Sirened

Hurricane Gustav is ready to make landfall and Sirened has officially declared war on hurricanes and the name Gustav. Gustav is a name of Scandinavian and German origin, meaning “staff of the Goths,” and has been the name of six Swedish kings. Thus, we are indirectly at war with Sweden.
Gustav has already been a thorn in the ass of McCain and the GOP, landing right at the start of their convention. Hmm, is Gustav a sign of some sort? I think it was Pat Robertson who said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment on America for being too nice to …read more

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It’s been awhile since my last post but I’m back. Not back in the United States, still here in socialist pot smoking Nederlands, but back here writing for Sirened.
In my last post I promised something bigger and better with this site, and as promised we have two new great writers. They’ve already introduced themselves so there’s no point in repeating anything.  But welcome guys, glad to have you on board! I was getting a little tired of the same old voice on this site-my own.

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To all Sirened readers: I just wanted to let you know that b5media is reorganizing the Travel & Culture channel and as a result, Sirened will be going on hiatus.
When Sirened does return, it will be bigger and better than ever. In the meantime, If you’re in need of a political snark fix, head over to Wonkette.com. It’s my personal favorite; just be careful as it’s seriously addictive to political snark junkies.
But since it’s summer, perhaps it’s good to take a break from politics. When Sirened returns, I’m sure everything will be the same, Obama will still be romanticizing the …read more

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I normally don’t directly express my opinion on political matters, but I am going to on this issue. While it’s nice that the District of Columbia carries electoral votes and therefore counts in terms of electing the president, it’s rather ridiculous that they don’t have a vote in the United States Congress.
The District of Columbia is represented by Eleanor Holmes Norton (as seen on The Colbert Report) in the House of Representatives, but she’s prohibited from actually voting. Thereby giving the people of D.C. no voice in Congress.
There is a website called DCVote.org that is working to lobby Congress …read more

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Oil Companies? Oil Speculators? Irresponsible consumers? Irresponsible governments? Nope, according to this new John McCain ad, there is only one person to blame for $4 a gallon gas and that is Barack Obama.

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One of the things that I’ve always wanted to see in life is a day with no real night. And if you’re in Stockholm close to the summer solstice like I was, you’ll see just that. Stockholm is in the eastern part of the Central European Time zone so it’s official sunset isn’t insanely late (around 10:20pm at summer solstice), but if you’re looking to the north this is the light you’ll see from around 11:30pm-2:30am. At around 2:30am it starts getting lighter because sunrise was around 3:30am when we were there (July 2nd-4th).
Stockholm is around the same latitude as …read more

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Woohoo! The Democratic National Convention is just over a month away and homeless people can barely contain their excitement. Why? Because they’re going to the zoo!
Not only that, but the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is also planning on scoring them 500 movie tickets as well as tickets for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. That’s fantastic because if there’s one thing that homeless people are deprived of, it’s being in touch with nature.
Now the naysayers out there are suggesting that this is just a cheap ploy to get rid of the homeless who would otherwise be in close …read more

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The Danes have it all…does life really get any better than boobs, beer and burritos??
photo credit: me

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This is something you probably won’t see at your local 7-Eleven in say, Valdosta, Georgia. But have no fear, if you’re in Sweden and you’re craving a Big Bite, you can still get one! Despite all this fruit crap posted on the front window, they still have big bites rolling around all day, just like in the US and A.
Another thing you can nab at Swedish 7-Eleven’s is stale loose candy. Swedes love candy and their 7-Eleven’s have many germ filled bins with candy that was delicious days ago.
In Denmark, you can actually buy liquor at 7-Eleven, which is extremely …read more

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Those aren’t my words, nor is it technically truth, but it’s the claim you’ll find immediately upon arrival in Sweden’s capital. Stockholm boasts itself as the capital of Scandinavia because of it’s elegant beauty, cleanliness, fine cuisine (and we did have 2 fantastic meals in the city) and the fact that the Nobel Prizes are awarded in this grandiose city built on several islands.
Swedes are obviously proud of their culture and heritage and once you pass a totally pointless customs at Arlanda airport, you’ll find pictures commemorating famous Swedes. People such as golf great Annika Sorrenstam and tennis relic Bjorn …read more

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