Remarks: Dedication of Sgt. Patrick Stewart's Memorial Plaque
December 2, 2006
Calls for Freedom
In the words of Jacob Philip Rudin, "When we are dead, and people weep for us and grieve, let it be because we touched their lives with beauty and simplicity. Let it not be said that life was good to us, but, rather, that we were good to life."
Sgt. Patrick Stewart has touched the lives of all who assemble today in his honor. It can truly be said that Sgt. Patrick Stewart was "good to life." May his memorial plaque, the first government approved plaque in history to be engraved with a Pentacle, stand forever as a monument to Sgt. Patrick Stewart's goodness.
On behalf of Lady Liberty League and Covenant of the Goddess I would like to thank Governor Kenny Guinn of Nevada for the gift of this headstone.
This moment is precious but all too fleeting. The VA continues its refusal to add the Pentacle to its list of approved religious emblems for use on headstones, markers and plaques in veterans cemeteries.
On October 31, 2006, President George W. Bush acknowledged that, "All of America's veterans have placed our nations security before their own lives, creating a debt we can never repay."
Mr. President, it is within your power to attempt to repay the debt you feel can never be repaid.
Mr. President, you are our "Commander in Chief."
It is within your power to repay the thousands of Wiccan and Pagan veterans who have served in wars past and present.
It is within your power to repay those who have protected democracy and paid with their lives.
It is within your power to end the US Department of Veterans Affairs nine year long campaign of discrimination against the Wiccan religion.
Wiccan and Pagan soldiers deserve, in your own words, Mr. President, to "sleep in valor beneath this sacred ground."