Holiday Movies.

The holidays are in full swing now and there is no getting away from it. You go to the store and you hear Christmas music playing. You turn you car radio on and there is probably Christmas music playing. And you turn on your TV sets and you got Christmas Movies playing. So from the Website Rotten Tomatoes. They have compiled a list of the best Christmas movies in their opinion.
Coming in at # 10 is an anime called " Tokyo Godfathers (2003)", # 9 is "Trading Places( 1983), #8 "A Christmas Story (1983)", #7 "Arthur Christmas (2011)", #6 "It's a Wonderful Life (2013)", #5 "Die Hard (1988)", #4 "The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)", #3 "Stalag 17 1953", #2 "Holiday Inn (1942) And coming in at the Number One spot for best Christmas movie is 1947 " Miracle on 34th Street. 
 Rotten Tomatoes actually started at best 25  and you can see the full list and description at their website here.
 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best-christmas-movies/
The newest movie to join the holiday season is Disney's Frozen which The Screening room from KAOR 91.1 at USD gave two howls. So if you are in the mode to see something different then the usual movies try something from Rotten Tomatoes list and see what you think.

Vertrans' Day history and Now

Veterans Day is a day to honor those from past and present that served in our military services. I myself have had many family members that have joined and retired from the armed forces. My uncle who recently passed away was in the Marines and my father was in the Air Force.

Seven after World War I, also known as The Great War, ended on June 28^th,1919  President Wilson had proclaimed that Nov. 11 would be the first commemoration Armistice Day.

To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations,” Wilson Stated. Information was obtained from http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp

With Armistice Day the original idea was to have a celebration that would suspend business for a little bit of time during that day and have parades and public meetings. But Armistice Day was not an official Holiday.

On May 13, 1938 an act was approved to make Nov. 11 of each year would be a legal holiday to honor those soldiers that had fought in World War I. But the day was still referred to as Armistice Day and not yet known as Veterans Day.

In 1954 World War II had commenced and the United States had entered in the War. It was one of the largest mobilization of armed forces that nation has ever sent out to war. Legislation on June 1, 1954 stated that this day would honor American Veterans of all wars.

"In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible." President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated on October 8, 1954. Making it the first Veterans’ Day proclamation.

Information was obtained from http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp

 But now Veterans’’ Day seems to have a different meaning. Restaurants have started to offer free food for the persons that served in the armed forces. Their incentive for this maybe so that the whole family that may not usually come out to eat there. So they are getting more business this day.

Not only do restaurants offer free products but so do other business. It could be anywhere from a free T-shirt or a discounted park admission to a theme park in Florida. It to me does not seem like we are really honoring the men and women that served our country but capitalizing on a holiday so to make money. I do not see a parade going down our streets. I do not see major businesses closing down to honor these people. But I do see more products lining store shelves.

I honor my father, my uncle and all my other family members that have served in the military. Not by buying products to show that I am all about Veterans’’ Day but by sending them a text, calling them, or shaking their hand and thanking them for their service.

Standoff in Sioux Falls, SD

Earlier today a three hour standoff occurred in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Carl Jerome Stanley II had barricaded himself in an apartment building and police believed he had access to weapons. Because of that fact police called a S.W.A.T. team in to handle the situation.  Stanley is pictured below.

 "What they'll do in a situation like this is they've obviously got a perimeter set up to keep people out away from it to try to make sure that every body's going to be safe," said Officer Sam Clemens.

Stanley had two warrants out for his arrest one a second degree escape charge which could get him five years in prison and child support.

Stanley gave himself up 3 hours later and no one was harmed.

This was a very different story then what happen in vermillion South Dakota last year on Christmas.

On South Crawford Road a 12 hour standoff occurred. Greg Girard held his two children hostage. while in a standoff with police.
Julie Girard escaped from the house.  She said she had been assaulted by her husband and that he destroyed  her cell phone so she couldn't call out and also threaten to kill her.
Around 4:30 a.m. Mr. Girard released the children to an off-duty officer.
After 10:20 a.m.  Mr. Girard had stopped talking to the police and they heard a gunshot.
Police believed that Mr. Girard had taken his own life.

Links two these two stories are as follows
Picture provided by: KDLT Website
http://www.kdlt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30782&Itemid=57
http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/neighbors-in-disbelief-over-christmas-day-standoff-in-vermillion-s/article_4b636705-9a73-5a17-9ba4-bbab94b7c6a9.html

Dakota Day's

Dakota Day’s is a celebration that is supposed to be about bring a school together and showing your pride. The Tradition would bring back Alumni and current students together to celebrate together. This tradition started on November 20, 1914 with the native townsmen and faulty members of the university. http://www.usd.edu/campus-life/dakota-days/dakota-days-history.cfm. The person hat encouraged the event the most was Robert l. Slagle. It was called South Dakota Day but shorten to Dakota Day and now called D-days for short. I personally have noticed since when I started college back in 2000 that Dakota Days has been more about drinking then school spirit and pride. And it seems more like that now than it did back in 2000 when I first started. Asking some people at D-Day’s what D-days means to them and most said Pride, going to the game. #Mcom525, #ddays2013 @ToddStephens. But the ones that didn’t want to be quoted or to rude to be quoted said to drunk or ruder comments.

               I also asked what are you doing for d-days and the most common response was to get drunk and go to the game. So it seems that it is more about the drinking now then it is about the school spirit and the school pride. Drinking is more important than if we when the game. The Vermillion police Department have set up a Twitter feed to help people around Vermillion know what is going on. @VermillionPD.

“#Ddays2013 winding down. Unofficially, no serious injuries, no felony arrest and less arrest overall than last year.” The VPD Twitter feed posted.

So at least we have less arrest or less people being caught doing something that they should of right?

Superstitious Much?

Now boarding all seats for flight 666 to Helsinki; is what some passengers heard as they started to board their flight.  Would you want to board a flight that had the call sign 666 and the destination letters HEL? How supersitious are you and would you change your flight or take a chance?

The flight was almost full from Copenhagen to Helsinki and no one minded the flight. 

"It has been quite a joke among the pilots" said veteran Finnair pilot Juha-Pekka Keidasto, who will fly the Airbus A320 from Copenhagen to Helsinki. "I'm not a superstitious man. It's only a coincidence for me. "

The flight will have two flights that land on Friday the 13th during 2013. 

"Less than 100 years ago, the number 13 did not have this sinister meaning; it's quite recent in the north," said Ulo Valk, professor of comparative folklore at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

So if you came a across a flight that like this would you still go on it or would you temp fate?

Obama's view on Syria

President Barack Obama addressing the country on the 10th of September said hey that diplomacy might actually work with Syria and let give this a chance. But if it fails he said we would be ready with other means to take care of chemical weapons that President Bashar Assad has in Syria. 

What does this mean for Americans? Well it means that we do not have another war to go fight, as of yet.  We also will not have to spread our troops out further. 

But what if it fails? Well Obama has a plan for it. 

"I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria," he promised. "I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo."

"This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective: deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad's capabilities," he said.

Chemical warfare has been used before as with WWI using mustard gas and tear gas. And also in WWII which the gas houses of the Nazi concentration camps used.

So right now we wait to see how the the United Nations handle the crisis over in Syria with Omaba waiting in the background to give to order for military strike if the destruction of the chemical weapons are not taken apart and destroyed.

There seems to be an epidemic happening around the world. And seems to be getting worse. Rape. Huffington Post posted a story about how a survey that was conducted with 6 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It stated that about one in 10 men have raped someone that was not their partner and when including their partner it rose to 24 percent.
Now these studies are interesting because they also asked what their motivation was behind the rape.
"Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) cited sexual entitlement, while more than half (59 percent) said they committed the rape for entertainment. Additionally, 38 percent said they carried out the act as a form of punishment," as Published from The Lancet journal. 
 It is astonishing the way people are thinking when thy justify rape. Looking at the entitlement  portion  it could well be where the person live and how their society looks at gender or even class.  Not that this justifies rape but it makes you wonder what it is like where this person lives.