AUSTIN -- Froggy alert! Kermit concern! As Aristophanes, the Neil Simon of his day, put it in his play "The Frogs," "Brekekekex, koax, koax." The freak frogs of Le Sueur County, Minn., discovered by a group of school kids on a nature hike in 1995, were first considered an anomaly. A pond brimming with mutant frogs -- no one knew what to make of it. But extraordinary numbers of deformed frogs were confirmed again last year throughout Minnesota and other states, concentrated largely in the Midwest. Frogs have a permeable skin and no hair or scales as shields, so they are ultrasensitive to changes in the environment. Marla Cone, the Los Angeles Times' environmental writer, said: "When nature sends out such powerful messages as seven-legged frogs, biologists say people should listen because it signals that the environment is so out of whack that it cannot support normal life."
Protesters Greet Bush in Knoxville
Protesters Greet Bush in Knoxville The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports, "About two dozen protesters assembled today near the City County Building to peacefully protest President [sic] Bush's policies. Most attention was focused on his Middle East policies and the war on terrorism, but a an array of other issues, ranging from health care and the death penalty, were also addressed. Several different organizations were represented at the protest... 'Our message today is that security cannot be built with tools of violence,' said Ralph Hutchison of the Knoxville Area Coalition for Compassion, Justice and Peace. 'The war on terrorism is in fact creating terror in the rest of the world. We are calling on President Bush to renounce violence and the tools of violence.'" In addition, several protesters challenged Bush directly inside the hall - and were promptly removed.