Monday, May 30, 2011

My Memorial Day Weakend Birding

Well, Memorial Day Weekend is the horse-shoe crab festival and smack in the middle of the shorebird migration  in Dover Delaware.  So, I've been checking out the coast for birds saturday and sunday.  In case you haven't heard, the shorebirds and the horse-shoe crabs are connected through a very simple relationship.  Horse-shoe crabs lay the eggs, and the shorebirds eat them.  These eggs are an extremely important source of nutrients for the shorebirds, which migrate from South America to the far northern reaches of Canada.  Fortunately for the birding community, the horse-shoe crabs always lay their eggs around memorial day weekend, and therefore the shorebirds flock to the delaware bay in huge numbers.

On saturday and sunday combined I saw Semipalmated SandpipersWestern Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Dunlin, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Black-necked Stilts, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Red Knots.  Some of the non-shorebirds that I saw included Seaside SparrowsClapper RailsMarsh WrensYellow Warblers (that picture does no justice to this beautiful bird)Caspian TernsProthonotary Warblers, and Blue Grosbeaks.  Last, but not least, I saw a bird that rarely visits the United States and has been causing quite a commotion in the birding community.  In fact, I met one person who drove from Main down to Delaware just to see the Little Egret in breeding plumage.  I guess I'm pretty lucky, because I saw it in an area that I was planning on birding anyway.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend as much as I did.  

Memorial Day Meditations

I know this is probably an over-used comparison, but it really struck me recently how much soldiers sacrifice is like christ.  After all, american soldiers give their lives to keep us free from tyranny from outside our borders in the shape of terrorism and invading nations.  Christ also died to free us from tyranny, but this tyranny takes the form of living a life captive to our sinful nature and the devil.  The other similarity that struck me is how ungrateful most of us are towards both soldiers and Christ.  Hopefully, we will all take advantage of this memorial day to remember both sacrifices and the privileges that we gain from them.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13, King James Bible)

Friday, May 27, 2011

Muslim Democracy

I know that I am one of a very small number of people who think this, but I'm gonna throw this out anyway.  After all, that's what blogs are for.  Anyway, I think that the "Arab spring" is going to end up creating nations that will not look anything like what we think of when we hear democracy.  As I believe I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I do not think that a democracy can function without being based on christian values.  Without christian values, there is no reason why people shouldn't exploit the system or do whatever they want.  This forces the government to either introduce more regulations or allow the selfishness to ruin the nation.  Neither of these are good, as regulating causes people to have less freedom and less room to prosper and live what we would call the american dream.  


Another reason that I think that Muslim world will not experience true democracy for very long is that the muslim faith makes it almost impossible.  It is, quite frankly, impossible to have democracy under sharia law, and any nation that permits the practices of sharia law, such as honor killings, wife beatings, polygamy, and persecution and killing of those from other religions will by no means be a free nation.  There is nothing in sharia law about liberty and justice for all, rather it tells muslim men how they can abuse, rape, kill, slander, and lie to others.  


To back this up a little, I have heard a number of reports from trustworthy sources that the christians living in muslim countries support the tyrannical regimes because they are worried what more the muslims will do to them when they are no longer restrained by the tyrannical governments and are allowed to rape and pillage christians to their hearts content.  Of course, not all muslims are this way, I'm sure a large number of them, maybe even the majority, are decent people who are muslim simply to avoid persecution from their more radical brothers.  That, however is not the point.  Even if only a small percentage of people carried out sharia law and persecution of Christians, that is still a huge problem for the christians in the middle east.


Of course, the christians won't be the only ones who are harmed.  Any people group with those values that attempts to govern themselves will be miserable and impoverished.  You just can't have a successful nation with those values.  If you disagree, just look at how these muslim countries are doing right now.  Look at all the innovation that has been coming from the formerly christian west and compare it that of the muslim world. Look at where the worlds poorest countries are.  Most of them are muslim and the rest are catholic.  Turning these countries into democracies will only make the problem worse, as the restraining hand of tyranny is lifted and the vile corrupt human nature is released.

Although I feel for the people who are suffering under tyranny, I worry that it will be replaced with something much worse.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Disrespecting Who?

I've heard a number of people (like Juan Williams)complain that Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu, struck a "lecturing" tone with President of the United States, Barack Obama.  Well, Isn't that just horrible.  How dare he!  Well, for one, President Obama has been telling Netanyahu how to fix his problem and govern his country.  If Netanyahu had done THAT to Obama, people would have gone nuts.  Now, I understand that the US gives aid to Israel, and is in more of a position to tell them what to do, but I still think that Obama has been coming across pretty bossy with our ALLIE while seeming pretty chummy with our ENEMIES in the form of Hamas.  But, of course, that shouldn't be a huge shock to us, since we all know that Obama has Muslim roots.  Anyway, when someone tells you to give up the land that you have gained with gallons of your peoples blood to defend yourself from aggressive nations that want to exterminate you and don't mind saying so, doesn't it seem like a good idea to explain the situation to him?  That's what Netanyahu did.  He told it to Obama strait.  I suppose that such discussions may be so unusual in washington that the media doesn't even remember what telling the truth sounds like, but that's no reason to slam the guy.  What President Obama is suggesting is stupid.  If Netanyahu took a bit of a lecturing tone, that's because Obama is suggesting that Netanyahu join him in the stupid foreign policy club.  If hope that Obama was embarrassed.  Maybe he'll start doing things a little bit like Netanyahu.  That would be great for the United States, but some of our peace-loving muslim enemies might be disappointed when we stop paying them tribute (sometimes referred to as "financial aid") and they can't afford to stock up on weapons to shoot at us and Israel.  Start praying now.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Look Someone Agrees With Me!

Well, looky here!  Someone else agrees with me.  And he even knows something about science.  Yes, thats right, for the first time since I finished my english class assignment, I am posting on the global scam of global warming.  Turns out, not only does David Evens know something about science, he knows a lot.  According to the websight:

David Evans consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, and part-time 2008 to 2010, modelling Australia’s carbon in plants, debris, mulch, soils, and forestry and agricultural products. He is a mathematician and engineer, with six university degrees, including a PhD from Stanford University in electrical engineering.


Although I won't go deep into what he says here (you can just read the article) his basic argument is that, counter to the global warming climate models, the earth has a negative feedback system rather than a positive feedback system.  In other words, the earth counters unbalances, containing their affect, rather than increasing them.  When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense.  After all, if, as some suggest, the slightest bit of warming caused more warming, and so on and so forth, the earth would have burnt to a crisp billions of years ago.  Furthermore, the people who claim there is a positive feedback system predict that the increase in Carbon Dioxide will cause the layer of water vapour in the atmosphere to increase.  This has not been the case, according to the thousands of weather balloons that have been floating up into the very edges of the atmosphere for decades.  So far this explanation is turning out pretty poorly, so please go read the article.  

Saturday, May 21, 2011

President Obama has done it again!

Well, he's done it again.  Obama has decided to do all in his power to aid our enemies and alienate our allies.  As most people with common sense and a little bit of interest in current events know, Israel is basically our only ally in the middle east, which is a region full of unrest and people who hate the US and wish it, along with Israel, was wiped off the map.  In his speech on Thursday, President Obama suggested returning Israel to it's 1967 borders and sending more foreign aid to the middle east.  For Israel to give up what it has paid for with the blood of its soldiers in response to muslim aggression would be stupid.  And to pay tribute to the nations that want to destroy us and sometimes even openly encourage terrorism is even more stupid.  Why on earth can't we help our allies and at least leave our enemies alone?  Is there even an ounce of common sense in this administration?  Mais, que sais je?

Friday, May 20, 2011

More Backyard visiters

Well, I had a thrasher in my backyard again today.  I guess it might be the same one, but if it is he's found a new friend.  That's right, there were two Thrashers under the feeder when I looked out the window this mourning.  Like the one before, they stuck around and are still here, as of 18:15 EST.  So, I am hoping that they'll stick around and maybe give me a chance to see some baby thrashers.  My best guess is that they are already nesting somewhere else and stopped by for a snack, in which case there would be a good chance of getting a visit from baby thrashers.  Oh well, que sais je?

Monday, May 16, 2011

Long Live the Republic! (not that I'm very hopeful)

Speaking of the great divide, I've heard many people speak about how America is a Democracy, especially politicians, who should know better.  Well, if you're one of those people, I've got news for you.  America isn't a democracy.  It's a republic.  A democracy is rule of the people, and generally turns into anarchy.  A republic, on the other hand, is a government ruled by laws, usually with officials elected by the public, like the USA and early Rome.  The fundamental difference is that while people are generally self serving, greedy, stupid, and gullible, documents are not.  People have never been able to govern themselves well, they are just way too sinful for that.  With a strong basis of wise laws to govern themselves, however, there have been a number of historical success stories.  Unfortunately, while these Republics often work very well for a little while, I cannot think of one that has lasted very long.  The problem is that the people will eventually lose sight of the founding principals that formed the basis for the founding laws that have made the nation great.  When this happens, it is only a matter of time before someone finds a good excuse for changing, getting rid of, or simply ignoring the founding documents, which are the only hope for the welfare of the republic.  Have you ever heard the constitution referred to as a "living and breathing document"?  That’s what I'm talking about.  Because America has turned away from the great Christian principals that made it great it is now trying to distort and ignore the constitution as much as possible.  The reason America has worked so well so far is that the founding fathers created a foundation strongly based on God.  (Like endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights".)  Now we want nothing to do with God, who has made us great.  If history really does repeat itself, then I would say that this is not going to be a good thing. Perhaps, as in Rome, we set up a tyrant during some time of great danger.  I, however, think that we will simply create our own downfall.  After all, what with our national debt, abortion, and the sexual revolution, we're doing a pretty good job without a tyrant to mess things up.  One thing is for sure, God's laws always work best.  Now that we've given them up entirely, the only question is if God will put up with us and help us out a little longer.  Maybe I should have titled this post God Bless America! (not that I'm very hopeful).

Bin Laden 4

I know I wasn't going to talk about this again, but I feel that I should explain why I do not think this is a major accomplishment for Obama.  First and foremost, I give him full credit for giving the seals the go ahead to take out Bin Laden.  The only thing is that he didn't have a choice.  If word had gotten out to the public that Obama had known the location of Bin Ladin and had not done anything about it, he would have lost the next election, no doubt.  While it was risky to send in the seals, (after all, I hear the Chinese are examining the helicopter and gleaning as much of our technology as they can from it) it would have been political suicide for him to do anything else.  Therefore, it is my humble opinion that this was not, as many have said, a gutsy move on the part of the president.  It is merely another of his many calculated political maneuvers.  It happened to have a wonderful outcome, but I don't think that the President deserves praise for allowing Bush's war on terror to achieve one more great accomplishment.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The Great Divide

You know what the problem with our nation is?  There are too many Democrats.  Just kidding.  But, in all seriousness, I believe this nation is divided into two groups who have completely different beliefs about the role of government.  While conservatives generally believe that people are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness (if you don't recognize that quote, please do me a favor and read the Declaration of Independence).  Liberals, on the other hand, believe that people should, for some reason, be given life, liberty, and happiness by their government.  Although I admit that I'm pretty biased, I often wonder why the Liberals think that people have the right to other peoples money.  Or why people have the right to a certain standard of life, whether or not they work for it.  Although I understand that Liberals are usual well-meaning people, I think that if they are going to endorse taking money from hard-working people and giving it to bums (or even hard-working impoverished people) they need to have some justification.  While our founding fathers founded their beliefs on God and the Bible, it seems that the Liberals mostly found their beliefs in motional appeals.  While I think it's wonderful that Liberals want to help people, I think it might be a good idea if they gave people a reason why, as the claim, it is ethically imperative that people who are harder-working, smarter, or even just more lucky be forced to give their wealth to people who either work less, are less smart, or less fortunate.  It just feel that before they control other people and take money from them that they should have a reason better than their feelings.  But, I guess my feelings just shouldn't count because I'm too young to vote.

3 New Birds Last Week

As the title suggests, I saw three new birds last week.  On Wednesday I saw a Solitary Sandpiper
in an extensive puddle in a nearby park.  To make things easier, there was also a Lesser Yellowlegs (which I had seen before) in the puddle, so I was able to compare the two and get a decent grip on how to distinguish the two.  (The solitary sandpiper remained until Sunday afternoon.)  Also, on friday, I went to Longwood Gardens and saw a Northern Parula and a Green Heron, both for the first time.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Bin Laden 3

I'm sorry I have to keep posting on this topic, but I just heard that the information that led to Bin Laden's capture was acquired through water boarding during the Bush administration.  Common, admit it, I really called that one.  Here we have one of the most controversial practices of the Bush administration and even something that was accomplished by the Bush administration making this operation possible, but Obama is taking credit.  Believe it or not, I heard this on Fox and not NBC!  Again, I'm sorry that I have to harp on this so much, I just love being right.

Bin Laden is Dead 2

Okay, new revelation for me on the Bin Laden thing.  Apparently not only was this accomplishment not a brilliant change of strategy, it is a strategy that was criticized by democrats during the Bush administration.  Turns out that Seal 6, one of the best special ops teams in the world, was called Cheney's kill team by Democrats.  Or something like that.  Usually I would check on the information, but this is so in character for the democratic party that I didn't waste the time.  Apparently, Democrats are opposed to dropping out of the sky and killing our enemies on the spot only during a Republican administration and they are perfectly fine with claiming credit for continuations of successful Republican strategies that they were criticizing only a few years ago.  If you don't think I'm right, compare the war in Iraq with the war in Libya.  What exactly, except for boots being on the ground in Iraq, makes the two different?  Both leaders slaughtered their own people.  Both leaders were abhorrent dictators.  The only difference I can think of is that there was a significant possibility that Iraq, our enemy, was acquiring nuclear weapons at the time, while Libya was our ally and had given up all plans for Nuke.  But, of course, even while we are escalating the Libyan conflict, the media is taking this opportunity to remind us how stupid the war in Iraq was.  How unjust the war in Iraq was.  How if we had just done things Obama's way from the first we would be so much better off.  EVEN THOUGH OBAMA IS USING A SYNONYMOUS STRATEGY TO THE ONE BUSH USED IN A SIMILAR SITUATION AT THIS MOMENT.

In fact, at this point, the only thing I can think of that has changed in our foreign policy is that we now have no consistent foreign policy and now only try to keep switching sides so that we end up on the winning one.  Just look at the beginning of the Egyptian affair.  How many times did this administration appear to change from wanting Mubarak out to wanting him to stay, to wanting him to stay a little bit, to not knowing what we thought, and so on and so forth until finally the Egyptian people ousted him, and we quickly congratulated ourselves on what a great job we'd done in freeing all those people.

This is turning into a long rant.  I think I should stop.  Please feel free to comment.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Bin Laden is dead

Well, as I'm sure you know, the worlds most wanted was finally been killed.  And it was the US and not the French or the British, shocker of shockers.  Turns out we can still do things we put our minds to here in the US, our only trouble is putting our minds to worthy goals and keeping them there.  And, of course, the biggest part of this is that the president finally has can take credit for something that almost everyone thinks is a good thing.  After achieving many "accomplishments" like Obama Care and more than tripling our debt that those stupid ignorant tea-party bigots don't take to, Obama can now claim responsibility for the one of the greatest victories of Bush's war on terror.  The day that it was announced, his buddies in the media began pointing out the strategic shift Brother Obama has brought to the war, such as using small operations instead of large scale ones.  After all, its not like Bin Laden was hiding in a small compound because of Bush's large sale attack, he just decided he liked hiding in a little fort with no phone or internet better, right?  Obviously this is yet another example of the superiority of Obama to Bush, as evidenced by soaring gas prices, crushing national debt, and other signs of his superior intellect and skills as a lier.  I mean, leader.