Close Encounter With A Beautiful Pup

6:30 AM: One of the highlights of the early season out here on Fire Island are the walks I take with Bradley down through the dunes on a path through the middle of the island. On a few rare occasions over the years we've been treated to the sight of red fox kits, as they romp just outside their den in the late afternoon. Yesterday was a foggy afternoon, and the pups were out enjoying themselves, foraging for food or just lying in the sand outside the entrance to the den. I had my camera with me and the cubs cooperated, even after one of them saw Bradley. The kits are growing big now, and more and more humans are in the area, so it's time for mom to move the den.

I enjoyed Marc's essay on Iraq as a distraction. Dan and I often chuckle about how easily the American public is distracted, especially by sports, or just plain fooled, especially by politicians. Sometimes the politicians can by quite subtle. Ms. Clinton, for example, was recently asked why she thought that our troops would need to remain the the Middle East after the end of our involvement in Iraq. She quite candidly and smoothly answered, without batting an eyelash, that it was because of the oil reserves in the region. Now, did I miss something or is that not a candid admission that the real reason we're in Iraq in the first place is because of oil, not WMD, etc? This should have been front page news! But, as Marc pointed out, too many Americans just go along with the program and think it's OK for us to continue to act like the world's energy hogs, forgetting conservation, even going to war to insure that our gluttony when it comes to energy can continue. Hillary's refusal to admit that her senate vote authorizing Junior to invade Iraq was a mistake, is, unfortunately, better understood in this context.

A reader writes:

"By the way, VA is NOT the site of the worst mass murder in US history,not
even of the worst school massacre in US history. That happened in Bath,
MI in 1928, and guns were not involved (seehttp://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/bath/index_1.html).
A really depressing read."

Thanks for the information, I guess.

Jim