Friday Crab Blogging

Friday Crab Blogging

Children have been taught to put clouds in the sky. If you are under the sea, you put fish


Girls still do wear skirts, at least in Crabland. Giocometti eat your heart out


Note the length of the beak on this bird


In an effort to be realistic, this child has created see through clothes. Pretend you are Superman


Yes, that is a giraffe; and a very strange crab



and we finish with two crabs; these have the highest BMI in the Chesapeake Bay

Congratulations

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Many of us are seeing hope for a better future for the first time in 8 years.

Are the nukes ready, Alderman?

One of the more ludicrous contentions of this vastly ludicrous election is the that Sarah Palin is qualified to be POTUS because she was the mayor of a very small village in Alaska. This is from the debate yesterday in Alaska between Senator Stevens (R-convicted) and Democrat challenger Mark Begich:

Tracy (moderator): Is Gov. Palin qualified, sir, as president?

Stevens: Yes she is. Yes she is. I think she is. She’s had experience as a mayor. She’s had experience, really, as a governor. And she is what I think the American women have sought for a long time, she’s another candidate for a presence of a woman in our national leadership. So I think she’s qualified and I think our people would like to see her become president… vice president.

I’d like to see her become president, as a matter of fact.(emphasis added)

Cut to the Mayor's office of Wasilla:

Alderman Jones: "Mr Mayor, the police force of Mayville is assembling a strike team to invade our town's dump. We can't allow this.

Mayor Palin: "You are certainly right, Alderman (wink, wink)"

Alderman Jones: "Would you like me to call in the deputies?"

Mayor Palin: "No, no, no. They are probably all A-rabs over there. I think we should nuke 'em. Prepare the Really Big One. (wink, wink)"

Alderman Jones: "But Mayor, the Really Big One destroys an area out to five miles and Mayville is only two miles away!"

Mayor Palin: "I said use the Really Big One. God will protect us. (Realy Big Wink)"

Boom!!! Cut to Heaven...

The Election

It should concern everyone that the American election is turning into a spectacle. For better or worse, when a butterfly dies in North Dakota, the stock market crashes in Tokyo. On the other hand, the bigotry and hate that has come welling up from Joe the Plumber and his six pack (one of my staff thought they were talking about abs) should also remind us that, in spite of protestations to the contrary, American society is not some "shining city on the hill" but just as prone to racism (tribalism) as the citizens of Iraq or Rawanda. If Barack Obama loses the election, it will because he is black.

The decline of America is startling in its magnitude and swiftness. As in any group of people, there will shortly be a gigantic orgy of blame assigning. And, as usual, all the people who deserve it, will be let off scot free. But, once again, those at the bottom of society, particularly our African American citizens, will receive both the brunt of the ensuing hardship and the brunt of the blame. I suppose that this is human nature, and maybe we should look at that closer (below). As an example of this, I have heard many times now, particularly from the man who manages my retirement, that the economic meltdown is due to "all those people getting mortages they couldn't pay for." Awesome in its ignorance of the real deceit of wealth.

Objectively, there is only one major difference between a black person and a white, and that is, of course, skin color. Indeed, skin color is the result of the presence of the pigment melanin. Melanin should, by all accounts, be viewed in a positive light:

The photochemical properties of melanin make it an excellent photoprotectant. It absorbs harmful UV-radiation and transforms the energy into harmless amounts of heat through a process called "ultrafast internal conversion". This property enables melanin to dissipate more than 99.9% of the absorbed UV radiation as heat[3] and it keeps the generation of free radicals at a minimum (see photoprotection). This prevents the indirect DNA damage which is responsible for the formation of malignant melanoma.

(As an aside, it sounds similar to the pigments in the retina we discussed on the information thread.)

Not to put too fine a point upon it, but many of my white neighbors probably could do with some melanin since the incidence of melanoma where I live is astonishingly high. (There must be other evolutionary drivers since melanoma is a disease of older people and melanin shouldn't have that much survival advantage, even in equatorial Africa. Maybe it is the other way around, and northern Europeans lost their ability to produce melanin because they needed to metabolize vitamin D.)

Of course whites have melanin too:

Although human beings generally possess a similar concentration of melanocytes in their skin, the melanocytes in some individuals and ethnic groups more frequently or less frequently express the melanin-producing genes, thereby conferring a greater or lesser concentration of skin melanin.

So, it actually a question of degree of gene expression rather than an absolute possession or absence of the pigment.

But this slight biological differences between whites and blacks (and there are others) is overwhelmed by what one might term "cultural" differences. When looked at objectively, though, these differences vanish. And they vanish entirely for Barack Obama.

He is an exceptional man. Coming from a humble background, he attended Harvard Law School. In spite of the cromagnon grunters who criticize this as elitism, he is exactly what we need in this terrifying world. But the most admirable thing about this man is that he has never lost his cool during two years of absolutely mind bending campaigning. Never

Back to the discussion. I would propose that racism, while felt to be morally reprehensible, may still be the exacerbation of an innate tendency towards genetic chauvinism. One might draw an analogy with the sex drive. Yes, indeed, all humans have this and, if you believe Freud, it is a much more powerful determinant than we are willing to admit. (I daresay that there is not a day that goes by that there isn't some thinking going on in each and every one of us about sex. Just look at the power of sex in advertising and, at least initially, in the McCain choice of Palin.) Consider what the situation might be in which there were no societal restrictions on sexual activity. Chimpanzees and apes give us a good idea.

In the same way, the fear of otherness is, in my way of thinking, one of the primal urges. Some would say that it is inseperable from aggression, which is really another way of saying self preservation. Looking at it that way, we have our entire genome arrayed against the genomes of others.

While society has done an awful job of sexuality (no thanks to the Church making it a Great Big Sin, when actually it was to protect the property of kings, can't have bastards running around), it has done an even worse job with race. You see, the problem is that we live in Alan Greenspan's America (for a great discussion of his connection to Ayn Rand see this Kos diary RIP John Galt. Also, we shouldn't forget Herbert Spencer.). Everything, and I mean everything, is subjected to "market forces." Lo and behold, these market forces are just the primal driving power of the genes in each and every one of us. And yes, evolution causes change. Society changes. Is this progress? Furthermore, in unfettered evolution there are a lot of casualties just like in a crashing stock market (my tanked 401(k) just said hello.)

In nowhere more than racial issues does the power of the genetic market forces dominate and obliterate even the smatterings of the alleged moral code. In spite of Obama's exceptional credentials, many a person has told me (of course not in public) that I'm not going to vote for "that" man (a term used to great effect by McCain in one of the debates.)These are people that go to Church on Sunday and wouldn't harm a flea, but have bought into the sterotype of the otherness of the black man or woman.

This really raises a quandry for people like myself who see no transcendence in the moral code. I am very practical about it. Morality is the thin glue of civilization. Without it, as much as I despise it, all would be chaos. But there are different slants on this strait jacket. The very ease with which people are able to, on one hand, brag about the greatness of the "American Way" (whatever that is), and our democracy, and on the other condemn a black man only for having a little extra pigment in his skin, is only explicable if this is outside the moral sphere.

It is only explicable if it is right there in the red of tooth and claw.

Friday Crab Blogging (a little late)

I only have one crab today but it is rather extraordinary.

Another "You can't make this stuff up"

Suit against God thrown out over lack of address
By NATE JENKINS – 3 days ago

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God.

He said God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Comment: Actually, he has a point there...

Friday Crab Blogging

The rare and famous Chesapeake Bay smiley flea crab

Friday Crab Blogging

Children tend to anthrophomorphize. Check out the eye lashes. I am not sure what the other creature is. I guess it could be sort of a scorpion?? And, of course, a clam.

And they are always smiling!

Another "You can't make this stuff up"

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Dick Cheney:

As all of you know very well, President Bush made wildlife conservation an early and a high priority of his administration. We’ve carried out that commitment in these eight years — and we’ve been proud to have people like you as partners in the enterprise.

The men and women in this room understand what conservation is all about. It means reverence toward creation, and a commitment to faithful stewardship. It means guarding our spectacular wildlife populations — not just for our own time, but for all time.

Friday Crab Blogging

Not many crabs today but what I have is quite a good one.


Most American children are normal. Many American adults are not. I am not sure when the transition occurs, or why.

I am very, very far behind on posts, particularly in response to the Growlery. I promise full reprisal.

Friday Crab Blogging

A little confused about the major claws



You think that this is a crab? Actually, I was informed it was a dinosaur.


This and the following were by a splinter faction that refuses to draw crabs.



Drawn by Twin 1

Drawn by Twin 2. They really do "see" things alike. One of them is blind in one eye and has no depth perception. I can't tell them apart.

Unearned Capital

It is pretty obvious why Bush and his BFF Paulson want to rush throught the $700 Billion bailout. By getting all this money from the taxpayer, those who perpetrated this insanity on us will be able to get away scot free. Here is some info from Forbes on CEO compensation. It gives a long list but this is a sample of the top 100:

(click to expand)


Please note that the annual salary goes from $17.8 million to $192 million a year.

The sum of these chaps stock holdings is $49,858 billion. (Laurence Ellison alone has $23 billion)

So, and this seems obvious, why the hell can't they bail out Wall Street instead of you and me?

I'm for maximum security prison for each and every one of them.

From the mouths fingers of babes

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Friday Crab Blogging - Guest Appearance

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We are pleased to present art work from the legendary Daniel of Across the Pond.

This is an excellent rendition of a blue crab (Callinectes sapidus, from the Greek calli="beautiful", nectes="swimmer", and Latin sapidus="savory")

This is Dan's "Cartoon Crab." The eyes have been brought down to the main torso and we have a mammalian mouth. However the construction of the articulated claws seems to be superior to the Real Crab above.

Crabs. The great Uniters.

Who u gonna b?

CLICK TO ENLARGE

I saw this when on my surf-with-coffee this AM. Notice anything? There is no Doctor or Nurse in the list. We must all be "Health Care Managers!!!" (rates a three !)

Oh, My!

McCAIN SAYS OBAMA DIDN'T CALL PALIN A PIG

STOCK MARKET HAS WORST DAY SINCE 9/11

Surely you're joking, Mrs. Palin?

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The American Presidential election has gone from Broadway, to Off-Broadway, to Side Show. So, in that spirit, I note that Mrs. Palin isn't very friendly to Polar Bears:

The State of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin said... She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts.

If you are at all interested in the ongoing saga of Calamity Sarah, I suggest you go to a refreshing breeze (arctic, to be sure) at Mudflats.

End of first Act. Clap, clap, clap.

Friday Crab Blogging (a little late)

A rather "jawey" crab

This young man has potential as an artist

Note the ice cream cone. Totally out of character for the child who drew it.

An illustrated atlas

This child is telling a story, I think. I didn't have time to ask her what the black, serrated line represented


Drawn in the "Nemo" room, so of course the surfer dude is king

Why we do THE SCREAM

Oh, give me a break. The woman was CLUELESS! effing CLUELESS!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seemed puzzled Thursday when ABC News anchor Charles Gibson asked her whether she agrees with the "Bush doctrine."
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Intentionally or not, the Republican vice presidential nominee was on to something. After a brief exchange, Gibson explained that he was referring to the idea -- enshrined in a September 2002 White House strategy document -- that the United States may act militarily to counter a perceived threat emerging in another country. But that is just one version of a purported Bush doctrine advanced over the past eight years.

And it isn't a damn dance, either.