Happy New Year!

Bush Bigger Villain than Satan?

"I'm #1"


... read for yourself at Crooks and Liars.

Hussein Hanged

Unable to escape prison by flapping his arms,
Saddam Hussein is hanged.

Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity

By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
The New York Times :: December 30, 2006

BAGHDAD, Saturday, Dec. 30 — Saddam Hussein, the dictator who led Iraq through three decades of brutality, war and bombast before American forces chased him from his capital city and captured him in a filthy pit near his hometown, was hanged just before dawn Saturday during the morning call to prayer. (full story)

Final thoughts as 2006 comes to an end

The Grand Canyon, Pennsylvania-style

Deb and I decided to plan a little holiday roadtrip to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon near Wellsboro on Dec 28, when this post was written (but I couldn't load photos until today, Jan 2). Em came, and Deb's daughter came, but Kat's back was acting up so she had to stay home.

The drive up there was eventful because of (a) the fact that I'd never been that far north in PA, and (b) the lack of places to pull over to get coffee. We passed a sign for a Sheetz (a PA-area convenience store) but we never saw the place. We ended up stopping at this great little roadside cafe and loading up on coffee, PB and cheese crackers (a work staple for me, Niki, and Deb), and other assorted goodies. Then we finally made it to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. The photo above is probably the best one I took of the canyon; the sky was overcast, with the muted sun flaring out the water in most of my photos.

We only went up to the West Rim; it was pretty cold that day, and the girls tired pretty quickly. There were no birds at all, anywhere, that I could see or hear. It was really quiet up there but for a stiff and gusty wind in the trees.

I took a few other photos. Some deer in pen, for some mysterious reason--pets? deer farm? I don't know. There were no signs; just some jailbirds (jaildeer?) looking pretty upset that we were taking their pictures but not offering any food.


A macro shot of a hemlock cone:


A little touch of Andy Goldsworthy, created by nature (or something really heavy):


A weird little lichen or moss or something--alien message?--growing on limestone:


A very disturbing vending machine:

I shudder at the thought that this machine has live fish in it, sitting there in little tanks I guess, waiting for someone to put a dollar in there and (ugh) dispense.

And finally a photo of the trees with the very light snowfall, the most snow I've seen all season so far:


Here's the setting sun that got us home again:


This new version of Blogger is okay, but for some reason I still don't see all the buttons (formatting, embedded links, etc.) at the top of the post window when I'm on my Mac. ? Also, instead of showing the actual photos in the edit mode, I only see the HTML. Perhaps I set a preference wrong? Probably. I'll have to check.

So I set the post time and date of this to occur on the night I originally wanted to post it--the night after we went on this trip. I don't know if Blogger will backdate it or not. We'll see.

First Freedom First

As we begin another year, I would like to urge my five loyal readers to help spread the word about First Freedom First. You may have seen the "floating head guy" on the left, it's a link to the First Freedom First web site.

So why do I care about First Freedom First? Because it's about safeguarding separation of church and state, and protecting religious liberty.

I became a full time activists almost 17 years ago because of my concern about reproductive rights. The irony of this is that I knew I would never face the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy or the need to take birth control. My concern was for women in a broader sense. How could we compete in the workforce if the majority of women could not plan the timing of their families.

As someone who has always known I would be my sole support, it's important to me that women have the same opportunities for advancement as men.

Anyone who has ever defended a clinic entrance knows that the protesters do not wave medical journals, or shout that the doctors inside are practicing bad medicine. They wave Bibles and tell the women walking past them they are committing a sin.

Your religious belief is not a valid reason for taking away my rights.

Religious Right activists are also working to prevent same sex couples from having the right to legally marry. Why should it matter to them if two women who have spent more than 50 years in a loving relationship want to have that relationship legally recognized?

Marriage equality isn't a threat to "traditional" marriage -- the eradication of the middle class is a much greater threat. If Religious Right activists are truly interested in saving "marriage" they would work to increase the minimum wage, end corporate welfare, and insure that women earn the same dollar for their efforts as men. Money -- specifically the lack of it -- is a much greater threat to marriage. Loving same sex couples are not.

Your religious belief is not a valid reason for taking away my rights.

I am increasingly concerned about the influence the Religious Right has over science. There is no valid reason to restrict embryonic stem cell research. The majority of American's support it, and yet we are held hostage to the disproportionate influence of the Religious Right over our elected officials. Hopefully this will change with the new Congress.

The bottom line is this: Your religious belief is not a valid reason for taking away my right to the benefits afforded by having the best medical research possible. Your religious belief does not give you the right to define my family. And your religious belief is not justification for restricting reproductive rights.

First Freedom First provides a way for like-minded individuals to petition our government on the importance to safeguarding separation of church and state, and protecting religious liberty.

If you have not yet signed the petition, please do so today. If you have not yet invited your friends and family to sign, do so as quickly as possible. Every elected official -- from school board members to the President of the United States -- needs to know that a majority of Americans support separation of church and state. Send them a clear message by signing the petition today.

In Memoriam - Gerald R. Ford

Former President Gerald Ford -- the only president I've ever had the opportunity to meet -- is dead at the age of 93. The announcement of his death came in a statement released by his wife Betty.

I had the pleasure of meeting President Ford in 1976 when he was campaigning for the Oval Office. I was 22 years old and working at a television station in Indianapolis. Ford came to the station for an interview, and staff were invited to meet with him following the broadcast. I think I was the first person through the door.

I had a great appreciation for him, given the circumstances that brought him to the office. He was such a breath of fresh air following the Watergate scandal. And I adored his wife Betty -- a champion of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Upon taking office Ford said:

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule."

The New York Times reports:

[Ford] revived the debate over Watergate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.

Ford's standing in the polls dropped dramatically when he pardoned Nixon unconditionally. But an ABC News poll taken in 2002 in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in found that six in 10 said the pardon was the right thing to do.

The late Democrat Clark Clifford spoke for many when he wrote in his memoirs, ''The nation would not have benefited from having a former chief executive in the dock for years after his departure from office. His disgrace was enough.''

The decision to pardon Nixon won Ford a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, acknowledging he had criticized Ford at the time, called the pardon ''an extraordinary act of courage that historians recognize was truly in the national interest.''

My thoughts are with his loving wife Betty and the Ford children.

____________________

On the net:

Gerald Ford presidential library site: http://www.ford.utexas.edu/

From Wikipedia - Gerald Ford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford

‘Godfather of Soul’ gone

James Brown, the singer, songwriter, bandleader and dancer who
indelibly transformed 20th-century music, died early yesterday in Atlanta.

Charlie Brown Christmas

House finches galore

I was doing my feederwatch counts for this weekend and for some reason, every house finch in the area decided to hit the platform feeder today. The pine next to the feeder was crowded with mostly female house finches, waiting their turn at the seeds and nuts. Usually, I get about three-four of them, max. Today I saw nine at one time, both in the tree and on the feeder. There were only a couple of males in the bunch; the rest were tiny females.

I tried digiscoping but that little homemade adapter just isn't cutting it. These are the best photos I got--and they're terrible.
Obvious handshake. But the good thing was that I didn't see many finches with conjunctivitis today, at least I don't think so. They look okay to me. Any other opinions, based on this terrible photo?


In the golden light of the fast-setting sun, it was impossible for me to tell what kind of sparrow this is. Help?

Speaking of sun, we had another beautiful day here in Central PA--I think the high was close to 70! Here is a photo of the tamarack, almost bereft of its needles, and the marsh behind it, bathed in the bronze of a setting winter sun:

A not-so-white Christmas for 2006.

Winter Wonderland

All I Want for Christmas is You

Green Grove Road, Brush Valley

Note: I know it's a sin to post twice in one day, but that solstice post has been sitting around waiting for me to have time to do it. The following photos are fresh out of the camera, and I really wanted to show them to you.

On my way home from running errands, I took a little backroad to take some photos on this beautiful day. It's probably between 50 and 60 degrees, partly cloudly--an amazing day for winter in Central PA. It's been a strange fall/winter so far, with only one light dusting of snow, some night frosts, and decent amounts of sunshine.

I drove over Brush Mountain, the mountain that divides Penns Valley from the next valley over, Brush Valley. Here are some photos I took on Green Grove Road between 3 and 3:30pm today.

The sun was already making everything red, my favorite time of day. This is looking back toward my house; I'm just down the mountain and over to the left.


This was shot with the sun behind me, facing due west.


This is shot almost right into the sun, obviously. I love the way clouds look at sunset, when the light is too flat to shine through them so it makes them look dark and almost solid somehow.



This is a little copse of trees next to the road, thin and leafless now. I'll try to remember to take a picture once they've leafed out in the spring to compare.


This is a little path heading into a field, red with the setting sun.

Winter Solstice

I heard on NPR that "solstice" means "sun stands still" because on the solstice and for a few days afterward, the sun rises in the same spot, sets in the same spot each day--instead of moving left or right on the horizon as the earth continues its revolution around the sun.

I took some photos of the sunset with my Nokia camera phone, while driving at about 60mph down Hwy 220 from Bellefonte to State College; it was about 3:30pm (eastern time), and I was heading almost directly into the setting sun.

I love the winter solstice--knowing that the days will now get longer as we move through the winter into spring and summer. The gardener and birdwatcher in me love summer best because the days are so long that I can get home from work about 5:30 and still have hours of daylight left to work in the garden or watch birds. Also, there's just something in me that resents coming home in the dark.

Welcome to the longer days after winter solstice. Now that winter is officially here, perhaps we'll actually get some snow.

Another Glass Ceiling is Breaking

Captain Margaret D. Klein is the U.S. Naval Academy's first female commandant. The Washington Post reports the new number two person at the Academy will focus on forging new leaders.

As she assumes the academy's No. 2 slot, Klein said she hopes to set an example not just for the women there but for male midshipmen as well.

"I can honestly say I never felt like a trailblazer," Klein said in an interview yesterday with reporters, adding: "If the female midshipmen relate to that, I think it's an excellent byproduct."

Naval Academy history

A quick Wikipedia search reveals the institution was founded as the Naval School in 1845 by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft. The campus was established at Annapolis on the grounds of the former U.S. Army post Fort Severn.

The Naval Academy first accepted women as Midshipmen in 1976, when Congress authorized the admission of women to all of the service academies. Klein graduated from the academy in 1981 with the second class to include women. Women compose about 19 percent of entering plebes, but it has not been a smooth process.

Controversy at the Adacemy

Following the 2003 US Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal and due to concern with sexual assault in the U.S. military the Department of Defense was required to establish a task force to investigate sexual harassment and assault at the United States military academies in the law funding the military for fiscal 2004. The report, issued August 25, 2005 showed that during 2004 50% of the women at Annapolis reported instances of sexual harassment while 99 incidents of sexual assault were reported. There had been an earlier incident in 1990 which involved male midshipmen chaining a female midshipman to a urinal after she threw a snowball after them and then taking pictures of her.

Hope for change

Klein was appointed by the academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, who came to the academy with a reputation as a leader in advancing the role of women in the military. As more women move into positions of leadership there is hope the culture at the Academy will change.

End-of-year meme

I saw a meme on Patrick Belardo's HawkOwl's Nest blog that basically requires you to enter just the first sentence of the first entry of each month of 2006. So--I started beginning to bird in June--

June: This web site is especially for people new to birding, like me.

July: This weekend, I saw a bobolink--during the Penn's Cave wildlife tour.

August: Well, it's happened. [here, the computer had blown up and I lost a lot of photos and files.]

September: I finally purchased a birding book written in this century: Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Eastern and Central Region.

October: What's this? [the monarch chrysalis I'd been watching for a MONTH had finally turned into a live monarch]

November: From Mike McDowell who got it from Nuthatch: [a meme about birding]

December: Today, the sun was blazing for the first time in a while, so I grabbed the Condor and the camera and set up a little station for myself. [my first really good digiscoping with a real scope]

Sen. Hillary Clinton on The View

PART 1


PART 2

What others are saying ...

From AMERICAblog.com - Civil Unions law signed in NJ

Governor Corzine signed the law today. Civil unions will be the law of the land in the Garden State starting February 19, 2007. That is, civil unions will be the law of the land til full marriage rights are established.

Civil unions are a step in the right direction. But, check out Blue Jersey's Think Equal campaign and you'll understand why it isn't enough.


From Blue Gal - First Freedom First: Democracy, not Theocracy

I'm blogging this week on the battleground issues of First Freedom First, an umbrella organization supporting specific issues related to the separation of church and state. - BG


From TheCarpetbaggerReport.com - Thursday’s Mini-Report

* One more argument against Rep. Virgil Goode’s (R-Va.) ridiculous anti-Ellison, anti-Muslim thesis: Ellison traces his American ancestors back to 1742 and isn’t an immigrant.

* Kudos to Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) for getting behind a plan for publicly-financed campaigns. May other governors follow her example.

* And, even in defeat, Rick Santorum is as bitter and bizarre as ever: “I have always said that if World War II was covered like this war, I really, very seriously, doubt that we would have ever won that war. … The bottom line is, the media — and I am not saying that they are intending to do this — but simply by what they are doing, without question, it is aiding the terrorists and their objective.”


From Howling Latina - Moratorium NOW!

In huge news for people who oppose the death penalty, Maryland's highest court halted executions by lethal injection; and with the recent election of Martin O'Malley as governor, the political weather in the Old Line State is calling for clear skies for opponents. ...

The Washington Post reported yesterday that O'Malley has asked "Ehrlich to leave the issue for the incoming administration."


From Mock, Paper, Scissors - ‘Grain sez…

While Dubya takes his own sweet time to reach a decision, will the New Way Forward (Now Lemon Scented!) actually make a difference? This whole story line feels like a rerun of a show you didn’t much like the first time, where you already know the punch-lines before they happen, and the only thing keeping you involved is that the effort to reach for the remote is greater than your boredom. ...

Tony Snow gives us a strangely clear view into the process to come to the New Way Forward:

Q: “Is he going to talk with people who differ considerably from his view? Like people who absolutely want to get out of Iraq?”

SNOW: “No, because that does not, in fact, achieve your goal.”

Nope, I think the New Way Forward is the Old Way Backwards.

10 Things I Hate About Commandments

SNL - enter at your own risk!

How can this be called justice?

Genarlow Wilson is young man who had good grades, a promising future, and no criminal history -- so how did he end up being sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole and a lifetime registration as a sexual offender?

At 17 years old he had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Wilson, now 20, has been in jail now for two years. The New York Times reports:

Mr. Wilson, who is black, is trapped in a legal vise intended to ensure severe penalties for child molesters and other sex offenders, navigating a maze of legal technicalities that for him seems to hold nothing but dead ends. Some critics of the sentence also say Mr. Wilson is caught in a system that metes out disproportionately harsh sentences to black defendants.

The Georgia Legislature, disturbed by Wilson's conviction, has changed laws regarding sex between teenagers. Most sex acts between teens will now be treated as a misdemeanor. What they didn't do was to make the law retroactive.

"While I am very sympathetic to Wilson's argument regarding the injustice of sentencing this promising young man with good grades and no criminal history to 10 years in prison without parole and a lifetime registration as a sexual offender," wrote Justice Carol W. Hunstein, "this court is bound by the Legislature's determination that young persons in Wilson's situation are not entitled to the misdemeanor treatment."

What makes this case even more outrageous is that when it took place there was already a "Romeo and Juliet" exception in the law for sexual intercourse between teenagers.

"Had Genarlow had intercourse with this girl, had he gotten her pregnant, he could only have been charged with a misdemeanor and punished up to 12 months," said Brenda Joy Bernstein, Mr. Wilson's lawyer.

Wilson has been offered a plea deal, but he refuses -- and who could blame him!

"Even after serving time in prison, I would have to register as a sex offender wherever I lived and if I applied for a job for the rest of my life, all for participating in a consensual sex act with a girl just two years younger than me," he told a reporter for Atlanta magazine last year, adding that he would not even be able to move back in with his mother because he has an 8-year-old sister. "It's a lifelong sentence in itself. I am not a child molester."

Genarlow Wilson has served his time ... now it's time to set him free!

Bush Holiday Gift to Troops - More Time in Iraq

As the president relaxes for the holiday word is out about plans

to send thousands of more soldiers into harms way.

ABC news reports: ... the top generals in the region warn that such a dramatic escalation would not only risk more American lives, it might discourage Iraqis from taking charge of their own security.

Late this week, the Army chief of staff told Congress his soldiers already are stretched too thin.

"As it currently stands," Gen. Peter Schoomaker said Thursday, "the Army is incapable of generating and sustaining the required forces to wage the global war on terror."

Still, President Bush has asked his military planners to figure out how to get the extra forces he wants. Among the ideas being considered are extending tours of duty from 12 to 15 months in the Army and seven to nine months in the Marines.

Happy Holiday from the Commander in Chief!

Humor is good for the soul

Thank you Blue Gal for pointing the way to Mock, Paper, Scissors! I was literally laughing out loud. Here's a not-so-good rendition of just one of the posts that had me in stitches.

Censured PBS Bunny Returns

How does a popular PBS children's program find itself in the cross-hairs of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and the Religious Right? By daring to tell children the truth.

"Postcards From Buster," a popular PBS children's program, found itself on the Education Secretaries radar screen in January 2005, when it dared to schedule a program about maple sugaring, called "Sugartime!," that featured children in a Vermont family with two moms.

Dennis Gaffney, in The New York Times, writes:

What happens to a children's public television show after it has been attacked by the secretary of education, pilloried by conservatives, then abandoned by its underwriters? In the case of "Postcards From Buster," it manages to return, belatedly but unbowed, for a second season.

While children love the program, Spellings and the American Family Association clearly don't.

Spellings attacked the "Sugartime!" episode in a letter to Pat Mitchell, the former PBS president, (dated Jan. 25, 2005) saying:

"many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in this episode."

AFA then orchestrated a campaign that generated more than 150,000 e-mail messages and letters to Ms. Spellings supporting her position.

"Postcards From Buster," produced by WGBH (the Boston PBS station), manages to approach even intensely political topics, like the war in Iraq and the aftereffects of Katrina, in an apolitical manner. Pierre Valette, one of the executive producers of "Postcards," says Buster does this by looking at the world through a child's eyes.

Brigid Sullivan, vice president for children's programming at WGBH, said:

"We were proud of "Postcards From Buster," and we are proud of "Postcards From Buster." ... "It's a children's show dealing with diversity by showing real kids in real-life situations. That's not being done by anyone else."

The New York Times reports:

The Education Department's Ready-to-Learn program, which had largely financed the first season of "Postcards" with $5 million through PBS, rewrote its grant to eliminate the call for cultural diversity, and PBS did not pursue that grant for Season 2. Neither the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is controlled by Congress and provided funds for Season 1, nor the traditional corporate sponsors of PBS children"s programming would underwrite the show.

Instead of the 40 episodes produced for the first season, "Postcards From Buster" will have only 10 new episodes for season 2.

If you would like to support "Postcards From Buster" visit WGBH's website, and make a contribution today!

Or contact your local PBS station and make sure they air "Postcards From Buster."

Sunday Funnies

It's beginning to look a lot like ... Barney?

Saturday Night Surfing ...

from Tennessee Guerilla Women

White House Forbids Criticism, Again

The leader of the free world is blocking the publication of a New York Times Op-ed authored by Middle East analyst Flynt Leverett. Mr. Leverett served under Bush on the National Security Council.

The censored column criticizes the Decider's refusal to talk to Iran.

No word yet on what Mr. Leverett's wife does for a living.

Revolting Episcopalians

Seems there is trouble brewing in the Episcopal Church. Some of the conservatives are up in arms. The Washington Post reports:

Under one roof there were female bishops and male bishops who would not ordain women. There were parishes that celebrated gay weddings and parishes that denounced them; theologians sure that Jesus was the only route to salvation, and theologians who disagreed.

It seems the big tent theory isn't working for them, particularly in Virginia.

As many as eight conservative Episcopal churches in Virginia are expected to announce today that their parishioners have voted to cut their ties with the Episcopal Church. Two are large, historic congregations that minister to the Washington elite and occupy real estate worth a combined $27 million, which could result in a legal battle over who keeps the property.

The Virginia groups appear ready to align themselves with the archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola:

... an outspoken opponent of homosexuality who supports legislation in his country that would make it illegal for gay men and lesbians to form organizations, read gay literature or eat together in a restaurant.

Yikes!

Much of the current conflict can be traced to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, of New Hampshire.

In the last three years, since the Episcopal Church consecrated V. Gene Robinson, a gay man who lives with his partner, as bishop of New Hampshire, about three dozen American churches have voted to secede and affiliate with provinces overseas, according to The Episcopal News Service.

Bishop Robinson is a wonderful, thoughtful person. How tragic it is that others can't accept him.

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, said in an e-mail response to a request for an interview that such splits reflect a polarized society, as well as the “anxiety” and “discomfort” that many people feel when they are asked to live with diversity.

“The quick fix embraced in drawing lines or in departing is not going to be an ultimate solution for our discomfort,” she said.

Gee, I wonder how Jesus would vote?

Only 10 Shopping Days Left ...

As you search Toys 'r Us and Target for 'just the right gift' don't forget the little elf's that made your shopping possible! Enjoy Elf’s Lament by Barenaked Ladies.

White House Declares War On Christmas – Again!

You would think that Falwell and his ilk would be concerned that for the second year in a row the Bushes have declared 'War on Christmas.'

Americans United for Separation of Church and State writes:

In our continuing effort to keep readers informed about developments in the “War on Christmas,” we’d like to note the emergence of some new combatants: President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

Amazing how Falwell targets retail outlets that simply want to sell merchandise to consumers of all faith traditions and those who do not believe in the supernatural.

Where is his outrage against those naughty Bushes?

Northern Harrier fly-by

This morning while waiting for my ride to work, I saw a raptor flying over the swamp. I grabbed the binocs and noted as much as I could about the silhouette--he/she was flying too high and the morning light was too dim for seeing anything but a dark form in the sky.

After checking a silhouette chart online, I'm confident that I've now seen a Northern Harrier. Another lifer!

I've spent most of my time studying songbirds and learning to ID them, but raptors are very cool. Usually when I see something, it turns out to be just a buzzard. Still, not a sighting goes by that I don't exclaim to Kat, "Look at those eagles, soaring majestically in a circle!" (heh--there's a lot of road- and field-kill to circle over out in the country, where we live.

I was pleased with my developing ability to note details (length of wings in relation to body, width of tail, length of head/neck, etc.). I've seen a few raptors flying around near the house, but my knowledge of them is limited. They are beautiful birds, however, and I hope to learn more about them. I'm just glad I've never seen one trying to hit the birds at my feeders--I know from my readings that this is a distinct possibility when you have a popular feeder in the backyard. I guess if it has to happen, I kinda hope I'm there, with scope and camera, to capture it. It'll be like watching Wild Kingdom or something, only minus Marlin Perkins.

Who would Jesus kill?

Those wacky evangelicals are at it again. It seems a new Christian video game, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," is creating quite a stir. The game is based on the widely popular "Left Behind" Christian book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

It is being marketed as a "family" game, but critics describe it as:

"a violent video game in which born-again Christians aim to convert or kill those who don't adhere to their extreme ideology."

"After you kill somebody you need to recharge your soul points and to do that you need to bend down in prayer. ... I think the message is extremely clear," said Clark Stevens, co-director of Campaign to Defend the Constitution.

The game is flying off the shelves at retailers like Wal-Mart.

As might be expected the games maker dismisses the criticism, but his comments suggest quite the opposite.

"The reality is that our game perpetuates prayer and worship and that there is no killing in the name of God.

"There is killing of course, it is a video game. But the basis of the game is spiritual welfare," said Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games Inc.

All of this begs the question: "Who would Jesus kill?"

Holiday meme

This comes from LauraH in NJ:

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Eggnog never tastes as good as I imagine it will, so I’ll go with hot chocolate.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? He wraps the ones under the tree, but then he stuffs unwrapped things in our stockings.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Kat LOVES Christmas, so she starts decorating on Thanksgiving night, and not a moment before.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? When I was a meat-eater, it was my mother’s turkey and stuffing. Now I’d have to say it’s Kat’s green bean casserole.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Wow, just one? I still remember so many Christmases, sleeping near the tree and watching the lights as I fell asleep. I loved that.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I’m with Laura—what do you mean, “truth”? Did he get lipo?
9. Do you open gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Usually late on Christmas eve—near midnight—or whenever we discover that Santa has already visited while we were napping.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With ornaments we’ve had in our families since we were young, and each year we all make new home-made ornaments.
11. Snow - Love it or dread it? I like it unless I have to dig the car out.
12. Can you ice skate? Not really—and the one time I went, I was too scared of falling (and breaking something) to enjoy it, so I ended up using this "walker" thing and skating behind it. But it was nerve-wracking. I couldn't just relax and enjoy it for fear I would fall and hurt my butt.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? (as a child) Oh yes—my godmother gave me this “Coke Machine” that was a smaller plastic version of the old-fashioned Coke dispensers in drugstores, diners, etc.—and you would take a one-liter glass bottle of Coke, fit it under the big plastic box cover, put the top of the bottle into a rubber gasket-thingie, and then when you pressed the tap, Coke would come out!
14. What's the most exciting thing about the holidays for you? Being off work for a week!
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mother’s desserts—refrigerator cookies (like sugar cookies with pecans in them—soooo tasty), homemade pumpkin and pecan pies—with lots of whipped cream!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Every year, we would convince my parents to let us start opening gifts on Christmas Eve—every year, it would get earlier and earlier. And my sister Raquel would put on a fake mustache and beard (sometimes made of paper, sometimes cotton batting—whatever) and she would play “Santa the Clause” and distribute gifts. That was awesome.
17. What tops your tree? Kat has this quilted angel that goes on top of our tree.
18. Which do you prefer- giving or receiving? They’re both great—I guess I love the “exchanging.”
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? "O Holy Night"
20. Candy canes? Not that big a fan, but I’ll eat a piece or two. We have a wooden snowman who holds a long stick between his outstretched hands, and you hook candy canes onto it.

Sunday Funnies

OK GO - A Million Ways To Be Cool

ATMs for Jesus

In doing a little blog surfing I came across this on life's journey:

take a quick peek at this- atms for jesus! guess passing the offering plate wasn't cutting it with the credit card crew. i'm thinking that these churches should just set up direct deposit so that they can suck money from the parishioners and have it instantly.

It got me thinking ... life everlasting AND frequent flyer miles! It seems appropriate for a Sunday.

According to Family Research Institute I'll be dead soon

According to Dr. Paul Cameron, chairman of the Family Research Institute, I will be dead soon. In a press release titled "Mary Cheney Cruel to Children", Cameron claims:

"The median age of death for lesbians is around the late 50's."

Yikes! I'm 53, soon to be 54, so I'd better get with it -- there is still a lot I'd like to do before the end comes!

I'm not sure where Cameron gets his information on mortality, but he is clearly not happy with the fact that Mary Cheney is pregnant.

He does make a couple of interesting points:

"The child will disproportionately associate with homosexuals . . . The child will have a much higher probability of learning homosexual tastes. . ."

Could this be code for if Cheney has a girl she will likely play for the WNBA, and if she has a boy he will be an excellent interior decorator? That doesn't seem so bad to me.

Not-so-clear moon

The moon was rising over a mountain at the edge of our valley this evening as I rode home. It was huge and yellow cresting the peak, looking like a sunrise but in the negative, in the darkness. As soon as I got home I grabbed the scopes and the camera, and I ran outside. By this point, the moon was over the hill, but I got a good view of it from the crazy uncle house.

I didn't get any clear images at all; I took about 75 shots. I tried different modes--first the regular mode, then night landscape, then macro. Nothing really gave me a good clear picture, but the scope--well, the scope was spectacular.

It's funny how sometimes I get so wrapped up in digiscoping that I almost forget to just look through the scope and enjoy the crystal clear view, the zoom lens, the ease of focus. But I remembered to look tonight, and I could see craters, ridges, atmospheric distortion. It was a beautiful moonrise.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't capture it. These are the best images I got:



The second one wasn't that great but note the atmospheric distortion of the disk on its bottom edge. At times, it looked as though there were huge gouges and peaks in the edges as the moon rose into the sky. This is the best example I got of that phenomenon.

I feel like there is still a lot of handshake in my photos--especially at night with the slower shutter speeds, and even in the day. Granted, I'm still using the little table-top tripod that came with the scope; it's not exactly equipped with a microfluid Bogen Manfrotto head or anything. Further, I still don't have an adapter ring to join the camera to the scope. The Condor came with a beautiful black metal eyepiece tube cap that is visible in this photo of my two scopes:
You can see it there to the right of the tripod; it looks almost like a 35mm film can. It's threaded and screws over the entire zooming eyepiece. I am going to use its measurements to create the adapter ring--maybe tonight, depending on what I have lying around in my workshop. I have a ton of PVC left over from my scope-building, but I don't know if the inner diameter of anything I have now is correct. We'll see.

Look at my scopes side by side. Oy vey. I'm so torn. I took my homemade scope outside with me as well, but I still need to fix the mounting screw, so it was too difficult to point at my subject. I might have had more patience, had it not been about 28 degrees outside, but as it was, my hands were starting to hurt by the time I'd taken my 75 or so shots through the Condor. Further, I think the length of the tube is great for distances about 100-150 feet max. It seemed I couldn't get it focused on the moon tonight, like the scope needed to be just a tad shorter to bring the distant moon into focus. It wasn't made for night sky viewing.

Still--maybe all my scope needs is a catchy name like "Condor." How about Talon? That sounds tough! But there's probably already a Talon out there. Maybe something reflective of its origins: HomeView? Clunky? Bob? Anyone have any suggestions?

Maybe I should go out and try again to get a photo that's actually in focus. I'll see what I get and add anything good.

ADDENDUM
I took some time and made a little adapter ring out of a piece of the caulking tube of Wet-Dry roof cement, some sticky-back cordoroy, and white craft felt. I knew I'd find something in my workshop.

First, both to protect my scope's eyepiece and as padding to make a tighter fit, I swaddled the eyepiece in white felt:
Once that was on, I lined the adapter on the inside with black sticky-back felt:
I don't know if you can read those ingredients, but they're pretty scary. Next, I slipped the tube over the swaddling and onto the scope, with enough length left over to accept the camera's lens once it comes out of its housing when I turn it on (without any zoom):

I couldn't really take a picture of the whole set-up, as that would've required the camera. . . I tried the phone-cam, but it was just blurry.

So--here are the results. By this point, the moon was higher in the sky (about 30 minutes had passed during the adapter-making).

First on the regular camera mode:

Wow. Really clear, but really needing a moon filter. Then I switched to night landscape:

A definite improvement, even if the adapter ring with its padding etc. doesn't really line the camera up perfectly with the eyepiece. The focus is much improved, though a moon filter would still help. Here are some more shots; you can judge for yourself whether this crazy little adapter I threw together makes a difference. The one thing I noticed is that I couldn't seem to get the whole disk in focus. So I just focused on an edge. Here are the best results:

Definitely a Carolina wren. Definitely.

Thanks to Bill of the Birds' latest post on the Carolina wrens at Indigo Hill, I am now certain that the bird I thought was a Carolina wren was indeed a Carolina wren. I'm learning!

Take Action: Stop Misleading Abortion Bill

Lame duck House will vote Wednesday on another abortion roadblock: this deceptive bill will put women's health at risk and add one more barrier to abortion access.

The House of Representatives will be voting this Wednesday under "suspension of the rules" on a deceptive measure that the authors have misnamed the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act" H.R. 6099. In fact, it is an attempt to intimidate women into request expensive and unnecessary fetal anesthesia, which could then place the procedure financially outside their reach. We must act quickly to soundly DEFEAT this legislation – which needs a two-thirds vote of the 435-member House to prevail!

Take Action NOW!
The legislation would force physicians to provide misleading and manipulative information to women seeking abortions at 20 weeks or more after fertilization. The bill calls for doctors to give patients a brochure with language scripted by anti-abortion legislators, not physicians.

Despite the inability to support such a claim medically, the text of this brochure tells each woman that her "unborn child" will experience pain while "being killed in an abortion." The doctor would then be required to offer the woman anesthesia or another "pain reducing drug" to be administered directly to the fetus.

Beyond the direct impact on women seeking abortions and the requirements placed on doctors, the legislation would ultimately reduce women's access to abortion: How many doctors have the resources, training and insurance coverage to administer anesthesia to a fetus in their office or clinic? How much extra will the anesthesia cost? And how can patients say no when the pressure is so emotionally intense? Many women seeking an abortion are already in economic straits and will be unable to afford the additional cost of hard-sell fetal anesthesia.

Please take action today by calling or emailing your representative. On such short notice, phone calls are often a better way to reach your representative's office to leave a message (be sure to tell them that you live in the district and give your address to prove it!) We've provided a suggested script for your call; get the script and your representative's phone number. Or send an email to your representative.

Get more information on this legislation
Take Action NOW!

Two lifebirds in one day!

Today, the sun was blazing for the first time in a while, so I grabbed the Condor and the camera and set up a little station for myself. I sat in an Adirondack chair and put a little side table in front of me, on which I set the Condor on its table-top tripod.

The birds, probably just as happy as I was to see the sun, cooperated and took their places at the feeding stations. I set up to watch the platform feeder on the back fence with the scope, later moving it to watch the hanging feeder. I watched the suet feeder with my eyes and my binocs.

My first shot through the scope:
No, it wasn't night time. This is just that bad. There's a little sparrow in that blackness, sitting on the platform feeder.

Clearly, some adjustment was necessary.

I backed off the zoom on the scope (it goes 20-60X), backed off the zoom on the camera (the Nikon CP4800), and repositioned. Mr. Cardinal allowed this photograph of his somewhat moult-y form:

Does this fluff make me look fat?

Certainly an improvement, but the focus still wasn't too good. Also, vignetting was a big problem:

After some experimentation, I found that zooming the scope only a little bit cut the vignetting almost completely for my eye, but it only improved it somewhat for the camera. I think the problem lies in the camera lens, which is set back in the camera body. When I zoom, the barrel comes way out, and it seems the lens is even farther from the scope's eyepiece than before. So the camera was not zoomed at all for the rest of the photos; the scope was mainly on about 25-30X zoom. Further, I have no adapter, so I'm just holding the camera's lens to the scope with my left hand. Conditions were full sun, somewhat backlighting the subjects from directly behind and then slightly to the right but still behind as the sun travelled its in low winter arc across the sky.

I then heard a strange call and was stunned to see my first red-bellied woodpecker! I got a lot of blurry shots, but this is a fairly clear one:

Of course at first, I was so freaked out by this lifebird that I took a video, but I don't know how to load those onto Blogger and I dare not just try loading it like a photo on my dial-up connection! Let's move on:

I love the rumps of bluejays--so many shades of blue all together. Bluejays are mean and they tend to hog the feeder, but they're beautiful. At one point when I was just watching through the scope, the red-bellied was sitting on the platform and a jay tried to land, but the red-bellied opened his mouth and shooed the jay away--I didn't really hear a sound from the open mouth, but it was a clear "Hey, wait your turn!"

The infamous American goldfinch in winter plumage showed up and offered this pose:


Look at his pretty little pink feet.

This little sparrow stopped in a for a bite:
I haven't heard the distinctive song sparrow call since the summertime, so I began to think they'd all flown south. However, after really trying to look at all the details in the photo and in Peterson's, I'm certain this is a song sparrow, though I never got to see his breast to look for the large central spot that Peterson points out. But the streaking on his sides, as well as the lack of white outer tail feathers (vesper sparrow), makes me sure this is a song sparrow. Not to make a big deal of a pretty simple ID, but I'm trying to learn to focus on key ID elements so I don't make as many mistakes with the more difficult IDs.

The sparrow was soon joined by a male house finch:


I tried to zoom in on the house finch to look for conjunctivitis, but if he had it, he had only a minor case. The photos on the Project Feederwatch site all look so severe--but the house finches I saw this morning looked okay. If you can see something I don't see, please let me know, so I can make a correct entry in my Feederwatch weekend report.

The white-breasted nuthatch came back a few times, stopping at both the hanging feeder and the suet block:

What an acrobat!

That's the extent of the decent photos. I also saw but didn't get even bad photos of the following:

1. some kind of wren, I think. This is the first time I've seen this bird; it was rusty-colored, with a flat tail that reflected sunlight in the most beautiful way. He had the nuthatch's style of creeping close to the tree trunks and fence posts, and he spent a good deal of time perusing the brush piles. Peterson says to look for the tail cocked up over the back, but I didn't see him do that at all. Still, he looked most like a Carolina wren as opposed to a house wren or long-billed marsh wren. I considered his very rusty color and distinctive white eye stripe, plus the lack of striping on the back. Further, Peterson describes this wren as prefering "tangles and brushy undergrowth--he definitely did that. Also he explored a small cavity in a fence post right near one of the brush piles:
Still, I'm not as certain about this ID, because of the lack of tail-cocking. Everything else, however, tells me it was a Carolina wren.

2. the downy woodpecker, who made his regular appearance at the suet feeder. In Peterson, it seems the only differences between the downy and the hairy are body size and bill length (hairy is bigger with longer beak). One thing Peterson doesn't do in his first edition is show the female downy or hairy; only the males with their red caps near the backs of their heads. However, I've seen a woody with no red spot, larger than the male downy I've seen. I noted a distinct white-and-black pattern (Fig 1 and 2) on her crown and nape (trying to use the right terms here). I thought at first, due to the larger size, that I might have a female hairy. I looked at some other photos and drawings, and I really can't tell which she is. Judging from the fact that she's bigger than the male downy I've seen, I'm going to offer a 50/50 guess that she is a hairy woodpecker. Any help, anyone?

3, 4, 5. several kinds of sparrows. I believe I ID'd white-throated (easy to tell), field (rusty cap, no stickpin marking on breast, no white eyebrow stripe--though I forgot to check color of beak), and swamp (rusty cap, white throat, grayish breast). Wish I had photos of all of them, but most of the time they were on the ground. I need to get that log feeder made so I can get a better view of the ground-feeders.

6. black-capped chickadee. I love their songs and calls.

7. northern mockingbird

8. eastern phoebe, though I only heard this bird--I've heard it a million times but only today did it finally click that the sound was indeed "fee-bee" and it was an eastern phoebe. I'm slow sometimes.

9. a very big raptor, who flew over the marsh a couple of times but never close enough or in good enough light (or rather too much light--he was backlit the whole time by a very bright sun). Peterson offers some silhouettes and views from below, but honestly--all I remember is that it was huge and brown. I've done a lot of work on learning about songbirds, but the raptors have pretty much eluded me, other than the red-tailed hawk whom I can identify pretty easily as long as I see him perched. On this bird, however, I just don't remember the width of the tail, and I didn't see any color other than brown on top and black (from the backlighting) on the bottom.

It was quite a morning overall, and I'm feeling pretty good right now. I'm learning how to take photos through this new scope, which I haven't decided whether I'll keep or not, and I saw two lifebirds. Pretty cool.