Happy Friday everyone. Post whatever photos, memes or music your little heart desires.

Since I do a lot of my bird photography at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and it's only a 15 minute walk from my house I thought a tour would be nice. The preserve has seven small lakes they stock with fish, campgrounds for campers, rental cabins on the water, playgrounds for the kids and two pavilions for live music on holiday weekends.

"Well, how did I get here?"

I was looking for answers. The Bush II administration was in the full process of changing the world as we knew it. I shouldn't have to revisit those years, I'm sure you all remember it vividly. I couldn't believe what was happening in and to the world as those lunkheads made history.

I was surfing the web. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it or what the article was about, but I had taken my first bite of the acidic orange blog, Daily Kos, around or about 2003. It made sense to me then, what the writers were saying about the strange new world that the neocons had concocted for us all. I read there every day from that point on.

Many a diary I agreed with, some I did not. I found the comments interesting and many times appalling. At times I would cheer internally at the truth to power some of the authors laid down. Other times I would cuss and spit at my monitor over the vitriol of some of the yahoo-ic numskulls that had the absurd temerity of laying their ill formed ideas to print. Again, I bet you all know exactly what I'm talking about. The site was enlightening and maddening at the same time. It didn't take long to develop a love/hate relationship with la naranja amarga.

How did that work out for us?

All federal agencies, including the Pentagon, are under the same requirement to undergo an independent financial audit since the early 1990s. Every other federal department has satisfied audit requirements since fiscal 2013. The Pentagon doesn't expect to pass an audit before 2027.

And the Second Greatest Evil is Indifference

You might know that Chris Hedges has a new book out - The Greatest Evil is War.

Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely, the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft.

Eugen Herrigel