The paratroopers were up north for survival training above the treeline (“fjellen”). They managed to pick the coldest weeks for years, average temperature was -40C and they had no food with them, and survived on moss and whatever plants they could dig out. They were constantly cold and hungry, and hated it. The instructors loved it.

The troopers saw all these reindeers around everywhere, and asked the instructors why they couldn’t just shoot one of them, after all it was “survival training”.. The instructors said “no, that’s Same property” but after a lot more discussions, they said that they would see what could be done.

Hours later, the troopers see a snowmobile coming up to them. A Same steps of it, dressed in traditional clothes (think of an indian chief in an old western, and you get the impression it made on the troopers).

The Same has a small scrawny reindeer calf tied up on the snowmobile, he puts it on the ground in front of them, and says (this looses a lot in translation, he spoke with a very distinct Samish accent) “You want-a reindeerh? Here you got-a reindeerh!”

He reaches to his side, pulls a Luger pistol, shoots the reindeer, gets on the snowmobile and drives off without another word. The troopers just looks at him with open mouths.

The instructor looks at them and says: “So, any of you guys know how to fielddress a reindeer? If not, you better learn fast..”

We’ve seen Kerry try to throw a baseball. “That soldier missed the catch!”

We’ve seen Kerry get knocked on his butt in a high school football scrimmage (no soundtrack so write your own caption).

Does anyone believe Senator Lurch could creep up on a deer? “That possum spooked my deer!”

I assure you, reindeer are quite shootable. They are food and leather goods and such. Very similar to non-dairy cows. Squat, ugly little suckers who’s owners apparently have few qualms about tossing in front of of a train (Throw Rudolph From The Train)

Also, the squirrels in my vicinity are often seen carrying french fries. No, really. They love waffle fries.

I have no crystal ball, but here’s my knuckleheaded take on this. If Bush wins there will be a point not far down the road where the MSM has to take a hard look at itself and start repairing itself. If that happens they’ll be about a decade of slow but sure repair of the general national “narrative” regarding Vietnam and, especially, those of you who served there.

If Kerry wins, especially if that is pulled off with the help of lunacy like Estrich is advocating and the MSM enables that idiocy, then the Moonbats will believe they’ve fully taken over and they’ll be no end to villifying anyone and everyone they believe they have a beef with.

Or, to put it another way, if Bush wins it will get ugly for a while but turn around and head in the right direction relatively soon. If Kerry wins we’ve got a whole lot more of the death spiral to suffer through.

I have that feeling about things that I got on the few occassions when a daughter would go bonkers about something. I’m the adult and I needed to behave like an adult but there was nothing that could be done about the shrieking childish tantrum except weather it and deal with it finally broke. The Dems are on the verge of throwing the Mother of All Adolescent Shrieking Hissey Fits and there isn’t anything the rest of us can do other than continue to act like adults until it breaks and then figure out how to properly administer whatever punishment is called for. I am hoping that somebody like a Lieberman teamed up with whatever shreds of sanity remains can talk some sense into the Lunatic Fringe they’ve inflamed. But stuff like MoveOn and DU and the like may be beyond the Dems ability to get back on a leash.

Thanks for the laugh! You reminded me of the time we took the whole family on the “Inland Tog” train trip (don’t know if it still runs or not). Up there in Samer country they told us how the Samers, if they needed cash, would push a few reindeer out in front of a train because if the trains hit any of their reindeer they’d have to pay for them. (For those who wonder WTF? Samers are sort of like Eskimos and they herd reindeer).

You also called to mind remarks I heard recently from a friend who loves to hunt. He has a remote cabin that he loves to go to to hunt. Hunting wild turkey is notoriously difficult – they are very crafty birds. Anyway, I knew the guy had been up at his cabin and I asked him how things were up there and the first thing he did was grumble about how all weekend there were turkeys all over his property and he couldn’t even frighten them away. The thing that got him angry about it was, as he put it, “I’ve been hunting turkey for thirty years and I’ve never even seen one while I’m hunting. When its not hunting season I can’t get rid of the stupid things!”

Hunting moose here is very popular among hunters from another country. They go here, and pay huge amounts for it. It’s sort of a running joke here (true or not) that they cant even recognice a moose, and will gladly shoot a cow instead if it’s within range…

A while back, a group of hunters from that country got a license up north to shoot one moose. They walked around looking, but couldn’t find one, then they bumped into a herd of some animal they didn’t recognize… They discussed it, and decided that it wasn’t moose, but that the landowner would probably be happy about some extra meat, and proceeded shooting a dozen of them..

It turned ot to be the breeding stock of the landowners reindeer herd, and he was not happy about it…

That was Erik who realizes it is stupid to crawl with a shotgun. I’m the knucklehead and just recently learned why cirular firing squads aren’t a good idea.