The Nigh Seen Creeder

Exactly one year ago today, I told ya'll 'bout my favorite scary movies. Given that I just finished watched The Haunting, 'cause o' John J. Miller's recent name-check, and, well, let's just say that it's moved up a few spots in my list.

Anywho, here're my favorite scary movies (watch 'em if you dare!):

1. Psycho. What can I say about Psycho that's not already been said? From its unique-to-this-day opening title sequence until Anthony Hopkins' Kubrick-esque head down, eyes up look at the camera, Psycho is not only a fine horror film ... it's just a fine film, period. Next time you watch it, pay particular attention to the scene in which Norman (Hopkins) bites his fingernail as he watches his "mother's" victim's car, which also contains his mother's victim, slowly sink into a pond or lake or swamp. You'll want to start biting your fingernails along with him.

2. The Exorcist. I was ten-years-old when I first watched The Exorcist. My next-door neighbor rented it and insisted that I watch it with him. It so scared the bejesus out of me, I remember saying short prayers for weeks thereafter imploring God to save me from being possessed. As for the movie itself, everyone remembers Linda Blair's spewing pea soup and defiling herself with a crucifix. What most people don't remember about The Exorcist - and what makes it one of my favorite horror movies - is its deeply engaging back-story of Father Karras' questioning his faith, and regaining it as he takes an oh-so-memorable sacrificial tumble down a flight of stairs.

3. Suspiria. Dario Argento's masterpiece puts the gore in "gorgeous." The cinematography in Suspiria is just as impressive as the story it tells -- girl enrolls in an exclusive German ballet school and quickly learns that it's run by a coven of witches. One of the last movies to be filmed in Technicolor, the smashing stained glass and vivid rose-colored blood featured in the first 20 minutes of Suspiria will surely stick in your mind for days after you've watched the film.

4. The Shining. Steven King geeks have long criticized Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of what is arguably King's best novel. The idea that Kubrick was unfaithful to the book, in my view, is immaterial. The Shining is a truly great horror movie. Its lasting impact can be gauged by how often it has been, and continues to be, parodied. Perfectly cast and photographed in such a way that the Overlook Hotel shines (!) through as the true protagonist of the film, The Shining remains, as the Nashville Scene recently intoned, the most "chilling tale of cabin fever" in the history of cinema.

5. One Dark Night. This underrated film was the first horror movie I ever saw in a theater (I think I was in 6th grade). Since it was a PG-rated horror flick, my friends and I made a bee-line to our local theatre on the day it was released. Meg Tilly stars as a high schooler who must spend the night in a mausoleum as part of a club initiation. She quickly learns that a recent internee, if you will, who dabbled in the occult is still causing loads of trouble from beyond. The slow-motion introduction in which police and paramedics enter an apartment to find a closet full o' dead young women, as well as various kitchen bric-a-brac embedded in the walls, is one of my favorite all-time movie scenes.

6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I didn't see the Texas Chainsaw Massacre until I was in college. Prior to seeing it, I had labored under the illusion that it was an über-gory flick. Wrong. If you've never seen the Texas Chainsaw Massacre before, don't expect a lot of blood. What you can expect is a creepy tale of a group of kids who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time ... and it all seems so real. Spoiler alert: the scene in which the one-foot-in-the-grave grandfather futilely tries to kill a girl with a hammer is still a funny, if cringe-inducing, scene.

7. Bad Ronald. This movie was a staple on Saturday afternoon television until the late 1980s. Then it just disappeared. You can find VHS copies of Bad Ronald on eBay, but they'll cost you a pretty penny -- to which I can attest. Bad Ronald is a movie about a nerdy high schooler who accidentally kills a neighbor's young daughter. His mother, fearing no one will believe that it was an accident, moves her son into a bathroom that she's turned into a secret hiding place. When she dies, a new family moves in ... and that's when the fun starts. Ronald lurks about while peeping at his new "family" (who hear strange sounds that can never be explained); and he and his world-under-the-stairs is finally discovered in a climax that still makes me want to cover my eyes whenever I watch it.

8. Don't Look Now. You know you've watched a great horror flick when, at the conclusion, you can say, "I didn't see that coming!" That's what you'll say after watching Don't Look Now, which features one truly great climactic twist. Here's the story: John Baxter and his wife are living in Venice following the death of their daughter. He has psychic flashes of his daughter walking the streets in her red cloak, at the same time that dead bodies are turning up in Venice's canals. If you've never seen it before, just remember to watch for the red coat ... and pay particular attention to who is standing on the "funeral boat." 'Nough said.

9. Alien. "One more meal before bedtime. I'm buying." We all know what happens after that. I can remember the first time I saw Alien as if it happened yesterday. I was 9-years-old and I was at my grandparents' house. They didn't have cable, but their living room TV could inexplicably pick up HBO. I stayed up late one night and watched Alien ... and I don't think I slept a wink after I and my skinny ass finally got in the bed. There's one particular scene in Alien that sticks in my mind to this day, and it ain't the "face-hugger" or "white T-shirt" scenes. It's the scene in which Dallas "happens" upon the open-armed Alien in the bowels of his spacecraft. Scare-E!

10. The Haunting. This black and white gem is based on Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Led by Dr. Markway, who's doing research to prove that ghosts exist, a group of wayward souls enters Hill House -- a large, eerie mansion with a history of death and insanity. They soon learn that they've gotten more than they bargained for when a ghostly presence manifests itself in terrifying ways. The scene in which assorted bumps and knocks and noises precede doors bending inward sends a chill up my spine to this very day.

This is fun-ee!

The World Chess Federation today announced that Barack Obama had become the world chess champion, nudging aside former undisputed champion Viswanathan Anand of India.

The news surprised some in the chess world, because Obama has never participated in tournament play. But FIDE officials said they felt certain Obama could become world champion if he ever decided to try.

Others were less surprised. Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar noted the world championship is just the latest in a string of triumphs for the American president. She cited his receipt two years ago of the Nobel Peace Prize. That award — for which Obama was nominated just a few weeks into his presidency, and a mere five years after he held the title of state senator in Illinois — was only the first in a series of accolades to come his way.

It was followed several months later when the International Mathematical Union bestowed on Obama the Fields Medal, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics. The Fields is supposed to be given to individuals not over 40 years of age. The prize committee decided to waive the requirement, said the IMU's László Lovász, because some members had seen a "60 Minutes" interview in which Obama had done a rough percentage calculation in his head, and were impressed.

Read the rest here.

Given that most of my liberal friends' eyes glaze over when I start talking about "Chicago" economists, or when I mention that, historically, lowering cap-gains taxes has always resulted in more money flowing into the U.S. gov'ment's coffers, this blog from the The Weekly Standard don't suprise me ... none:

You likely won't see this poll result elsewhere, so I thought I'd highlight it here. This is a Pew Political IQ test conducted over the phone with 1,002 adults from Oct. 1-4. They were asked 12 questions, and answered an average of 5.3 questions correctly, according to Pew.

But here's the part you likely haven't heard about:



Read the rest here.

I've always had a big problem with the Obama Administration's prattling about how many jobs it's "saved." I've read many an economics text in my life, and not one of 'em contained a formula with which anyone -- St. B. Hussein Obama included -- could calculate "saved jobs" in any given economic enviroment. Sounds like so much bullshit to this intrepid blogger ... and then some.

Speaking of bullshit ...

An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.

The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced.

2012 can't come soon enough, if you ask me.

As if loyal Creeder Readers needed assurance, The Campaign for Working Families PAC tells us why it was cool to not vote for Obama ... mainly 'cause he's a leftist hypocrite with no peer.

To wit:

Today’s Washington Times reports that the Obama White House has "quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings." Really? And I thought President Obama was supposed to change Washington. In fact, Candidate Obama said he would crack down on "the disproportionate influence of lobbyists and special interest.”

But according to the Times report, the Obama White House, which we were told would be "the most open and transparent administration in history," is promising major donors "access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections." One top donor was given access to the Oval Office – as a birthday present. Another donor and his family got to use the White House bowling alley. Other big givers get to watch movies with the Obamas in the White House theater.

CBS’s Mark Knoller reports that President Obama has held 23 fundraisers in his first nine months in office – that’s nearly four times as many as George W. Bush held in his first nine months!

Responding to the Washington Times report, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said, "Bill Clinton turned the White House into a hotel and coffee shop. Now President Obama has turned the White House into a full service resort complete with amenities for the highest Democrat bidder. The seriousness of this issue requires an immediate investigation. ... Candidate Obama pledged to clean up the muddy waters of Washington, but President Obama has jumped in head first."

Running my own political action committee, I’ll be the first to acknowledge the importance of money in politics. It’s a simple fact that nine times out of ten, the candidate with the most money wins. But Obama’s hypocrisy and the history of Democrat corruption – from ACORN’s "muscle for money" program to the Clinton White House fundraising scandals – cannot be ignored. Steele is right to demand an investigation.

The U.S. gov'ment can't run an efficient railroad ...

U.S. taxpayers spent about $32 subsidizing the cost of the typical Amtrak passenger in 2008, about four times the rail operator's estimate, according to a private study. Forty-one of Amtrak's 44 routes lost money in 2008, said the study by Subsidyscope, an arm of the non-profit Pew Charitable Trusts (Wall Street Journal, 28 October 2009)

... and a great many folks (see: President B. Hussein Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) want the federal gov'ment to run health care.

Be scared, folks.

Mr. J-P. A. Maldonado recently sent this letter to Soldier of Fortune magazine:

The Associated Press reports that the inmates at the U.S. military detention center at Naval Station GTMO are being "tortured" with around-the-clock recordings Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC, Queen, Pantera, et al.

I have a suggestion: play a recording of the equine whinny of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the bray of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the asinine whimper of anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, and play that around the clock. Within 24 hours, the detainees should plead guilty to Lincoln's assassination, the fall of the Roman Empire, and London's Jack the Ripper's naughty acts. Just make sure that these ... recordings cannot be heard by the prison guards, to preserve their sanity.

If the U.S. guv'ment really wanted to torture the Mooslims at Camp Gitmo, it'd send an artist's rendering of what Sen. Barbara Boxer would look like right now if'n she hadn't had access to Botox, Boobtox, Asstox, and all other kinds o' toxes. Torture, indeed.

In a yard on Trousdale Drive ...


All I can say is, "A-men!"

The Nigh Seen Creeder has kinda been on hiatus the past couple o' months. Not no more.

Stay tuned for daily updates.

In August, as reported by Andrew Breitbart, officials from the National Endowment for the Arts and the White House's Office of Public Engagement discussed, via conference call, strategies to encourage artists to produce pro-Obama propaganda ... er, art.

Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies

Indeed.

During the Clinton impeachment imbroglio, Democrats were fond of saying something like this:

"Polls show the American people don't want Clinton impeached, so we should listen to 'em and not impeach him."

Fast forward eleven years and another Washington imbroglio is unfolding before the nation's eyes. This time the subject is health care -- er, health insurance -- reform, and, well, there ain't a lot of Democrats who're eager to listen to what ordinary Americans have to say. Consider:

If the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats passes, 57% of voters nationwide believe it will raise the cost of health care, and 53% believe the quality of care will get worse. That’s part of the reason that just 45% support the plan. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% are opposed to it.

Over one-half of Americans disapprove of what President Obama and his cronies in Congress are doing vis-à-vis health care ... and Obama and his cronies couldn't care less.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al. had adopted a Let's-Make-2010-look-like-1994 campaign strategy for next year's elections ... what with their doing the exact fucking opposite of what the American voting public wants.

How many times have you heard your president, and his congressional cronies, say that providing Choice and Competition is their ultimate goal vis-à-vis health care -- er, health insurance -- reform? If'n you ain't heard 'em say it, just know that radio talker Sean Hannity has compiled a 30-second bit featuring various Democrats uttering the words "choice and competition" ... and I'm sure the bit could go on for another minute or two (or longer).

Allowing citizens to purchase health insurance from out-of-state companies would increase both choice and competition, overnight. Yet, Obama is agin' it:


[If you can't see the video, click here.]

Right there you see that all the "choice 'n' competition" talk is so much lip service to the non-socialists of America, and it makes you wonder 'bout the Obama Administration's ulterior motives. (U.S. Rep. Bawny Fwank let that cat out of the bag not too long ago.)

That said, a primary reason why private health insurance premiums have been increasing since, well, forever, is the fact that the federal government stiffs doctors and hospitals through low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, and folks who have private insurance have to make up the difference. This is THE story that nobody on the left wants to discuss. Let's do just that.

Back in July, a story surfaced 'bout a guy in Buffalo who'd made 600-plus trips to the hospital in gov'ment ambulances over a three year period. Seems the guy in question was on Medicaid, and every time he felt bad, well, he'd just call 911 and get himself transported to the hospital. (The guy does suffer from sickle-cell anemia, but 600 ambulance rides in three years? He didn't have a fried who could've given him a lift ... at least, oh, 100 times?!)

The actual bill of all those "free" trips was $360,000; but, 'cause Medicaid was picking up the tab, the hospitals and ambulance companies involved were reimbursed only $118,000. For the math deficient, that's a $242,000 difference. Somebody's got to make up the difference, and that somebody is hard-working Joes like me who pay out-of-pocket for health insurance, and then see premiums go up every year due to distortions in the private health market created almost entirely by the federal government.

Finally, I am sick and tired -- no, I'm sick and fucking tired -- of listening to the president and associated liberals say that Republicans have "no plan" for health care reform. A letter in today's Wall Street Journal sets the record straight:

... I did a quick Internet search and found three plans totaling 300 pages of "ideas" by Republicans concerning health care. I could probably have searched more and found others but here's the three I found in the first minute: "The Patient's Choice Act of 2009," "The Health Care Freedom Plan," and "The Empowering Patients First Act." The first would end the tax distortions that virtually all economists—I read it here as per economist Martin Feldstein—believe are the root of our health-care problems and which have forced us into rigid employer-based plans. That one idea alone is worth more than anything the Democrats have come up with. ...

Ronald S. Reich
Basking Ridge, N.J.

I exploit you/still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
I'm the cult of personality

-- Living Colour

The current GQ magazine features an "open letter" to one Glenn Beck, in which GQ's know-it-all writers accuse Mr. Beck of leading a "personality cult." (You'll have to buy it to read it.)

GQ has yet to be evenly mildly critical of one President B. Hussein Obama (going back to before he was president). Indeed, the "Open Letter to Glenn Beck" issue also features a kiss-ass essay 'bout Obama's supposed literary prowess (the American Thinker has a few things to say on that subject).

That said, if the folks at GQ are interested in examining a TRUE personality cult, they need to take a look at at all this:

Great news in class rings: Get your Obama tag now!

Actress Victoria Rowell Wears Obama Dress to 2009 Emmy Awards

Mmm, mmm, mmm! Barack Hussein Obama!

And then there's this ...



If them Hollywood nitwits ain't the seed-members of an Obama personality cult, then I ain't a pulled-pork lovin', Red Man-chewin' Tennessee Republican. (And let the record reflect that I'm creeped the fuck out every time I watch that Web vid.)

Of all the assorted dipshits whose names were presented to me in a voting booth, I'm most proud of having never voted for one Albert Gore, Jr.

Al Gore can be corpulent, while telling us all to "do more with less." He can live in an energy-eating house, while telling us all to "conserve." And he can tell us that polar bears are dying-out, when they really ain't ...

What Al Gore can't do is stop the likes of this, which is brilliant satire, if you ask me.

A sample:

It had hardly been six hours since he was at the dismal book party for the new, authorized history of MI5 written by a Cambridge don. Why an intelligence service would even think to publish its secrets was a mystery he could never untangle. But it was there at the party, drinking some tepid excuse for champagne, when Bond got the puzzling message from his old friend Felix Leiter, the CIA agent who had his back on so many dangerous cases. Bond didn't know what to make of it. "James. Need your help," read the text. "How many feet over high tide for Thames River to flood London?"

Earlier this year, our President, and his sycophants in Congress, told us that unemployment would top-out at 8 percent if we didn't pass a big-ass Democratic stimulus plan. Unemployment's now 9.8 percent ... and counting.

This chart (courtesy of Avid Editor) is gonna be the bane of Democrats next year, just you wait and see:



The stimulus -- which was passed into law to create jobs -- ain't working. And it ain't gonna work. Indeed, most economists see 10-plus percent unemployment by next Summer.

Charlie Cook is prognosticating a 15-20-seat pickup for the GOP in next year's elections for U.S. House. I'll go on record and say it'll be 25-30 ... or more. So there.

Scene from a fishing hole near the J. Percy Priest Dam.

For the record, Rep. J. Percy Priest was so ugly he probably made many a freight train take a dirt road during his years on earth (and he'd never make it in politics today based on his looks alone). To wit:


[J. Percy pic courtesy of Life Magazine]