THE PINK PISTOL

by Kenneth Harper Finton © 2015

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“Did you see what Fred got me for my birthday,” Wilma said. “A brand new pink pistol.”

“You are planning to shoot someone,” Betty replied.

“No, I am not planning to do that.”

“Then what will you do with it?” Betty asked.

“Target practice, I guess. It’s small and fits my purse and hand.”

“Same thing,” Betty said.

img-thing“What do you mean?” asked Wilma.

“Target practice is learning the skills for killing people.”

“Not to me. I enjoy it.”

“What do you think a pistol it for?” Betty asked. “A pistol is for killing people. They aren’t for hunting. Rifles are for hunting. Pistols are made just to kill people.”

“Or target practice,” Wilma reiterated.

“Targets are pretend people. Same difference.”

“Well, I don’t know. Fred got it for me to defend myself.”

5d85615878e42466ab0938cd823f429d“Defend against what?” Betty asked.

“You never know. Maybe a wild animal might attack me or some big guy might come for me in a dark alley.”

“Here in little old Bedrock? This is the safest place I know. The major crimes are jaywalking and spitting on the sidewalk.”

“I could be visiting someplace dangerous and need it. There are lots of dangerous places.”

“You could just stay away from them,” replied Betty.

“But I want to be free to go any place I want,” Wilma said.

“So you will walk into a war zone with a little pink pistol for protection?”

“Maybe not a war zone. It doesn’t have to be a war zone. I could be hiking someplace and a big bear comes at me,” Wilma said.

“Do you know what happens if you shoot that bear? I hear that It is a felony to shoot a wild animal. Uncle Tex just arrested someone for shooting a bear on the trail and that man is looking at several years in jail and a big fine.”

“Well, suppose I am out at night and this rapist comes at me. At least I have my little pink pistol to protect myself.”

“Unless he grabs you before you get it out of your purse or takes it away from you. That is what happens most of the time.” Betty said.

“I would just have to be quicker,” Wilma replied.

“But how would you know he is a rapist until he actually grabs you and throws you down? By then it would be too late to dig for it in your purse.”

“That could happen,” Wilma agreed.

“Besides, I saw a video online once about people who had a pistol in their hands when someone attacked them and they could not pull the trigger. It is a big decision to pull a gun and shoot someone. When it comes right down to it most people freeze up and hesitate. That is how the bad guy gets the gun and takes it away.”

“I could pull the trigger,” Wilma said. “I am sure I could do that.”

“But how do you know what this guy intends to do? How do you recognize a rapist?”

“Maybe they gotta bad look on their face or move at me too quickly.”

“You would shoot someone for that? I don’t think so, Wilma.”

“They could have a knife or a gun that I could see.”

“Could a…  would a … should a… there would not be time to react, Wilma.”

“Maybe not, but I would feel safer knowing my pink pistol is there,” Wilma said.

“Or you could do the sensible thing and not put yourself in such a position to start.”

“That is best,” Wilma agreed. “But I could wake up in the middle of the night when Fred is not there and hear someone in the house. I will have my little pink pistol to protect me.”

“You would go confront this intruder with your pistol and say, ‘Put your hands up?”

*Yes, I could do that.”

“I think you need lessons, Wilma. They could run from you or at you. Then you would have to decide whether to shoot or not. Do you think another person’s life is worth less than your own?”

“Well, that is not something I think about.”

“You’d better think about it,” Betty said. “What would Jesus do? What would Gandhi do? We already know that they would not want violence. They believed in civil disobedience, not violence.”

“Oh, Betty, you make it all so complicated.”

“It is complicated, Wilma. You have to think about the consequences of your actions.”

“Everyone has the right to defend themselves,” Wilma stated.

“Yes, they do and there are lots of ways to do that without a pistol in your hand. Pistols are for killing people. Do you know what pistols are mainly used for?”

“Targets?”

“Target practice is for killing. No, most gun deaths are from suicide. Two out of three gun people who die by guns are people who kill themselves.”

“I have heard that, but I am not a suicidal person. Besides, Fred tells me that I have a second amendment right to be armed.”

“To be armed for what, Wilma? Killing somebody?”

“Well, the government could get out of control and we would have to take back our right and our country.”

“With a little pink pistol against drones and tanks and bombs and the world’s best fighting forces?”

“You make it sound futile,” Wilma said,

“It is futile. Convincing people with words and actions are the best way.”

“How do you do that with a burglar or a rapist?”

“You gave to be creative, Wilma. Ask them about their favorite song. Ask them to sing it to you and join them in singing.”

“Oh, sure. I can see them stopping immediately and starting to sing.”

“People always need convincing. That’s the one talent you really are good at. Sing them a happy song and see what happens.”

“Ha! That’s a crock.” Wilma said.

“Maybe,” Betty said, “but being you is your best defense. If anyone gets to know you, they will like you and not want to harm you. That is better than shooting somebody.”

“But Fred gave me the pink pistol for my birthday,” Wilma said.

“Tell him you really do not like pink and do not want to shoot anyone, Wilma. That is true, isn’t it?”

“Hmmm,” Wilma replied, lost in thought.

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BONUS SOUNDTRACK, “RUN, ROBIN, RUN”

 

THE WORK OF EDWARD CURTIS

Ken Finton's avatarHELIOS

What is a Photogravure?

Photogravure-plate-of-Geronimo

Paul Unks, of Denver, nicknamed Mountain Hawk, explains the craft of printing photogravures: “Developed in the 1850’s, an intaglio photogravure is produced through a complex painstaking hand-made process whereby the original photographic image is etched into a metal plate allowing the plate to hold ink. Then, oil based ink is carefully applied by hand onto the etched plate so that the ink is pushed down into the etched grooves of the plate that range in depth from deep (dark) to shallow (light). Once the printing plate is properly inked, high quality moistened paper is placed on the inked plate and then hand cranked in a press at 10,000 lbs of pressure causing the paper to squeeze down into the grooves of the plate. After the paper fibers have absorbed the ink, the paper is carefully peeled off the plate leaving the image deeply embossed into the paper…

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THE WRITER’S DILEMMA

Ken Finton's avatarKenneth Harper Finton

by Kenneth Harper Finton ©2015

a2351c22-19ff-40c4-8852-cbf36ff8bda3 It is said that writers “write to be read.” Then painters paint to be seen, actors act to impress and singers sing to be heard. If this is the case–and most often it is–the newer writers of the world are setting themselves up for great disappointment. They will not find the audience that they did on the past. They will not achieve the fame that others did in the past. They will quite likely not enjoy the riches that others have had In the past. Technology and world Internet communications have obviously changed the world.

Though it has democratized the ability to be read and seen and heard, by doing so it has practically eliminated the institutions that originally supported and brought culture to the world. Some vestiges of the old system remain, but they are losing ground with each passing year. They have been…

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THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

soundcloud.com/…/this-land-is-your-land-1

“This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”

-Woody Guthrie

 

“WHEN WOODY GUTHRIE arrived in New York City he was known as “the Oklahoma cowboy.”

Guthrie was embraced by its leftist folk music community.  For a time, he slept on a couch in Will Geer‘s apartment. Guthrie made his first recordings—several hours of conversation and songs recorded by the folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress—as well as an album, Dust Bowl Ballads, for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey.

Guthrie was tired of the radio overplaying Irving Berlin‘s “God Bless America.” He thought the lyrics were unrealistic and complacent. Partly inspired by his experiences during a cross-country trip and his distaste for “God Bless America,” he wrote his most famous song, “This Land Is Your Land“, in February 1940; it was subtitled: “God Blessed America for Me.” The melody is adapted from an old gospel song, “Oh My Loving Brother.” This was best known as “When The World’s On Fire,” sung by the country group The Carter Family. Guthrie signed the manuscript with the comment, “All you can write is what you see, Woody G., N.Y., N.Y., N.Y.”

He protested against class inequality in the fourth and sixth verses:

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,

And on the sign there, It said “no trespassing.” 

[In another version, the sign reads “Private Property”]

But on the other side, it didn’t say nothing!

That side was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;

By the relief office, I’d seen my people.

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,

Is this land made for you and me?

These verses were often omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie. Although the song was written in 1940, it was four years before he recorded it for Moses Asch in April 1944. Sheet music was produced and given to schools by Howie Richmond sometime later.

EARLY LIFE:

Guthrie’s early life was no an easy road. His older sister, Clara, died in a coal oil fire from a heating stove when he was seven.  His mother, Nora Belle, was institutionalized after setting a fire that severely burned Guthrie’s father.

In 1920, oil was discovered in Okemah, which led to a boom for a few years. Then the oil dried up, and the people of Okemah were, Guthrie said, “busted, disgusted, and not to be trusted.” His father quit the town for Texas, leaving 14-year-old Guthrie to play harmonica for sandwiches and coins on the streets of Okemah. His older brother, Roy, became the struggling family’s main source of support.

Woody’s father ended up in Pampa, Texas, and sent for his son.

When he was 19, Guthrie met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children, GwendolynSue, and Bill.[

With the advent of the Dust Bowl era, Guthrie left Texas, leaving Mary behind, and joined the thousands of Okies who were migrating to California looking for work. Many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by these working-class people.

in 1931, formed the Corn Cob Trio, and enjoyed his first taste of public success before succumbing to the realities of the Great Depression. He hitchhiked and freight-trained his way across several states, soaking up the stories of “dustbowl refugees” and refining his songwriting skills. In Los Angeles, he joined up with a woman named “Lefty Lou” and became popular with the relocated Okies living in cardboard and tin shelters.

He wrote his most famous song, “This Land is Your Land,” in New York City while living in a building for transients called Hanover House, at the corner of 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue, one block east of where the ball now falls on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

He’d seen enough during his travels to know that for many Americans, there was nothing blessed about their lives. He wrote the song in 1940 but didn’t record it until 1944. It was published in 1945 in a mimeographed booklet with 10 other songs and some of Guthrie’s drawings. The booklet cost 25 cents

Sources:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie, The Writer’s Almanac

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

(words and music by Woody Guthrie)

Chorus:

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York Island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway

I saw above me an endless skyway

I saw below me a golden valley

This land was made for you and me

Repeat Chorus

I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me

Repeat Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling

The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

The fog was lifting a voice come chanting

This land was made for you and me

Repeat Chorus

As I was walkin’  –  I saw a sign there

And that sign said – no tress passin’

But on the other side  …. it didn’t say nothin!

Now that side was made for you and me!

Repeat Chorus

In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple

Near the relief office – I see my people

And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’

If this land’s still made for you and me.

Repeat Chorus

©1956 (renewed 1984), 1958 (renewed 1986) and 1970 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

 

LOVE AND MARRIAGE, THEN AND NOW

by Kenneth Harper Finton ©2015

Demeter & Persephone IN ANCIENT GREECE, all women were viewed as manifestations of the earth goddess. That is why ancient Greek fathers recited the words, “I give my daughter to you for the plowing of legitimate children,” when giving away their daughters. But the daughter was more on permanent loan to her husband than his property. She had a dowry that had to be returned if they divorced.

                                                        Demeter & Persephone

IN ANCIENT GREECE, all women were viewed as manifestations of the earth goddess. That is why ancient Greek fathers recited the words, “I give my daughter to you for the plowing of legitimate children,” when giving away their daughters. But the daughter was more on a permanent loan to her husband than his property. She had a dowry that had to be returned if they divorced.

Marriage as an institution is an ancient custom that predates recorded history. The Gods and Goddesses had husbands and wives in the minds of stone age societies. Marriage tradition was handed down orally long before writing was established.

Marriage is ultimately a contract and a strategic alliance between two individuals or families. This contract, unless temporary, is generally designed to provide financial aid, emotional stability and security to the people involved.

Some cultures practiced temporary and conditional marriages. The Celtic tribes practiced handfasting. The Gaelic scholar, Martin Martin, wrote: “It was an ancient custom in the Isles that a man take a maid as his wife and keep her for the space of a year without marrying her; and if she pleased him all the while, he married her at the end of the year and legitimatized her children; but if he did not love her, he returned her to her parents.”

Fixed-term marriages were popular in the Muslim community. Pre-Islamic Arabs practiced a form of temporary marriage that carries on today in the practice of Nikah Mut’ah, a fixed-term marriage contract.

THE ADVENT OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGES

“The first laws in modern times recognizing same-sex marriage were enacted during the first decade of the 21st century. As of March 2015, seventeen countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay) and several sub-national jurisdictions (parts of Mexico and a majority of the U.S. states) allow same-sex couples to marry. Finland has enacted a law to legalize same-sex marriage which will come into force in March 2017. Bills allowing legal recognition of same-sex marriage have been proposed, are pending, or have passed at least one legislative house in Austria, Australia, Chile, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan and Venezuela, as well as in the legislatures of several sub-national jurisdictions (parts of Australia, Mexico, and the United States).”  -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage

Granting formal legal status to same-sex marriages is a relatively recent idea and practice, but there are mixed-sex couples in the history of ancient Greece. Generally, same-sex marriages in Greece were promiscuous, with the partners having the freedom to engage in sex with others. Though the Theodosian Code issued in 438 CE imposed heavy penalties on same-sex relationships, it is unclear how the law was enforced or ignored socially. Some areas in China, particularly the Fujian region, permitted same-sex unions.

With marriages in decline in the western world and the birth rate getting lower with each generation in developed countries, the social need to raise children has become optional in many millions of families.

A corollary to the contract of marriage is the rights of offspring if any. Our laws are now removed from the older social systems that sanctioned marriage primarily for property rights and the rights of the offspring.

THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL CUSTOM FOR MARRIAGE 

There is no one universal custom for marriage now or in recorded history.

Early nomads in the middle east, where modern civilization arose, allowed a wife to have a tent of her own which she kept completely independent of her husband. The early Israelites kept this custom as well, as shown in the last book of Proverbs.

Polygamous and polyandrous societies are found in the Himalayan Mountains. Because land is scarce in the Himalayas all brothers were allowed to marry the same wife. This allowed the family land holdings to remain whole rather that be divided by heirs. If the lands were split, the families would have small plots that could not sustain family life.

In Europe, this division of the land into fragments was prevented through e the inheritance  process. The elder inherited and the siblings lost out. Some of the disinherited went on to become celibate monks and priests.

MARRIAGE IN THE MID-20TH CENTURY

Notes and Queries (1951), an anthropological handbook, defined marriage as “a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners.” [Notes and Queries on Anthropology. Royal Anthropological Institute. 1951. p. 110.]

These ideas did not sit well with Kathleen Gaugh (1924-1990). Gaugh was a British anthropologist and a feminist. She noted that the Nuer people of Sudan allowed women to act as husbands under certain conditions. She suggested that instead of a man and a woman, the phrase should be modified to “a woman and one or more other persons.”

Gaugh studied polygamous societies such as the Nayar in India. In that society, the husband’s role was not conventional. Women had many lovers in this society. The lovers were the procreators. The father was an absentee non-resident. None of the men has any legal rights to the woman’s children. Gaugh was forced to abandon the idea of sexual access as a key element of marriage and define if in terms of the legitimacy of the offspring.  She wrote: “a relationship established between a woman and one or more other persons, which provides a child born to the woman under circumstances not prohibited by the rules of relationship, is accorded full birth-status rights common to normal members of his society or social stratum.”

Economic anthropologist Duran Bell criticized the legitimacy-based definition. Some societies do not require legitimacy for children to have legal rights such as the right to property and inheritance.

Edmund Leach also thought Gough’s definition was too restrictive in terms of recognized legitimate offspring.  He suggested that marriage be viewed in terms of the different types of rights it serves to establish.

In a 1955 article in Man, Leach argued that “no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures.”

He offered a list of ten rights associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children, with specific rights differing across cultures. Those rights, according to Leach, included:

1″  To establish a legal father of a woman’s children.

2   To establish a legal mother of a man’s children.

3   To give the husband a monopoly in the wife’s sexuality.

4   To give the wife a monopoly in the husband’s sexuality.

5   To give the husband partial or monopolistic rights to the wife’s domestic and other labour services.

6   To give the wife partial or monopolistic rights to the husband’s domestic and other labour services.

7   To give the husband partial or total control over property belonging or potentially accruing to the wife.

8   To give the wife partial or total control over property belonging or potentially accruing to the husband.

9   To establish a joint fund of property–a partnership–for the benefit of the children of the marriage.

10T   o establish a socially significant ‘relationship of affinity’ between the husband and his wife’s brothers.”    [Leach, Edmund (Dec 1955). “Polyandry, Inheritance and the Definition of Marriage,” Man 55 (12): 183.]

Duran Bell describes marriage as “a relationship between one or more men (male or female) in severalty to one or more women that provides those men with a demand-right of sexual access within a domestic group and identifies women who bear the obligation of yielding to the demands of those specific men.”  [In a 1997 article in Current Anthropology.]

“Men in severalty,” means that Bell is referring to some societies where kin groups retain a right in a woman’s offspring even if her husband (a lineage member) is dead. This practice is also found in Levirate marriages, a marriage type in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother’s widow and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband’s brother. The type of marriage is a social attempt to provide for the offspring and provide for the spouse while salvaging inheritance rights for the children and maintaining a unified land holding.

In referring to “men (male or female),” Bell is referring to women within the lineage who may stand in as the “social fathers” of the wife’s children born of other lovers as in Nuer’s “Ghost marriage.”

In Sudan, a ghost marriage is a marriage where a deceased groom is replaced by his brother. The brother serves as a stand-in to the bride, and any resulting children are considered children of the deceased spouse. This unusual type of marriage is nearly exclusive to the Dinka (Jieng) and Nuer tribes of Southern Sudan, although instances of such marriages have also occurred in France.

Nuer women do not marry deceased men only to continue the man’s bloodline. In accordance to Nuer tradition, any wealth owned by the woman becomes the property of the man after the marriage. Thus, a wealthy woman may marry a deceased man to retain her wealth, instead of giving it up after marrying. 

Among the Nuer, a ghost marriage is nearly as common as a marriage to a live man.

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_marriage_(Sudanese)

THE RIGHT TO SEXUAL ACCESS 

The right to sexual access is one of the primary purposes of modern marriage. In most advanced countries, the woman’s right to refuse sexual contact is upheld legally. Marital rape, a common occurrence in the past, has become illegal in many countries, though proving the violation has often proven to be quite difficult.

Feminists often see marriage as an institution traditionally rooted in patriarchy. They often believe that it promotes male superiority and power over women. When men are designated to be the providers and the woman the caretaker, then women become the property of the male.

In the US, studies have shown that, despite egalitarian ideals being common, less than half of respondents viewed their opposite-sex relationships as equal in power, with unequal relationships being more commonly dominated by the male partner. Studies also show that married couples find the highest level of satisfaction in egalitarian relationships and lowest levels of satisfaction in wife dominant relationships.” – Wikipedia

Traditional marriage imposes an obligation on the wife to be sexually available to her husband. It also demands that the husband provide material and financial support for the wife.

Feminists rebelled against the male bias in the institution of marriage. Social thinkers, men and women alike, pointed to the lack of choice that marriage gave to the woman. Bertrand Russell wrote in his book Marriage and Morals that: “Marriage is for woman the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution.”

Angela Carter in Nights at the Circus wrote: “What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many?”

PEER MARRIAGE

In recent years, peer marriages have been receiving attention in quite a few western countries including Great Britain and the United States.

Shared earning/shared parenting marriage, also known as peer marriage, is a type of marriage where the partners at the outset of the marriage set it up in a manner of sharing responsibility for earning money, meeting the needs of children, chores, and recreation time in nearly equal fashion across these four domains. It refers to an intact family formed with relatively equal earning and parenting styles from its initiation. 

Peer marriage is distinct from shared parenting, as well as the type of equal or co-parenting that father’s rights activists in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere seek after a divorce in the case of marriages, or unmarried pregnancies/childbirths, not set up in this fashion at the outset of the relationship or pregnancy.

A number of books have addressed various aspects of this type of marriage, including Equally Shared Parenting by Marc and Amy Vachon, The Four-Thirds Solution by Stanley Greenspan and Getting to 50/50 by Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_earningshared_parenting_marriage

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

“Love and Marriage” is a song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen. The idea epitomized the values of society through most of both centuries.

“Love and marriage, love and marriage, Go together like a horse and carriage. This, I tell you, brother. You can’t have one without the other.”

Despite the popularity and cleverness of the lyrics of the song, love is much deeper that the institution of marriage. Some believe it is a basic binding force found in the world’s very existence. The elementary prototype of love is similar to the attraction of atomic structures to one another. These structures form combinations that become something independent and different from that the atoms that combined to create it. Are these primitive examples of the force of love?

Love is seen everywhere in the natural world as adults pair and care for their mates and their young. Love is evident throughout nature. Love is bonding and it is seen in the binding that forms the very chemicals of life.

To me, love is accepting another as a part of oneself. Love is the inclusion of the other into the very fabric of everyday life. Love unites and draws together like iron fragments to the magnetic field. In human terms, love expands the isolated and alone self to include beings and objects from outside the self.

Love is felt not just for living things, but for actions and methods of performing actions. The world is built on attraction and love, caring and nurturing. The desire and urge to be more than we are alone is the driving force of evolutionary progress.

Love is thought by many to be the primary reason for existence itself, as primal awareness, discovered the other outside itself, reflected upon it, accepted it within itself, and gave birth to an entire universe. The idea is not so far removed from the ideas of the ancient Greeks and the stone age tribe dwellers.

WHY DO RACISTS SEE THE WORLD AS THEY DO?

(A HUMANITARIAN REBUTTAL TO WORLD RACISM)

by Kenneth Harper Finton

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A manifesto written by Dylann Roof shortly before he murdered nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina is an important clue into the workings of his mind and the ideas that underlie a universal form of racism and ignorance that is destroying our very world.

Roof states:

‘“I was not raised in a racist home or environment. Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness. Growing up, in school, the White and black kids would make racial jokes toward each other, but all they were were jokes. Me and White friends would sometimes would watch things that would make us think that “blacks were the real racists” and other elementary thoughts like this, but there was no real understanding behind it.”

Millions of us were born and raised in this type of an environment. It is easy for whites who do not mingle and relate to black families on a daily basis to come to the conclusion that the blacks are the ‘real racists’. These whites never felt the stings of whips and slavery, the unequal treatment that the law afforded and allowed that still goes on every day. Far too many whites see the average black person as inferior. Many speak in the present tense and in a dialect that is not often used in white families. We are able to distinguish between blacks and whites from the sound of the voice alone in many cases.

Our parochial-styled schools are conservative and filled with narrow-minded ideas. They do little to dissuade the myth that blacks are inferior to whites.

Natural instinct and family practices from the time of the Stone Age inculcate us to believe that the Stranger is a Danger. Our defenses rise, the adrenaline flows. These hormones go to work when a Stranger comes among us.  The stranger must earn trust and always remains a danger to the tribe.

The failure of our educational system is shown by the fact that society has not lifted us from our tribal perspective and fears. It is natural for predators to fear one another. By teaching us to be predators, our schools have failed to make us more human.

Roof writes:

“Black people are racially aware almost from birth, but White people on average dont think about race in their daily lives. And this is our problem. We need to and have to. Say you were to witness a dog being beat by a man. You are almost surely going to feel very sorry for that dog. But then say you were to witness a dog biting a man. You will most likely not feel the same pity you felt for the dog for the man. Why? Because dogs are lower than men. This same analogy applies to black and White relations. Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general. This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them.”

Here, the disturbed young man has a valid point. White people often view blacks to be inferior. Much of it is subconscious. The Black Stranger is something to be feared. They are often better athletes and dancers and have a genetic sense of rhythm that is different from and more sensual than their white counterparts. Young white men are taught that black men have bigger penises and more sexual stamina. These thoughts lead directly to conflict, hatred and competitive loathing. Such teachings come alive through sports, porno sites, and adolescent angst. Thousands of teachers and parents have these mistaken viewpoints.

Roof writes:

“Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior.”

The history we study WAS written by the white race. Dominance over what is perceived to be the lesser and lower forms of life is the heritage of Western civilization. “Have dominion over every living thing” is supposedly a truth mouthed by God himself. Manifest destiny is our righteous path. Damn and destroy all that stands in the way of it. We learn this in church. We learn this in schools. Parents teach their children to be racists and bigots quite naturally. Even that false God that America prays to backs them up. God is on our side. God loves our team. God will deliver us. We are one nation under God. In God we trust.

Roof writes:

“Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system. Now White parents are forced to move to the suburbs to send their children to “good schools”. But what constitutes a “good school”? The fact is that how good a school is considered directly corresponds to how White it is. I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight.”

Times have changed. The walled cities and castles were built for the protection of the worker populations. The peasants rushed to the fortress to defend their lord and by so doing protected themselves. As cities became smelly and dirty and crowded, the countryside became more appealing when the immediate threat of foreign domination ceased. The suburbs were built by venture capitalists to create new wealth from homes, roads, utility services and expanded business opportunities. The peasants were given a better sounding name–the Middle Class.

Roof says:

“Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior.”

Science, of course, shows that none of this is true, but it is an illusion that has been perpetuated for far too long. The depth of his ignorance is shown by Roof’s statement:  “For example when we learn about how George Washington carver was the first nigger smart enough to open a peanut.”

Our children obviously need a better education. They need to learn how to surf the Internet for accurate information and how to distinguish between fact and half truth. They need to learn respect for scientific studies and intellectual achievement. We do not teach them that. We have brought all this tragedy and stupidity on ourselves. America needs to get smarter and the dumbing down needs to stop. The old bigots may die off, but the young bigots are born again. We need to counter false religion and utter bullshit with real reason and creative thought. Unless we do, tomorrow will bring us another Dark Age.


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THE FULL TEXT OF DYLANN ROOF’S RANT AND LOGIC

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/dylann-roof-manifesto-full-text

I was not raised in a racist home or environment. Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness. Growing up, in school, the White and black kids would make racial jokes toward each other, but all they were were jokes. Me and White friends would sometimes would watch things that would make us think that “blacks were the real racists” and other elementary thoughts like this, but there was no real understanding behind it.

The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case. I kept hearing and seeing his name, and eventually I decided to look him up. I read the Wikipedia article and right away I was unable to understand what the big deal was. It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right. But more importantly this prompted me to type in the words “black on White crime” into Google, and I have never been the same since that day. The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders. I was in disbelief. At this moment I realized that something was very wrong. How could the news be blowing up the Trayvon Martin case while hundreds of these black on White murders got ignored?

From this point I researched deeper and found out what was happening in Europe. I saw that the same things were happening in England and France, and in all the other Western European countries. Again I found myself in disbelief. As an American we are taught to accept living in the melting pot, and black and other minorities have just as much right to be here as we do, since we are all immigrants. But Europe is the homeland of White people, and in many ways the situation is even worse there. From here I found out about the Jewish problem and other issues facing our race, and I can say today that I am completely racially aware.

Blacks

I think it is is fitting to start off with the group I have the most real life experience with, and the group that is the biggest problem for Americans.

Niggers are stupid and violent. At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick. Black people view everything through a racial lense. Thats what racial awareness is, its viewing everything that happens through a racial lense. They are always thinking about the fact that they are black. This is part of the reason they get offended so easily, and think that some thing are intended to be racist towards them, even when a White person wouldnt be thinking about race. The other reason is the Jewish agitation of the black race.

Black people are racially aware almost from birth, but White people on average dont think about race in their daily lives. And this is our problem. We need to and have to.

Say you were to witness a dog being beat by a man. You are almost surely going to feel very sorry for that dog. But then say you were to witness a dog biting a man. You will most likely not feel the same pity you felt for the dog for the man. Why? Because dogs are lower than men.

This same analogy applies to black and White relations. Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general. This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them.

Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior.

I wish with a passion that niggers were treated terribly throughout history by Whites, that every White person had an ancestor who owned slaves, that segregation was an evil an oppressive institution, and so on. Because if it was all it true, it would make it so much easier for me to accept our current situation. But it isnt true. None of it is. We are told to accept what is happening to us because of ancestors wrong doing, but it is all based on historical lies, exaggerations and myths. I have tried endlessly to think of reasons we deserve this, and I have only came back more irritated because there are no reasons.

Only a fourth to a third of people in the South owned even one slave. Yet every White person is treated as if they had a slave owning ancestor. This applies to in the states where slavery never existed, as well as people whose families immigrated after slavery was abolished. I have read hundreds of slaves narratives from my state. And almost all of them were positive. One sticks out in my mind where an old ex-slave recounted how the day his mistress died was one of the saddest days of his life. And in many of these narratives the slaves told of how their masters didnt even allowing whipping on his plantation.

Segregation was not a bad thing. It was a defensive measure. Segregation did not exist to hold back negroes. It existed to protect us from them. And I mean that in multiple ways. Not only did it protect us from having to interact with them, and from being physically harmed by them, but it protected us from being brought down to their level. Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system.

Now White parents are forced to move to the suburbs to send their children to “good schools”. But what constitutes a “good school”? The fact is that how good a school is considered directly corresponds to how White it is. I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight. Why should we have to flee the cities we created for the security of the suburbs? Why are the suburbs secure in the first place? Because they are White. The pathetic part is that these White people dont even admit to themselves why they are moving. They tell themselves it is for better schools or simply to live in a nicer neighborhood. But it is honestly just a way to escape niggers and other minorities.

But what about the White people that are left behind? What about the White children who, because of school zoning laws, are forced to go to a school that is 90 percent black? Do we really think that that White kid will be able to go one day without being picked on for being White, or called a “white boy”? And who is fighting for him? Who is fighting for these White people forced by economic circumstances to live among negroes? No one, but someone has to.

Here I would also like to touch on the idea of a Norhtwest Front. I think this idea is beyond stupid. Why should I for example, give up the beauty and history of my state to go to the Norhthwest? To me the whole idea just parralells the concept of White people running to the suburbs. The whole idea is pathetic and just another way to run from the problem without facing it.

Some people feel as though the South is beyond saving, that we have too many blacks here. To this I say look at history. The South had a higher ratio of blacks when we were holding them as slaves. Look at South Africa, and how such a small minority held the black in apartheid for years and years. Speaking of South Africa, if anyone thinks that think will eventually just change for the better, consider how in South Africa they have affirmative action for the black population that makes up 80 percent of the population.

It is far from being too late for America or Europe. I believe that even if we made up only 30 percent of the population we could take it back completely. But by no means should we wait any longer to take drastic action.

Anyone who thinks that White and black people look as different as we do on the outside, but are somehow magically the same on the inside, is delusional. How could our faces, skin, hair, and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same? This is the nonsense we are led to believe.

Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior. If a scientist publishes a paper on the differences between the races in Western Europe or Americans, he can expect to lose his job. There are personality traits within human families, and within different breeds of cats or dogs, so why not within the races?

A horse and a donkey can breed and make a mule, but they are still two completely different animals. Just because we can breed with the other races doesnt make us the same.

In a modern history class it is always emphasized that, when talking about “bad” things Whites have done in history, they were White. But when we lern about the numerous, almost countless wonderful things Whites have done, it is never pointed out that these people were White. Yet when we learn about anything important done by a black person in history, it is always pointed out repeatedly that they were black. For example when we learn about how George Washington carver was the first nigger smart enough to open a peanut.

On another subject I want to say this. Many White people feel as though they dont have a unique culture. The reason for this is that White culture is world culture. I dont mean that our culture is made up of other cultures, I mean that our culture has been adopted by everyone in the world. This makes us feel as though our culture isnt special or unique. Say for example that every business man in the world wore a kimono, that every skyscraper was in the shape of a pagoda, that every door was a sliding one, and that everyone ate every meal with chopsticks. This would probably make a Japanese man feel as though he had no unique traditional culture.

I have noticed a great disdain for race mixing White women within the White nationalists community, bordering on insanity it. These women are victims, and they can be saved. Stop.

Jews

Unlike many White naitonalists, I am of the opinion that the majority of American and European jews are White. In my opinion the issues with jews is not their blood, but their identity. I think that if we could somehow destroy the jewish identity, then they wouldnt cause much of a problem. The problem is that Jews look White, and in many cases are White, yet they see themselves as minorities. Just like niggers, most jews are always thinking about the fact that they are jewish. The other issue is that they network. If we could somehow turn every jew blue for 24 hours, I think there would be a mass awakening, because people would be able to see plainly what is going on.

I dont pretend to understand why jews do what they do. They are enigma.

Hispanics

Hispanics are obviously a huge problem for Americans. But there are good hispanics and bad hispanics. I remember while watching hispanic television stations, the shows and even the commercials were more White than our own. They have respect for White beauty, and a good portion of hispanics are White. It is a well known fact that White hispanics make up the elite of most hispanics countries. There is good White blood worht saving in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and even Brasil.

But they are still our enemies.

East Asians

I have great respent for the East Asian races. Even if we were to go extinct they could carry something on. They are by nature very racist and could be great allies of the White race. I am not opposed at all to allies with the Northeast Asian races.

Patriotism

I hate the sight of the American flag. Modern American patriotism is an absolute joke. People pretending like they have something to be proud while White people are being murdered daily in the streets. Many veterans believe we owe them something for “protecting our way of life” or “protecting our freedom”. But im not sure what way of life they are talking about. How about we protect the White race and stop fighting for the jews. I will say this though, I myself would have rather lived in 1940’s American than Nazi Germany, and no this is not ignorance speaking, it is just my opinion. So I dont blame the veterans of any wars up until after Vietnam, because at least they had an American to be proud of and fight for.

An Explanation

To take a saying from a film, “I see all this stuff going on, and I dont see anyone doing anything about it. And it pisses me off.”. To take a saying from my favorite film, “Even if my life is worth less than a speck of dirt, I want to use it for the good of society.”.

I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.

Unfortunately at the time of writing I am in a great hurry and some of my best thoughts, actually many of them have been to be left out and lost forever. But I believe enough great White minds are out there already.

Please forgive any typos, I didnt have time to check it.

MOTHER NATURE

NATURE'S ENTRY

“Aristotle believed the universe was always here and did not come into existence. Nature always existed, nor will it go out of being. Nature, or the entire system of existence, exists independently of us and is a given. Human beings have a hard time assimilating that things exist apart from themselves and insist that a superhuman or a deity be given credit for everything that ever was. Some people believe that the universe must be without a beginning in time, owing no credit and acting with spontaneity, as can be seen when volcanoes erupt or floods wipe out entire towns.” – Moya K. Mason, Is There Any Chance Involved in the Evolutionary Process? A Look at Aristotle’s Physics II.

For Aristotle, the universe is eternal. He also believed that the universe emerged from a  natural creative intelligence, a natural thought or desire because nothing happens even by chance without an essential cause. An essential cause is necessary for a chance event to take place. For example: you go to a grocery store to purchase some food items and by chance happen to meet a friend you had been meaning to talk with. That is a chance meeting. Before that chance meeting could take place, there has to be a reason to be in the same place by both parties. The desire to go shopping is the reason that preceded this chance meeting.

Taking that thought to universal scale, it is clear that Nature existed before us, does well with or without us. Nature wrote the laws and principles. Matter evolves around these designs.

The earliest references to Mother Nature made by Greek philosophers who lived before Socrates. The term Mother Gaia was written in a Mycenaean text on a clay tablet in the 13th to 14th centuries BC. Many other cultures, such as Native American Indians, embrace some form of the idea that the either the earth or the universe is symbolized by the form of Mother Nature.

WATCH AS JULIA ROBERTS NARRATES THE NATURE IS SPEAKING VIDEO:

Service dog throws self in front of bus to protect blind owner

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http://kfor.com/2015/06/09/witnesses-service-dog-throws-self-in-front-of-bus-to-protect-blind-owner/

BREWSTER, N.Y. – A service dog who went to great lengths to protect his owner is now recovering.

Figo is Audrey Stone’s service dog. Stone, who is blind, relies on the dog to get around and lead a normal life.

Figo is no stranger to crossing the street with Stone, but recently the dog’s protective instincts gained national attention.

Witnesses say a mini school bus was turning left onto the street and the driver was paying attention to oncoming traffic.

However, they say he didn’t notice that a pedestrian was just ahead.

When Figo saw the bus heading straight for Stone, he threw himself in front of the bus, according to The Journal News.

“I don’t know if [the driver] thought [Stone] was going to move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her,” said Paul Schwartz, who witnessed the accident.

Stone suffered a fractured right elbow, three broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a cut to her head, police told the Journal News.

Witnesses say Figo’s leg was cut down to the bone.

Despite his injuries, witnesses say Figo was more concerned about his owner.

“The dog took a lot of the blow,” Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo told The Journal News. “And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her.”

The driver of the bus was given a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Figo’s front leg is in a splint and Stone is recovering from surgery.

WATCHING DUCKS AND GEESE

by Kenneth Harper Finton IMG_2186 I am counting my blessings today, one of which is the ability to walk around a nearby lake that is also a bird preserve. The lake is called Berkeley Lake. It lies right off I70 in Denver, just before disappearing into the great Rocky Mountains.  Not only do I get needed daily exercise, but I make some ‘fine feathered friends” along the way …  not so much close friends, but acquaintances that help to brighten the day. joggermom-1 Meeting the other folk that are out to enjoy the day can be as important as the walk, as walkers abound at all times of the day, from wheelchair bound folk carrying oxygen to young mothers jogging with fat-wheeled baby carriages to take off the baby fat. When I was a child, baby carriages had thin rubber wheels and were pushed by sedate women with long summer dresses whose major purpose was to do some shopping or get the child outdoors. These days, healthy young women jog down the manicured sidewalks by the dozens, far outpacing my plodding and deliberate steps.IMG_2062

Regular hikers at our lake include Harry, a white-bearded, fit man who has lived in the neighborhood since childhood and walks around the lake four or five times every day.  He knows all about the birds, the eagles that nest there and the history of the lake since the early 1920s.

One of m170px-1_Wild_Turkeyy precious possessions that were handed down from my parents was my father’s copy of Audubon’s Birds of America. My mother bought the great volume of paintings for my father for Christmas in 1942, three months after I was born. I often wondered how she afforded it, as she was living on her own while my father was drafted and serving in the army during World War II.  I have used is for years to help identify birds that I come across, though many of these species are now rare or extinct. I have always been entranced with his paintings of birds and vividly remember the pictures of scary vultures and condors that so impressed me as a child. https://kennethharperfinton.me/2015/04/26/john-james-audubon/

THE DOUBLE CRESTED-CORMORANT

The lake has attracted many species of ducks and geese since the City of Denver drained and remodeled it a few years back.  One bird friend has become quite close this spring. I did not know the name of the bird and dubbed it a long-neck goose. Shades of Chantilly Lace, I am sure. For weeks he stood guard over his next on top of a nearby tree. He seemed to be in his tree every time we walked the lake for many weeks.IMG_2199 I learned that the bird was a double-crested cormorant. Cormorants and Shags are medium to large seabirds that are found all over the world. Their ancestors were fresh water birds. Though their feet are webbed, they can perch high in trees. They are related to pelicans. Cormorants are diving birds that can dive to as much as 45 meters in search of fish and eels and water snakes. After their dives, they spread their wings to dry, as their feathers are not as waterproof as a duck of a goose. They have an ungainly hooked beak and have been at war with fishermen for centuries, as they compete for the fish in the area.

THE HOODED MERGANSER

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One of the more impressive and lesser known ducks is the secretive Hooded Merganser. “Hooded” is an understatement for this little duck, also called a Crested Merganser. Adult males are beautiful with sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks. Females have their own distinctive elegance drawn from their from their cinnamon crest.

In the winter, the birds nest in holes left in trees like squirrels, but they move to fresh water lakes in the spring and summer while they hatch their broods.

Hooded Mergansers are fairly common in Colorado on small ponds and rivers. They dive for fish, crayfish and other food, seizing it with their thin, serrated bills.

Though they nest in tree cavities, the ducklings leave the nest with a precocious leap to the forest floor when they are only one-day old. Hooded Mergansers are the smallest of the three Merganser species found in the United States.

Males and females of the Hooded Merganser live in monogamous pairs. They remain together until the female has selected a nesting place and completed the laying her clutch. After that, the male leaves the female to incubate and care for the brood. Females will actively seek out cavities in dead trees or artificial nest boxes such as those provided for wood ducks.They prefer cavities four to fifteen feet off the ground. Breeding occurs anytime between the end of February and the end of June, depending on the region.

The female will lay a clutch of seven to fifteen eggs but only begins incubation when the last egg has been laid. This insures synchronous hatching, so all the ducklings are consequently the same size. This evolutionary trait facilitates efficient parental care. During incubation, the female may lose anywhere from 8% to 16% of her body weight.

Like most waterfowl, Hooded Merganser hatchlings are precocial. They usually leave the nest within twenty-four hours after they hatch. Once they leave the nest, the young are immediately capable of diving and foraging, but they often remain with the female for warmth and protection The Mergansers are descended from a species of ancient ducks from the Late Pleistocene era. The exact relationship between the ancient birds and the modern species is unknown.

THE AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN

Since 1960, Colorado is also home to the American White Pelican, a huge, lovely bird with black feathers on the tip of their IMG_2167wings and a nine-foot wingspread.  They are also found at Berkeley Lake. If you have never seen a White Pelican, you will be amazed when you finally see one. They fly like gliders in formation and land with a precision that would make the Air Force proud.  Most of them die before leaving the nest, but if they survive that first year they can have a twenty year life span. They now breed in Colorado in the spring and summer and move to the southern coasts when winter comes.

THE MALLARDS

IMG_2139 Mallards are plentiful in local lakes. They are dabbling ducks that do not dive, but stand on their heads, butts in the air, to nibble on water plants, insects and roots.Version 2 The males have a glossy green head, a ring of white feathers on the neck and gray areas on the wings. They males are called Drakes. The females have brown-speckled plumage. They form pairs in the fall that lasts until the female lays the eggs in the spring. Then the male often leaves and forms bonds with other males and lets the female raise the brood until the molting season in June.

Mallards are gregarious birds that love to flock together in groups called ‘sords’. The male will forcibly mate with other females, especially if she has lost her mate. Male Mallards remain sexually potent most of the year. When they pair off with mating partners, often one or several drakes are left out. This lonely group of adolescent ducks sometimes targets an isolated female duck, even if she is of a different species, then they chase and peck at her until she weakens. At this point the males take turns copulating with the female.

On 5 June 1995 an adult male Mallard collided with the glass façade of the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam and died. Another drake Mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for seventy-five minutes. The author of a paper on this occurrence disturbed the scene and secured the dead duck. Dissection showed that the rape victim was of the male sex. It is concluded that the Mallards were engaged in an ‘Attempted Rape Flight’ that resulted in the first described case of homosexual necrophilia in the Mallard.

Mallards are the ancestors to most domestic ducks.

Version 2

YOU OLD COOT

Coots are plentiful at our lake. The American coot is also known as a mud hen. Though commonly thought to be ducks, American Coots belong to a distinct order called Rallidae. Coots do not have the webbed feet of ducks, but sport broad, lobed scales on their lower legs and toes that fold back with each step to facilitate walking on dry land. Groups of coots are called covers or rafts.

The oldest known coot lived to be 22 years old.

The American Coot is a migratory bird that occupies most of North America. It lives in the Pacific and southwestern United States and Mexico year-round and occupies more northeastern regions during the summer breeding season. In the winter they can be found as far south as Panama.

The Coot mating season occurs during May and June if they have enough territory. Coots are monogamous throughout their life. The American Coot typically has long courtship periods. This courtship period is characterized by billing, bowing, and nibbling. Billing is the touching of bills between the male and females. Males generally initiate the billing. As the pair bond becomes more evident, both males and females will initiate billing only with each other and not other males or females.

After a pair bond is decided, the mating pair looks for a territory to build a nest. A pair bond becomes permanent when a nesting territory is secured. First the male chases the female. Then, the female moves to the display platform and squats with her head under the water. The male then mounts the female, using his claws and wings to balance on the female’s back while the she brings her head above the water. Sex for the coot usually takes no longer than two seconds, thus the expression, “You old Coot.”

IMG_2149Coots generally build floating nests. The female lays 8–12 eggs per clutch. Females and males have similar appearances, but they can be distinguished during aggressive displays by the larger head plumage on the male. 

American Voots eat primarily algae and other aquatic plants but also animals (both vertebrates and invertebrates) when available.

The American Coot has a mixed reproductive strategy. The female practices a form of brood parasitism, a common alternative reproductive method in some birds. When a parasitic female lays her egg in a host female’s nest, the host female lays about two eggs per day. Host females may recognize parasitic eggs when the egg deposition pattern deviates from the traditional one egg per day pattern. The occurrence of brood parasitism may be influenced by the body size of the potential parasitic female relative to the potential host female. Parasitic females are generally larger than their host counterparts, but on average, there is no size difference between the parasite and the host.

The American Coot, unlike other parasitized species, has the ability to recognize and reject conspecific parasitic chicks from their brood. Parents aggressively reject parasite chicks by pecking them vigorously, drowning them or preventing them from entering the nest. They learn to recognize their own chicks by imprinting on cues from the first chick that hatches. The first-hatched chick is a reference to which parents discriminate between later-hatched chicks. Chicks that do not match the imprinted cues are then recognized as parasite chicks and are rejected. Hunters generally avoid killing American Coots because their meat is not as sought after as that of ducks.

Much research has been done on the breeding habits of American coots.

THE CANADIAN GEESE

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Non-migratory Canadian Goose populations are on the rise. They are a species that is frequently found on golf courses, in parking lots and urban parks. Owing to its adaptability to human-altered areas, it has become the most common waterfowl species in North America. In many areas Canadian Geese are now regarded as pests by humans. They pollute beaches and leave their staining feces in many an unwelcome place. An extended hunting season, deploying noise makers, and hazing by dogs have been used in an attempt to disrupt flocks.

The Canadian goose is a large, wild species with a black head and neck, white patches on the face. It has a brown body and beautiful markings. It was originally a native to the arctic and temperate regions of the far north, but through migration it has reached into northern Europe as well.  Like most geese, the Canadian goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; it tends to be found on or close to fresh water.

These birds are extremely successful at living in areas that humans have altered greatly. Because Canadian geese have been able to establish breeding colonies in urban and cultivated areas, which provide food and few natural predators, they are well known as a common park species. Their success has led to them being considered a pests. Their destruction of crops, their constant honking noise, their copious droppings and aggressive territorial behavior – along with their and their nasty habit of begging for food –  has made them unwelcome in many areas.

Canada geese are also among the most commonly hunted waterfowl in North America.

By the early 20th century, over-hunting and loss of habitat in the late 19th century and early 20th century had resulted in a serious decline in the numbers of this bird in its native range. The giant Canadian Goose subspecies was believed to be extinct in the 1950s, In 1962, a small flock was discovered wintering in Rochester, Minnesota by Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey.

During the second year of their lives, Canada geese find a mate. They are monogamous. Most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average of five per clutch. Both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male.

Two years ago, I knew little about ducks and geese. With camera in hand and a love of nature in my heart, I began to gain a new appreciation of the birds that populate our world. According to some estimates, there are about ten thousand different species of birds on Earth presently. Total populations for birds number about two to four hundred billion birds living today, excluding domestic chickens and turkeys.

This is much less than in past ages. We have lost about 500 species since 1500 and 129 known species have become extinct.  This is bad news for the planet, as birds help to pollinate crops and destroy pests. Scavenger birds clean uop the landscape and help with the decomposition of organic materials. Their decline even helps diseases to spread in human populations.

Estimates are that there are ten billion birds in the United States in the spring and twenty billion in the fall.

Winter and hunters kill about ten billion birds in the United States per year.

The American Bird Conservancy estimates that cats kill around two hundred million birds per year in the US alone.

PAINTED MERSANGER

HOW TO BUILD A WIND TURBINE

 

This video explains how a wind farm is built. It takes around 3 weeks to install a turbine. A wind turbine with 30 years working life will return its investment within 3 to 4 years after getting online.