Bird Sanctuary Held Hostage By a Band of Rogue Loony Birds

"Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble." - Roger Tory Peterson

Good Day World!

A rogue band of Loony Birds (Genus: Lunaticis) has been holding the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Center in Oregon hostage since January 2nd.
(Illustration Wikipedia Commons)

It's unclear how many, and what types of birds have been affected by the Loony invasion.
Here's what we know:

According to the Center's website: 

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established on August 18, 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as the Lake Malheur Reservation. Roosevelt set aside unclaimed government lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud and Harney Lakes “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” 

You can find over 300 types of birds there. Here's just a sampling:

Avocets, stilts, willets, killdeers, coots, phalaropes, rails, tule wrens, yellow-headed black birds, black terns, Forster’s terns, Caspian terns, pintail, mallard, cinnamon teal, canvasback, redhead and ruddy ducks. Canada geese, night herons, great blue herons, Farallon cormorants, great white pelicans, great glossy ibises, California gulls, eared grebes, and Western grebes.

You won't find Loony Birds on the list. Crazy Loons just aren't welcome. That's because they don't belong there.

Thus far, authorities are letting the Loonys strut around the building in hopes they'll get bored and fly off to the lower regions of Florida, where they can hang out with more like-minded species such as the Mangrove Cuckoo  population.

Birds of a feather and all.

related stories:

Feds monitor armed group in Oregon, but keep their distance

Oregon wildlife refuge occupiers denounce U.S. government

Time for me to walk on down the road...

The 'In's' and the 'Out's' of Political Correctness in America

Good Day World!

I'm going to talk about political correctness today because it's a subject we all have to deal with at one time or another in today's society.

Let's start off with the definition of the term:

 noun - "Avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against." via Wikipedia

With that established we can move on to the controversial part.

Example by Jeff Deist via The Mises Institute - 

"Political Correctness" Is About Control, Not Etiquette

A different view from The Economist:

Political Correctness

Here's an extreme view of political correctness:

From 'Decline Of Ideas' part of 'A Study Of Our Decline' 

by P Atkinson (26/11/2015)

The Origin and Nature of Political Correctness

A more positive take on Political Correctness comes from The Atlantic in this article:

An Optimist’s Guide to Political Correctness

My opinion on the subject is simple, yet starightforward:

Use common sense and,"... do unto others as you would have them do to you." (King James, Bible)

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Voters aren’t so much trying to elect someone as block somebody else from winning

Good Day World!

We face a growing cultural divide in America that seems to get nastier every day. I call it buying the brand.

Politically, we have two camps that dominate politics, and who are polar opposites - the Democrats and the Republicans. One camp is going too far to the left, and the other is going too far to the right.

The result: increasing racial and religious differences between Democrats and Republicans that make it easier for voters to see their opponents as threatening, as "others."

Non-whites now account for 45 percent of Democratic voters on the national level, but only 11 percent of Republicans.

Along with increasing awareness of party differences, increasing negativism toward the opposing party has contributed significantly to the rise of party loyalty and straight ticket voting in recent years.

Liberal and conservatives have separated into completely different camps. Once you could find them in both. The differences between the parties have become so marked and clear that even Americans who seldom follow politics can tell them apart.

So they pick a side, and stick with it.

There's also evidence that voters are sticking with one party not because they're excited about it, but because they dislike, even fear, the other side.

That's what research by Emory University political scientists Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster indicates, in any case.

Their conclusion: The trend is driven by what they call "negative partisanship."

In other words, fear and antipathy. Voters aren't so much trying to elect someone as block someone else from winning. 

Time for me to walk on down ther road...

It's No Fun Having a Belly Brewery!

Good Day World!

Did the headline get your attention?

Whenever I find out about rare conditions experienced by people I like to share them. Got a good one for you today.

Have you ever heard of "auto-brewery syndrome?"

The term conjours up some odd images and even odder stories.

Like this one about a woman who was arrested for drunken driving with over four times the legal limit for blood-alcohol level - but had the charges dismissed in court.

Why? She had a rare condition that turned ordinary food in her digestive system into alcohol. However, and here's where it really gets weird, she wasn't drunk. She didn't even feel high.

It gets weirder. Some people do feel drunk and act like it with this condition. The good news; it's treatable with a special diet. 

Time for me to walk on down the road...  

A New Way To Live Day By Day?

Good Day World!

Alexander Pope, in his An Essay on Man reminds us that..."Hope springs eternal in the human breast."

Every year we like to believe that we're starting over. Erasing last year's mistakes. Getting a clean slate. Wiping away bad memories. Starting over.

We make resolutions that we may, or may not, keep.

What would we do if we didn't have our Gregorian 
 calendar to tell us this was the first day of every new year?

Would we wander around without hope of change in our lives because the days never turned into years? 

Would we have to stop having birthdays and anniversaries?

Would we defy Father Time and stay at one age? Forever frozen in a fantasy called life? 

Just what would it mean to stop marking time?

Would holidays fade away into tribal memories? 

Would our sense of time slow down? Would we count our days like pearls, valuing the here and now?

Just fleeting thoughts in an old man's mind on New Year's Day.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

9 Things I'd Like to See in 2016 - I Bet You Would Too!

Good Day World!

The New Year is lurking around the corner like an eager toddler. 

The following is a list of nine things I'd like to see happen in 2016. 

1) Donald Trump drops out of the presidential race when his wife Melanie runs off with Jeb Bush to Mexico.

(2) Warning devices on cell phones that alert users they are about to walk off a cliff, step in front of a car, or walk into an electric fence! Enough said!

(3) So-called "Affluence Teen" gets 10 years in Texas prison cell with Bubba (who really likes blond bad boys) when his case moves to adult court and he violates probation set down there. You know he will.

(4) Steven Colbert is appointed Special Ambassador to Russia. Putin laughs so hard at one of his KGB jokes that he has a stroke and Russia gets a new president.

(5) A complete overhaul of Congress in November, starting with a traditional tar-and-feathering ceremony for the outgoing clowns.

(6) Phone booths (sorta) make a comeback. They are re-named "Personal Spaces" and rent out for $5 an hour. You provide your own phone.

7) Headline: Trophy-collecting Gorilla (Bongo) bags two human hunters packing AR-15s in the Congo!

(8) Experts agree there is no curing stupidity and offer "safe houses" for Donald Trump's disenfranchised followers.  

(9) Bill Cosby does his famous Spanish Fly routine to a packed Pennsylvania court during his indecent assault trial.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

What if the so-called 'affluenza' teen was an African-American?

There's no doubt about it.
The American justice system treats rich whites differently than poor blacks.
(Ethan Couch photo taken after his capture. He dyed his hair black to avoid detection.)
The case of Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to parole after a drunk driving incident that killed four people, symbolizes the extent to which class and race play a role in our justice system.

During Couch's trial, a psychologist dubbed his condition “affluenza” – a term he later regretted using – suggesting that the teen’s wealthy parents were partly responsible for an upbringing where he never faced real consequences for his actions.

The term struck a chord with Americans, with the case coming to symbolize the extent to which the justice system treats rich whites differently than poor blacks.

After breaking his probation and fleeing to Mexico with his mother, Couch was recently nabbed by Mexican officials who turned him over to Texan authorities.

“What is the likelihood if this was an African-American, inner-city kid that grew up in a violent neighborhood to a single mother who is addicted to crack and he was caught two or three times ... what is the likelihood that the judge would excuse his behavior and let him off because of how he was raised?" Dr. Suniya Luthar, a psychologist who specializes in the costs of affluence in suburban communities, told The Associated Press in 2013.

While his mother may do some jail time, Ethan only stands to do some soft time until next April when he'll be set free.

A growing list of such disparities have affected how Americans think about how punishment is meted out in the United States. 

The Pew Research Center recently reported that only 32 percent of Americans think the country has made enough changes to its justice system, down from 49 percent in 2014.

Likewise, the percentage of Americans who say that more change is needed rose from 46 to 59 percent in the same span.

Such biases are notoriously difficult to weed out of a system that has tolerated them for so long. That doesn't mean the system can't be improved on.

We can start by treating all Americans equally. This will happen when enough people are educated about racial equalities and voters start electing officials (including judges) who are color-blind.

Time for me to walk on down the road... 

Letter from America to Donald Trump

Dear Donald,

Now that Christmas is over, we'd like to congratulate you! 

You have proven beyond all doubt that the theory of no limits to human stupidity is true.

We refer to your latest series of infantile belches of sub-moronic bullsh*t in which you have demonstrated, quite clearly, that there is no such thing as unutterable nonsense.

You're so vain and pompous that even when you're caught lying you don't admit it. Your elite lifestyle allows for any kind of behavior...no matter how ugly, or stupid.

You've also managed to provide absolute proof of reincarnation, as no one could possibly become so completely and hopelessly stupid in just one lifetime; even with a team of special-ed tutors and first-rate lobotomy specialists, all working overtime.

-America

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Cow dung cakes are selling like...well, hot cakes!

Good Day World!

This photo is not a stack of hamburger paddies, despite how it looks.

No. These are cow dung cakes. No. People don't eat them. Yes, they are used for heating and ceremonies throughout India.

To our Western sensibilities the smell of burning poop is unacceptable. The folks in India like that peaty smell though. 

Why not some other animals poo?

Cows are scared in India. That includes their dumps. To many people it is a reminder of their good old days when the main heating source of the land consisted of cow droppings.

The cakes are sold in packages that contain two to eight pieces weighing 7 ounces each. Prices range from $1.50 to $6 per package.

Online retailers said people were also buying the dung cakes to light fires for ritual ceremonies to mark the beginning of the new year and for the winter festival known as Lohri, celebrated in northern India.

Thinking about getting someone a unique New Year's gift? Try ordering cow cakes, and be the first on your block to piss of the mailman!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

How to Cultivate a Political Cult of Paranoia

Good Day World!

Donald Trump is a demagogue with money who can mine fear, white identity politics and right-wing populism where spoils and rewards are given to good “real Americans” and the Other is, by definition, punished and excluded.

He's inspiring a gathering cult status among a fearful segment of society who are seeking deliverence from all of their woes. 

The Boston Globe explores the concept:Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information.It’s this:

Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite.In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds.

In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation.Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger… “The general idea is that it’s absolutely threatening to admit you’re wrong,” says political scientist Brendan Nyhan, the lead researcher on the Michigan study.The phenomenon — known as “backfire” — is “a natural defense mechanism to avoid that cognitive dissonance.”

Trump has become a hero for the angry and resentful white “silent majority” who feel that they are somehow being marginalized in “their” country and that “the blacks,” immigrants, Muslims and terrorists are out to get them."

He is a carnival barker, proto-fascist reality TV show host turned Republican 2016 presidential primary leader. And he appeals to the low information Republican base.

This is how low politics have sunk.

A cult leader, carnival barker, and proto-fascist reality TV show host turned Republican 2016 presidential primary leader is being slavishly followed by a money-hungry media that records every hateful thing he says with glee. 

Will sanity win out in the end and send Trump packing in the Republican primary? I guess we'll find out next February.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Getting Ready for New Year's Non-Resolutions

Good Day World!

I don't know about you, but I'm still recovering from the hoopla of Christmas.

As the saying goes, "There's no rest for the weary," because I have to get ready for my New Year's resolutions non-resolutions. You read that right.

I have a perfect history of never keeping my New Year's resolutions. After six-decades of such perfection, I have to be careful about what pledges I make.

The day may come and I'll accidently keep a resolution. (Horrors!) That would ruin everything! My one shot for perfection in this life would be shattered and swept aside in the overall scheme of things.

So, I have to be careful. After considerable thought, a few puffs of some very dank marijuana and a shot of 40-year old Scotch, I've come up with these three resolutions for 2016:

(For the record, this isn't my bucket list. Let's not get the two confused.) 

1) Go on a cruise.
2) Take a ride on the biggest roller coaster in America.
3) Go fishing in the Amazon.

You might be thinking "Hey! wait a minute Dave! You're comparing a cruise with two high adrenaline activities. What's with that?"

The answer: if there's one part of the planet I never want to experience...it's the sea. Going out on a ship is the stuff of nightmares for me (I should have never seen JAWS!).

I think I'm safe with these three pledges for 2016. 

Time for me to walk on down the road...