California Thrasher

California Thrashers (toxostoma redivivum) are very common here, and yet they're a bit of a challenge to photograph. The problem is that they're constantly moving, usually on the ground, with quick, jerky motions that require quite a high shutter speed to capture. This one spent a little time foraging for bugs in the bark of a flowering plum, and then decided to perch for just long enough to fluff up and preen, and for me to take a few pictures.

In the left hand picture, especially, this one looks sort of odd. Normally the thrashers are sleek and buttoned-down, but this one has let it all hang out <smile>. A few seconds after I took these pictures, he hopped down to the ground around our cracked corn feeder, and commenced scratching about a furious pace — and despite the fact that it was but a few feet away from me, I was unable to get a single picture of it. I just couldn't aim and focus fast enough to keep up!

As usual, click on the photos to get a larger view...

Hooded Oriole

This breeding male Hooded Oriole (icterus cucullatus) was taking a break from his feeding in our Liquid Amber tree, sitting in a baby aleppo pine. He appears to have caught something (a tasty bug?) in his beak, but I can't quite make out what it is...

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Spotted Towhee

This is a Spotted Towhee (pipilo maculatus) scratching for cracked corn in our back yard. I believe it's a juvenile — it looks very much like Sibley's drawing of a juvenile of the Great Plains variant (he has no juvenile for the other variants).

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Krauthammer hammers

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer recently published an excellent article titled The Neoconservative Convergence, detailing the events and forces leading to the current ascendancy of neoconservative policy in the United States. It's an excellent article, and I highly recommend sitting quietly somewhere for an hour or so to absorb it carefully — for it's quite sobering to realize how close we really came to having a very different reality. One that I'm pretty sure I'd have been quite unhappy about.

Here's an excerpt to give you the flavor of this piece:

In Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the Arab world, the forces of democratic liberalization have emerged on the political stage in a way that was unimaginable just two years ago. They have been energized and emboldened by the Iraqi example and by American resolve. Until now, it was widely assumed that the only alternative to pan-Arabist autocracy, to the Nassers and the Saddams, was Islamism. We now know, from Iraq and Lebanon, that there is another possibility, and that America has given it life. As the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, hardly a noted friend of the Bush Doctrine, put it in late February in an interview with David Ignatius of the Washington Post:

"It’s strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

The Iraqi elections vindicated the two central propositions of the Bush Doctrine. First, that the desire for freedom is indeed universal and not the private preserve of Westerners. Second, that America is genuinely committed to democracy in and of itself. Contrary to the cynics, whether Arab, European, or American, the U.S. did not go into Iraq for oil or hegemony but for liberation—a truth that on January 30 even al Jazeera had to televise. Arabs in particular had had sound historical reason to doubt American sincerity: six decades of U.S. support for Arab dictators, a cynical “realism” that began with FDR’s deal with the House of Saud and reached its apogee with the 1991 betrayal of the anti-Saddam uprising that the elder Bush had encouraged in Iraq. Today, however, they see a different Bush and a different doctrine.

There's much, much more. My favorite Krauthammer line:

In the absence of omnipotence, one must deal with the lesser of two evils.

He's explaining that the Bush doctrine's apparent policy inconsistencies (we topple Hussein, but leave Assad in place) are actually pragmatism at work. But he says it in a much pithier way <smile>. Don't miss this one...

Thoughts of a soldier

Danjel Bout, aka "Thunder6", blogs from Iraq on 365 and a wakeup. His most recent post ends with this thought:

Our country has drawn a line in the sand, and committed her forces to allowing Iraq to choose her own destiny. If we turn our back on that solemn pledge we not only dishonor the memory of the troops that sealed this promise with their very lifeblood, we embolden the jihadists bent on destroying everything we stand for. Do I want to melt under the blistering sun day in and day out? No. Do I want to shuffle off this mortal coil in a foreign land? Again no. Did I want to leave my beautiful bride? A thousand times no. But in the end it comes down to this. I would rather see this through to the end and spend the rest of my days in peace - then leave this country before the mission is through and have these same jihadists attack the fertile soil of home.

The standard line from the left is that the war in Iraq has no connection to the war on terror; worse, that it is a distraction. I believe, as do many others, that in fact the war in Iraq is a key part of the only viable strategy anyone has put forth to actually win the war on terror. One element of that strategy is to engage the enemy (that would be the terrorists) somewhere — anywhere — other than in the United States. For some reason, France comes right to mind, but never mind that <smile>.

It's interesting to see how a soldier in Iraq views this issue that seems to be a bright line of division between the liberal and conservative politics here at home. Danjel comes down very clearly on the conservative side — despite the personal risk and impact. Since this is a position I agree with, I (of course!) find much to admire in this.

But I wonder what the moonbats would make of it?

Chuck meets POTUS

Readers of my blog know that one of my favorite milbloggers, Chuck Ziegenfuss of From My Position... On the way!, was injured a couple of weeks ago in Iraq by an IED. He's back in the U.S. now, and his wife (Carren) has made a few posts to keep everyone updated about Chuck's condition. Bottom line, as I understand it: he's seriously injured, but will recover everything that really matters.

In her latest post (and don't you dare miss it!), Carren writes about President Bush visiting Walter Reed and Chuck:

Yes, we met President Bush today. He is an AMAZING man! As human as we all are... and genuinely cares about the American people. I will not go into detail about what we talked about, that will be up to Chuck. Let's just say it was a day we will never forget. If you do not support Bush, that is your choice... please do not post your opinions (if they are negative) on this blog. I do not want a political debate. My husband met his Commander in Chief - and the honor was all ours.

I'm delighted to be able to say that when I looked at the comments this morning, they were all postive — no moonbat ravings at all...

Carren also posted some comments by Joe, a friend of Chuck's who visited him at Walter Reed. A sample (but don't miss the whole thing):

The reason I asked Carren to post this though, is not so that I can make jokes or give an update on his condition.
Today I got a slap in the face.
Today I saw my friend in a hospital bed in pain.
Today as we drove around Walter Reed I saw men on crutches, mending wounds.
Today I saw men who were missing an arm or a leg or both.
Today I saw a portion of what it costs others, so that I and people like me, can sit in my comfy chair and bitch about the price of gas. So that I don’t have to worry about explosions in my back yard or if the car behind me is full of C4.

Today I saw that they are doing their part and more.
WE NEED TO DO OURS!

Indeed.

O'Connor's replacement

You know there's going to be a fight. You know the moonbat wing of the "Democratic" party — unfortunately in the ascendency — are going to try to block any candidate nominated by Bush, no matter how reasonable. In fact, you can just about predict the kind of rhetoric we're going to hear, can't you?

Scott Ott at ScrappleFace can. And he knows just the fellow to do it:

Kennedy Slams Unnamed Supreme Court Nominee
by Scott Ott

(2005-07-02) -- Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, today criticized President George Bush's as-yet-unnamed replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as a "brutal, Bible-thumping, right-wing ideologue who hates minorities, women and cocker spaniels."

Ah, vintage Scott Ott. Guaranteed to nail a point home, and to make you laugh while he does it. He ends this way:

The Senator's office issued a news release to the media documenting the allegations against the potential high court judge, with a convenient blank line allowing reporters to fill in the nominee's name as soon as that information is leaked.

Don't miss the whole thing.

Spotted Towhee

I spotted this Spotted Towhee (pipilo maculatus) early this morning, as I was searching for orioles. He was perched up near the top of a flowering plum that is being taken over by our Chinese wisteria, just catching the rays. He even looks like he needs some coffee to get him started!

When we first moved out to the chapparal, these were one of my favorite birds to try to spot — I thought they were very elusive (and reclusive!). Now we've got scads of them right in our yard, attracted by both the cracked corn (they scratch feed just like chickens) and the waterer. And when we go for a walk, away from the yard, for some reason I no longer find them difficult to spot. The logical explanation is that I've gained some towhee-spotting skill, but what it feels like to me is that the towhee community decided that I was an okay guy, and they all decided (simultaneously) to refrain from hiding from me.

I like this photo mostly because it is showing off that distinctive red eye very clearly. Once I espied that eye (and how could I miss it?), there was no doubt that this was a Spotted Towhee.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

California Quail

California Quail (callipepla californica) are one of the delights of living out in the chapparal. We encourage these beautiful birds with cracked corn; rather large quantities of it, as a matter of fact. As a direct consequence of the corn (and a nearby waterer), we have dozens — maybe hundreds — of quail who include our yard as part of their daily routine. They've grown quite accustomed to us, usually ignoring us when we're at the window as little as 10 feet away, even when we open the window to see them more clearly. And sometimes, when we walk outside, they don't flee until we're a few short feet away from them.

In the picture is an adult male, caught in very early morning light. He was standing about 15 feet from me as I shot this, using a stabliized 1280mm lens, handheld, with ASA 800 and 1/60th second. The picture on the right caught him with his eye closed purely accidentally; I just thought it gave him a cute expression (if you'll forgive the anthropomorphism).

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Oriole

This is a male Hooded Oriole (icterus cucullatus), a breeding adult of the Western variant. For the past week or so, we've had two (and possibly three) pairs of Hooded Orioles feeding from the blossoms of our two Liquid Amber trees. They seem to favor these over all other food sources when they're in bloom, which makes spotting them a much easier problem. Their behavior, generally, is to stay in the Liquid Amber tree (which has broad leaves, densely packed, offering great cover), coming out just once in a while (perhaps three or four times per hour).

At left above, he's perched in an aleppo pine about 20 feet from the Liquid Amber tree; this was his most frequent maneuver. Just once in the early morning, I saw him drop to the ground, right under the Liquid Amber tree (right photo above). I've never seen them on the ground before, so this has to be a fairly unusual behavior. I speculate that he dropped a blossom or two and was retrieving it, but I never did see him pick up anything in his 90 seconds or so on the ground. Just toward the camera from the Hooded Oriole you can see a California Towhee — who got into a dust-up with the oriole, causing him to fly away...

That right photo above, by the way, was taken with a 1280mm stabilized telephoto, handheld, at 1/30th second, at 1600 ASA (the morning light was very dim). This modern equipment is amazing!

As usual, click on the photos for a larger view...

Rabbit

I caught this young rabbit in the early morning light, looking over the offerings in our back yard.

Actually, it's most likely a hare — specifically a Black-Tailed Hare or Black-Tailed Jackrabbit (lepus californicus). According to our books on local natural history, that's the most likely candidate for these things.

Since we started putting out cracked corn for the quail a few years ago, we've become the home for an ever-expanding colony of these hares — so many that we're probably going to have to do something to control the population someday soon, as they're eating everything in sight (including the majority of our cracked corn!).

I keep thinking of a nice rabbit stew, but Debbie can't bear the thought of eating the "cute little bunnies". As usual, click on the picture for a larger view...

Western Scrub-Jay

The Western Scrub-Jay (aphelocoma californica) is a common chapparal denizen. We have dozens of them on our property, which is mostly covered with the manzanita-chemise chapparal that is so characteristic of San Diego County's foothills. Almost any direction you might choose to look, and at almost any time of day, you're sure to see one of these fellows perched, sentry-fashion, in the top of a manzanita or other good lookout spot. You're also quite likely to hear him, as he scolds you for having the unmitigated gall to occupy his territory!

There's actually no simple way to know the gender of these birds, as they are not sexually dimorphic. There are two variants, according to Sibley: a "Pacific" and a "Interior"; ours match the "Interior" variant best in appearance, but in behavior (bold and conspicuous) they more closely match the "Pacific" variant. We suspect ours are just all mixed up.

Our feeders attract the jays, most especially the cracked corn and the oil sunflower seed. In fact, we had to get some special feeders to keep the jays out in order to give any other birds a shot at the oil sunflower seeds!

Click on the picture for a larger view...

APOD

APOD brings us...

Venus, Mercury, and Saturn wandered close together in western evening skies last week. On Saturnday, June 25, astronomer R. Jay GaBany recorded this snapshot of their eye-catching planetary conjunction, from historic Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton, California, USA. The view looks toward the Pacific shortly after sunset with the lights of San Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay area in the foreground. Of course, Venus is the brightest of the trio. Mercury is nearby on the right and Saturn is below and left, closest to the horizon. Farther to the right of the planetary triangle are Pollux and Castor, twin stars of Gemini, with Regulus, bright star of the constellation Leo, at the very upper left corner of the picture. In the coming days, Venus and Mercury remain close, while Saturn continues to drop below them, toward the horizon.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Four dead in Jamul: update

A van full of illegal aliens crashed head-on with a local's pickup truck, on Route 94 not far from the Bravo Cafe and the feed store. At least four people in the van died; the driver of the pickup (a 79 year old — and apparently very tough — woman) survived the crash with moderate injuries.

The Union-Tribune picked up the story; an excerpt:

At least eight people were injured, six of them critically. One was still trapped in a vehicle a half-hour after the wreck and Heartland Fire personnel were trying to rescue him, a dispatcher said.

The Chrysler minivan had 11 undocumented immigrants in it, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings. He said the driver avoided a Border Patrol checkpoint near Otay Lakes Road, southeast of the crash, by swerving into opposite lanes.

The Border Patrol was not pursuing the van when the collision occurred, Pennings said.

This accident plays right into one of the things that really scares me — the idea that my life might be ended (or drastically changed through some awful injury) by the actions of someone else, over which I have absolutely no control. What happened to the illegal aliens is horrible enough, but the fact is that they go into that situation through their own actions. Think of that tough 79 year old woman — through no fault of her own, and probably without any option on her part, she became a victim of this situation. I hope she's going to be ok; I'm not really sure what "moderate injuries" means. Yikes!

Update: Since the early reports, apparently another one of the injured has died, making a total of five deaths. The injured woman was 69 years old, not 79 as reported earlier. Her name is Floella Jones, but I've not been able to find any information to contact her, including the hospital.

Update 2 (and bump): A reader (thanks, Lissa) emailed to tell me about Floella:

I am a friend of Floella Jones; and I have recently visited her. She is doing fine. She's still in some pain but is recovering remarkably quickly. At the time of the accident, she was overwhelmed with grief for those who were not as fortunate as she was and is praying for the full recovery of those who were injured and survived. She is also praying for the comfort of the families and friends of those who perished. And she apparently holds no grudge towards the driver who caused the accident. In fact, she laments that he has ruined his life so much at such a young age. And she is praying for his complete physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Mrs. Jones is also recovering remarkably from the emotional pain that the accident caused her, even though those wounds are likely to take her the rest of her life to fully recover from.

Floella sounds like a remarkable lady, blessed with grace and strength.

Slimy Mollusc

Well, it's happened again — my blog has jumped up another couple of notches in the TTLB (The Truth Laid Bear) Ecosystem. In a couple of earlier posts (here and here) on the same subject, I noted the blog's rise from "Insignificant Microbe" to "Crunchy Crustacean". Well, now it has advanced to "Slimy Mollusc", ranked at #18,255 out of 32,207.

According to TTLB's FAQ, the way the ecosystem works is that it counts all the links from other blogs to the blog being ranked. It can't be quite that simple, though, as my blog's ranking changes even when the number of links doesn't. And...the number of links is very small. I suspect that both traffic and longevity enter into the rankings in some manner as well. But that's just my suspicion!

Anyway, for now I'm just enjoying my blog's rapid climbing of the TTLB Ecosystem's evolutionary ladder. From "Insignificant Microbe" to "Slimy Mollusc" in two weeks! Hooray!

Hmmm... Now if we could just get politicians and their institutions to evolve at a similar rate, maybe we'd make some progress in this world...

600 dead in 2 years

Ever since 9/11, I've done a lot of reading about politics worldwide, with a special emphasis on terrorist activity, the war on terror, and the spread of secular democracy (which I think is the only good strategy on the table for countering terror sponsored or justified by religion). I think of myself as reasonably well-informed on these topics. So I've read quite a few stories about Islamic terror activity in Thailand...but somehow I've managed (until this morning) to be oblivious to this fact:

Over 600 people have died in southern Thailand at the hands of these terrorists in just the past two years.

Can you imagine any modern, developed country sustaining this level of casualties from terrorist activity, and not having it reported in the news? What the heck is going on here? Hat tip to Kate at small dead animals, who says (after reading the same news):

I did not know that.

While I appreciate that they have their hands full pursuing the Self-Fulfilling Prophesy Project in Iraq, one would think that our khaki-clad friends covering the international "militancy" beat might have mentioned it in passing.

Of course, without US involvement second tier terrorist zones like Thailand have nearly no hope of breaking into the international news.

I'm sure she's right about this additional bias, which I'll call the "bubble-headed celebrity bias", to go along with the well-understood liberal bias. Just what we all need. And it's another reason to avoid the MSM. Kate goes on to say much more on this topic.

Hapless but lovable???

If I didn't see all the news coverage of this, I'd have trouble believing it. A blackface-like caricature, an old comic character, being "celebrated" on a series of stamps. From the Mexican government. For real. The last time I saw anything like this was Amos and Andy reruns from the '50s.

How on earth could any official in Mexico have allowed this to happen, much less the whole string of them it must actually have taken? It seems easier to believe that this was driven, top-down, over the objections of a slew cover-your-butt bureaucrats. Or could it actually be an accurate reflection of the state of Mexican culture and sensitivities? Anyway you look at it, I just can hardly believe it...

La Shawn Barber is not happy about this:

Dark-skinned people of African descent are subjected to this in Mexico? They have a big Negro problem down there, do they?
...
To see it in 2005 coming from any country or anyone raises my blood pressure.

The "hapless but lovable" phrase is lifted right from the CNN story's text:

The series of five stamps released for general use Wednesday depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico.

The boy, hapless but lovable, is drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book….Activists said the stamp was offensive, though officials denied it.

To which La Shawn replies:

Hapless but lovable? Who wrote this garbage? Probably some white, American, liberal journalist. Before my whole day is ruined, I need to stop writing.

I'm sure she's right, sadly. Which makes me wonder if some of might righteous indignation ought to be directed at institutions a little closer to home...

What is wrong with them?

Peggy Noonan has a new column up, wherein she asks "What is wrong with them?" She's speaking of our political representatives in Washington.

Peggy picks on several recent examples of politico self-absorption (a bit of an oxymoron, that), starting with Barack Obama's recent comparision of Abraham Lincoln to, well, himself:

Actually Lincoln's life is a lot like Mr. Obama's. Lincoln came from a lean-to in the backwoods. His mother died when he was 9. The Lincolns had no money, no standing. Lincoln educated himself, reading law on his own, working as a field hand, a store clerk and a raft hand on the Mississippi. He also split some rails. He entered politics, knew more defeat than victory, and went on to lead the nation through its greatest trauma, the Civil War, and past its greatest sin, slavery.

Barack Obama, the son of two University of Hawaii students, went to Columbia and Harvard Law after attending a private academy that taught the children of the Hawaiian royal family. He made his name in politics as an aggressive Chicago vote hustler in Bill Clinton's first campaign for the presidency.

You see the similarities.

She concludes with this:

What is in the air there in Washington, what is in the water?

What is wrong with them? This is not a rhetorical question. I think it is unspoken question No. 1 as Americans look at so many of the individuals in our government. What is wrong with them?

Is she right? Is this something that most Americans feel? Trying to think of counter-examples myself, I mostly come up with more outrageous examples of her point: McCain, Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, Byrd all immediately come to mind as examples of precisely what Peggy is talking about. But I can think of at least a few counter-examples: Bush (G.W.), Zell Miller, Newt Gingrich (most of the time), Duncan Hunter. That's a very short list. Ok, so Peggy's at least asking a question about a real phenomenon. Is it really so mysterious what's wrong with them? Color me cynical, but I don't think it's very mysterious at all. They're corrupt...not in the legal sense, but in the moral sense. I believe that by and large, their principles are driven fairly directly by what generates campaign contributions. So...if Peggy is right, either I'm wrong, or most people haven't yet figured out that I'm right. I wonder what Peggy believes; she doesn't say...

You can read her whole column on Opinion Journal.

Mark Steyn, again

Here's how his latest column starts:

A couple of months ago, on our Letters page, Mr Tony Roberts of Cheltenham responded to my column on the Pope's death as follows: "Presumably Mr Steyn has never had casual sex, or, if he has, maybe his sensitivity to the 'splendour of truth' prevented him from deriving any pleasure from the experience."

I resisted the urge to respond, confident that within 48 hours the Daily Telegraph mailroom would be deluged by the maidenhood (if that's the appropriate term) of Britain rising to my defence, pointing out that memorable 20 minutes - well, okay, six - in the back of my second-hand Austin Princess in the lay-by on the B47932 just after the mini-roundabout for the industrial estate back in 1987.

Alas, there was only a deafening silence, as readers remained unaccountably preoccupied with war, elections and other trivia. It seemed faintly unbecoming for a Daily Telegraph columnist to protest about how much action he's getting, but, had I run into Mr Roberts in the Cheltenham singles bar, I would have endeavoured to explain that what's at issue is not which of us is getting more and better casual sex but whether it's an appropriate organising principle for society. Or at any rate whether a cult of non-procreative self-gratification is, as the eco-crazies like to say, "sustainable".

Read the rest here.

The column is about the prospects for the EU, and the money line in the conclusion is this:

A political entity hostile to the three principal building blocks of functioning societies - religion, family and wealth creation - was never a likely bet for the long term.

My own observation of Europe over the past few years, which has been very skewed simply because of where my business took me, is that the great hope for Europe lies in its east — in the new democracies, where I can see entrepreneurs hard at work building economies. Mark seems to think the hope for Europe lies in its west, with the United Kingdom. Hmmm....maybe we've got a pincer maneuver going there, and I didn't realize it!

Chuck hit, but ok

Chuck Ziegenfuss is a 'milblogger' — an active-duty soldier who was, until very recently, deployed in Iraq. He's been posting regularly from Iraq, and his blog ("From My Position... On the way!") has long been on my daily reading list. Around June 20th (I'm not sure of the exact date), Chuck was injured by an IED; badly but not life-threatening. He was evacuated immediately to Germany, and a few days later to Walter Reed, where he is now. He's started the series of surgeries to repair the damage done, and he's being visited by his family, including his wife Carren.

Though I found myself reacting very strongly to the fact of Chuck's injury (because I "know" him through his blogging), I haven't posted about it before — too many other people were saying the same things that I would have, and better. And that's largely still true. But over the past few days, Chuck's blog is still being updated — not by him (his injuries, of course, prevent that), but instead by his wife. Carren has made several posts since Chuck's injury, and they are both inspiring and interesting for their content, and for the straightforward view they provide into what happens when one of our soldiers is injured. Reading her posts, you just can't help admiring her pluck and positive attitude.

Go read Carren here and at the blog everyday.

And please don't forget to include Chuck and all our injured warriors in your thoughts, prayers, and actions (including some of Carren's suggestions)...