Saturday Reads, Politics Overload Edition
Posted: July 14, 2012 Filed under: morning reads, nature | Tags: bees, Bonnie and Clyde, Comic Con, Hyundai, Larry Chen, Mike Bee, Mongolia, National Ice Cream Day, Native American culture, snow leopards, stowaway kitten, Virgin Mary tree, white bison, zombie apocalypse, zombie survival machine 41 Comments
Good Morning!!
I’m a little burned out on politics at the moment, so I’m going to focus other kinds of news. I’ve got some nature stories and a few other odds and ends.
The photo above shows a rare baby white bison that was born in Connecticut last month.
[W]hen Bison No. 7 on Peter Fay’s farm gave birth to a white, 30-pound bull calf a month ago, it made the Fay farm below Mohawk Mountain, for the moment at least, the unlikely epicenter of the bison universe.
For Mr. Fay, what happened was an astoundingly unexpected oddity — white bison are so rare that each birth is viewed as akin to a historic event.
For Marian White Mouse of Wanblee, S.D., and other American Indians, it is a supremely auspicious message from the spirits. She will fly with her family to Connecticut for naming ceremonies at the end of the month that are expected to draw large crowds.
….
Mr. Fay said his Indian friends had told him that a white bison was considered the most sacred thing imaginable — its birth viewed as something like the Second Coming….Mrs. White Mouse, a member of the Oglala Lakota people, said a white bison was believed to be a manifestation of the White Buffalo Calf Maiden, or Ptesan Wi. She is revered as a prophet, who in a time of famine taught the Lakotas seven sacred rituals and gave them their most important symbol of worship, the sacred pipe.
“They are very rare, and when a white bison is born there is a reason for each one to be here,” Mrs. White Mouse said.
Only one in ten million bison are albinos. You can watch some videos of the baby bison here.
Two snow leopard moms and their cubs were located recently in Mongolia and were filmed for the first time ever.
Snow leopard dens are difficult to find because of the animals’ secretive, elusive nature and the difficult, mountainous terrain in which they live. Finding the dens is an important step in learning more about the reproductive behavior and the young of this endangered species.
“We have spent years trying to determine when and where snow leopards give birth, the size of their litters, and the chances a cub has of surviving into adulthood,” said Tom McCarthy, executive director of the snow leopard program at Panthera, a wild cat conservation organization….
The dens were discovered in Mongolia’s Tost Mountains, where locals refer to the creatures as “Asia’s Mountain Ghost.”
A team of scientists from Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust entered the dens when the mothers were away hunting. They found that the first had two cubs and the second, one. All three cubs were weighed, measured and photographed and handled with extreme care, according to a Panthera release. Two were fixed with tiny microchip ID tags (about the size of a grain of rice) that were placed under their skin for future identification.
Here’s the video:
A little three-month-old kitten stowed away in a shipping container and traveled from Shanghai to Los Angeles, somehow surviving the trip without food or water.
The orange-and-white short-haired kitten traveled 6,500 miles before arriving Wednesday.
It was unclear how many days the kitten was in the container. The trip can take as long as 21 days, according to freighter-travel.com.
The stowaway was retrieved from the container at a Compton-area business where it was delivered.
Los Angeles County animal control officers are cautiously watching his health.
Poor little thing. I hope he survives and finds a home.
Next, a silly story involving a tree (including video): Devout see Virgin Mary in N.J. tree trunk, erect shrine around it
Some people walk past the tree in suburban New Jersey and see … well, a tree. Others walk past it and see what they say is a miracle — an image of the Virgin Mary in the trunk, which has become the centerpiece of a shrine rising on the hot pavement.
“It’s amazing,” Dile Marku, part of the throng surrounding the tree, told WABC, the local ABC affiliate, on Friday, after news of the wondrous piece of wood spread through the city of West New York. “I cannot explain because that’s God’s work, but I know how I feel and what I’ve seen people feeling here for three days. It’s amazing. It is amazing.”
The mayor of West New York, a city of about 49,000 people across the Hudson River from Midtown Manhattan, said he had received calls from around the world from people wanting to come and see the “miracle” for themselves. Mayor Felix Roque said the attention had led to a shrine so large that he wants to make it permanent, in hopes of drawing visitors to an avenue whose fast-food shops, nail salons and cellphone stores don’t scream “vacation spot.” ….
Locals say the image appeared this week after a man was killed in a car crash in the area. Eva Copantitla, who lives in West New York, was the first to notice the image and alerted the mayor, the Jersey Journal reported.
A California photojournalist was surprised when he found there was a hive containing 50,000 bees in his home. Instead of having them exterminated, he decided to find a bee expert to relocate them. There’s video at the link.
Larry Chen, 27, initially didn’t notice the bees. According to the hired beekeeper, the hive was an estimated six to eights months old.
However, one month ago, Chen began noticing bees buzzing in and out of his window, and he decided to investigate. According to Chen, the bees only came out during a 30-minute window in the day.
“I’m not really terrified of the bees… I just remained calm, and I figured they wouldn’t bother me too much… I got stung once, but I was more curious about how big the hive actually was. I figured it was just a small clump of 1,000 or so,” Chen said.After his initial investigation, he spent a month on the road, traveling for work. When he returned, Chen found time to call a professional to assess the situation. He explained that he recently saw a documentary about the endangerment of bees, so he wanted to save—not exterminate—them.
He found a man on Craigslist, who goes by the name Mike Bee, who would safely remove the bees. He is a member of the rescue organization Backwards Beekeepers, a group that works with HoneyLove.org in order to educate the public about bees.
Read the rest to learn how the bees were relocated.
Attention gun and pop culture collectors: the guns used by Bonnie and Clyde during their infamous 1930s crime spree will be auctioned off in New Hampshire in September.
She kept a Colt .38-caliber revolver close, while he preferred a .45-caliber pistol from the same maker.
But neither weapon was enough to save American outlaws and lovers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow during a 1934 ambush by law enforcement officers.
After the duo was dead, authorities recovered the revolver Bonnie had secured to an inner thigh with white medical tape.
They also seized the handgun Clyde had tucked into his waistband.
Nearly 80 years later, those guns and other items connected to the infamous gangsters will be going up for auction in New Hampshire on Sept. 30. An auction official estimated Thursday that each Bonnie and Clyde weapon could bring between $100,000 and $200,000.
Also to be auctioned off are
a gold pocket watch Clyde was wearing when he died, and a cosmetics case Bonnie was using to carry lipstick, Coty face powder and a powder puff. The brown leatherette box was inside the Ford automobile the gangsters were riding in when a posse of lawmen riddled it with bullets on a Louisiana road.
Also in the auction is a letter that Clyde wrote to his brother L.C. Barrow on the back of a photo showing a house on a platform surrounded by water. He signed it “bud,” his code name when he was on the run.
On Tuesday at Comic-Con, Hyundai introduced the “zombie survival machine.”
Korean automaker Hyundai unveiled its latest model – the unlikely Elantra Coupe Zombie Survival Machine – at an unlikely venue Tuesday night, Comic-Con International 2012 in San Diego.
Built to withstand the rigors of the coming zombie apocalypse, it features such essential undead-eliminating armaments as a front-end spiked zombie plow, armored window coverings, a roof hatch that enables passengers to fend off attacking walkers, a trunk laden with electric and pneumatic weaponry, front and rear-mounted floodlights and spiked all-terrain/rally type tires.
The heavily customized version of the automaker’s new compact coupe was designed by creator/writer of The Walking Dead TV show and graphic novel series Robert Kirkman, and was fabricated by Design Craft Fabrication in Westminster, Calif.
Video at the link.
Finally, don’t forget that Sunday July 15 is National Ice Cream Day. MSNBC offers some suggestions of where to celebrate.
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Sky Dancing 
Why, why, why won’t people stop picking on Mitt and Bain? How many times must he tell us that his involvement with his company ended in 1999 even though his signature on SEC findings say otherwise?
Just because the years that followed after 1999 signaled a lot of outsourcing of those companies Mitt and his partners looted, shipped the jobs overseas, and pumped up their own treasuries with somebody else’s hard earned pensions, why does the public look askance at his latest “explanation” that sounds like another big, fat, lie?
Just like trying to compare Romneycare to Obamacare, Mitt has had to explain over and over again that there is a difference even if the rest of us are unable to see it. Just like he had to explain his former support for gay rights and a woman’s privacy, Mitt is bogged down once again having to answer the skeptics who view his statements with distrust.
Where once he stood by global warming as “manmade” today he must defend his position that it is not so. The same goes for the auto industry bailout. He has given many explanations as to where he stood on that issue, “yes, no, I don’t know” and you are free to take your pick.
What do they want from this guy anyway? All he wants is to be POTUS and people keep bringing up issues that are none of their business. Just trust him. Her’s a job creator after all and the day he is sworn in he has promised to do just that on Day One!
Leave Mittens alone!
Exactly. It’s Romney’s turn, and he deserves the presidency. Why does he have to bother with all these questions? Why can’t we just crown him king and get it over with?
The Boston Globe has a new Romney article on how his Bain stories have “evolved.”
The dishonesty that surrounds this man is profound.
Pretending to be a “job creator” is one of the worst lies to ever fall from his mouth. Let’s be honest here Mitt, you were hip deep in shipping jobs overseas to beat the tax man and to beef up your bottom line. Most of those jobs are “gone with the wind” as far as the American worker is concerned and they are never coming back unless people like you are heavily fined for taking those jobs elsewhere. And that is never going to happen and we all know it.
Romneycare was in itself not a bad idea. Because we were unable to have UHC, there were those who could have afforded to pay for their healthcare – like most of us here in MA did – but chose to ignore it. This drove up the costs on the payers so you signed into law a policy that forced the few to buy into something for a change or face a penalty in not doing so. This penalty was often a deduction from an income tax return (which also proved that the insured did indeed have a job and could afford to pay something) and MA is now currently 98 to 99% covered. Let me also point out that having UHC would solve many, many problems but naturally your position is just the opposite in 2012,
He embraced the gay community in 1994 along with his position that a woman had the right to privacy. Now, not so much. Backtracking, flip flopping, contorting and parsing his previous positions and statements leaves me with a headache. He makes no sense.
And now he stands behind the Ryan Budget that would lead to more people being thrown to the wolves without benefit of any safety nets and tries to convince us that he “is on our side”.
Mitt was for something before he was against it and we are now asked to put aside our concerns involving his “authenticity” and pretend otherwise. To stand before crowds with a promise to eradicate Planned Parenthood as one of his first priorities is a signal right there that this man has all the heft to “lead” as any delusional hypocrite who supports him.
I’m baaaaack! Great post, bb. Panthera is such a WONDERFUL organization (http://www.panthera.org/?splash=off). It’s founder, Alan Rabinowitz, has such a compelling back story – he stuttered as a child and felt like an outsider. He frequently visited the Bronx Zoo and “connected” with a captive jaguar there, which led him to become a zoologist, studying & saving jaguars. Now, Panthera works worldwide to save the Big Cats. Right up my alley, needless to say.
With all the Romney crap hitting the fan this week, I’ve thought of you frequently, bb. When UP with Chris Hayes covered the story this AM (I turned my cable back on – wimped out), one of the panelists said she felt that the October debates will have all of Romney’s issues front & center. I hope that’s true – I’m actually looking forward to Obama growing a set & hammering the Rombot with all the dirty laundry in Mittens’ laundry baskets. Those nasty stains just won’t come out.
Welcome back, Connie! You have been missed.
I missed ya’ll too. I feel woefully undereducated at this point. But my computer hutch is relatively clean now. And I finally installed my speakers since I had the whole thing torn apart. No more headset! Hooray.
Yeah, it is good to see you are online again.
Matt Taibbi takes aim at Rmoney and hits him right between his shift eyes! Taibbi’s doing a great job in Hunter Thompson’s old spot.
Romney’s ‘Free Stuff’ Speech Is a New Low
He’s good, but he’s no Hunter Thompson.
He’s on his way though. I don’t see anyone else stepping up quite as well to blast away with good humor,
Matt be one of the few real investigative reporters out there today. He has covered the Wall Street shenanigans pretty thoroughly.
Some people are just irreplaceable. I actually think Mark Ames is as good or better than Taibbi, but I have to give Taibbi credit for all the studying he has done on economic issues. He has made a difference for sure.
Matt sums it up perfectly in his last sentence. I haven’t seen this much craven hypocrisy in “fluffing up” Mitt’s candidacy since Kim Kardashian’s last ex husband wished her well.
Mitt is a disaster on every front. He appeals to no one. He stands for nothing. He has twisted, contorted, fudged, spun, parsed, bent, danced around, and avoided anything that might explain his positions. He is a walking disaster.
But wait, he is not Obama! That in itself is good enough for some who still “smart” over the last election when most rational people have moved on.
He favors the Ryan Budget which even the Catholic bishops (for whatever that’s worth) have decried and which, if enacted, will send this nation spiraling even more downward on the economic level in ensuring poverty and these dimwits are more than happy to find a reason for supporting him.
If there was ever a reason to vote for the lesser of two evils 2012 is it.
What Pat said.
I am in total agreement with you.
Ditto!!
He has Mitt Shady nailed to the wall. I can see him kicking the kid in the wheel chair to impress the prom queen. Mitt has no bottom for how low to go to get money or power.
Josh Marshall explains why Romney just hurt himself more with his whining interviews yesterday.
Weak, Weak, Weak
Remember 2008 when McCain went into panic mode and wanted to suspend campaigning due to the Lehman failure and impending Wall St doom? Obama said essentially “No, I think the president needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time”. I think McCain lost at that moment. Panic and whining is bad for a presidential candidate.
Romney suggested he was at Bain until 2002 during primary debate, when he said he worked at one company for 25 years (1977-2002 = 25 years)
Good catch!
Paul Krugman on the Bain attacks.
No Bain, No Gain
Fits right in with Mitt’s style of governing:
$3,600 isn’t even a slap on the wrist for Boeing. At that rate they can chop off a lot of legs. Corporate scum. Complicit L&I scum.
Surprise!
Our state’s voters have turned down charter schools 3 times before. Let’s hope we do it this November for a 4th time.
Here’s one instance of high-tech surveillance I think is good:
“Litterers” makes this sound rather trivial, but the woods are no place to dump plastics, electronics, auto parts, or any trash. In the rural area where I grew up, remote enough that we were too far away to be on the power and phone-line grid, some people would dump their trash in the woods or even in the creeks. I hated to find their offal next to the moss and ferns and trilliums. Hell, people-trash doesn’t even belong with nettles.
BB, thank you for this morning post with news such as the white buffalo calf, the snow leopard cubs (talk about adorable and heartwarming!) and the surviving kitten (ibid). I fall all too easily into focus on the atrocious stuff — as in my above links.
It is good to re-direct and know that the world has kittens surviving, endangered animals reproducing, and that wonderous events still happen.
Thanks, I’m glad you read it. I was a bit burned out last night and reading about animals helps some.
I hate to be so crass, but all those miraculous manifestations of the Virgin Mary look, to me, like a gynecologist’s view of vulvas.
Say what? Sacred, yes, supernatural, no.
It’s so sad.
We have a ‘bleeding” mary yard ornament here in Louisiana. Can you say “let’s make some money!”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/virgin-mary-statue-bleeding-louisiana-16767660
Let’s also say gullible Cajuns and rednecks. Definitely some bird got into some berries …
http://www.wlox.com/story/18967671/witness-mother-mary-statue-bleeds-in-baton-rouge
It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
my hope is some nice chemist gets to do analysis on it
Afternoon, I am not sure if this has been linked to yet, but it is the best ad I’ve seen from Obama. Quick and strong.
So true, jj. I loved the last frame: Romney’s not the solution, He’s the problem. What a perfect bumper sticker.
Exactly. I don’t care if people vote green or vote whatever … it just can’t be Romney. He represents EVERYTHING that tanked our country recently. Outsourcing, Offshoring, Tax Dodges, race-baiting, misogyny–how can any self-respecting woman vote for this idiot?–and downsizing, union busting, replacing employees with share croppers, corporate rent seeking, gordon gecko corporate raids … eesh, it’s like he’s the fat cat turd at the top of the monopolist septic tank. I just wonder how much of his ill-got gains was used to defeat the ERA and marriage equality initiatives.
This race is looking more like 1996 every week. Clinton beat Dole down so badly during that summer that he never quite got back up. I hope the Obama campaign can keep it up.
John Cole on that ad at Balloon Juice: For every wingnut who spent the last 5 years screaming about “Chicago Style politics” for even the most tepid comment from Obama, this should give them an aneurysm.
Andrew Sullivan on the “Firms” ad.
Dissent Of The Day
Oh this is good, please watch it!
Dana Carvey as Romney: ‘I hate poor people and want to kill them’ | The Raw Story
Funny, funny, funny. I think impersonations are my favorite comic genre.
That was hilarious!!!!!