Found this on The Progressive Magazine’s web site:
<<Fom the October editon of The Hightower Lowdown: “(GW Bush’s) family laughs that, as a boy, he used to light firecrackers and shove them down the throats of frogs just to watch them explode.”>>
Anyone heard this? Documentation?
Gosh I hope that is not true. Disgusting. I know a lot of kids (evil kids) probably have fun doing that.
I can’t imagine purposely hurting another living being.
Plenty of kids kill and maim small animals while growing up. It’s perfectly normal, though I must admit I don’t recall ever doing it.
That said, I would like to see some independant verification of the claim about GWB’s family.
Google search on george bush frogs firecrackers Tons of hits, I’ll let you be the judge on how accurate they are.
Nothing on snopes.
I killed a frog with a heavy brick by dropping it several times when I was about 6 or 7. There are few things in my life that I regret as much.
>> I can’t imagine purposely hurting another living being.
What a lack of imagination. I feel sorry for you.
This is pretty normal behaviour for kids who grow up on farms. It’s kind of hard for a child to sort out that reverence for life thing when you’re used to going out in the evening, picking a chicken out from the coop, and cutting its head off for supper.
I never had firecrackers, but we used to catch frogs and then take them to the bridge over the creek by our house, put them on the bridge railing, prod them to make them jump off the railing, then grade them on their ‘dives’ to the water far below.
Little boys on a farm. Doesn’t mean anything.
Oh yeah, typical farm kid behavior. Just like sticking firecrackers up a cat’s bum and lighting them.
Or, remember hanging cats from the clothesline by their tail and pouring gasoline over them before lighting them.
Typical farm kid behavior.
Not!
Yup. At my gramma’s house (used to be a farm, and surrounded by many farms) we’d toss buckshot out on the concrete slab we used to play basketball on. The frogs would come up and eat it. Then they’d try to hop away … but couldn’t. We did some crazy stuff with fireworks too, but never actually used them on animals. Except for the time we tried to get a skunk out from under the porch.
Not that I condone it, just saying it’s not that unusual in rural areas.
A lotta really wierd shit goes on in rural areas.
I don’t find that story about GWB hard to believe at all.
Peace,
mangeorge
Anyone have a DSM IVb (or whatever it’s up to now) to see whether this qualifies as a recognized mental health problem ?
bare
Member
Beavis & Butthead have found their Role Model!
I remember growing up we used to get cats drunk and screw their ass until they walked bowlegged, w/nary a judgemental look to be found.
ah, the heady days of youth.
Yeesh!
It took awhile, but I finally was able to read the entire article.
I had to register with the New York Times, figure out their archive retreival system, and then find the article in the May 21st, 2000 edition. I searched for articles on that day with BUSH in them.
The article is entitled “A Philosophy With Roots In Conservative Texas Soil”
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Here is the section in question, page 3 (and my first attempt at quoting)
So who knows if he actually did it, or if it’s Mr. Throckmorton saying he did it or what?
Really, this is no big deal. Almost EVERY boy that grows up on a farm does this kind of stuff. You guys who grew up in the city just don’t get it, I suppose. On a farm, you grow up thinking of animals as either stock, game, pests, or pets. The whole PETA ‘treat a cockroach right’ attitude is just alien. We used to go out with the shotgun and shoot gophers. Cute little guys, but they dig holes that cattles and horses step in and break their legs, and cattle and horses are major investments. Chickens get played with before supper, then Dad comes out and grabs one and cuts its head off. Pigs get hustled around at the point of a pitchfork. Little boys see that, and their play turns to BB gun shooting of frogs, and even tormenting them. They’re kids. They sometimes don’t get the nuances of proper treatment of animals. That’s why they need to grow up, and why we don’t sell them guns.
Cattles. Ugh. Er, cattle.
FWIW, even as I type this, the state of Louisiana has a bounty of $4 a tail on nutria rats, which actually don’t look much like traditional rats at all (they’re as big as beavers) and are even kind of cute.
My point? Well, as others have said, farms and other rural areas are a whole different world. As much as I dislike GW’s policies and his tendency to inflict his religion on the entire country, I really can’t fault him for this.
I thought people in LA ate nutrias! What, no export market?
Sam Stone, I swear I didn’t grow up in the “city”. I grew up in rural California, in and around Bakersfield. Lotsa Oakies and such. We raised chickens and rabbits, grew veggies, and swapped for milk, pork, and beef. I had a pet chicken, a runt, but I killed and cleaned chickens. I know exactky where hamburger come’s from. I ate frog’s legs, fer crissakes.
Nobody in my family or circle of friends rouitinely tortured frogs or any other animal. Experiment? Sure, sometimes. The experience was usually “yuk”. And not repeated.
So, was GWB a farm boy?
Peace,
mangeorge
Kristof writes Opinion/Editorial pieces, not news articles.