Saturday Butterflies

Nothing much happened this week.

1) The stock market fluctuated, as they say.

2) Our President reaffirmed his desire to save Social Security by cutting it.

3) Our corporate media continued to fulfill its mission to keep Americans fully informed by following Sarah Palin around.

So it goes. Here are some butterflies.






Umbrella Girl lives in Schiller Park.




Another bee video? Why not! I'll just keep getting closer until I get stung.



To Me!

(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions)
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News You Can't Use

First, unindicted criminal and GOP money man Karl Rove is worried about the teabaggers:



Too bad, Karl! You and your fellow Southern Strategists have raised and fed this monster all your life. It's yours!

Meanwhile, alleged Democratic President Obama is worried about appearing to care about his constituents.

Memo to Jay Carney: putting forth half-assed, small beer proposals that you know will accomplish little because you think, cynically, that’s what “independents” want is a stunt. It’s the definition of a stunt. It’s also craven and cowardly when we’ve still got over 9% of the country unemployed.

And Obama is even going on a bus tour!

Finally, from the Bush's 3rd Term file, today's feature is the Obama DOJ (courtesy of Scott Horton):

The prosecution showed Justice to be firmly aligned with Alabama’s then-governor, Republican Bob Riley, who had leveled the initial vote-buying accusations during a heated election-time political debate over gambling issues.
…
Riley initially launched the politically charged bingo investigation; it was then picked up by a U.S. Attorney’s office headed by Leura Canary, the wife of Riley’s campaign adviser. Local political figures cried foul, but Breuer insisted that the matter was being handled entirely by the main branch of the Justice Department.
...
The suppression of the Alabama bingo gambling industry, and the Justice Department’s prosecution of those associated with it, greatly benefited Mississippi’s Indian casino gambling operations by putting their principal competition out of business. In a sense, therefore, the bingo prosecution forms a coda to the tale of “Casino Jack” Abramoff, with the Justice Department playing a murky and controversial ongoing role.

Yes, this is the same Leura Canary who was appointed by G.W. Bush and went after Don Siegelman. And this is Lanny A. Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Market, Politics, Butterflies

Shall I post my expert market analysis? Trenchant observations on American politics and our continued descent into plutocracy? Or, more butterflies?





How about a carpenter bee?


The goldfinches keep eluding me. This one flew up to the telephone wires just before I could take his picture. Then he spent some time up there laughing.


Thanks to Smut Clyde, I know now that okra and hibiscus are both members of the mallow family.


And now for your market and political analysis:



(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions)
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