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If you want to see some animal and familial abuse done tastily by a bunch of hill folks who got rich making duck calls.. but they like to fish&frog tooo.. A&E now .. Quack.

Hooded Mergansers for the most part. I used to see a greater variety when I was hunting, I can't get far enough off the road these days.

I got out for a while yesterday, a nice sunny day. I was riding with a friend who just isn't in to lurking around mud holes so I really couldn't get serious.I got these pretty little Hooded Mergansers moving down a pond.

I got out just ahead of an oncoming storm today, the Mallards are back The hens were flaked out on the slope around the pond, out of reach, but several drakes were parading along the edge.Most of the local ponds are still low, this one catches runoff from a large parking lot.I saw a lot of Wood Storks today, but none I could get close to.

The start of waterfowl hunting season on public lands in the Sacramento Valley has been delayed by a week due to lingering effects of a wet winter.

An American hunter who abused wounded birds in Western Canada and videotaped his antics is facing a $15,000 fine and a three-year hunting ban in Canada. Jeffery Burdett Foiles, 54, of Pleasant Hill, Illinois, pleaded guilty in an Edmonton court Wednesday to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a duck, contrary to the Criminal Code.

Sales of new homes in the U.S. saw a modest decrease in the month of June, according to figures released Tuesday by the Commerce Department, with the drop in sales coming as a surprise to economists. New single-family home sales came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 312,000 in June, a 1 percent drop from revised figures that showed the May rate at 315,000. Most economists had predicted a slight rebound to an annual rate of 321,000 new home sales. Additionally, the May figures were revised downward from initial reports that showed an annual rate of 319,000.

It was an unlikely place to find a pair of mallard ducks waddling around on a Friday morning. But there they were, in the employee parking lot behind the downtown Coeur d'Alene Press building on the corner of Second and Lakeside. Press workers quickly noticed something wasn't right with the colorful male bird. Protruding from the side of the animal's neck, the employees observed what appeared to be a long needle with a plastic cap on the end. "We immediately thought it must be some sort of tracking device," said Press business office employee Angie Abbott. While another Press staffer...

Disability insurer Aflac Inc fired comedian Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of its iconic duck on Monday after a series of Twitter jokes about the earthquake in Japan, the company's most important market. Since 2000, Gottfried has voiced the duck in the insurer's TV ad campaign in the United States, quacking "Af-LAC!" in the comedian's famously abrasive voice. Gottfried fired off a dozen jokes on the social media service over the weekend, all riffing in one way or another on the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami. But the company said his comments "were lacking in humor and certainly do not...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Wal-Mart (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, has apologized for selling duck meat past its expiry date in a store in southwest China's Chongqing region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. A store in the Jiulongpo district was caught by a local market regulator selling smoked tea ducks using the meat. The market regulator was tipped off by a consumer late in February, Xinhua said. Wal-Mart would pay the victims 10 times the price of the ducks as a penalty, the firm told the municipal consumers' association in a statement.

Here's a delightful way to treat your special guy or gal on Valentine's Day, and it's much easier to prepare than you'd suspect. Serve with baked potato and Brussels sprouts. A Black Forest cake would truly be a satisfying and romantic dessert.

SUFFOLK Charles Duck opened the door of his White Marsh Road home on Wednesday, supporting himself with crutches. A week ago today, he'd just come home from the hospital. Shortly before 3 a.m., police said, Duck saw a man trying to load a dog box from Duck's lawn into a pickup. Duck got his gun, went to the window, and yelled at the man to move to the front of his vehicle. Instead, he jumped into the passenger side of his pickup, and Duck, a retired Suffolk police officer, started shooting, police said. "I just got out of surgery the...

As attention turns to the 112th Congress -- and the 2012 cycle -- the political ramifications of the sprint to close the 111th Congress are becoming clear. Several members of the 111th Congress may find themselves in competitive Senate races in 2012 and an analysis of their voting decisions during the lame duck session offers a few clues about what is in store for some of 2012's marquee contests. The debate over Pres. Obama's compromise on the extension of the Bush tax cuts, a central focus of the session, shed some light on the 2012 Nevada Senate race. Sen. John...

Today, 12/22/2010, finally ended the orgy of political abuse by the Gang of Lame Ducks, led by Nazi Bela Lugosi (aka Nancy Pelosi) and Dirty Harry “Squeaky” Reid, known officially as the end of the 111th Congress. (My personal suggestion is to replace the 1′s with 6′s for a more appropriate appellation.) After the “shellacking” that Obama and the Demonrats took on 11/04/2010, the filthy pack of third-world politicos used scorched earth politics to ram the remainder of their agenda down the throats of the dismayed – but at this point – not-altogether-surprised American public The weeks from 11/04 to...

... to Pilfer and Sabotage Operative word for conservatives: VIGILANCE The so-called progressives aren't done with their date-rape of this country just yet... As legislators return to the Hill today, don't let the reported "slow start" to the congressional lame duck session lull you into complacency... rather expect the worst and keep your guard up for a sharp left-hook at anytime over the coming weeks. From it's deathbed, the fading Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate is apt to ram-through anything they can get the votes for: it's not like they'll be restrained by any scruples- and you already know what they think of...

Dem lame-duck agenda shrinking fast after Election Day 'shellacking'By Alexander Bolton - 11/08/10 05:00 AM ET Democratic allies are not optimistic about their legislative priorities getting done in the lame-duck session after Democratic candidates got pummeled on Election Day. Senate Democrats had discussed as many as 20 bills up for consideration during the lame-duck session, the period between the Nov. 2 election and Christmas. In the wake of a midterm election that President Obama called a “shellacking” of his party, Democratic insiders question if anything more than a stopgap spending measure and temporary extension of Bush-era tax cuts can pass....

One of the top priorities of the coming lame duck session of Congress will be the formal repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," aka U.S. Code Title 10, Section 654. Obama won't have another chance to shove it through before 2012, and he wants the gay community on his side then. He will probably also want to repeal Article 125 - Sodomy in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Read at least the "Findings" part of Section 654 before you go any further. It contains a good summary of the logic that was used at the time that "Don't...

Kirk to miss part of lame-duck sessionUpdated at 11:36 AM today November 6, 2010 (SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) -- Illinois Republican Mark Kirk won't be seated in the U.S. Senate in time for the start of the lame duck session of Congress this month -- unlike two other newly elected senators. The session begins Nov. 15. But state officials say the paperwork officially declaring Kirk the winner of the Senate race won't be delivered until Nov. 29. That should still allow Kirk to participate in two weeks of the session in December. He argued strongly during the campaign that voters needed to...

A mother feeding the ducks with her two children was stunned when she was told off by a council warden - for giving the birds 'unhealthy' white bread. Lisa Taplin, 34, was told by the park ranger to bring granary or wholemeal bread next time as it was better for the ducks.

Lame duck dangersFriday, October 15, 2010 U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith When a football game goes into overtime or a baseball game goes into extra innings, fans are usually on the edge of their seats with excitement. Unfortunately, when Congress goes into extra innings it usually means bad things for American taxpayers. In Congress, such overtime is called a "lame duck" session, and one is set to take place shortly after the November elections. I am concerned this session will be used as an opportunity by some to bring up controversial issues without the possibility of being held accountable. House Speaker...

Democrats Scale Back Agenda on Their Own Termsby Wendell Goler | October 04, 2010 Even though the president's aides believe Democrats will retain control of the House and Senate, they're prepared for a scaled down legislative agenda after next month's elections. But officials say it's not because Republicans will be calling more of the shots. Part of the reason is that the largest items on Mr. Obama's agenda, including the Recovery Act, health care reform and financial regulatory reform, have already been passed by Congress. Another part of the reason is that few here expect Republicans to follow their likely...

Beware the lame duck appropriatorsBy Alex Cortes - The Daily Caller Updated: 8:49 AM 08/12/2010 Republicans have been raising the concern of a lame-duck session of Congress where the Democrats will attempt to shove Cap and Trade, Card Check, and other tired, statist policies down the American people’s throats. Although such new authorizations would be a slap in the face to a public that just issued a new governing mandate, this concern is misdirected and minuscule compared to an even greater lame duck challenge. The radical policies the Lame Duck Democrats may attempt to authorize honestly have little to no...

The Senate’s lame-duck session would begin the week of Nov. 15, according to an internal document obtained by The Hill. Under a scheduled laid out by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate would return on Monday, Nov. 15 for a single week before breaking for the week of Thanksgiving. The upper chamber would then return to business on Monday, Nov. 29. It is not clear how long the Senate would then remain in session. The House has not announced a preliminary schedule for post-election sessions. Congress could have to consider appropriations bills after the election, as well as what...

A Bosnian man who claims he is being targeted by extraterrestrials after a series of meteorite strikes on his house has now been hit by a sixth space rock in the space of a few years. Radivoje Lajic first came to international attention in 2008, shortly after the fifth meteorite had crashed into the roof of his house in the northern village of Gornji Lajici. And now, within the past month, another rock has hit the roof of his house, in defiance of all the odds - making it six strikes since the plague of meteorites began in 2007. Experts...

Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September. Members gulped when National Journal's Charlie Cook, the Beltway's leading political handicapper, predicted last month "the House is gone," meaning a GOP takeover. He thinks Democrats will hold the Senate, but with a significantly reduced majority. The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December...

Union 'card-check,' cap and trade, and so much more Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September. Members gulped when National Journal's Charlie Cook, the Beltway's leading political handicapper, predicted last month "the House is gone," meaning a GOP takeover. He thinks Democrats will hold the Senate, but with a significantly reduced majority. The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an...

The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December they don't want to defend before November. Retiring or defeated members of Congress would then be able to vote for sweeping legislation without any fear of voter retaliation.

Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September. Members gulped when National Journal's Charlie Cook, the Beltway's leading political handicapper, predicted last month "the House is gone," meaning a GOP takeover. He thinks Democrats will hold the Senate, but with a significantly reduced majority.

Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September. Members gulped when National Journal's Charlie Cook, the Beltway's leading political handicapper, predicted last month "the House is gone," meaning a GOP takeover. He thinks Democrats will hold the Senate, but with a significantly reduced majority. The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December...

"An apparently hungry Chalmette man has been arrested for stealing a duck from a public park with the intent of cooking it up for a meal, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff`s Office said. The Sheriff`s Office said Ashmeer Tahir, 38, 3713 Juno Drive, was booked with theft of an animal Monday after someone saw him remove a muscovie duck from Sidney Torres Park in Chalmette. A sheriff`s deputy found Tahir at his home with a duck inside a bucket in his van, the Sheriff`s Office said in a news release." duck http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/06/chalmette_man_stole_duck_from.html If this dude can afford to live in...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

French police said on Thursday they had arrested the suspected military leader of the Basque separatist movement ETA in the south-western city of Bayonne. AFP - French anti-terrorist police on Thursday arrested the suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group ETA, Mikel Karrera Sarobe, police sources said. Two other suspected ETA members -- also Spanish nationals -- were arrested with Karrera Sarobe when detectives and anti-terrorist police raided a house in the southwestern French city of Bayonne at daybreak, the sources said. They were a man and a woman, and one of them is suspected of being the number-two...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- A Florida couple have been charged with theft for capturing ducks from a community lake and arranging to have them killed at an animal shelter. Robert and Blain Aymond infuriated their Frenchman's Landing subdivision neighbors in Palm Beach Gardens, who showed up at a preliminary hearing en masse last month wearing yellow ribbons with pictures of ducks, The Palm Beach Post reported. One woman, Lorraine Lyon, tried to bring the ducks's ashes to the hearing but was unable to get them past security. While critics call the Aymonds duck-killers, their lawyer, Mitchell Beers, said there is...

A British lobbying group has criticized a fire department for spending six hours on the rescue of a pet duck trapped in a pond's overflow pipe. Chris and Karen Hutchens said a five-man team of Gloucestershire firefighters arrived at their Chalford Hill, England, home just before 9:30 a.m. and dug a trench to free their duck, Brownie, from the pipe, The Sun reported Monday. "It was such a relief when a fire engine turned up and they started digging the hole. The pipe was about 4 feet underground but they kept going, they were wonderful and really went beyond the...

President Barack Obama has been in office just nine months and already he is defending his legacy, pushing back more aggressively against criticism of his record on health care, climate change, closing Guantanamo, reforming immigration laws and financial regulations and managing the war in Afghanistan. For the past two weeks, as he’s jetted across the country to fill Democrats’ 2010 coffers, Obama has been test driving a new speech that sounds a lot like one he’d be giving if he were on the ballot next year: A line-item defense of his record so far, and a sober reminder to supporters...

The Justice Department's ethics office had recommended pursuing alleged prisoner-abuse cases, which could expose CIA employees and contractors to prosecution for their treatment of terror suspects. DEVELOPING After months of consideration, Attorney General Eric Holder plans to appoint a special prosecutor to examine allegations that terror suspects were abused at the hands of their CIA interrogators. The decision, confirmed by FOX News, comes as the Department of Justice releases a 2004 report from the CIA's inspector general detailing allegations of harsh interrogation practices. Several details in the review had already been reported. FOX News confirmed over the weekend that the...

President Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way to reclaim the initiative on the president's top legislative priority. Administration officials insisted that they have not shied away from their support for a public option to compete with private insurance companies, an idea they said Obama still prefers to see in a final bill. But at a time when the president had hoped to be selling middle-class voters on how insurance reforms...

I don't know how to post youtube videos on this forum. So please excuse me. The video is at the link

How did Obama manage to spend all his political capital so quickly? Did it all go on the stimulus bill? Wasn’t the whole point of bringing Rahm in as chief of staff that he could work constructively with Congress to pass an ambitious agenda? And isn’t Obama himself the first president since JFK to have entered the White House from the Senate? I’m not sure when everything went wrong here, but I fear that the damage is now irreparable — and that Obama’s agenda is going to be severely scaled back as a result. Our explanation is rather simple: Obama’s...

Banker catches ducklings plunging from first-storey ledge to concrete pavement below ___ The spectacle of a banker scurrying across a pavement, catching ducklings as they plunge off a ledge has resulted in him earning the nickname 'Duck Man'. Joel Armstrong arrived at Sterling Savings at 5.45am and took his position to help the brood of 12 ducklings who were getting ready to make their first trip to the water. The kind-hearted loan officer had been keeping an eye on the mother duck's nest from his office on the video at site

Listening to the mainstream media, cable news shows, Democrats and the Left all practice “racial profiling” and “identity politics” to the highest degree in their debate over who should replace Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court – while conveniently avoiding that pesky term “qualifications” – I am convinced that President Obama’s choice is obvious. “Daffy Duck” should replace Justice Souter. Here are seven (7) reasons why: We have never had a duck sit on the Supreme Court. I am sure that our nation has a history of insensitivity toward “duck rights.” Daffy is a black duck. Therefore, Daffy’s...

Maria Sanchez Lake in St. Augustine is surrounded by houses and trees. If the light is right, there are some great reflection effects. These were captured with my old Olympus C2100UZ, it often shows a clarity beyond what my other cameras will catch. The Hooded Mergansers were courting, so busy I wasn't even noticed.

Cold weather front moving in, Sunshine may be scarce for a while. These are Hooded Mergansers, migrating North..

The government inadvertently offered people who wanted a duck something altogether different. The Fish and Wildlife Service isn't going to remedy the error because doing so would cost too much. That's according to this wire service report, "Gov't Error Sends Callers To Sex Line: People Hoping To Order Duck Stamps Greeted By Phone-Sex Line Due To Printing Mistake": People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct. The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so...

WASHINGTON - The tricky politics of immigration, an issue once seen as a driving force of the 2008 election, have relegated it to a back but hot burner in the presidential campaign debate and paralyzed Congress on the topic. Both John McCain and Barack Obama support giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, a position that strategists see as crucial to winning over Hispanics. But Republican and Democratic candidates are also wary of alienating white conservatives and blacks who oppose granting legal status or benefits to people who broke the law to come to the United States. The searing...

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A top Canadian official sought to calm an international uproar over hundreds of ducks killed at Canada's biggest oil sands plant by promising, at a U.S. oil industry event on Monday, that the incident will not go unpunished. The deaths of 500 ducks last week on a Syncrude Canada Ltd wastewater pond was unacceptable, Industry Minister Jim Prentice said during an acceptance speech after Canada was named "Country of the Year" by Energy Magazine. "We anticipate those responsible will face full scrutiny under Canadian law and, insofar as the government of Canada is concerned, there will...

Ducks, people and rice paddies are the primary forces driving outbreaks of avian influenza in Thailand and Vietnam, and the number of chickens is less pivotal, scientists said on Wednesday. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization experts and others looked at three waves of H5N1 bird flu in Thailand and Vietnam in 2004 and 2005. The virus has killed 236 people in 12 countries since 2003. They used computer modeling to study how various factors were involved in the spread of the virus, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and local geography. Even though...

Is Daffy Duck “really” Black? Is he “authentically” Black? Or is he the creation of “The Man?” Is he down for the struggle? Has Daffy earned his “street cred?” Let’s check: 5 point- Born black - check 5 point- Born in a single parent home - no parent, most likely. Ever seen his Momma? 10 points- Born poor - check 50 points- Sold 'Hard' drugs.. crack, cocaine, Heroin – a black in Hollywood? What do you think? 65 points- Been shot and survived – yes! 75 points- Been shot multiple times and survived – YES! 70 points- Gang member of...

The Mallards are in the mood for romance, Spring is coming!