A tiny dragonfly (Class Insecta, Order Odonata, Suborder Anisoptera) flitting among the leaves of a gigantic thistle six feet high that had "volunteered" in Goomp's rock garden. At about one inch l.o.a., it was much smaller than the typical two- or three-inch Odonata usually seen around these parts. Google research revealed dragonflies rest with wings outspread, while their cousins, damselflies of the suborder Zygoptera, rest with wings together above their backs. The whole garden was aflutter with numerous species of both groups. Adult Odonata are visually oriented hunters with exceptional aerobatic ability and extremely acute eyesight.

Like the compound eyes of the dragonfly (above photo), the ladies of the Cotillion see all, able in the aggregate to detect subtle movement in the surrounds, whether predator or prey, danger or opportunity. We're delighted to co-host the Cotillion Ball this week with KelliPundit, Portia Rediscovered and Ilyka Damen.

"Let no soldier go unloved." It's the marching song of The Soldiers' Angels Foundation, an internet community of thousands worldwide dedicated to keeping a steady stream of letters, email and care packages flowing to our troops in harm's way. Cotillion Babe/Soldiers' Angel Holly Aho is putting her mouth where her heart is. Check out her rousing, tell-em-we-love-em podcast. She's also posted an interview with Patti Patton-Bader, the soldier's mom who founded Soldiers' Angels.

The Arab world is anti-American -- because being 'anti-something' sells. Al-Jazeera's NY Bureau Chief said with refreshing honesty last spring at a Princeton Institute/Adam Smith Global Television presentation. Fausta of The Bad Hair Blog was there, and now she points out the irony as the controversial station, viewed with suspicion by the U.S. military but praised by others as a foot-in-the-door challenge to government propaganda -- owned by the Emir of Qatar -- is reportedly considering an alliance with the new Latin American cable TV network, Telesur. A joint project of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Fidel Casto, among others, Telesur is described by its president as "an initiative against cultural imperialism" and counts among its advisory board members the actor Danny Glover, who apparently hasn't been keeping up with the talking points:

Certainly the television station itself is not a tool that would be used to demonize the north.

"Both my children died today, because of racism," writes Cassandra of Villainous Company in the most gripping opener of the week, spinning an it-could-happen-here narrative of the logical consequence of politically correct screening for terrorists. In a follow-up post she quotes Pakistani-American Tunku Varadarajan, who has noticed that in the wake of the London bombings "for the first time in my life -- [I am] part of a 'group' that is under broad but emphatic visual suspicion":

But there is no getting around profiling, surely, because of the life-or-death, instant decisions involved. So we have to ask one section of society to bear up under heightened scrutiny, asking them also to work extra hard--visibly so--to expunge the threat. Meanwhile, and just as important, we must ask the rest of society not to stigmatize those who conform to the broad physical category while also not allowing feelings of racial and moral guilt to slow our society's response to danger.

As a British policeman was quoted on FOXNews this afternoon, "We don't want to waste our time searching white old ladies."

Mary Katharine Hamm of Townhall.com C-Log is gaga over SCOTUS nominee John Roberts' ability to smite history-challenged members of the other side of the aisle with a rapier wit that takes no prisoners. In reponse to a House Democrat's proposal that the White House and Congress convene a "conference on power-sharing" to codify the duties of each branch of government, he replied:

There already has, of course, been a "Conference on Power Sharing" . . . It took place in Philadelphia's Constitution Hall in 1787, and someone should tell Levitas about it and the "report" it issued.

"If the Democrats weren’t so sure that a one-sentence party platform ('Karl Rove should be in jail.') was a sure winner, perhaps they would notice that the majority is likely to get at least some credit with voters for passing these laws," writes The Anchoress, citing a growing economy alongside a list of the "beleagered" GW's legislative accomplishments during this long hot summer.

"You're right, Al," writes Beth of Yeah, Right, Whatever, pleased to see that the Rev. Sharpton seems to be waking up to the fact that African-Americans have been taken for a ride by the Democrats. She explains:

The Democratic Party has let African-Americans down. They've taken you for granted. But not by putting your young men in jail [part of Sharpton's argument]. They let you down by thinking that throwing money and not solutions at your problems is enough.

Says the Rev., stepping up to the plate:

Even if we [are] not responsible for being down, we [are] responsible for getting up . . . And if we wait on those who knocked us down to lift us up we'll never get up 'cause if they wanted us up we would have never been down.

We're reminded of Mark Steyn's argument that "If you're looking for 'root causes' for terrorism, European-sized welfare programs are a good place to start." No good can ever come of robbing a man of his pride in providing for himself and his family.

"Catholicism is a religion, and if you don't like it, you're free to leave," writes E.M. Zanotti of The Conservative Princess in a hot and heavy dissing of radical feminists who would be Catholic priests.



"Why is it, if guns cause crime the way Sen. Feinstein would have you believe, that Switzerland does not have high crime? Or could it be that guns don't cause crime?" and "Why does the left never have to answer the hard questions about gun control?" asks Zendo Deb of TFS Magnum, offering up a crisp compilation of pesky facts that you musn't try to confuse Sen. Feinstein & Company with:

History and statistics are not on the side of the gun grabbers. The United Kingdom has for example basically outlawed all handguns and made the use of the few long guns still in private hands illegal to be used for self-defense. Are they safer? No. Britain has the highest crime rate of the 20 top industrialized nations (as reported by the UN).

Of course the fact that American Schools no longer teach history means the left doesn't have to confront the facts surrounding gun control in old Soviet Union, or under the Third Reich in Germany and Poland, or in Kosovo . . . The left need not reflect on the fact that gun control in this country was mostly concerned with keeping weapons out of the hands of blacks, to make them defenseless in the face of groups like the Klan. Without those inconvienent facts, the left is free to pusue gun control with the help of the MSM.

Ready, aim, fire.