To Kill A Turkey

Benji Franklin wanted the Eastern Wild Turkey to be our national bird. (So I have heard)  He thought they were smart and majestic.  I know they are smart because I have hunted them for almost 25 years now.  This is not a post to advocate the turkey as our national bird!  This is the story of the bird I killed in the above pic.

The Eastern Wild Turkey: Facts & Pics

It was in May of this year and I had a Monday trip planned with myself.  I had been taking a rookie hunter just about every day I could go and he had missed a bird that past Thursday.  So I loaded up that morning and headed out about a 1/4 before 5:00 a.m.

I like to time it so I am getting into the woods as light is breaking, but the sun is about thirty or so minutes before busting through.  I’ve got a good half mile walk to get to what I call my “honey hole”.  At my first fence I have to cross I always stop and make and owl call.  This owl call makes a gobbler, well, gobble out of shock.  So I lean up against a tree across the fence and blow the words “who cooks for who” and one busts my ears and sounds like he is only fifty or so yards away on the roost.  He shocked me as much as I shocked him!  I carry a hen and jake (immature male) decoy to set up in front of me for a lil’ better advantage.  Since I’m not at the back of the property I hunt, it is darker than it is when I usually set up my hen and jake.  I am making a bunch of racket and maybe cussing under my breath a lil’ too loud.  I had backed away from him so I figured he was 100 yards out and finally got set up and waited.  This time of morning the woods are just starting to wake up except for the whipper wills that are fading out.  I wait till I can see enough to shoot and make a very low tree yelp and he gobbles and gobbles.  I feel good now (I thought he was spooked).  A car go downs the road and he shock gobbles to that.  I can hear him walking on the limb he roosted on but can’t see him for the massive sweet gum and the other undergrowth between us.  This goes on for about ten more minutes then he starts to cackle and flies off the roost and heads towards my spot I was heading too before he stopped me. This bird was actually in the tree I leaned on to owl hoot.   During this ten minutes of him walking back and forth on the limb I heard another bird gobble behind me.  He sounded like he was a half a mile away so I struck out thinking I had scared the first bird into the next county.  I got to where this second bird was there about and set up and made a loud call.  In front of me I heard a gobble at the top of the hill.  Hey this is that bird I scared off because he just made the second bird gobble and he was still several hundred yards off behind me.  So I sit tight and wait…….nothing I make another call and at the top of the hill he busts out four or five gobbles but he is not any closer.  Now I am trying to go against this birds natural instinct in which the hen goes to the gobbler in the woods.  After a few more calls I know he’s not coming so I bust a move toward him.  I know this is risky for I have spooked several birds trying to do this and really never have had any success doing this. But I  had this rookie hunter hit one in the chest after I called it up and I wanted a bird bad cause I got shut out last year! I know he is just over the hill and he gobbles a few times as I am creeping up on him.  I get about what I think is fifty yards right under the hill and set up the decoys and make a call.  He answers and so does another bird off to my right.  My heart is racing and I’m shaking just a lil’ (I just walked 400 yds…uphill).  I see the bird to my right and he has three brothers and they are all jakes.  Then out of the corner of my left eye I see this bird in full strut fast walking my way then he lunges at the jakes and runs them back a bit.  Now I am ready, the Mossberg 835 is pointed right at his head and I squeeze the trigger and the three and a half-inch mag. goes off and he hits the ground like a sack of sand.  Most of the time you need to get up fast and get to your downed bird quickly as possible because they are tough to bring down and keep down.  This boy wasn’t moving!  I had him!

It seemed like the walk was longer than usual back to the truck.  I think the 21.75 lb of extra weight had a lot to do with it.  It took me three set ups on this bad boy and he is the biggest bird I have taken.  I think my count on turkeys is at 19 for 25 years of hunting.  His beard was 11 inches long and was thick as a small paint brush!  His spurs were 7/8 inches long.  He might have been three and a half years old.  I just know he tasted better than any turkey I have ever bought at Kroger!

Video my wife took of me talking to this bird three days earlier

First time Beckie ever went with me hunting for turkey!

Tom and I

Our Debt to Immigrants

While reading… Keep in mind that there is a vast difference in legal and illegal immigrants

Immigration restrictionists argue that allowing lots of newcomers into the United States imposes costs on Americans. Admit it, my pro-immigration colleagues, the restrictionists are right: setting aside the question of whether immigration is a net benefit to the United States, it is clear that newcomers lower the wages of Americans without a college degree, pose certain public health risks depending on their country of origin, require public schools to hire costly bilingual educators, and otherwise impose costs on some citizens. High levels of immigration benefits some Americans. But the benefits are dispersed unevenly, and it produces losers too.

The argument I want to raise today is that even if you’re among the net losers, you have a moral imperative to favor permitting lots of new immigrants to enter America legally, because at some point in the past, your ancestors arrived here from somewhere, and on doing so they imposed costs on the people already here. It is hardly fair, now that you’ve reaped the benefits of past immigration, to restrict others from doing the same.

This argument is particularly compelling because odds are when your ancestors came to this country, the burdens their arrival imposed on the folks already here was many times greater than anything you’ll face today. The Europeans who initially came to this continent spread diseases that wiped out Native American populations — and the ones who survived disease were often kicked off their land or even brutally killed. Folks of Irish ancestry who complain that their cities are overcrowded today should read about New York City tenements during the biggest wave of immigration from Ireland. Are you worried about immigrant gangs like MS13? So am I, but it’s doubtful that any imported criminal organization will prove more burdensome than the Italian mafia or the organized crime families that exist in many other ethnic groups that immigrated to the United States.

Name any problem associated with legal immigration today, and odds are it was much worse at some point in the American past — and our ancestors grappled with those problems despite living in a country many times poorer than the America of today. Unless you’re a Native American, fairness would seem to demand that you don’t favor restrictionist immigration policies that, were they in place when your ancestors came, would’ve prevented their arrival and your status as an American today.

(Note that this argument says nothing about the illegal immigration debate — it is an argument that everyone should support high levels of legal immigration.)

Expand this crisis to everything!

[There will be blood in the streets before anything is over... and by over I mean the end of a world gone mad!]

Kathamerina Greece

Hospitals short of vital supplies
The economic crisis is beginning to have a serious impact on state hospitals, some of which do not have the capacity to carry out basic tests, which others are seeing suppliers return to reclaim their equipment due to outstanding debts.
The revelations a few days ago that the Evangelismos Hospital in central Athens was in no position to carry out heart operations due to a lack of vital supplies appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. Shortages of orthopedic equipment and filters for life-support machines were also reported.
But other hospitals are also declaring a scarcity of supplies. The Sismanogleio Hospital in northern Athens said that it does not have test tubes to carry out blood tests and it has run out of film for its X-ray machines.
At the Sotiria Hospital, doctors are unable to carry out tests for hepatitis, HIV and tuberculosis. At the Ippocrateio Hospital in Thessaloniki, shortages mean that blood tests cannot be conducted. Hospitals on Naxos and in Sparta have encountered similar problems.
Doctors at Nikaia Hospital near Piraeus have been protesting for the last three weeks but their representative, Panos Papanikolaou, said that had they been working as usual and not staging this go-slow action, the hospital would have run out of basic materials, such as bandages and syringes within a day.
Meanwhile, businesses that have supplied the orthopedic clinic of the Papanikolaou Hospital in Thessaloniki with equipment began taking back their supplies yesterday due to the outstanding amounts they are owed. Their action coincided with a visit by Health Minister Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou to the northern city. She pleaded with the suppliers to show some patience and said the government was trying to settle all state hospitals’ outstanding accounts.

Where Will You Get Your Seafood Now That They Killed The Gulf?

Basically, we were already getting 80% of the seafood Americans eat from foreign countries. In the video below, one can see that this isn’t a very good idea for several reasons. We only inspect 1% of that sea food that is imported. And many times they raise these diseased and sickened animals in sewer and other ghastly conditions.

Now, they have killed the Gulf and the seafood we had access to (but was too expensive to buy with the competition selling inferior food and horrific conditions for the farmers and fishermen who caught and sent it). Just like textiles, electronics, automotive, furniture and almost every OTHER industry, we ship it out and get back product that sickens us and makes us as poor and desperate as those dirt farmers in Asia.

h/t BrassCheck TV)

Is it any wonder to you that, “BP and government authorities collude to suppress reality of oil spill“?

Essentially, BP and the authorities are trying to suppress information about the oil spill just as the US military, with the complicity of the American media, has done in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Vietnam came images of wounded and dying soldiers, which had a significant impact on public opinion; from the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, notes Newsweek magazine, “pictures of dead otters, fish, and birds, as well as oil-covered shorelines, ignited nationwide outrage and led to a backlash against Exxon.” The Pentagon and the corporate elite have learned a simple lesson: by whatever means necessary, prevent the population from learning the truth.

Even when they admit some error in calculation, like telling us that, “Feds double estimate of oil gushing into gulf“, you can bet your ass that they are still lying about the amount.

Oil is flowing from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico almost twice as fast – at minimum – as has been estimated, although some of it is now being captured, federal officials said Thursday.

Their estimates now range from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day, according to U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt – well above the most recent estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day and vastly higher than BP’s original reckoning of 1,000 to 5,000 barrels in the days after the April 20 blowout.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/10/MNO81DTG2V.DTL#ixzz0qYEyFftb

And they will continue to lie or downplay the real expected result of this horrific “accident”. I look elsewhere for real news than any MSM source, but even they are beginning to follow the citizen outrage that is slowly building. Most people, especially those in the south with some connection to the Gulf are hearing first hand accounts now. It shouldn’t surprise you that real Americans on the ground with no cover-up to pursue or criminal activity to perpetrate against us are seeing this as the total disaster that is occurring right before their/our eyes. The MSM cannot ignore it forever, since the outrage is taking over the country.

Steve Lendman explains why there is a “Disaster in the Gulf” (please go and read the entire thing):

As more information surfaces, a potentially biblical disaster is unfolding, threatening to make vast parts of the Gulf dead zones, animals and plant species so contaminated and unsafe that Gulf communities may face “the total end of fishing, according to Carl Safina, Blue Water Institute ocean biologist.

“I don’t see how the fish populations will be able to withstand what has happened. The basis of their livelihoods is being destroyed. This is not a temporary issue. Those things don’t come back the day the oil stops,” and no end of it so far is in sight.

On May 30, the UK Independent’s Emily Dugan headlined “Oil spill creates huge undersea dead zones,” according to oceanologists and toxicologists, saying:

If experts are right, “the sea’s entire food chain could suffer years of devastation, with almost no marine life in the region escaping its effects.”

Many scientists believe what’s unseen below the surface will have the deadliest impact because of the combination noxious oil and toxic dispersants, combined to make a growing disaster far worse.

Over 8,300 animal and plant species are at risk. Some may face extinction, but the true toll won’t be known for years…

Every damned post I make tells people that this is a disaster. Not one “waiting to happen”, but one that is unfolding in front of us. Even with the tardy, feigned outrage of B Sotero (which is nothing more than a response to the citizen outrage described above), I am not sure that America is still realizing the extent of this. I doubt anyone will until it is finally described in the MSM as The Dead Zone, but then it will be too late.

Steve goes on to explain what I have been trying to do with my redneck lack of ability (there is a doomsday situation looming):

According to University of Georgia biogeochemist, Samantha Joye, the vast underwater plumes are “unlike anything else that has ever been seen anywhere, certainly in human history, (and they) threaten to wreak havoc on marine life. (Also unprecedented are) extremely high levels of methane. It’s impossible to know what (its) impacts” will be, something that will take years to understand. Besides the enormous damage to the Gulf, Joye’s greatest fear is one or more hurricanes, pushing the oil ashore, and spreading it through torrential rains well inland, and contaminating vast crops and farmland over a vast area.

On June 8, oil expert Matthew Simmons, on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan show, said the enormity of the Gulf disaster has been grossly underestimated. He believes from 100,000 – 150,000 barrels are spewing out daily, mostly from “an open hole with no casing in it which sits about seven miles away from where BP has ben trying to fix these little tiny leaks in the drilling riser.”

After the explosion, 40,000 – 50,000 pounds of pressure per square inch intensified the fire and popped the blowout preventer like a cork. Then the casing came out, so “we have an open hole that’s spewing I would guess somewhere between 100 – 150,000 barrels a day of oil which is why you now have over a 100 mile oil lake at the bottom of the Gulf….that’s apparently 4 – 5,000 feet deep.”

“I think (we’ll) discover that we have an open hole with no casing in it,” so to contain the leak, BP is doing “everything wrong. (They are) trying to patch a little leak in the drilling riser” when the real problem is an open hole with no casing in it. If true, as is likely, “the only way we’ll shut it off is either let it (exhaust itself over up to) 30 years….or put a nuclear device down the hole,” blow it up, and encase it in melted rock (a “glassy plug”) – but not without the enormous risk of irradiating the Gulf and all plant and animal species in it.

According to New York University Physics Professor Michio Kaku, sealing the Gulf leak(s) with a nuclear device amounts to a “huge science experiment, with unintended consequences,” including potentially:

– releasing “dangerous, water-soluble chemicals such as radioactive iodine, strontium, and cesium, which would contaminate the food chain in the Gulf;

– the ‘seal’ created by the glassified sand is probably unstable; (and)

– it might actually make the problem worse, creating many mini leaks on the ocean floor.”

Further, eight or more hurricanes are predicted. If one or more hit the Gulf, “it means that seawater several hundred feet below the surface of the water could be churned up and then deposited over the South. This seawater, containing oils and radioactive fission products, would magnify the environmental problem” hugely. As a result, Kaku strongly opposes the nuclear option, given the enormous risks and no way to contain them.

But, Mr Redneck, you might say, “They have a plan.”

Yeah, like this one?

Good luck with doing that to a Million + gallons of the shit per day. Especially when most of it is underwater.

Our friend, G (from The Daily G) explains the entire situation as like, “hunting American bald eagles with golden bullets.” (I happen to love that phrase)

Here’s the ‘efficiency’ of capitalism in action: there’s a precious, dwindling resource we’re frantically drilling and even fighting for, and even that we waste in the dumbest, most damaging ways imaginable.

It’s like hunting American bald eagles with golden bullets.

We cannot ever expect a system that enshrines pure self-interest to nurture the planet and protect the common good. A good that happens as an accidental by-product of greed is a) not real good and b) bound to let us down. We need a steady sincere good that comes from the heart, like the love of a parent. That earnest bond between man and society can be trusted to look after the common good – not a system that tries to harness selfishness, that expects only the worst from human beings.

Please go read the rest, ’cause G nails the issue by explaining to us that there will never be a pure “free-market” driven system that will EVER take care of each other. The only way that will ever occur is for good people to reach out and take care of each other. With the current erroneous ‘pure capitalism’ model, the only thing that is instilled is “to each his own” and “dog eat dog”.

Surely, at this juncture, you can see that the “free market” system is a lie… a sham. There is none and the more idiots try to make one, the worse the problems get (more greed and less oversight/regulation). The people will ALWAYS lose.

Excuse me, but the Big L libertarians are idiots in ever expecting this to change with less and less regulation and oversight.

The Ocean Saratoga Deepwater Horizons Lil’ Brother Reports of Second Oil Spill

Another gulf oil spill:  Well near Deepwater Horizon has leaked since at least April 30

The Ocean Saratoga, has been leaking since at least the 30th of April according to a federal document. (platform#23051)

Skytruth.org first reported the leak on it’s website on May 15.  Skytruth monitors environmental problems using sat. imagery.

Federal officials first mentioned it in a May 1 trajectory map for the DH spill saying some of the oil washing up on the LA shoreline is from the Saratoga instead of the DH spill.  How did this get covered up?  The reports on the Ocean Saratoga is that it is small compared to the DH spill.

It also shows up in a May 17 transcript of a Coast Guard press conference in which Admiral Mary Landry denies any knowledge of another spill coming from the Ocean Saratoga.

I have no other details other than that. However this spill is only ten miles long and not very wide according to skytruth.  It is however only 12 miles off the tip of LA.  What else is going on out there in the big blue sea?  How many other spill, leaks, etc.. go unreported?  Is the Deepwater Horizon just too big not to report?

The Ocean Saratoga is owned by Taylor Energy and the rig owner is Diamond offshore.  Taylor was sold in 08′ to Korea national Oil in a joint offer with Samsung. The details of the sale are not public, but Taylor had 1.6 Billion in assets at the time of the deal.  Taylor still has an office in Lafayette, LA.

On a good note (maybe not) the wayward current that would take it around the tip of FL to the eastern seaboard is in an eddy phase right now.

RTOFS (Atlantic) graphic nowcast shows the animated current.  Pretty cool looking graphics. This eddy phase should keep most of the oil in the Gulf for now!  It should really stir into a good heap of crude by August.  O’course the eddy phase could play out and let the plug out and off we go.  I wonder where it will go?  Kinda like letting a balloon filled with helium go on a windy day.

What Is The Motive For Killing The Gulf?

This isn’t “just happening”. This has the smell of purpose. But what could possibly be the motive?

BP had no contingency plans for emergency. On the contrary: they knew where it would go, that ecology would never recover.

According to Karen Dalton Beninato’s blog post at neworleans.com, there are three main conclusions that point to the fact that BP knew how bad this was:

1) In the worst case discharge scenario (on chart below), an oil leak was expected to come ashore with highest probability in Plaquemines Parish within 30 days

2) Spokespersons were advised never to assure the public that an ecosystem would be back to normal after the worst case scenario, which we are now living through.

3) Corexit oil dispersant toxicity has not been tested on ecosystems, according to the Oil Spill Response Plan. “Ecotoxilogical effects: No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product.”

But, “why”? Why let it keep spreading to new regions of the gulf? Or worse (as Dr Doug and I were discussing today) what happens when some tropical storm or hurricane picks this stuff up and dumps it on us? Into our water table? Killing our plants and livestock? Is it possible?

… the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially began on June 1. This season is predicted to be especially active with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expecting up to 23 tropical storms, up to 14 of which may become hurricanes. Strong storms could sweep the toxic mixture of oil and chemical dispersants from the Gulf far inland, contaminating rivers, wildlife and even residential areas that might have escaped exposure under other circumstances.

The experts are already frightened that this is the end of the fishing industry:

Because of the increasing threat posed to the environment by spreading oil, NOAA was forced to expand the area covered by their fishing ban for three consecutive days beginning May 31. As it stands, 37 percent of the Gulf of Mexico, or 88,522 square miles, is now closed to fishing. Large areas off the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are shut down. Federal waters near the Florida panhandle have also been closed.

“Fishing communities are suffering a worst case scenario of total collapse,” Carl Safina, an ecologist with Blue Ocean Institute, told the World Socialist Web Site. “I don’t see how this could be temporary. The basis of their livelihood is being destroyed.”

There has been one series of bad solutions. In the last case, they had to increase the flow by 20% to try the Top Hat. Ed shows us well that is working out for us. They just can’t seem to stop it. The scary thing?

Oil Might Keep Leaking for Months After Relief Wells are Drilled

Many technical experts have said that the first attempts to complete the relief well in August could miss entirely on the first try, as it is difficult to intersect the blown-out well at the precise location and angle needed.

(h/t Washington’s Blog)

Is it a done deal or not? Dr Doug has a friend who said this should have been stopped long ago (I have had oil folk tell me the same thing).

Am I just a suspicious bastard or is it a fact that everything seems so purposeful? It seems to me that people knew something was about to happen. Jay at ThoughtSwirl explains that there is Evidence Supporting Foreknowledge Of BP Oil Spill “Accident”

Goldman Sachs sold $250 million worth of BP stock in the first quarter of this year.

BP chief Tony Hayward sold £1.4 (about $1.68 million) worth of BP shares weeks before the oil spill.

And Haliburton bought a company that specializes in dealing with WELL FIRES and BLOWOUTS in APRIL

Since the spill the BP stock is taking a beating (pretty convenient for ole Tony, Haliburton AND GS). As a matter of fact, there are a “A Series Of Lucky Coincidences Involving Goldman Sachs And BP plc“

Earlier, when observing the US AG disclosure of a civil and criminal investigation into BP plc, we noted in passing that BP’s former Chairman, Peter Sutherland, who left the firm is a Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. Mr. Sutherland holds some other interesting titles, including a position on the Trilateral Commission, he was a chairman of the London School of Economics in 2008, he is a UN special representative for migration and development; he was the founding director-general of the World Trade Organisation, he had previously served as director general of GATT since July 1993 and was instrumental in concluding the Uruguay GATT Round Negotiations. Needless to say, we focused on the Goldman relationship. When digging deeper, we uncovered some amusing correlations, most notably between the BP plc sellside ratings by Goldman BP analyst Michelle della Vigna and the Goldman Sachs Asset Management holdings of BP plc.

h/t ZeroHedge

I can say this… this is raw Capitalism in action. No regulation, winks and nods towards environmental safety concerns, and no matter what,  PAY THOSE DIVIDENDS while you got ‘em.

Can you imagine the share owners as they laugh, knowing that at their Texas City facility, they just released 500,000 pounds of emissions, including more than 400 pounds of benzene for 40 consecutive days?

That’s a hoot to celebrate over with a bath full of cash, huh?

(h/t Infowars)

Oh, and did you know that Haley Barbour (Governor of Mississippi) is a tool?

So the tool needs to be asked, why would “Defense Secretary Robert Gates grant YOUR request to send troops of up to 6,000 by Louisiana, 3,000 by Alabama, 2,500 by Florida and 6,000 by Mississippi“?

Funny thing. I see those numbers (6,000; which is EQUAL to Louisiana’s request) and I think that Jowls must be lying out his ass.

Motor Vessel Linda, Zionistic Murderers, and the Venal American Congress

You know its bad when the IDF won’t even use the current name of the boat they just stopped. We also need to understand that seven of the nine killed on the Mavi Marmara were reportedly shot IN THE BACKS and HEADS.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

Dude, those people were systematically hit. You do not accidentally put 4 rounds in a man’s head.

Kenny’s Sideshow links to a post that suggests that Israeli Sharp Shooters were employed. Not only that, but the murderer (Staff Sargeant S) will get Israel’s Medal of Valor.

How nice. Especially from America’s Closest and Bestest Friend in the world.

The hero John Boehner said it best:

“… Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorists which threaten its very survival. The United States has no closer friend than Israel, and the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Israelis…”

And don’t think it is just the “right-wing” hacks that are protecting the murdering criminals. That stalwart “left-wing” hack, Brad Sherman, believes that we should take things even further. He thinks that any Americans that were on that ship (one was shot in the head, so he won’t be in prison any time soon) should be arrested, have their balls cut off and fed to Bibi Netananywho.

In a conference call organized by The Israel Project, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) told reporters that activists participating in the flotilla were aiding Hamas and therefore breaking US law.

“The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 makes it absolutely illegal for any American to give food, money, school supplies, paper clips, concrete or weapons to Hamas or any of its officials,” Sherman said, as quoted at Jim Lobe’s foreign policy blog. “And so I will be asking the Attorney General to prosecute any American involved in what was clearly an effort to give items of value to a terrorist organization.”

Brad, you dumb-ass. Do I have to do a contribution search on you to find where your money roll is buttered? Bet how much of your funding comes from AIPAC?

Click to enlarge

As a matter of fact, the contribution list is long and telling (originally from Maplight.org, and reproduced at OpEdNews):

AIPAC campaign contributions to congressmen, highest first, full list at link…
http://maplight.org/us-congress/interest/J5100/view/all

Top Senate Recipients Funded

Joseph Lieberman $1,226,956
John McCain $750,368
Benjamin Cardin $487,572
Mitch McConnell $415,710
Richard Durbin $376,387
Carl Levin $366,378
Arlen Specter $338,080
Debbie Ann Stabenow $329,053
Bill Nelson $324,691
Jon Kyl $312,358
Mary Landrieu $291,609
Frank Lautenberg $260,333
Robert Menéndez $219,135
Daniel Inouye $197,750
Harry Reid $179,640
Sheldon Whitehouse $170,421
Ron Wyden $163,771
Maria Cantwell $162,598
Mark Udall $161,173
Christopher Dodd $158,132
Barbara Mikulski $152,050
Kent Conrad $150,410
Susan Collins $139,518
Mark Pryor $138,250
Jeff Merkley $136,130

Top House Recipients Funded

Mark Kirk $458,979
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen $141,507
Howard Berman $122,600
Eric Cantor $119,350
Ted Deutch $104,031
Steny Hoyer $100,050
Shelley Berkley $98,501
Gary Peters $94,522
Ron Klein $88,550
Nancy Pelosi $83,400
Steve Israel $77,000
Nita Lowey $68,600
Paul Hodes $65,950
Ike Skelton $64,049
Kendrick Meek $57,601
Deborah Halvorson $56,622
Gabrielle Giffords $56,000
Eliot Engel $54,600
Brad Sherman $53,500
Janice Schakowsky $53,195
Roy Blunt $47,550
Dan Burton $47,350
Alcee Hastings $46,150
Mary Jo Kilroy $46,135
Bill Foster $45,550
Debbie Wasserman Schultz $45,060
Robert Andrews $43,825
Patrick Murphy $41,000
Gary Ackerman $39,950
Brad Ellsworth $38,850
Silvestre Reyes $38,750
Lincoln Diaz-Balart $35,775
Steven LaTourette $35,325
Allyson Schwartz $33,625
Jerry Moran $33,300
Melissa Bean $33,150
Mike Pence $31,700

FULL LIST

http://maplight.org/us-congress/interest/J5100/view/all

The fact of the matter is that Israel is America’s enemy. (h/t American Everyman)

They aren’t our ally. Nothing could be farther from the truth than that bogus lie perpetuated on gullible Sheoplistic Americans (especially the brain-numbed religious ones that believe that bombs represent Jesus and that somehow, defying all logic, they believe that the contemptuously evil Zionists will “carry Christ’s cross for them”). I don’t know what’s worse, the fools who defy Christ, but carry His name, or the evil and murdering assholes who laugh at those very same false-religious buffoons’ every gullibility.

It is time to cut off that evil cancer known as Israel. That is what you do with enemies. Cut their head’s off, right? Let us cut off the money and the head will follow.

Being Emailed by the Prez [aka damage control team]

Lynda –

Yesterday, I visited Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, Louisiana — one of the first places to feel the devastation wrought by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While I was here, at Camerdelle’s Live Bait shop, I met with a group of local residents and small business owners.

Folks like Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation oyster fisherman. This is the time of year when he ordinarily earns a lot of his income. But his oyster bed has likely been destroyed by the spill.

Terry Vegas had a similar story. He quit the 8th grade to become a shrimper with his grandfather. Ever since, he’s earned his living during shrimping season — working long, grueling days so that he could earn enough money to support himself year-round. But today, the waters where he has worked are closed. And every day, as the spill worsens, he loses hope that he will be able to return to the life he built.

Here, this spill has not just damaged livelihoods. It has upended whole communities. And the fury people feel is not just about the money they have lost. It is about the wrenching recognition that this time their lives may never be the same.

These people work hard. They meet their responsibilities. But now because of a manmade catastrophe — one that is not their fault and beyond their control — their lives have been thrown into turmoil. It is brutally unfair. And what I told these men and women is that I will stand with the people of the Gulf Coast until they are again made whole.

That is why, from the beginning, we have worked to deploy every tool at our disposal to respond to this crisis. Today, there are more than 20,000 people working around the clock to contain and clean up this spill. I have authorized 17,500 National Guard troops to participate in the response. More than 1,900 vessels are aiding in the containment and cleanup effort. We have convened hundreds of top scientists and engineers from around the world. This is the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country.

We have also ordered BP to pay economic injury claims, and this week, the federal government sent BP a preliminary bill for $69 million to pay back American taxpayers for some of the costs of the response so far. In addition, after an emergency safety review, we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. And I have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this spill. If laws are inadequate, they will be changed. If oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. And if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice.

These are hard times in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast, an area that has already seen more than its fair share of troubles. The people of this region have met this terrible catastrophe with seemingly boundless strength and character in defense of their way of life. What we owe them is a commitment by our nation to match the resilience they have shown. That is our mission. And it is one we will fulfill.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

B’Man’s Sabbath Watch: Bueligion and The Daily G

Many people ask me about my “beliefs” (as in “Are you a Christian”?, etc). I don’t have a ready answer, in many cases. Sure, as a white American male, I was brought up in a Christian church (moving from Baptist, to Methodist, to Full Gospel and several types found buried within those ideologies. I have been leadership in several churches, actually being an “assistant pastor” (whatever that is supposed to be). I have led choirs and have been in very charismatic
Praise teams” and have been labeled a “Worship Leader”.

But, there came a time when my studies brought me to a place where I could not reconcile the crapola that each and every one of these churches used to force their participants to do whatever the church needed (usually MONEY was the biggest motivator). I was a part of one church (very small) where we truly looked after and helped the people. Strangely, we began losing members left and right to train wrecks, gun shots, etc. It seemed the more we tried to be helpful, the more the people who needed help would die.

Well, that doesn’t sound like “help” to me.

I basically came to the conclusion that Christianity is a hoax as is taught. It is nothing more than a fear paradigm in action. Force people to give money under false pretenses and lies. take ancient texts, manipulate them to mean certain scary shit and then barrage the people until they fearfully give up their money and time. It generally came down to what the leader said was “The Gospel” and if one disagreed, they could take a hike.

I was forced from more than one Christian Church in my day becasue I would question everything that didn’t make sense to me in my studies of the Bible.

What I have eventually learned is that it is only I that I can count on in my estimations and understanding. It is MY search. My trip. And wherever it leads, I’ll go (and it is ok). I no longer put any pressure on myself or loved ones over religion. As a matter of fact, as a student of etymology, I find a totally different meaning to the word “religion” than most do. In Latin, the “re” in religion is deemed to mean “return”. The second part of that word is a derivative of “ligaire” (which basically means ties, bonds or “ligaments”).

In other words, “religion” (to me) means a “return to bondage“. Perfectly Apt description, if you ask me.

For religion is nothing more than bondage. There is little to no freedom found within. But we need to differentiate between the “religion” (return to bondage) and “Spirituality” (which are exact opposites, imo).

And maybe, in one sense, my idea of religion = bondage is correct. But a new participant, G (of the Daily G)  shared something he wrote about religion that I want to offer to those on their own journey. G is a deep thinker, so take your time and read (and perhaps re-read the links he shares):

Essay: The Hard Kernel of Religion and Spirituality

I have read and browsed a lot of books on the subject of religion/spirituality. Some of them are ancient, traditional, canonical; some of them are academic and aimed at postgraduate researchers; some of them are populist bestsellers employing New Age terminology. I feel that some from each category are good, and some from each category are bad – there is a legitimate place for all of these categories of religious text.

What all of these types of text must accomplish is a thorough exposition of the true why of religion. People are innately unhappy and seeking a solution, but they do not generally have anything like a clear idea of what their problem is. This ignorance of the problem sabotages all efforts toward a solution, and can lead one to indulge in a never-ending fantasy of ‘self-improvement’ and ‘spiritual progress’. Ignorance of the problem can also lead one to dismiss religion out of hand.

Everyone has particular problems, such as health or money issues, or a fear of spiders, or a substance-addiction, but religion exists to address a fundamental problem that is innate to the very structure of the human ego. In a way this is the ‘problem of problems’; the root of suffering and that which prevents us from experiencing difficulties with grace, serenity and sound judgement. The serious religious aspirants who really get somewhere with it are not using religion to become smiley healthy wealthy happy campers, with ‘less’ ego, or a ‘nicer’ ego: they are people who have a dawning awareness that one is the ego and is the problem. A religious aspirant of the theistic persuasion would describe it in terms of ‘self-pride’ or ‘separation from God / God’s Will’. Serious religious aspirants are willing to delve into and fully comprehend their deep sinfulness and self-limitation instead of trying to escape prematurely into something else, something nicer. It has been described as the hardest task there is; like killing oneself and being reborn. In a way it is like death by self-criticism. One must absolutely negate all that is false and relativistic in order to discover what is true and absolute.

A friend and peer of Masao Abe, Richard DeMartino studied with such illustrious Zen adepts as Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki and Shin’ichi Hisamatsu, as well as the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. His essay The Human Situation and Zen Buddhism is the most complete exposition of the problem of ego I have ever read. It is hard work, but worth it. I offer choice extracts here; seems you can read quite a lot of it on Google.

Ego-consciousness means an ego aware or conscious of itself. Awareness of itself is expressed as affirmation of itself, the ‘I’, or, as I shall continue to call it, the ego. Affirmation of itself involves the individuation of itself, the ego differentiated and discriminated from that which is not itself – ‘the other’, or simply its own negation, ‘not-I’ or ‘non-ego’. Affirmation of itself also entails, however, a bifurcation of itself.

Affirmation of itself includes itself both as affirmer and as affirmed. As affirmer it performs the act of affirming itself. As affirmed it is an existential fact presented to itself. The awareness and affirmation of itself in which it emerges or appears is at once both an act undertaken by the ego and a fact given to the ego. The ego as subject-affirmer is not chronologically prior to itself as object-affirmed. Nor does its individuality precede its bifurcation. Immediately when there is ego-consciousness there is the ego, and immediately when there is the ego it is already object as well as subject, as much imparted to itself as it is the activator of itself. A living, active subject with freedom and responsibility, it is at the same time a passive, given object, destined, determined, and without responsibility. This is the perennial nature and structure of the ego in ego-consciousness. This is the initial situation of man in human existence, a situation which may be characterized as contingent or conditioned subjectivity.

It is precisely this – the dichotomy of its subject-object structure – which constitutes the inherent existential ambiguity, conflict, and, indeed, contradiction of the ego in ego-consciousness. Bifurcated and disjoined in its unity, it is delineated by, but can not be sustained or fulfilled in, itself. Isolated and excluded in its relatedness, it is restricted to, yet shut off from, a world in which and to which it belongs. Having and not having, at once bound to and conditioned by, and at the same time separated and cut off from, itself and its world, the ego is rent by a double cleavage, split from within as well as from without. Never pure subject in its subjectivity, never absolutely free in its freedom, it is neither the ground nor the source of itself or its world, both of which it has, but neither of which it ever completely has. This is the predicament of the ego in ego-consciousness. This is the misery of man in human existence.

If this makes sense to you, I humbly suggest that you humbly read the whole essay until it really makes sense to you. In DeMartino’s own words to a student struggling with a difficult text: “read it three times and then start reading it.”

If it’s whizzing over your head (it was written for an audience of psychologists, after all) then I only ask that you keep the point of this blog post in mind: whatever your religious text or practice of choice, know exactly why you are reading and practicing. And if you find that you cannot quite put your finger on it - that is your practice: getting to the heart of the matter, the root of the problem.

It Was JUST Paintball Guns

h/t Kenny’s Sideshow

I am amazed that these Turkish people are so scared of paintball guns that cause little holes in the skin and muscle. Can you imagine a bunch of black-faced, hooded, black uniform “Terrorist” looking assholes shooting at your ship, then dropping down on to the ship in open waters? What would you do, Mr America? Open your arms or beat the shit out of them? View the other video at Kenny’s place to see what a person who was on one of the ships said happened. The question to you, dear reader is, “who you gonna believe?”

Maybe these people were simply defending themselves. I guess it’s just the redneck in me, but I would be scared shitless and would beat the fuck out of anyone that was threatening me. If I thought I might die without a fight, I can damn well guarantee it.

But, paintball guns? Really?

I wonder if these gung-ho asswipes ever considered this subject in the same light our own American law enforcement consider such a thing? No chance for something to go wrong, huh?

My next immediate thought is what would cops/terrorist-looking hooded gunmen in black uniforms think if the tables were turned and they were looking at a bunch of paintball guns?

Something tells me they would have pulled out their REAL guns and shot their asses.

What if you knew that the Zionist controlled White House not only supports such action, they are also helping cover it up. Or worse, did they give the ok beforehand?

But Washington’s role may not merely be an after-the-event complicity. Michel  Chossodovsky has raised the serious question as to the purpose of US chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s top-level visit to Tel Aviv just days before the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.  [3] Why didn’t the US voice objections to the well-publicised Israeli warnings that its forces were going to (illegally) intercept the aid convoy? Did the US give a behind-the-door thumbs up to this assault? In that case, no wonder the White House is now endorsing an Israeli-controlled inquiry – confident and cynical that such a probe will lead to nothing of importance, not least the role of the US in this crime against humanity.

And guess who else is against this action? Basically the whole damned world, that’s who (with the exception of America’s bitches).

NEW YORK – The United Nations Human Rights Council passed Wednesday a resolution condemning Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla and calling for a Goldstone-like inquiry into the deadly military operation.

During a second bruising day of debate in Geneva, the 47-member body passed the resolution with a majority vote of 32. The United States voted against the Palestinian-backed document and several European countries abstained.

The resolution accuses Israel of violating international law and calls for the immediate lifting of Israel’s blockade on Gaza. It also calls for an independent fact-finding inquiry, similar to one mandated by the Human Rights Council, which resulted in the Goldstone report.

h/t America20XY

Funny thing, that article is originally from The Jerusalem Post. I wonder what American media has to say (the FuxNews folks above notwithstanding)?

Oops. The MSM tried to pull a fast one and guess who steps up to the plate? Glen Greenwald:

Ouch.

SpongeBob Is Dead

My Buddy, Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors shared the video above.

TG also shares a link explaining the circumstance behind Eric Holder’s visit to the Gulf region and the administration’s condemnation of the culprits (“if” they are culprits). Call me a pessimist, but do you really think that anyone is going to serve any time over this? At least, anyone who isn’t simply a patsy? Will the ownership or management be held accountable for the decision to remove the “mud” and re-inject it with sea water before the blow out (which is the main reason for the mud to begin with)? Will management be held responsible for the decision to save $500,000 by not providing the real safety valve? Will our government (signed by the Obama Admin) be held responsible for not forcing BP to do an environmental study and prove the safety that wasn’t?

Please don’t hold your breath to get the answer (I don’t know you well enough to put my lips on yours for mouth to mouth).

Remember when I said the air quality would suffer (here and here)?

Well, Its Here!

McClatchy notes that the dispersants’ toxins may be making its way into the air that workers are breathing. Air sampling data gathered to ensure the safety of cleanup workers has identified a chemical compound in the air that is also in the dispersants BP is applying to the Gulf [2]:

Little-noticed data posted on BP’s website and the Deepwater Horizon site show that 32 air samples taken near workers have indicated the presence of butoxyethanol, a component listed as present in an oil spill dispersant used by BP, known as Corexit. The Environmental Protection Agency considers it toxic.

The BP document said the data demonstrates “that there are no significant exposures occurring.” OSHA is monitoring the data and has said the workers haven’t been exposed to harmful levels.

Here’s what we’ve noted about this compound [3], 2-butoxyethanol:

The exact makeup of the dispersants is kept secret under competitive trade laws, but a worker safety sheet for one product, called Corexit, says it includes 2-butoxyethanol, a compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses.

Well, the workers are getting sick, but BP (and the Coast Guard) explains that it is just heat and fatigue or maybe food poisoning. Of course, it could never be the shit they are pouring into the underwater cloud or the hundreds of airplane drops of that corrosive and health threatening chemicals? Can anyone say, 911 responders? For this will be the same type of shit, done again to those who are the ones fighting on the front lines.

I wonder what BP’s response will be to the criminal investigations? You think they may work even harder to fix or stop this? Or would you wager that they give up or implement some failing strategy?

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, they are giving up until the relief wells are complete in August.

What? You thought they would keep trying after being threatened?

I laugh at your gullibility.

June 1 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc said it won’t be able to stop the flow of oil from a gushing well in Gulf of Mexico until August when a relief well can be finished, and in the meantime it will divert as much of the oil as it can to surface ships.

The diversion strategy, unlike capping the flow, is subject to disruption by tropical storms and hurricanes.

The oil spill, the worst in U.S. history, so far has soiled 100 miles (161 kilometers) of coastline, brought the Gulf’s exploratory deep-water drilling to a halt, shut down more than a fourth of its fishing areas and cost BP almost $1 billion.

Interim efforts to stop the leak, estimated by government scientists last week at 12,000 barrels to 19,000 barrels a day, are over after the failure of an attempt to stanch the flow called “top kill,” Thad Allen, the U.S. government’s national commander for the incident, said.

“We’re talking about containing the well,” Allen said. “We don’t want to restrict the pressure or flow down that well bore because I don’t think we know the condition of it after the top kill.”

Dude. That ain’t the only thing you don’t know.

Thanks for the screwing. I am sure your protectorate will ensure you are taken care of and the patsy does time and you spend some frivolous amount in fines that amount to a very small fraction of your profits this week.

Assholes, all.

The 911 Solution Includes Playing Americans Like Fools (and They May Be Right)

How the 911 Cover story was sold to the American Public

h/t Goon Squad

Out of the blue, “experts” are miraculously able to tell us how the buildings crashed and fell due to the fire from the jet fuel causing structural instability. Can you imagine the hell and turmoil happening on the streets and finding the dude who was the “expert” that could tell us that Osama Bin Laden was the culprit? I mean, has everyone that is paying attention NOT questioned this miracle? Listen to him a couple of times and tell me that shit wasn’t rehearsed.

Each and every facet of the “storyline” was given to us like a bad detective novel. They treated us like uneducated, unthinking fools. They expect us to not use any thinking portion of our brains and accept the storyline hook, line and sinker. But, not that I am a genius or anything (and I suspect it is because I regularly tune up my B Waves, which allows me to shirk the brainwashing and continue critical thinking… and I would love even more information on that theory, Confidential ATT), but this is so elementary to see that the story is bullshit, I am unable to fathom how anyone still believes it.

All you really have to do is go back and listen to the news reports as it was happening and compare to what the meme is now and you can see the discrepancies and illogical directional movements the storyline pushed us to. It is OBVIOUS that they were controlling the story (and using the complicit media to do so).

Wake up, America. The thieves and murderers have taken over and you are supporting them in their traitorous actions.

Let’s Go Fishing

Oops. That’s right. They are fucking us and we can’t go (courtesy of my buddy, Ed at Not Another CONspiracy):

Let me make a suggestion that I will never adhere to myself: take your trip to Florida RIGHT NOW. The future of the Sunshine State vacations is bleak and I would say this is the last summer you will have for many decades to take advantage.