It doesn't look like a mandarin [orange], but it's still a Mandarin [duck]. The Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) - set of 4 W.W.F. maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards about DPR Korea, otherwise known as North Korea

"Mandarin (bureaucrat), a bureaucrat of modern Japan, Imperial China, Vietnam, and by analogy, any government bureaucrat."

Any government bureaucrat, such as House Speaker Jim Boehner (R).

Mandarin Jim.

He's a FED...and we are fed-up.

But he's not a silver spoon-fed fat cat.

"Early life, education and career

Boehner was born in Reading, Ohio, the son of Mary Anne and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children in a family of German and Irish descent.^[2][3][4] 

He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. [MY NOTE: is "confrontational" a keyword?]

His parents slept on a pull-out couch.^[5] 

He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938.^[5] He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life.[MY NOTE: does that increase the intellectual magnitude?]

All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.^[6"] 

^{[MY NOTE: other politicians think that there's no fun in having political power,} 

^{if you don't abuse it]}

He is not known as Gentleman Jim.

"Gentleman Jim may refer to:

Nicknames of:

• James J. Corbett (1866-1933), a heavyweight boxing champion
• Jim Reeves (1923–1964), a country and popular music singer
• Jim Lonborg (born 1942), a major league baseball pitcher
• James K. Woolnough (1910-1996), a U.S. Army general
• James J. Yeager, head football coach at Ohio State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1940s
• Jim Kramer (born 1958), a champion Scrabble player" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman_Jim

He is not Jungle Jim, either.

But is he a BAYNER?

"The German pronunciation of the name Boehner/Böhner is [ˈbøːnɐ] BUH-nair. 

However, Boehner's biography at House.gov recommends the pronunciation BAY-ner." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boehner  

http://www.zazzle.com/oh_really_postage-172747913297627772?rf=238693463283865848

UPDATE: I have googled the name Boehner, to see if this blogpost is already indexed by the search engines, and I saw this website below, in the search results. I never knew about this website. :)

http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=John_Boehner

Anyway, the point about a mandarin (bureaucrat) is what he does as "a public servant", not how he fancies his name pronounced.

"In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times^[39] and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving."^[40]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boehner}

Memory refresher for all those Mandarin bureaucrats, including Scott "Walker, Wisconsin Ranger":

when disaster strikes and everybody rushes out, 

THE FIREFIGHTERS are supposed to RUSH IN.

And they do it!

This is a custom postcard, that I designed front and back, at zazzle. You can further customize it.

WTC2, with Public Domain photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WTC-Fireman_requests_10_more_colleagesa.jpg

http://www.zazzle.com/wtc2_postcard-239331173870369136?rf=238693463283865848

http://www.zazzle.com/now_where_was_i_before_i_got_interrupted_postage-172442505130559121?rf=238693463283865848

Ah, yes! We were Speaking in the House about the Mandarin duck.

"The Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), or just Mandarin, is a medium-sized perching duck, closely related to the North American Wood Duck. It is 41–49 cm long with a 65–75 cm wingspan.

The adult male is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female is similar to female Wood Duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill.^[2]

Unlike other species of ducks, most Mandarin drakes reunite with the hens they mated with along with their offsprings after the eggs have hatched and even share scout duties in watching the ducklings closely.^[3] However, even with both parents securing the ducklings, most of them do not survive to adulthood."

"In the eyes of ancient Chinese, Mandarin Ducks form a life-time couple, unlike many other species of ducks. Hence they are frequently featured in Oriental art and are regarded as a symbol of conjugal affection and fidelity.

A Chinese proverb for loving couples uses the Mandarin Duck as a metaphor: "Two mandarin ducks playing in water" (simplified Chinese: 鸳鸯戏水; traditional Chinese: 鴛鴦戲水; pinyin: yuān yāng xì shuǐ). The Mandarin Duck symbol is also used in Chinese weddings, because in traditional Chinese lore they symbolize wedded bliss and fidelity."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Duck

"North Korea (ⁱ /ˈnɔrθ kəˌriə/), officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK)"

"After the collapse of the Soviet Union and a series of natural disasters, a famine occurred, causing the death of 900,000 to 2 million people.^[18]

Facing these circumstances, leader Kim Jong-Il adopted Songun, or a "military-first" policy in order to strengthen the country and its government.^[19] 

Although North Korea is officially a socialist republic,^[20] many outside media organizations report that it is a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship^{[13][14][21][22][23]} with an elaborate cult of personality around the Kim family and one of the worst human rights records of any country.^[24] 

North Korea is the world's most militarized nation with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel.^[25] 

It is a nuclear weapons state, and has an active space program.^[26] 

Due to the government's secretive nature and its reluctance to allow in foreigners, North Korea is today considered the world's most isolated country and has thus been given the moniker "The Hermit Kingdom" by some.^{[27][28][29]"}

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_korea}

In the duck images from the top, I'm sure you'll see some pink spots, enough to make a stretch/related post for Happy Pink Saturday meme. :) .

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Happy Pink Saturday! (still open on Sunday!)

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

Are you a creature of the night, or a creature of the day, depending on the season? Mongoose Lemur (Eulemur mongoz) - W.W.F. maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Comoros

"The mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz) is a lemur ranging from 12 to 18 inches long plus a tail of 16 to 25 inches. 

The mongoose lemur lives in dry deciduous forests on the island of Madagascar as well as in the humid forests on the islands of the Comoros. 

This makes the Mongoose Lemur one of only two lemurs found outside of Madagascar,^[3] though it is believed to be an introduced species in the Comoros.^[4] 

The mongoose lemur mostly eats fruit, though flowers, leaves and nectar also make up part of its diet. 

As such, mongoose lemurs act as both pollinators and seed dispersers,^[3] but may use the nectar of the kapok tree for nearly 80% of their diet in some parts of their range during the dry season.^[5] 

Feeding on grubs and beetles has also been observed.^[4] 

They are unusual among primates in that they will be diurnal or nocturnal depending on the season, being more active during the day in the wet season and changing activity to the night during the hotter dry season.^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose_lemur

"The Comoros (ⁱ /ˈkɒməroʊz/; Arabic: جزر القمر‎, Ǧuzur al-Qumur/Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري‎al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī/Qamarī) is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near to the Comoros are Tanzaniato the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast. 

The capital is Moroni on Grande Comore."

[No, the inhabitants of Moroni are not called...]

"At 1,862 km² (719 sq mi) (excluding Mayotte),^[3] the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area. 

With a population estimated at 798,000 (excluding Mayotte), it is the sixth-smallest African nation by population—although it has one of the highest population densities in Africa. 

Its name derives from the Arabic word القمر qamar ("moon").^[4] 

The archipelago is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. 

Though in the contested island of Mayotte the sole official language is French, the "Union of the Comoros" has three official languages: Comorian (Shikomor), Arabic and French."

Independence may not always be the most desirable thing, for some:

"However, the government of the Union of the Comoros (or its predecessors, since independence) has never administered the island of Mayotte, which France administers as an overseas department. 

Mayotte was the only island in the archipelago that voted against independence from France in 1974"

"As of 2008, Comoros and Mauritania are considered by US-based organization Freedom House as the only real “electoral democracies” of the Arab World.^[39]

Also in 2008, the Comoros were ranked 14th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. 

The Ibrahim Index is a comprehensive measure of African governance, based on a number of different variables which reflect the success with which governments deliver essential political goods to its citizens.^[40]"

"Comoros is one of the world's poorest countries. 

Economic growth and poverty reduction are major priorities for the government. 

With a rate of 14.3%, unemployment is considered very high."

"With fewer than a million people, the Comoros is one of the least populous countries in the world, but is also one of the most densely populated, with an average of 275 inhabitants per square kilometre (710 /sq mi). In 2001, 34% of the population was considered urban, but that is expected to grow, since rural population growth is negative, while overall population growth is still relatively high.^[48] 

Almost half the population of Comoros is under the age of 15.^[49"]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comoros

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I'd like to see somebody hosting a Stamps meme for each day of the week, so 7 hosts.

Also, 7 hosts for 7 Postcard memes. :)

==============

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

How to Tell if Your Neighbor is a Bombmaker | STRATFOR. Also, some truffle-searchers and bombmakers are missing THIS. D'oh! Maximum cards from USA.

 Please read: How to Tell if Your Neighbor is a Bombmaker | STRATFOR

In Italy, there were some men with missing fingers.
Were they amateurish bombmakers?
No, they were truffle-searchers, and they have used domestic pigs for that purpose, of sniffing out the underground truffles..

Look at his ears!!!

Ears, fingers...omnivorous diet!

Let's say that the pig's ear to the left of the image way up is a black heart shape, chipped as it is, upside, at an angle.

Yes, it's a stretch, but so is any political decision, pretty much.

"Never wrestle with a pig" is a book title.
Well, wrestling truffles away from a pig's mouth is a risky endeavor, coz they can go...digital.
Eventually, the truffle-searchers smartened up and switched to using dogs. Dogs don't fancy truffles.
Duh...Doh...D'oh...

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Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!