Death, Sleep and the Disorder Between

Please, no sleep yet. The death that awaits is unnerving. It's too close. Visions, dreams and the such are there. They haunt me ever. Especially the repeating ones. No one ever repeated something unless it was important. Sleep also leads to renewal but in a way that is most odd. In sleep we are dead, motionless, insensate. Yet we revive back into this world. But, then, the renewal, the death and reawakening is faulted and imperfect. For if the ultimate life is eternal than the ultimate renewal is something past what we know. Sleep is death in its lightest type. It is as if you stepped into an ocean only up to your knees. We are only allowed to go so far into this ocean because as long as we wake upon this earth then we are not allowed to dive into the ocean to the "sacred silence". Death is the ultimate end of sleep, it is the breaking point, the ultimate renewal. For once we die, we live forever. After we sleep in death, we will no longer have a need for it again. For in this world we never wake while in the next we never sleep.

Norse Battle Hymn

Many are there who travel in search of peace.
They believe it is on this middle-earth (middingard) to be found.
Truly, solace there is, but not in the way they seek it.
Some believe they can buy peace; others, that solace comes from wisdom and learning.
There are those who believe that peace is only achieved during the bitterest winters of their days, and in this, they are not far off.
But as for me, peace I find in none of this. But still yet it is to be and has been and ever will be found.
The high sounding diatribes of the wise sooth me not; for truth, fools are closer to the end than they.
Nor does sparkling gold, grown heavy in my hand, hold any promise of peace.
Nay, for myself and those of my ten thousand Cymry, it is the call of the rams horn, the pounding of the war-drums, it is these, my brother, which draw me to my peace.
All is seen in startling serenity, even in the midst of battle, for this is the element, the order, the awen that I am given.
The War Leader's bellowing commands are as the greeting of an old friend, long lost.
My armor glides over my skin like a woman's lightest touch.
My heart pounds in rhythm to the drums while the horns ring out the attack, sweet music to my ears.

It is almost here.

Invincible, we lift our voices of one accord, with a mighty shout, a song of praise and victory bursts from our lips; we sing of everlasting glory and the destruction of our enemies.
It has been a black night; now it will be a red day.
In this midst, I can feel my sword calling me, begging for release, just as a harp longs for the bard's touch, so does my steel desire my hand.
No bard has ever struck such a chord as I have struck with my sword.
As the bard sings and plays with the skill of the ancient druids, hallowed on their wooded island, so do I ply my skill, on this field of battle, hallowed with blood.
Lost in the cosmic song that the Greeks claimed to hear, I finish, complete my task, my end.

Music Reviews through my Ipod

So, What Imma gonna do, is go through my Ipod list and review all the bands that I have in there.*

* I will not being doing bands that I only have one song of, which usually denotes that I tried a song and didn't like it, so I'm just gonna do the bands that I either really like, or have at least a whole album of.**

**Also, unless, of course, I also like the band, I am not going to do any of the bands my wife has put on my Ipod seeing as usually either I don't know them enough, at all, or just don't like them.***

***Essentially, if you haven't guessed, I'm just doing what I want.


So, the first band up for review is All That Remains

The band debuted in 2002 with "Behind Solace and Solitude". They're done three more albums since, "This Darkened Heart," "The Fall of Ideals" and "Overcome"; released in '04, '06, and '08 respectively.

I don't have the first two albums and I rather suspect they are some "growing" albums. What I mean by this is that they most likely sound pretty good but not that great, which is why they haven't been on too many people's radars until recently. The Fall of Ideals was their first that I ever bought and it's really pretty good. They've got most of their rough edges worked out yet they still feel new and un-mainstream. Their latest album Overcome is still very good, you can just tell that it's been polished a little bit more by more mainstream producers and "ideals."

All That Remains mixes lyrics that seem, at times gut-wrenchingly, learned from the writer's own experience with metal riffs and solos that mix well with the drummer's fondness for the double bass pedal. The front man's voice is somewhat near perfect for this type of metal. Not too lost in low growling as some bands are prone to do, his voice remains rough and edgy enough. While they have not perfected the art of the metal band, as As I Lay Dying seems to have done (more on this awesomeness to come later), they are well on their way to having a decent career in the metal scene, just as long as they keep their roughness.

Songs of Note:

From The Fall of Ideals
- This Calling
- It Dwells in Me
- We Stand - mainly just cause of the awesome breakdown at 1:54
- The Weak Willed - the first 18 seconds will drag you in - you can't escape - so just enjoy it
- Emtpy Inside - My personal favorite from this album and probably our of all their work - simply has everything. Also, the words of the song have a lot to do with that, just good.
- Indictment - cause they're not saving face

From Overcome
- Before the Damned - They added another screamer, sweet. Also, the driving drums will help you mosh
- Two Weeks - "Cause I can see the fear in your eyes, I've seen it materialize, growing stronger each day.
- Chiron - seems to be their anthem song for this album
- A Song for the Hopeless - the mix of the acoustic and metal will make your skin prick (i.e. goosebumps, people)
- Overcome - "I should never have thought that this would never end"


So, there you go. Think on it, or whatever. Any reponses, ideas, or, again, whatever, let me know.*

*Not that many of you listen to this stuff anyway

Things I Hate

1. 5' 10" 280 lbs of fat, rent-a-cops - I mean, come on! What are you gonna do? You've got a freaking walkie-talkie and you're by yourself! I run up, stab you in the throat, take your walkie-talkie and run, what are you gonna do? Huh!?! You're supposed to protect me? No thanks, I've got it covered. I mean, even take out the throat stabbing, I'll just kick you in the nuts, take your "life-line" and run. Shit, wouldn't even have to run, any soccer mom who power walks could out-pace you. The quick and the dead, you idiot, quick and the dead.

2. ROTC cadets who think they are the shit

3. Emos

4. Emo poetry

5. Emo art

6. People who think they can create art and poetry (read emos and various other morons) (yes, art and poetry are things that have standards. No, just cause you used a paintbrush doesn't make it art. And just cause you rhymed 4 lines together doesn't mean you made poetry)

7. Emo music

8. Whiny people

9. People who don't think

10. Sorority girls (in general - there's a few, albeit a FEW, who are ok)

11. English majors

12. The English department and its stuffy narrow-minded inhabitants

13. Waking up late

14. People who think they are awesome simply cause they are in the Army. Seriously, the recruiters need to weed out more people. I know, I know, they're just looking for numbers, but come on!

15. Socrates

16. Slow drivers

17. Idiots/Morons/Imbeciles

18. Liberals

19. Fake Christians ("and so how was your quite time today?") Seriously, just get away from me.

20. Posers (Here's looking at you Obama)

21. Worrying about money

22. Having to pay for college

23. So much more. Don't have the time. Well, more it's rather I can't put it into words.


"sometimes I, need to remember just to breathe. Sometimes I, need you to GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Nihilism by Accident: The Choices America Has and Will Face

America, according to George Grant’s Technology and Empire: In Defense of North America has a primal aspect not seen in other modern countries today. There are various reasons as to why this is true but the “why” is only the beginning. A careful look at the examples and points made by Grant show not only where America has been and why it when down that path but also where it is quickly approaching. Each nation has its beginnings that are based on where its predecessors left off. That basis also counts for much of the reasons why a country acts a certain way and the choices it will make later in its “life.” America is different. While America had Britain as its “parent nation” it developed in land that was not yet tame and was based on a constitution that was not normative. For this reason, America, as it is racing to a crucial point in history in regards to its growth and technological advancement, must act wisely if it is to stay as innocent and optimistic as it has been the past two hundred years.

The Europeans of today’s world inherited a land that was already conquered. According to Joseph Conrad in his book Heart of Darkness, London has a heart of darkness but it is restrained by generations of civilization. The British from who we came, therefore, were masters of an already conquered land. They had had time to cultivate philosophers, theologians and statesmen on whom the rest of the nation can reflect and rely. These people, because of their distance from the heart of darkness, can contemplate many things, including the purpose for which they are here and the direction that will take them. America, on the other hand, has a much shorter history and therefore necessarily a lack of the contemplative powers that Britain and Europe as a whole have.

The early Americans had to conquer the land. The land upon which they landed was wild and untamed. The Native Americans in North America were not conquerors. They lived in unity with the land, an actual part of the darkness, just like the tribes of deep Africa in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. We were the first, then, like Marlow to enter and attempt to conquer the land.

The early fathers and pioneers of this country who were fighting the land and seeking to control it had little time to contemplate what they were doing and the consequences thereof. These men and women, being either from Europe themselves or the children of those who arrived by ship, were new to this “conquering” and were always coming up against new challenges. It is not to say that these challenges were new to mankind but that they were new to this generation of humans who, fresh from Europe and civilization, were ill-prepared to face the dangers incumbent to the primal darkness of America. This being the case, the early settlers knew they had little time to overcome these hurdles were they to survive. These challenges had to be met with action and application. There was no time for them to seek out a remedy or reason through contemplation. They simply just had to act.

One of the major advantages these pilgrims did have was their religion. The very cause of their split with England enabled them to face the land despite their conditioning in the civilized world. Calvinism, and in general, Protestantism, argues for a faith in which action is preeminent and application of that action is applied to everyday life. Britain’s Anglican Church, however, followed the Aristotelian tradition, a tradition of contemplation. While this tradition is useful and beneficiary to those who live in civilized society, it is entirely unsuited to a people trying to conquer and live in new territory. The emphasis on the application of religion by being proactive taught, or conditioned, the early Americans to apply industry rather than contemplation to all that they did.

Another enablement the early Americans had was the separation of church and state. In England, the king ruled by what is called divine right. In this tradition, the king rules because God himself ordained it. Therefore to go against the king is to go against God. This is important in that the first settlers then, according to European thought, were going against God himself by declaring independence from Britain. This type of religion, as you can see, placed strict restraints on progress. Monarchies in general are notorious for being guardians of tradition and very controlling and this effect is multiplied if one declares that they rule by an act of God, for to disobey any command would mean disobeying your Creator. The separation of church and state in America allowed for traditionalists to keep their traditions and status quo while at the same time enabling the government, politics, and the industrial revolution to charge ahead, free from the chains of traditionalism. In this way, the progression and advancement of technology became America’s “pseudo-official” religion, for it is truly with zeal that Americans have pursued advancement in every area of society.

Incidentally, despite this major difference between the two continents, we both seem to have arrived at very similar conclusions as to the end of man. Through contemplative thought and discussion, the great thinkers of European history have almost completely acceded to a nihilistic religion that believes the goal and end of man is to progress and advance in every way possible. The embodiment of this thought appears to have manifested itself in American industry. The relentless way in which America is constantly moving forward in all her enterprises would make one believe that we share the same nihilism that our neighbors across the sea do. Fortunately, for us, that is where the similarity ends. If one moves to a more than cursory look at the two nations, one can see that America’s nihilism is rather innocent and optimistic whereas Europe’s is exceedingly pessimistic in its outlook. America has been so busy conquering and figuring out ways to control its new land that it has not had the time to stand back and take a long look at the way in which technology, and the advancement thereof, seems to rule our nation. Britain, on the other hand, the civilized land from which we came, has had time to reflect. Its pinnacle of imperialism has come and gone and what is left is the knowledge of what all that industry does to a nation. Despite the tangled way in which the church and the monarchy co-exist in England, its industrialization won out in the end. The church had become commonplace, to the point where its restraints were no longer powerful enough to slow the progress of technology and its by-product, the religion of nihilism. England today can be described as post-modern or post-Christianization and the contemplative efforts of its contemporary thinkers have seen and judged that the imperialistic nihilism it sought and believed in is not truly the true end of mankind.

America, being so busy with the subduing of itself, had little time to notice the direction in which it was heading. All the challenges were taken head on and ultimately defeated by the action oriented beliefs of its population. This belief and religion of technology has thus far served and survived its people well. America, however, is quickly approaching the same point where, as in England, the people will have to decide where we go from here. We are not so far removed from the beginning of our nation that we do not feel the pull of the darkness that was so prevalent and now shackled. Yet, we are far enough removed that we now have the time to think contemplatively and in doing this we are entering known territory. In conquering the land, America did not have a readily available modern example to follow and therefore had to “fend for herself” in the first couple hundred years of its existence. The point we are reaching today has many examples in the European nations that we can follow because we are not too far removed from the time when they also had to make the choices and observations America will have to make.

Because we do have examples, one could allow themselves some ray of hope. We do not have to make the same choices as Britain did. The nihilism we have hereto followed need not be the same “religion” we follow until we too are considered “post-modern.” If we look hard enough, and the contemplators contemplate correctly, we can learn from our predecessor’s mistakes. We can look back over each “father” nation as we shape our decision and direction. We do not have to stand on our own two stunted legs. In history, America is truly a dwarf, not only in length of history but in the richness and fullness of it. Therefore if we ever hope to achieve that fullness, and perhaps even gain more or see further than our predecessors, we will need to pick carefully on which giant’s shoulders we should stand[1].

---

[1] John of Salisbury, in his Metalogicon, states, “Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance…”

The One Good Question By Dio: "And your demons, do they ever let you go?"

This one's a good song by Another Black Day, it's called "Wicked Soul." Sometimes you don't need to write what you're thinking cause someone else has already said it.

"Here I am alone...
Broken by my ghosts.
Will They always haunt me when I'm drowning?

Shattered by my pride...
Married to my guilt.
And the road I walk is paved with sorrow

I've lost again
Dark days arise
Will I find the light?

Will you save my wicked soul
If I swear that I'll change my ways ?


Staring at my wounds...
That I once had closed.
Will they always burn me when I'm drowning?

Fighting for my pride
Try to shed my guilt
I've become a vessel for your torment.

I've lost again
Dark days arise
Will I find the light?

Will you save my wicked soul
If I swear that I'll change my ways ?"

Check this one out: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/11/beck.palin/index.html

Editor's note: Glenn Beck is on CNN Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET and also is host of a conservative national radio talk show.

Glenn Beck has some lines McCain can use in tonight's speech to articulate his vision for change

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Campaigns are ugly. Watching the way politicians act makes you long for the respect and self-control of the Sopranos. Throughout, there are legitimate attacks and outright lies.
Every once in a while, I get a call on my radio show from someone telling me that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim, who admitted it in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, and has a fake birth certificate. No, no, and no. As I tell them, there are legitimate reasons not to vote for Barack Obama, no need to make them up.
But the newest target is Sarah Palin. Let's take a quick look at just a fraction of what she has faced in her first few days as John McCain's choice for vice president.

"Sarah Palin believes God told her to go to war with Iraq!"
There has been some hard-core journalistic malpractice on this one. The Associated Press ran this headline about a speech she gave at her church: "Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'"
In the story, they omit the first part of the sentence they're quoting along with the entire previous sentence for good measure.

Here are her actual words: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Palin is clearly praying that we're doing the right thing in Iraq, something sensible for an introspective woman of faith concerned about the lives of our troops to do. She's not saying that she just received a text message from heaven's BlackBerry ordering her to launch missiles. Sorry to disappoint you.
And for those of you who think politicians asking God for guidance is offensive, might I remind you of this famous politician's prayer:
"Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will." --Barack Obama
"She has no experience!"
It's fair to assume that Barack Obama believed he was qualified to be in the White House when he announced he was running for president. At that point, he had been a U.S. Senator for 767 days. When Sarah Palin was announced as a vice presidential candidate, she had been the governor of Alaska for 634 days.
While I'm sure those extra 133 days were filled with personal discovery, I can't imagine anyone seriously trying to make the case that Obama is experienced and Palin isn't.
Unless, of course, you're Matt Damon, who said a Palin presidency would be a really "scary thing" because she has been "governor of Alaska for...for less than two years!" (Damon originally expressed his presidential preference for Obama in December 2006, when he had been a senator for less than two years.)
More importantly, Palin's career has been filled with executive experience. She's the only one of the four in this race who has run a business, town, and/or state (a state that gives her crucial energy experience in the middle of an energy crisis).
When Obama's campaign complains that Palin would be one heartbeat away from the presidency, they should consider that their candidate would be zero heartbeats away.
"But Obama is running a huge campaign -- Palin was just a small town mayor!"
Believe it or not, this one was actually trotted out by Obama himself.
"My understanding is, is that Gov. Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think the budget is maybe $12 million a year. We have a budget of about three times that just for the month."
Apparently, Barack missed that she's become the governor of Alaska in the interim. Why would he compare his current duties with her former duties?
Well, since he announced his candidacy, Barack Obama has raised about $22 million a month. That's a large organization for sure, unless you are directly comparing it to Sarah Palin, who is handling state revenues that are about 61 times as large, or more than $1.3 billion per month.
"Palin only supports abstinence to be taught in sex-ed!"
This claim is usually followed by a super classy comment about her daughter and the use of contraception, but the premise is false. Palin hasn't said she doesn't want condoms discussed in sex-ed, calling their discussion "relatively benign."
"I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don't have a problem with that," Palin said. Hers is hardly an extreme point of view in America today.
"If she cares about children with special needs, then why did she cut spending on them by 62 percent?"
Actually, Palin almost tripled their funding in only three years from $26,900 per student to $73,840 per student.
Incidentally, the amount of government money you spend on a specific group doesn't equal the amount you care for that group, but that's another story for another column.
All of these represent just a small percentage of the bizarre collection of claims being thrown at Palin by her opponents and some in the media -- who are desperately hoping something will stick. I leave you with my favorite so far: The Internet rumors that she harbors racism against Eskimos. If true, she sure has a strange way of expressing it -- her husband, Todd, is half Yupik Inuit Eskimo.
To balance that out, she must really love his other half.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.