*smiles wanly* You know something? All of a sudden... I'm feeling better about this world.

A TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.

America: The Good Neighbor - a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -! not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America!

*meeped* *points at Detroit* Um.. no offense to anyone in Detroit, but... WHY in the world are the AMERICAN muslims there CELEBRATING WHAT HAPPENED IN NEW YORK AND DC!? Gods, you people... this is YOUR country TOO!! *turns off the news because it's getting to be too upsetting*

****WARNING: Rant ahead.****

Woo... okay, first of all, I'm okay. All my family is okay (even my Grandma, who lives in Manhatten). However, I think that it has to be reiterated, since SO many people aren't quite getting this:

President Bush did not declare war on anybody. THEY have declared war on us.

I don't care if you don't like it - hear me out. Osawa Bin Laden said - three years ago, mind you - that it was Jihad on the US - Holy War. He said, when he took credit for bombing the embassies in Kenya, etc., that it was just the BEGINNING; that war had been declared, and that he had every intention of "toppling" the giant that is the US.

Guys, this has been COMING for a long time - and regarding Bush's statement against Afghanistan, well, REALLY... If a country IS harboring criminals... how can that possibly be excused? If somebody blew up Big Ben and then came here and we not ONLY harbored the guy but funded some of his further exploits, England would have every kami-damned right to be more than pissed at us.

Let's not forget that they're still stockpiling in Kuwait, etc., and Hussein has gotten into the lovely habit of turning US inspectors away and not letting them see things.

This... could be REALLY bad. I'm hoping it can be resolved without war; but to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be surprised if a "real" war does start over this. A commentator I heard today put it this way:

"We shellacked Hussein in Desert Storm; totally bombed him back to the stone age. However, that didn't stop him - there's a good chance that any 'retaliatory action' we take won't be enough to stop this present threat, either."

I won't go into religious aspects of it or anything; suffice it to say that a MAJORITY of people in that area of the world hate Americans. Hate our flag, hate what we stand for. NOT EVERYBODY - this is not some sort of stupid blanket statement; I am not biased against Arabic people as a people or culture or anything else. HOWEVER....

If you don't believe me, I suggest you go and watch today's footage of the people in Afghanistan throwing parties and rejoicing because so many people have died. I think no matter what happens now... this is not going to be pretty.

I only have one thing to say: it's interesting, in a time like this, to have one of the country's foremost Islamic experts as a father.

Guess what *I* just did? I just finished the lamest assignment on the face of the earth! ^_^ Lame, you see, because it was supposed to take only an hour... counting out the time spent watching some (VERY much enjoyed) anime, this makes a total of... seven hours.

Bwaaaaaaah... I need to go to BEEEEEEEED... *grabs Sei-chan and Subaru-kun plushies and plods away*

*can't stop laughing* Okay - this Book of Spells movie is just about as spaced as EVA - and I do love EVA, but... *screams because the many Nagas of Doom have begun laughing again*

*screams AGAIN because all ten of them are stampeding through the woods, boinging in innapropriate places*

*twitch* Perhaps the homework would have been more sane.

*is very bad* *very, very bad*

*should be studying*

*should at least be working on the paper that's due in a week or the conducting assignment that's due in a few days*

*but noooooope...*

*isn't studying*

*is watching Slayers*

*.......needs to be spanked*

*laughs with Crono* Erm... well, hey - at least your mom DID that. Mine probably wouldn't have. ^^;; Nice mom you've got there. ^_^

And don't watch the Tokyo Babylon OVA's, whatever you do - they're so laughably bad that I'm going to be putting them up for download soon.

What you NEED to do is go here: Tokyo Babylon Scanlations. Okay - listen to me carefully:

Tokyo Babylon is amazing BECAUSE it starts out... so fricking cute and innocent. It sets up the story, the characters... you really find yourself being amused at the sweetness and cuteness. Oh, and it's shounen-ai, in case you hadn't gathered that for some unimaginable reason. ~_^ It has a nice story line, some intrigue because it deals with magic in modern-day Tokyo, absolutely fabulous character design...

...and then everything goes to hell.

Not all at once; hints of it start happening, and you begin go wonder what's going on. I DO have to say that you've probably gotten enough hints by this time that the shock won't surprise you TOO much - nevertheless, it's powerful.

By the time you get to book seven - which, I'm sorry to say, is not scanned yet - it's.... DARK. Completely, absolutely dark. And the ending... gah...

It HURTS your heart to read it - I am not exaggerating. The way it's done... and I don't even like shounen-ai most of the time...

I have yet to find a series that MATCHES this one, in the way it was drawn, the way the story was worked out... Read what there is here and bug Leareth to put up more soon... from what I understand, she's having trouble getting the translations together. But... GAH.

*coughs* Okay. Ranting done now. ^_^

*meep* Noooo, Crono! Don't do it!! I'll MAIL you copies of X, WITH translations!! Seriously - those graphic novels are pretty bad, at least, the ones that I saw. They make X seem even TRIPPIER than it already is, and THAT takes work. ~_^

Besides, to be perfectly honest with you... I'm reading X because of Subaru and Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon. If they weren't in it, I likely would NOT have gotten into X.

Why? Because it was not developed as well as it could have been at ALL; because many of the nuances (including Kamui and Fuuma) were ripped off from Tokyo Babylon, to the point that even the the characters IN the manga go, "gee, you look just like Subaru/Seishirou." Because all throuought there is a general attitude of "We are CLAMP-GOD and you will BOOOOOOOOOW."

And also, because Tokyo Babylon is just so much more FUN. ^_^ AND powerful - to this day, there is no series that has affected me the way that one has... Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to GET. I found my copies in a used manga store. ^^;

*stops ranting on X now* Don't get me wrong, I DO like the series; however... I'm not blind to its many, many faults, either.

Aaaaaaaand I really need to go lie down now. *sighs* You know, Crono, I acutally haven't been sick in AGES... all because I found OUT the main reason for my almost constant illness was the carb overload. So why, you may ask, was I stupid and consumed tons of carbohydrates last night?

Lo, I am a nit.

There really can't be any better answer than that. ^_^

Woo. I should be in bed. I should SO be in bed. But I'm not - you know why? Because I've gone and made myself sick! *bright smile*

Really, I should have known better... but it smelled so GOOD.... *coughs* Okay - I have a slight allergy to too many carbohydrates. It's not bad, but some nights - like this one - if I eat too many, my system sort of... ah, doesn't like me for a while.

Long story short, I feel like I'm going to puke. Which isn't a nice thing to say. *coughs* Gomen. ^_^;;

Well, since I'm up... might as well blog.

Liz - Yay! You finally got your Kenshin music back. ^_^ It's been WAY too long...

And that is an AWESOME Seishirou layout. Shame I've already got one. ^_^ (well, okay, it's just his bloodied hands - but it's the thought that counts, right?)

Oh, and for the record - your brother is hilarious. "Is it still Saturday," indeed...

Oh, and what are you talking about, "not good enough?" Your writing is QUITE nice; and I STILL say you should try again for the Good Fanfiction Webring - even if you don't get in, you're guaranteed critiquing that could possibly help you. Darling, you are NOT a so-so author... *swats you for thinking such things*

Oh, and I know JUST what you mean, Crono - I'm "one of the guys;" So they all come to me and tell me crap about their girlfriends and ask for my advice.

And talk like guys in front of me. Which... can get icky. o_O You people are WEIRD...

Oh, and I'm SO glad that English teacher turned out to be not your real one. That would have... just SUCKED. Plain and simple. ^_^

And yes. Write Matrix fanfic. Doooo it.... wooo.... *gives chocolate to your muses*

And yes - Staind does rock. ^___^Y

Seen Hannibal yet? I haven't...

The X movie is interesting. It screws with the manga SO much it's unrecognizable, but it's so... BEAUTIFUL. *has already pre-orderered her copy* *hey, it was six bucks off...* I just want to see what they're doing with the X OAV - there's supposed to be an actual TV series, or something... @_@

Happy birthday to your doggie, btw. ^_^ Mine is...erm... hm. Like six or seven, I THINK...

*snickers* I like rats very much, btw - have had rodents as pets before and found them quite to my taste. ^_^ ... no comments from the peanut gallery. *puts up shield*

Oh, and you're right... I find myself looking at other cels now. Bwah, I'm doomed...

Oh, and as a general update, I ought to be getting DSL on the 18th - supposedly. After which I shall be sure to upload the Tokyo Babylon ova's for general consumption. ^_^

*swats Vejiita for being mean to you*

And the Moonlight sonata IS gorgeous, isnt'it? I'm learning it now, as a matter of fact. Well, the last two movements... *sighs* Would be nice if I HAD A DECENT TEACHER. Blaaaaaah.

Oooh, you're LOOKING for a college? For some reason, I thought you were older. Cool! ^_^ Good luck finding one!

Ooh, and Ashura... *brightly* I know NOTHING about RGVeda! Well, that's not QUITE true - I know a little bit. ^^;; I need to learn more, however. Oooh, and who's the guy with the long hair who looks exactly like Seishirou?

IIIIIII want to watch the X OAV toooo... *wails because she can't get the stupid clip to WORK*

Does ANYBODY have any info on when that thing's being released?

And I won't give you ANY pity about not making call backs. At all. None. Noooooope. Not a DROP. ~_^

I'm rather eager to see your new layout myself - preview, perhaps? *bounces and hopes*

And I, too, love the whole miserable mess of Seishirou and Subaru. Gods, I'm an angst-monger....

And LEARETH DOES TOO LOVE YOU!! So do I - *sticks tongue out*. So there. ^_^

...and I suppose it would be a bad thing to mention that some other friends of mine made it to the Crystal Method concert? Eh, heh... ^^;

THERE! I got through everybody! And lookit - I'm not speaking entirely in actions. ^_^ Oh, one more thing: Manzai and Vega (feels like a nit for forgetting your homepage url) - you both owe me blogs. Blog. Both of you. BLOOOOOOOG! *cackles*

*stares at the word because it sounds funny if pronoucned phonetically*

Okay. Going to bed now. ^_^;;

Whee. New layout. I feel accomplished. ~_^