We were warned

Shooting frogs with BB guns was apparently pretty standard entertainment for young boys in Texas in the 1950s. But for added amusement, George W. Bush and his friends used to tuck firecrackers into the anuses of frogs, throw them in the air, and watch them explode. This may go a long ways towards explaining his hatred for the French. Anyone have a spare SideWinder missile laying around that we can use to return the favor?

The story — recounted with fondness by a Bush childhood friend in a long, flattering New York Times profile of Bush during the 2000 presidential election campaign — never became an issue on the campaign trail. Yessir, the mainstream media most certaintly is tilted to the left. This would have been front page news if it were Al Gore instead of "da shrub".

Despite psychiatric evidence that children who are cruel to animals often go on to be abusive adults, the U.S. media apparently decided that the torture of frogs was nothing more than a charming little anecdote from Dubya's early years. (Imagine what the media would make of a charming little childhood anecdote like that, if it were in Saddam Hussein's background.) He probably was into kicking donkeys as well. I'll avoid going into sheep territory in this post.

It should have at least been a clue that Bush — now the most powerful madman in the world — has a taste for blowing things up, not to mention an insensitivity to suffering. I truly miss Clinton; he merely had a taste for being blown. At least that makes sense to me.