Any experts on iconography or symbolism out there?

Ed. here. Walt is making me crazy! We need some help identifying this symbol.

The design consists of two crossed scythes (?) surrounded by a laurel wreath. The small circle at top might represent the sun.

It appears to be a political symbol, a simplified coat of arms, or a government logo of some kind, and was seen in a repeated pattern on a cement wall, painted in blue on a lighter blue background. But where? Walt's guess is somewhere, possibly a Communist or formerly Communist country, in eastern Europe or central Asia.

A thorough search on Google and even Bing turns up a couple of remotely similar images, but nothing exact. If anyone can shed more light on it, please do so using the comment window which appears when you click on the headline.

By the way, before I forget: The answer to the trivia question in our previous post is: Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. 

Satanists (or Freemasons?) want to give back to New York community

Agent 3 has just sent us a link to a story published in Canada [not in the USA? Ed.] by the QMI Agency. Here's the headline (and the link): Highway to hell? Satanists want to adopt a New York highway. We'll come to the story in a minute, but want you to have a look at the picture QMI chose to print right under the headline.

According to the newspaper, this is a screenshot from the video produced by the Satanic Temple to "promote a message of Satanic civic pride and social responsibility." Hmm.

Where have we seen this image before? Have a look in your wallet. There... on the other side of the engraving of George Washington. (A "temple" where George rests, at Alexandria VA, is adorned with a similar symbol.) Yes, that's right. By the Compass and by the Square, it's the "all-seeing eye" -- one of the chief symbols of Freemasonry!

Does that mean there's some connection between Freemasonry and Satanism? The Church has always said so, although She doesn't mention it much these days, which tells ye all ye need to know about who runs the Vatican. According to the commandments of the traditional (pre-Vatican II) Church, no Catholic may belong to the Masons or any other secret society. Len is pretty sure that would include the Satanic Temple.

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's the rest of the story, from the QMI/Sun newspapers.

The Satanists have set up an Indiegogo page to raise the $15,000 they need to adopt a stretch of New York highway for two years "by way of litter cleanup and landscaping". If they succeed, the Department of Transportation will have to put up a sign acknowledging The Satanic Temple as the adopters. "We call on all people to support the Satanic Temple in this effort to engage their community in a positive, productive manner," the [Satanists] said.

To drum up awareness for the campaign, the church performed a "pink mass" on Sunday over the grave of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr.'s mother. The ritual, which involves chants and gay makeouts over the grave, aims to make deceased's spirit turn homosexual.

The colours of politics - blue rising, red falling, except in the USA

Walt's morning was brightened by a headline this headline in the Globe and Mail: Blue tide of conservatism washing away last of Europe's leftists. If it were only true.

The article is illustrated by a Reuters photo of two Spanish election billboards, a blue one for the "centre-right" People's Party, and one for the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party -- naturally and obviously red.

Electoral maps of Formerly Great Britain are divided between the red Labour Party and the blue Conservatives. (The leftish Liberal Democrats are shown as yellow, and not without reason, but if I use yellow type you won't be able to read it.)

It's the same in Canada. You've got red Liberals (formerly known as the Natural Governing Party) and the blue Conservatives. (They're blue because they're usually out of power.) And it's the same in Formerly Great Britain.

Canada has a number of other parties, so uses a rainbow of other colours for the Green Party, the Bloc Québecois, and the New Democratic Party, although that last one should really be pink. And there are always a few independents.

And so it is throughout the word. Red = left/liberal. Blue = right/conservative. Except, of course, in the Excited States of America, where the Republicans are the Reds and the Democrats sing the Blues. How so? Are Americans dyslexic or is this just another example of American exceptionalism?

No matter. Walt has a red tie and a blue tie, so I'll choose whichever one is appropriate to my political mood and the country I happen to be in. I also have a club tie with alternating red and blue stripes, for the odd occasion when I can't make up my mind. [That would indeed be an odd occasion. Ed.]