Reflections From a Murky Pond

Some truths are self-evident and absolute. They do not change just because ages have past and technology advanced.

One of those things is how any nation – any People – survive the assault of their enemies both foreign and domestic.

March of Cambreadth

Axes flash, broadswords swing,
Shining armor’s piercing ring!
Horses run with a polished shield,
Fight those bastards till they yield!
Midnight mare and blood-red roan,
Fight to keep this land your own!
Sound the horn and call the cry:
“How many of them can we make die!”
Follow orders as you’re told,
Make their yellow blood run cold!
Fight until you die or drop,
A force like ours is hard to stop!
Close your mind to stress and pain,
Fight till you’re no longer sane!
Let not one damned cur pass by,
“How many of them can we make die!”

Guard your women and children well,
Send these bastards back to hell!
We’ll teach them the ways of war,
They won’t come here anymore!
Use your shield and use your head,
Fight till everyone is dead!
Raise the flag up to the sky,
“How many of them can we make die!”

Dawn has broke, the time has come,
Move your feet to the marching drum!
We’ll win the war and pay the toll,
We’ll fight as one in heart and soul!
Midnight mare and blood-red roan,
Fight to keep this land your own!
Sound the horn and call the cry:
“How many of them can we make die!”

Axes flash, broadswords swing,
Shining armor’s piercing ring!
Horses run with a polished shield,
Fight those bastards till they yield!
Midnight mare and blood-red roan,
Fight to keep this land your own!
Sound the horn and call the cry:
“How many of them can we make die!”

If one cannot feel this perhaps the setting is too archaic for you. I’d suggest instead to Lock and Load!

Sometimes it’s nice to extend the Christmas season past Christmas; sometimes it feels a bit naughty to do so; and sometimes it’s a delicious combination both nice and naughty.

I think that a slightly belated Christmas blessing from the Cuban-born beauty, Vida Guerra qualifies as the latter case. So let’s enjoy Vida twerking the halls even though Christmas has past.

Besides, technically Christmas Day is just the first day of Christmastide. 😉

For my Christian readers, especially those who are Catholic or Anglican, here’s something old school to celebrate the coming of Christmas with.

Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Alleluia.

It is after the last week of Advent.

Veni Veni, Emmanuel

It is a metrical version of the Antiphon, O Emmanuel and dates back to at least the 12th century.

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.

That particular antiphon would be sung, chanted, or recited at Vespers on December 23rd and is the final in the series of “O Antiphons.”

So enjoy a bit of the past and its grace and majesty, my friends and other readers. Worry yourselves not one bit over the Pagan who’s so familiar with traditions that you’ve long ago cast aside. 😉

Merry Christmas!

Perhaps my favorite Christmas carol and certainly my favorite Christmas story – even if it’s modern in origin…

Pentatonix’s Little Drummer Boy

H/T to Moe for sharing this modern, a capella version by Pentatonix.

“The Little Drummer Boy,” originally known as “Carol of the Drum” is quite modern as well. It was originally written in 1941 by Katherine Kennicott Davis, though the story it tells seems to based upon the 13th century legend of Le Jongleur de Notre Dame created or recorded by by Gautier de Coincy.

Ridicule is not only an effective weapon, it is often the only weapon that can be used against dangerous, inane foolishness.

Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

— Saul Alinsky
Rule 5 – Rules For Radicals, 1971

~*~

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them.

— Thomas Jefferson
July 30, 1816

Some surprising citizens of America understand this and are not afraid to make use ridicule in the attempt effect change and restore hope for the rebirth of America and the cessation of certain forms of destructive stupidity.

http://youtu.be/YR3_mM4bpCY

During the opening segment of the 2013 Country Music Awards (CMA), hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley did a hilarious skit and song about the abysmal but expected failure that has been the ObamaCare quasi-launch.

As you might guess, American viewers were laughing out loud at this lampooning of Obama’s signature and singular “achievement.” Contriwise, Liberals and their minority tenants – the few of the latter that actually watch the CMA show – were outraged.

The outrage is unsurprising. After all, this was a pair of country music performers – a quintessentially White and American musical genre – performing for an audience that is overwhelmingly equally White and American, is going to be declared as racists, knuckle-draggers, and with other epithets for lampooning any of Obama’s many failures.

Of course, the Liberals’ and minorities’ outraged response is just more evidence that ridicule is both effective and the best and only non-lethal weapon against Obama, his destructive foolishness, and his followers. 😉

~*~

BONUS: If you’re like Brad Paisley and myself until quite recently and don’t know what twerking is, this is twerking:

[youtubegallery]
http://youtu.be/QF6MKWWlWr0

http://youtu.be/KWi8hCNmZBQ
[/youtubegallery]

I’ve got to say that, while I don’t care for music in the least, I do like the moves these women are doing. Much like traditional – not Cabaret! – belly dancing, it’s a very pleasant mixture of eroticism and extreme precision and muscle control.