Germany is plagued by an overpopulation of raccoons who are eating the Germans’ wine grapes. (I can imagine the raccoons would — I feed grapes to my neighborhood coonies every night.)
But, how did the non-native raccoons end up in Germany? Around 1934, “[t]he move was encouraged by Hermann Goering, the Nazi
leader who, apart from being the head of Hitler’s air force, was the
chief forester of the Third Reich. The raccoons, known as wash-bears in Germany, were seen by Goering as an enrichment to German woodland.” See? We learn something new every day! Isn’t life exciting? OPEN THREAD!
Nazi raccoons. Myohmy, Susan, what will you tell us next?
Here’s one: I found this story in The Guardian. On Gozo, Malta’s little sister, and I do believe residence of Wayward Wind. Haven’t seen him around here lately. WW, are you there?
Raccoons in German forests. Good lord. Well, we have English sparrows, starlings, snakehead fish and kudzu. Australia has rabbits, rabbits and more rabbits.
When we find armadillos running loose in Transylvania, then I’m going to really worry…
I heard an interesting explanation a while back as to why armadillos are so often road kill in Florida. And, I assume, Texas and other places.
Apparently, slow-moving critters that they are, one of their prime defense maneuvers is to jump straight up in the air, thus intimidating a potential foe. Doesn’t work so well, however, when you’re being threatened by a large motor vehicle. Ouch.
It’s not just intimidation. They’re armor-plated, remember? Imagine yourself a coyote, out for your noon snack, and just as you open your mouth and pounce your lunch, you get nailed in the lower jaw by a seven or eight pound cannonball.
That doesn’t have to happen very often before you quit thinking of cannonballs as snack food.
sounds about time for a davey crockett fad in the fatherland?
Dem’s fightin’ words, pardnuh.
Those raccoons I see every night are the best entertainment ever .. they’re so cute and funny. And the Raccoon list I’m on is the most fun ever … nicest people, and they’re bonkers about raccoons. They crack me up every day.
Here’s an example post from the raccoon list”
P.S. Don’t tell my mother. She gave me about four stuffed animals she’d gotten for donating to some diabetes foundation. She gave them to me to give to children I’ve tutored…. well, the kids thought they were too old for them. So, I’ve thrown two of the stuffed animals out to the raccoon teenagers, who LOVE them… they chew on them, toss them around. I’ve found the stuffed animals in the bushes, on a tree limb, under shrubbery…. they’ve had so much fun with them.
Abramoff asked $9 million from Gabon for meeting with Bush
the cliff’s notes version of the white phosphorus/napalm story, in riddle format.
This is on MSNBC…
WASHINGTON – House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday.
They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium.
The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists, who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions. President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge his top energy priorities….
Arctic Wildlife Reserve.
A Timeline.
The key word in its name is “wildlife” and oil drilling cannot coexist with wildlife habitat.
But the decision is likely to meet objections from the Senate, where senior lawmakers are insisting on the drilling plan, a priority for President Bush.
New York Times
sigh – this one is NEVER over, is it? But I was not expecting the good news from the House last night – I had no idea they would drop it (for now).
I’ve heard – and correct me if I’m wrong – that there isn’t a tremendous amount of enthusiasm among most oil companies for drilling there any more – this is all something that’s being pushed by the Administration and by a few legislators (e.g., Ted Stevens). But it really seems to me to be Bush’s big “fuck you” to the environmental movement as much as anything else – just to show who has the power.
Come to think of it, I believe that’s the motivation for a lot of things they do…
.
Leadership Race
By Yair Ettinger, Mazal Mualem and Daniel Ben-Simon
TEL AVIV Nov. 10, 2005 — In an unexpected result, Histadrut labor federation Chairman Amir Peretz was named the new chairman of the Labor Party, defeating the incumbent and favorite, Vice Premier Shimon Peres,
The new Labor chief quickly reiterated his intention of pulling the party out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, propelling the country into political disarray and advancing the likelihood of early general elections.
“We will notify the prime minister that we want to leave. We want to leave… certainly out of a desire to turn the Labor Party into an alternative that intends to take power in the next elections,” he said.
Amir Peretz celebrating his victory in theLabor leadership race in Tel Aviv early today.
Haaretz - Guy Raivitz
“Amir will discuss with the prime minister an agreed date for an election,” said Yuli Tamir, a Labor legislator and Peretz supporter.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Can’t Bush do anything right? This happened at the Medal of Freedom ceremony where Bush gives these medals away like candy.
Oh, man, how I wish there was video footage of that!
Ali’s ear? I heard through the grapevine that he said, “So, I hear you’re a muslim?”
FEMA director is FINALLY off the payroll. I like this tidbit and wonder if it was prompted by Damnit Janet’s verbal lashings via telephone 🙂