STARNESLAND

The 1% Is Again Trying To Make Americans "Want" To Attack A Country, This Time Iran

2012-02-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30422.htm

Refuse to "Serve"!!

2012-02-02T15:35:00.001-08:00

"The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another's throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose-especially their lives."

Eugene Debs

Feel Like This Daily!

2012-02-02T15:20:00.001-08:00

http://positivesharing.com/2012/01/friday-spoing-46/

Rick Santorum

2012-02-02T11:05:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js3BYcHmBhE

A Remarkable Encounter With Wild Gorillas!

2012-02-02T09:22:00.003-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hg2hCuDy2wg#!

The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows".

2012-02-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful for this lusciously trippy composition that has inspired and transported me, probably hundreds of times, since it came out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVd37WBaMIY

The Beatles rooftop for 'Let It Be'...nicely raw

2012-02-01T18:28:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6325bmcsQ&feature=g-vrec&context=G206b09bRVAAAAAAAAAw

How About Valuing Children AFTER They Are Born Too?!

2012-01-29T00:24:00.001-08:00

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/os-scott-maxwell-abortion-florida-012912-20120128,0,5946032,full.column

2012-01-27T18:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCsgZ9zU7IA&feature=related

You Mean It's Not About Blue Thumbs and Freedom and Democracy?

2012-01-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Iran and Syria then Venezuela are next.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqZfaj34nc&feature=g-vrec&context=G21d9c5dRVAAAAAAAAAQ

Land Of The Free My Ass!

2012-01-27T13:45:00.001-08:00

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/316-20/9645-us-plummets-to-47-in-press-freedom-ranking-after-ows-arrests-

I hope this stunner goes into production with no watering down.....

2012-01-27T09:05:00.001-08:00

and soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=1NQ2tIz0NWw

Dinosaur Hatchery

2012-01-26T12:03:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152505.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

Archaeopteryx Feathers

2012-01-26T11:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124113036.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

The US has a history of false flag attacks to "justify" its wars of choice...

2012-01-26T11:39:00.001-08:00

Gulf of Tonkin comes to mind....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfaYouFp4DQ&feature=share

Gorgeous Concept Car!

2012-01-23T08:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/toyota-ns4-plug-in-hybrid-concept/#photo-4735550

The 1%

2012-01-22T16:44:00.000-08:00

I hope Chevy Puts This Cool Concept Car Into Production And Soon!

2012-01-22T13:31:00.001-08:00

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/09/chevrolet-tru-140s-concept-is-the-meaner-cruze/

What Astonishing Hypocrisy!

2012-01-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

As if the U.S. acts to "stabilize" governments there and elsewhere! This country never STOPS destabilizing governments all around the world, even democracies like Iran was before the CIA toppled it in 1953 to install the Shah. How does Panetta look himself in the mirror each day?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcFCdFx8gs

Remarkable!

2012-01-18T08:21:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDTsZn-eM5g

2012-01-17T16:23:00.001-08:00

TNA?

2012-01-17T16:21:00.001-08:00

I LOVE scientific inquiry!

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Did_an_earlier_genetic_molecule_predate_DNA_and_RNA_999.html

I've Loved This Challenging, Inspiring Trippy Song Ever Since it came out

2012-01-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwq1ew9bYbo&feature=related

What A Remarkably Preserved Mosasaur Fossil

2012-01-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116174738.htm

I'd love to see pics taken on the surface by a lander!

2012-01-11T07:51:00.001-08:00

http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/New_Computer_Model_Explains_Lakes_and_Storms_on_Titan_999.html

Priceless

2012-01-10T15:58:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ9weP5i68

Cannabis and Lung Health

2012-01-10T15:32:00.001-08:00

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/10/10098412-smoking-pot-doesnt-hurt-lung-capacity-study-shows

Chrysler 700C

2012-01-10T05:34:00.001-08:00

I hope this is a sneak peek at their next minivan as I love the fluid swoopy styling, especially the trippy angled B pillar!

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1071516_2012-chrysler-700c-concept-detroit-auto-show

I Love This Post On A New Sites About Panetta's Freudian Slip....

2012-01-09T16:34:00.001-08:00

“I think the pressure of the sanctions, the diplomatic pressures from everywhere, Europe, the United States, elsewhere, it’s working to put pressure on them,”

Working to put "pressure on them" for what, not having a nuclear weapons program? Does this fucking douchebag really still expect us to believe that we are morally above other nations. We fucking nuked Japan! We run dozens of secret torture prisons. We invaded two (three, four, five?) sovereign countries based on a web of lies and greed and killed hundreds of thousands of people. What the fuck did Iran do?

This Lexus Concept Car Almost Gives Me a Boner!

2012-01-09T16:28:00.001-08:00

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/09/lexus-lf-lc-concept-detroit-2012/

Video of the Chevy TRU I40s

2012-01-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foOMbOBE7HY

Panetta Admits That Iran Is NOT Trying To Build Nuclear Weapons

2012-01-09T12:19:00.001-08:00

Yet Usrael beats the war drums louder and louder for a new version of "Saddam has WMDs and did 9-11".

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/09/panetta-admits-iran-not-developing-nukes/

Cool Chevy Concept Car Unveiled Today

2012-01-09T06:46:00.001-08:00

This is the first Chevy concept to get me excited since the Centennial Corvette and before that, the Chevy SS of some years back.

http://www.netcarshow.com/chevrolet/2012-tru_140s_concept/

Occupy America!

2012-01-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

Is this just the beginning? FEMA camps next?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c60sYEOlKlo&feature=share

Declutter Your Home in a Month

2012-01-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.ivillage.com/how-declutter-clean-and-organize-your-home-30-days/7-b-412558?nlcid=in%7C01-06-2012#414528

One of Yoko's Eight No. 1 Dance Club Hits

2012-01-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

I love the fierce vocals and the unrelenting beat tying together the deliciously complex structure.

http://imaginepeace.com/archives/13862

A STUNNING concept hybrid car!!

2012-01-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

I hope this goes into production looking EXACTLY like this with NO watering down! GORGEOUS and futuristic!

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/leaked-lexus-lf-lc-concept/#photo-4714763/

The Height of Hypocrisy

2012-01-04T05:44:00.001-08:00

http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/2011/06/19/santorums-wifes-abortion-was-different-you-see/

War Against Iran

2012-01-02T20:02:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dvgDpRdZm0

the 99%....

2012-01-02T15:16:00.001-08:00

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

So much to be thankful for.....

2012-01-01T11:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&feature=youtu.be

Put A Bird On It

2011-12-31T06:13:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XM3vWJmpfo

The Beatles' 'Savoy Truffle'

2011-12-28T18:11:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhIVxuC1W8I&feature=related

An Interesting Model....

2011-12-28T17:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRsUKEvscHI

Israel Should Abide By Judaism Vs. Zionism

2011-12-27T16:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30083.htm

I Have Loved Futuristic Aircraft Designs Since I was Ten...

2011-12-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

These are stunning!

2011-12-25T18:47:00.001-08:00

"Today, some are celebrating an underprivileged mom giving birth in a stable, to a baby who grew up to be a prominent activist for peace, love and anti-capitalist values; who preferred the company of honest prostitutes, the poor and the disabled than that of the religious or financial elite; who partook in radical direct action against the banking system and who, at the conclusion of his life, was executed publicly as an enemy of state. Jesus was a LIBERAL revolutionary." -- Merry Christmas (Posted by Noah Nethero.)

Elton John on 'Little Britain'

2011-12-24T15:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0zUOzkHwAE&feature=related

Little Britain is sheer genius!

2011-12-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

These two guys created a very diverse cast of out-there characters! But Maggie, the bigot who vomits when she even HEARS about ANY minority might be my favorite. SO gross yet so funny. Bummer I can find this classically horrific one in German only. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=3Bun9aM9JW0

Occupy Your Life!

2011-12-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.theshiftmovie.com/

more 99 percenters getting shafted

2011-12-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-01-20/markets/30013620_1_american-workers-boeing-layoffs

2011-12-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

That Danged Gay Agenda!

2011-12-22T14:21:00.003-08:00

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/12/gay_marriage_amy_koch_michael_brodkorb.php

The Ideal Holiday Gift For The Man In Your Life!!

2011-12-22T11:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPwhMoQBg_8

Occupy Christmas Carols

2011-12-21T05:52:00.001-08:00

This is a superb demonstration of the spirit of OWS at its best.....soulful yet positive and non-violent. I think this is the same governor who tried to rob state workers of union representation.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/20/1047222/-Hundreds-of-Wisconsinites-sing-Walker-recall-carol-in-defiance-of-new-pay-to-protest-rules

Continued US Occupation of Iraq

2011-12-21T03:03:00.001-08:00

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28283

No. 9

2011-12-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T__XgJZq9C4&feature=related

Creativity and "Eccentricity"

2011-12-17T11:42:00.001-08:00

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-unleashed-mind&fb_source=message

Obama and the Military Detention Tragedy

2011-12-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

John A Starnes When I voted for Obama I had SUCH high hope for REAL "change I can believe in" but to my mind the ONLY campaign he's kept has been to end "Don't Ask Don'T Tell" which pleases me as a gay man. BUT.....the bogus "War On Terror For Corporate Profit" has expanded....despite its daily/weekly crimes against humanity, Zionist Israel gets EVERY penny that AIPAC demands plus entire weapons free of charge....he wussed out on the pipeline and other key environmental issues, started a few more undeclared wars, hugely expanded the illegal drones program, sought NO justice for the Bush/Cheney gang of war criminals, and now this travesty that Americans can be scooped up and tossed into military prisons INDEFINITELY with no trial or even charges.....it seems that "The Land Of The Free" has decided to mimic the cruel dictators it has supported for decades like the Shah and Saddam and Allende. So I am changing my voter registration to what has always been unthinkable, Republican, so I can vote for Ron Paul, in the vain hope that he is NOT yet another pathological liar seeking office.

I love this channel!!! Check out the Rick Perry version!

2011-12-16T07:46:00.001-08:00

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/a6e1fea587/newt-gingrich-a-bad-lip-reading-soundbite?rel=player&playlist=334652

Cool Jet in This Later Series by Gerry Anderson

2011-12-15T18:10:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7cOoQCmes0&feature=related

Fireball Xl-5

2011-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

Every Saturday morning back then I'd be glued to the TV to see the cool launch intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifS2nP53Zs

Rock and Roll at its best

2011-12-15T16:48:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ded4MZVVAhE

A wonderful edgy Yoko dance remix.....deliciously danceable and challenging!

2011-12-15T14:45:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnQ08fEvfQU&feature=related

Stop Sabotaging Yourself!

2011-12-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/

Ex-CIA Agent gets the 99%!

2011-12-15T07:38:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFUMlIm1Y94&feature=share

A wonderfully sleek, futuristic electric Cadillac...and with rudimentary fins!

2011-12-14T13:38:00.001-08:00

http://www.cadillac.com/elr-electric-car.html?seo=goo_%7C_Cadillac_Awareness_%7C_Cadillac_ELR_Awareness_-_Content_%7C_Electric_-_Content_%7C_electric_car&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Awareness-Cadillac-Cadillac_ELR_Awareness_-_Content&utm_content=Content&utm_term=electric_car

Occupy Flash Mob!

2011-12-14T07:58:00.001-08:00

Occupy Your Mind and be FREE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXISGHLT0Og

QUITE the fishing tale!

2011-12-14T07:04:00.001-08:00

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/most-popular/4-deer-caught-by-charter-fishing-boat.html

Support Our Troops....truly support them.....

2011-12-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

While I differ with Ron Paul's support of nuclear power and a few other issues, I wholeheartedly agree with his views on US economics (i.e. The Fed) and our constant military intervention around the world, WITHOUT provocation, as the main cause of what our avaricious, amoral, manipulative, deceptive leaders call "terrorism" even as they and theirs profit wildly from the bogus "War on Terror". Good video less than 5 minutes long. Occupy your mind and refuse to support ANY war of choice for profit, such as the one against Iran that has already begun with bombings, assassinations of scientists, assaults on their currency, manipulations of IAEA findings, drone flights, and a GREAT many U.S. bases all around it. Brace yourself for a staged False Flag event designed to make the American public "want" war with Iran. John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYxPkKGeVKI

Finally....cannabis sensibility!

2011-12-14T06:14:00.001-08:00

http://the420times.com/2011/11/switzerland-legalizes-growing-cannabis-at-home/

Reality.....

2011-12-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DScLovFUAk&feature=player_detailpage

Quite the prophetic video in view of what seems to about to become law in "The Land of the Free"

2011-12-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO6yQvODZjI&NR=1&feature=endscreen

Luigi Colani

2011-12-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

This design genius proposed back in the mid 1980s this remarkable, feasible passenger airliner inspired by the form of a shark. Even now it takes me breath away.

A stellar, compelling and haunting dance club song by Yoko Ono

2011-12-13T13:25:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQbhK_BeRk

Feathered Dinosaurs

2011-12-10T23:06:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/f/feathered_dinosaurs.htm

2011-12-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

Funny how "Right To Life" folks seem to care deeply about small clusters of cells, but once you are born and become a fully sentient being, you are Shit Out of Luck, especially if you are female, of color, gay, or are a Muslim living atop rich resources.

Classic Three Stooges

2011-12-10T17:46:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdL3_83KZZA&feature=related

Rare Truth and Honesty on Fox News

2011-12-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSd9OURbCE

I WANT THIS!

2011-12-09T12:48:00.001-08:00

http://www.jncht.net/photoluminescent_stone.HTM?gclid=CKWalo3uxKcCFUHr7Qod2VYrDA

I'm Rick Perry....

2011-12-09T08:29:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-eqpJYGtvk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Herbal Beds By Humans 77,000 Years Ago

2011-12-09T03:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208151220.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

2011-12-08T09:10:00.001-08:00

According to the GAO audit, $16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010. The following list of firms and the amount of money that they received was taken directly from page 131of the GAO audit report....

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion

This report was made available to all the members of Congress, but most of them have been totally silent about it. One of the only members of Congress that has said something has been U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

Super Predator Had Excellent Vision

2011-12-08T08:29:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207132908.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

2011-12-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

I am blessed with friends and neighbors who are Christians who strive to be Christ-like. But historically, Christianity has an agenda of oppression of blacks, scientists (like Galileo and Darwin), women, gay people, plus wholesale conquest and theft of land from indigenous peoples in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, suppression of education and democracy, decimation of natural resources, expansionist nationalism like America's 'Manifest Destiny' and Germany's Nazism, endorsement of slavery and more shameful terrifying social injustices. But then again what can be expected from a blood cult whose central iconic image is of a brutally tortured dead man hanging on a cross?

2011-12-07T16:52:00.001-08:00

Bless Michael Moore!

2011-12-07T16:51:00.001-08:00

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/winter-our-occupation

2011-12-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

A lovely song and one of a couple videos that George, Ringo and Paul created around a home recording by John that Yoko found, as I recall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWWJx4gpfMg

2011-12-06T17:41:00.001-08:00

Diamond Planets?

2011-12-06T10:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140531.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

Evolution Without DNA!

2011-12-06T10:41:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205102713.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

Will I

2011-12-05T18:04:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Crx7WPZePA&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8E5CECC9EBF59C25

Incredible Fossilized Nest Of Baby Dinosaurs

2011-12-01T15:59:00.001-08:00

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/pictures/111129-dinosaurs-nest-babies-egg-mongolia-ancient-parents-pictures/?source=hp_dl1_news_dinosaurs20111201

Mike Myers at Occupy Wall Street

2011-12-01T07:14:00.001-08:00

Excellent video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGfUn7EZ69w&feature=share

I'd forgotten how Much I'd liked this Yoko remix

2011-11-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQbhK_BeRk&feature=related

Top Regrets Of The Dying

2011-11-30T07:05:00.001-08:00

http://beyondtheopposites.com/?p=94

Laser tool on Curiosity rover

2011-11-30T06:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Los_Alamos_instrument_to_shine_light_on_Mars_habitability_999.html

"Land Of The Free"?

2011-11-30T01:50:00.001-08:00

Both scary and sickening!

http://rt.com/usa/news/senate-mccain-battlefield-graham-429/

Dreaming As Therapy

2011-11-28T06:07:00.001-08:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111123133346.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

2011-11-27T21:52:00.000-08:00

BURT THE BIRD

One morning in early May, 1992, a fierce thunderstorm whipped through my northeast Denver neighborhood as I landscaped a home beside the foothills several miles to the west. That afternoon I returned to see that my yard, the streets, the whole neighborhood, was rain-soaked and littered with wind blown twigs and green leaves torn from trees. Two grackles paced nervously side by side on my roof, squawking hysterically. moments later I found two dead baby birds (mauled by a cat, likely mine) on the ground below my cedar tree where a week before a friend had pointed out a nestful of cheeping hatchlings near the pinnacle.

But from directly below where the parent birds made such a fuss, in a flower garden, came the frantic “cheeps” of a survivorthere, huddled between red poppies and purple iris, was a soaked, shivering, sorry-looking baby grackle. I took him inside, and quickly rigged up an incubator using a clear plastic bulk food bin from a grocery store dumpster, a soft towel, and a 40 watt bulb in a reading lamp. Soon his feathers were dry and fluffy and he no longer shivered, nestled in the towel and basking in the warmth. I named him “Burt, the Bird”.

Since re-arriving in Denver two weeks before, I had been barely functioning, on automatic pilot, nearly paralyzed by shock and grief over the violent suicide of my old friend Renee’ Ashley, which occurred as I migrated back from Tampa and learned of less than an hour after unlocking my dormant house. But Burt was simply too hungry too often for me to slip further into numbing grief as I struggled to devise a diet for him.I’d always heard that feeding orphaned birds a food slurry with an eyedropper can get it into their tiny lungs, leading to fatal pneumonia.

So I soaked little pellets of dry dog food in a weak solution of warm water and liquid baby vitamins until they softened and swelled. When I offered them to this tiny but incredibly loud baby bird he sucked them up like a black hole, making a hilarious gurgling sound as he continued to scream through a throat full of wet nuggets! Each feeding he’d wolf down seven or eight of them till his neck filled up, and wash them down with an eyedropper full of baby vitamin water, then quickly fall asleep in the warm glow of the bulb or in my hands. An hour later his screams for more food would echo through the house once again, and I’d obey. Umpteen times a day Burt screamed and I fed himit became a Pavlovian response for me, even when dead asleep. I had instantly fallen in love with this infant eating machine. And Sergeant, “The World’s Best Dog”, didn’t seem jealous, only curious.

Burt grew like something in a 50’s sci-fi movie, and soon his fuzzy baby feathers fell out as wave after wave of flight feathers emerged from his translucent grayish-pink skin. All this growth and change was fueled by vast amounts of watermelon, slugs, raw corn-on-the-cob, peeled grapes, cereal, oatmeal (cooked or dry), raw beans, citrus, bananas, cherries, cottage cheese, and his favorite..some of Sergeant’s ‘Prime Cuts’ canned dog food. Like me, he was a voracious garbage gut!

Burt had bonded to me on day one, always wanting to be with me, perched on my head (and pooping indiscriminately) as I typed, washed dishes or worked in my gardens. We were buddies. If he was elsewhere in the yard or house and I called out his name, he would invariably answer me with a loud singular chirp. One heartbreaking day though, as he sat drying on a tall squash trellis after a dip in the bird bath, he fell about four feet as I gardened beside him and landed skull first on the corner of a pane of glass at the back of the henhouse. Already filled with horror and sadness over Renee’s death, I saw him bounce sickeningly to the ground, legs painfully stiffening, eyes closed then he lay motionless. I felt guilty for putting him up there too wet too glide, certain he was dead.

But he was still breathing! So I put him on the hay on the floor of his little sunning cage atop the hen house, begging him not to die, my eyes filling up, a big lump in my throat, pretty well maxxed-out with negative life events. I stayed with him, softly calling out his name, watching his breathing. Soon he sat up, head waggling dizzily and unable to stand without falling over. But within the hour he was almost back to normal and screaming for food. Whew!

All that summer most mornings began with taking Burt, perched on my index finger, out to my neighbor’s expansive lawn (vs. my token 10 foot oval of it) for daily flying lessons as I sipped my coffee. I’d launch him with a gentle swing of my hand, but he just controlled his descent. As he got better I’d give him a softball-style underhand toss, and he’d “fly” maybe fifteen or twenty feet. By midsummer Burt was still a poor flyer as dozens of young grackles flew over the house daily. His now nearly adult feathers were a gorgeous shiny gray-black with an iridescent overlay of indigo and violet but the tips of his wing and tail feathers had frayed a little due to rubbing against the bars of his bird cage made vital by my and other cats who’d approach him hungrily. I wondered if he would ever be able to leave home to be with other grackles, even though I’d nearly weaned him from hand feeding by showing him how to catch pill bugs, earthworms, crickets and slugs, and by offering him assorted dry grains and seeds.

Tragedy struck Burt once again one morning during a flying lesson, when he landed on the heat-retaining compost berm on the north side of my house where he spotted and gobbled down a wild mushroom. The next morning the inside of his mouth was a sickly gray, his saliva was gummy, his golden eyes very dilated and his movements slow and jerky. So I gave him fresh water continuously from the eyedropper he had outgrown a few weeks prior to flush him out. He would not eatand seemed very spaced out.was he tripping? If so it was clearly a bad trip. The next morning he was okay but bonded to me even more, downright affectionate, like a tame parrot. I asked him to recall this lesson about mushrooms when he was off in the wilds as a free bird someday.

A few weeks later, during a practice flight, he proudly surprised me by leaping off my finger and flying straight across my yard and the next 2 neighbors’ yards in a long, strong but very low flight. But panic filled me as he crossed Ruth’s yard when one of her cats leapt off the front porch and nabbed him in mid-flight with its front paws, pulling him screaming to the ground. Like an hysterical parent I shot forward bellowing my lungs out at the damned feline who was so freaked by the sight of a deranged and angry maniac bolting his way that he released Burt before biting him and fled into the bushes. Walking back to my yard with my heart thumping and Burt perched on my index finger, I noticed the cat saliva on his wings, relieved that this poor cursed bird had once again cheated fate.

October came, the leaves changed to gold and rust, silvery frost coating my gardens each morning and still Burt the Bird barely flew, never again having repeated his Wright Brotheresque performance. I wondered if he’d be migrating to Florida soon but in my truck with Sergeant and Lovely (the World’s Fattest Cat) and my chickens. Suddenly though he was decidedly untame, pecking at my offered finger instead of jumping onto it as usual. One sunny autumn morning, as thousands of grackles oddly swarmed into the tall trees in my neighborhood, their voices filling the air, I coaxed Burt onto my finger and took him out of his big back yard sleeping cage (big to reduce the fraying of his feather tips) for yet one more disappointing practice flight, knowing that winter was closing in. Suddenly he shot up at a forty five degree angle and landed in the dead fifteen foot tall pollarded elm beside my raspberry patch. Convinced it was a fluke he had for the first time ever gained altitude, I climbed up to rescue him once more. With my outstretched hand just inches from him, Burt burst away in a beautiful arcing upward flight to the big apple tree half a block away!

Back on the ground I was filled with conflicting emotions.pride, joy, relief, uncertainty and a touch of sadness that this might at last be the goodbye I’d hoped for and worked towards all summer. I never wanted Burt to be a pet, just a mature and healthy wild grackle. Parental concern drew me to the apple tree filled with grackles feasting on the red ripe fruits, and I spotted him due to his frayed feather tips right where he’d landed. I called out his name, and as usual he answered back. Without warning there was an explosion of grackles from that tree and towards a distant elm. Grinning and misty-eyed, I spotted one grackle flying lower and slower than the rest of the flock, but damn, he was keeping up!

Back home I read that grackles migrate south each winter too in large gregarious flocks, ending my fears of his freezing to death in Denver, hungry and alone. And all that winter in Florida, whenever grackles flew over making that oh-so-familiar call, I’d check first (usually) to see if anyone was looking then call out “Burt!”, entertaining the fantasy that one would break away from the flock and descend to land in front of me, screaming for ‘Prime Cuts’ and slugs.

I still occasionally wonder where he is, if he is, thankful for the chance to have first saved him then grown to know him. And while I don’t believe in an anthropomorphic God running a cosmic show, I still can’t help but to see Burt as a gift of light and life at a time I was nearly completely filled with pain and darkness. While I will always miss Renee’, Burt’s golden shining eyes reminded me all that sad summer following her death of Life and Love and Innocence.

If that is not a priceless gift, what is?