The effete powers-that-be as hapless horned toad
New media as Loggerhead Shrike …
By Sissy Willis of sisu
"That's a shrike, commonly known as a 'butcher bird' [AKA Loggerhead Shrike] because it saves its prey (insects, lizards, frogs, small mammals, and other small birds) up for later, hanging them on
thorns or barbed wire spikes," writes Thomas W. Knowles in the comments to our earlier post, "Tea Partiers pour it on: We'll start the war from right here!" identifying the mystery bird with horned lizard in beak:
It's the shrew of the bird world, a serious predator — and I wish it had picked different prey rather than that young horned toad, which is an endangered species.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has more:
A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. But it uses its hooked beak to kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds, and then impales them on thorns to hold them while it rips them apart.
It does not have the strong feet and talons of a raptor. It does have a strongly hooked bill for gripping flesh, and a strong notch or "tooth" near the bill tip that helps sever the spinal cord of its prey. It uses thorns and barbed wire to hold large prey while it rips it up, and may wedge prey into a fork in a branch for the same purpose.
… skewering the legacy media as hapless
horned toad.
What a way to go. We loved the second part of Thomas W. Knowles's comments, a classic segue from the natural historian's site observations to the political philosopher's cogitations:
And the MSM and most of the dedicated left-of-center, big-government Democrats are delusional re the Tea Party (an alliance of Independents, Libertarians, Democrats, and Republicans who are fed up with the entrenched political elite) and what is going on out here in "flyover" country. Come November, the political elite, especially those big-government types, will find out that they are,
politically speaking, an endangered species.
That casts the effete powers-that-be as the hapless toad, bombastically squirting blood from its eyelids and puffing itself up with air to appear too big to eat, caught in the predatory bill of the new media, about to be skewered and ripped to shreds. No wonder Obama & Company are desperately trying to muzzle the
internet and "reinvent" old media.
Crossposted at sisu and Liberty Pundits.
Heh, Palin mascot perhaps?
Miss Tammy: Same fighting spirit as the mama grizzly. It works for me.
There are other examples in the bird world of small unimpressive birds doing a job on larger animals. Consider the mocking bird. She is at her most fierce when raising her young. I have seen her terrorize birds as large as a buzzard, a red tailed hawk and a barred owl. She will attack yard dogs and harrass cats without blinking to keep them away from her young. She has no ambition to make food of these larger animals. She just eats bugs all day. Humans coming near her nest are treated to frightening display. She dives at humans and flaps in their faces. The mother mocking bird’s secret is her strength of personality and the fact that she defends her territory and her young. If the TEA party is looking for an official mascot, I nominate the mocking bird.
JoyMc: I love it! It seems the maternal instinct is rising up in defense of the precious offspring of the Founding Fathers of this Shining City Upon a Hill, the US Constitution, now being published with a warning label:
“Wilder Publications warns readers of its reprints of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Common Sense, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, among others, that ‘This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today.’
“The disclaimer goes on to tell parents that they ‘might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work.’”