The effete powers-that-be as hapless horned toad

New media as Loggerhead Shrike …

"That's a shrike, commonly known as a 'butcher bird' [AKA Loggerhead Shrike] because it saves its prey (insects, lizards, frogs, small mammals, and other small birds) up for later, hanging them on thorns or barbed wire spikes," writes Thomas W. Knowles in the comments to our earlier post, "Tea Partiers pour it on: We'll start the war from right here!" identifying the mystery bird with horned lizard in beak:

It's the shrew of the bird world, a serious predator — and I wish it had picked different prey rather than that young horned toad, which is an endangered species.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has more:

A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. But it uses its hooked beak to kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds, and then impales them on thorns to hold them while it rips them apart.

It does not have the strong feet and talons of a raptor. It does have a strongly hooked bill for gripping flesh, and a strong notch or "tooth" near the bill tip that helps sever the spinal cord of its prey. It uses thorns and barbed wire to hold large prey while it rips it up, and may wedge prey into a fork in a branch for the same purpose.

… skewering the legacy media as hapless horned toad.

What a way to go. We loved the second part of Thomas W. Knowles's comments, a classic segue from the natural historian's site observations to the political philosopher's cogitations:

And the MSM and most of the dedicated left-of-center, big-government Democrats are delusional re the Tea Party (an alliance of Independents, Libertarians, Democrats, and Republicans who are fed up with the entrenched political elite) and what is going on out here in "flyover" country. Come November, the political elite, especially those big-government types, will find out that they are, politically speaking, an endangered species.

That casts the effete powers-that-be as the hapless toad, bombastically squirting blood from its eyelids and puffing itself up with air to appear too big to eat, caught in the predatory bill of the new media, about to be skewered and ripped to shreds. No wonder Obama & Company are desperately trying to muzzle the internet and "reinvent" old media.

Update: Michelle Malkin "Buzzworthy" link!

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

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The fate of freedom hangs in the balance. If freedom in America is to survive, Tea Party must not be muzzled.