Officials poison birds (a blast from the past)

This is a 1999 story that's been shoved aside for a while now, but the item just goes to show how out of sync corporatism is with the world.

In Louisville's Jefferson County - which at the time was run by right-wing Republicans - the area around the courthouse was graced by beautiful starlings nesting in the magnolia trees.

But this didn't sit well in the halls of power. County officials complained that the birds smelled of poopy, which offended their olfactory sensibilities.

So how'd they get rid of the starlings? Normal folks suggested spraying the area with a safe grape solution to ward off the birds. But the courthouse big shots were out for blood, so they didn't even try anything this sensible. Instead they decided to poison them - despite protests from animal lovers.

Thousands of birds, cruelly poisoned to death. Just to please some Republican officials who were offended by the birds' smell and were too lazy to find other options.

It's not just a matter of cruelty but a matter of disrespect. The starlings did what they did because they were starlings, and they weren't there to be killed by indignant politicians.