Special "For Pete's Sake" Edition

Sometimes reading the paper makes me angry. "Why read the paper if it makes you angry," you might ask. Because then I couldn't share my dismay with you, my ever dear and gentle readers.

Your Tax Dollars Hard at Work (protecting you from dead birds and ornamental fish)

1. They sure have some gull. Well, not anymore. Federal Fish & Wildlife agents entered Cappy's Chowderhouse in Camden (hey, we're in Maine, of course we have a Cappy's Chowderhouse!) and informed the owner that she was in violation of a 1918 law protecting migratory birds. There are two items that I would like to point out. First, the bird is stuffed. How exactly are they protecting the bird. Second, the stuffed bird has been there for 20 years. Oh, and the bird has been stuffed for 150 years. If my math is correct, the bird was stuffed well before the law was ever enacted. What did the agents propose to do with the gull? Put it in a government warehouse in Colorado. Thank goodness we have these federal agents to protect us from 150 year old stuffed birds in Camden, Maine. Phew! I can only hope that the fine people of Colorado will be safe from the bird when it is locked away in a climate-controlled government warehouse.

2. Don't be so koi. Cuong Ly, owner of a Freeport Chinese restaurant, had some koi in a tank. The good folks at the Fish & Wildlife department showed up and informed him that since he didn't have a koi permit, he would be fined, and had to get rid of the fish. He appealed. Now, you would think that he could just keep his koi. But no! It's not that simple. While technically he can keep the koi, and keep them in his restaurant, the fish must be hidden from public view. Yes, you read that correctly. He can have the fish, but our eyes must be shielded from them.
Apparently the government is concerned that Mr. Ly, who has the fish as part of his spiritual beliefs, is going to release the koi into the wild, and they will become and invasive species. BUT he will only do this if the fish are displayed publicly.
If Fish & Wildlife folks are really concerened about protecting our water, perhaps they could focus more on stormwater runoff, people discharging their waste into lakes, etc. You know, once they get the koi under control.


Since folks seemed so responsive (and by responsive I mean more than one comment was left) to my previous post about the "who is selling this, and more important, who is buying this" Native American Nativity scene, I have decided to select something I don't like from the weekly coupon flier. For your disapproval, I submit this week's pick:

Seriously?
I would be willing to wager that there were fewer potty training problems back when kids were in cloth diapers, or even when there were just plain old white disposable diapers. Why don't we just make diapers that flash, or sound a piercing alarm when wet? If a kid doesn't realize when their diaper is wet, do you think they're going to notice when the diaper feels cool? So now in addition to puting the regular diaper in the landfill, we can add in whatever chemical produces a cooling sensation when in contact with urine. Hooray for more chemicals!