NRA lobbyist shoots down rival birds

   Whenever someone suggests changing the Florida state bird, the National Rifle Association takes aim at the new critter. Well, not really the NRA, but Marion Hammer, the group’s chief state lobbyist and a definite capital powerhouse.

   This time the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission asked schoolchildren to pick a new bird. More than 20,000 voted for the osprey, a raptor also known as the fish hawk.

   That didn’t impress Hammer, who loves mockingbirds. And the fact that they are willing to fight larger birds that threaten their nests. “They are very protective of their family and of their territory,” she said. Hammer notes that in this dispute, she is talking for herself, not the NRA, even if she does use NRA-sounding arguments.

   In 1999, more than 10,000 schoolchildren signed a petition to change the state bird to the Florida scrub jay. Supporters boasted about how it will eat peanuts right out of a person’s hand.

   Hammer was unmoved. “Begging for food isn’t sweet,” she testified in a committee hearing. “It’s lazy, and it’s a welfare mentality.” Scrub jays had lots of other bad habits that disqualified them to represent Florida, she contended. “They eat the eggs of other birds,” she told lawmakers. “That’s robbery and murder.”

Comments

[JH]

Marion Hammer should not have more clout than 28,000 other people. And people call Obama the Messiah?

[August West]

another reason why the word 'nut' so often follows the word 'gun' in this country.

[Frank]

I'd like to suggest Marion Hammer be named the Florida state bird.

[Allan]

It's interesting that she's the only one making good arguments about the bird that will be chosen to represent the entire state and somehow she's the "nut." Why would a state even want a bird if it wasn't some type of representative or symbolic in some way?

The 3 comments here suggest that she's being singled out by narrow-minded bigots simply because of her affiliation with the NRA.

[Randall Flagg]

This is the perfect lesson for the children. You can have a consensus of the people but it only takes one well connected lobbyist to thwart you. It's the epitome of politics in the good ol' US of A.

[what]

is this a satire? it sounds too ridiculous to be true. "robbery and murder" for eating eggs? "welfare mentality" for eating food from someone's hand? well hell, the mockingbird "mocks" people, and that's just not nice. the mockingbird should be disqualified.

[Jack Torrance]

FTA: “It’s lazy, and it’s a welfare mentality.”

So is getting handouts from a flying fat man on Christmas but I don't see her lobbying against that. Seriously, NRA, this dim-bulb isn't doing you any favors with the sane folk.

[d. burr]

Turning the choice of the state's bird into yet another ideological argument is Coo Coo...Just let the kids pick the bird and move on...It's not like any of the birds will have any real change in status that they will notice...win or lose.

[Reality]

What an idiot. Leave it to some NRA moron to politicize the selection of an official state bird. Too bad there isn't a bird that totes a concealed assault rifle with cop-killer bullets and a twisted interpretation of the Second Amendment. Dimwit Marion would probably be all over that.

[Holly]

Has the St. Pete Times suddenly turned into The Onion? This has to be a joke.

[CheekyMonkey]

Judging by it's inhabitants, Florida's state bird should be the Dodo.

[Jason]

@ Allan:

No, she's not being singled out because of her affiliation w/ the NRA. She's being singled out, and deservedly so, because she sounds like a raving moron.

[Alex]

...ok seriously?..over a bird? but to "Reality", how does one conceal an assault rifle exactly? and anyone who has "cop-killer" bullets to go along with their assault rifle would have a gun regardless of any laws banning them...the law abiding citizens would just be helpless

[Jameel]

The only people I've heard call Obama the "Messiah" are bitter angry white people trying to be clever with their "wit".

But seriously, what kind of a halfwit goes attributing human qualities like laziness and a "welfare mentality" to creatures of nature?

You really CAN'T fix stupid.

[Ramet in Dallas]

I vote for the Loon as the bird most representative of the posters on this site. Just out of curiosity, what criterion do you use to choose something to represent tyour state? The symbol of the USA is an Eagle because it is at the top of the food chain and subservient to no other. Tell me why you want to choose the Florida scrub jay, not trash someone for having a reasoned opinion.

[Tracy]

"They eat the eggs of other birds," she told lawmakers. "That’s robbery and murder."

I bet this woman eats the eggs of other birds, too. She likely also eats the babies of other animals. And steals milk from calves.

Go vegan!

Visit ChooseVeg.com

[lol, hag]

that's a man, baby!

[Speedy]

Other birds and problems that NRA members might have --

Crow: black, like our socialist/terrorist president
Flamingo: pink, the same color as the gay triangle symbol
Turkey: Named after a foreign country that has mooslems in it
Dove: Symbol of anti-war movement, which hates America and wants terrorists to win
Sparrow: Colored brown, like the socialist inhabitants of many third-world countries
Woodpecker: Name can easily be made fun of by eighth-grade boys, and may make them homosexuals
Duck: Rhymes with a bad word, thus causing school children to support health care reform
Goose: Contains the letter "O", which is also the first letter of Osama. And Obama.
Barn Swallow: Has a deep and abiding hatred of white people, just like Obama. Glenn Beck said so.

(For more reasons why NRA members object to bird species , please tune into Fox News. God bless America.)

(BTW, JH, can you name one person who called Obama the "messiah" who wasn't a conservative accusing other people of calling him the messiah? Bah. You Floridians are fun -- I'm glad I live in a state that isn't shaped like a gun...)

[Beardo McShorts]

From what I've seen of Florida, the state bird ought to be the Dodo.

[Joe User]

@Frank: "I'd like to suggest Marion Hammer be named the Florida state bird."

Would that be a loon?

[T3chW01f]

@reality

Apparently you have a twisted sense of what the 2nd amendment was designed to do. The 2nd amendment was put there so that the people could over throw the government should it ever become as corrupt as the British Monarchy had become. Now it's bastardized as a reason for people to carry concealed pistols all over the place and don't have access to any real fire power. I'm sorry but the 2nd amendment wasn't designed for home protection it was designed for the protection of freedom. With the laws that stand there's no way the people of the USA could stand up to it's own government by force. Makes ya feel real sweet knowing that as our government grows ever more corrupt there's not a thing you can do about it. Power corrupts, money corrupts, that's why i'm not a politician because I know what ever changes I may want to make for the better you can't make it any where to make those changes without support of special interest groups.

[Sirlanse]

Are any of you suggesting that the school children have more reasons for choosing the bird they did?
Would "Feathers match my shoes" be a better reason for choosing a state bird than others?
Would "the head of the teachers union has a scrub jay farm" be a better reason?

[juan]

Did he died?

[wow]

This story subtly made her out to sound silly & many commenters subliminally picked up on it, but the whole point of picking a state bird is symbolic. No one chooses the vulture, the crow, or the raven do they? You certainly don't pick one based on whether it will eat out of you hand. The custom is the bird must habitate in the state at lease some part of the year. Then the rest can be virtues. That's why she chose to analyze the birds behaviors. It has nothing to do with guns.

[wow]

This story subtly made her out to sound silly & many commenters subliminally picked up on it, but the whole point of picking a state bird is symbolic. No one chooses the vulture, the crow, or the raven do they? You certainly don't pick one based on whether it will eat out of you hand. The custom is the bird must habitate in the state at lease some part of the year. Then the rest can be virtues. That's why she chose to analyze the birds behaviors. It has nothing to do with guns.