Vlad "Tepes"

Statue of Vlad Tepes
[link to www.flickr.com]

The Burning of the Sick and Poor

Dracula was very concerned that all his subjects work and contribute to the common welfare. He once noticed that the poor, vagrants, beggars and cripples had become very numerous in his land (in the Romanian variant they are the thieves and fake beggars). Consequently, he issued an invitation to all the poor and sick in Wallachia to come to Târgoviste for a great feast, claiming that no one should go hungry in his land. As the poor and crippled arrived in the city they were ushered into a great hall where a fabulous feast was prepared for them. The prince's guests ate and drank late into the night, when Dracula himself made an appearance. "What else do you desire? Do you want to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?" asked the prince. When they answered that such was indeed their wish, Dracula ordered the hall boarded up and set on fire. None escaped the flames. Dracula explained his action to the boyars by claiming that he did this, "in order that they represent no further burden to other men so that no one will be poor in my realm." This deed is also attributed to the bishop Hatto of Mainz.
[link to www.draculas.info]

Report: 'Bush the Decider' related to 'Vlad the Impaler'

Following the revelation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush are distant relations, the New York Post decided to report on some of Bush's other relatives.
[link to rawstory.com]


Common bond

And finally, this nugget on Bush and Kerry being blood brothers (also a Springsteen song title. Sorry, we just can't help ourselves). Bush and Kerry are ninth cousins twice removed, and according to Ancestry.com, they share a famous common ancestor: none other than Vlad III Dracul, the macabre Transylvanian warlord from the 15th century who is more commonly known as Dracula, later immortalized in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula." They're also apparently related to the late Princess Diana.

Bush has closer ties to Dracula, going back 32 generations to the former ruler of Transylvania and what is now southern Romania. Kerry has to go back 34 generations in the family tree. As for the Diana connection, Kerry and Bush are both related to her and the House of Windsor. They are distant cousins of the famous princess: Kerry is a 12th cousin once removed; Bush is her 11th cousin twice removed.
[link to www.cnn.com]

The Romanian newspaper Libertatea reports that several Florida and California businessmen plan to clone Dracula by disinterring the body of Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's novel.

[link to southflorida.bizjournals.com]

Vlad usually had a horse attached to each of the victim’s legs and a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp, else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the buttocks and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other body orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mother’s chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.
[link to www.donlinke.com]

disinterring

1: to take out of the grave or tomb2: to bring back into awareness or prominence ; also : to bring to light : unearth


[link to www.beggarscanbechoosers.com]

[link to www.nypost.com]