancestors altar for your pictures and other mementos.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll walk the Spiral Labyrinth.<\/p>\n This is something we first did in 2011.\u00a0 It\u2019s beautiful and powerful.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a ton of work to set up and take down, which is part of why we haven\u2019t done it since.\u00a0 But it\u2019s time to do it again, and I\u2019ve been getting instructions on how to update the ritual, so we\u2019re doing it.<\/p>\n We usually have good weather for Samhain (except for 2013, when an unexpected thunderstorm ran us inside after we had already set up outside), so we expect to be outdoors.\u00a0 But if it rains, we\u2019ll move inside.\u00a0 Samhain goes on regardless of the weather.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be at Arlington UU<\/a> on Sunday, November 8.\u00a0 Services begin at 11:00 AM.\u00a0 Then on Sunday, November 22 I\u2019ll be at Pathways UU<\/a>.\u00a0 Their services begin at 10:00 AM.\u00a0 If you\u2019re in the area, please plan to come out and say hello.<\/p>\n 9) So John Boehner is going to resign as Speaker of the House.\u00a0 I\u2019m no fan of Boehner, but at least he tried to make government work.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping and praying the Republicans elect someone fairly moderate, but I suspect they\u2019re going to go for a Tea Partier who\u2019s spoiling to shut the government down.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a political liberal, and the older I get the more my views move toward socialism.\u00a0 But at the end of the day, I just want things to work.\u00a0 I\u2019m sick of elected officials who want to take their ball and go home because they can\u2019t get what they want.\u00a0 They love to talk about separation of powers, up until the Democrat in the White House keeps them from turning the country even farther right than it already is.<\/p>\n<\/a>4) It was very nice talking with Kristoffer Hughes at the East Coast Gathering<\/a>.\u00a0 Kris is loads of fun to hang out with, and I greatly appreciate drawing on his experience with the Anglesey Druid Order.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t expecting a gift.\u00a0 Kris found this pendant at the UK equivalent of a flea market from a seller named Beckett.\u00a0 That was a pretty good sign it needed to go to another Beckett in Texas.<\/p>\n<\/a>I complained about the entrance fee ($13.50), but once I got in I realized there\u2019s a lot of work and expense in maintaining the boardwalks.\u00a0 Without them, most people couldn\u2019t safely access the falls, and those who did would damage the land.<\/p>\n<\/a>6) This past Saturday I attended the first-ever Alban Elfed celebration of the River of Stars Druid Fellowship, an OBOD Seed Group.\u00a0 River of Stars is the first OBOD group in the entire state of Texas.\u00a0 We met at the Oak Cliff UU Church, performed the Light-Body exercise in the labyrinth, then held the ritual in a clearing in the walking trails.\u00a0 Other than the background noise you\u2019d never know you were in the city of Dallas.<\/p>\n<\/a>8) I\u2019ll be in the pulpit twice in November.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be speaking on \u201cWorshiping Fearsome Gods,\u201d an adaptation of the workshop I presented at Pagan Unity Fest<\/a>.\u00a0 The children\u2019s story will be \u201cCormac and the Silver Branch\u201d which I told around the campfire at the East Coast Gathering.<\/p>\n