More banjitar

Blues on the Banjitar

Julie Waters e-notes: Sun, June 7, 2009

Hey all-- a quick note with two things. First, I'm going to be performing at the Pleasant Valley in Saxton's River on in July.

Second, I just had a nice little feature article about me in our local paper:

http://www.messagefortheweek.com/entertainment/musicians/Story/090604-jem-music

Here's an excerpt:

Julie Waters is one of those names that you hear frequently on the local music scene, and may occasionally have the chance to hear. She is an extraordinary guitar and banjo player, with a unique style that involves partial capo techniques and lots of string tapping on the fingerboard of the guitar.

Nice!
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More info: http://juliewaters.com/

Julie's photography: http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/
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Upcoming events for Julie Waters
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Friday, July 17th Julie Live Jam at Pleasant Valley Brewing Pub; Saxton's River, VT

Friday Bird Blogging: This Week in Warblers

This diary is a summary of the warblers I've encountered in the last month. I know it says "this week" but that's just 'cause I like the alliteration. I promise that the title is the only lie I will tell in this post.

All the warblers below were potographed in either Vermont, New Hampshire or Massachusetts, and none more than 100 miles from the borders of the other two.

All the photos below are clickable, leading you to larger versions with more detail about location. They were all taken with a Sigma 50-500mm lens, taken either with my Pentax K20d or the backup camera I used temporarily, a Pentax K10d, when I dropped (!) the K20d last week.

Warbler #1: American redstart (5")

This photo is from Hinsdale, NH. There's a particular stretch of land that has gotten me great looks at quite a few warblers, and last weekend was no exception:



Cornell's facts about the Redstart include the following:

The male American Redstart occasionally is polygynous, having two mates at the same time. Unlike many other polygynous species of birds that have two females nesting in the same territory, the redstart holds two separate territories up to 500 m (1,640 ft) apart. The male starts to attract a second female after the first has completed her clutch and is incubating the eggs.

Draw your own conclusions.

Warbler #2: bay-breasted warbler (5.5")

I'd never seen a Bay-Breasted warbler before this day, so it was a real treat to get this good a look at one. It reminds me why Parker River Wildlife Refuge is, by far, one of my favorite places to look for birds.




Here's what Cornell tells us about the Bay-breasted warbler:

... the Bay-breasted Warbler benefits from spruce budworm outbreaks when the caterpillars provide abundant food. Spraying to control the destructive outbreaks may have reduced populations of this warbler.

Warbler #3: black-and-white warbler (5.25")

These used to be birds I worked hard to find. Then one showed up in my yard, and now I just seem to find them everywhere. This one showed up near my office at work:



And this one was another great Parker River sighting:



I can vouch for this characterization from Cornell:

Unusually aggressive for a warbler, the Black-and-white Warbler sometimes attacks and fights Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Tennessee Warbler, and other species.

I have, in fact, been dive bombed by these guys.

Warbler #4: black-throated green warbler (5")

This was part of our Hinsdale walk:



Here's what I want to know about this entry:

The male Black-throated Green Warbler sings persistently during the breeding season. One individual was observed singing 466 songs in one hour.

Who did the counting?

Warbler #5: blackburnian warbler (5")

I want to say something about this: we showed up on Parker River last Saturday and didn't know it was birdathon day. There were birders *everywhere* doing their little competitive birding thing (I don't do the competitive stuff as a rule, but I get how it can be fun). I mentioned to someone that I had been looking to get a decent photo of a blackburnian (I had one from a few years ago) and he made a point of taking time out of his birdathon to help me find one.

I really like birders. Even when we're in competition, we help one another out:

Warbler #6: blue-winged warbler (4.5-5")

Even though it was close to home (we found this bird at Herrick's Cove, a Vermont Important Bird Area I check out early in the morning on my way to work), this guy was work. We heard this and I thought it was a Northern Parula. Hoping to get a decent shot of it, we spent about 20 minutes looking for it, and quickly saw it hop up a few times, only to go down again, but those brief looks made it really clear that it was *not* a parula. It took 20 minutes of hanging out looking for it, and almost giving up, before we finally were getting ready to move on when it flew out into a tree and landed right above me. Viola. Instant life bird.

Warbler #7: chestnut-sided warbler (5")

One morning at Herrick's Cove, I saw a bunch of these guys just flitting about like crazy. One landed right by my head:


This shot was at Parker River:




Here's something I did not know about these birds:

On the wintering grounds in Central America the Chestnut-sided Warbler joins in mixed-species foraging flocks with the resident antwrens and tropical warblers. An individual warbler will return to the same area in subsequent years, joining back up with the same foraging flock it associated with the year before.

Warbler #8: common yellowthroat (5")

As their name implies, common yellowthroats are fairly common. They are, however, still pretty neat and can present some fun ID challenges. This first one is from Parker River:



These others are from Herrick's Cove, on two different days. Notice the marking on these two birds. It would be very easy to mistake them for the much less common Nashville Warbler, which looks extremely similar, but can have a red mark on the tip of its head, and has distinctly black legs:




Cornell again:

The Common Yellowthroat is apparently monogamous within a breeding season and only infrequently will males be seen with two mates in their territory. Females, however, show no fidelity to their mates and often attract other males with their calls. The true genetic mating system of this species remains to be worked out.

I'll just leave that as is.

Warbler #9: magnolia warbler (5")

Magnolia warblers are about 5" tall, and has quite the range. Per Cornell:

Though it has very specific habitat preferences in the breeding season, the Magnolia Warbler occupies a very broad range of habitats in winter: from sea level to 1,500 meters elevation, and most landscape types, except cleared fields.

These are both photos of the same bird, taken at Parker River. We first found it a bit distant, as in this view:



Then as I traced it, it kept getting closer:

Warbler #10: northern parula (4.5")

Also at Parker River, another birder pointed this Northern Parula out to me. I've had photos of Parula's before, but never this close or with this much detail:





Parulas tend to hang out high in the tree canopy, which is one reason I rarely get photographs of one. Seeing one this close, and nearly at eye level was great.

Warbler #11: northern waterthrush (6")

This bird from Herrick's Cove was a real treat. I'd been looking to get a photo of a Northern Waterthrush for a few years now, but I never managed to pull it off. The day before I got these photos, I heard two of them calling back and forth, but could only get a quick look at one, not quick enough to get a photo. I even tried playing its call to coax it out. No luck. The next morning I went back to the same spot to see if they were still around. Didn't even need to try the call. One was singing from a nearby tree and eventually moved into perfect view.

Warbler #12: ovenbird (6")

Now this ovenbird was not easy. It was hidden by leaves and just sort of singing down low, but I did manage to find it and photograph it, despite all expectation to the contrary.



The ovenbird is named, by the way, because its nest resembles a dutch oven.

Warbler #13: palm warbler (5.5")

Palm Warblers are among the earliest new warblers, so I'm always looking for them (and Yellow Rumped) before anything else is even on my radar. These were both at Herrick's Cove one morning:



I don't know why it's called the Palm warbler. It's a northern bird.

Warbler #14: wilson's warbler (4.75")

This Wilson's was a real treat. We spotted it and I just did my best to get photos of it. Most of them came out poorly but a few worked out well. This was at Parker River as well:

Warbler #15: yellow warbler (5")

Yellow Warblers tend to get fairly ubiquitous. These were taken all over:

Allen Brothers Marsh in Westminster, VT:



The boat launch in Springfield, VT:



Parker River:



Herrick's Cove:



When I listen for them, I have trouble sometimes. I didn't realize why until I read this:

Recent DNA-based studies indicate that the Chestnut-sided Warbler is the closest relative of the Yellow Warbler. Both sing similarly phrased songs, and Yellow Warblers regularly sing songs nearly identical to those of the Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Warbler #16: yellow-rumped warbler (5.5")

Finally, another of the most prevalent warblers, the yellow-rumped warblers are among the first to arrive in the Spring and the last to leave. I haven't done great with photos of them this year, but this shot from Herrick's Cove does the trick:




Something else I didn't know is that one reason they are so prevalent is because of their eating habits:

Yellow-rumped Warblers are perhaps the most versatile foragers of all warblers. They're the warbler you're most likely to see fluttering out from a tree to catch a flying insect, and they're also quick to switch over to eating berries in fall. Other places Yellow-rumped Warblers have been spotted foraging include picking at insects on washed-up seaweed at the beach, skimming insects from the surface of rivers and the ocean, picking them out of spiderwebs, and grabbing them off piles of manure.

A few other warbler tips. For telling them apart (in the Spring-- in the Fall it's murder) I tend to group them into "yellow", "colorful," "stripey," "black throated" and "misc." This tends to be based on their head color, but isn't exclusively.

Yellow ones include yellow, palm, wilson's, common yellowthroat, nashville & blue winged.

I use yellow warbler as the "base" for this group and distinguish the others based on how they differ from it. Palm is like yellow but with red cap. Wilson's has a black cap. Nashville has a white eye ring and some grey on its head. Blue-winged has blue wings. Common yellowthroat has a black mask for males and, for females, looks like a pink-legged nashville.

The colorful ones include parula, chestnut-sided, redstart and yellow-rumped

I don't have a base for those-- but once I realize it's a very colorful bird it's not that hard to separate them out.

The stripey ones include the ovenbird, the waterthrushes, the magnolia and the black and white. Mangolia is the only yellow one with stripes in our region. The ovenbird has a bright orange streak on the head. The waterthrushes are harder to tell apart but Louisiana tends to be much less colorful than northern. I've never seen a Louisiana, so when I start seeing one, I'll figure out more :)

The black throated warblers are sort of their own category (black throated green, which isn't really green, and black-throated blue, which is very dark blue, and black-throated gray, which I've never seen), but if you see a warbler with a black throat, it's easy to tell which is which.

The others I usually just sort out on their own.

I never really thought I'd be into warblers this much, but it's kind of like the way I'm into puzzles: there's something really fun and immediate about seeing such a small bird and figuring out what it is. Figuring out how to photograph it is even more interesting because it can be extremely challenging, but sometimes I do okay.

Finally, a couple administrative items:

1. I take a lot of photos, and I don't post them all here. If you'd like to get a weekly (or daily) e-mail summarizing new photos, there's a form you can fill out here to get regular updates. I do not even look at the e-mail addresses subscribed and don't send solicitations; it is a strictly announcement only e-mail group that sends out an automated e-mail once per day, but the default setting is for a weekly archive;



2. Personal self promotion: I do sell prints, including a print of that Magnolia Warbler photo.

I hope you enjoyed all the warbler photos and factoids.

Dragonflies

42 minues (give or take a few seconds)

The night sky: a 41 minute, 57 second exposure:



As usual, it's a smaller version. Clicking on it gets you to the details.

Note: this has been crossposted to Vermont's Green Mountain Daily

I'm a big believer in art. Art, from my point of view, is not exactly about product or, really necessarily anything at all. It's more about simply interacting with the world in a different fashion than people expect.

For me, there are two primary forms of art that engage me the most: music is one, and I'll talk about that some other time.

The other is light.

Lots of people take photos of light. Photos are, at their core, the rendering of light. It's common to do shots of night, with the movement of natural lights. Here I'm going to quote from a book I put together while I was recovering from surgery, The Book of Light:

...what happens when you are not merely photographing the events as they occur at night, but instead focus on light that you yourself manipulate? There are lots of sources of light that make fairly bright images in the darkness, and some of them will create very cool effects by actively changing colors or pulsating while you use them...

I take photos of light, moving and shifting in different fashions. These aren't Photoshop effects or digital manipulations after the fact. These are photos, taken in a single exposure, of various events that involve light.

The above photo, for example, was an exposure that lasted 7 minutes and 22 seconds. During that time, I turned a light on and off in different locations and positions in order to create a tunnel effect. When I looked at the photo later, I thought the color was okay, but the black and white really grabbed me. That's the only role that Photoshop played here: the choice to render it in black and white after the shot was taken.

Note: all the photos here are smaller versions; clicking on them gets you to larger versions with details.

Another few photos:

This one...



...was a 6 minute, 39 second, exposure. In the upper left, you can see a small streak in the sky. That's a planet. On a different night, you would be seeing stars streaking through as well.

I created that photo by using a rope light, putting it in different positions, turning it on for a moment, turning it off again, moving, and repeating the process.

This one...



...was an even longer exposure: 8 minutes, 16 seconds. It was taken on a snowy night, also using rope lights to create the strange object shown. The streaking lights on the right and in the background are lights from the plow going back and forth. The light structure itself didn't take long at all, but I left the shutter open longer just to get that plow going by.

I particularly love this shot:



It uses two different rope lights. In this case, I didn't actually turn them off while shooting. Instead, I would hold them in place for 4-8 seconds at one point, move them, and then hold them in place again. This is why you get that motion blur with the lights from one position to the other. It was a relatively short exposure for this sort of work: just over 6 minutes, but effective.

This next shot is 8 minutes, 41 seconds:

And this one is a whopping 12 minutes, 3 seconds:

And this one is a very short exposure, just over a minute:



It's not a light drawing, but I like the shot a lot and just took it on the 30th so I figured I'd include it. It's the moon and (I think) the planet Venus, framed by trees and traffic patterns

I'll close with one more photo: an extremely long exposure:



This was a 17 minute, 52 second, exposure. The idea was that I would use one camera to take this photo while using the other to do a fairly complex light drawing. I'll have to try that again another time, as the light drawing in question suffered from what we in the trade call the "protezione di obiettivo" error. This loosely translates to: "I left the lens cap on." Yes: twelve minute exposure, all sorts of really cool lights doing all sorts of stuff and then when I checked the exposure, I realized that there was nothing there.

Oh well. I will try again.

By the way, if you are at all familiar with astronomy in the Northern U.S., you'll actually be able to recognize a specific and well known constellation in this shot. Anyone able to tell me what it is?

I do this work for a variety of reasons, but I think part of it is because it helps me to feel engaged with something beyond myself. There is a truth to it, a brightness to the night that illuminates the world around it.

I also do this because there's something captivating about engaging the night, especially in winter, when most of us are actually a bit afraid of it. It ties back into the natural world, in ways that are difficult to explain well.

But, really, it's just something I love to do. I like the sense of serenity I get from doing this; there's a quiet calm to it. I like the sense of creating something that's uniquely mine. Plenty of people do night photography and manipulated light photography but no one actually does it the way I do. I was originally inspired to do this by Eric Staller, who is amazing, but my work is nothing like his. It was the idea of the manipulated light that got me going in this direction, and little else.

So, that's my story about art and what it can mean to me. What does it mean to you, and what are the rest of you thinking/doing as far as the new year goes?

Two books

I've just completed two photo books: The Book of Light and The Book of the Birds.

They're both available either as print on demand or digital download via lulu.com.

Wow. Just... wow.

Sometimes I read something, and say, I just can't believe we got this guy elected. How awesome is that?

Be sure to read the whole thing, (I got it over at Daily Kos), but I'll just quote a little from the press pool report from this afternoon:

The First Family-to-be were positioned at the start of the food line; their job was to hand out white plastic bags filled with fresh chicken. Recipients then moved down the line to receive bags of potatoes, apples, loaves of bread and large boxes of staples including macaroni and cheese, tomato sauce, peanut butter, canned corn, oatmeal, Miracle Whip, mixed fruit and other items.

Obama called out: "We're ready, let's go, bring 'em on in," and the distribution began.

Clearly, those lining up for food hadn't been told they had an importangt guest helping out. this day. Many of them lit up; some shrieked with delight and hugged one or more of the Obamas. One elderly woman bowed; all seemed very appreciative. One and all were greeted with handshakes, hugs, and hearty "Happy Thanksgivings."

The daughters behaved like troopers for a half hour or so before the cold caught up with them, and they retired for a few minutes to warm up.

One sixty-something neighborhood resident named Daryel Namdan was asked how it felt to have Obama there. "It makes me feel very special," he said, before choking up.
[...]
After shaking hands with the food bank volunteers, he [Obama] came over to the pool and had this to say:

"The number of people who are getting food this year is up 33%. It gives a sense times are tough - and I think that on Thanksgiving it's importat [sic] for us tpo [sic] remember there's a need for support.

"These folks were already oftentimes having a tough time, and it gets tougher now." He encouraged all Americans of means to help out however they could. "This is part of what Thanksgiving should be all about," he said.

Asked why he'd brought his daughters along, he replied: "I want them to learn the importance of how fortunate they are and to make sure they're giving back."

I mean, think about it. Can you even *imagine* any of our Republican presidents (or the nominees) from the last two decades doing this?

Wow.

Julie Waters e-notes: Thu, November 20, 2008

Just to update everyone on what's going on in my life: I think last time I did an update I was talking about a new cd project. That's still in the works, but everything is on hold right now.

The short version is that I have a medical problem which put me out of commission for the better part of six weeks. The good news is that I now have a definitive diagnosis and know exactly what the problem is and how to treat it. The bad news is that the problem requires at least two surgeries (one of which is done, the 2nd of which is scheduled for early October) and when it's all said and done, I may be left with only one kidney.

That said, I am doing surprisingly well given the circumstances; still doing music and photography while I try to figure out what's coming next.

For those of you interested in the photography end of things, I've decided to start selling prints of some of my works. You can see the whole list at:

http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/~sales.php

In addition, I can do up pretty much any of the light drawings in all sorts of sizes. Please feel free to drop me an e-mail (magiclightshow@juliewaters.com) if you're interested in purchasing one.

Hope everyone is well. I know I will be soon enough, but in the meantime, I'm doing my best to keep up with everything.
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More info: http://juliewaters.com/

Julie's photography: http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/
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Upcoming events for Julie Waters
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Sunday, December 14th 2nd Sundays Song Circle (tentative) at RAMP Gallery; Bellows Falls, VT

Sunday, January 11th 2nd Sundays Song Circle (tentative) at RAMP Gallery; Bellows Falls, VT

For the Birds

As some of you know, I've been into birding for some time, and photography for a bit longer. Now that the election is (mostly) over, I'm going to do another one of those diaries where I share some of my favorite bird photos and talk a little bit about the photos themselves. There will probably be some overlap here, as some of my favorites I've probably discussed before.

I'm going to start with the one showed: a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird feeding off of a bleeding heart.

This is a different version of this photo than I've shown before: it's a wider shot, as I've found a nice way to present it as a gallery work (10"x15"), but I think it works nicely.

This shot was a combination of preparation and dumb luck. I had been mowing the lawn all morning and was exhausted. I sat down on the porch, really unable to do much of any damned thing, but I did have my camera with me (when I mow, I set it up on a tripod, near the feeders so if I spot something interesting, I can take a break and check it out).

So suddenly I see this flicker of motion and realize what it is. One of the hummingbirds has swung over to the front yard. They love the bee balm plants, but I'd never seen one go after the bleeding heart. I grabbed the camera, took as many shots as I could, and... well, wow.

This next photo I haven't shared here before, I don't think, though it's one of my favorites. Snow geese sometimes populate the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Western Vermont. I had often tried to get photos of them, but it was always from a great distance. This particular day, I'd had a morning meeting in Burlington and had the rest of the day to myself. I decided to go the long way home and swing by Dead Creek (it takes me an extra two hours or so). When I got there, there were no Snow Geese to be found, and suddenly I spotted these ones on a nearby field. I pulled over, grabbed the camera and started to take pictures. They were all on the ground at that point. Sometimes I will take a photo, edge a little closer, take a few more, etc., which is what I did in this particular case. Eventually, I made the mistake of getting a little two close. The entire flock started to take off and then started flying in circles, more or less surrounding me. It ended up with me getting this photo:



While I love this shot (and when you see it blown up, you get some incredible textures), I think I like it even better like this:



It seems to come down to 1/3rd preferring the b&w to the color and 2/3rds preferring the color.

This hummingbird shot, though, is one of my favorites as well:



It's a very lucky shot. I had the camera pointed at the feeders to see if any cool looking hummingbirds showed up, but I'd rarely seen two at once. Once I realized there were two of them the trick wasn't getting *close* enough. It was zooming out quickly enough that I'd get them both in the same shot. I managed to pull it off, just as they hit the dive bombing position.

This Rufous Hummingbird:



was a real joy to photograph. I'd never seen one of these before (we really only get the ruby-throated hummingbirds in New England), but in November of 2007, we got word that one was hanging out at a feeder in Westmoreland, NH. Westmoreland isn't that far from where I live (and we've traveled a lot further to find rare birds) so we figured we'd check it out. It was on someone's property, which is always dicey, but this woman had given permission for people to stop by her porch and hang out to look at it. She was really into it, too, it turned out. She came out to say hello and asked us to make sure we sign her guestbook.

But the best part was that it took *minutes* before we saw the bird. She had hummingbird feeders all over the area, and the porch looked out on several of them, so we figured, well, we'll get a decent look and maybe I can get a nice photo from here.

But no, the rufous was interested in the feeder *on the porch*. The one that was only about eight feet away. So we sat there for about half an hour watching it come and go while I photographed it, figuring out *just* how close I could get where it would use the feeders without being so close I'd scare it off (turns out about 6'6" is about the magic distance) and voila, instant life bird.

Speaking of traveling to find birds... this January was our first big birding trip. We went to Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, and had a real trip finding all sorts of new birds. But the real treat was the Sandhill Cranes. This shot in particular:



is one of my favorites from the trip. There's something wonderful about that moment just before flight; all that energy built up and ready to go, at that moment where the bird transfers from awkward and gangly to magnificent in flight.

I will also say something else about snow geese here. I mentioned before getting to see Snow Geese at Dead Creek. Seeing them at Bosque is a whole different ball game. If you get to the viewing platform before dawn, you can be part of probably the most amazing thing I've ever experienced as a birder.

There is this large body of water where many of the birds roost all night (roosting in water makes them much less vulnerable to predators, such as coyotes, which *will* try to get their paws on the geese and the cranes). If you get there at the right time, you will see the ones gathered in the water, plus all the other geese gathering in to join them. It's *thousands* of snow geese, coming together in the middle of this pond, making all sorts of racket. This can go on for an hour; sometimes more; sometimes less.

But then there is this point where all of a sudden (and there is *no* time to prepare for this) it gets *silent*. This lasts about as much time as you have to breathe in and then out again and everything else is just dead quiet.

And then...

...the geese take off. For about five seconds, all you hear is wings. It's loud enough to sound like a tornado going directly over your head. The first time you experience it, it's like nothing you've ever been through before. The second time you think you've already seen it once so you're prepared for it. You're wrong. It's every bit as intense.

There's something about being surrounded by birds that just makes my heart leap. I hope writing this up has been nice for some of you as well.

For those of you who enjoyed these photos, you can see tons more at juliewaters.com
As usual, feel free to use this as an open birds and birding thread and post your own photos.

Your Guide to the Coming Republican Civil War

Many of you have heard reports about the coming Republican Civil War, which I will henceforth be referred to as THE WAR TO END ALL REPUBLICANS ("WEAR," for short)

But most of this has been discussed merely as a split between the camps of John Sidney McCain and Sarah Louise Heath Palin, specifically focusing on matters of the approach to the campaign.

But, in reality, there are several factions competing for the "soul" of the Republican Party, or at least the closest thing to a soul the party could dig out of a deep, dark, recess that's best not described in polite company.

So I've written up this handy little guide to help us all better understand who the various factions in the Republican party are, and what sides we can expect them to be taking in the upcoming WEAR.

First, let's start with the obvious broad categories:

*BIG BUSINESS*

Their likes are deregulation, tax breaks for the wealthy, making a lot of money no matter who or what it hurts, complete lack of accountability and offshore accounts to hide certain kinds of profits from the IRS.

Their dislikes are corporate responsibility, people who write them letters and anyone who attempts to regulate any aspect of their business.

They favor Republicans because Republicans are eager and willing to take large donations and, in turn, just sort of look the other way when they, I dunno, don't bother paying taxes on public property for forty years.

*RELIGIOUS/"FAMILY VALUES" NUTCASES*

Their likes are smug superiority, people like them, amendments banning same-sex marriage, the death penalty, gays who attack other gays and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Their dislikes are gays, Muslims, people who look like Muslims, people who aren't like them, people who dare to criticize them, elitists, vegetarians, Wiccans, abortion, people who are sane Christians, people who act too Jewish, gay or catholic.

They favor Republicans because they think Republicans will eventually overturn Roe v Wade and because Republicans pretend to like them in exchange for their support.

*WARMONGERS/NEOCONS*

Their likes are war, violence, and anything which makes them think America is superior.

Their dislikes are France, Europe, France, any country that's not the United States, France, Canada, and peacenicks.

Their likes are anyone who likes war as much as they do, especially if they're dark-skinned enough and crazy-sounding enough to justify us going to war with them. This means *you*, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

They like Republicans because Republicans are consistently thrilled to talk up war and violence, even when it's not in their best interest to do so.

*LIBERTARIANS/ANTI-TAX NUTCASES*

Libertarians like very small government and freedom. They hate excessive spending, big government and waste.

It is often unclear as to why they like Republicans.

*RACISTS*

Their likes are people who look like them and anyone who helps them justify their bigotry. Their dislikes are *everyone else*.

They like republicans because Republicans make them think they're not really racist.

*USEFUL IDIOTS*

Their likes are people who say the right kind of thing, regardless of their actions. Their dislikes are anyone who tries to correct their understanding of the world.

They like Republicans because they use catchy buzzwords and because they are idiots.

There are, of course, other categories we could discuss, but these will serve as basic categories for the discussion. There are plenty of people who overlap in this group. John McCain, for example, would fall into the *Warmonger* category, but he'd also fit directly in with *Big Business*. Many of his supporters fall into those categories as well as the *Useful Idiot* category because he can talk a good game about veterans issues, but actually does very poorly with them.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, fits in easily with *Religious Nutcases*, *Racists* and *Useful Idiots*. In fact, assume that everyone I mention here includes that last group in some capacity from this point on. I'll focus instead on the other two: she's loved by religious nutcases because she *is one* and she's loved by racists because she gave them so much great rhetoric during the campaign so as to make them think that their racism and xenophobia was, on some level, acceptable.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is all *Big Business* and *Family Values*. My suspicion about Romney is that he is less someone with convictions then someone who was so sure that he needed to say certain things to get elected that he's actually convinced himself that he believes them. But he's got a strong base of support, just not strong enough that he didn't need to fund his own campaign with a *whole lot* of his own money.

But how about Mike Huckabee? He's clearly loved by the *Religious Nutcases* but seems to be anti-racism, at least in his rhetoric. He's hated by big business but somewhat in the libertarian category, except he believes in universal education. In other words, one of the popular Republican candidates has some campaign issues more in favor with Democrats than Republicans.

Which brings us to Ron Paul, who represents an entirely different aspect of the Republican party, with the vast majority of his support coming from *Libertarians* and *Racists*, and definitely not the religious nutcases nor the warmongers.

With the exception of John McCain, there is a good possibility that all these individuals will be running for President in 2012 and this is where the WEAR comes in.

There are lots of rumors spreading about what happened behind the scenes in the McCain/Palin campaign, which helps set the stage for the upcoming battle. I.e., Romney camp spreading Palin stories?, Palin aide strikes back at McCain camp, etc. Most of you have seen much of this, so I won't bother reiterating.

But this is the basic dynamic: people from the Romney, McCain and Palin factions seem to *really* have it in for one another. Romney's appeal to the Family Values nutcases is damaged by the fact that he's a Mormon and most Family Values nutcases don't like *anyone* who's not a Christian (or, at the very least, an acceptably conservative Jew) and most assuredly do *not* think of Mormonism as "Christian." McCain's people pretty much hate Romney and now they seem to *really* hate Palin. They blame her for having hurt McCain's chances and being an all around crappy candidate and for "going rogue" from time to time. And then there's the whole Palin/underwear thing (which has *nothing* to do with Romney).

But the real gold here is that this scatters those categories I listed above. Libertarians are already finding problems with the Republican party, which has largely *increased* spending during their tenure and made government a *lot* bigger (and a lot more anti-freedom). Big Business will support anyone who helps them out, and turning the economy into a great big sinkhole really doesn't help big business all that much.

The religious nutcases are now split, with some going to Obama and most still preferring Republicans but willing to sit the election out if someone who's not sufficiently evangelical gets nominated. Granted, there are still plenty of racists, and they probably (if possible) like the Republicans a little more than they used to, but probably think of them as weak little sissies if they cooperate on Obama with anything.

So most of what's left for Republicans are useful idiots. And the great thing about useful idiots is that they're stupid enough to start chasing *each other* around with baseball bats rather than *us*. So when big business starts blaming religious nutcases and religious nutcases start blaming warmongers and warmongers start blaming libertarians who, in turn, blame everybody, well, hijinx ensue.

To me, this is going to be sort of like "Glengarry Glen Ross" crossed with a Keystone Cops movie.

Grab your popcorn, folks. This is going to be fun.