Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child An Agent Aloysius Pendergast novel
According to the authors, the Pendergast novels are stand alone books but if you want to read them in succession, here is the list: Relic Reliquary The Cabinet of Curiosities Still Life With Crows Brimstone Dance of Death The Book of the Dead The Wheel of Darkness Cemetery Dance
I've really enjoyed the Pendergast novels and this one was no exception. A character that had been in the previous novels, William Smithback, journalist, is murdered at the beginning of this novel. It seems that one of his neighbors had died 2 weeks before and came back as a Zombii (zombie) to kill Smithback for his stories on animal sacrifice in New York. He was going to do an indepth article on a weird cult squatting in Inwood Park on the northern most end of Manhattan. The 'Ville is an old church with a lot of add-ons that became inhabited around the Civil War by this cult and they are committing animal sacrifices. This is the only loophole I find in the story...this cult remains in this building in the end. Can you imagine a prime piece of property in Manhattan pretty much given to a group of squatters who turn out to be a dangerous cult that commit animal sacrifices and kidnap it's replacement members? In this day and time? This cult is a group of men numbering 141. No higher and no lower. When it gets lower through death, they kidnap a street person. What!?! Animals brought in weekly by the truckload for sacrifice...what!?!
But I'm getting off track. Agent Pendergast, Detective Vincent D'Agosta, and Bill's wife, Nora Kelly get on the track of this zombii and the vodou (voo-doo) that created it. Preston/Child always have something so fantastic that you think it's going to be a horror story of supernatural proportions, but, by the end, there is a real reason and real actions, it's not supernatural after all. This makes their Pendergast novels a fun ride!
There are some graphic, gross scenes so I don't recommend it for anyone younger than 16 yrs old. But the book is a great read and I didn't put it down.
Nancy Grace is one of my go-to shows. When I want to know all the details of a certain scandal, I go to her on HLN. She's great! So I looked forward to reading her fiction novel, The Eleventh Victim. I think the main character, Hailey Dean, is probably loosely based on Grace herself. Hailey Dean is a psychology student who is engaged to Will. Will is murdered and she changes her life direction by becoming an attorney. She single-handedly puts a serial killer behind bars for the rest of his life but the toll it takes on her changes her life again. This time she moves from Atlanta to New York and goes back to psychology. But 5 years later, murders begin occurring again with the same MO as the last serial killer she put behind bars.
Nancy Grace, herself was engaged to a man who was violently murdered. She is from Atlanta and moves to New York and becomes prosecutor of violent crimes for a decade and she had 100% success rate. Then she joined Court TV and covered major crimes for 10 years and now has her own legal analysis show.
The story was credible and her descriptions good. But it still had a slightly sophomoric feel. I'm not saying I could do better! It just misses something. Can't put my finger on it. It does have some rather violent scenes so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under 16 yrs old.
Since it's the end of the year, it's inevitable that there are going to be a bunch of lists. Being as how it's also the end of a decade (a decade which, after ten whole years, no one still knows what to call it) you're going to run into a lot of lists which try to cram the past ten years into a Top Ten or a Top Twenty or, in some inexplicable cases, a Top Nine. (What's with the nine? You couldn't come up with just one more for an even ten?) You're in luck here because I'm sticking to a nice round Top Ten and the time range is only going to be for the past year. What's that? The content of said list? Why, that would be Top Ten Mug Shots, of course.
First up we have a one Dale Lee (of Flori-Duh, naturally) who was arrested by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office on August 30, 2009 for aggravated battery and sale of marijuana. Yo, Dale! What say you take some of the money you're making on your weed sales and go find yourself a qualified dental professional to take care of those chiclets of yours there, all right? All right. Good Lord man, you're going to frighten small children walking around like that.
Next up is a one Tracy Tredway, the principal of an elementary school in Rochester, Indiana who, according to The Weekly Vice, was arrested for drunk driving after leaving a Halloween party. And while it's unfortunate that he was out driving around under the influence, it's more unfortunate that we aren't able to see his high heeled shoes and his wig that he was wearing with his floral print dress that he was driving around in at the time. Behold!
Nice. Nice touch. Good example for the kids, too! Sure.
As I'm sure you have already guessed from the content of this post, a lot of these folks will hail from Flori-duh. That's the case with Jason Vibber, seen here in his mugshot which accompanied the story over there at WFTV News of him getting arrested for burglarizing an apartment and getting caught wearing latex gloves and carrying a TV. According to the story, "Vibber's mug shot shows the suspect was visibly upset when arrested." There's only one thing that I dislike more than a thief and that's a thief that cries when he gets caught stealing someone else's stuff. Get a job, loser. And while you're at it, get a Kleenex.
Here we have the Bacon Bandit, a one Luann McKinnley (again from Florida, this time the small town of Stuart) who was caught stealing a 3-pound bag of bacon from her employer, a Perkins restaurant. Hey! Wasn't Perkins the same coffee house where one of Tiger Woods's hoes worked? I think it was! I wonder why this chick didn't just hook up with Tiger instead of stealing bacon?
Oh. That's why. Never mind. Carry on.
Speaking of Flori-duh, this one speaks for itself. Don't we all just adore the facial tattoos that people get? Sure! They're all completely upstanding citizens and probably all have above average IQs, right? Um, yeah, not so much I don't think. I don't know, maybe you should tell me. Here is a one 22-year old Sean Roberts and his Flori-duh facial tat. Behold!
Huh. A tattoo of Florida on his face as evidenced by his mug shot which was taken after he was arrested. I'm leaning toward moron with this guy. I mean, it's not even a good tattoo! And do you really want people to know the second that they look at you that you have an intense fondness for America's wackiest state with the lowest cumulative IQ? I don't know why you would, but apparently he did. (I have the feeling that "lowest cumulative IQ" factors in here somehow.)
I don't have a lot of information on the fellow below, but judging from his mugshot, I'm going to have to say that he was either working on one of the world's worst disguises or he was arrested exactly half way through becoming clean shaven. Behold!
I really don't know what else to say about that. Nor do I know what to say about the woman below. She looks awfully confused. I'm not sure if she's confused as to why she's under arrest, how she managed to get arrested or, the most likely, what in the hell happened to her eyebrows.
The chick below, well, I don't even know how she could have stayed awake long enough to commit her crime (which was, by the way, stealing and eating meat and cheese from a deli counter in Dayton, presumedly Ohio). According to WCPO, a one 50-year old (Good Lord! 50?!) Maria Magobet ordered meat and cheese from the deli counter and then walked out without paying for it. She must not have walked very far before chowing it down because when the cops caught up with her, she was still chewing! Maybe if she had better manners she wouldn't have drawn their attention because "officers say they saw bits of lunch meat on Magobet’s mouth and shirt." And I must say that I do believe them...mainly because you can still see crumbs on her mouth that were there when they took the picture for her mugshot!
Then there was Donald Earl Fite, III. Mr. Fite was arrested in Oregon and charged with first-degree aggravated animal abuse, fourth-degree assault and coercion. Those charges stemmed from, among other things, his becoming "angry and violent" when his ex-girlfriend (whom he wanted to get back together with) "...told Fite she had plans that night, and they didn't include him" according to OregonLive.com. The ex-girlfriend managed to flee and when she returned to her apartment, "...she found her fish in the middle of the floor with a knife through it." Upon his arrest, Fite told the officer that he had, in fact, impaled the fish and that he realized that it was a stupid thing to do. But he had a reason! He said that "If she can't have me, then she can't have the fish." Huh. I can't imagine why she broke up with him in the first place! It's a mystery all right!
And I'm going to wrap up this list with a one Henry Earl.
Oh, sure, his mugshot might not look like much on the surface. But when you hear of the milestone that ol' Mr. Earl reached this year with that very mugshot, then you'll understand. See, that mugshot marks the 1000th time that Mr. Earl was arrested. That's not a typo. Those are three zeroes. One. Thousand. Arrests. The only thing more surprising than that is that he was arrested all of those times in Kentucky and not in Flori-duh. Aim high, Mr. Earl. Aim high.
Somewhat later then planned but i wont pass on this opportunity to share something i came across last month, in a way it stunned me..Here I was , a life embedded in music and what did i really know ? That's not all what do all these artists really know about the properties of sound ? So Last month i came across the work of Dr Horowitz a multiple Harvard graduate with a bright career , until he found out what was really going on in big pharma and (secret) bio labs when he decided to crusade against them from the early nineties onwards (obviously these days he's been rebranded a conspiracy theorist-duh). He's written a number of great books , he's been a real pain in the ass for the powers that be, but most importantly for him and us it's not just negative, frightning stuff, he's written books on healing too, like The Healing Codes for the biological apocalypse and the one on offer elsewhere here. Love, the Real Da Vinci Code. Inspiring man, yet very american. Well there's much more as this post seems to be growing whist i'm working on it.
"Sound is the medicine of the future." Edgar Cayce
Most ancient cultures used the seemingly magical power of sound to heal. Sound healing had almost disappeared in the West until the 1930s when acoustic researchers discovered ultrasound and its medical properties. With this discovery, research burgeoned and today the ancient art of sound healing is rapidly developing into a new science. There is now a mass of research into the healing benefits of ultrasound, including its use in breaking up kidney stones and even shrinking tumours In addition, infrasound and audible sound are now recognized as having immense healing properties.
The Aboriginal people of Australia are the first known culture to heal with sound. Their didgeridoo has been used as a healing tool for at least 40,000 years. The Aborigines healed broken bones, muscle tears and illnesses of every kind using their enigmatic musical instrument. Interestingly, the sounds emitted by the yidaki are in alignment with modern sound healing technology. It is becoming apparent that the wisdom of the ancients was based on sound principles.
The Egyptian and Babylonian cultures used drums and rattles, two of the earliest known musical instruments. The low frequency sounds from drums and the ultra sound created by rattles are both now known to accelerate healing. A Greek traveler, Demetrius, circa 200 B.C., wrote that the Egyptians used vowel sounds in their rituals:
˜In Egypt, when priests sing hymns to the Gods they sing the seven vowels in due succession and the sound has such euphony that men listen to it instead of the flute and the lyre.
The healing chapel at Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, was dedicated to Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, Imhotep's repute was so tremendous that, 1,500 years after his death, the Greeks identified him with their healing god Asclepius. Acoustics research f.i. in the pyramids has provided strong evidence that the Egyptians designed their chapels and burial chambers to be reverberant in order to enhance ritualistic chant.
Pythagoras (circa 500 BC) is credited as being the first person to use music as medicine. The flute and the lyre were two of the primary instruments used by Pythagoras and his followers for healing purposes. He is also credited with being the first to understand musical intervals from his work with the monochord, a single-stringed instrument in which the string tension was established by a fixed weight. In the Greco-Roman period healing temples were used for incubation, a process in which patients underwent dream sleep, among other known modalities. It seems likely that music was used therapeutically during their stay and the reverberant spaces of the temples enhanced the efficiency of acoustic instruments, a function of the solid stonewalls of temples and sanatoria.
Technological sound healing devices first appeared in 1928 when German scientist Erwin Schliephake discovered that sound accelerated healing. He created an acoustic device known as the Novasonic that is still available today. In 1938 another German scientist, Raimar Pohlman, demonstrated ultrasound, by the 1950 's ultrasound had become a widely used sound healing modality. Even to this day the underlying healing mechanism is not fully understood....
Music, in the absolute sense, is the invisible geometry of the cosmos, a delicate tracery of frequencies that harmonise with each other and from which all matter manifests. The conductor of this sublime symphony is the Creative Force of the cosmos, some people prefer to say: God. Music, as sensed by humans, is a delicate tracery of audible frequencies that harmonise with each other and generally please our emotions.
What is not commonly known is that music has the almost magical power to create form from formlessnes as Dr Hans Jenny demonstrated in the previous century with his research into Wave Phenomena and Vibration, he coined the term Cymatics and you should check his work....
This is Hans Jenny's groundbreaking book Cymatics - A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration - Volume 1 (1967) which vividly depict how audible sound structures matter which can then be used to diagnose and heal people of various diseases among others. Cymatics, the study of wave phenomena, was pioneered by Swiss medical doctor and natural scientist, Hans Jenny (1904-1972). This comprehensive edition portrays fascinating experiments using audible sound to excite powders, pastes and liquids into life-like, flowing forms. The stunning array of images reflects a variety of patterns found throughout nature, art and architecture. Dr. Jenny's cymatic images are truly awe-inspiring, not only for their visual beauty in portraying the inherent responsiveness of matter to sound (vibration) but because they inspire a deep recognition that we, too, are part and parcel of this same complex and intricate vibrational matrix - the music of the spheres! These pages illumine the very principles which inspired the ancient Greek philosophers Heraclitus, Pythagoras and Plato, and cosmologists Giordano Bruno and Johannes Kepler. For Jenny, Cymatics was no mere philosophical conjecture, but a way of life, or perhaps, a way into life. He was a true mystic, a seeker into the infinitude of Nature, questing for the realization of what it is to be truly human. Pictures alone are worth a look. 135 pages, many pictures. A must see/read for everyone.
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Dr. Joseph S. Puleo, is a naturopathic physician and Christian Minister of the gospel, co-authored the book (Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse) with Dr. Leonard Horowitz, who holds a masters degree in public health from Harvard. Dr. Puleo spent three years researching the six tones with colleagues, Spiritual Elders, physicists and musicians alike.
The consensus of opinion was that the Solfeggio sequence of notes was recognized as "an extremely unique interrelated series of mathematical and electromagnetic sound frequencies that include harmonic sequences similar to those found in the 'Music of the Spheres," and were possible connected to the Original Creation tones, a series of tones sung by the Elohim in the creation of life upon our planet
In Healing Codes for the Biological apocalypse they published the Secret Solfeggio Frequencies. Basically it is the "Doe, Rae, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Doe" diatonic scale which we all learn in the first few grades of school. Over time, the pitch of this diatonic scale has changed and somehow Horowitz and Puleo found the original pitch frequencies. In the Solfeggio, "Ti" is missing and what we call "Doe" was known as "Ut". Here are the original pitch frequencies of these six notes:
The Six Solfeggio Frequencies include:
396 Hz = UT - Liberating Guilt and Fear 417 Hz = RE - Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change 528 Hz = MI - Transformation and Miracles (DNA Repair) 639 Hz = FA - Connecting/Relationships 741 Hz = SOL - Awakening Intuition 852 Hz = LA - Returning to Spiritual Order
The basic Solfeggio frequencies totaled six (6). Horowitz continued his search through the years and extended it to 9 frequencies. 'Most everyone is familiar with the Star of David (ancient Hindu symbol of creation) which uses two triangles (inverted to each other) inscribed within a circle. If one uses the same approach for three triangles overlapping (no inversions) and space them approximately 40 degrees apart around a circle, some amazing relationships appear. Orient the circle with one triangle apex at North or zero degrees. Label that 396. At the next clockwise point label 417, the next 528, the next 639, the next 741 and the last 852. You now have the basic six Solfeggio frequencies.
As created so far, we have 3 missing numbers, but they can easily be created by applying this moving of digits positions. Take the triangle that has 396 and 639. If we take the 9 and move it to the first position we have 963, which is one of the extended Solfeggio frequencies! Thusly we can now continue the circle one more position by adding 963. Applying this same logic to the 417 and 741 triangle to fill in the missing number we move the 1 to the first position to develop 174 which is another extended Solfeggio number. Continuing clockwise add 174 to the number sequence. And the 528 and 852 triangle if we move the 2 to the first position we have 285, the final missing extended Solfeggio number. So elegantly simple.
The end result of all this or summation is the simple fact that you need to remember only two numbers: 174 and 111, and remember the principle of 3 overlapping triangles so that their points are about 40 degrees apart creating nine points around a circle and moving the last digit to the first position. Horowitz and Puleo state that these numbers are the key to creation and destruction.
The consensus of opinion was that the Solfeggio sequence of notes was recognized as "an extremely unique interrelated series of mathematical and electromagnetic sound frequencies that include harmonic sequences similar to those found in the 'Music of the Spheres," and were possible connected to the Original Creation tones, a series of tones sung by the Elohim in the creation of life upon our planet.
* a noteworthy addendum
Here are the numbers 1 to 9 in a standard 3x3 telephone grid
- 1 - 2 - 3 - - 4 - 5 - 6 - - 7 - 8 - 9 -
Read the numbers top down instead of left right and you get the first 3 Solfeggio frequencies 147, 258 and 369, when you start at the middle row and go up first and down second you get 417, 528 and 639, lastly the bottom row up and you get 741, 852 and 963 and that completes the 9 Solfeggio frequencies with 528 in the middle...Amazing isn't it, how this simple grid has been staring us in the face, yet with our tendency of reading left to right-or vice versa we don't see it consciously.
Healing Overtone (Solfeggio DNA Arpeggio & binaural beats)
528 is: the heart of the electromagnetic color spectrum (the rainbow--greenish yellow) and sound spectrum according to Haltiwanger and Schmidt. It has been mathematically proven fundamental to all sacred geometry and cosmology.(Vic Showell and others) It is reported to repair damaged DNA.(Lorenzen) It is used by military weapons technicians to tune sophisticated hardware.(Anonymous source) It is C5 on the ancient diatonic scale,(Nicoloff) equal to A=444Hz (as opposed to standard tuning in A-440).(Walton and others) The A note set at 444Hz is used by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (according to Jonathan Goldman's research). It is the third note, MI tone, of the original Solfeggio scale credited for producing MIracles.(Puleo) The heart of the human being must resonate the pure tone 528Hz if we consider chakra system and the color of 528 associated with the heart chakra. Thus, if LOVE/joy are heart felt, then they would be carried fundamentally by the pure tone 528Hz; that also happens to be the natural frequency the human voice chants when the sound "AH" is chanted by groups. Many conjecture that heart-felt loving intention empowers prayer, and LOVE is the "Universal Healer."
Consequently, since all music in our contemporary world (from commercials, to modern hymns and symphonies) has been composed utilizing the 12-Tone Equal Temperament Scale, they all have vibrational limits. As a result, vibrational frequency of the tones of modern music can create situations such as "boxed-in thinking," stuffed and suppressed emotions; and fear-based " lack" consciousness—all of which then tend to manifest into physical symptoms of "dis-ease." This is in contrast to music created from the Ancient Solfeggio Scale, which stimulates the vibration of expanded creativity, easier problem solving and holistic health.
The actual code that sparked Da Vinci’s creative genius, not mentioned in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown or film by Ron Howard, is a set of mathematical-musical notes, numbers, and symbols that heralds civilization's capacity for Divine-human communion.
Holy Harmony contains two never before released Sacred Sound (Solfeggio) Tuning Forks of the complete healing codes of the Bible combined with the chant of YHSHV (Yod Hey Shin Vav Hey), an ancient Name of the Christ. These 9 tuning forks are said to be the Divine frequencies of creation. Some believe the sounding of them is said to fulfill certain Biblical prophecies. Others believe these frequencies have extraordinary healing and transformational properties. The YHSVH Chant is a powerful word of prayer, or a mantra, that is composed of specific letters of the Hebrew alphabet that create a sacred name for the Christ. The Chant can be used for protection, for clearing, and to resonate with the Christ energy. As the Healing Code Tuning Forks sound together with Jonathan Goldman and Sarah Benson’s beautiful and rich choral chanting, they create an extremely powerful , yet deeply calming sonic environment. The combination of the Tuning Forks with the YHSVH Chant is great for relaxation and meditation. These sounds may also be extremely healing and transformational.
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After all this info, what can you do yourselves ? Well why not transcode some of your music, i've done about 30 albums at this time ..just a drop, nevertheless. What exactly did i do..i downloaded Audacity 1.26 installed it, opened a music file, activate it...click on effect button, chose change pitch reset A =440 to 444 hz , and saved it as... by doing this you will get a C of 528 Hz, indeed a sacred vibe...Whilst doing this and some experimenting i noted that this caused the file size to shrink 2-3% , infact it was the smallest combination i tried....Does this mean data is lost ? yes-noise. No ! This has to do with collapsing waveforms --the better it can, the smallest file you'll get, pure sound uses less space..Anyway you should try yourself. I'm conviced, i've tried King Crimson, Kraftwerk, Talk Talk & Radiohead to name some...I did this one too, for me it was one of the best albums this year. Take a chance
To give a clue about the gift some words by reviewing amazon customers.
The return of the essential complete album. The album that's too good to just download a song or two, but one where you want to own the whole thing. One you want to hold in your hands and read the liner notes while it's playing on your stereo
Its nice to see a artist finally have some music that is open to interpetation. As for some it might seem lonely, isolated and maybe even depressing material. It is dark, it is catchy, it is tribal & mysterious... and a piece of art as well as music, when you consider the videos and live performances. Such avant-garde-leaning material, albeit with one foot firmly in the pop/electronica realm, will undoubtedly invite comparisons..........
This is a record that never resolves into a pumping session but it never fails to satisfy. An album of ideas but of deep emotional effect, with subtleties that crawl slowly but steadily. The hidden clues to uncover its beauty are scattered making it a flavor that one keeps coming back to savor in a different way each time. Never dull despite the mood, never disappointing despite the apparent form constriction, this is one of the best records released this year and a morphing creature that continues to evolve to reveal a fascinating soundscape with each listen.
Apparently, there's a new award that's being awarded (duh) this year. Just be thankful that it won't involve Lady Gaga or Mister GooGoo or anyone like that. No, this is an award that seems to have been dreamed up by the fact-y folks over there at PolitiFact.com. The award is Lie of the Year and according to an article written by a one Johanna Neuman over there in a blog at theLA Times, there was online polling and one lie came out far ahead of the rest (as determined by those who voted in the online poll which PolitiFact just made up, that is correct). Let's see if this sounds familiar, shall we?
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." Sound familiar? Of course it does. And it was uttered by none other than the one, the only (thank God), former half term Governor from the state of Alaska, Sarah Palin.
Now, I'm not so sure if that's really more of a statement about Sarah Palin or if that's more of a statement about everyone who believed it. Actually, it's probably a statement about both, now that I think about it. And thinking about it would have really behooved some of those who believed it and ran with it before trying to determine if there was any sort of validity to it what so ever (which there wasn't, by the way). But there's no time for thinking when there's a ruckus to start up! Pitchforks! Torches! Everyone with me?! No? What? Good.
But when I compare that statement to the others that were in the running, I find it interesting that it was the Sarah Palin statement that "won". It makes me wonder if that's a reflection of how many people out there are really not buying into the whole charade that Sarah Palin is supposed to be the unnamed savior of this country. (She's not, by the way. She seems like a nice lady and she has a lot of great ideas and does a lot of things is a swell manner, but I don't think I want her as the President of this country. It takes more than being nice to...oh. Wait a minute. Isn't that kind of how President Barry got elected? Yeah, never mind. She'd win. Carry on.) I'm hoping that this "award" will grow some legs and be reported somewhere besides blogs. (Because we all know how blogger can be. Sheesh!)
So who were the runners-up, you ask? Well, I asked! In no particular order, other than the fact that they're all lies told by liars, we have "Glenn Beck's claim that Obama science advisor John Holdren favored forced abortions." Hmmm. Forced abortions, eh? Gotta tell ya, I've met some folks in my time who have reproduced and...well....it's never going to happen and it's a pretty horrible concept, but having met some of the folks that I have, it's not a completely unwarranted thought. (Oh, lay off! You're thinking the same thing! What about that dumbass neighbor of yours with the kid that got your brand new screwdriver stuck in nose? Sometimes the gene pool is just so shallow, it almost makes more sense to just drain it than it does to keep skimming the bottom and hoping for something good to come up.)
Another of the also rans was "Orange County dentist Orly Taitz's claim that Obama was born in Kenya, which helped spark the birther movement." Tell me something. How did this one not win?! That is the most ridiculous thing that anyone has ever come up with and it didn't win?! It's more outrageous than the death panel claim, if you're asking me! It actually scares me that this one did not win because I'm worried that it really grew legs to the point where it couldn't have won (you know, due to all of the people who are still questioning it). Wake up, folks! He's not a Kenyan! And he's not a Muslim! (I always like to throw that last part in there whenever I get the chance. And since it wasn't one of the runners-up in this story, I like to think that I've really been doing some good by always harping on that FACT.)
Finally we have "Vice President Joe Biden's claim that swine flu spread because “when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.” :::: sigh :::: Are we the land of the wacky Vice President now? It used to be just the wacky Presidential sibling and/or child. Billy Carter. Roger Clinton. Patty Reagan. Granted, we had Dan Quayle there for a while. But he wasn't as much wacky as he was just a doughhead, really. Biden misspeaks and says cuckoo bird things almost as much as GW did. (Almost as much. No one can top GW in terms hilarity for what came out of his mouth. Every day that man gave people around the globe new material to work with. I kinda miss that. Don't get me wrong, I don't miss GW. I just miss having instantaneous blog fodder whenever he opened his mouth.)
I'm pretty sure that the Biden quote shouldn't have won for Lie of the Year, mainly because I don't think that he was lying. I think that's what he actually thought. I think that Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and that nutjob dentist chick all know that they're not being honest. Glenn Beck especially. That guy has taken what he does (heighten panic through inducing fear) to an art form. (I don't watch his show very often, but I have to ask this: Does he cry on every episode? Every time I catch his act, his eyes are all red and his face is all damp.)
But the Biden misspeaks at least give us the damage control patrol done by Robert Gibbs, the Press Secretary. I don't know who that guy thinks he's kidding some of the time, but the answer is no one. Gibbsey is an interesting act, but he can't put quite the spin that he wants to on certain things. His response/explanation to what Veep-y Joe said was "I think that what the Vice President meant to say was again, the same thing that many members have said in the last few days and that is if you feel sick, if you are exhibiting symptoms, flu-like symptoms, coughing, sneezing, uh, runny nose, uh, that you should take precautions, that you should, uh, limit your travel, and I think, uh, what he said and what he meant to say." When pressed by the extremely awesome Jake Tapper of ABC News, Gibbsey replied, "Jake, I understand what he said and I'm telling you what he meant to say." That was met with a fair amount of laughter from the press corp there that day. And how could they not have laughed? That's hilarious.
But back to the Lie of the Year...Former half term Governor Palin has responded to her "winning" the dubious distinction by taking to scribing on her Facebook page. (My God, people! Get off of Facebook! Knock it off! I am so sick of hearing the word Facebook! Stop it!) She wrote, in part, "Though Nancy Pelosi and friends have tried to call “death panels” the “lie of the year,” this type of rationing – what the CBO calls “reduc[ed] access to care” and “diminish[ed] quality of care” – is precisely what I meant when I used that metaphor."
Um, Nancy Pelosi doesn't work at PolitiFact.com. I mean, she didn't the last time I checked. No, last time I checked she was ridiculously close to being successor to the position of President of the United States, a scenario which scares the holy S out of me. But here's the thing, Mrs. Palin. You can't use a metaphor unless it is clear that is what you are doing. You can't use a metaphor and totally act like you haven't used a metaphor. You can't use a metaphor and then continue to drive that same metaphor into the ground without clarifying what it is that you were trying to say. You can't just take the one thing that (softheaded) people are really afraid of and then throw it out there in pretty simple terms (so that their soft, soft craniums can absorb it more easily) and not expect it to be taken literally. You just can't. But you did. And that's why you're winning the Lie of the Year award from PolitiFact.com.
And actually, that "taken aback" attitude that you seem to have over your dubious honors might just earn you one of the runners-up award as well! Congratulations!
Wow. The day after Christmas and suddenly things are just running amok everywhere. Since I'm still fortified by my holiday egg nog (which, if you cannot read a newspaper through the glass of nog, it's not strong enough), I'll just briefly touch on a few of these rather than throwing a full blown tirade over each one. (For now. There's always tomorrow.)
First up, we have some jackass on Northwest Flight 253 who allegedly (translation: he did it) tried to blow up the plane by attempting to ignite explosives which he had brought onto the plane. Flight 253 was destined for Detroit, having originated in Nigeria, and had 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard. While this could have been absolutely disastrous had the man succeeded, what struck me as even more amazing was that there were 278 people in Nigeria that wanted to go to Detroit! How does that work, exactly?
According to the account by the huffy folks over at theHuffington Post, the plan was thwarted when "...travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers rushed to subdue him." Afterwards "...the suspect was taken to the front of the plane with his pants cut off and his legs burned." (That is known around here as "Friday night".)
Really, all of the circumstances of the whole ordeal are pretty murky, so it's hard to say if this guy was working for ol' Weird Beard over there in Sand Land (Translation: Osama bin Laden in Pakistan) or if he was just a plain ol' lone nutjob. But in the wake of this, you can expect "heightened security" at airports. Just what exactly that means, no one really knows. I'm going to have to guess because they really don't do anything. How were they going to prevent this? They like to tell us (in a ineffective reassuring fashion) that all passengers pass through metal detectors. Yeah, that's not going to help much with the bomb-y folks carry chemicals, now is it? Nope. Not going to help a bit.
And if there isn't better security in these foreign lands, that's not going to help much either. According to the article cited above, in Nigeria "Uniformed federal police officers often focus their time on keeping hagglers and taxi drivers out." Hagglers? Like street vendors? Like hot dog cart dudes? THOSE are the folks that the federal police officers in Nigeria are concerned about?! Tell you what folks? What say you let me fend off the guy trying to get me to buy a poncho or a shawl and you have the federal police officers try and keep nutjobs with bombs off of the planes, all right? All right.
Speaking of nutjobs, some woman managed to jump on or at (it's really not overly clear to me) the Pope just before he was getting ready to do his Christmas Day shout out to his peeps. According to those across the pond at The Daily Mail "Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems" jumped over a rail as the Pope walked down the aisle. The thing that amazes me is that she tried the same thing last year. (By the way, I really appreciate the Daily Mail folks characterizing her as one with "psychiatric problems". I find that refreshing. Here in the States, that would have read "with an alleged history of possible mental health issues". That's because our media coddles. The media also sucks. Sucks and coddles. Hmm. That's really not a bad name for a band, you know. Whoops. Sorry. I digress. Anyway....)
The Pope wasn't hurt but French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray fell down and broke either his femur or his hip. I've read accounts of both (because the media sucks, that is correct).
Since this woman pulled the same stunt last year, she was known to folks at the Vatican. People really stand up and take note when you jump out at the Pope. And a senior source at the Vatican (aren't they all seniors over there? From what I can tell, the average age is about 92.) said 'The fact this woman is known and was still able to get through security is very, very serious." Has anyone checked to see if she's had recent contact with the Salahis? Just wondering.
The article also mentioned that "All the people who were inside St Peter's had invitations and so would have had to be checked and give their names." Again, Salahis? Anyone? Anyone? But then I saw the photos of the crowd at St. Peter's. You know. That crowd with "invitations"? Behold!
Yeah, right. How do you send out invitations to that many people? How do you verify and/or check that many people and their invitations? I don't think that you can. I'm guessing that you don't. Oh, it's a good line to spew out in cases like this, but I just don't think it's possible. (No offense to the Pope, the Vatican, and/or God.) Then again, I also saw the photo below and have concluded that perhaps in the future, maybe the Vatican doesn't want to employ the court jester as a guard. Behold!
But the statement that indicated that this sort of thing is likely to happen again was when that senior Vatican source said, "This woman was able to get through these checks as well as the airport style metal detectors." Um, sir? Pope co-worker man? Yeah, see, when you're attacking someone, you don't need any metal. I can be metal free and jump on anyone who walks by me. A metal detector isn't going to change that. I appreciate the effort, but that was really weak.
And finally, we learn from the Washington Post that while President Barry and the family went to Hawaii for the holidays, Bo the dog did not accompany them on their vacation. The reason being is that, "Hawaii is rabies-free. Hawaii's quarantine law is designed to protect residents and pets from potentially serious health problems associated with the introduction and spread of rabies." Now, while I understand all of that, they sure do take it rather seriously. (I know that there are rabid animals on the mainland, but are they problematic? Sure, we'd like there to not be rabid animals, but is it such a big deal that is why Hawaii has these seemingly overly stringent rules on animals coming over for a little fun in the sun?)
Basically, if your animal is under 10 months old, there's no way that the animal can be brought to the islands and released to you (as animals usually are) without being quarantined for 120 days. That's right. Animals coming into Hawaii, if they haven't met a boatload of requirements, must be quarantined for 120 days. Wow. Now, while I can understand why the islanders would want to keep the islands "rabies free" how many people are really taking their potentially rabid dog to Hawaii with them? I'm guessing not many. I'm guessing not many at all. And 120 days seems rather excessive. Then again, those folks live in Hawaii. I can't imagine that they're in much of a rush to do anything really.
For a little holiday art, here's a rare New York Times treat: original fiction, by one of the finer practitioners of the short-short/microfiction/prose poetic forms: Lydia Davis. She begins: "I Know we’re supposed to be happy on this day. How odd that is. Usually I’m just nervous — probably because I’m supposed to be happy. I think about other years." Read the rest at the link!
Next up is a one Tracy Tredway, the principal of an elementary school in Rochester, Indiana who, according to 
Oh, sure, his mugshot might not look like much on the surface. But when you hear of the milestone that ol' Mr. Earl reached this year with that very mugshot, then you'll understand. See, that mugshot marks the 1000th time that Mr. Earl was arrested. That's not a typo. Those are three zeroes. One. Thousand. Arrests. The only thing more surprising than that is that he was arrested all of those times in Kentucky and not in Flori-duh. Aim high, Mr. Earl. Aim high.
