Our Government Hard At Work

Georgia is in the midst of a drought and the state government is doing all it can to deal with the situation. In addition to ordering water restrictions and asking for federal help, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

Meanwhile, here in the city, Councilman Simcha Felder, in order to combat what he called a public health hazard, has declared war on the city's pigeons.

After his office releases a report noting that cases of pigeons and their droppings serving as vectors of communicable diseases are rare and the threat is often exaggerated, Felder wants to appoint a "pigeon czar" to orchestrate the fight, and he wants the city to fine people feeding pigeons up to $1,000.

The good news is that, if you're considering a job as a politician, the following are not job requirements: 1) obeying the law [separation of state and church], 2) using science [the effect of prayer on meteorological phenomena], 3) reading comprehension [report discounts pigeons as public health hazard], and 4) accountability* [no evidence that breaking the law or spending public money achieves the desired results].

*And speaking of accountability:

This isn't the first time New York City has tried to control its pigeon population. In 2003, a hawk was briefly employed to scare pigeons in a Manhattan park but the program was abandoned a few months later after the hawk attacked a Chihuahua.