Black Flies

I've been traveling to the UP for twenty five years now, and have somehow always managed to avoid black fly season (even though I once visited in June, albeit an unusually cold one). I had heard the horror stories, but this year I made their intimate acquaintance.

Black flies are endemic to the UP, and spend a good bit of their life cycle as larvae and pupae in running water (even very slowly running water), unlike mosquitoes, who prefer stagnant pools. Black fly larvae of various species may be found in every type of flowing water, from minute seepages in which the flow is scarcely detectable, to the largest rivers and waterfalls.

Black flies are very, very small, and seem, to all outward appearances, to be swarms (for they always seem to swarm) of irritating but innocuous gnats. But, appearances are sometime truly deceiving. Make no mistake about it, these creatures are EVIL.

...[black flies] can be so numerous and can attack so persistently that outdoor activity during the day without some protection becomes almost impossible. Black flies often land and take off repeatedly without biting. Their numbers, and their tendency to bite, increase as sunset approaches. Even when they are not biting, however, their buzzing presence and constant crawling is as irritating as the bloodsucking itself.


Mercifully, relief comes after dark, for unlike mosquitoes and biting midges, black flies do not attack at night. Also unlike mosquitoes, black flies seldom attack indoors or even in a vehicle; once they sense being trapped their attention seems permanently diverted to escape and they spend the rest of their lives crawling up the screen or window pane.

Like the mosquito, the female requires a blood meal before she can breed. Most black flies seem to prefer birds, but seem to be attracted to humans, probably by the carbon dioxide they breathe out.

Mosquitoes are big and noisy; you get fair warning that they are around. Not so with the black flies. They are quiet and stealthy.

Although they cannot bite through clothing, black flies have a predilection for crawling into hair or under clothing, biting in inaccessible places, such as the ankles and belt line.

They also like landing on your watch band, and nipping the skin right next to it. Not only does it itch like crazy later, but the watch band irritates the inflamed skin even more.

Being unused to the creatures, I wasn't aware of the need for light colored clothing, or the avoidance of scent. They attacked me over and over again, beginning with the lovely morning I went birding with Laurie (warblers were coming through), and continuing on the weekend I spent with Jan and Mark at their log house in Eagle Harbor. I had bites and bumps on my ankles (the weekend was hot), at my sock line, and on my arms, behind my ears, and throughout my scalp.

Since I'm somewhat used to mosquito bites, I tolerate them fairly well. They bite, it itches a bit, and then it gets better. Not so with the black fly bites. The bites itched, and itched and itched. I had huge swollen lumps where I'd been bitten. I may have even had a few enlarged lymph nodes.

The itching became unbearable. Antihistamines (first generation) help the itch, but make me very, very sleepy............Um, what was I saying? Right, sleepy. So I avoided them (driving while sleepy with deer in the area is a dangerous), and scratched and scratched and scratched. I drew blood. The scabs are only now non-pruritic and beginning to heal.

And I'm still finding lumps on my head.

(All quotes are from a Canadian government bulletin about black flies. Apparently, THEIR black flies make ours look like wussies!)

Lucky Duckies

Who pays taxes? According to the current Speaker of the House, only the rich. This is what he said on the floor of the house the other day:

"well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two, you don't pay any taxes. So you probably if you don't pay any taxes, you are not going to get a big tax cut. Now, if you earn $1 million a year, you are going to pay about $400,000 of taxes. Maybe you'll get a $40,000 tax cut ..."

What?!?!?!

Is the man living in a parallel universe, where the rich are tormented by taxes, and the middle and lower classes are lucky duckies?

On my planet, Earth, working families pay federal income taxes, state and local income taxes, Social Security taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, gasoline taxes and most of the other taxes that rich people pay. Many don't own stocks, so they won't get any benefit from the capital gains tax cuts, and most won't have to worry about the estate tax, as it is highly unlikely that they will manage to sock away two million dollars to pass along to their heirs. Many, in fact, are one lost job or one serious medical illness away from bankruptcy. (Oooops, my mistake, the working classes can no longer declare bankruptcy. Debts, like diamonds, are now forever....)

According to Think Progress:

While someone with a $40,000 salary and a family of four paid little or no federal income taxes last year, Hastert ignores various other taxes paid by all Americans — payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes, etc.

Consider payroll taxes, which go to paying for Social Security and Medicare. Assuming their entire $40,000 in salary came from wages, this family paid $3,060 (7.65 percent of $40,000) in federal payroll taxes last year. (Note: The employer also contributes this amount, but most economists “believe that the portion of the payroll tax paid by the employer is borne by the worker.”)

Hastert, who earns a hefty $212,010 a year salary, doesn’t seem to understand that families across America are facing higher health care costs, mortgage payments, and gas prices. And yes, they also have to pay their taxes.

Ignorance or stupidity? I report, you decide.

When Animals Attack

....or, random thoughts while driving north.

Recently, there were three fatal alligator attacks in Florida.

(O)n May 9, in southeastern Florida, when an alligator apparently attacked a woman on land, dragged her to the water, and made a meal of her arms. Five days later, a snorkeler in central Florida died after friends pulled her from an alligator's jaws, and the dismembered body of another woman was found floating in a canal in the southwestern part of the state.

Why this sudden uptick in alligator-induced human fatalities? After all, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records, there are an average of about seven alligator attacks every year, yet they are rarely fatal. Since 1948, only 17 humans have been confirmed killed by the huge reptiles. Then, three in a week!

Everyone knows that poodles and other small animals have always been at high risk in Florida (where they're known as hors d'oeuvres), but there seemed to be a truce between humans and alligators. Why did they break this truce? Perhaps because we attacked first. According to Time magazine:

The state's human population has exploded. As a result, development is pushing into wetlands that were once pure, alligator-friendly wilderness, and agriculture is draining huge swaths of alligator habitat. Everglades National Park is just one-seventh the size of the historic Everglades swampland, forcing the animals to share territory that humans consider their own.

It's a familiar story. In the American West, mountain lions are getting squeezed, and lethal attacks by the big cats have become more frequent. In the Northeast, it is black bears, foraging in suburban backyards. In Florida, it's alligators. And unlike cougars and bears, which are rarely spotted, alligators are everywhere and are almost always docile. Along a path just inside Everglades park's Shark Valley entrance, for example, alligators loll along the bank of the adjacent canal, as uninterested in the people as they are in the bugs that swirl overhead. Yet park employees have seen tourists run over alligators with bikes and wheelchairs, throw rocks at them and stab them with sticks. People even put kids on the backs of the creatures for a gator photo op. "The alligator isn't the problem. It's humans," says park naturalist Maria Thomson. "We're pushing them to the limit."

Stupid humans, stressed out animals. The new meme. Remember the black bear attack? The death of the "Grizzly Man" and his girlfriend? Animals are not just on the defensive, but on the offensive. And it's our fault.

Why this train of thought? As I was driving north today, I noted several interesting human-animal interactions. First, just outside of Flint, I saw a dead deer on the highway, and the dead SUV that had run into it. A cervid suicide bomber? Perhaps.

Later, at the Mackinac Bridge, I stopped for lunch, only to be physically attacked by a herring gull trying to steal an onion ring. I felt a bit like Piper Laurie....

UP Bound

I'm off to the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) through the end of May. The weather seems to have finally turned, and I may actually have some sunshine. No snow in the forecast, even in Calumet!

Check once in a while to see what I've been up to!

Happy Mother's Day!

....and thanks, Mom, for everything!

Bumper Stickers

My parents, having grown up under Soviet rule, cherish freedom of speech, but are sometimes leery of being vocal practitioners. And they worry about me. They worry that my beliefs (which often coincide with theirs politically) might not be acceptable to some people, especially other Ukrainians (who tend strongly towards Republicanism), including family members and fellow parishioners.

They voted for Kerry, hate Bush, and will tell me so. But, during the election, they were worried about putting a bumper sticker on their car.

It's understandable. My parents live in a conservative neighborhood. A friend of mine had her car keyed for having non-Republican stickers, and I had my stickers defaced at the mall. Republican districts. And some people are just unwilling to tolerate dissent–-they probably think the Bill of Rights was a bad idea.

So my parents have become increasingly concerned as the stickers on my car have proliferated (my response to the defacement). I now sport "Draft Republicans," "Support Our Troops, Bring Them Home," "Bush Lied, Soldiers Died," "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For..""Kerry Edwards 2004," and a few others. But my favorite is

which my parents worry about the most (even if they agree).

Oddly enough, I have yet to receive a negative comment on that one. People who I never would have pegged as liberal have noticed it, and then gone on to talk at length about just how bad a president Bush is. My parent's neighbor, the guy at the hardware store, my cousin's father-in-law. Not a tattoo or piercing in the bunch.

So the falling approval ratings don't really surprise me. Neither does the rising "strong disapproval" rating. Americans have awoken from their long 9-11 induced slumber, only to find their lives have become a nightmare.

Fool us once, shame on us. Fool us twice........won't get fooled again!

The "Q" Word

"People say we cannot 'cut and run.'
Cut and run was what got us out of Vietnam."
-- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Yachts

The LA Times had a very good analysis of the current economic situation, and the seeming disconnect between statistics and perception. Statistically speaking, our economy is doing quite well. Corporate profits and growth are up.

From January through March, the economy shot forward, growing by 4.8% — the largest increase in nearly three years and a stunningly rapid recovery after the previous quarter's Katrina-dampened 1.7%.

But poll after poll shows that Americans haven't internalized this "good News". Why?

Strangely, though, the public doesn't seem to be listening. Americans are more than twice as likely to give pollsters a negative assessment of the economy as a positive one — 64% disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy. It's strange. The macroeconomic numbers are decidedly robust, but the public remains determinedly glum.

If you dig a bit deeper than the base growth statistics, though, the picture clarifies considerably. Our economy has grown so starkly unequal that the statistician's view now says surprisingly little about the average American's experience. Last quarter may have seen 4.8% growth, but hidden in those numbers was a depressing factoid: Wages had only grown 0.7% — slower than housing, health or gasoline costs.

That's been the story of the last few years, a rising tide that lifts only yachts. It used to be that economic growth ensured wide benefits across society. But the last four years of economic expansion have been historic for the steadily increasing poverty rate — a depressing sign that inequality has so split the poor from the rich that the two hardly inhabit the same economy.

And it's not just the poor who are affected. The middle class has not benefited from the booming economy either.

Research released last week by Tom Hertz of American University raised the troubling notion that inequality and economic insecurity have advanced so rapidly that the economic expansion of 2003 and 2004 was, in a variety of important ways, no better for the median American than the recession of 1990-91.

....From 1990 to 1991, 13% of households saw their income decline by $20,000 or more in real terms. In 2003-04, it was 16.6%. And the difference didn't come in steep falls for the rich; rather, the top income quintile saw a reduction in negative income mobility.

.....As for good ol' upward mobility, the median household was no more likely to move up the economic ladder during the 2003-04 expansion than it was during the 1990-91 recession. Think about that for a second — the average household's income was just as likely to increase during the last severe recession as the latest expansion. For most, the good times now are little better than the bad.

Read that again, and think about it. Americans, average Americans, are doing as well (or as poorly) as they did during the ECONOMIC RECESSION of 1990-91. (Remember that one? The one that got Bush pere an early retirement?) The Rich got richer, and the rest of us.......well, do the numbers.

And consider these numbers:

Health costs have increased almost 75% since 2000. And, according to a just-released study by the Commonwealth Fund, lack of insurance has become a decidedly working-class problem, with nearly 70% of the 49 million uninsured hailing from a family with at least one full-time worker.

Add in gasoline that's merrily creeping right past the $3.50-a-gallon mark, and a scorchingly hot housing market, and it's no wonder Gallup's "worry index" — a poll tracking public fears on seven economic issues — has recorded its highest-ever reading, marking us as the most economically anxious public since its inception six years ago.

The economy, despite what some economists and politicians think, isn't an abstraction, it's an experience. And the average American isn't experiencing 4.8% growth; he's experiencing increased income insecurity, wages lagging behind prices and deteriorating health benefits. Strong as the growth might be, a strong economy isn't much good if it's using those biceps to pummel the working class.

No wonder the billionaires love Bush!

Neck and Neck

The race to the bottom is on! Bush is on his way to breaking a record, and only one man stands in his way--Richard M. Nixon. Yes, our current president's approval rating has fallen again (31% today!), and he may yet break the record (lows) set by his predecessor in 1974.

Here we see approval:

And here, disapproval:

The parallels are eerie. We can only hope for the same endpoint.

There ae thosee who will support him to the end no doubt, the die hards,his natural constituencey. What did he call them? Ah, yes, the "haves and have-mores."

A friend sent me this wistful stroll down memory lane:

Our summer softball game held its 30th anniversary dinner the other night. To let the younger players know how different America was when the game began, we offered this summary of important events in 1976:

The president was a not-very-articulate and not-very-popular Republican, derided by some opponents for being "appointed, not elected."

Democrats were unusually restive, having controlled the White House for only eight years of the entire preceding generation.

When controversy blew up about the administration's practice of conducting warrantless surveillance, the Justice Department put out a statement declaring that authority for such surveillance is inherent in the office of the presidency.

The administration seriously considered going after a New York Times reporter (Sy Hersh) after the disclosure of sensitive classified information.

A key White House official was Dick Cheney (chief of staff).

The secretary of defense was Donald Rumsfeld.

Neocons were arguing that the United States had to bring more diplomatic pressure, and perhaps military pressure, to bear in the Middle East.

The United States offered aid to Iran in developing nuclear power but expressed concern over the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Some scientists warned about the threat of global warming. Other scientists were deeply worried about a possible worldwide pandemic of animal-borne influenza that had jumped to humans (swine flu).

A bitter controversy arose over whether to pull the plug on a woman who had lapsed into a persistent vegetative state (Karen Ann Quinlan).

Heavy Muslim immigration was transforming Europe's workforce.

In entertainment, Americans were checking out the new remake of "King Kong" and a new kind of popular music, called rap.

Concern about the crumbling wall between news and entertainment became part of the national consciousness (thanks in part to the movie "Network").

Apprehension over the rising use of steroids by athletes led to pre-event testing (at the Olympics in Montreal).

The Steelers won the Super Bowl.

Yes, how distant, how different.

(From John Leo's blog, usnews.com/usnews/opinion/leoblog/.)

The more things change and all that......

Impeach Bush!

I heard a bit of an interview with Neil Young on the radio a few weeks back. He was discussing his new album "Living with War," and the most notorious song on it, "Let's Impeach the President." He described it simply as a list of reasons to impeach Bush. Without missing a beat he added "It's a long song."

These are the lyrics:

Let's impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
He's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let's impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones
What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let's impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected
Thank god he's racking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lot of people looking at big trouble

But of course the president is clean
Thank God

Let's!

Big Fish

From the department of "You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up!":

President George W Bush has revealed to a German newspaper his best moment since he took office in 2001.

'I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) perch in my lake,' he told Bild am Sonntag.

It's nice to know that he has his priorities straight.

Then again, when you have the anti-Midas presidential touch, and everything you touch turns to dross, perhaps catching a fish is a big accomplishment! (And perhaps your only real success, besides making the rich richer and increasing the value of Halliburton stock.)

More Good News from Iraq!

...or perhaps not. The Bush administration's commitment to rebuilding Iraq seems to have suffered a wee setback. Yes, another one. It seems we 've spent $243 MILLION to build 150 medical clinics. It's the least we could do. After all, we destroyed so many of the originals.

Still, it seems the Iraqis are not quite thrilled with this effort, "effort" being the key word. It was not much of an effort, I'm afraid. How so? The New York Times reports:

A $243 million program led by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to build 150 health care clinics in Iraq has in some cases produced little more than empty shells of crumbling concrete and shattered bricks cemented together into uneven walls, two reports by a federal oversight office have found.

The reports, released yesterday, detail a close inspection of five of the clinics in the northern city of Kirkuk as well as a sweeping audit of the entire program, which began in March 2004 as a heavily promoted effort to improve health care for ordinary Iraqis. The reports say that none of the five clinics in Kirkuk and only 20 of the original 150 across the country will be completed without new financing.

.......Interior photographs of the structures show bare walls made of brick fragments through which sunlight streamed and stairs made of concrete already crumbling into dust.

And when inspectors compared what they saw to progress reports, some of the numbers seemed suspiciously high. One structure, essentially a rickety shell of uneven bricks, had been declared 56 percent complete. The second floor of another shell held up by little more than wooden sticks — a standard method of bracing unfinished floors in Iraq — had been declared half complete.

Why did this happen? The report cites unrealistic time schedules, a lack of oversight , and security concerns:

But the reports' main finding is that lax oversight by the Army corps is responsible for the failure of the overall program. Cowed by security fears that the reports suggest may have been overblown, the corps sometimes inspected the work only through what it called "windshield surveys" — hasty drive-bys.

And, of couse, there is the ever-present stench of corruption. Money was spent, work was not done....perhaps Halliburton has gotten into the medical clinic business?

UCARE Update

Our big annual board meeting is coming up this weekend, so the e-mails and reports have been flying furiously throughout the internet. (Well, mostly from Chicago, and mostly from Shura, but TO everywhere....) Feeling guilty, I spent a beautiful spring day cooped up with my beloved iMac updating our web site.

Go have a look!

And while you're there, think about buying a bed for a poor, uncomfortable orphan. Mr. Mykolenko would want you to!

The Emperor's Suit

There is the small matter of the White House Press Corps's annual dinner this past weekend. I had heard Stephen Colbert, my favorite Faux (not Fox) conservative was supposed to host it, but saw nothing about it on the news Sunday, only some Bush impersonator performing with Bush as the "other" Bush Twins. The skit got a lot of laughs from the audience, insiders lapdogs all.

Well, almost all. There is Helen Thomas.

Then Colbert stood up to talk. And did he. He spoke truth to power like no one has spoken to Bush in, maybe.....ever. And all while pretending to praise him, to agree with him. It was an unpleasant set of truths, as one could tell from the unpleased looks on the faces of their royal highnesses.

Wow. Wow, what an honor. The White House correspondents' dinner. To actually sit here, at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush, to be this close to the man. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what? I'm a pretty sound sleeper -- that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face. Is he really not here tonight? Dammit. The one guy who could have helped.

By the way, before I get started, if anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail....

.... I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.

....Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

....I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.

Now, there may be an energy crisis. This president has a very forward-thinking energy policy. Why do you think he's down on the ranch cutting that brush all the time? He's trying to create an alternative energy source. By 2008 we will have a mesquite-powered car!

And I just like the guy. He's a good joe. Obviously loves his wife, calls her his better half. And polls show America agrees. She's a true lady and a wonderful woman.....

The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will.

He skewered the press as well:

As excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.

And then to finish it off, he expressed chagrin at not being chosen to be the new press secretary. he had even made an audition tape--one that really has to be seen to be believed. It shows him being chased cross country by Helen Thomas (who is a very good sport) asking one simple question: "Why did we go to war with Iraq?"

There was a huge chorus of pundits who, the following day, berated Colbert for showing disrespect to the president. Oddly enough, not a one of these same fine gentlemen all concerned with the delicate sensibilities of the holder of the highest office in the land seemed even a bit peeved when, a few years back, Don Imus had a lot of very crude things to say at the same event about Bill Clinton and Monica. Now, that was funny.

So, it's not OK to have consensual sex with an intern, but totally respectable and acceptable to rape the country, the constitution, the rule of law, and anything else that stands in the way of world domination and the profits of Halliburton and the Carlyle Group.

IOKIYAR. Same old same old.

Salon has the whole show, in two segments, up for viewing. You can watch them here:

Part 1
Part 2

Enjoy. (You may have to watch an ad to get into the Premium section, but it's worth it.) And then have a good cry as you realize what this country has come to.

Stephen Colbert. True American Patriot.

Symbolism

Ever wonder what all those shapes and squiggles on a pysanka mean? Did your friend who gave it to you send you a secret message you're not aware of?

Have a look at my pysanka site, where I'e finally posted my symbolism handout in true technicolor glory. Or course, I will be tweaking it over the coming months, but it's worth a look.