I am a traditionalist, but I love animals. I enjoy the pageantry of days-of-old, and am not one to root for change too easily, but what to do when the change might be better?
Either way, it became official in late February...the traditional English fox hunt is now illegal.
The British government ruled that it is cruel to use dogs for hunting, thus rendering the red-coated, horse-backed, horn-blowing, barking and howling hunt that gave us so many hilarious cartoons, illegal.
Remember the one with Droopy and all the foxes at the formal dining table in the hunting lodge? Hilarious.
Now, here’s another factor. Much of the English countryside has been kept and maintained to facilitate fox hunts at quite a good deal of profit to the lodges and farms that host the hunts. Hedges are left in place for riders to jump over and thickets are left wild for foxes to hide in. Many experts worry that the loss of this tradition will effect the landscape for the worse.
It’s better for the foxes, no doubt, but in a world where a lot of change ends up being for the worse, is it better to lose such a long-standing tradition? I’m officially on the fence on this one...
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Sunday, March 6, 2005
Reaganisms...
“No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”
“Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.”
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant: It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
“Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
“I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.”
“The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.”
“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”
“I’ve laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me -- even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.”
“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
“Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.”
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant: It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
“Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
“I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.”
“The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.”
“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”
“I’ve laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me -- even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.”
“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
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