Crows, the new missing link!!!

Uh oh, the evolutionists are going to be partying all night over this news...

WASHINGTON - Mounting tiny video cameras to the tail feathers of crows, researchers discovered that the birds use a variety of tools to seek food, and even make their own tools, plucking, smoothing and bending twigs and grass stems.

"We observed a new mode of tool use that was not known before. We saw them use tools on the ground, using a little grass stem to poke and fish into nests," researcher Christian Rutz of England's University of Oxford said in a telephone interview.

New Caledonian crows had been known to use sticks to probe rotting trees for grubs, but they were never seen to use tools on the ground before.

A crow that does tricks isn't proof that people came from birds billions of years ago. I'm sorry, I don't care how many crude tools a crow designs and uses to catch food, it's still just a stupid crow and it belongs on my plate marinated in Dales, with a side of fava peas and a nice Chianti, should I decide to kill it and eat it.

Update alert!!!

UPDATE: to the Oak Lawn religious holiday kerfuffle about which we've been entangled...

(CBS) OAK LAWN, Ill. Following a school board meeting where parent complained about what the saw as an assault on traditional American celebrations, an Oak Lawn school district has decided to keep observing Halloween and Christmas, but only on the condition that Muslim holiday Ramadan is celebrated as well.

Given that there are 30% Muslim children in the school, I think this is probably the best compromise the school board could come up with. One important point was that the Muslim parents did not ask for Christmas and Halloween to be banished in favor of Ramadan, they just wanted their holiday to be recognized in addition. The stupid school board overreacted as usual with hysterical political correctness and banned all official religious expression. Actually, I wouldn't have a problem with that either, but for entirely different reasons that I've gone over already.

The simple and most logical solution is for the Muslims to establish a private school where they can practice whatever kooky rituals they like. The problem with Muslim-only private schools however, is that many of them are funded entirely by Saudi Arabia who send hostile Imams to teach, and the children get radicalized...in effect the school becomes a training ground for America-hatred and distrust. That presents a larger problem down the road.

Honestly, I don't know the best solution which is patriotically satisfactory as well as Constitutional in that it embraces the openness of our society and allows for all religious practices.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann defends Rush Limbaugh against the hysterical Senate's move to denounce him for his "phony soldier" comment. If you're familiar with this story, you should give Ann's column this week a read. Go here and check it out.

Crime actually does pay if Bill Clinton is involved

Thanks to Bill Clinton and Maddy Albright, the extortion scheme of the Norks has paid off rather handsomely...

BEIJING - North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31, actions that will be overseen by a U.S.-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said Wednesday.

Under a broad agreement reached in February, North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or other assistance.

In addition, the statement reiterated the five other countries' commitment to deliver the fuel oil and other energy and economic assistance as spelled out in the February deal.

But for the Clinton's allowing the sale of nuclear technology to the Norks in exchange for bags of campaign cash, we wouldn't be in the position of caving in to the threats of lunatic dictator Kim Jong Il. Madeliene Albright basically went over there and in political terms, slept with the boy-dictator, fawning all over him like Ted Kennedy over a bottle of single malt Scotch. Now we have to give them whatever they want to keep them from becoming the next nuclear capable country.

Thanks a lot Bill.

The Wonderkid

Thankfully Barak Obama has virtually no hope of catching Hillary. But the scary version is he might be VP and then have a leg up on CiC in 2016. Here's how abominably stupid and naive he is...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Senator Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism, aides say.

In a speech at DePaul University in Chicago, Mr. Obama will add his voice to a plan endorsed earlier this year by a bipartisan group of former government officials from the cold war era who say the United States must begin building a global consensus to reverse a reliance on nuclear weapons that have become “increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective.”

Getting rid of our nukes when Iran, the Norks, Pakistan, and Russia all have them would be like Jeff Gordon getting rid of his car on the eve of Talladega. Tell me one deterent to a terrorist-sponsoring State using a nuke against the US or one of or allies, if we do not have any of our own with which to threaten certain destruction? Obama is long on grand pandering and gravely short on details. Heaven help us if he gets anywhere near 1600 Penn.

Obama wants terrorists and terrorist States to be able to use these against us and for us not to be able to retaliate. Is it just me, or is he living up to his name?

Schools are for learning, and learning only

My opinions on this will probably surprise you...

(CBS) OAK LAWN, Ill. A southwest suburban school district has taken action, responding to the concerns of a Muslim parent.

But now, as CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, other parents are angry that traditional school holidays will be renamed or even eliminated.

"That does not represent all the Muslims, all of the Arabs at that school," said Qais Nofel, the father of a student in Ridgeland School District 122.

There was some heated discussion between parents outside Columbus Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn on Friday. The thought of no more traditional holiday celebrations has many parents really upset.

For now, children in Ridgeland School District 122 will celebrate fall festival instead of Halloween and winter festival instead of Christmas.

OK, point 1, the last thing I want is the dreadful government education system indoctrinating my kid into State-approved religious thought. Schools are for learning and learning only. Schools do an abysmal job of teaching as it is. They shouldn't be distracting the kids with silly holiday celebrations of any kind. Teachers should teach the curricula, and I will celebrate holidays at home where that kind of thing belongs.

The question of which religious practice should be acceptable in schools is like asking your boss what meat is allowed to be grilled in the office conference room. Answer: NONE! No religious practices should be allowed in any government school. They are there to learn and that is all. If Muslim kids want to pray like 14 times a day, then send them to private schools or home-school them.

Point 2.....I don't really have a point 2. I did an excellent job of summing up my thoughts in a single point.

A very special Monday edition of Ann Coulter Thursday

I found an exerpt of Ann's new book, If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans, over at Townhall.com. You can click here and check it out before you run out and buy it.

UPDATE: As astute reader Kevin found out the hard way, the link didn't work. Try it again, it should work now. My bad!

Fast food police

Having already sucked the fun and enjoyment out of literally every facet of our lives, the vampire-like do-gooders have their sights set on the food industry...

Westchester officials consider mandatory calorie counts on fast food menus

Pouted busy-body Joshua Lipsman,

"Two-thirds of adults and one-third of kids are obese or overweight," Lipsman said. "We can't have a healthy, vibrant society where one-third of the kids and two-thirds of the adults weigh too much."

This cretin couldn't be more wrong! What we can't have is a rich, enjoyable life full of choices when pencil-necked bureaucrats micromanage every choice available to us. If customers want a calorie count on fast food, they'll demand it and the free market will provide it, without the meddling pincers of pointy-headed goons like Lipsman mandating it.

Citizenship test

So the INS has written a new citizenship test that's supposed to be pretty hard, even for Americans. Given the pitiful state of our government education system, that's not surprising. With that being the case, let's see how many of you qualify to be citizens by taking a sampling of the new test. Go here, take the short quiz and see. I got 96%. I missed one question.

Be warned though, failure to get at least 70% will result in your immediate deportation, so get your affairs in order and answer wisely.

And in this corner....

I would pay good money to watch a video of this...

A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows, press reports said Sunday.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.

Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their religious vocation" and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said, adding that she suspected Battista Pichierri of planning to cede the convent to another community.

Liliana has been at the convent since its founding in 1963.

Seriously, there have to be some repressed feelings that are normal to humans that come out eventually when you choose an unnaturally cloistered lifestyle. I just don't think it's psychologically healthy to deny normal human outlets for a lifetime. I'm not so surprised that nuns were fighting, but that we don't hear about it more often.