interspecies combat remembered

I am reminded that tomorrow will be the 80th anniversary of the opening of hostilities in the Emu War:

Meredith had established an ambush near a local dam, and over 1,000 emus were spotted heading towards their position. This time the gunners waited until the birds were at point blank range before opening fire. The gun jammed after only twelve birds were killed, however, and the remainder scattered before more could be killed. No more birds were sighted that day

It was an unequal combat, but the Australian officer commanding paid tribute to Emu gallantry and hardiness and noted that, if it weren't for them being huge flightless birds, Emus would make a damn fine native soldiery.

Comments

[Richard J]

Worryingly, when you read the link, Jamie is only lightly paraphrasing the actual words of the major in charge.

[Strategist]

Hey Barry, have you got your lights back on yet?

[Barry Freed]

Unbelievable destruction in my parent's neighborhood on suburban Long Island (everyone ok though, thanks be) not to mention Breezy Point, Queens or Red Hook, Brooklyn. Where I was on LI still has no power (they're saying it may be another week) and no petrol - we're talking lines a mile and a half long and I heard tell of National Guard being called out to keep the peace at gas stations - I myself saw an up-armored Nat Guard Humvee with a .50 cal. turret on the roof on the highway travelling out toward eastern LI as I moved myself Saturday to Astoria, Queens County, NYC, where I now have power, heat, and glorious internet. I'll be spending most of my Sunday morning catching up on B&T posts and comments no doubt. Thanks for asking.

[Phil]

Hope the parents are OK - sounds grim.

Nice to hear that Romney has it sorted, or at least his supporters have. I've seen another video of the event that pans back to Romney while the interruption is being dealt with; you don't need me to tell you what kind of grin he's wearing. Scary people.

[Barry Freed]

Cheers Phil. Everyone's OK and my dad is glad to have laid in a good supply of firewood well before the storm. Now he's talking natural gas fired generators (the gas lines are buried and rarely have problems and if they do they're fixed pronto because gas). It still looks like it will be quite a while before they have power.

Now Republicans are screaming bloody murder at former idols like Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Gov Chris Christie - a GOP potential future presidential candidate - for praising Obama's response to the crisis and his taking global climate change seriously (which seems to consist in not talking about it at all during the campaign not to mention any policy proposals).

[leinad]

Christie not-so-subtly shafting his own side has been a highlight of the campaign.

Obvious ambitions of his own, but is America ready for a president with his metabolism?