Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Happy Birthday George!

Washington was born this day in 1732.  He died in 1799 at the age of 67.  If he were alive today, he'd be really, really old.

Twins

Another mushroom from a couple a years ago, this one is a bolete, a mushroom that has pores instead of gills to disperse its spores.  This one is a bit unusual, these mushrooms usually do not have twin stalks and cojoined caps.

Patiently Waiting For Peanuts

Big squirrel in my backyard, can't afford to feed it anymore.  Fairly sure this is from a couple of summers ago.

How About A Mallard Fizz?

Can't remember when or where this was taken.  Most likely in North Park.

Our dachshund's back legs stopped working today...she's at the pet hospital, and might need surgery...I hate to put a price on the life of a pet, but weather she lives or dies, depends on the bill

Morel

I'm feeling lazy and out of the news loop while on vacation, so I thought I'd spend the week vomiting up some pictures I've taken over the years, many of which were featured over at the old site. 

One of my hobbies is hunting wild mushrooms.  Today, I'm featuring the mighty morel, a highly sought after edible that in these parts is only found in the spring.

Vacation!

 

Yes, I am on vacation next week, so posting will be light, and what posting that there will be is likely to be repostings of some old photos and other random fluff (but feel free to critique my photography "skills" if you haven't already)  Ranting and foam flecked spittling should recommence on or about February 28, just in time for the Michagan primary! 

The Climate Change Denialists "Climategate"

As George Takei might say.."Ohh myyyyy."

The inner workings of a libertarian thinktank working to discredit the established science on climate change have been exposed by a leak of confidential documents detailing its strategy and fundraising networks.

DeSmogBlog, which broke the story, said it had received the confidential documents from an "insider" at the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago. The blog monitors industry efforts to discredit climate science.

The scheme includes spending $100,000 for spreading the message in K-12 schools that "the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science", the documents said.

Birth Of A Zombie Lie

I don't know if you've seen the story flying about the intertubes, featured on Faux News and right wing radio about a preschooler in North Carolina who had her homemade lunch seized by government operatives and replaced with a "healthier" version that included chicken nuggets.

Guess what?  That story is pure bunk.  Nearly everything reported by Faux turned out to be false, a gross exaggeration, or misunderstanding.  The story originally appeared in a right-wing think-tank's monthly journal, was picked up by the right-wing noise machine, and spread to all the usual suspects.

So now that the debunking has occurred, do you think it will make a difference?  Of course not, no matter how many times you point out that the story is false (and it takes far more verbiage to explain why the charge is false than it is to make the charge), some low information voter months or years from now will vomit up the story of how the ebil democrat gubmit checks lunches and seizes ones that do not comply with the regulations.

A zombie lie is born.

Ripping Apart Families

Disgusting.

Seriously, the insanity of red tape, expense, and bigotry that surrounds our immigration laws must come to an end.  I'm tired of people screeching how their "ancestors came to this country legally" when prior to 1921, there were virtually no barriers to (European) immigrants, and the immigration laws enacted in the run up to the Great Depression were written in such a way to favor western Europeans at the expense of every one else who wanted to come here and try to make a new life for themselves.   

This timeline is an excellent rundown on the history of our immigration laws, and how deeply seeped they are in racism and bigotry.