Why Owls Are Better Than Sarah Palin
Last night while the rest of you were foaming about the governor's mispronunciation of "nuclear," I was on Duke Ellington Bridge walking home. And for the third time in a year, I watched an owl fly over the bridge. The owl, a barred owl as it turns out (pictured above) is one of three species that inhabit Rock Creek Park (the great horned and the screech owl are the other two). By far, the barred owl is the cutest of our city's owl critters. It does not have pointy bat-like ears and has soft brown eyes, rather than the piercing pee-yellow ones of other owl varieties.
When I saw my brown-eyed owl friend land in a tree just on the other side of Walter Pierce Park, I stopped rushing home to turn on The Sexist's live blog (sorry, Sexist) and instead watched the owl. The owl twisted its small head around to look, I presume, for dinner: mice or chipmunks or, apparently, tasty grouse and doves. It sat there on a limb for a good two minutes (long enough for either veep candidate to say "Main Street" and "kitchen table" approximately 82 times) and then it flew off toward the zoo grounds with an audible flap of its wings.
Look, I know I'm supposed to be writing in this space about Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin. But you know what, Jason Cherkis, I really don't care. I am so sick to death of you and your ilk imploding all over yourself because you hate Sarah Palin. The way you all twitch with fear and loathing is exactly the way conservatives twitched with fear and loathing regarding Hillary Clinton, circa 1992-2008. She's just a politician, people.
Personally, I prefer owls.
11:44 am
Amen to that... I wish most would-be and/or wannabe pundits would stick a fork in it. Wish I had spent more time last night looking for interesting critters.
12:38 pm
Right on! I don't understand why people think this whole "election" this is important enough for the media to write about! I'd much rather read about...wait...I'm sorry, what was this post about?
12:56 pm
Fie on your owl. I saw a mantis:
http://www.popcesspool.net/2008/10/you-know-your-k.html
1:04 pm
To think I actually got excited by this post's headline! Jule was going to blog about Sarah Palin! Did I just get pwned? It's pwned, right?
In case you missed the debate, TPM provides an excellent--and hilarious 10-minute compilation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJ4Dk33cCQ&eurl=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/
2:09 pm
Owls, Jim. This post is about owls. I have provided helpful links should you want to read about ... wait... I'm sorry. What was it that everyone blathers incessantly about again?
2:11 pm
The future of this country.
2:48 pm
Yes, thank you, Jules. Owls, eh? The paper is on the brink of insolvency yet all you can think is owls?
Don't get me wrong. Who doesn't like an owl hooting in the dusky woods. But please, could we pospone the matter? SarahP is a much more urgent topic.
3:05 pm
Oh, Ernest. We here at the Web site (none dare call it a "paper" these days) think critters and coverage of such could pull us bank from the brink of bankruptcy. I sense you disagree and would rather washingtoncitypaper.com morph into sarahpalinisapig.com. Well, Ernest, that is why I am on staff and you, you are not. Because I know better. And I know about critters.
3:21 pm
Leave it to City Paper to get into a fight, an online fight, about blog content!
The ship is going down and were bickering: Palin coverage vs. Critter coverage. Why can't we have both without snark?
3:22 pm
And Sarah Palin knows about shootin' critters.
3:24 pm
Oh, Cherkis. You're so Ernest.
3:26 pm
owl :)
http://lifein.mvsna.org/index.cfm/2007/3/27/Urban-Wildlife
3:40 pm
You? On staff? There must be a good explanation for that. You don't write well at all.
3:49 pm
Oh Contraire, Ernests. I will have you know that prior to my full-time employment at the Washington City Paper/washingtoncitypaper.com, I was the recipient of Best Column (third place) of the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association. I doubt very much, Ernests, that you could say the same.
5:35 pm
You do make me laugh, Jules.