Those guys are geniuses.

Today I spent more precious time tromping in the woods at the Palatine Nature Center. There is something inspiring and rejuvenating about doing that, although I keep seeing the signs that warn you to get out of there by 5:00 PM…that they’ll shut the place up at 5:00 sharp. That makes me think I should get there darned early the next time around. But on the way, I noticed plenty of other places where I can take in similar sights and take some great pictures, so …it was also a good trip just for the sake of looking for other good photo ops.

This is one of the few farms that are left on Barrington Road on the way to the Nature Center. I’ve been saying that I’m going to stop and take a picture of it from a different vantage point, and I finally did that today.

There was a time when you could drive down Barrington Road, and there was one farm after another. Now, there are subdivisions and strip malls most of the way.

Right before the entrance to the Nature Center, there are wetlands on both sides of the street where egrets and herons like to hang out. Today they had a party going on.

There were so many egrets today, I was in heaven - except I couldn’t get close enough to get the kind of shots I wanted to.

Taking pictures is fun; I had both cameras with me today - testing out the capabilities of the new/old camera, and still tending toward taking pictures of small things with the Canon Elph. Its macro capability is easy to find - and I’m still more comfortable with that one than the Panasonic. But the Panasonic is growing on me.

There were many flying things in there; not only mosquitos. Lots of butterflies and beautiful large moths.

I’ve been trying to figure out what the difference is between a butterfly and a moth. There are some telltale signs that can tip you off. A moth will remain open like this, and can have a fat body. Whereas a butterfly has a sleek thin body, and will remain closed like the previous picture. Interestingly enough, though, this winged creature was much larger than the light-colored winged creature…and I always thought moths were small and fly around lights when it gets dark out.

As I was pulling in, Jerry Goldner, the wildlife/bird photographer, was loading up his photography equipment in order to leave. He was a very, very nice guy. After I got back, I went on the internet to check out his work–because when I was pulling in, he was loading an enormous lens into his trunk…so I KNEW that he was taking closeups of birds. When I checked out his site, it just verified what I surmised when I saw that huge telephoto lens.

He offered to spray me with bug spray - because I was wearing my signature black dego-tee shirt and capris with walking sandals on (prepared for the heat). He complained that it was very buggy, the mosquitos are heavy and thick, and I wouldn’t last very long if I didn’t have bug spray or long sleeves and pant legs. He said the secret is - take your pictures very early in the morning, or late in the day, when the lighting is soft. And I guess the bugs aren’t so bad then, but he had long sleeves and long pants on.

So after all of the friendly advice and a healthy dose of insect repellant, I thanked him. He said he might have left his water in the bird blind - but when I got there, I didn’t see it. I will be even better prepared the next time, because I didn’t bring anything to drink and it was hot out there. Hot, buggy, and after a while of walking, I could have used some water. I think I should set myself up like I’m going on a stakeout-with a cooler full of ice, sandwiches, fruit salad and greens of assorted types, and some type of cold drinks. Then I can refresh myself throughout the day and stay out longer.

The bird blind was rather disappointing from the picture-taking point of view. You could sit in there and look through the big magnifying binoculars to see things closer, but in terms of taking pictures, the view was crap.

And when I saw the bird blind from across the way, it appears as though it’s crooked and is sinking!

Along the way I saw a few families with their kids, and a few couples walking along - with shorts on and short-sleeved shirts. I kept thinking to myself - I hope you have bug stuff on! This is brutal - but I’m protected!

Then came along a guy named “Mike” who was very nice and cute and gave me a couple sips of what he was carrying with him to keep him hydrated. He pointed me to some interesting things along the way - that I wouldn’t have noticed by myself. He pointed to a goldfinch, a bluejay, a big flying heron, (all were too fast for my camera abilities thus far)…

a beautiful and perfect spider web,

a big frog under the water that was covered in algae, and this guy really impressed me with his bird knowledge. He asked me if I’ve ever seen a bobolink; I said only in books! We were identifying the birds back and forth as we heard them - and I have to say - nobody I know up until this point has identified birds that I can’t.

I thought to myself, “this guy is pretty good!”

He appears to have many years of experience just doing what I like to do - tromping through the woods, looking through his binoculars at the wildlife and birds, and trying to catch a glimpse of a red-tailed hawk or a deer. He knew his vegetation, pointed out wild carrots, and other things that can be eaten in a pinch. I would have never known that if he hadn’t pointed it out.

He seemed particularly interested in finding deer, but we didn’t see any. He said he hasn’t seen any deer in this particular preserve for the past 20 years, but I guess he thinks he hasn’t been looking hard enough.

I, on the other hand, was interested in taking pictures - and was getting frustrated with everything moving around so fast. While walking along, a lot of little frogs came jumping across, but very few of them would sit still.

Find the frog! When I took the photo and looked in the viewfinder, I thought to myself…well…I hope he’s in that shot! Luckily he was when I uploaded the pictures, LOL

Still, I managed to find a few things that sat still long enough for me to pull off a couple of shots.

I KNOW there are turtles out there, so the next time I’m going to try harder to find some sitting on a log or a rock or something.

A few rejuvenating hours, over 100 pictures, what a great start to a great day. And thanks to Mike, wherever he is, he really helped me find some good subjects.

America faces an even scarier and more liberal threat than John Kerry posed. Today’s liberal threat is the most liberal senator in the Senate, Barack Obama.

Fortunately we don’t have to put up with the liberal media spin on the Obamessiah because, investigative journalist and National Review Online political reporter David Freddoso wrote THE book every voter needs to read: The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate.

Uncovering stories the mainstream media has neglected, Freddoso reveals Obama for who he really is: the U.S. senator with the #1 most liberal voting record in the Senate. And a politician whose rhetoric of “change” does not match the reality of his corrupt, “Chicago-machine politics” background.

Moving past Obama’s inspiring speeches and say-anything-to-win campaign tactics, Freddoso outlines Obama’s extreme, far-left legislative record and his questionable associations with both criminals and radicals. From Obama’s repeated support for the Chicago patronage system, to his hard-line position of no restrictions on abortion, The Case Against Barack Obama offers the cold, hard facts about this man who would be our next president.

As American citizens, it is our right and duty to question the background, character, and proposals of any candidate who could be our next commander in chief. Democrats and the media are not holding Obama accountable, so conservatives must. I’m grateful to David Freddoso and my publisher, Regnery, for finally revealing the man behind the myth.-John O’Neill

When I get my copy, I will be looking for any reference to Sinclair and Sinclair’s allegations of homosexual sex and crack cocaine use when Obama was a Senator in 1999.

So far, the “smears” website and Obama himself have not responded to those very public accusations. No one has had the nerve to try to uncover Obama’s phone records from November 1999 when he is alleged to have scored cocaine for Larry and Barry’s use. No one has attempted to unravel the connection between Obama and Donald Young, the gay choir director of Trinity United Church of Christ, who was found murdered on December 23, 2007 of multiple bullet wounds.

But even if the author of this new book doesn’t get into any of that; the story should still be very interesting.

Food workers at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant for Tyson Foods, which boasts on its corporate website that it strives “to honor God,” will have time off for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday closing the month of Ramadan, instead of the American tradition Labor Day.

Read the rest.

But bear in mind that this is part of what happens in cultures where muslims are a minority, as clearly described in Jihad by the Numbers.

“From 5% on they [Muslims] exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. They will push for the introduction of halal (”clean” by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves - along with threats for failure to comply (United States).”

Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book, Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.

But this is the real kicker:

Union That Endorses Obama, Forces Tyson Foods To Drop Labor Day For A Muslim Holiday

The son of a Hamas Leader has not only defected, but has converted to Christianity, labeling himself an apostate who has left Islam.

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. “I’m now called Joseph,” he says at the outset.

Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime.

“I know that I’m endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he’ll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I’ll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God.”

Wow.

It should be very interesting to see what the very predictable Islamic response is to this!

He not only defected and not only risked his life by converting to Christianity and willingly becoming an apostate to Islam (which warrants death) - he is calling it like it is.

“You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death.”

Interviewer: Is that the justification for the suicide attacks?

“More than that. An entire society sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheikhs tell their students about the ‘heroism of the shaheeds[suicide bombers].’”

David Horowitz: The Face of Evil: an entire society that sanctifies terror, and progressives who support it

Note that it is not a state but an entire society, and entire people that sanctifies exterminating Jews, and that the inspiration comes from their God. Find me the Muslim state or leader or organization who condemns Hamas or Hizabullah and their genocidal agendas or repudiates the saying of the prophet Mohammed that Muslims should kill Jews. Find me the progressive leftist who is uncomfortable supporting this call to the murder the Jews. We are facing an evil greater than Nazism and we are still referring to their religion as one “of peace” and describing their allies as “liberals” and “progressives.”

And this is much worse than what we were fighting in Nazi Germany. In the Middle East, we have many Nazi Germanys fueled by their religion to dominate the world with sharia law. To think that we should sit down at a bargaining table with people who are taught to lie to the unbelievers, that lying is ok as long as it’s to further Islam…is ridiculous.

The republicans who took the floor to debate the energy crisis after the democrats closed it up- also took to twitter to get the word out about the historic moments that were blacked out in the media. There was a lot of excitement over what was happening; that is apparent.

Hoekstra and Culberson were twittering the events as they were unfolding.

I’d like to know the names of the republicans who hung in there. They deserve our thanks.

Turning the lights off. C’mon.

House Adjourns, But Republicans Linger to Bash Democrats on Energy

Pelosi didn’t seem inclined to do anything to bring the GOP’s off-the-books filibuster to an end.

But her staff did try to minimize the amount of attention the rump filibuster was getting. They ordered the staff of the press gallery to lock the doors to the balcony overlooking the chamber, as is the usual practice when the House is not in session.

So, GOP members started a shuttle system, taking turns moving from floor to gallery to join reporters as they watched the proceedings.

Around 12:30 p.m., the TV lights in the chamber were turned off, as Chief Deputy Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., was speaking.

Cantor didn’t miss a beat, declaring, “Turn off the lights, turn off the mikes, kick out the press because they [the Democrats] don’t want to deal with this important issue.”

With all the news that is coming out about moonbattery on different subjects, this one seems to have slipped through the conservative blogosphere. The Bush Administration is breaking its own rules about meeting with Iran without preconditions…

U.S. Envoy to Join Meeting With Iranian

WASHINGTON — President Bush has authorized the most significant American diplomatic contact with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, sending the State Department’s third-ranking official to Geneva for a meeting this weekend on Iran’s nuclear program, administration officials said Tuesday.

The decision appeared to bend, if not exactly break, the administration’s insistence that it would not negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programs unless it first suspended uranium enrichment, as demanded by three resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Does this mean that Bush is going to follow Obama’s strategy with our enemies now?

What seems even more ridiculous is this isn’t merely a Bush Administration-type of initiative - it’s a multi nation affair.

William J. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, will attend a meeting on Saturday with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement on Wednesday.

At the meeting, Mr. Jalili is expected to present Iran’s formal response to a package of economic and diplomatic incentives that Germany and the Security Council’s five permanent members, Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States, presented Iran in June. Representatives from those countries will also attend the meeting.

The United States did not have a representative at the June meeting.

On a tip from bongoman in comments