Add manatees to the large (and growing) list of things that the Tea Party can’t abide. Apparently, not being able to kill large marine mammals with speeding boats is a violation of the constitution. Who knew?
“We cannot elevate nature above people,” explained Edna Mattos, 63, leader of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots, in an interview. “That’s against the Bible and the Bill of Rights.”
Sigh…
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
I find the last three paragraphs particularly frightening.
I now have visions of Edna Mattos warning, uh, the U.N. that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away her boat, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as she’s riding her speed boat through the bay to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be racing our boats over those manatees like the Bible tells us to.
@Jochen: I’m glad you pointed those out. I was going to but felt that the quote I did pull was pretty compelling as well.
“Compelling” in this context meaning “horrifying”?
Yes, yes it does.
How offensive. Don’t they remember when Paul Revere rode his manatee ringin’ those bells and sendin’ those warning shots and letting the British know we weren’t goin’ to give up our boats?
But Nate, if Revere rode a manatee, with how many lanterns did Newman signal to warn the British … Wait, now I am all confused.
Four, maybe?
American history is hard.
American History is hard… after all, not only was Paul Revere riding a manatee, but he did it in the almost land-locked state of New Hampshire!