I can't help but feel some affection for a country whose parliament regularly breaks down into wild, fist-swinging melees.

Agreed. I'm reminded of the Harold Ford and Whateverhernameis incident, when Ford had to be physically restrained on the House floor. I remember secretly longing for escalation at the time.

Thompson's rented red pickup truck, chauffered for the first 100 feet out of campaign events by a blonde staffer, should make a great symbol for his presidential run.

I really hate those cattle mutilation stories. Because they interest me, and I can't figure out a good explanation. Except, you know, aliens, which is completely insane.

3: Exactly.

The Thomas Jefferson quote says:

"The tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood of patriots."

The Taiwanese have clearly improved upon this maxim, so that the revision now reads:

"The tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood, bruises and tufts of pulled hair of elected lawmakers."

Really, it's better this way.

If aliens wanted to do experiments on earth cattle, wouldn't they take, you know, live specimens rather than running around willy-nilly laser-cutting thousands of anuses and leaving the dead carcasses to rot?

It's a sick prank, like crop circles.

Well, crop circles aren't sick, but you know what I mean.

If it's a sick prank, GB, where's the blood and footprints, and why won't predators touch the carcasses?

Or does logic require us to doubt these reports?

I suppose that at least some of the mutilations mst be sick pranks, but in the middle of nowhere? I doubt that there is some financial gain that could be motivating owners.

Sorry, but far from being Le Corbusier’s finest work, I think that his Notre Dame du Haut chapel looks awful, inside and out. One of the Japanese TV station did a special last week on Le Corbusier recently that included a trip to this eyesore. I am offended to be confronted by it again so soon.

where's the blood and footprints, and why won't predators touch the carcasses?

Basic prankology requires that the phenomenon be mysterious and hard to explain, like crop circles. Hence, the perps make sure to leave no blood, etc. How eerie!

Moving on, we have no proof that predators "never" touch the carcases, only the say-so of a wacko who believes UFO's are running large-scale cow ass inspections undetected. But giving this claim the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the pranksters spray something on the carcasses to ward off predators. Or maybe the predators are just scared off by the lingering scent of the humans that did the prank.

If the guy in the article were a serious scientist with an "open mind", he would be gathering data, forming and testing hypotheses, and running controlled experiments to get to the bottom of these questions. (For that matter, why doesn't he just leave a live cow in a field monitored by a hidden camera, and see what happens?) But no, he'd rather run about hyping his pet theory of alien cow buggery. That's the precise opposite of having an open mind.

Also, I kinda like the big puffy Corbusier thing.

The Thomas Jefferson quote says:

"The tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood of patriots."

The Taiwanese have clearly improved upon this maxim

I really thought this was going to lead to "...with the blood of abducted cattle".

I can't help but feel some affection for a country whose parliament regularly breaks down into wild, fist-swinging melees.

There's a Durham School Board joke in there somewhere, I just can't find it.

The DPP charges that Wang has abused his position

Stop Wang abuse now.

Responding to the DPP's move against Wang, dozens of Nationalist lawmakers charged the DPP wall, pushing, shoving and exchanging blows

OK, that'll do.

If aliens wanted to do experiments on earth cattle, wouldn't they take, you know, live specimens rather than running around willy-nilly laser-cutting thousands of anuses and leaving the dead carcasses to rot?

Think harder, GB. Alien's don't want to do experiment on cattle - Aliens want sausages.

The whole 'alien' phenomenon has a distinctly theatrical quality to it. Their technology doesn't really seem all that advanced for a spacefaring civilization. In fact, we never see them come in from outer space or leave to go back there. Any scientific investigation they might be doing should have been wrapped up long ago. And the accounts of 'medical' examinations from abduction accounts come right out of 50's science fiction.

Whatever is going on here is being staged. By who or for what effect, I have no idea. But it's fake.

Does anyone else remember a SNL skit from about 1986 in which a bunch of aliens landed and threatened to enslave the earth, but all their technology was incredibly obsolete (except for their flying saucer, of course, which they stole from other aliens)?

Pointing 18th-century muskets at the confused earthlings, the aliens said, "You will toil on our planet as slaves... maintaining our intricate network of dirt roads!"

20: I hadn't read the linked report before I posted. It looks pretty interesting.

The report in 19 is much more disturbing than any ET explanation.

I can't wait for this to turn into the new anti-christ thread.

Barack Obama mutilates teh cattle!!!1!