Saturday, March 9

Fine Feathered Friends' Saturday

Red-naped Sapsucker


House Finch

Rufous Hummingbird

Lawrence's Goldfinch
American Robin

Steller's Jay

“The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off. Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off - and they are nearly always doing it.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden


Thursday, March 7

The Surprising Emergence of a Political Gadfly

Which End Is Up?

Where's the Wake-Up Call?

The Lord of Obstacles

“The United States government is very clearly on record as against targeted assassinations. . . . They are extrajudicial killings, and we do not support that." - American Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk,  July 2001.


Paul's filibuster has finally cast a light on the horrors of predator drone warfare. I applaud Rand Paul for exposing this human rights travesty to the media maw. Even though the specter of drone attacks on U.S. citizens is compelling, the media focused not on the message, but the delivery of it via filibuster. 

I can hear the newsroom editors now, "Drones attacking Americans??? Too alarming for Joe the Plumber. Focus on the good ole American fetish of marathon talking." 

So, despite the media digression, it is clear that progressives, tea partyers, and other strange bedfellows have found common ground in opposing the Obama administration on its use of predator drones. 

I'm glad Rand Paul had the tenacity to sound the alarm. I'm not sure about the rest of his Republican supporters and I'm very disappointed in so-called progressive democrats who didn't make a peep when given a reasonable opportunity to do so. I know that the focus of attention should have been on John Brennan's qualifications to lead the CIA. I know RP was grandstanding and obstructing as usual, but a spotlight is a spotlight - the weirder the better in this case.