Glenn Beck

Here are a few comments I copied from one site featuring a discussion of the Glenn Beck rally in Washington this past weekend....


Glenn Beck is a fag & he knows it... god dam cock sucker

I have never seen such a large gathering of uneducated hillbillies. Sure, some may have an education, but they are still hillbillies in my book.

Yeah I got tea. I got tea in my cabinet, in jars, iced in the fridge. None for the l.a.m.e at a Beck rally.

Obama's worst nightmare - A hiIIbiIIy voter!

White trash on parade.
Sure glad I live in Carrboro.

They've done nothing to bring this country together, and everything in their power to pull the country apart. That crowd was full of self important white people. It is not representative of our country as a whole in any way, shape or form. It's only representative of one segment of the population that has been whipped into a faux frenzy based on the rantings of right wing pundits.

It looks like the most prevelant fashion accessory at the rally was doughy, white, blubbery flesh! Have another donut!

This is your brain on beck.

do these dumb f*cks not have jobs and blame Obama instead of the RepubliCONS who cherish outsourcing and treating workers like slaves?

They should call it the Million Moran March

Thats one big Klan meeting!

IQ of the Lincoln Memorial Area Dropped by 80 points for the duration of this event.

sadly, the stupidity factor seems to be growing exponentially.

This is horrifying that there are this many ignorant people willing to show their faces in public

Can beck spell honor let alone define it?

I have some snake oil to sell if you'd like to buy it. I'm sure you would. Restoring honor? Restoring fear and hate mongering is more like it.

Beck is a shyster. His attempt to claim the civil rights movement is just the bottom of the barrel. Its hard to see how much lower he and the Tea Party can drag political discourse in America.

My heart went all a flutter when I saw the keywords RIP and Glenn Beck.

how sad to be so easily duped. it's beck that wil be "outed" for the fraud he is. then who will be your "christian" saviour?

Glenn Beck has convinced me to do so by showing the soiled, corrupt face of the Republican party

Did he really do this on MLK's day?? Really? Wow, that's a total slap in the face

It's time to get out there. This can't stand, You can't let people get away with this garbage.

It's sad that so many Americans are so desperate to have a leader. What a sad bunch of followers and blind believers.

"there is a sucker (Fox News viewer) born every minute".

Glen Beck is the grand puppet master of the stupid, and the puppets are so stupid they dont know there strings are being pulled, sad state of affairs in america.

Tea-baggers have no words of their own, no thoughts of their own, no values of their own, no goals of their own. They're a fan club, nothing more. They eat, drink, sleep, think, & speak precisely what their media demagogues tell them to, all the while heedless that they are really being treated with open contempt, laughed at behind their backs.

Sorry, 'baggers and baguettes.... but your "MILLION M0R0N MARCH" fizzled..

We must no longer allow the thugs & the haters, those who conjure the pounding of jackbooted lockstep with every utterance to hijack our language as they have our culture..

I didn't get a chance to laugh at any of Becks jokes today, but, I did crack a rib laughing at all of the clowns he rounded up out on the mall though.

That sound we are hearing over the horizon is the rest of the world laughing at us.

beck must die

This dirtbag is the worst hate speaker in history. He spues his propoganda and the sheep eat it up like the morons they are. He shouldve been aborted.

I kept waiting for the lone educated person to snipe his ass, then I remembered. They are all uneducated rubes from the south.

I'm sure Beck sleeps with nine year old boys.

All these fat white people are making me sick.

When are the neocons going to learn that we have the country now and we are going to get our fair share, stupid fucks.

there is no god, beck can suck my cock

the tooth to person ratio was unbelievable

No wonder white guys chase black women, look what they get to sleep with.

The Mosque at ground zero

• 26 February 1993 – World Trade Center bombing, New York City. 6 killed.
• 13 March 1993 – 1993 Bombay bombings. Mumbai, India. 250 dead, 700 injured.
• 28 July 1994 – Buenos Aires, Argentina. Vehicle suicide bombing attack against AMIA building, the local Jewish community representation. 85 dead, more than 300 injured.
• 24 December 1994 – Air France Flight 8969 hijacking in Algiers by 3 members of Armed Islamic Group of Algeria and another terrorist. 7 killed including 4 hijackers.
• 25 June 1996 – Khobar Towers bombing, 20 killed, 372 wounded.
• 17 November 1997 – Luxor attack, 6 armed Islamic terrorists attack tourists at Egypts famous Luxor Ruins. 68 foreign tourists killed.
• 14 February 1998 – Bombing in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 13 bombs explode within a 12 km radius. 46 killed and over 200 injured.
• 7 August 1998 – 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. 224 dead. 4000+ injured.
• 4 September 1999 – A series of bombing attacks in several cities of Russia, nearly 300 killed.
• 12 October 2000 – Attack on the USS cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.
• 11 September 2001 – 4 planes hijacked and crashed into World Trade Center and The Pentagon by 19 hijackers. Nearly 3000 dead.^[178]
• 13 December 2001 – Suicide attack on Indian parliament in New Delhi by Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist organizations, Jaish-E-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Aimed at eliminating the top leadership of India and causing anarchy in the country. 7 dead, 12 injured.
• 27 March 2002 – Suicide bomb attack on a Passover Seder in a Hotel in Netanya, Israel. 30 dead, 133 injured.
• 30 March 2002 and 24 November 2002 - Attacks on the Hindu Raghunath temple, India. Total 25 dead.
• 7 May 2002 – Bombing in al-Arbaa, Algeria. 49 dead, 117 injured.
• 24 September 2002 – Machine Gun attack on Hindu temple in Ahmedabad, India. 31 dead, 86 injured.^[179][180]
• 12 October 2002 – Bombing in Bali nightclub. 202 killed, 300 injured.^[181]
• 16 May 2003 – Casablanca Attacks – 4 simultaneous attacks in Casablanca killing 33 civilians (mostly Moroccans) carried by Salafia Jihadia.
• 11 March 2004 – Multiple bombings on trains near Madrid, Spain. 191 killed, 1460 injured (alleged link to Al-Qaeda).
• 1 September 2004 - Beslan school hostage crisis, approximately 344 civilians including 186 children killed.^[182][183]
• 2 November 2004 – The murder of Theo van Gogh (film director) by Amsterdam-born jihadist Mohammed Bouyeri.^[184]
• 4 February 2005 – Muslim terrorists attacked the Christian community in Demsa, Nigeria, killing 36 people, destroying property and displacing an additional 3000 people.
• 5 July 2005 - Attack at the Hindu Ram temple at Ayodhya, India; one of the most holy sites of Hinduism. 6 dead.
• 7 July 2005 – Multiple bombings in London Underground. 53 killed by four suicide bombers. Nearly 700 injured.
• 23 July 2005 – Bomb attacks at Sharm el-Sheikh, an Egyptian resort city, at least 64 people killed.
• 29 October 2005 – 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings, India. Over 60 killed and over 180 injured in a series of three attacks in crowded markets and a bus, just 2 days before the Diwali festival.^[185]
• 9 November 2005 – 2005 Amman bombings. a series of coordinated suicide attacks on hotels in Amman, Jordan. Over 60 killed and 115 injured.^[186][187] Four attackers including a husband and wife team were involved.^[188]
• 7 March 2006 – 2006 Varanasi bombings, India. A series of attacks in the Sankath Mochan Hanuman temple and Cantonment Railway Station in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. 28 killed and over 100 injured.^[189]
• 11 July 2006 – 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, Mumbai, India; a series of seven bomb blasts that took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai. 209 killed and over 700 injured.
• 14 August 2007 – Qahtaniya bombings: Four suicide vehicle bombers massacred nearly 800 members of northern Iraq's Yazidi sect in the deadliest Iraq war's attack to date.
• 26 July 2008 – 2008 Ahmedabad bombings, India. Islamic terrorists detonate at least 21 explosive devices in the heart of this industrial capital, leaving at least 56 dead and 200 injured. A Muslim group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility. Indian authorities believe that extremists with ties to Pakistan and/or Bangladesh are likely responsible and are intent on inciting communal violence.^[190] Investigation by Indian police led to the eventual arrest of a number of terrorists suspected of carrying out the blasts, most of whom belong to a well-known terrorist group, The Students Islamic Movement of India.^[191]
• 13 September 2008 – Bombing series in Delhi, India. Pakistani extremist groups plant bombs at several places including India Gate, out of which the ones at Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and Greater Kailash explode leaving around 30 people dead and 130 injured, followed by another attack two weeks later at the congested Mehrauli area, leaving 3 people dead.
• 26 November 2008 – Muslim extremists kill at least 174 people and wound numerous others in a series of coordinated attacks on India's largest city and financial capital, Mumbai. A group calling itself the Deccan Mujaheddin claims responsibility, however, the government of India suspects Islamic terrorists based in Pakistan are responsible. Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists, was caught alive.^[192][193]
• 25 October 2009. Baghdad, Iraq. During a terrorist attack, two bomber vehicles detonated in the Green Zone, killing at least 155 people and injuring 520.
• 28 October 2009 – Peshawar, Pakistan. A car bomb is detonated in a woman exclusive shopping district, and over 110 killed and over 200 injured.
• 5 November 2009 - Fort Hood shooting, Texas, USA. U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, shot and killed 13 people and wounded 30 others at a U.S. Army base.
• 3 December 2009 – Mogadishu, Somalia. A male suicide bomber disguised as a woman detonates in a hotel meeting hall. The hotel was hosting a graduation ceremony for local medical students when the blast went off, killing four government ministers as well as other civilians.^[194]
• 1 January 2010 – Lakki Marwat, Pakistan. A suicide car bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into a volleyball pitch as people gathered to watch a match killing more than 100 people.^[195]
• 1 May 2010 - New York, New York, USA. Faisal Shahzad, an Islamic Pakistani American who received U.S. citizenship in December 2009, attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square working with the Pakistani Taliban or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
• 28 May 2010 - Attacks on Ahmadi Mosques Lahore, Pakistan. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed attacks on two mosques simultaneously belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, killing nearly 100 and injuring many others.

This is a partial list posted on wikipedia of attacks perpetrated by people using the religion of Islam as a sounding board for their agenda.

The debates over freedom and peace in the middle east rage on every day, yet nothing has changed there in thousands of years. That region of the world is steeped in ignorance, tribalism, despotism, and religious oppression. Toss in billions of dollars for oil from all over the planet and you have a recipe for disaster.

Now Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has proposed the building of a thirteen story mosque a couple of blocks from the site of The World Trade Center. Currently, eighty percent of the people polled about this issue think that the mosque shouldn't be built.

Rauf has been tapped by Presidents in the past to act as an ambassador of sorts to "bridge" understanding between Islam and western societies. Looking at the man's history, he would be considered to be an Islamic moderate by any measure, even though he has made statements that would bring this into question...

"For many people who do not understand Islam, Muslims do not appear in the Western media to act in a way that let them believe that Islam is a religion of peace. So there is a certain cognitive dissonance here. If Islam is a religion of peace, why do we see Muslims unpeaceful? Why do we see suicide bombings in Muslim countries? Why do we see indiscriminate killing of people? "

That is a quote by the man that we rarely see in the media today.

People will bring out statistics, numbers, and lists as I have done here about deaths surrounding Islamic terrorism. Lists of how many people that have been killed by American military operations and U.S. sanctions will also be brought out and held in the waving fists of those who oppose the lifestyle and freedom we have built for ourselves here.

This is a never ending argument that has and will lead to bloodshed. There are people all over the world that stand behind the Koran who desire for me and you to simply die. I have read the Koran and, like all religious tomes, the book speaks of love and respect while at the same time condoning slaughter of people who either don't believe as they do or break the list of rules they have published as the only path to true salvation.

It is apparent that religious fanatics of any ism feel that it is their duty as commanded by god to kill whoever they wish, whether its a doctor that performs abortions, or people going to work in World Trade Center.....

The way I see it, historically, neither Christianity or Islam has a leg to stand on when you enter the arena of the argument over violent fundamentalists...

It's at this point that laws take over. Equal protection means just that, equal. When you break a law you are punished by systems set in place to keep the peace.

In observance of these laws and ordinances, voted into place by the citizens of this society, we must allow the building of this mosque.

My personal opinion is that it is in poor taste, a slap to the face of all those who lost family, friends, and fellow countrymen on September 11th, 2001. I believe that this building will be a target of malice and hatred that will be held up to the rest of the world to show either the barbaric nature of this country or the "victory" Islam has over this society by picturing the power they hold over us. Just as paintings of the twin towers in flame adorned many walls in the middle east as people danced about in celebration of the attack, this mosque will be used as a thumb in the eye of this society by these same ignorant muslims.

We are discussing cultural differences that will never be ironed out. We can not understand why a woman should be stoned to death after committing adultery when the man involved walks away unscathed. We can not understand why women in this culture are subjugated to the point of not showing their faces in public, not allowed to go to school, or vote, or have a voice in anything political.

Just as strongly as you and I are confused by things of this nature, these people are baffled by how we can allow our daughters to make porn movies. They are confused by how we let our society morally crumble around us, holding that anything done to get money is ok. For every belief that you have which you hold onto dearly there is a person that believes exactly the opposite and will fight as fiercely as you would to protect it.

This is where the breakdown starts.

How do we overcome this impasse?

There are only two ways to do this. We either understand and recognize the differences, accept them and move forward without violence, or one group must destroy the other. The destruction must come from either violent means or assimilation.

Any rationally thinking person can make the universal plea for peace. Here is mine:

"Do we not think that it is time that we, as a human race, came to learn the lesson that violence begets nothing but violence? In order for us to move forward as one people, untied in peace, we must accept that cultural and religious differences within our societies are to be celebrated and haled as one of our greatest achievements; That we indeed can exist together and move forward in an atmosphere of understanding would usher in one of the greatest moments in our history. When we can work together to overcome the real problems that we face throughout life - poverty, disease, ignorance, famine, and oppression, we shall truly know what it is to be enlightened. One word encompasses this thought, freedom. The allowance of individuals to be and remain free is the cornerstone of the foundation that our future will be built upon. To recognize the right of the person next to you to worship, live, and think as they wish is the only answer to our very survival. If we do not learn this lesson then we are forever doomed to repeat the historical outrages that our forefathers fell victim to. No person has the right to own another human being. No government has the right to oppress people who disagree with its policies. No one group may have control over another. No one has the right to take anything from anyone through force or fraud, this is true with all things from intellectual freedom to our very lives. We are individual people, each with the right to live and believe as we see fit. The choice is a simple one, the time is now at hand when we must make the decision to perish, or to survive."

The imam Rauf and his supporters have every legal right to build this mosque. While I do not agree with it being so near the site of the largest Islamic fundamentalist attack on this society, I must step back for a moment and see that we can not allow popular opinion to trump law. They have been cleared by all the applicable licensing and approval boards to go forward, therefore they must be allowed to do so.

While some may consider this to be us taking the high road, others may consider this to be another case in point of the weakening of this country. Political correctness and poplar opinion must not be allowed to overtake law. Allowing them to do so would be one of the most dangerous moves we have ever made.

A Haunting in Georgia

I was over at Tony's place reading his latest post. He was talking about walking through Graceland in Memphis, he took it all in and didn't say anything. The second I read that I understood exactly what he meant.

That emotional connection to a place that's so strong that you begin to treat it with reverence played through my head for the rest of the day. The images of the places I hold dear were examined and cataloged. When the history of one spot is so alive that you can almost feel it breathing with the past it can catch you off guard.

One of the most powerful places for me is the spot on the dirt road in the woods where the huge tree with the nails we drove into it stands in a bend in the road. I remember that we had decided to build a tree house and my Dad gave us some things to get started with. He drove the first few nails into the tree to show us how it was done and then left us to it. We just kept driving nails into the tree, creating a way to climb it, then once we were way too high, we just stopped. It's become some sort of sick symbol for life... Things started but not finished...

The memory of that day is still fresh in my mind. When I pass by that spot I never really look at the nails or think about them, I just avert my eyes because I can feel some sort of power emanating from the tree. Sometimes I feel like it's taunting me, daring me to come back and finish the tree house. I was going around the bend in the road there one night on the kawasaki mule and heard my Dad call me.. The call was so clear I stopped the mule and looked around for a few seconds before shaking my head and continuing on.

There are many areas like that around here. Places where I feel like I'm an intruder, or perhaps that someone else is there. Some times its comforting, at other times its a bit creepy. There have been times when the feeling of another presence was so strong that I would actually check my shirt to make sure it was straight or run my fingers through my hair... I never think about that until I've gone on by...

Some physicists believe that the past, present, and future exist all at once and occasionally one can punch through to the other. The theory has even been used as an explanation of ghosts. I was sitting at the school today waiting to pick up my son when I found myself looking around the parking lot and remembering it the way it used to be. I was parked in line, very near to the spot that was home plate when I went to school there. I thought about playing softball there, and soccer, and all of the humiliation suffered because of the annual physical fitness test we used to have to take. I looked around the place and there isn't a single spot that I wasn't on when I was a child. I looked over and thought about building a golfing green in Mr. Enns' PE class. Then I looked at the trees that are growing there that were planted when I was in the sixth grade. I thought about running during class and how we used to jump over those very trees, which now tower above the building.

Good and bad memories ran through my head as I sat in line. I have a tremendous fear of crowds and being in front of people. One of the most anxious moments for me was when I made it to the seventh grade and first went to PE. I was so afraid of being on the school basketball team and having to play in front of people that I had minor strokes on my way to class.. I decided to tackle the issue head on and asked Mr. Enns the question, "What if you don't want to play on the school basketball team? Can you just say no?" I was serious about it, and had to work up the nerve to ask the question. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "Well that's a problem I don't think you have to worry about..." That was my official introduction to sarcasm...

I was once greeted with laughter when I ran up to a group of guys standing on the sidelines watching a soccer game we were playing. They were the kids that didn't participate that day in class because they hadn't dressed out for PE for one reason or another.. Principal McMillan had been sitting with them and was walking away as I ran over.. I asked what the laughter was about and was bombarded by many voices all at once telling me that he had just referred to me as "jelly belly" before he walked off...

But many memories of a more pleasant nature were there too. I could plainly hear the voices of people long gone and see the kids I knew running around the place. That gave way to wondering what they are all up to these days...

I watched as children were playing in the same place I played when I was their age. There was this one little kid I was watching running in a circle with every bit of speed he could muster. Up the ladder and down the slide he went, over and over as fast as he could... Several times before he went down the slide, he would pause and look around, but all the other kids were busy elsewhere, he was alone at the slide. I began to wonder if he could sense my presence as I was doing the same thing there thirty plus years ago...

When the bell rang and all the kids ran inside to head home, and all the cars waiting for them started up, I thought to myself, I really need to quit haunting these old places...

Norbert revisited

I want to thank everyone who has responded with donations for the family I wrote about in the last couple of posts. Every bit of help they get will allow them to, well.. as Matt-Man so eloquently put it...

"I know that no matter what any of us do, it will not help Boo and her family to ever get over this event, but anything we do “in the meantime”, will absolutely help them to get through this event."

Blogger extraordinaire Dana has added a link to her blog that sends you directly to a paypal donation page to make it easier for everyone to contribute. If you don't have paypal, just email me at crickhollowcarving@gmail.com and I will send it on to her...

As I was sitting in front of this screen thinking about her situation and everything she's been through I found myself drawn to her words...

So, in the spirit of her writing and her gift for making everything much louder and more chaotic than it needs to be, I decided to post one of my favorite stories she wrote....

Norbert

Norbert came down from the North Pole to bring our family Santa's favorite little Christmas tree. Mrs. Clause had covered every available surface in their house with trees, and so there was no room left for Santa's favorite little tree and it made him sad. He wanted this little tree to be warm and covered in all the glittering finery the other elves had draped across his brethren. Norbert was Santa's personal assistant, and so it fell to him to take the tree and bring it down a southerly way, looking for the perfect home to grace. Given the fact that it's only three weeks to Christmas, it's quite clear how important this mission was to Santa. To send such an important member of the Elf Corps as his very own personal assistant could only mean that it was of the utmost, vital importancy to maintain the perfectly balanced nature of Holiday Cheer Santa so carefully cultivated each year.

Santa trusted Norbert so implicitly he didn't bother to lay out a game plan. He just told him, "Norbert, I trust you to get this tree to the right family." So Norbert set out, the tree strapped into a specially designed carrier on his back, standing tall and proud, seemingly towering over the little elf's head. Norbert felt impressive and was practically bubbling over in his pride. He pulled out his trusty Candy Cane walking stick, and started the hike. One might worry that with the minute stature of one such as Norbert a trip like that, entirely on foot, would take years. Santa is smarter than that however, and when each elf entered the Corps they went through basic training. It was a grueling and rigorous process of magical obstacle courses designed to hone the elves into a lean, mean holiday machine. Not every elf was cut out for the Corps, and Norbert's parents had worried that he didn't have the stamina to make it.

Santa had taken special interest in Norbert, seeing something in the bookish little elf that no one else did. He took Norbert aside and taught him all sorts of special tricks the other elves were not privilege to. Thanks to the extra things Santa had taught him; Norbert was able to graduate from basic training at the top of his class, taking special honors for Magical Aptitude and Stamina. He almost felt as though Santa had groomed him for this mission from the start. That was a silly thought, though. Santa couldn't possibly have known about the little tree when Norbert was but a wee elf lad... could he? It didn't matter anyway. Santa had entrusted the tree to Norbert's care, and he intended to make the Old Man proud. It had been many years since an elf had stood out in special services, and Norbert wanted to wake the old tradition and bring a new sense of passion to the rest of the elves.

What with all the pain and strife in the world, with so many turning aside from the joy of the season, with the relentless progression of modern commercialism the elves had started to feel a little obsolete. Kids didn't want the traditional wonders of Christmas anymore, they wanted electronic gadgets and top of the line gizmos. Many of the younger elves had taken an interest in technology, and there were whole labs at the North Pole now working to keep pace with the giant entertainment companies. Norbert wanted something more for the future of the elves, though. He knew Santa wanted to preserve the roots of Christmas Giving, and not just for nostalgic reasons. He needed to world to appreciate what he did, or he would lose his purpose and begin to fade away, like so many other magical creatures and constructs before him. Somehow, Norbert felt that accomplishing this mission would be the first step. The thing that opened the other elves eyes and restored their passion for creation. The North Pole was in for a shake up, and it was going to be magnificent.

In a matter of moments Norbert felt a pull to the left. It jerked his stride involuntarily, and he turned to gaze in the direction of the pull. When he was in this state, the world almost looked like a huge geological survey map, overlaid with a regular street map. He'd seen similar things on the computer, as Santa ran Google Earth simulations constantly to prepare his mind for his annual flight. What he saw was a giant red arrow, pointing down on a little black dot labeled Portland, Oregon. This then, must be where he needed to take the tree. He headed toward the dot, and fell back into the regular realm of transport and movement.

He looked around, and found himself standing in front of a little house with a hand lettered sign on the fence. Christmas Trees, $10.00 and up the sign read. Norbert looked around, and saw a few little scraggly trees leaned up against the fence, and some fuller ones in racks on the lawn. Another hand lettered sign announced that the ones against the fence were the $10.00 trees. Norbert rearranged them a little, and leaned the special tree up between them. He snuck around the corner of the house, and waited to see what would happen.

After just a few minutes Norbert spied a blue SUV coming up the street. It seemed to glisten in the sunlight, and Norbert knew it was the family he had been looking for. His eyes widened in shock then when the SUV drove right on by, and he started to panic momentarily until the he noticed the vehicle making a U-turn up the block and heading back. A smallish woman, a tallish man, and a little girl - cute as the cutest pixie child at the Pole! - clamored out of the truck and began to look around. The smallish woman grinned a gigantic goofy grin, danced up to the fence, and plucked up Santa's tree with a giggle.

"This one right here. This is our tree. I told you guys, I don't pick the tree the tree picks me." She snorted when she got to the end of the sentence, which sent her into peals of more exuberant laughter. The tallish man chuckled at her absurdity, and turned to the door to knock and pay for the tree. The young lady who answered the door looked confused, but smiled and took the money anyway. Satisfied with the transaction the smallish woman and the tallish man posed for the little girl to snap a photograph of them with their tree. They loaded it up into the back of the SUV, laughing and grinning the whole time, before driving off back the way they had come. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes from beginning to end, and Norbert knew he had succeeded in his mission.

There was no doubt that the right family had found the tree, and Norbert simply winked himself home. Later that night, he and Santa looked in on the little tree. Santa could not stop chuckling, and by the end of their voyeuristic visit the tears were streaming down his face, his rotund belly shaking and jiggling with uncontrolled mirth. "Norbert, my lad I knew I could count on you. A tree that fine should always be surrounded with such noise and laughter. The boisterousness of children and the clamoring of loving parents milling about in a chaotic milieu of Christmas Cheer. I think you just might be due for a promotion." As usual, Santa's eyes twinkled when he spoke.

"Yes, Norbert my lad, you've done quite well. Merry Christmas, son. Merry Christmas, indeed."

- Boo


I hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did...

Hang in there midget, we are all pulling for you....

Let's help them out

In my last entry I spoke of a friend that has suffered the loss of two of her children. I spoke with her today and she told me that beyond the obvious situation being difficult to handle they are faced with the financial aspect being an unimaginable burden.

She wrote a brief blog post about what happened that went as follows:

~~~~~~~~~~

On Monday July 19, there was a fire at my ex's home. We lost Moo and D'oh. Deedles is my hero, because she got Ganigan, Beans, and herself out of the house. She did everything right. I'll tell the full story later. Right now, I have too much to do and think about.

I lost my babies.

~~~~~~~~~~

So... I have an idea, just as I did with this. I am starting a fundraiser for the family. I do not like to use other organizations when doing things of this nature because not every penny of the money given goes directly to the people involved. So I am asking everyone to give money for them. Email me at crickhollowcarving@gmail.com for details. I will collect the money and then send it to them.

They have lost all of their material possessions and currently the family is spread over a few different states. I think that with the reach of the internet we should be able to really help these people out in rebuilding their lives.

The two children that were lost were Moo, age nine, and D'oh, age three... (those were their mom's nicknames for them) they were extremely special kids and the loss is devastating. Their sisters are trying their best to cope. Mom is trying her best to keep busy, as she puts it, "I'm doing what I can to get this place in order so that I keep busy and don't think..." This is a photo of mom and all of her kids...







This is a 'Merry Christmas' video they made for me and Julie a couple of years ago, Moo and D'oh are the first two kids on the video...






Julie is going to be auctioning off some of her jewelry to benefit the family on her site here. I'm straight up asking for donations to help them out, anything you can give would be appreciated beyond imagining. Five dollars, ten, anything, they need help.

So I'm asking anyone that has a blog or website or facebook profile to re-post this or a link to it when they read it so these guys can start getting their life back together.

Again, email me at crickhollowcarving@gmail.com to get the details on giving money for the family.... any and all help would be wonderful... lets help this family out in their time of great need and loss.

Human tragedy

There are times in life when we are tested.

The test I'm speaking of is questioning the workings of the universe, loss of faith in other words. Whether you have placed your faith in a religion, a specific God, or new age crystal rubbing we are tried from time to time.

Each day you can see an endless stream of grief on any news channel. Our morbid curiosity of things of this nature has always fascinated me. It's when these things hit a little close to home that we find ourselves stopping and wondering about life and our existence.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to become friends with another blogger. We came to know each other and our families came to become friends. A free spirit who enjoys life and finds inspiration in everything, I always enjoy reading her blog and got a big kick about stories she would tell about the day to day grind we all suffer through.

With life you never know whats going to come your way and their family was dealt a series of blows that left them reeling and wondering what was coming next. Always an optimist, she found the good points in all the mess and fought on. I haven't heard much from her over the past few months, but in the updates I did get everything it seemed as if it was coming together for them. This always made me and Julie smile... A few days ago I got an email from her that told about a fire that took place in their home. They lost two of their children.

A parent losing a child is one of, if not the worst, tragic twists of life's fate. The human condition tells us to go on. Life does continue for the survivors, yet... with the most profound of losses hanging in our soul. The mantras of karmic justification roll through our minds with the final truth being that we were indeed blessed with the time we had with those that have now gone on.

Julie and I wept upon hearing the news for both the ones lost and the ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces. We wished, beyond logic, for the power to make all this go away. There is pain, and I wish that there was something that we could do to help take that pain away. We wish for their family that hope remains in the face of such loss, and that one day they can all find the voice of inspiration and feel peace once again.

Keep strong, we love you guys...