Christmas Music, Trans-Siberian Orchestra Style

Alright, enough of RamaHanuKwanzMas. it's time to break out some real Christmas music!

For some strange reason, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra sticks out in my mind as one of the bands I learned about after I moved to Indiana. This is kind of odd as many of the bands I currently listen to I never learned about until after we left Michigan. But as far as "Indiana bands" go, TSO sticks out in my mind more than others.

TSO is better known for their Christmas music, and that's definitely what I know them for. So let's have some Christmas music, a la Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

TSO - Christmas Cannon Rock



Well, it was good until we hit the last minute and a half or so. (I prefer instrumental myself.) Let's move on to something better.

TSO - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo 12/24



In case you're wondering, the little "'Tis the season to be Jolly" bit they do at the end, well, I can tell it's not there, at least not in the mp3 version.

TSO - Queen of the Winter Night



For our last Christmas song for this blog, it's the classical Wizards in Winter a la Christmas lights. I think this is the original Christmas lights set to TSO music video, but I'm not completely sure. Either way, enjoy.



Merry Christmas!!

Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas!!

Let's make about 3% of the population mad! (Because liberals have no sense of humor.)

As most of you probably know, it's December. Even if you don't have a calender, chances are you have watched TV and seen a Christmas commercial, or gone to a store, or one of a dozen other things that will tell you one way or another, it's Christmas.

And this of course means that somewhere, some lunatic liberals is demanding that Christ be taken out of Christmas.

With that in mind, I give you Glenn Beck's Christmas classic, Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas.



Hat tip to Michelle Malkin for pointing this out to me, and others, about a year ago now. In the song, PC, of course, means politically correct.

Lyrics:

Have a RamaHanuKwanzMas, it's the PC time of year
Every holiday displayed because of morbid fear
Have a RamaHanuKwanzMas, yes we know the name is queer
But oh good golly can't offend nobody on (____)mas this year

Oh no the Eskimos need a holiday
We'll get right back to you
When we think up one for gays

Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas
What a time for winter cheer
But if you see a Christmas tree
You'll hear Christmas jeers

Screw you, ACLU for winning the twelve
Million in your lawsuit, versus Santa and his elves

Have a RamaHanuKwanzMas
And everyone must now adhere
So by golly don't hang up that holly
On (____)mas this year

{Yes, and no more sleigh bells either}

Well, with that out of the way, I return to celebrating Christmas. Everyone, have a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas Happy Holidays MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's Christmas Time!!

'Cause Christmas season kicks off on the day after Thanksgiving.

As you can see, I have decorated my blog for the season, as per last year. My winter/Christmas banner has been updated, as in the last one the snow and snowflakes were rather uneven. Also, this new version has special snowflakes dotting the I's in the blog name. Yay!

And all it took was about ten minutes of work in Microsoft paint and about the same amount of patience. Yes, I make all my own blog banners in MS paint. I start out with my basic template and then redesign as needed. A few bit of pointless trivia about the Dial R banners, if you're interested:

- The largest banner I've made thus far is the 9/11 banner.

- The 9/11 banner, along with the Easter banner, are the only two banners that don't have Dial R 4 Infinity anywhere on them. Technically, my election banners also don't have my blog name on them either, but since those banners are oneshot wonders, they don't really count.

I have also added my Christmas songs to the song list over there. If you haven't heard the Twelve Days of Christmas a la Relient K, you should go listen to it. You don't know what you're missing. That version of the Twelve Days of Christmas is amazing crazy but cool.

I do love decking this place out for Christmas. ^^ As much fun as decorating the house, not to mention a whole lot faster and easier to do.

Enjoy the music! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Let's see, what I thankful for...? Okay, that would take way too long to list, so I'll give you the shortened version. I'm thankful for...

- My country (GOD BLESS AMERICA!!)
- My family and friends
- My lovely blog (Go Blogger/blogspot!!)
- The word 'blog,' which today I am finding highly amusing
- FanFiction.Net
- Books
- My diabetic supplies
- My salvation
- Music

And that's just the short version. Time would fail to break down music or books, to tell about my pets and stories and so many other things.

Unlike Halloweeen, I don't have very many Thanksgiving songs to choose from, so like last year I'm going to use Petra's Thankful Heart and add a second petra song as something of a bonus.

Petra - Thankful Heart



Petra - Keneniah



Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! We have so much to be thankful for!

All Hail the Release of New Moon!

Attention all Twilight... haters. As you may or may not know, the second movie in the series in out tonight. And in honor of that I have collected these un-tributes for those of us who suffer from Bile Fascination caused by this book series.

Having read the first three books in the series, I am informed enough to know that this series is garbage. Jacob Black was a great character. Edward Cullen was a Mary Sue. This book has in me the strange effect that I've already mentioned, Bile Fascination. Follow the link for more info.

And here are the un-tributes. I'll explain my own feeling about Twilight after the tributes.

The Emo Vampire Song
Edward Cullen meets Sherlock Holmes
Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. Edward Cullen
Edward Cullen meets Dracula

I've told you a bit about my opinion of Twilight before, and now I think it ruined an entire genre of monsters. One day at the library I decided to check out the first book, and it was a somewhat decent book. The only problem was Edward, who except for the fact he wanted to kill was Bella, was perfect in every other way. Then there was New Moon, which do to Jacob Black, was fantastic. Jacob is a very cool character.

Then there was Eclipse, and for me that's where everything went sour. Edward comes back to Forks (It really is a darn shame the Volturi didn't kill him) and immediately tries to keep Bella from seeing Jacob anymore, because he claims young werewolves are dangerous. (And vampires aren't?) The irony in the whole situation is that in New Moon, Bella was liable to be killed by an evil vampire who was after her. Guess who prevented that? Yeah, the aforementioned 'dangerous werewolves.' So while Edward was in Florida being a self-made martyr, Jacob was keeping Bella from being killed. How's that for irony?

I can't wait to read Breaking Dawn. Yes, I do plan to read it someday. Enjoy the movie. As for me, I'll wait for the parody.

- T.A.R.N.S.

Excuse the Dust, Please

If your computer is like mine, or I should say if your Internet browser is like mine, it lets you run more then Internet page off the same browser, opening new pages in tabs. If you've visited my blog this way, you may notice that it looks like my blog is taking forever to load.

This is not the case.

If you've visited before, you might remember the three videos I had embedded in my green sidebar. These will no longer load. Everything else will, but not those videos. I have been expecting this for some time now. You might have noticed that the blogger staff has been cleaning out many, many old gadgets. I knew something was up when I went looking to put a fourth video in the blue sidebar, but the gadget was gone. This is going to be quite a pain to fix, but personally I'm not surprised.

So when you see that the page isn't loading, and that the two videos I've been trying to fix don't fit in the sidebar, don't worry, I'm working on it. Everything loads except for the PreCure All Stars video, All About Us. This one will be the hardest to fix because it consists of video clips instead of a stationary image.

And if anyone out there knows how to fit a video into these sidebars, please leave a comment and tell me what you know. Thank You!

THIS IS THE SOUND!!!

Several weeks ago, I was idly browsing through the CBD catalog, looking at books, which I love, when I turned a page and came across the Cd's page. Because I am a music junky, I took a minute to look at the different Cd's and point out he bands and singers I've heard before. Then a CD cover caught my eye. It was Switchfoot, with a new album, Hello Hurricane. I was excited - then I was thwarted, it wasn't out at the time.

Well, it's out now!! I heard part of one of the songs on a YouTube video the band put out, then again tonight on a commercial, for the Blackberry, I think. (Off subject, it's fun when you can go, hey I think I've heard that song before. Then they played one tiny lyrics clip right at the end, and I sat straight up and knew it was Switchfoot. But I digress.)

I came down to YouTube and found the song. And hey, I guessed the name almost right, it wasn't 'This is the Sound," but the name was "The Sound."

And if "The Sound" is anything to go by, this album is going to ROCK.



And here is the title track, Hello Hurricane.



What a shame I can't buy this CD until after Christmas. >.< Oh well, at least there's still YouTube. ^^

Turn up your speakers and enjoy, 'cause this is the sound!!

More Musings of a Numbers Symbol

TV Tropes

I was over TV Tropes today, which is where I go when I'm bored. Along the way, I stopped by the Injury Tropes, just out of curiosity, and read about Annoying Arrows. They said that bows and arrows went out of use because it's hard to learn a bow, and requires considerable strength to work. I wonder where the anime variations of a bow and arrow fit in. It is TV Tropes, after all.






About eight seconds into Cure Aqua's attack, if you look, it should seem like a bow. Incidentally, it's a lot easier to see in the movie previews. No, maybe it's not. That was an early preview; I see they didn't have Fresh Pretty Cure in that one.

Twilight

Let me see, what else can I ramble on about while I'm here? Oh yes. See this commercial for the Bing Search engine? You'll have to follow the link, the video is to wide for me to embed in my blog. That guy in the commercial is supposed to be a vampire. See how fast he's moving? Now, this really bother me, because I can't remember reading ANYWHERE in Dracula that vampires had the gift of superspeed. The only vampire story I've ever read that in is Twilight. And that really bothers me, because though I've decided that Twilight is an okay book series (Of course, I'm not counting Breaking Dawn when I say series,) I'm getting more and more annoying that that stupid book screwed up an entire genre of monsters!!!

- Unless I really, really missed something in Dracula, vampires don't have superspeed.

- Vampires don't sparkle in the sun. They die in the sun.

- Yes, in the book, the reason the Cullen family can't be out during the day is because they sparkle in sun, as opposed to dying. Are you freaking kidding me?

- My apologies. I just got back from TV Tropes (again), and they told me that in the book, Dracula could be out in the sun, he just couldn't use some of his powers. That's true. My bad. Either way, Twilight is still not excused.

- They're also immune to crosses, and probably (thought this hasn't been confirmed in the books yet, at least not that I've found) by extension, can't be repelled by garlic either, and can cast reflections in mirrors,which is in CLEAR CONTRADICTION to the greatest vampire of all times, DRACULA. Not. Edward. Cullen.

- Another thing thing that makes me very annoyed is this belief that vampires don't have to sleep, at any time, if you go by Twilight. So tell me, Edward, what did Dracula do in his coffin all day? Watch DVDs?

Now with all these other shows out there about or somehow involving vampires I have to wonder how many of them are taking their cues from Twilight. If a stupid commercial will take it from Twilight, well, I'm worried, about how everything else is doing vampires. I used to like Twilight, but I've read all but the last chapter of Eclipse, and anymore I'm just not impressed. That's okay. They tell me Breaking Dawn is worse. Some maybe I'll get a copy and see.

Winx Club

I've been watching Season 4, online because it hasn't been dubbed/mangled by 4Kids yet, and this season is nothing but sheer insanity. The girls get a new power up this season, which is to be expected; most magical girl shows do give their characters an upgrade when the new season starts. This season's model is called Believix, and is much better than the skimpy outfits of last season.

This has since descended into lunacy. The Believix comes with three different pairs of wings, interchangeable wings, at that. These are known as the Speedix, which is apparently supposed to give you a speed boost. Then there's Zoomix, which can let you teleport; never mind that Stella's scepter can do the same thing and we haven't seen that thing since Flora got her Enchantix in Season 3, and then there's Tracix, which is supposed to let you see into the past, or something stupid like that.

Well, as if all that wasn't enough, turns out, the girls actually get two more transformations this season. The first one, Sophix or Sophix or Solvix, no one's figured out the name yet, nearly put the Enchantix to shame for two of the girls, and the next one is actually an improvement, though it's still stupid, in my opinion. Way too many transformations. Oh well. At least their stripperiffic season 3 outfits are gone.

Comment Moderation

Why do I even have this turned on? It's not like I ever actually moderate any comments people leave for me. Then again, it'll be nice to have if I ever need it. I'll leave it for now, I guess.

Well, that's all for this round. Thanks for reading. Ciao!

Shining Star English Lyrics!

First, a video of the song we're talking about here. This is the song Shining Star. Pretty Cool, if I do say so myself.

The only problem is that there is no translation of the Japanese lyrics. You can trust that since it's a song from Pretty Cure, it's not going to be anything obscene, but it would still be nice to know what the lyrics of the song are.

Thank to Animelyrics.com, I got my hands on a copy of the Kanji lyrics and translated them through Yahoo's Babel Fish into English. Then I did my best to romanize them, and it didn't turn out so bad, at least in my opinion.

First, the rough translation. This is what it looked like when I picked it up from Babelfish, pre-romanization.

Shining star
Answer the heart teaches obtaining always

Don’t You Think? Being conspicuous conspicuously, the
From the star which is the sky east
It grasped suddenly with the darkness
You and desire is dazzling

The [te] It is dear the [se] without beat of that chest

Shining Star
While opening the eye, there is a dream which we would like to see
Shining star
Outer space of heart with being designed (the [so] and others), [ru] future
Pretty Pretty Cure, truth key
You search pretty pretty cure
Life shining two hearts!

Don’t You think? How it is being strong
There is also a day when it halts
That it is endless insecurity
Therefore fighting you are less crowded,

When moving, the courage which does not move.

Shining Star
The eye 瞑 (the [bu]) also the [tsu] [te] has shone
Shining star
Outer space of heart ([so] and others) So the vision which does not have the times when it goes out
Mirror of pre- pre- cure mystery
Pre- pre- cure what is projected
Dream flapping 2 hearts

Shining Star
Aiming towards where it continues to run (?!)
Shining Star
The heart teaches answering always
Pre- Pre- Cure Door of Miracle
Pre- Pre- Cure Someone you open
Love is not defeated 2 hearts!

It doesn't make very much sense this way, so here is the version that I romanized:

Shining Star!
The answer the heart teaches is obtaining always…

Don’t you think? Being conspicuous conspicuously, the
Star in the eastern sky
Grappled suddenly with the darkness
You and desire are dazzling…

It is dear, the beat of that chest,

Shining Star!
When opening our eyes, there is a dream we would like to see
Shining Star!
The outer space of our hearts is planned for the future
Pretty pretty cure, the key to truth!
You search for it, Pretty pretty cure!
A shining life, your two hearts!

Don’t you think? How it is being strong
There is also a day when everything halts
That it is endless insecurity
Therefore fighting you are less crowded,*

When moving, your courage does not move.

Shining Star!
The light in your eyes has shone!
Shining Star!
The space of your heart and others has a dream that never fails
Mirror the mystery of pretty pretty cure
Pretty Pretty cure is what is projected
Our dreams are flapping [on the wings of our] two hearts

Shining Star!
Aiming towards where it [our dreams] continues to run
Shining Star!
The heart teaches, answering always…
Pretty Pretty Cure, the doorway to miracles!
Pretty pretty Cure, (Someone you open)**
Love is not defeated, [we have the power of our] two hearts!

Some day, someone who can actually speak both Japanese and English will translate this song and we'll get a version that's a better. For now, this is my version.

The first asterisked line, "Therefore fighting you are less crowded," frankly, I had no idea what they were trying to say by that. Perhaps that by fighting you are freed from your fears? I don't know, so I just left the line alone.

The second asterisked line, "Someone you open" could have meant some power that you open, but I wasn't certain about that either. Therefore, I left that alone also.

Anyway, I hope the transformation was helpful!

The Meaning of 'Transparency' Was Lost in Translation

You know, when the Democrats (Which one was it? Obama about the White House or Pelosi about the House? Either way it doesn't matter.) promised to have the most transparent administration ever, I thought they meant that literally, like, oh, for example, with no sneaking around behind closed doors trying to hide what they're doing.

Well, this wasn't what I was thinking when I thought of transparency:

Transparency like you’ve never seen before

Today marks a major milestone in government transparency -- and an important lesson in the unintended consequences of such vigorous disclosure.

We previously announced that the White House in December of this year would -- for the first time in history -- begin posting all White House visitor records under the terms of our new voluntary disclosure policy. As part of that initiative, we also offered to look back at the records created before the announcement of the policy and answer specific requests for visitor records created earlier in the year.

So far we’ve processed 110 disclosure requests from September that yielded nearly 500 visitor records. All of these are now available on the White House website in accessible, searchable format for anyone to browse or download. Consistent with our earlier announcement that we will only release records 90 days or older, this first batch covers the period of time between January 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009. Future batches will be posted on an ongoing basis.

This is what you mean by transparency? Posting visitor records on the Internet? Are you freaking kidding me? When you said 'the most transparent administration eva,' most of us thought you were going to honest about what you doing up there on the hill. Not that you would post White House visitor records online.

I guess the meaning of 'transparency was lost in translation.

Mannheim Steamroller Does Halloween

Greetings, one and all, and Happy Halloween! This year I have more music, including some by Mannheim Steamroller. Yes, they are now doing Halloween music.

Mannheim Steamroller - Rock and Roll Graveyard



Mannheim Steamroller - Creatures of the Night



My apologies if you found the videos to be quite strange. I was looking for the best listening version, not necessarily the best video.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the music and the Monster Profiles. Have a safe & happy Halloween!

Monstrous Profiles - #3 - The Tengu

Onto number three! Special thanks to all my readers so far!

Before we got to the profile, I must apologize to everyone. I meant to have this up on Tuesday, but over the weekend I came down with a nasty ear infection, and that put me out of commission for the weekend. (And it was a such a nice weekend too!) Monday I went back to the doctor and got a couple of new prescriptions which really helped. Either way, I still missed school (having spent all morning in the doctor's office, 85% of it waiting to see the doctor) and didn't go to any of my other activities. Instead I got to rest. Tuesday afternoon I got dragged to Indianapolis for a school field trip and, since we got there too early, got to spend all afternoon there. So that's why I'm late.

Alright, enough of my excuses and/or life's story. Let's get to the monsters!!

Late one autumn afternoon, a man was travelling through a forest deep in the heart of Japan. As he climbed a hill, he noticed an enormous egg sitting off to the side of the trail. Curios, he headed over to take a closer look.

But as he approached the egg, three strange creatures swooped out of the trees, blocking his way and keeping him from the egg. The creatures seemed like humans, but the had birds beaks for mouth, and wings and tails on their backs.

The man had mistakenly walked into a tengu's nest.

Name: Tengu*, subdivided into Karasu-tengu and Hanadaka-tengu.
Location: Japan

Tengu are possibly one of the oldest creatures in Japanese mythology, having first appeared in legend between the sixth and eighth centuries. Since then, they have been everything from demons to minor deities in the Shinto religion of Japan. They are often seen as the protective spirits of mountains and forests.

Tengu are said to begin their lives by hatching out of giants eggs located deep in the mountain, despite the fact that they are almost always male. they are usually depicted wearing the pom-pommed sash and small black cap of a yamabushi, as the tengu later came to be associated with the mountain hermits. The creatures are also said to live mostly in Cryptomeria trees.

From The Obakemono Project:

The origins of the tengu are somewhat obscured. They may be ultimately descended from ancient native bird dieties, but they have most likely had some foreign influence as well. The name tengu is derived from the Chinese tian-gou, and both are written with the same characters. The tian-gou was also a mischievous, mountain-dwelling entity, and while tian-gou means "heavenly dog" (apparently a reference to the fiery tail of a certain meteor), its physical descriptions are various. How much the tengu take from their Chinese namesake is not entirely clear, but at least one source describes a tian-gou with a bird's beak and wings and tangled hair. The tengu's shape may have also been influenced by the Hindu/Buddhist eagle deity Garuda, or the owl-like Chinese thunder god Lei Gong, both of whom it also resembles.

Tengu are subdivided into two groups, the Karasu-tengu, and the Hanadaka-tengu. Karasu-tengu are the lesser tengu, who according to some sources actually serve the hanadaka-tengu. They are said to be a bit more birdlike, having birdlike feet and a bird's beak for a mouth. The hanadaka-tengu were a bit more humanoid, having a long nose in place of a beak and human feet on which they wear one-toothed geta sandals. The greatest of the hanadaka-tengu were known as O-tengu or Daitengu**, and they led clans of tengu. The greatest of the O-tengu was said to be Sōjōbō, and he is said to be king over all the tengu.

The creatures are said have magical straw or feather cloaks that turn the wearer invisible and posses either a magical feathered fan or a leaf of the Japanese Arlia plant. Both of these are called hauchiwa. From Obakemono:

The hauchiwa is used either as a device to alter the length of the tengu's nose (making him less obviously inhuman), or to produce a ferocious, hurricane-like wind. The latter use is not surprising, as tengu were supposedly descended from the furious storm god Susano-o-No-Mikoto.

That legend, according to Obakemono, goes as follows:

It is said that once the storm god Susano-o-No-Mikoto let his raging spirit build up inside him until, like a grotesque Athena, this princess deity [,the Ama-no-zako,] burst forth. She had a beastly head with long ears, nose, and fangs, the latter of which were so strong they could easily chew through steel blades, and she could fly for thousands of miles at a go. This ferocious female spirit is considered the ancestor of such creatures as Ama-no-jaku and the tengu.

Tengu are said to be arrogant creatures, but given their powers they may have a valid reason for this. They have many powers, including flight, shapeshifting, telepathy, teleportation, casting illusions, and creating hurricane-like winds. They are also very skilled in Martial arts and have been credited with training many ninja and samurai. Tengu are also said to be able to posses human hosts.

These creatures appear in many Japanese folktales, sometimes being easily tricked, but at other times helping people.

So if you ever visit Japan, be careful when travelling through forests and mountains. If you're disrespectful to the place, you might just find yourself attacked by a tengu protecting it's home.
_________________________________________

Footnotes: There was so much information about the tengu I had a hard time sifting through it to make this profile. More information about the tengu can be found on Wikipedia, and of course the main source I used here, The Obakemono Project, has a large article which you can see here. Over here is another article that was very informative. Bookmice, along with Wikipedia, both have summaries of Japanese legend about the tengu.

This site has a couple of little stories, and another thing I found interesting was that they claim that tengu are also responsible for causing the sound of trees crashing to the ground, when later none seem to have been cut. I found this to be rather interesting as over on the Wikipedia list of Japanese monsters, there is a thing called soraki-gaeshi which is described as "the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut." In theory, the soraki-gaeshi could probably be the work of the tengu, though I've never attempted to research it.

*Tengu means bird goblin in Japanese. **As another interesting fact, dai is a Japanese prefix that means great. O- is used to indicate respect.

Well, I'm all out of footnotes. If you made it this far, more power to you and thanks for reading.

Monstrous Profiles - #2 - The Banshee

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you profile number two, this time about the banshee.

It is late at night. You have returned to Ireland to visit your great-grandmother, is very ill and confined to bed. Despite the docto's best efforts, she seems to be only getting worse. The clock is slowly pushing it's way towards eleven p.m. (America time) as you sit there with your grandmother.

Suddenly, outside the window, you hear a strange wailing that chills your blood. The wails reach a shrieking crescendo loud enough to shatter glass.

If you hear these otherworldly shrieks, you've just encountered the banshee.

Name: Banshee, variations include Bean Shith and Lady of Death, among only a few others.
Location: Predominantly Ireland and Scotland.

This female spirit is best known for wailing around the house of someone who is about to die. The banshee can show up in multiple forms, including that of a hag but sometimes as a beautiful woman of any age the spirit chooses. She is sometimes said to show up as a washerwoman near a stream, washing the bloodstained clothes of the person who was about to die.

Traditionally, banshees were said to wail for only six Irish families, the O'Neills, the O'Gradys, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Learys, and the Kavanaghs; however, intermarriage, relatives, and descendants have all extended this list.

According to Associated Content, there are three types of cries the banshee emits:

The most distinctive feature of a banshee is her cry. Legend has it that she will wail around a house if someone in the family is about to die. The first night, only the one to die hears a series of low moans. They are warnings to get one's affairs in order.

The second night the family will hear her howling for an hour or more around midnight.

The third night the banshee comes and shrieks, with keening screeches that will break glass. Everyone in the vicinity knows that a death will occur that night. It is said that a banshee's wails will cause its hearers to break out in cold sweats and experience a great sense of fear.

It is possible that the legend of the banshee arose from a mixture of traditional Irish funeral customs and the peoples' belief in the supernatural. When a citizen in an Irish village died, a woman would sing or "keen" at the funeral. ... Possibly, the ritual and the superstition merged to create the legend of the banshee.

If more than one banshee is heard, it signals that a person of great importance is about to die.

According to some sources, there are two different types of banshees. The first is a friendly banshee.

A 'friendly Banshee' is one who in life, had strong ties to her family, and in death, felt the need to watch over them, and keep close to them. A friendly Banshee is not the horrible, scary thing we imagine. Banshees are rarely seen, but are said to at times show themselves. They are said to be seen as young, beautiful women, with pale faces, either black or golden hair, and long, flowing, white garments.

The song, because that is what it really is, of a friendly Banshee is sorrowful and longing. It is filled with love and concern for those she loves. It is a warning to her loved ones.

Then there is traditional banshee, a spirit that wails to warn of someone's impending death. But no matter whether the spirit is friend or foe, it still only appears to warn of death.

And to those of you with Irish ancestry, be warned. After all, the legends are vague on whether the spirit can travel from land to land. Who is to say that someday, you yourself won't hear a banshee?

Monstrous Profiles - #1 - The Wendigo

It's Halloween season. What better time to do a few profiles of monsters? (Human monsters not included.) First up, the Wendigo.

You are walking through a lovely forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan one evening. The sun is starting to go down and the shadows of the forest are growing.

It's getting dark and you don't want to get lost, so you turn and begin heading back towards your cabin; about a twenty minute walk away. Suddenly, in the woods behind you, you hear an otherworldly cry that make you writhe, and then in front of you appears the creature that made the cry. It is tall, and emaciated, with a mouth full of needle-like teeth, bloodstained lips, and hands and feet edged in sharp talons. It's eyes are glowing red as it shrieks again.

You take off running as fast as you can, hoping to escape from the creature, but it knows every rock and shrub in the forest, and to your horror, you can't escape it.

You've just met the Wendigo. For the first, and last time.

Name: Wendigo, variations include Wee-Tee-Go, Windigo, Witigo, Windago, Wihtikow, and many others.
Location: The upper U.S. and Canada.

The Wendigo is a creature of Native American design, most often seen among the Ojibwe/Chippewa, Cree, and Innu Indians. it is a cannibalistic being that was once a human, but became transformed into a monster after the person ate flesh of another human.

Descriptions of the creature tend to vary, but all of them agree that the monster is tall, thin, mean, and is always hungering for human flesh. By and far, the best article about this monster comes from Monstropedia:

The Wendigo is a purely anthropophagous beast, hungering for human flesh. It will go to any lengths to procure this food, no matter the risk or possibility of injury. The Wendigo craves human flesh and is constantly starving for it (indicated by the beast’s lean, wiry frame). The Wendigo is known to have its preferences: the sweet fat of children, the soft skin of women, the course muscles of men (especially warriors and hunters), or the brittle bones of the elderly. In preparation for long winters (when few travelers are out and about), the Wendigo will stash away large pots filled to the brim with human remains in the highest tree branches. On rare occasions, it will take humans alive and hide them away in its lair, allowing the beast to feed whenever it wants. The Wendigo is more intelligent than many humans, and thus understands the value of storing and saving its food. However, it will only resort to this when food is scarce and it becomes desperate.

Since the Wendigo constantly hungers for human flesh, it wreaks destruction in its pursuit of its chosen prey. It crashes through the forests, all the while uprooting trees, causing game animals to stampede, and causing whirlwinds. The monster is often thought to be the cause of ice storms, tornadoes, and violent winds. All of these weather-related phenomena are believed to signal the Wendigo’s presence.

When the Wendigo hunts, it stalks the victim for long periods. The chosen victim only has a dreadful feeling of being followed. However, the Wendigo has a sadistic streak. It prefers to terrify its victims before moving in for the kill. When it has had enough of stalking the victim, it lets out a growl or a shriek, which resonates through the forest and terrifies the beast’s prey. They panic, firing weapons haphazardly into the brush as the dense forest closes in on them. Eventually, the intended victim succumbs to insanity, running wildly into the forest with abandon. In such a state, they are easy prey for the Wendigo.

The Wendigo has been known to enter cabins and other dwelling, unlocking them from the outside and slaughtering the inhabitants, then proceeding to convert the cabin into its own lair. The Wendigo tends to hibernate for long periods, ranging in length from a few months to years at a time. Once they awaken, they go into a feeding frenzy, and after having eaten enough humans, it retreats to its lair and falls back into hibernation once again.

The Wendigo inhabits the forests of the Great Lakes and Canada. The dreaded Wendigo King lives near the Windigo River in Quebec. Kenora, Ontario is thought to be the “Wendigo Capital of the World” because so many sightings and incidents have taken place there, and it attracted Wendigoes originally because it used to be tribal grounds, with many Native American settlements scattered throughout the area. Most caves, gullies, and canyons in central Canada will provide shelter for the Wendigo.

A Wendigo is rumored to live in the Cave of the Wendigo, near Mameigwass Lake in northern Ontario. Any other area named after the Wendigo, such as Windigo River and Windigo Lake in Ontario, is bound to be inhabited by this monster as well.

The Wendigo has supernatural speed, strength, endurance, and senses. In knows every rock, tree, bush, and shrub of its territory. It can rip humans apart with ease, and moves faster than the human eye can see. All wounds inflicted on it heal quickly, except for those that, in a probable crossover with vampire legends, are inflicted by silver bullets and weapons. It is capable of surviving in harshest climates, and as mention before, has hearing, sight, and smell above and beyond that of a normal human. It is said to be able to see clearly in total darkness, and hear so well that it can hear it's victim's racing heart, which causes it to anticipate its meal that much more.

Besides sheer strength and animalistic ferocity, the Wendigo is armed with formidable array of weaponry: its dreaded claws and fangs. The beast’s ... talons are designed for ripping through flesh with the slightest touch, and one swipe from the Wendigo’s powerful claws can disembowel or decapitate a human. [Its] mouth is filled with long, needle-sharp fangs, made for slicing through flesh and sinew, as well as for breaking bones. The Wendigo’s fangs can easily puncture a human skull. Far from being a stupid beast, the Wendigo has a man’s intelligence and cunning, as well as the predatory instincts of an animal. ... The Wendigo uses this advantage to stalk its victims for hours on end, never being seen or heard unless the monster chooses to reveal itself by means of a growl or a shriek. There is no way to hide from the Wendigo, and it will not stop hunting until the victim’s broken, mutilated body lies at its clawed feet.

The Wendigo excels in stealth, and it is said that the Wendigo moves on the wind and breezes in utter silence. It can fill the air with an eerie, haunting siren by forcing the air through its blood-flecked lips. The Wendigo is able to mimic human voices, which are most often cries for help. The beast’s roar is utterly terrifying, and the fear it inspires cuts to the bone. When the freezing winds rise, it is said that the Wendigo’s howls can be distinguished from the moan of the wind, letting people nearby know that a monster lurks in their midst. For its prey, these warnings occur far too late to make any ... difference.

Among the Wendigo’s host of supernatural abilities, the Wendigo Fever is perhaps the most feared. It is a terrible curse, overtaking the mind and body of the unfortunate victim. The first symptom of the curse is a strange scent, detectable only to the intended victim. After absorbing this disturbing odor, the victim experiences a long night of weeping and horrifying nightmares. Upon awakening, the victim experiences a burning pain in the legs and feet, which becomes so intense that the victim runs into the forest, shrieking like a maniac, and discarding clothing and shoes all the while. Most of the curse’s victims never return, although those who do return are irrevocably insane from their experiences of the curse and the Wendigo itself. It is thought that most of the curse’s victims are devoured by the Wendigo.

The Wendigo, although a dire threat to mankind, shares a close kinship with the forest’s wildlife, mainly predatory animals (such as the wolf, bear, raven, or eagle). The beast willingly shares its kills with these companions, and these animals have been known to travel with the Wendigo.

As the Wendigo grows older, its powers over nature increase exponentially. The beast becomes a shaman, extremely adept in the dark arts. With this power, the Wendigo can manipulate the weather, creating storms of terrifying strength, and the beast can summon the midnight darkness hours before sunset. The Wendigo may summon dangerous beasts from the deepest, darkest reaches of the forest and command them to attack its enemies, traverse enormous distances in the blink of an eye, and heal any wounds instantaneously (although injuries inflicted by silver may take longer to heal).

So how can this monster be defeated? It is possible that the monster can be killed by a silver bullet. Fire will ward it off, though not for long.

In order to permanently destroy the Wendigo, one must first find the beast. The Great Lakes region and the forests of Canada are prime Wendigo territory. Beware, for the hunter may soon become the hunted. After finding and incapacitating the beast (no easy task, be assured), a silver stake must be driven through the Wendigo’s heart of ice, therefore shattering it. The shards of the Wendigo’s heart must be securely locked in a silver box and buried in consecrated ground (such as a churchyard or a cemetery).

The Wendigo’s body must then be dismembered with a silver-plated axe, and each piece of the body must be salted and burned to ashes (which must then be scattered to the four winds), or each piece must be hidden in some remote, inaccessible location (i.e. the bottom of a lake, a chasm, the sea floor, or a well). Failure to follow these procedures exactly will inevitably result in the Wendigo’s resurrection, followed by its bloody vengeance. It will hunt down its killer, relishing and anticipating the taste of the hunter’s blood in every single moment. Rest assured, the death that follows will be both slow and painful. The Wendigo will take great pleasure in every single bit of agony it inflicts on its killer before finishing the job and devouring the remains. Beware, as according to some legends, the Wendigo is indestructible.

According to legend, one becomes a wendigo if one consumes the flesh of another human. Once this happens, a malevolent spirit possess the cannibal, and they become a Wendigo. Dreaming about a wendigo is said to be bad sign, too.

So, to wrap up, the Wendigo is a terrifying, cannibalistic creature that is nearly impossible to escape. If you run into this creature and manage to get back with your life - and sanity - count yourself very, very lucky.

The First of Octember

Do you like the color changes? I'm trying to get a Halloween color scheme in here. I'm not certain how well it's working, though. I wonder if having that sidebar in purple is a little overbearing. Maybe I'll change it. Either way, it's nice because thanks to the default button, when Halloween's over, I can set my blog back to normal. Anyway, we'll see how long I can deal with this new color scheme before I change things back to normal.

I do love Halloween. Then again, I love most holidays, so what do I know?

You have probably noticed by now that my Halloween banner is back up. I didn't even bother to fight with Picasa this time; I just re-uploaded the thing. Stupid Picasa. -_-

I haven't been around to much lately. I used to spend every moment I could spare on the Internet. But lately I've been busy working on my stories (no, not my fanfictions. Real stories that I might be able to sell someday if I ever get a publisher - or a decent second draft.) So that's what I've been doing lately.

Man, I really don't know if I like this new color scheme. Hmm. Maybe I need more of a fall focus and less of a Halloween focus.

But on the other hand, I have November for that, too. I guess I'll give it a few days and see what happens from there.

EDIT: I have now changed some of the color scheme. The purple sidebar is been replaced with orange, and the second sidebar is back to normal. I definitely think this color scheme is better.

9/11 Wrapup & Update

Well now, what next? The Project 2,996 poster will be up until I find a smaller one to replace it with; I think I'll keep a link to it on my blog for awhile longer. I'm working on a smaller poster, though.

Remember that song I linked to last year for 9/11 that I couldn't remember in time for this year? I remembered what it was:



The song being played in background is Hands by Jewel. There's an imstrumental version over there in my song list, and you might be able to find an actual version of the song on YouTube.

In related news, PMSNBC is whining about the effects of the attack on Muslims. Then again, this is PMSNBC; this is probably very in-character for them.

Extra special thanks to everyone who read and commented on my Project 2,996 tribute. It was the first time I'd ever done this, but I hope to do it again in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Project 2,996 - Tribute - Christopher M. Colasanti

Name: Christopher M. Colasanti

Age: 33

Home: Hoboken, New Jersey, USA

Occupation: Bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald

Location: World Trade Center, North Tower

As I read through this article, I start to get a picture of who Christopher Colasanti was. In my mind, I can see him. He's a kind person, who loves his wife and two children, and who "enjoyed the contradictions in his personality and his life. "

...Christopher M. Colasanti smiled a lot during his 33 years, but the smile he saved for his two daughters always had something extra on it.

It was a look of quiet, contented amazement, like he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

"When he was around his girls, he just had that smile on his face all the time," said John Nulty, who grew up with Mr. Colasanti in South Orange. "You could tell he was having that perfect-moment feeling."

On Sept. 11, Mr. Colasanti kissed his wife, Kelly, and children, Cara, 4, and Lauren, 1, before catching an early train to arrive by 7:30 a.m. at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he worked as a bond trader on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower.

His plan was to get in early so he could return early to his family in Hoboken. Every night, he gave his girls a bath, then tucked them in.

"He put us first always," Kelly Colasanti said. "He was a great father. He had such a great relationship with both the girls."

Still, he was the guy who maintained ties with the mob of kids he grew up with on West End Avenue in South Orange; the guy who married his high school sweetheart, having met Kelly when they were juniors at Columbia High; the guy who made sure his friends from Dartmouth College got together for dinner several times a year.

He enjoyed the contradictions in his personality and his life.

He was a bow-legged, skinny, bespectacled kid who grew up to be athletic and captain of the high school soccer team and later a triathlete.

He loved playing golf, even though he was lousy at it. He rooted for sports teams that were mostly terrible, like the Nets and Jets, just so he could pull for an underdog.

He gave himself the tongue-in-cheek nickname "The Dominant Force" -- or "Dom" for short -- in the seventh grade, and it stuck with him into adulthood because it was so contrary to everything he was.

"We got along because we ripped each other so well," said John Lynch, his best friend from Dartmouth. "There wasn't anything about each other we wouldn't make fun of. He was just someone you looked forward to having around for a long time."

In addition to his wife and children, Mr Colasanti is survived by his father, Anthony, and two brothers, Gregory and Andrew.

Profile by Brad Parks published in THE STAR-LEDGER.

An aquaintance of Mr. Colasanti added these thoughts as a tribute:

Chris was one of my closest friends in Jr. High and early high school. He always knew how to have fun. He loved Kelly the minute he met her and although their time together was cut short, the love they shared must have been incredible. I pray for her happiness and the ability to move forward with life.

May the victims of 9/11, thier familes, and those who died trying to rescue them never be forgetten.

Rest in Peace, Christopher.

The First of September

Okay, so it's a little late for an update, but still, Here's what's been going on around Dial R.

People, what is the point of even having the stupid Picasa account if you can't link and insert the photos from your albums to your blog? Does anyone know a way around this, you know, other than finding a different image hoster? Changing banners has become a pain, and after the 9/11 one comes down, I have another for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Alas, enough of my ranting. Picasa is awful, but we'll have to do more on that later. I did finally get the 9/11 banner up ther, as you can see, and I put the finishing touches on my Project 2,996 tribute. I wish I didn't have to remember this...

It feels strange having that banner back out, but it'll have to do.

I don't have as many patriotic songs as I did last year. I couldn't find a decent copy of Toby Keith's 'Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue' and I skipped 'God Bless America' becuase I didn't think very much of the guy who sang it. Plus what I forgot what the fifth one was. -.-

Anyway, enjoy. As for me, I'm off to go do some house painting.

Things I find On YouTube

I'm embedding this over here until I can figure out what to do with it, not the least of which being who sings it and/or where it comes from. It could be from an anime by the sound of it, but I don't know. Sometimes it'd be really nice to know Japanese.




~2:56 p.m. Update!!~

Well, according to my online translater, the five Japanese characters mean 'prediction book of black,' whatever that's supposed to be. My second option says 'a black prediction book.' Strange. Well, nothing to do now but hit up Google, I guess.

About Gilad Shalit

See, it's good to spend time in the blogosphere. I'm learning things I'd never know otherwise.

This time it's about a man named Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity in Gaza since 2006. I can't imagine what his life must be like, and I'm not sure I really want to. From RonMossad.

Gilad Shalit.

Born, August 28th, 1986.

Sitting in captivity in some Gaza hell hole since June 25th, 2006. Meantime, this peice of work goes home to a hero's reception.

I hope we didn't miss our chance to get him back in time for his 23rd birthday. Speaking of which, what were you doing on your 23rd birthday? Or your 22nd? Or your 21st? Well I don't want to talk about my 21st and you probably don't either because like me you probably can't remember too much of it. Lots of fun these early-20's birthdays. Before you realize you're closer to 30 than 20. Or more than halfway to 50. Yikes.

It's a scary time in your life to be 23, you know?

But none of that really matters if every day you wake up in the basement of some nearly-collapsing house surrounded by people who want to nothing more than to see you suffer in the name of their insanity. Nope, no scary decisions necessary here. If they give you food today, you eat it. If they give you water today you drink it. If
they beat you today you nurse your wounds. If they don't, you wonder what they're planning tomorrow.

Everyday you wish it were over. But everyday it continues, same as the day before. Same as it ever was. How many days has it even been anyway? Is it your birthday today? If it was your birthday today, how old would you be? Does it matter? What should you do today in between dealing with your captors? Should you count how many bricks are in the wall again? Should you try to sleep? Will they let you sleep? Do you even remember what normal sleep feels like?

No, not much to decide here. Not much sense in obsessing over the future when you're Gilad Shalit...and it's been more than three years since you had to make a scary decision. No worries about the future or what to do with your life or if you should go out with that girl from last night again...when your entire life consists of just getting to the next hour without having your arm broken or face punched or your body violated. No scary decisions about the future, when the future is just your next breath. Or the next burst of pain. Or the next time you'll be able to chew your food.

Man it sure ain't easy being 23. For some though, it's easier than others.

It must be truly awful to be in his situation. May Gilad Shalit eventually find freedom - preferably sooner rather than later.

U.S. Marine vs. Democrat

Thank heaven for people like this Veteran. We could use more like him. Hat tip Transsylvania Phoenix:



In honor of this, I now have a new tag: patriotism. As for the video, it speaks for itself.

Obama to Patriotism: Why Don't You Just Drop Dead?

Now I'm really pissed. Word comes via Gateway Pundit that Obama has passed legislation to make 9/11 an empty holiday celebrating Marxist/socialist values instead of commemorating the victims who died. From the American Spectator:

The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.

This effort to reshape the American psyche has nothing to do with healing the nation and everything to do with easing the nation along in the ongoing radical transformation of America that President Obama promised during last year's election campaign. The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service, but it's not likely many lawmakers thought this meant that day was going to be turned into a celebration of ethanol, carbon emission controls, and radical community organizing.

The administration's plans were outlined in an Aug. 11 White House-sponsored teleconference call run by Obama ally Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, and Liv Havstad, the group's senior vice president of strategic partnerships and programs.

Yearwood, who uses the honorific "Reverend" before his name, has been in the news in recent years, usually for getting arrested. After Democrats took back Congress, the rowdy activist was handcuffed outside a congressional hearing in September 2007 when Gen. David Petraeus was to testify. Yearwood told the "Democracy Now" radio program that he wanted to attend the hearing to hear Petraeus give his report. "I knew that when officers lie, soldiers die," he said.

On the Aug. 11 call, Yearwood and other leaders kept saying repeatedly that they wanted 9/11 to be used for something "positive," "forward-leaning," and "productive," said a source with knowledge of the teleconference.

The plan is to turn a "day of fear" that helps Republicans into a day of activism called the National Day of Service that helps the left. In other words, nihilistic liberals are planning to drain 9/11 of all meaning.

A day of fear? How about a day when we remember the 3,000 people who died? Does that ever occur to you FREAKING IDIOTS?!?

Here's a force to blacklist, and wouldn't you know, OBAMACORN is on that list.

A coalition including the unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change and about 60 far-left, environmentalist, labor, and corporate shakedown groups participated in the call. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America.

Color of Change is the extremist racial grievance group that isn't happy that TV's Glenn Beck did several news packages on Van Jones, the self-described "communist" and "rowdy black nationalist" who became the president's green jobs czar after jumping on the environmentalist bandwagon. The White House may be behind a push to destroy Beck by convincing advertisers to stop buying time on his show. Jones was also on the board of the Apollo Alliance, a hard-left environmentalist group that is now running large chunks of the Obama administration. The group has acknowledged that it dictated parts of the February stimulus bill to Congress.

With the help of the Obama administration, the coalition is launching a public relations campaign under the radar of the mainstream media -- which remains almost uniformly terrified of criticizing the nation's first black president -- to try to change 9/11 from a day of reflection and remembrance to a day of activism, food banks, and community gardens.

Heck no. I will not be an activist, and I will be remembering the victims!!! This load of BS could be even bigger than Spendulus.

Of course, the annual commemoration of the 2001 terrorist attacks belongs to the entire nation, but President Obama and the activist left don't see it that way. They view the nationwide remembrance of the murder of 3,000 Americans by Islamic totalitarians as an obstacle to winning over the hearts and minds of the American people.

They view Sept. 11 as a "Republican" day because it focuses the public on supposedly "Republican" issues like patriotism, national security, and terrorism. According to liberals, 9/11 was long ago hijacked by Republicans and their enablers and unfairly used to bludgeon helpless Democrats at election time.

Emphasis added. I'd ask if Obama and his cronies have forgotten, but you can bet your boots they forgot what had happened by September 12, 2001. 9/11 wasn't hijacked by Republicans. It was commemorated in 2002, and every year after then, by Patriots. But now that Obama's remaking America, patriotism is apparently a bad thing.

On Aug. 4, the White House offered a glimpse into its plans to desecrate 9/11 for political advantage. Jones appeared in a largely ignored 33-minute video posted on the official blog of the White House to discuss the administration's plan to flush 9/11 down the memory hole just as it has tried to do by rechristening the Global War on Terror the "Overseas Contingency Operations."

Of this National Day of Service, Jones says little except that it will be a great opportunity "for people to connect, to find other people in your peer group who are also passionate about repowering America but also greening up America and cleaning up America."

On the same day, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Department of Energy Under Secretary Kristina Johnson and activists held a low-key press conference. At it, Yearwood said the National Day of Service will be "the first milestone" of a larger effort called Green the Block that is attempting to convince Americans that the utopian fantasy of a so-called green economy is possible without turning the U.S. into a Third World country.

"From policy creation to community implementation, the Green the Block campaign wants to see access and opportunity created for all Americans, to build prosperity and a healthier planet for future generations," Yearwood said.

At no time does anyone explain why this National Day of Service has to be held -- of all the 365 days in a year -- on Sept. 11.

What a good question. This is new low, even for you, Obama. Well, this is great. Now I get to commemorate 9/11 and do everything I can to undermine environmentalists, all on the same day.

Congratulations Mr. President, just when I thought you can't go any lower, you take another nosedive.

This is taking 9/11 Syndrome to a whole new level.

America, you okay?

Are you okay?

Are you okay America?

America you okay?

Are you okay?

Are you okay America?

America you okay?

Are you okay?

Are you okay, America?

You've been hit by,

You've struck by,

A smooth liberal.

What About Canadacare?

A hat tip to commenter's at Gateway Pundit for directing me to this article by Let Freedom Ring. Muchas Gracias, people! Read the whole article, it's a good read. Here are a few selections from it:

I’ve long thought that Canadacare was vastly overrated. Thanks to Drudge highlighting this article, I now have proof galore that Canadacare is a disaster. Here’s what I’m referring to:

SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country, who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting, recognize that changes must be made.

“We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doig said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “We know that there must be change,” she said. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”

The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there’s a critical need to make Canada’s health-care system patient-centred.

Health care systems that aren’t “patient-centred” are worthless. If the patient’s needs aren’t the health care system’s highest priority, then that system’s priorities are worthless. PERIOD.

So much for that old complaint that Canadians have better healthcare then Americans, eh? Wait, it gets better.

Who cares if everyone is insured if there are 17 week waiting periods for primary care physicians and longer waits for specialists? Who cares if everyone is insured if Canada has one-third of the MRI machines per capita that the United States has?

The question that conservatives should’ve been asking John Q. Public is whether they were willing to trade breakthroughs in equipment and life-saving procedures so that everyone is insured. We’ve failed in that type of messaging. Starting immediately, I won’t make that same messaging mistake again.

It must’ve about killed them to write this:

His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that “a health-care revolution has passed us by,” that it’s possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and “that competition should be welcomed, not feared.” In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.

It must’ve been painful for someone who’s worked in a single-payer system to admit that “competition should be welcomed, not feared.” It must’ve been eye-opening and painful. While Obama and the Democrats have tried extolling the virtues of single-payer, albeit in code, Canada is moving in our direction. (Isn’t irony wonderful?)

Yes. Yes it is. Like I said, so much for that old fable that Canadians get better healthcare. If you wanna wait for 17 weeks before you can see a doctor, that's fine by me, but I don't want to, so don't you dare try and force everyone else onto the same plan.

Oh yeah, too late, Obama's already trying. Well, I'll leave it up to the rest of you to decide how long you want to wait for a doctor.

Musings of a Numbers Symbol...

I am revamping Cynical Book. I don't know quite yet what I'm going to do with it, but I get the feeling it will no longer simply be about global warming/climate change/ whatever. I'll keep pondering what to do with it for now.

I finally got around to adding RonMossad to my Conservative Corner... and since not every blog down there is Conservative specific, I changed a few things. Read his blog. He's good.

I have now signed up for Project 2,996, and am going to be doing my best to write a tribute for at least one of the victims of 9/11.

School started again today. This year I'm taking a Keyboarding class. This should be interesting. See, I logged onto FFN back in 2007, and I've been typing ever since. The truth is that now I'm actually learning to type, and it's kind of funny because despite, I guess not being to type 'properly,' I've logged nearly 70 stories and who knows how many forum posts on FanFiction.Net, then we have the fact that between DR4I and Cynical Book I've written well over 100 blog posts and I've left probably nearly 200 comments over at There's My Two Cents ... And all without ever knowing how to type.

Speaking of 9/11, it's almost time to break out the 9/11 banner again... I didn't realize September was so close.

I've nearly gotten done watching Loose Change. This is the only version I'll watch. It has a nice, through debunking of every last shred of "evidence" Dylan Avery found.

And that's all my musings for now. Ciao!

News Blurbs

Just a few quick news blurbs.

Blurb #1 - Government Health Care Socialized Medicine Strikes Again

Woman Told To Buy Painkillers Dies

A woman died from a heart attack hours after being sent home from hospital complaining of chest pains.

Debra Beavers, 39, was told to buy ibuprofen for the pain when she visited the Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, last Sunday, according to the Daily Record newspaper.

Ms Beavers' family believe she may still be alive if the hospital had not been so "dismissive." Her sister Darlene McConnell said Debra had twice contacted NHS 24 last weekend after initially suffering numbness, swelling and leg pains - then after chest pains.

An appointment was made at the hospital.

But Ms McConnell told the Record: "I spoke to her on Sunday morning and she said the pains were so bad she thought she was going to die.

"She went to the hospital as arranged at 1pm and was back out in minutes. The doctor told her to go home and take ibuprofen. ... She went to a relative's house nearby and lay on the settee in complete agony until she had a seizure around 8pm."

Read the rest here.

Blurb #2 - Religion of Peace Perpetual Outrage Strikes Again

Eight Christians Burned to Death after Koran is Supposedly 'Defiled'

Paramilitary troops patrolled the streets of a town in eastern Pakistan yesterday after Muslim radicals burnt to death eight members of a Christian family, raising fears of violence spreading to other areas.

Hundreds of armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Islamic militant group, set alight dozens of Christian homes in Gojra town at the weekend after allegations that a copy of the Koran had been defiled.

The mob opened fire indiscriminately, threw petrol bombs and looted houses as thousands of frightened Christians ran for safety. “They were shouting anti-Christian slogans and attacked our houses,” Rafiq Masih, a resident of the predominantly Christian colony, said. Residents said that police stood aside while the mob went on the rampage. “We kept begging for protection, but police did not take action,” Mr Masih said.

Police and local officials said that at least eight people, including four women and a child, were killed in the fires. Two others died of gunshot wounds. Residents said that the casualties were much higher; one claimed that the number of dead could be in the dozens as many bodies were still buried under the rubble.Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Minorities, said that 40 Christian homes were torched in rioting. He said there was no truth to allegations that a Koran had been defiled, and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians.

Tension started mounting last week after Muslims accused three Christian youths of burning a copy of the Koran. They denied the allegations, but clerics called for their death. ... Christians ... face intimidation because of discriminatory blasphemy laws, including one that carries the death penalty for defiling the Koran and images of the Prophet Muhammad. The law is often misused to settle personal scores.

Yep, it's sure hard to miss that PEACE. Read the whole thing here.

-Thanks for Reading-

Critics Beware!!

Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit report that the White House is asking snitches to hand in information about people like me, who don't support a government health plan socialized medicine.

From Gateway Pundit:

Today, Barack Obama initiated the first stage of his Marxist snitch network.The White House asked supporters to report anyone who publicly opposes President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system.

And from the White House website itself:

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.

Except the truth is scary. I don't know about you, but I don't relish the thought of have life-saving medicine denied me, or being told I have to wait for surgery - sometimes because there aren't enough beds. How would you like it if this happened to you and your family because Barack Obama decided to force us all on a government plan?

Oops, there I go again. Anyway, back to the White House:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

How about Obama's Healthcare plan? That's pretty fishy.

Red State adds:

...[A]s we’ve seen in the health care debate to date, the term “disinformation” is used by the Obama White House as a catchall to describe any opposition to the President’s push for single-payer, government-run health care — meaning the White House wants to be informed of any forwarded emails or blog posts or any “casual conversations” that could be taken as opposition to their health care overhaul plan.

The White House has, as yet, offered no explanation of what it is they plan to do with the tips on policy opposition they hope to receive from citizen informers.

Really? That's odd. I'd like to see what they'd do, especially with the Constitution itself blocking them.

I wonder why Obama wants people who tell the truth reported to him ... could it be that the Internet lets the truth out? And, why does it even matter to Obama? It sure didn't matter back in the Bush-bashing days. Obama and his cronies do not have the right to restrain bloggers who tell the truth since, as I said earlier, it goes against the very first amendment of the Constitution.

You've probably seen it before, and if you haven't, I've had it on this blog for nearly as long as I've had DR4I. It goes like this:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Of course, Obama has no trouble getting rid of or ignoring these sorts of things whenever it becomes to inconvenient for him.

You see, I have the right that, since I don't like Obama's Health care plan, I can speak out against it. Now what Obama's trying to do here I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to fathom.

The real question is, do you want to know the truth about this government health care plan, or not? I've offered a bit of the truth, just a sampling of what's happened in other countries that have a government health care plan. I strongly encourage you to go look through this archive , which is full of the truth from other countries that have government run health care. These are the things the media will never show you.

Yahoo Finance reports:

If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.

In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.

That whole article is worth reading. Socialized medicine, A.K.A. "Government health care reform" has never worked, and never will work. The only way it would work was if everyone had the exact same problems. But they don't. This health care bill will hurt more people than it helps. The government can't run a program like this. No government can.

So now Obama wants to know who's out there telling the truth about his health care plan. I wonder how that's gonna play out.

One Final Point:

Updates...

After a bit of deliberation, I've decided to add a "What I do For Fun" section, which will host important links and links I use daily. (Except for links to my favorite Conservative blogs. Those will stay in the Conservative Corner.)

This occurred to me after I got back from vacation. While I was on vacation, I didn't have all of my visited sites stored on the computer. Indeed, I didn't even have Google toolbar, though I still had Google itself. To get to FFN, I went into my blogger profile, and followed the hyperlink to my FFN profile, and from there went around the site. But when I wanted to look something up, for example, it was rather annoying. None of my links were there.

So now I have the beginnings of a new link holder. Now if I could just get my stupid world clocks sorted out... pretty soon I'll take the Oregon one down anyway, because I think my friends are back from Oregon now. Anyway...

Oh, and there is no link to YouTube. Even though I use use YouTube for more than just music, every link in the song list is a link to YouTube. So I didn't think another link was necessary. More links may arrive later as needed.

Just a Little Bit Backwards...

I like to look through people's profiles on FFN. It's really cool to see all the stuff people store there.

Another interesting thing is pen names. Some people have very unique Internet names. But enough about that. As I was browsing this person's profile (I won't name names) I happened to see this:

J.K. Rowling is like Obama famous.
Stephanie Meyer is like George Bush famous.
One has accomplished great things...one only thinks they have accomplished great things.

He/She had this in their profile because they didn't like Twilight. Now I'm not saying you can't have an opinion on authors and the books they write, I'm just saying that this person's a little backwards.

Obummer's accomplished things alright, but those aren't great things.

See here.

And especially here.

George Bush and Barack Obama. Both of them have made mistakes, but only one of them accomplished great things.

And here's a hint: it wasn't Obama.

THE HECK WITH GENDER AND RACE!!!!

I promised screaming if it ever came down to this. Well, it's come to this. Michelle Malkin reports about an op-ed piece in the Seattle Times which raves:

"Sotomayor's nomination is historic also because she is living successfully with diabetes."

I'm going to show you some really tasty bits from the pile of manure. Let me tell you something else before we begin: as a type 1 diabetic, I. Am. Pissed.

The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has made diabetes a factor in the confirmation process. Diagnosed at age 8, she is the first nominee to have the disease, and the position's life tenure has raised valid questions about her health while also giving her critics an opening.

Except no one gives a rip about her diabetes. Except the idiots who wrote this, and now me because they brought it up. What we give a rip about is the fact this woman has a axe to grind and she's taking it to court with her.

"I believe that that a wise Latina woman, in the riches of her experience, would come to better conclusion then a white man who hasn't lived that life."

If that's not word for word, it's pretty dang close. Any 'white man' who said it would have that would have been run out of town in a hurry. Why is this witch given a free ride because of her skin color?

Type 1 diabetes is a disorder in which the immune system destroys the body's insulin-producing beta cells. (The more common form of diabetes, type 2, is associated with weight gain and aging.) No one is declaring victory over diabetes, which is increasing at epidemic rates and imposes huge burdens on patients, their families and the entire health-care system.

But Judge Sotomayor's nomination should be given its historic due. If a Latina would have never been considered for the highest court 40 years ago or even 20 years ago, neither would have a person with diabetes. Workplace discrimination was common; social stigmas flourished; misperceptions were the norm.

Until insulin's discovery in 1922, there was no effective treatment. Your diagnosis was your death sentence. Insulin, however, allowed patients to live by the grace of this miracle drug — making them, as Dr. Joslin said, "the explorers of uncharted seas." But those waters were hardly calm.

When you're done with your hero worship, I'd like to have a word with you. Tell me, oh wise ones, what exactly constitutes living successfully with diabetes? Good blood sugars, perhaps? Remember, none of us have perfect blood sugars all the time, not even her, I would dare to say. Is it because she has an insulin pump? A fancy blood glucose meter? How is this historic? How is she successful? Pray tell, oh wise ones, so poor stupid diabetics like me may follow in her wise example.

Make no mistake, good diabetes care requires financial resources, a qualified health-care team and personal commitment. Too many patients still fall short of their goal and our health-care system is far from perfect. But our improved tools are paying dividends. In a typical half-day clinic at the University of Washington Diabetes Care Center, nine or 10 patients collectively can boast of more than 300 years of diabetes duration. Patients with what was once called "juvenile diabetes" are now Medicare age.

We won't predict what type of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will be, but we do know that her health care will be guided by tools and technology that none of us have yet imagined.

You don't have to predict. Us Conservatives have been doing that for awhile now. She can be summed up in one word: racist.

We started off in this op-ed with awe and wonder that this diabetic had been nominated for the Supreme Court, and now we get a lecture on diabetes.

Either way, I'm still upset. She's incompetent, preferring to judge based on skin color rather than on the merits of an actual case. That will only lead to trouble if this woman is confirmed. Count on it.

And don't you dare try and play on diabetes for sympathy again.

See Also: What Ricci Says About Sotomayor - And Obama

Celebrate

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Man, it's good to be a right-wing extremist. Because I'm now defined as 'evil' and a 'dissenter' under Obummer's reign (formerly known as 'patriotic' and 'Conservative') I can be just as patriotic as I jolly well feel like being. Speaking of Obama, I wonder what he's going to today that makes it look as though he sort of supports this country, while still managing to undermine it at the same time.

But enough about politics. It's the time of year where we celebrate our freedoms! And I would like to share this video, which I think is a really great patriotic song.

Aaron Tippon - Where the Stars and Stripes & The Eagle Fly



Have a Happy 4th of July!!

Like Democrats?

Hat tip to Lady Cincinnatus for this. Turn your speakers up and enjoy:



I might have to embed this in my sidebar. The movie this is from, BTW, is Ghost Breakers.

I don't know how I managed to miss that line, though. Then again I haven't seen that movie in eons. Oh well.