Bow Your Head

Reading news on the web makes me feel like the iris in the lead photo today. Do people elect clueless congressmen and presidents because that is what they really want or because there is not a lot of choice?  Often people who run for public office are failures at everything else, but somehow find a place in government where they continue to fail. This seems to be the case with so many of our current elected officials. The policies of the Roosevelt era prolonged the depression for years longer than the depression would have lasted if the government had done nothing and let market forces work to correct the markets. This is well known and historically documented from the various depressions before the "great depression" that were short lived due to no government intervention. 

But what does the current government do? Replay the policies of the Roosevelt era and then act surprised when unemployment gets worse, the housing market continues to tumble and inflation is on the rise. They try to distract us with raids on countries we have no strategic interest in, and say they killed a terrorist who has done nothing for the past 10 years, if he was even alive and present when the raid went down, hoping we will not notice the bad economic news. Murder and mayhem sell well on TV and in the movies, shouldn't that make for a popular president?

On top of all that, the US government has been smuggling guns to the drug cartels in Mexico, and the attorney general says he didn't know anything about it! Right! I guess he's been too busy suing a lady who blocked the door of an abortion clinic to notice the BATF is the largest source of illegal guns going from the US to Mexico. Obama has long held that most of the guns that end up in Mexico come from gun shows in the US, but when not that many guns from the US had actually shown up among the hundred thousand or so guns confiscated in Mexico by the Mexican government, the Obama administration decided they needed to be more proactive to ensure more guns from the US made their way to Mexico to make their case; so the Obama administration started its own smuggling operation called "gunrunner."  It also turns out that the few guns that did come from the  US had been reported multiple times, so the data on the number of guns with serial numbers traceable to the US confiscated in Mexico had be inflated 5 to 10 times by the BATF, until closer scrutiny caught the error.

Then there is the issue of government spending. Instead of reducing spending like most people and businesses do when they don't have enough income to cover expenses, governments are looking for more ways to tax people. California is looking at hiring Internet police to track Californians' on-line purchases and then bill them a use tax. If that goes through, other states will follow since most states have use tax laws that go back way before the Internet. Obama is looking at tax per mile driven on cars, which is simply designed to reduce driving since he thinks we should all use public transportation. The private automobile is one of the single most important vehicles that help people improve their economic status, because they have little restriction of getting better employment when that have the freedom of driving a car. The current government wants none of that!  It is doing everything it can to kill the private transportation.

The nanny state without end is depressing and makes me want to hang my head like the poor, cold-damaged iris.

Here's Looking at You X 6

While I was out inspecting the iris, which are very damaged from the hard frost, and reluctant to bloom again even though it was 80º F today, the crab spider presented herself on one of the wilted irises. The problem was the sun had just set, I had just finished lifting weights, so between low light (shutter speed of 1/15 sec no stabilization in the lens or camera) and being shaky from the weights, I only got a couple of photos of the spider in focus. It was too bad because she was going through all her poses for me.

I went to a medieval lunch and learn at UNM today. While walking from T parking to Mesa Vista Hall, I passed by one of the frat houses they are demolishing. For a long time it was just abandoned, but at noon today it was reduced to ruble and I'm pretty sure the lot is now cleared.

I also walked by a scooter with antlers and various other interesting boxes and nets attached to it. Antlers seem to be a popular accouterment for motorcycles around here.

While I was scanning some stuff for Laurie a moth landed on the screen. When I shined a light on it to get the shutter speed manageable, the moth started vibrating its wings, making it impossible to get a really clear shot.

The Obama administration has made a total mess out of this OBL killing. They can't get their stories straight, and now they won't release photos. Senator Brown said he saw the photos, but then they were determined to be doctored. Democrats who lambasted Bush for pursuing OBL are now falling all over themselves to praise Obama. War and killing becomes okay when it's their party doing it.

B&W Lilies

I'm trying to figure out what the point is behind the supposed killing of Osama bin Laden. For a president who, as a senator, wanted to strip the intelligence services, military, and White House of all the tools used in the reported successful raid on the OBL compound to be celebrating the killing of OBL and his family seems to me not only to be highly hypocritical, but deranged (I read they spared his wife, and were even nice about it by only shooting her in the leg) . 

The media is in a feeding frenzy about how great our intelligence and military are, and hyping up the photos that the White House is preparing for release to prove they got OLB. The press is wringing their hands about whether the photos are too gory for a sensitive American public. It's contrived idiocy. Believe me, most people will have seem way more gory photos either real or CG than the one of OLB with a bullet wound in his temple and left eye. The press is hyping the photos to create lots of views. I already found the supposed photos, and am waiting to see if the "official" release is the same.

If they really killed OBL, I have to ask myself: do I feel safer? No! Has Obama proved to me that he is a leader? No!  Is killing OBL going to turn our economy around, ease the country's debt, or create jobs? No! So I'm still left asking myself what's the point?

On the home front, the temperature was 16º F at 7:00 am this morning and everything was frosty, like the second photo of the Drumstick Allium. The kitty photo of the day is by Laurie of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern lounging on the deck after wearing themselves out rolling in the dirt!

1930 Harley

We stopped by the post office on the way home and parked next to a 1930 Harley Davidson.  The owner came out of the post office as I got out of the car, so I asked him about the bike and if I could photograph it. He said he got it in parts from New Zealand and rebuilt it. He said it's also one of the most reliable motorcycles he has. He showed me the process for starting it. He turned on the gas cock, set the spark advance to max, and kick started it. It fired up after a couple of kicks and he was off.

Stretch tested looking in the new window tonight. The screen gives him an interesting soft focus effect. The new windows are well insulated so the kitties can't hear me talk to them, and their meows are silent.

The temperature was 20º F at 7:30 am and there was frost on everything. I photographed on of the Alliums up close with the frost lining its tiny flowers. Snow started falling around 8:00 am and we drove in a snow storm until we got on I-25 at Alameda.

We are sure it will freeze again tonight, so we put sheets and rags on the iris and Laurie put more mulch on the rose bushes. 

Windows Upgrade 2.0

I upgraded two of our windows, which makes it a windows 2.0 upgrade. Long before Microsoft was around, the penetrations in walls with glass in them were called windows. I read several years ago that Microsoft attempted to patent the word windows so that every company used the word or manufactured windows, like the ones I installed yesterday, would have to pay them royalties. I don't believe they got the patent.

We have a single clematis bloom, which got really whipped around in the wind today. I got one clear shot of it. Gypsy Dancer was the second rose to bloom in our garden, with a halfway decent bloom. America put out a rose shortly after Gypsy Dancer, but the bloom was pretty lame.

Puck was checking out the new windows this morning, and seemed to approve. Rosencrantz likes to sit on the handrail by the window and look in, but often he turns the other way and surveys what's going on between the fence and the house.

The wind was fierce and cold most of the day. I noticed the wind calmed down late in the afternoon, but the temperature was still cold. With the wind blowing most of the night it didn't freeze last night, but it will probably freeze tonight.

Gypsy Dancer

Spider Dance

Just after sunrise this morning I found a crab spider dancing on an iris. She actually seemed to like the attention of being photographed, and posed in many different positions for me. I went out in the early afternoon to move the water, and while I was checking the status of the black iris, the spider presented herself with a tiny wasp she had captured for lunch. On my way to the trash cans this evening, I took another look at the iris, and the spider again presented herself, no wasp this time. I ran in and got my camera, and we had another photo session. At one point she took a dive off the iris and hung on a string of her web. I photographed her dangling off the iris, but between the low light and the wind blowing her around, I couldn't get a clear shot. This tiny spider has been the best little critter model I've had so far.

I ordered two new windows for the house a couple of weeks ago, and had been expecting a call from Lowe's to tell me they were in. I hadn't heard anything, so I went by and checked this afternoon and they were in. We now have new windows in the dance room. They really look great and the cats will like the fact that we can open the windows in the dance room again. 

Puck was lying around in the bamboo this morning, looking as sassy as ever. This was after he climbed up in the peach tree, presented himself and jumped down while we were inspecting the damage from the frost on Wednesday. Laurie got a photo of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern lazing around on the deck (the last photo).

After I left to get the windows, Laurie said that Puck was chasing Mama Manx; then Rosencrantz stepped in and had a round with Puck. You really don't want to mess around with Rosencrantz, AKA claws and fangs, as he is a vicious fighter. Laurie said Rosencrantz chased Puck down and threw him on the ground near the fire pit, then they locked in a cat spat.  Puck managed to get away and took refuge in the bamboo while Rosencrantz circled it looking for him. Laurie finally got Rosencrantz to back off using a broom, after which all the cats calmed down. I noticed several clumps of hair from Puck by the fire pit tonight, and after inspecting Puck, I think Rosencrantz pulled out a couple of Puck's mats in the fight.

Untitled

I don't understand the media's obsession with royalty. Unless you are completely off the grid, they forced the royal wedding on everyone. I don't know any more about the wedding than the headlines and a few photos on all the news' web sites. But that's too much, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe it's a distraction from the reality that the US is bankrupt. 

The dollar's value is based on the US's good will, and ability to support its allies through aid and arms deals. While the current administration has done everything to erode the US's standing with its allies, gone to war against countries that have not threatened it and it has no diplomatic relationships with or strategic interest in, other countries are dumping the dollar — the possibility of hyperinflation is very real.  

The Federal government spends 8 times more than it takes in, and the Fed continues to print money. Congress acts like it's cut the budget to the bone by theoretically reducing spending by $38 billion — but the deficit grew by over $50 billion while they were haggling over funding for Planned Parenthood. 

As Walter Williams pointed out, if the Federal government leveed a 100% tax on all income of $250,000 or higher, confiscated all the assets of billionaires, and took 100% of the profits of all corporations in the United States, the total would run the government at it's current spending level for less than 8 months.

Now that the wedding is over, what will the media find to distract people with? There's always Lindsey Lohan, Charlie Sheen and the latest fatalities of Dancing with the Stars and the reality shows! Do people really care that much about loser stars and superficial TV shows? Or like the media's obsession with royalty, they are distractions from a flailing Congress, bankrupt government, and economy suffocating under the weight of regulation and a soaring Federal deficit.