Music Czar Monday

If you've never heard Trans-Siberian Orchestra then you're missing out. They're unlike any band I've ever heard. The best way I can describe them is a mixture of Beethoven, Metallica & Pink Floyd. If you've ever seen one of those videos of homes with Christmas lights set to music then Wizards In Winter is probably the song you heard. This has become my favorite Christmas song of all time.


Wizards In Winter (Live) by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Tis The Season

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to get into the Christmas mood. I started decorating a few weeks ago. Little things hanging here and there. But Friday is when I'll go all out and fundamentally transform my home. Then Saturday I'm going to be putting my tree up. Temps are cooling down, the sun is setting earlier, the lights are going up. This is my time of year.

And here's something strange I just noticed. If you view this blog's homepage you see the entire sidebar but if you view just an individual post all you see is the Album Of The Month. Anyone know why it's doing that?


Faith Noel by Trans-Siberian Orchestra light display

Wednesday Hero

Rear Adm. Ned Deets


Rear Adm. Ned Deets speaks with Frank Chebatar, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, at the conclusion of the base consolidation ceremony. The two bases consolidated to form Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Music Czar Monday

How come nobody ever told me that this song existed? I could have been grooving to Luke and Han all these years and didn't even know it.


Star Wars Disco by Maco

Christmas Is Around The Corner

And next Friday this blog will start to reflect it. Next week I will upload my Christmas design.


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Now playing: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Wizards in Winter [Instrumental]
via FoxyTunes

Star Trek

I finally got to watch Star Trek last night. A movie that I had been waiting to see for almost two years. And I'll say it right off the bat, J.J. Abrams nailed it. He got it right. It was the best ST movie since ST IV: Save The Whales, I mean The Voyage Home. It looked so real. Like that's how the future could actually look. The massive scale of everything. Nero's ship, the Enterprise engine room, Big Red on Delta Vega. Even the bridge of the Enterprise with it's complete opposite look from the original. The first scene on the bridge, and I didn't even notice it. It looked like it just was supposed to look like that. Like that's how it always looked. The new look of the Phasers and transport effect. I don't even know how to describe how cool they were. The casting was superb. Eric Bana's Nero was the 2nd best Trek villain of all time. Khan being first, obviously. Chris Pine was the best choice to play Kirk. Brash, cocky, arrogant, strong, gung-ho. Zachary Quinto's Spock worked so well. Though, he should have lowered his voice a little. It was a little too high for me. But Karl Urban was the best. He was "Bones". There were a few times when I swore it was Deforest Kelly it was so good. Especially the first scene of him and Kirk on the shuttle.

Now for the elephant in the room. WARNING: Spoiler Alert. Highlight To Read. They didn't fix the time line. WTF? After everything that happened in this movie it's like the events of TOS, TNG, DS9 & VOY never happened. Can we really call this movie part of ST canon? Vulcan is destroyed making the Vulcan's an endangered species, Kirk's dad dies and Cpt. Pine is fine. Although what happened to him could have happened at a later date. Maybe they'll fix it in the sequel, I don't know. Other things I have a gripe about. Enterprise had already established that cars didn't exist in the future, yet Kirk's dad had one and Kirk himself had a motorcycle. Spock and Uhura had, what appeared to be, a sexual relationship? I can't swallow that one. Sorry. Spoiler Alert Over. And there weren't enough extras on the 2 disk DVD set. Damn Blu-Ray got all of them. But all in all, it was a great movie. If you've never watched Trek, you can come into this movie and enjoy it. It's a great action movie that just happens to be set in the Trek universe. The only way it could have been better was if I had an HDTV and surround sound.

Wise Sage Of The Day

They tell us Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power.
Patrick Henry

Wednesday Hero

Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson


Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, overcompensates a left turn while on a driving simulator as a part of the Save a Life Tour in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Nope

This is just wrong.

Music Czar Monday

Victim Of Changes. Boy howdy. But it's also a great song. But it really gets good at the 4:40 mark. Rob Halford may just have the best voice in Rock. The notes he can hit is amazing.


Victim Of Changes by Judas Priest

Walking Down Memory Lane

I'm not a fan of Obama, in case you couldn't tell. Don't like the man. But I do have to thank him. Thank him for giving me back my passion for politics. I remember writing these three posts

1
2
3

And I was sick of politics at that time. Sick of the games and the crap. Just everything. I'd become apathetic. Just gave up. Wrong move. Because in doing so I didn't notice what our government was doing to us. And here we are, three years later and I'm a different person. A better person. So I want to thank President Obama for giving me my love of politics back. It's helped me to take my head out of the sand and open my eyes. The way I should have been all along. I did get two things wrong though. Rudy didn't have to run as a third party candidate and Republicans weren't moving more to the Right, they were moving more to the Left.

Love That Big Government

The subpoena from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.

Just gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling all over. No, wait, that's not a warm fuzzy feeling. It's a cold chill running down my spine.

What's In A Name?

What does your name mean?

Christopher
From now on, will only respond to the names Kit or Chip.

Just Wants Christmas Cards

Read this and see if you can help this little kid out.

On This Veterans Day, We Say Thank You

I can remember as a child my dad talking, somewhat, about his service during Korea. I never really listened. I was a kid. What did I know? I do remember hearing once that he actually served with Elvis, but I don't think that was true. He died in '96 and now I have no idea what he did while in the Army. I don't even know whether he went to Korea or not. I think he may have been a cook, but I don't know. The moral is, if you know someone who has served, or is serving, ask them about it because one day it'll be too late. To all the Men and Woman who have been, and are, in the service, thank you for your sacrifices.

And with the recent tragedy at Ft. Hood, keep those men and women and their friends and families in your thoughts. They have a long road ahead of them.

Soldiers' Angels
Project Valour-IT
Operation Uplink

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Signs

The more stories that come out about this Ft. Hood shooter 1) the more it looks like an act of terror and 2) it looks like some had concerns about him before hand. So, it begs the question. Why was he allowed to stay in the Army? I'm not sure how the chain of command goes in something like this, but if they knew he was communicating with members of al-Qaeda why wasn't something done? Obama says we shouldn't jump to conclusions, *clears throat* Sgt. Gates, but we have to ask. Was it because he's Muslim and some didn't want to be viewed as racist by saying something? I honestly don't know, but, like I said, it has to be asked.

Sticks And Stones

"Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit" Democratic voters "and it will encourage the extremists."

So now we're extremists. I guess I'll just have to add that to the list of names our government has called us.

Music Czar Monday

The title tells you what you what to do. This is what Rock should sound like.


Turn Up The Radio by Autograph

A Man Without A Party

What to do, what to do? I feel like a lost soul swimming through the murky pool of limbo. I have no home with which to go to. When I first registered I did so as Independent. Soon after I re-registered as a Republican. But they've gone too far off the rails for me in recent years so I have since left them as well. I looked into maybe being a part of the Constitution Party, but there are just some things in their platform I don't agree with. I'm not a Green, I'm not a Reformist and I'm sure as hell not a Democrat. I honestly do feel kind of lost. So, for the time being, I guess I'm an Independent again. Which, truth be told, suits me just fine. I'm kind of tired of party dogma telling me what I'm supposed to support and what I'm not. I abhor abortion, but I support it in cases of rape. I support limited gun control. I do not support same-sex marriage. I want every person who comes into this country to have a comprehensive background check. I don't think we need to be governed by the writings of the Bible. I don't think a state's membership in the Union is voluntary. I don't think the government should be taking power away from us. I think our founders had some pretty good ideas of what this country was to be, and that they wrote those ideas down on some very important documents.

When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.
Thomas Jefferson

PelosiCare

I posted this back in September. Some good news, and some bad news. The good news: the fine for not having health care has dropped from $25,000 to only $15,000. The bad news: the jail sentence has went up from 1 year to possibly 5. Like Cass Sunstein says, we have to be "nudged" towards things.

"V" Takes On Obamamania

I posted this a few days ago talking about the eerie similarities between the original "V" and the Obama administration. Then ABC's updated version premiered on Tuesday and I was floored. 1) It was really good and 2) They took aim at Obama. They actually used his buzzwords "Hope" and "Change". And Scott Wolf's character, reporter Chad Decker, is Keith Olbermann. It wasn't until halfway through the episode that it hit me what they were doing. I honestly couldn't believe it. At the end of the episode, the FBI agent is talking to the Priest and says something to the effect of "They have the biggest weapon ever. Devotion." Only 3 more episodes then they go on hiatus until after the Olympics.

Wednesday Hero

This Week's Post Was Written By Greta

Col. Henry J. Cook


Past National Commander, Military Order of the Purple Heart, after serving over fifteen years with MOPH, gaining invaluable experience while in the positions of National Aide-de-Camp, Chapter Commander, Region Commander, National Junior Vice Commander and National Senior Vice Commander.

He was a career Special Forces (Green Beret) officer for thirty-three of the total forty-two years that he was on combined active and reserve duty. His combat tours began in 1967-68 when he operated behind enemy lines in for extended periods of time conducting operations with native guerrilla troops as the Executive Officer of the 4th Mobile Guerrilla. He saw additional combat in 1969-70 when he led a U.S. Special Forces Mobile Strike Force Battalion (MIKE FORCE), consisting of Green Beret officers and sergeants leading Cambodian mercenaries, again working behind enemy lines as well as reacting to attacks on friendly bases, often requiring that his unit be parachuted into hostile drop zones.


Later, he participated in Desert Shield (Saudi Arabia), Desert Storm (Kuwait) and Iraq, and Operation Provide Comfort (Support to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq.

For his valor and military skills, Colonel Cook was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device for Valor and two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal with “V” Device and one Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with One Oak Leaf Cluster, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Gold and Silver Stars, Joint Services Commendation Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Combat Diver Badge, Special Forces Tab, and numerous other U.S. and foreign decorations.

Henry Cook is now twice retired, as a soldier and as a lawyer and resides in Diamondhead, Mississippi. He is a member of the Pro Bono Consortium representing veterans who appeal denial of claims and is a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans’ Claims. He’s been a member of the Mississippi Bar Association since 1978 and also serves as a Municipal Judge Pro Tem in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Other significant contributions to veterans by Henry Cook include: a major role in the creation of the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Ocean Springs and helping raise over $500,000 to help MOPH members in Louisiana and Mississippi who lost everything during Hurricane Katrina. In addition to MOPH, he also belongs to Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Special Forces Association (SFA), Special Operations Association (SOA), Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW).

You can read more about Col. Henry in this PDF file on pages 31 & 32.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

No Ideologues Needed

The GOP are trying to jump on the Tea Party/912 bandwagon and many Conservatives aren't having it.

Says Everett Wilkinson, a tea party organizer in Florida: "We are not going to allow our [movement] to be stolen by the GOP or by any political party."

Not sure what the GOP is thinking. Whether, like the article says, they think they can hitch on and ride it to defeat Obama or they think they can win people back to the party. Not sure. Things have changed. Many of us are no longer party loyalists. It's not all about having our party in power. It's about who is doing what's right for the country and I don't think the Republican party has figured that out yet. Or the Democrats for that matter. The party structure in the country, as we've known it, is on it's last days. I think 2010 will still largely be about Republican vs Democrat with a couple of surprises, but by 2012 I think things will change. People can make fun of the movement that's happening, put it down, denigrate it or whatever but 2012 will be the payoff when both parties are spanked for their arrogance and ignorance.

Music Czar Monday

There's a guitar riff from Gilmour that comes a few seconds before Waters comes in with the opening line "Careful with that axe, Eugene" that I could listen to all day. It just has this amazing, haunting sound. You can also hear it in the background throughout the song. Don't think it's in this live version though.


Careful With That Axe, Eugene by Pink Floyd

O

Been watching the original "V" on Syfy and I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities between it and the Obama administration. They came with promises of hope and a better life but some saw a hidden ulterior motive. They end up bringing in someone to help spread their propaganda (NEA & MSNBC), they go after the media when they try to expose the truth (FNC), in the show it's our leaders who give control of the media to them where as here they've just rolled over and surrendered themselves, we start to give more and more control to them, people start to be afraid to criticize them and they take advantage of a "crisis". I wonder if ABC will change these things in their updated version?

Obama's New Blame Czar: George Bush

Pretty good article by Mark Steyn.