To Fall From the Sky

There have been several incidents of birds simply falling dead from the sky in mass quantities, thousands at a time. Fish and crabs are also affected...creating a disturbing series of events, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8244044/Bird-deaths-timeline-of-the-mysterious-bird-deaths.html

events and news that are now eclipsed by the Arizona shooting tragedy. That is as it should be but it all feels just a bit apocalyptic. It leaves a queasy feeling in my belly...what is to be done?

In the same vein there was a news clip of a meeting between officials in Louisiana and one man was shouting that they had gone easy on the fish and game people, refraining from releasing photos of how bad things still are in the heavily oiled coastal areas. Since I am cataloguing images for use in artwork about the oil spill I know there are more photos to be had. I have no doubt some are not being published and it isn't for the good of the public.

I hate to be paranoid, but who can be trusted to monitor these wildlife and environmental knowns and unknowns? With deadly events spread across multiple US states and even to other countries, no one thing can explain it all. After the bird deaths I saw an environmentalist interviewed on the Today show. He made us all look like idiots, raving that animals are dying everywhere and quoting statistics for manatees dying in the Florida cold. Yes, he was correct, but he didn't come close to answering questions or making observations regarding the bird deaths.

Bird falling dead from the sky resonates in some dark way. Mass kills happen in natural ways...lightning and hail for example...what kind of natural disaster kills fish AND crabs AND birds in seperate mass incidents? I await scientific answers.

As for another headline: Arizona Talk Radio Hosts Deny Responsibility
I lived in Arizona when the new kind of rabid talk radio was born there and the heated rhetoric always sounded like a call to arms. I think any strong pacifist or champion of free speech would find the airwaves out there challenging and someone with a distorted fear or hatred could be fueled to violence. To me only true thing is that readily available firearms increase the likelihood of deadly tragedies.

Other frightening news this month, seperate incidents of alteration...the erasing of words from classic literature and the airbrushing of historic images. One was rendered by an "authority" on Mark Twain and the other museum mounting a show with World War II photos.

Curiouser and curiouser...