Friday Ark #160

We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and….?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Birds

Dogs

Invertebrates

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

  • x

Didn’t Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map.

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:

Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.

For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival


A Deliberative Congress?

Think Progress reports this from CNN:

More and more, Congress is acting less like a deliberative legislative body, and more like a political campaign. We’ve been seeing the politicization of every aspect of government.

Pshaw! Nothing new here.
These folks have apparently been operating under the delusion that congress has been a deliberative body anytime during the past couple of centuries.
Most vote changes have occurred in the the hallways and offices of the congressional office building; and, yes, in quite a few DC bars and restaurants. These changes as well as some that have occurred on the floor typically fall under the labels of arm twisting, back scratching and purchase rather then deliberative debate.
Don’t expect this to change. They don’t represent you.

Via.


One Too Many

Some folks are getting tired of all the candidates debating each other. Personally, I like to listen to, even participate in, complex, nuanced debates about important issues. I’m looking forward to this happening sometime.
Still, I have a bit of empathy for this yearning for a simpler process:

Man, I am tired of debates. Pakistan has the right idea: instead of 16 presidential candidates, or however many we have these days, just one. And no vote of the actual, you know, people. Says Generalissimo Musharraf, “Democracy means majority, whether there is opposition or no opposition.” So much more succinct than the Federalist Papers.

Yet, one is still too many holding this type of office.

It is time to start getting serious about No One for president!


It Could Have Been My Mom

But for the grace of fate this could have been my Mom:

City of Miami police charged Shenika Shanatle Vicks with one count of child neglect after police found the toddler walking barefoot about 8 a.m. Sunday.
…..
Police kept the toddler at police headquarters until Vicks, 27, reported her son missing about 1 p.m.

The difference, at least according to oft repeated stories at family gatherings, is that my Mom knew I was gone rather quickly and was out searching for /finding me in short order…15-30 minutes. None of this 5 hour crap for her.
The linked story doesn’t provide much detail. Maybe Vicks was out looking for him for five hours before reporting him missing. On the other hand maybe she didn’t know he was gone. The latter would be neglect!

Another difference was that back when I was a young’n we didn’t keep our doors locked. We didn’t keep kids under lock and key because of desperate fear of the world around us. Even so, 2 was a little young to be doing this much wandering but by the time 1st grade we were out learning about the world around us without having to deal with parental myopia.