juvenile black legged kittiwake

Just before Mass, i found this arctic oceanic gull. He was pleasing a small throng of the birder public. This is one of the few birds that are most impressive as juveniles. There is a coal burning electrical generation (power) plant on the interstate in Cleveland between the E.55 and E.72 exits. There is warm waste water coming from the plant.

In the, now, Metropark lot there were cars with birding stickers. One family came up from Akron to see this celebrity. A Minnesota, and a North Carolina plated cars were in the lot. People will drive a distance to see one modest bird. In the local birding news this avian visitor was noted for his nonchalance and photogenic qualities.

The adult has a yellow bill and is whiter. This one was quiet, if one would hear him, he announces his name.

Pilgrimage for Ricardo/Peregrinación por Ricardo

see earlier post [click]

 There has been a facebook page set [click].

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Pilgrimage for Ricardo (información en español a continuación)
Monday, January 13th.
Help us save a family! Our friend and colleague Ricardo Ramos, of Painesville, Ohio, is facing deportation on January 16th, his daughter's 12th birthday. Ricardo is the married father of three US Citizen children, the main breadwinner of his family, having worked 16 years in the fields of NE Ohio. Join us as we walk 20 miles from Great Lakes Mall in Mentor to St. Casimir's Church, 8223 Sowinski Ave., in Cleveland, where we will pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Polish Madonna. Help us raise awareness of this terrible injustice, the separation of our families!

Travel Route will begin at Great Lakes Mall, in Mentor, at 7:30 AM, and continue all along Route 20/Euclid Ave. until we reach E. 79th Street. From there, we'll turn north and continue on to the church. Join us at any point to show your solidarity.

Peregrinación por Ricardo
Lunes, 13 de enero.
Ayúdanos a salvar una familia! Nuestro amigo y colega Ricardo Ramos, de Painesville, Ohio, enfrenta deportación el 16 de enero, cumpleaños de su hija. Ricardo es hombre casado y padre de tres hijos ciudadanos de los EE.UU., el principal sostén de su familia, después de haber trabajado 16 años en el campo de NE Ohio. Únase a nosotros mientras caminamos desde Great Lakes Mall en Mentor hasta la Iglesia de San Casimiro, 8223 Sowinski Ave., en Cleveland, donde vamos a orar por la intercesión de Nuestra Señora de Czestochowa.

Ruta de viaje comenzará en el Great Lakes Mall, en Mentor, a las 7:30 AM, y continuar a lo largo de la Ruta 20/Euclid Avenida. hasta llegar a E. 79th Street. A partir de ahí, vamos a convertir al norte y continuar en la E. 79th hasta la iglesia. Únase a nosotros en cualquier punto para mostrar su solidaridad.

 _________________________
postscriptum: 11p.m. 10 January 2014; 3 additional stories:
Marisela, Immigrant Mother and Widow, to Lead Next Week’s 20-Mile Pilgrimage in Ohio [click]
On Monday, Ohio Advocates to Hold 20-Mile Pilgrimage for Father in Danger of Deportation [click]
Cleveland Plain Dealer article: 20-mile 'pilgrimage' on Monday will support immigrant dad facing deportation [click]

home made feeder

female cardinal

Cleveland lake and west 2014

Welcome to Cleveland in the year of Our Lord 2014. Some one is sharp in the Cleveland Metroparks. A very well done and easy to explain ice sculpture, keep it till it melts, and that would be a while. The snowman, i thought was beach sand is styrofoam. This is feet away from Edgewater Beach.

The viewing, fishing pier closed and bearded with icicles.  

Yards, further out eastward there sat a snowy owl. He was a spot on the ice, not everyone with a camera noticed. Sometimes, it helps to be sociable. A woman had a spotting scope against the building and had it set on him. Another woman was about to set a bigger one up, and she was pleased to hear. She had come from Hopkins Aeroport, and there were none there to-day, but the other day she saw eight. She was happy, seemingly more so to get to see this one. I saw without glasses his presence out on the ice; with weak binoculars 42x, i saw his outline; on the first woman's scope i saw him well. She was unfamiliar with the town, she had lived one time at Sharon Center, and now further away. These snowy owls are far more popular than Thibodeaux the Pelican. People are happy to view the owl, and passerbys are surprised and happy too. The owl has a mixed folklore, some see him as an ill omen; while the pelican's folklore is near divine.

Yesterday, a report of flocks of thousands of the usual gulls, and a few celebrities was made in the area; in addition scaup, common merganser, and golden eye ducks. I saw to-day two mallards and three other ducks too fuzzy to see on the ice. I saw one balled up pied grebe. The gulls, especially the ring bills were too numerous to count. After driving away, a small flock of duck was airborne. In the parking lot by the sewage plant/boat launch there was a half dozen spent shotgun cartridges.

 I thought this young woman said Charley was a briard.

  There were other women carrying their dogs about. Besides birds, i am partial to young women and big dogs.

polar vortex. damn, it's cold outside

 and not much color, just light and dark

11 December 2013

3 January 2014, i don't want to go outside

Resolution: Not to freeze to death.

It is damn cold, we will be having next week, the coldest air in twenty years. I remember working outside (after the election of 2000) at 15°F across the street from Lake Erie, and that cold was not bothersome; i just became sleepy, when i entered a warm room. We had a week in January 1994 that had daily lows of -4°F (15th), -10°F (16th), +4°F (17th), -14°F (18th), -20°F [19th (high of -3)], -9°F (20th & 21st). I worked in the cold then, i had to buy more clothes. When it is that cold, one just wants to get warm. During that stretch of below zero, i went to use a 'porta-potty'. When it is cold, the urgency increases. Well, i know it wasn't on the 19th. I worked every day, except that one, it was forecast to be the coldest day in the history of the town, and i was damned sure not to be working in it. People thought the car could not make it. For fifty dollars gross, it was too stupid. Well, immediately i was blinded by my own piss fog, i had not known such a thing existed. Yeah, when it is that cold nature is trying to kill you. O, to be a bum in that is dangerous.

I have notes, made many notes, lost some, can't find others, and don't feel like looking for them. This is my 900th posting on this site, well almost. I had some temporary notices, that were taken down, when i felt those that needed to read it did, and they were time sensitive, and expired. I had a few guest postings. Well, resolutions. There is some game 'journalists' play. They need a topic, even when there is not one, so they fall back onto the calendar; and in the New Year, there is this psychological opportunity to make a new start, a new life. Many resolutions are health regimen, and "self-improvement". It is always a good time to stop smoking, and not easy. Well gyms make money, people buy memberships, and not use them$$. For those in the ancient Christian traditions, Lent is the time to search the soul, and resolve to become better; but we are still in the festival season of Christmas, and then there is the carnival pre-Lenten season.

I am not comfortable in revealing too much about myself. I enjoy privacy, and think some people have psychological problems who insist on delving into too much damn confession. On youtube there are 'vlogs', video-weblogs. Some are entertaining, a few are informative, and some are confessional. These latter vary in degree and type, some are poignant, some are light-hearted, some are self-promoting, some are repulsive. I do not think i could do one like that. If i had musical talent, and confidence, i could see doing a series. If i had a lecture contract, sure.  Well Anna Akana has done one recently. I swear, i would be absolutely smitten with this girl if she were in my circle. She has a joy of living, and a depth of thought—very rare together, and she is delightfully pretty. Such a person, you could forgive everything. She makes the great point—no to resolutions such as above, but yes to one of those things you would love to do, and have not (an item from the "bucket list").

#8 foto miscellany

Making a last glean through this year shots, i scooped these. Supra, this from Cleveland Patrick's parade; infra, a window through a window, this building is to be torn down by the Anglican diocese and the land will go to the all powerful Cleveland Clinic.

Landlord Lennon sold St. Lawrence's campus for a $100K. He left behind an handled communion paten in the sacristy, the incoming congregation has not a clue what it is for.

 from the Ukrainian Museum on Kenilworth Cleveland, stained glass and Cyrillic typewriter

 purple coneflower

 a vulning pelican stained glass in Nativity of Mary Lorain Ohio

part of a passel of feral felines at East 55th marina

the guy from Argentina vs. the Republican Party

In this corner, the boy genius of the Republican Party.

"The guy is from Argentina, they haven't had real capitalism in Argentina. They have crony capitalism in Argentina. They don't have a true free enterprise system." — Congressman Paul Ryan, boy genius of the Republican Party quoted in an hour long interview with reporters and editors of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The article was mostly concerned with a casino. He also told them he wants to chair the House Ways and Means Committee. He has not made a decision to run for the presidency, and is waiting until after the November election to say.

Yes, i remember the Vice-President, Joseph Biden, in October 2012 making Ryan cringe. Ryan could only comfort himself by drinking water. Joseph Biden did what Barack Obama did not do. He challenged nearly every lie that his opponent uttered. He made Ryan uncomfortable. He showed the Republican his hypocrisy.

A season earlier, Sister Simone Campbell, of the social justice 'lobby' NETWORK, argued for a 'Faithful Budget'. She and a group of Catholic sisters travelled across the Mississippi to the Potomac (Nuns on the Bus), across the rustbelt to the citadel of government. The journey started at Des Moines, Iowa on June 18th, and they continued to the nation's capital. On the second day, there was a stop at Janesville, Wisconsin. Janesville is the home of the Republican budget guru, Rep. Paul Ryan.

Now, Biden, Campbell, and the guy from Argentina are co-religionists of Paul Ryan, supposedly. He can not defeat them in an argument, or in sincerity. Ryan is a propagandist whose philosophy comes from Ayn Rand, whom he made his staff read. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount discourse is a few sentences. Dropping Rand on your foot, would make it smart. Reading Rand has a contrary effect.

"Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism. And this to me is what matters the most: it is not enough to say that President Obama’s taxes are too big or that the health care plan does not work, or this or that policy reason. It is the morality of what is occurring right now; and how it offends the morality of individuals working for their own free will, to produce, to achieve, to succeed that is under attack." — Congressman Paul Ryan

 

One of the many things that Pope Francis is doing, is lessening the strength of the Republican Party of the United States, and he is doing so by not referring to the party at all. Francis is speaking of the programme of Jesus. His programme is not that of Mammon. I am calling it, cognitive dissonance. He has some of them rattled; but i suspect many "Catholics" have been challenged as their fellow Republicans have been. Do you remember some of the old fire emergency boxes that had a wee hammer on a chain, and the words "Break Glass"?
____________________________________
postscriptum: Immediately after this posted, i was struck by an additional thought. We know Ryan is ambitious, there is a particular disgusting quality about his person. I saw this type at university, a snotty, mean smugness based not on ability but on assumed privilege. These were frat rats, they were not academically solid, but themselves expected to receive good grades and were contemptuous of scholarship. The bread was buttered for them, and they had no respect for those that gathered grain, or baked the ovens. A particularly nasty duo would be Paul Ryan, and the unctuous lying creep Eric Cantor. What an awful ticket — Ryan, Cantor. Both are young, and are shills for the grossest of greed. Both lie without limit. They have vitality, audacity, and no honor — a dream ticket in the sick mind of the Republicans to go for youth. They would go on to great defeat, but the thought of them in power makes me want to wretch bile from a gall bladder that does not exist.

Brecksville very late in the year

tufted titmouse

“Yes”

prairie grass Brecksville Ohio

Miracle Requested

La gente con la bandera, Patrona y Protectora de los Inmigrantes

"We need a miracle to help Ricardo Ramos and his family". — Veronica Isabel Dahlberg, Executive Director of HOLA, a small, grassroots Latino organization based in NE Ohio focusing on Latino Outreach, Advocacy and Community Organizing. Painesville, Ohio.

Before 1890, there was no federal immigration entity. Immigration was transferred from one federal department to another from 1890 onward. The last transfer was to this terror induced creation called "Homeland Security". Immigration Act of 1891 gave the Treasury Department a Commission of Immigration, it went through several departments: Commerce and Labor 1903, Labor 1913, and Justice 1940. From 1933 the constituent agency in those departments was the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). For years, resident aliens went to the post office to pick up an alien address card, fill it out, and mail it in; so that addresses were on file. Often, people had their child (often born in this new country) go to the post office and get the card. The child growing up in an English speaking world, would be familiar with the term "alien" from the picture show, and later television, and wonder why in his every other encounter with that word, it would be in the context "Killer Aliens from Mars Attack Earth", or something else similarly stupid. Then one year it was no longer necessary.

Then later, Osama bin Laden, a foreign assassin well outside the country attacked America in a co-ordinated, and dramatically choreographed assault. This gave a new and extremist régime, which had usurped the government, the opportunity to re-organise the government and create a new apparatus as a response to 'terror'. INS as of March 1, 2003 was in this new cabinet department, and was divided into three new structures:  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Yes, immigrant labor is to be filed with the attacks of assassins. This particular case, which has come to my knowledge, falls under the survey of ICE. 

Years before, a DC-3, contracted with the United States Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS), on the morning of 28 January 1948, ignited over the hills east of Coalinga, California. It was overloaded by weight, and by passengers, and past time for a required, safety inspection. Woody Guthrie read the accounts in the papers, and was disturbed that the Mexicans were listed only as deportees. To him, it was as if, it was a parting final insult. Guthrie composed a poem, that later became a song [click]. Two full generations later, how far have we advanced?

Immigrant labor is not respected in this country. Romney said, "corporations are people". He lied, labor is people; people that are taken advantage of, and discarded. Now we have a legal Democratic government, and they are deporting even more people. Politics, and the force of bureaucracy overrules people. This new power was created by fear. 

No Próspero Año Nuevo.

 Ricardo Ramos [center] with family and friends at St. Casimir Cleveland

Ricardo Ramos has been a resident nurseryman in Lake County. He, and his wife, and their three children live in a mobile home park in Perry. He is been in the US for some 16 years. He was stopped while driving, and his papers were not in order. Since coming to Ohio, he has become a father to three children whom were born citizens, or as some would say "anchor babies". The pay he exchanged for his labor, is not great. He and his family have given more to the economy than they have received, but that is the system. The government wants him out of the United States before the crystal ball hits Times Square, and the calendar turns.

The family has asked for the intercession of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and Cleveland's St. Casimir community. They became aware of the Miracle that the parishioners of St. Casimir believed happened. On the day of eviction, the parish was dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa. A parishioner had a dream that Our Lady asked him (and them) not to leave. After 139 Sundays praying outside the church, as a parish community, they again got to go back inside. The right to return.

In this time of the year, the days of Christmas, many are guided by emotion and introspective conscience to be charitable to those caught by misfortune. This season beckons to men and women of good will to intervene. This is the lesson that the great novelist, Charles Dickens, wished to convey to the disinterested whom would have the powers of the establishment deal cold-heartedly and perfunctory for those in misery. A Christmas Carol is always with us, in Dickens' tale the Ghost of Christmas Present told Ebenezer, that he had over 1800 brothers; now he has over 2,000.

This family is part of our community, and has been for years. This is a cry for mercy, and justice, so that a family may stay united. This benefits not only one family, but our society as a whole.  Perhaps, a quick television spotlight and investigation can stir some human response for mercy and justice. The power of a presentation on television focuses attention, and interest on a subject. Those at Saint Casimir's were aided by the occasional audio, video, and print story. This story of the Ramos family can also benefit by media coverage. We know the powers of the establishment sometimes change course if they are shown the light (or are embarrassed).

WEWS TV-5 has run three recent stories, one on Sunday, December 22nd at 6 pm; another on Christmas Day at 11 pm; and a third yesterday at 11 pm [click]. If anyone can appeal to a Representative, or a Senator, or the President, or someone who can intervene, please do so. If Ricardo Ramos leaves, ask for intervention so that he can return.
_________________________
postscriptum 2 January 2014:  "Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, with help from Rep. David Joyce have secured another two-week stay for Ricardo".
postscriptum 3 p.m. 16 January 2014:  "ICE [immigration police] has informed David [Leopold, attorney] that they will not be picking up Ricardo, as the decision is pending. We don't know how long it will take. It could be tomorrow, or next week."

rustbelt dialect(ic)

I have been asked, why do you use the name “a voice from the rustbelt”? Well, it places me culturally. I have seen other maps that include concentration of factories, coal, iron ore, and steel, or as Billy Joel sang about Allentown, “what was real, Iron and coke and chromium steel”. That was the result of Reaganomics and the resultant recession, which set up the pattern of the destruction of the working class, and the demonisation of the poor, and the ascendancy of the Republican Party in success and madness.

A few years ago the Harvard Dialect Survey was tabulated from over 30,000 speakers of English in the United States.  One hundred twenty-two questions were used, and responses were charted to show the geographic distribution of answers. Sunday, the New York Times posted an interactive quiz [clicky] of twenty-five, and the collected responses were transformed into a temperature map [like one sees in a newspaper]. Blue is cold, red is hot; blue is unlike your usage, red mirrors your usage. It spotlights the most similar cities indicative of your speech, and the three most dissimilar. I tried the test several times, and the questions came from a pool. A few answers are elicited from a very small geographic area*. Other more general responses† shade and blend the color assignments. Depending on the questions asked, and which [sometimes more than one choice applies] of the multiple choices one selects, the shading would shift; but not very greatly. 

I had a shift that included Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. I had a shift that included New Orleans, and Baton Rouge [one answer in a small group of questions can throw the results elsewhere]. I had a shift that included Detroit and Toledo. The most common shift i had was Rockford, Grand Rapids, and Cleveland. I had a Cleveland, Akron, and Pittsburgh too. The Pacific West, the Great Basin, and New England were always cold. A couple of answers would yellow up the south, outside of Florida.

the rustbelt

______________________

*There are phrases that have a small and localised distribution; and they  peg you. e.g., October 30th is _____. The problem with that, is one may have knowledge without currency.

†Looking at other sources too, a big national division occurs with the vowel vocalised in the pair of words cot/caught, and pin/pen. i use different vowels.