Birding

In the waning light of day, you say you took a walk in the woods. And in the early evening light, you say you saw the robins and the cardinals and the herons in the woods and by the stream. And as you approached the tree, finger to lips, you say you saw a Great Horned Owl in her nest with a fledgling as the father distracted a nearby crow.

There are cardinals and robins here, but there are no herons, and there are certainly no Great Horned Owls that I have seen. So I have no story to share like the one you tell of your walk in the woods.

But I awoke this morning to the sound of a wren singing in the pre-dawn light. And I guess that will have to be enough for me.

8:51:25 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []  

Jeanne D'Orleans (sp?) at Body and Soul discusses why the torture issue matters.

Although she takes issue with the conservative Catholic, Mark Shea, she finds common ground with his views of torture:

Mark Shea/Toying with Evil: it ... is a slippery slope leading to, among other things, the creation of a special class of people who truly enjoy this sort of work and are good at it. Reward such work and create a special department in the government for it, and people like that tend to find ways to continue plying their special skills, even when they're no longer wanted by the state that once supported them.

And then she has this to say:

Body and Soul/The Beast in US: A culture of abuse doesn't stay in the box. ... There's no way to "frame" abuse so that people who don't care will care. The only way to talk about it is ... as the most important moral issue we face.

---
(Hat tip: Political Animal)

8:27:32 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []