Warm Christmas still a bit weird

Front yard at our house in N Illinois where we lived for 6 years

Since I grew up in the N hemisphere (Chicago area)

traditional Christmas for me is on a cold,

mid winters day, dark at 5pm and often snowy.

Lights on homes, business and trees across Chicagoland

do help give everyone a festive feeling.

Santa from a cold, north pole riding in a sleigh

pulled by reindeer...

sort of makes sense on a cold Christmas.

But Santa on the beach in NZ? Not so much...

I love the warm weather down here in Auckland...

but it does make it bit harder to get in a festive,

Christmas mood... in summertime.

Alas, presents I got cheered me up quite nicely though...

so yes I did have a merry merry Christmas.

Guess this is my last post for 2009... if you are reading this,

I wish you a very Happy New Year and joyful tidings for 2010...

Cheers from down under :-)

Back yard in December (= summertime!) at our Auckland house

John Dodds' wobble theory

I stumbled onto this per one of the comments at WattsUpWithThat.com. John Dodds has a global warming theory explaining some things. He describes:

Why added CO2 does NOT cause global warming,

Removing CO2 will NOT change the temperature

and

Why the sun, moon and the planets are the natural cause of

Cyclical global warming and El Nino/La Nina the PDO

and the weather, etc.

Click here to see his full paper at Scribd.com

MR. DODDS THINKS BIG - I LIKE IT!

His motivation: "does not want to see taxes and expense increased without a valid reason, especially if its flawed science" ... amen to that

One of his forcasts: "the next energy cycle will therefore result in global cooling 1998 to 2028, so far confirmed by the temperature data that has been decreasing since the peak in 1999"...

Awwww crap... better get a heater installed before our next NZ winter

O bumbles teeth need to be removed

The Bumble

No one's nose has shined longer or brighter than that of the RANKIN/BASS "Animagic" classic RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. Premiering on NBC December 6th, 1964, RUDOLPH has become the longest running, highest rated television special in the history of the medium.

Pictured above post teeth removal, the Bumble (a.k.a. the Abominable Snow Monster of the North) is a yeti who pursues Hermey and Rudolph throughout their adventure since the sight of Rudolph's glowing red nose drives him into a rage. He is the main antagonist. Sam also explains that the Bumble hates everything to do with Christmas as well. When he threatens Rudolph and his family at his cave, Yukon and Hermey come to the rescue by knocking the monster unconscious and extracting all his teeth. Near the end of the film he has a change of heart as he is seen putting the star on top of the Christmas tree.

* * * * * *

By all actions in 2009, BHO is obviously a monster who hates everything about America. What makes him rage? How about: FOX news and Rush Limbaugh? T.E.A. parties, Republicans and patriotic Americans - Mrs.Palin among others - drive him and his paid liberal media minions into a rage. BHO aka Obummers aka Obumbles apologizes internationally for ... anything and everything. He and his communist oligarchal statist handlers are trying to 'change' America into ... some weird facist-communism-marxist regime. Crikey, he's NOT a legal POTUS, period.

Gee whiz, Batman, it has got to stop... America is worth saving. We cannot wait 3 more years.

The fight to take America back starts in earnest NOW as elections prepare for 2010. Conservatives must prevail. Election fraud and ACORN must be stopped. The bailouts, the Fed, horrible health care non-reform take over and numerous other anti-constitutional practices MUST be stopped.

2010 elections are a critical first step -> the majority of Americans, who are conservative, know this.

The teeth on monster Obumbles need be removed. Pronto.

Hang on, though, because it will be a bumpy a&& ride.

One of the writers at the Telegraph.co.uk posted about "Barack Obama’s Top Ten Foreign Policy Follies". The author, Niles Gardiner "tried to make the list inclusive of all corners of the world, ranging from Tehran to Tokyo to Khartoum, and frankly could easily have expanded it to a top 20 or even top 30 list."

1. Surrendering to Russia over Missile Defence
2. Appeasing the Mullahs of Iran
3. Ending the War on Terror
4. Announcing a Surge while Declaring an Exit
Continue reading Mr. Gardiner's list here.

* * * * *
He rounded down to 10 (or 20 or 30 in his book), but I remember a more striking list from April 29, 2009 called "100 days, 100 mistakes" which includes:

1. EARMARKS "Obama criticized pork barrel spending in the form of 'earmarks,' urging changes in the way that Congress adopts the spending proposals. Then he signed a spending bill that contains nearly 9,000 of them, some that members of his own staff shoved in last year when they were still members of Congress. 'Let there be no doubt, this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability,' Obama said."
2. "There is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're going to have to make some adjustments." -- Obama during the campaign.
3. This year's budget deficit: $1.5 trillion.
4. Asks his Cabinet to cut costs in their departments by $100 million -- a whopping .0027%!
5. "The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties."
Continue reading the 100 mistakes in 100 days here.

Have there been MORE mistakes since April 2009? You betcha... too numerous to count here!

Time for some Yukon Cornelius action across the nation. The battles begin...

Just after posting about Wood Pigeons...

This guy turned up ...

Think he read my previous pigeon post from this morning?

:-)

We got a couple good pix of Mr. Wood Pigeon eating some berries off native plants...

Big, beautiful Wood Pigeons in NZ

Kereru (NZ Wood Pigeon)

New Zealand has a huge, gorgeous breed of pigeon.

They are about 2 or 3 times larger than "regular" city pigeons found all over Chicago or New York.

From the pigeon wiki:

Pigeons and doves (click for photos of other species) are distributed everywhere on Earth, except for the driest areas of the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and its surrounding islands and the high Arctic. They have colonised most of the world's oceanic islands (with the notable exception of Hawaii), reaching eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

The family has adapted to most of the habitats available on the planet. The largest number of species are found in tropical forests and woodlands, where they may be arboreal, terrestrial or semi-terrestrial. Various species also inhabit savannas, grasslands, deserts, temperate woodlands and forests, mangrove forests, and even the barren sands and gravels of atolls.

About Sep-Oct (spring) each year, Wood Pigeons come back to our neighborhood.

This pix from our back yard in October - they like to eat the Nikau Palm tree berries.
More information about this lovely bird: Auckland museum fact sheet.

From NZ Natural Heritage Collection:

Diet - Berries of the Puriri, Miro, Taraire and Karaka, supplemented by Nikau and Kahikatea are the Wood Pigeon’s favourite food all the year round. They also eat the berries and new growth of other species. Wood Pigeons can drink without raising their heads to swallow, which is unusual for a bird.

Breeding - The New Zealand Wood Pigeon breeds in spring and early summer. Mating is characterised by spectacular aerial displays of both sexes, particularly the male. The female lays a single egg which is very long, narrow and white. Both adults care for the egg during the 28 day incubation period, the hen through the night and morning, and the male midday till evening. The Wood Pigeon breeds very slowly and studies show that fewer than 15% of chicks survive to independence.

From the Kereru Awhina Project:

Kereru or (kukupa, kuku or native woodpigeon) is New Zealand’s only endemic pigeon. Kereru is also the only surviving bird since moa and huia capable of ingesting the large fruit and berries of the native trees of New Zealand and dispersing their seed. Trees such as miro, puriri, tawa and tairare are especially reliant on Kereru to disperse their seed so that they may naturally regenerate.

Both the male and female Kereru are similar in looks. The head, throat and chest of Kereru are a beautiful metallic, green and bronze iridescence. The breast and belly of the bird are white. The eyes, eye rings, beak and feet are a dark crimson.

Kereru is found in most lowland native forests of the North and South Islands , Stewart Island and many of its neighbouring islands. There are two sub-species of native pigeon, the New Zealand pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) known to the Maori as Kereru, or in Northland as kuku or kukupa, and the Chatham Island pigeon (Hemiphaga n. chathamensis) or parea.

My attempt at a water color on Christmas day morning...

ummm.... well at least the table, deck & yard looks nice...

Here is a little 2 minute clip of what they look like in trees while feeding...

Merry Christmas on a summer day in NZ

It is Christmas eve. The sun is shining and the palm trees in my yard are green. I have many great memories from years of sharing the spirit of Christmas with friends and family...

While Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, the origins of celebrating Christmas go back much further and originate in pagan traditions. Can this be acknowledged without offending Christians?

Pagan origins of Christmas

Christmas, as a Christian day of celebration, is traced back to the 3rd and 4th centuries at a time the growing church institution began to define theological beliefs as an ordered system. December 25th, coming only four days after the Winter Solstice (depending on which calendar style is being used), corresponded to a number of ancient celebrations honoring the sun.

The decorated Christmas tree is traced back to the pagan peoples of barbarian Europe, particularly the Germanic groups, that hung gifts meant for their deities on sacred trees. Similarly, the Yule log is frequently traced to Scandinavia where a large tree trunk was burned on the night of the Winter Solstice. The etymology of the word “jolly” finds roots in the Nordic term “jol” which is associated with yule.

More on "Yule"and Norse origines

The word itself “Yule” is sometimes attributed to a similar Scandinavian word that means “wheel”. However, this seems unlikely, as the word Yule predates the introduction of the wheel by more than a thousand years. Still, the association to the wheel of the year is apt. To the Celts, arriving late to the northern latitudes, the Winter Solstice was called Alban Arthuan, after the Arthurian legend that placed the birth of King Arthur on the Solstice. The term means, literally, “Light of Arthur”.

To celebrate this longest night and the return of the sun, the Celts lit huge fires, as on Beltane and Samhain. Burning the Yule log comes from this custom. The ceremony starts by lighting the new log with the remains of last year’s fire—thus confirming the unbroken cycle of the seasons. If the log burnt for twelve hours it was said to be a good omen for the coming year.

When the missionaries arrived on the backs of the Roman invaders they usurped the Pagan holidays and gave them Christian themes. The winter solstice became the birth of Christ—Christmas--though Christ was most likely born in a warm month since the Romans never called for a census in the winter.

Later Martin Luther adapted a Pagan custom when he wrote of a silent night when stars shone through the boughs of a fir tree giving him the idea for the Christmas tree. The practice was already in use a thousands of years before in the Celtic custom of placing small torches in the branches of trees on the night of the solstice.

Today Christmas, primarily commercial, hangs on by a thread to its spiritual roots. In celebrating Yule we regain our connection with the seasons of the year and the Wheel of Life. The shortest day is also the longest night. Balance and harmony prevail in the realm of our Pagan Gods and Goddesses.

On what day was Christ born?

No one knows what day Jesus was born, or even exactly what year, but in 336 A.D., the Western Church, based in Rome, chose December 25 to celebrate as Christmas, meaning "Christ's Mass." The Eastern Church chose January 6. The day was named Epiphany, meaning "appearance." Eventually the period from December 25 to January 6 became known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.

There was an ancient pagan festival of lights at the winter solstice (Dec. 21-22) to celebrate the days beginning to get longer rather than shorter. During the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., many pagans were converted to Christianity, often by force, and the pagan and Christian traditions became intermingled because they occurred at the same time of year. The lights and feasting of Christmas may have originated from the pagan traditions.

Does any of this matter or can we all just get along?

In both religions, the holiday is a time to celebrate, to get together with friends and family and experience joy. It is a time when the earth is renewed, either through the natural return of the sun or by the birth of Christ. It is celebrated by both religions in a joyous manner, with good food, drink, religious services, and the giving of gifts.

Any attempt at snatching the Christmas tradition away from the hands of the Christian religious is futile. Denying the practices of modern pagans is just as disrespectful. Instead of arguing about who started it, or who owns the symbolic items of the holiday, perhaps people should concentrate on the most important aspects of the holiday: joy, generosity, new beginnings, and love.

Perhaps hidden meaning of Christmas might be found in nature, the sun and the stars:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

Detroit: a 50 year experiment in liberal policies

Stephen Crowder, from PJTV, gives a good overview of what 50 years of liberal policies have done to the city of Detroit. These are the SAME types of policies the Obummer-regime is trying to implement NOW.

Is this shiny utopia what you really want for the rest of America?

Lord Monckton is a true hero

Lord Christopher Monckton - ... one of my new heros!

ClimateGate and all the warming hysteria based on FALSE science is getting light shined on because "As Copenhagen’s treaty summit drew nearer, Monckton went public in an unprecedented way. A YouTube video of him speaking October 14, 2009 in Minnesota was “viral” within days. It has been viewed more than 2.5 million times."

Check out the plethora of GREAT information, details and PDF papers at the Science and Public Policy Institute and "The SPPI blog".

Couple of examples:

How to manufacture a climate consensus

Few people understand the real significance of Climategate, the now-famous hacking of emails from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU). Most see the contents as demonstrating some arbitrary manipulating of various climate data sources in order to fit preconceived hypotheses (true), or as stonewalling and requesting colleagues to destroy emails to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the face of potential or actual Freedom of Information requests (also true).But there's something much, much worse going on—a silencing of climate scientists, akin to filtering what goes in the bible, that will have consequences for public policy, including the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recent categorization of carbon dioxide as a "pollutant."

and...

ClimateGate - the lawyers move in... those scientists are toast!

God bless America and – can I really be saying this? – God bless the legal profession! Despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, most of the world’s other governments (save the plucky Canucks), the United Nations and the Mainstream Media (MSM) to sweep Climategate under the carpet, the lawyers are putting this shoddy scandal where it belongs: in the dock.

I believe there are about 90 of these pages with FULL detailed click-able PDFs attached to them... GREAT stuff... Go take a read...

Articles of Freedom

Click to access .PDF for: "Articles of Freedom"

by the Continental Congress 2009

From the preface:

Across many administrations and years, by each branch of government, through each major political party, the Constitution for The United States has been violated.

The People have formally Petitioned the Government for Redress of the violations in the most humble of terms.

The People and their Petitions have been ignored. Each un-remedied violation has taken its toll with dire impact on our economic interests, our people, our quality and way of life and our international and national reputations.

We hold this Truth to be Self- Evident:

Any action, by any branch of the Government, that is repugnant to the Constitution, is null and void.

On November 11, 2009, and for eleven days continuing morning, noon and night, Citizens of America gathered in St. Charles, Illinois, as Delegates from each of forty-eight States, to discuss these violations, and Government's refusal to be held accountable, and to recommend a course of action to restore Constitutional Obedience in a Constitutional Republic now challenged to Its core.

These were not professional legislators, wordsmiths or attorneys. These were ordinary, non-aligned citizens from across America and all walks of life.

They set aside their lives for this Assembly. They represent You and Me, the Free People of America. The conclusion of their efforts is This Document called "Articles of Freedom".

It is proposed that these Articles be distributed to All in the Land with theintent to draw the attention and courage of a “goodly number of millions ofPeople” who, entitled to their Freedom and essential to Its maintenance, Arise to Restore the Constitution for the United States of America.

Then and only then shall America‟s Destiny be Fulfilled.

The Facism bus has arrived

What is facism? A couple random definitions:

from merriam webster:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

from the Free Dictionary:

a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.

from Business Dictionary:

Political ideology that imposes strict social and economical measures as a method of empowering the government and stripping citizens of rights. This authoritative system of government is usually headed by an absolute dictator who keeps citizens suppressed via acts of violence and strict laws that govern the people. The most noted form of Fascism was implemented under Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, who both stripped citizens of their rights and maintained strict regimes that resulted in the deaths of thousands of humans. Some of the defining characteristics of fascism are: (1) racism, (2) militarism, (3) dictatorship, and (4) destructive nationalistic policies.

* * * *

ANY OF THESE sound familiar? It is GOING ON IN AMERICA... now

* * * *

These writers believe BHO health care is facism:

The fight over facist obama care is just beginning

A pyrrhic victory? (where the victorious party lost many of its supporters--but also because the opposition didn't abate in courage, was able to gain new recruits, and had the force and resolution to go on.)

You must go (in person!) to your senators house and start screaming at them to stop the insane "health care" takeover...

Will you?

Grinch Christmas

Merry Christmas from Harry ... important details of the health care facist take over:

Below is the tally of spending cuts and taxes, all over the ten years of 2010-2019.

"Spending changes" (e.g., Medicare cuts): $483 billion.
Excise tax on high-premium plans: $149 billion.
Savings from "other sources" (like penalties for being uninsured): $108 billion.
Other "revenues": $264 billion.

Add up those numbers and you get $1,004 billion. Subtract that from the $871 billion gross cost and you get $132 billion in "deficit reduction" (with a $1 billion round-off error). Let me repeat:

You get "deficit reduction" by cutting Medicare and

raising taxes by more than $1 trillion:

Medicare and other program cuts of $483 billion, and

an extra $521 billion in new taxes and fees.

Mrs. Palin, corruption fighter

In dark times like these, leaders emerge. People might follow fake leaders like Obummers for awhile, but as his popularity has taken a steady dive all year... other leaders emerge into the light...

Since I live in NZ now, I am getting involved iwith NZ politics as is my civic duty.

However, I still worry about the U.S.A. Before I heard Mr. Hannan speak 16-Dec-09 in Auckland, I had a chat with a couple of people as we mingled. Someone shook their head when Sarah Palin was mentioned (yep, they even know a we bit about her in NZ!)... the person I was chatting with wasn't quite sure about her.

Well, I said "the lefty American media really hates her... but don't be fooled. The democrats used to LOVE her when she was fighting corruption within the Republican party in Alaska... she is a corruption fighter...".

I thought I would re-post an interesting commentary which has circled the net a bit in the last few months.

America needs all the corruption fighters in can muster...

===

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman..As posted in comments on Greta’s article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin. For further info, Google Dewie Whetsell.

The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska . I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES.” Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork.” She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning – I imagine – that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out.. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.
6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool.. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents’ wives.

Call of ancient Scandinavian Valkyries...

Valkyrie On Horse

Statue of a warlike valkyrie, riding a horse and carrying a spear. Labeled as "SINDING VALKYRIE" and located in a roadside park in Copenhagen, Denmark.

~

Belief in the existence of magic horsewomen from heaven, the Valkyries, was widespread in Scandinavia and Germanic cultures, though they were called by different names.

~

A lot can be learned from unrevised, true history... oh, little things like understanding how America was formed might help confused Americans understand why the current regime's policies won't work. ... But I digress ...

~
The older I get, the more I find ancient history quite interesting especially Celtic, Scandinavian and Nordic. Since my genetic background contains Scandinavian blood, this might explain the proclivity for my interest - and without going into the whole "nature versus nuture" argument, I think there is a little Viking fighter in my genes... perhaps even a little Valkyrie.

~
Valkyrie 1865

~

Text below is all from Celtic Attic:

~
Vikings

The Vikings were the early medieval descendants of stone-aged people who migrated northward from the desert regions of the middle east into northern Europe, sometime around the end of the last ice age. Like most stone-age cultures at that time, these people created a religion of sorts, to help them explain the world and their place in it.

~
The ancient Scandinavians found themselves in a rugged land of great seasonal contrasts. Summers, marked by a mid-night sun, were short but warm. Winters were long and cold and frequented by storms off the frigid North Atlantic. During the endless winter nights, the skies were illuminated by the dancing lights of the Aurora Borealis. Viking myths clearly reflected this world and their struggles to survive in it. To make sense of their surroundings, the ancient ancestors of the Vikings created a series of deities. They imagined that their world was fashioned by powerful gods whose presence was evident in every natural force they experienced and in the fortunes and misfortunes of their daily lives.

Viking Religion

~
Without the benefit of science to explain the world around them, the Vikings must have felt like they were living in a very mysterious place. To explain their world- its thunder and lightning, clouds, frost, dew, storms, ice, fire and changing seasons- the Vikings created a series of religious beliefs we call paganism. What the Vikings saw in the natural world was in some way controlled by the actions of a series of gods and goddesses. These deities lived in a heavenly realm called Asgard. But, they often visited the earth and played a role in the destiny of every Viking life. Today, these pagan gods and goddesses are part of Viking mythology.

~
One group of characters in Viking mythology (and in the mythology of the Celts of Ireland) were the Valkyrie. They are depicted on Viking pendants and amulets and are mentioned in Viking poems called Eddas. Their story is truly a fascinating one!

Battle-maidens

~

In Old Norse, the word Valkyrjr, means "choosers of the slain". In Viking mythology, the Valkyrie were the nine daughters of Odin. At his wish, they flew their horses over Viking battlefields and choose who would die in the coming battle. After the carnage was over, they returned to the battlefield as a raven and selected the souls of half the warriors who had died an heroic death. (Crows often appeared after a battle to pick at the bodies of the dead.) The Valkyrie carried these souls to Valhalla - Odin's banquet hall in the heavenly realm of Asgard. The remaining heroic souls were taken by a Viking goddess named Freya as she passed over the battlefield in her cat-drawn chariot. The Valkyrie also rode over the sea to snatch dying Vikings from their doomed longships.
~

The Valkyrie were depicted as young, beautiful, but fierce women who dressed in full armor only when riding their horses. They did not, however, engage in battle themselves.

Odin's maidens ~ Upon arriving in Valhalla, the Valkyrie replaced their armor with long white robes. They greeted the soul of each slain warrior with a horn of mead- the honey sweet drink of the Viking gods served in a bull's horn. The warriors then feasted on boar and trained as members of Odin's army. The wounds inflicted during these training battles miraculously disappeared at the beginning of each meal.

~
Swan-maidens and Wish Maidens ~ The Valkyrie were also known as swan-maidens. When they weren't collecting souls and welcoming slain warriors into Valhalla, they dressed in a cloak of swan feathers and flew to the earth to bathe in its cool streams. Norse myths said that if a man could catch and hold a swan or get a swan cloak, the Valkyrie could grant him a wish or become his wife. After nine years of marriage, she was free to return to Asgard. ~

The Valkyrie in Viking Jewelry ~ The image of Valkryie often depicts: long flowing robe, the horn of mead in her hand, the torc (a kind of neck ring) and the bangles around her wrist. Called amulets, these kinds of pendants were worn for protection. A Valkyrie worn by a Viking warrior was meant to protect the warrior in battle. It would, he believed, help him to be brave in death and help guarantee his soul a place in Valhalla.
~

Clouds, Dew and Northern Lights ~ Many Norse myths contain stories of their gods. Some of these stories are tales of the adventures of their gods. Others are the Vikings' attempt to explain the world around them. Lightning, for example was explained using the god Thor and his mighty hammer. Wind and storms were caused by a swift pass of their god Odin while riding his eight-legged horse through the air. The Vikings also used the Valkyries to explain certain weather conditions. To the Norse, the Valkyries' horses were white clouds, lightning came from their gleaming swords and dew and frost from their horses' manes. The Vikings also believed that if the Valkyries rode at night, the glistening of their armor created the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights), the dancing lights that appear in the night sky in the northern regions of the earth the Vikings called home.
~
Legacy of the Valkyrie

The legacy of the Valkyrie lives on in the word "valour", a reference to heroism in battle.
~
In summary, when people like Lt. Col. Allen West start calling for battle, I will channel my inner Valkyrie, pick up a sword and stand beside him... ready



battle on

CO2 the breath of life

from CO2 Science

As I've mentioned before, C02 is not a toxin.

Below is an account of a scientist who has done some simple experiments to show effects of C02 on plants...

Goracle wrong on mosquitos, too

Image from Conservative Endowment for the Arts

Will Al Gore please STFU?

G&d d&&m he is annoying.

At least people are finally correcting his lies... now he's lying about mosquitos. He probably learned this from his favorite environmentalist Rachel Carson who's successful (but now PROVEN false) ban on DDT blaming it a "bad" toxin got around 50,000,000 killed in 30 years from malaria. (yep, she's killed more than Hitler...)

The hot, recent mosquito lies from WhattsUpWithThat "Gore gets bit by another blunder" re: mosquitoes, malaria, and elevation. Some history checking by mosquito epidemiologist Paul Reiter reveals he’s wrong about Nairobi. Turns out that some species can live as high as 10,000 feet. Even as far back as 1927 in this letter to Time Magazine, people knew of mosquitoes at the snow line...

More on the "inconvient truth about malaria" from the UK spectator: Al Gore has made bold claims that climate change is aiding the spread of insect-borne diseases. The science does not support him, says Paul Reiter.

Will someone sue the Goracle and get him to shut up already? Geeeeez louise...

Conservative Endowment for the Arts

Hey conservative artists, check out Conservative Endowment for the Arts.

The "CEA is our answer to the ‘National Endowment for the Arts’, the far-left tax-payer funded organization that wants artists to create expressions of propaganda to push the agenda of an Obama White House. CEA is just one Conservative branch of the Blogsite Giovanni’s World.

So exactly what does the Conservative Endowment for the Arts do?

Glad you asked. We at Giovanni’s World believe in being pro-active, especially when it comes to combatting Marxist/Liberal ideology. We have partnered-up with some of our fellow blogging friends to form a Club of sorts. The left has their NEA to push the Marxist/Liberal ideology using art, so it’s only fair that we have a place to share art that does the same for Conservative ideology. The big difference, other than ideology, is the left using tax-payer money (NEA) to push their agenda, while we at CEA volunteer our own time, monies, and talent to promote Conservatism and Patriotism."

Read more and check out some of their art.

"The Mess" decade ends in 2 weeks...

bit of Bougenvilla from my garden this week

How was your first decade of 2000-something?

Last century, the 1900s were all easily referenced by timeframes: the 1900's, the 30s, the 80s, the 90s, etc... but I still can't quite figure out what to call 2000-2010: what do you call it?

My question on Facebook only got 1 answer: "The mess". ha ha ha... OK, let's go with it.

Regardless of 'the mess', all in all, I like a glass half full so yes I had a wonderful decade.

My milestones from 'the mess' of a past decade:

• Apr 2000 bought my first home & my first ride-on mower.


• Aug 2000 met my wonderful husband to be.


• Sep 4, 2001 had belated, wonderful wedding reception as an outdoor summer party.


• Sep 11, 2001 => American tragedy. America in crisis. Now we're at war... It still haunts.


• Mar 2002 took a break from corporate land working for stint at a veterinary rehabilitation clinic. After a couple months on meager hourly wage, it hit me: this job was for a teen or 20-something just starting out. I had a brain and skills so went back to a financial sector corporate job as a consultant.


• Dec 2005 due to company downsizing, got laid off from a job I really loved. Got a nice severance, but when this hit, my husband and I were now committed in our goal to move ourselves from the USA to NZ. Months of snow was a motivating factor as well... We weren't sure how long it would take though...


• Mar 2006 fully employed again. Awesome and nice job with fun team in Elmhurst, IL.


• Feb 2007 on cold, windy day, eyelashes frozen, we filled a rented truck and paid the dump to take our trash. After this big clean up: our house was now on the market.


• May 2007 sold our house


• Jun 2007 we did it! We packed 80 boxes of personal stuff and moved to New Zealand: mission accomplished.


• 2002 - 2007 => happy the USA was not attacked again & felt G.W.Bush and D.Cheney did a good job, not perfect, but kept America safe. Most Americans were happy ... but media protested loudly agin' 'em ... on & on & on and on about how much they hate those 2.


• Aug 2008 curious about USA elections, but severly disappointed in lame duck McCain: I was blown away by new-bee Governor Sarah Palin at the RNC convention. Sarah rocks.


• Nov 4, 2008 a tragic day in American history: a muslim-pretending-to-be-Christian, false-moderate was fraudulently elected (hello corrupt ACORN) by 22% of Americans. That's right: NO landslide dearies. Do the math: 69 million of the 300-330 million depending on your total = approx 22%. ... such a shame ...


• 2008: the year the "mainstream" American press "came out" and stopped pretending they are anything but solidly on the liberal, progressive left. The USA federal government now ignores constitutional law and pushes a weird and un-American communist/marxist/socialist propaganda in full force with a compliant media.


• Jan 20, 2009 A usurper placed as POTUS. All records sealed, a communist oligarchy now runs America... don't think they are communists? Go research facts at NewZeal
  
• Apr 2009: first major T.E.A. parties. Millions of grassroots and disgruntled Americans start protesting in every state as they now realize their "elected" representatives no longer represent them.


• Sep 21, 2009: almost 2,000,000 unhappy T.E.A. party Americans march on Washington D.C. in protest of the current federal government


• Nov 2009: ClimateGate


• 2009: the year majority of Americans (40% of us identify as "conservative") became fully awake and engaged. Conservative candidates across America now prepare for 2010 elections.


• Dec 2009... still pondering the end of "the mess" of a decade... I remain hopeful 2010 will provide new beginnings for America, NZ, other western countries and conservativism...

How was your decade?

Newstalk ZB

Mike Hosking's show on Newstalk ZB Auckland 89.4 FM - is great.

He's on 6:00am - 8:30am M-F

Go Get Nourished

At my niece's wonderful business in Titirangi NZ:

Off to see the man tomorrow: Daniel Hannan

A business group in New Zealand is sponsoring a talk by Daniel Hannan, British MP - here in Auckland tomorrow and I get to attend!

I am looking forward to it. I've been a fan of Mr. Hannan since his Youtube "you are a devalued prime minister...of a devalued government" speech became a sensation 24-Mar-2009.

I think his words resonate LOUDLY because he speaks conservative truth, eloquently, engagingly yet firmly and resoundly. He's been a hit as a repeated guest on Fox News, too.

It will be really cool to hear him speak in public. He is a great speaker: good at it WITHOUT a teleprompter even ... check out the infamous clip which endeared Mr. Hannan to many conservatives around the world....

"You cannot spend your way out of debt... you cannot spend your way out of a recession"

HEAR HEAR, DANIEL!

Values, Justice & Truth are in big trouble

I am reposting an entire article called "We are in big trouble" today from American Thinker because it is good.

*To James: I'm not posting your "rebuttals" on my site regarding Sarah Palin & Rush Limbaugh. I do not agree with your opinions as they are unfortunately based on lies. I can tell you have been brainwashed by progressive liberalism to the point you don't even realize you are brainwashed. Rush uses the term "state run media" because "they" all put out the same progressive and un-American messages. If you prefer the state run media message so much instead of free thought, go move to Russia, Iran or Jordan (or similar). See what happens there when you spout ANY anti-government opinions. Part of American civic duty is to VET the "leaders" we elect and hold them accountable. How's that going so far with Obummers? Obviously no media VETTING occurred on the background of the usurper sitting unconstitutionally in the White House. I have a BIG problem with the LACK OF TRANSPARANCY with Obummers background. All true Americans should.*

From American Thinker (by Larrey Anderson is a writer, a philosopher, and submissions editor for American Thinker. He is the author of The Order of the Beloved, and the memoir, Underground: Life and Survival in the Russian Black Market.):

Our country is in big trouble ... huge trouble. It is time that Americans took a hard look at our values, our conception of justice, and our standards for truth. This piece is intended as a first step in that direction.

1) Values

The story of Tiger Woods and his (now admitted) "infidelity" is everywhere. The Woods' story has piqued the prurient interests of America and the world. The story has dominated the mainstream media for days while the injustice being committed against our Navy Seals and the revelation of the computer code from the CRU (exposing the biggest hoax in the history of the world) have gotten scant attention.

Tiger Woods was on the cover of every magazine and tabloid that I saw while standing in line at the grocery store yesterday. Those publications and those stories are on the grocery stores' racks for a reason: Americans are buying them.

We are more interested in the private life of a guy whose claim to fame is that he can hit a little ball with a stick better than anyone else in the world (whoopee!) than we are about the destruction of our culture.

It is not Tiger Woods' moral values that concern me. (Celebrities of his stature face enormous temptations from all kinds of hustlers and harlots everyday of their lives.) It is the facts that while our freedoms and Constitution crumble before our eyes ... we are focused on Tiger and his bimbos.

This is our iniquity -- not Tiger's.

2) Justice

Meanwhile our politically correct military has arraigned two Navy Seals for allegedly punching Ahmed Hashim Abed in the lip. Abed was the terrorist who, several years ago, led the murder and the brutalization of the corpses of four Blackwater security people in Iraq.
Al Qaeda instructs its members how to claim and/or fake being tortured if a member of the terrorist organization is captured.

But Al Qaeda is not the real issue here. We are. America has become so politically correct that a terrorist/murderer/sadist, who bitches about his bloodied lip, might get some of the best and bravest men on this planet thrown into jail. Americans had better pay attention, and soon, to this nonsense.

Very special and highly trained military men, including these Navy Seals, are all who stand between a worldwide Islamic war of Jihad and you and me. If we do not rise up to defend these brave soldiers, and demand a full pardon and their immediate release, here is what will happen: Dedicated young men and women will refuse to put their lives on the line if a poke in the face, of someone who would kill them in a heartbeat, gets the soldiers time in the brig.

Would you take that job? Make those sacrifices? Put your life on the line? Would you complete your mission, catch the bad guy, and then be thrown into jail for your efforts? I wouldn't. No rational human being would.

Justice in the real world is not politically correct. "Pretty please" or "We respect your unmitigated desire (and efforts) to kill us" are not phrases that matter to a mass murderer. And the next time some whiny PC liberal tells me "We are better than they are," my reply is going to be, "Of course we are. That's why Ahmed Hashim Abed only got (allegedly) punched in the face. He wasn't shot in the head, beaten with sticks, burned, and hung on a bridge. How much better than they are do we have to be to make you happy?"

3) Truth

Since the release of the CRU documents that prove the fraud of the science behind man made global warming, Al Gore has said at least three times (Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun puts it at four) that the emails and information were all ten years old. This is a lie. It has been repeated again and again by Al Gore. Some of the emails are less than two months old. And dozens upon dozens are less than ten years old. And everyone -- but Al Gore -- knows it.
Watch the video of the CNN interview with Gore here. One reporter does say to Gore, as a kind of aside, "Some of them [the emails] were from ten years ago, but many of them were far more recent than that."

Gore ignores the statement. Neither of the two reporters further disputes Gore's "ten year old" fabrication. No follow-up challenge from the CNN reporters to Gore's out right lie. None.

The mainstream media has downplayed the significance of the CRU documents. The headline of a recent AP story proclaims that the science from the CRU was not faked. Really? As (among others) Marc Sheppard, Lord Monckton, and I have proven the CRU findings most certainly were doctored. The raw date was manipulated to "prove" that the world is exponentially warming. There is no doubt about this.

And still, the mainstream media has not challenged Al Gore on the blatant absurdity of his claim that the documents were at least ten years old and have no real impact on the AGW debate.

CNN did ask him to recite his new poem on the impending doom of mother earth. See that video here. (But not if you have recently eaten a meal. You could lose it.)

John 8:32 states the following:
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The corollary of this brilliant piece of scripture should also be written. It would go something like this:

If you ignore the lies, the lies will imprison you.
Wake up America. The time for the truth to set us free is growing very, very short.

Need a visual on past global cooling & warming?

Know people who are still convinced the approximate 1.7% of CO2 man produces is warming up the planet?

From wattsupwiththat.com, watch this video for some perspective on earth's past: naturally occuring warming and cooling from ice core measurements.

Mark my word: within 10 years, if we are now indeed in a global cooling phase, the news will change. Future headlines will be:

• ice age nears!
• industry now paid to emit C02 and all warming agents possible to save the planet!
• the world turns to coal for help to warm things up!
• crops failing because globe is cooling!
• thousands of polar bears roam Chicago snow glacier fields looking for food! (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration ... probably won't see polar bears in Chicago for AT LEAST a couple hundred years if we are cooling and man still lives there ... but don't think my blog will last that long tee hee...)

*** UPDATE: There are lots of great articles covering 'ClimateGate'. Here is one about AGW being 'beyond debate':

Is belief in global-warming science another example of the "madness of crowds"? That strange but powerful social phenomenon, first described by Charles Mackay in 1841, turns a widely shared prejudice into an irresistible "authority".

Could it indeed represent the final triumph of irrationality? After all, how rational is it to pass laws banning one kind of light bulb (and insisting on their replacement by ones filled with poisonous mercury vapour) in order to "save electricity", while ploughing money into schemes to run cars on ... electricity?

How rational is it to pay the Russians once for fossil fuels, and a second time for permission (via carbon credits) to burn them (see box page 36)?

And how rational is it to suppose that the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere take between 200 and 1,000 years to be felt, but that solutions can take effect almost instantaneously?

Continue reading full article.

T.E.A. party express III - Just VOTE them OUT

From of all places CNN Political ticker: (is the TIDE turning? will lamestream media reform?)

From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser 3-Dec-09

Washington (CNN) - Just about every blockbuster movie is followed by a sequel, or two. The tea party cross country caravan, it appears, is no different.

A Tea Party Express official tells CNN that they're planning a third national tour in late March and early April that will culminate in the nation's capitol on April 15, tax deadline day.

Levi Russell, a spokesman for the group, which is organized by the conservative political action committee Our Country Deserves Better, says the slogan for the tour is "just vote them out."

Russell says that with the crucial 2010 midterm elections just months away, the tour will spotlight members of Congress who they consider the worst offenders when it comes to fiscal policy. While both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers will be targeted, Russell acknowledges that more Democrats than Republicans will be on their scopes.

Russell tells CNN that tour is expected to kick off on March 27 in Searchlight, Nevada, which is the hometown of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He adds that the three Republican candidates running to challenge Reid in next year's election are planning to attend the rally.

Just as the first tea party cross country caravan ended in the nation's capital, as part of a taxpayers march on Washington on September 12, this national tour is also scheduled to conclude in D.C. as well. The conservative group FreedomWorks organized the first march on Washington and will reprise their role for the April 15 event.

The first march ended with a large rally in front of the U.S. Capitol. This time organizers plan to hold their rally near the White House.

"September 12, 2009 was a historic day for patriotic, grassroots Americans who care about freedom," says Brendan Steinhauser (no relation to the writer of this article), director of federal and state campaigns for FreedomWorks. "The momentum has continued, and we expect hundreds of tax day protests on April 15, 2010 around the country. But the biggest event of all will be right outside the White House, where President Obama can hear and see us."

A second tea party cross country tour in late October and early November experienced a drop off in the number of people participating and in coverage by the media. But Russell says that drop off was expected and feels the third tour will be the best one yet, saying that "we'll be well into the 2010 election cycle and the campaigns will be heating up."

As with the first two cross country caravans, next year's tour is expected to highlight the message by organizers and activists that the federal government is too large and too intrusive into the lives of private citizens, federal taxes are too high and that the federal budget deficit is out of control.

Last month, a separate group announced that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the main attraction at what's being billed as the "First National Tea Party Convention."
Tea Party Nation says that last year's Republican vice presidential candidate will serve as a keynote speaker for the conference, scheduled to take place in Nashville, Tennessee from February 4-6. The group also announced that Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the gathering as well. The Minnesota Republican has become a hero among many in the conservative movement.

Tea Party Nation is not part of the planned national tour in March and April and Tea Party Express is not taking part in the tea party convention.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn