my contribution, which is an actual editorial in an actual paper, thogh I am sure tongue in cheek:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Story/Our_view_Prairie_dog_problem_deliciously_resolved Editorial:Prairie-dog problem deliciously resolved RelatedMore on this siteAdvertisement By | The New Mexican 11/3/2007 Environmentalists, animal lovers and those star-struck by the long-ago Disney documentary The Vanishing Prairie are hailing the state Department of Transportation decision to delay work along a stretch of the Rail Runner route until a colony of Gunnison's prairie dogs comes out of hibernation. Only after the cute li'l characters are in their new digs down by Socorro or somewhere elsewise of Santa Fe County will the commuter-train line between here and Belén be laid through the Zia Road-St. Francis Drive tract on which they're preparing to bed down for the winter. This is good planning, and better public relations: We can't have a conservation-promoting project like a traffic-relieving rail line pushing aside photogenic varmints, can we? The announcement by Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught came about the same time that Forest Guardians declared their intent to get prairie dogs of that kind declared an endangered species. Whether or not they're truly endangered, or whether or not they should be endangered for all their ankle-breaking burrows, might yet be the subject of ranchers' testimony. But unbeknownst to the huggers is an, uh, economic-development project emerging from the transpo-department capitulation. You read it here first ... It's been no secret that the Rail Runner is an expensive project cost estimates, depending on what's counted, are in the hundreds of millions. One way Secretary Faught planned to make up her department's shortfall was the sale of prairie-dog kebabs to train passengers. Eureka! Reduce the rodent population with those critters roasted on a stick. These things'd sell like hotcakes, figured one of our office wags who sneaked aboard in disguise, then whispered the suggestion to the secretary as she began one of her renowned aerial junkets. So imagine her dismay when, among the myriad objections to the Rail Runner's extension to Santa Fe, the colony of cuddly-lookers came up. But engineer that she is, Faught resolved it with a combination of civil, social and genetic engineering. Genetic engineering? Yes. You see, there had been concerns about the flavor of prairie-dog meat: Stringy at best, it can taste a bit, well, a bit ratty. To the rescue scampers the cuy; that's the Peruvian name for a truly cuddly creature; one we know as the guinea pig, which is neither porcine nor native to Guinea. It comes from the Andes and fried or stewed, it tastes great. Herdlets of them scuttle around kitchens of South American villages and when dinnertime approaches, one or more might get grabbed. Soon, paw and all, a hindquarter is sitting atop a bed of rice. Since the originator of p-dog kebabs envisions the paw as part of the appeal to wide-open-spaces tastes, there's a pivot point in the Transportation Department's response to the rodent bloc which, of course, is creation of a prairie dog-guinea pig hybrid; easily fitting a bamboo skewer, yet far more al gusto. They'll be bred and raised in the comfort of Southern New Mexico, and prepared for the palate by chefs famed for Santa Fe Dining. And they'll command premium prices, first from train customers bored out of their minds by the snail pace of a conveyance that's anything but the bullet train former Gov. Toney Anaya envisioned, and then from tourists as word gets out ... To keep the predictable protests at bay, the department will set aside areas for keeping the Gunnison's species pure; after all, the Richardson administration and all its minions are nothing if not politically hip. Now if only the governor and Secretary Faught can satisfactorily answer the other concerns over the Rail Runner ... On 11/4/07, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2007 12:20 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Ok, This is Bad ... > > > > "Domestic Abuse rate drops to zero" > > > > http://www.theonion.com/content/video/domestic_abuse_no_longer_a > > That was great... but this one had me on the floor: > > http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ninja_parade_slips_through_town > > Jim Davis > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get the answers you are looking for on the ColdFusion Labs Forum direct from active programmers and developers. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?forumid-72&catid=648 Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:245795 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
