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Bison To Become First National Mammal Of The US (washingtonpost.com)
mdsolar quotes a report from Washington Post: North America used to be teeming with bison. But in one century, their numbers plummeted from tens of millions to just a few dozen in the wild after hunters nearly wiped out the continent's largest mammals. Now, the bison is about to become the first national mammal of the United States. The National Bison Legacy Act, which designates the bison as the official mammal of the United States, passed the House on Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday. The legislation now heads to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. At a time of political gridlock and partisan bickering, lawmakers agree on an official national mammal. The bison, which will join the bald eagle as a national symbol, represents the country's first successful foray into wildlife conservation. Lobbying for the official mammal designation was a coalition of conservationists; ranchers, for whom bison are business; and tribal groups, such as the InterTribal Buffalo Council, which wants to "restore bison to Indian nations in a manner that is compatible with their spiritual and cultural beliefs and practices."
Of the last 25 years, arguably the best president was Bill Clinton. Why, what did he do? Not much, he pretty much stayed busy getting laid and dealing with the consequences of getting laid. He didn't have a lot of time to screw things up.
Jacking around voting a "national mammal " may be the best thing for our politicians to do.
Let the nay sayers decry this as political correctness, but I hold that other classes are no less worthy, no less deserving, no less anything. They too deserve a representative member of their class installed as the archetype and be represented as officially.
My fellow Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta, Vermes, rise and demand to be represented. You have nothing to lose but the chains and the second, no pun intended, class treatment by the upper class Mammalia. We Americans despise class warfare and we strive to treat all classes equally. You will friends and well wishers among the more enlightened members of the Mammals. Do not suffer in silence.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I thought that since politicians were reptiles that the president was the national reptile by default.
One can't forget what isn't real.
It was Bush that removed the only obstacle for the North Koreans to make nuclear weapons though, one very stupid move that will cause great costs to the US for a long time.
Or explained in a simple manner: Clinton: "How about nuclear power and other stuff if you don't make nuclear weapons?" Kim: "Sure, that's a deal" Bush: "We will make no deals with the great eeeevil!!" Kim: "Well fuck you then! I'll go build some nukes, with blackjack and hookers!"
From Does the United States have a national insect?
No, the United States does not have a designated national insect. However, Congress did consider the Monarch butterfly as the national insect, but the legislation did not pass. Some U.S. states have "state insects," which are usually noted on state government web sites.
And List of U.S. state insects. Interestingly I recently head an entomologist talking about state insects on NPR. Apparently there had been cases where specific insects were nominated, but they actually weren't native species.
Monarch Butterflies fly back to Mexico every year, so no wonder they never got the bill passed. Don't tell Trump, or the wall will have to get taller.