Gregg wrote:And a very hard to kill guy named "Gregori" (no relation, really) kind of over emphasized the rather degenerate lifestyles of the nobility, before they finally shot, stabbed, poisoned, garroted, drowned and finally killed him for it. (I'm serious, the guy took a long time to die).
Yes, the Czarist Russian economy had always been in the crapper, but it got even worse after the war with Japan. But this is Gassy Rassy, who also told us that 13th century French serfs were retiring at age 30 from investments because they used Jesus money.
BTW, Gregori "Grisha" Rasputin was in one of my chemistry books under enzyme poisons. It seems that the poison they served him was Arsenic, an extremely effective enzyme destroyer (how it kills you), but it also bonds to other Sulfur-rich proteins. The conspirators baked it in an egg-white rich cake, which would have contained a lot of those proteins, effectively binding it in a non-digestible form, which passed through his system (or would have if they hadn't subsequently killed him in all those other ways). All this in a little box on a textbook page, but it stuck in my evil Illuminati mind - imagine how embarrassing it would be if one of our evil slave masters sent me to poison someone and I failed because I put it in the wrong kind of cake.
Then there was this disco-era hit (well, more in Europe than here).
RA RA RASPUTIN
There lived a certain man in Russia long ago
He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow
Most people looked at him with terror and with fear
But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear
He could preach the bible like a preacher
Full of ecstacy and fire
But he also was the kind of teacher
Women would desire
RA RA RASPUTIN
Lover of the Russian queen
There was a cat that really was gone
RA RA RASPUTIN
Russia's greatest love machine
It was a shame how he carried on
He ruled the Russian land and never mind the Czar
But the kasachok he danced really wunderbar
In all affairs of state he was the man to please
But he was real great when he had a girl to squeeze
For the queen he was no wheeler dealer
Though she'd heard the things he'd done
She believed he was a holy healer
Who would heal her son
RA RA RASPUTIN
Lover of the Russian queen
There was a cat that really was gone
RA RA RASPUTIN
Russia's greatest love machine
It was a shame how he carried on
(Spoken:)
But when his drinking and lusting and his hunger
for power became known to more and more people,
the demands to do something about this outrageous
man became louder and louder.
";This man's just got to go!"; declared his enemies
But the ladies begged ";Don't you try to do it, please";
No doubt this Rasputin had lots of hidden charms
Though he was a brute they just fell into his arms
Then one night some men of higher standing
Set a trap, they're not to blame
";Come to visit us"; they kept demanding
And he really came
RA RA RASPUTIN
Lover of the Russian queen
They put some poison into his wine
RA RA RASPUTIN
Russia's greatest love machine
He drank it all and he said ";I feel fine";
RA RA RASPUTIN
Lover of the Russian queen
They didn't quit, they wanted his head
RA RA RASPUTIN
Russia's greatest love machine
And so they shot him till he was dead
Perhaps Gassy Rassy is not only descended from the Czar, but also "Rassy" Rasputin? A picture of Tom Baker as "Greg Rasputin" (from "Nicholas and Alexandra"), I figure Rassy will be more receptive if he thinks it's somehow related to Dr. Who?