When a family of ducklings fell down a Vancouver sewer grate, their mother did what any parent would do: She got help from a passing police officer. Vancouver police officer Ray Peterson didn’t know what to make of the duck that grabbed him by the pant leg while he was on foot patrol in a neighborhood near the city's downtown. He pushed her away, but the mother duck persisted, grabbing Peterson's leg again when he tried to leave, and then waddling to a nearby sewer grate where she sat down and waited for him to follow and investigate. "I went up to where the duck was lying and saw eight little babies in the water below," he said. Police said they removed the heavy metal grate with the help of a tow truck and used a vegetable strainer to lift the ducklings to safety. Mother and offspring then departed for a nearby pond.

Not very important, but for the sake of thoroughness, here's the actual link to the vancouver sun article. (Wired just had that pull quote in a side column on the front page with no attribution.)
- jim 7-16-2001 3:21 pm [add a comment]

There was a Make Way for Ducklings moment a few weeks back on Fifth Avenue, when the Israel Day Parade was halted so a Mallard hen could lead her brood across the street and into Central Park. There was some confusion surrounding the matter, but it was finally determined that the nest had been on the grounds of the Frick Museum. That’s a swanky address, but apparently the mother preferred to raise the kids in the Park. In other baby bird news, a Black-crowned Night Heron ate the eggs in the first Green Heron nest on the Lake, but that’s not considered “cute” behavior.
- alex 7-16-2001 4:16 pm [add a comment]

• as the attorney for the Night Heron, i object to these accusations as they are nothing more than baseless rumors and hearsay. until all the evidence is seen and heard in a court of law, i would ask you to curtail these libelous and hurtful characterizations of my client. i have looked inside the heart of the Night Heron and found his motivations to be as pure as those of Vladimir Putin and Gary Condit combined.
  - dave 7-16-2001 7:35 pm [add a comment]




• Well, we know Condit's a nest-raider.
  - alex 7-16-2001 7:40 pm [add a comment]




• he also likes to feather his hair and shift in the political winds.
  i think he also played keyboards with A Flock of Seagulls.
  
  and i ran. i ran so far away. i ran all night and day. couldnt get away.
  
  WASHINGTON - When a Democrat is down, House Republicans and their media allies usually make vultures look like good Samaritans.
  
  After it was revealed that former President Clinton had lied about an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Whip Tom DeLay and the Taliban wing of their caucus reacted with such gleeful abandon that a tawdry sex scandal blew up into an impeachment crisis. After the Rev. Jesse Jackson acknowledged that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, conservative politicians and commentators attached the scarlet letter faster than you can say, "Henry Hyde's violation of his marriage vow was just a youthful indiscretion." And if there is one word that even the most inept of DeLay's foot soldiers in Congress or the media can spell, it's "Chappaquiddick."
  
  Considering the track record, it would seem that there could be no riper target for right-wing innuendo and moralizing than U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, the California Democratic whose deceits regarding a sexual relationship with Washington intern Chandra Levy have made him the focus of intense media scrutiny and official investigations. How could it be otherwise? Here, after all, is a Democrat who might actually be as bad as DeLay, Bob Barr, Dan Burton and their minions made Clinton out to be.
  
  But Condit isn't being battered. Indeed, he is being praised by Republicans in California and Washington as an able representative who deserves the benefit of the doubt. Dick Armey dismissed the matter as not a concern of Congress this week, DeLay has been altogether silent. Republican criticism of Condit has been at least as restrained as that coming from Democrats.
  
  What gives? Did Armey and DeLay finally get to the "judge not lest ye be judged" section of his prayer books?
  
  Not exactly. Condit gets a pass from his Republican colleagues because, in many senses, he is one of them. As the congressman's hometown newspaper, the Modesto Bee, points out, Condit is benefiting from the fact that he "often has sided with Republicans in Congress and, since January, has been among President Bush's most consistent Democratic supporters."
  
  A founding member of the small but influential "Blue Dog" caucus of conservative Democrats, which has made common ground with Armey and DeLay since the mid-1990s, Condit is so conservative that George W. Bush mentioned him as a Cabinet prospect. Even as the Levy scandal swirled, Condit made a rare public appearance at California's Sequoia National Park - accompanying Bush on the new president's first post-election trip to California.
  
  On his congressional Web site - next to the section recruiting interns and "Gary's Page for Kids" - Condit features an MSNBC article that identifies him as "a natural ally of Republicans."
  
  So favored by conservatives is Condit that he served as a guest host for former first-son Michael Reagan's right-wing radio talk show.
  
  Condit was not always a conservative.
  
  When he entered Congress in 1989, as the successor to another scandal-plagued California Democrat, Tony Coelho, he was a more traditional Democrat. Close to labor - and especially critical of free-trade pacts - he initially voted 83 percent of the time with fellow Democrats, according to the National Journal.
  
  But Condit, who got into politics at age 22, tends to tack toward power. Thus, when Republicans took over the House in 1995, Condit's support for Democratic positions dropped to under 50 percent. He quickly became the face of the false bipartisanship hawked by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. While most Democrats opposed most of Gingrich's "Contract On America" agenda, Condit backed it. He pushed hard for Republican initiatives to limit government regulation, to penalize the poor with punitive welfare reforms and, ironically, to enact the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Condit put a picture of Gingrich on his wall and voted 77 percent of the time with conservatives during the "Contract on America" Congress. And when Republicans started attacking Clinton's sexual antics, Condit was right there on camera echoing their "concerns."
  
  Condit's voting record on issues of concern to labor and environmental groups shifted dramatically, with his ratings falling well below those of most Democrats. (He continued to score some points with his opposition to unrestricted free trade, but even there he worked mainly with conservative "black-helicopter" Republicans rather than progressive Democrats.) On social and domestic economic issues, Condit moved so far to the right that, in 2000, he got a higher approval rating from the anti-choice, anti-pay equity, anti-Equal Rights Amendment Concerned Women for America (71 percent) than from the National Organization for Women (55 percent. Indeed, Condit is now voting more frequently with the John Birch Society (42 percent "right" rating) than the American Civil Liberties Union (36 percent).
  
  Did Condit move right to protect his political hide in a swing district? Not hardly. His rural, farm-oriented district is competitive at the national level -- Clinton carried it narrowly in the 1990s, Bush won it in 2000. But Condit had been winning reelection by landslides since 1990 and frequently faces no major-party opposition. In contrast, another Democrat from a competitive farm district, Illinois' Lane Evans, has been repeatedly targeted for defeat by national Republicans. Though he frequently has to fight for his seat, he gets reelected on a progressive populist platform highlighted by top ratings from labor and environmental groups and consistent support for women's rights, gay rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
  
  Condit could easily do the same, but he doesn't. How come? Principle? No. The Californian was significantly more progressive when Democrats ran the House. The reality is that sided with Congressional conservatives has been good for Condit. He has padded his campaign account with corporate money -- 82 percent of the $325,000 in political action committee contributions collected for his 2000 campaign came from business interests. He has gained access to power in a Republican House. And he has placed himself under the protective wing of Armey, DeLay and other right-wingers who are only too happy to stand by a Democratic accomplice.
  
  So, while the mystery about Condit's personal actions remains under investigation, there is no mystery about the all-quiet-on-the-Republican front response to the congressman's current condition. Loyalty to the conservative pays dividends -- even for Democrats.
  
  - dave 7-16-2001 7:51 pm [add a comment]