June 7, 2005
SUGAR SMACKDOWN:
The frog and the ox: Americans are finding it hard to understand what is going on in Europe (Lexington, Jun 2nd 2005, The Economist)
THERE is a nice variant of one of Aesop's Fables which goes like this. A tiny frog shares a field with a giant ox. The frog tries to get the ox's attention by puffing himself up. The ox fails to notice the frog. The frog puffs himself up some more. The ox continues not to notice him. The frog finally puffs himself up so much that he explodes. But the ox still doesn't notice him.Something much like this happened last Sunday. Many of the supporters of the European constitution nourish dreams of creating a United States of Europe. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the constitution's leading light, frequently spoke of his admiration for the American constitution. But the American reaction to the French non vote was a giant yawn. The news networks gave as much priority to the simultaneous vote in Lebanon, and both elections seemed less important than the result of the Indy 500.
From the "life imitates" file:
One of the local rituals for children, reported Nicholas D. Kristof of Life in Midland, Texas, when George W. was a boy, were meetings with cookies and milk at the home of a nice old lady who represented the SPCA. The cookies were digested more thoroughly than the teachings.Posted by Orrin Judd at June 7, 2005 12:00 AM`We were terrible to animals,' recalled [Bush pal Terry] Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush borne turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out. `Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,' Throckmorton said. `Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.'
The firecraker thing would get the attention of any forensic psychologist. One baby step short of pulling the wings off butterflies. Cain testing the boundaries.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 7, 2005 1:30 AMdepends on the age of the kid. if he was 11 or 12 it's probably just a phase, if he was 17 then he's probably a dhamer wannabe. frogs and firecrackers go great together, don't ask me why.
Posted by: cjm at June 7, 2005 1:58 AMBastille Day.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 7, 2005 2:05 AMKnowing his enemies, why would a friend of Bush relate such a story?
When I was a kid I was amusing myself by kicking a frog around the garden at my grandmother's house. My aunt came out and scolded me for being so cruel...I still feel bad about it. Wouldn't kick a frog now, even if no one was lookin'.
Posted by: RC at June 7, 2005 7:55 AMWe used to lie in the sandbox in the park across the street and fire bottle rockets at the Episcopalean priest as he ran from the church to his house for lunch.
Posted by: oj at June 7, 2005 8:31 AMAfter a 7th grade elective Herpetology class, we used to go into the Nevada desert and catch large leopard lizards which we would then boil so we could study their skeletons. We only did it a few times, really. Hey, it was for science! We were even worse with the leopard frogs from Walker Lake. Much worse.
Finally, in our teens and early 20's we would go frog gigging on the nearby river, sometimes bagging over 100 bullfrogs that we then deep-fried with beer-batter. Mmmmm...froglegs.
Posted by: Patrick H at June 7, 2005 12:45 PMi can imagine that priest getting nailed, and reversing course like a shooting gallery duck.
Posted by: cjm at June 8, 2005 1:35 AMMr. Judd;
Wimp, firing bottle rockets at something that doesn't fire back. A young stalwart would fire them at his brother's open second story window while the brother fired back to disrupt the aiming.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at June 8, 2005 12:57 PMi could tell a story about an m80, a giant pumpkin, and a fool with both hands undeservedly intact (but won't).
Posted by: cjm at June 8, 2005 4:45 PMIf (1) Bush likes to put frogs in firecrackers and (2) The Eu is a metaphorical frog*, then (3) What sort of metaphorical firecrracker is Bush going to shove up the EU?
*(Appropriately enough, with the French running the show)
Posted by: ralph phelan at June 8, 2005 4:55 PM