Too easy:
Other presidents have mountains named after them. They’re the namesakes for high schools, boulevards, space centers, libraries, airports, and elk. George Washington has the capital of our country named for him, for crying out loud.
But how many of them have the dubious honor of being the namesake for a parasitic worm?
World, meet Baracktrema obamai, a deadly turtle pathogen named in honor of our current president. Believe it or not, it’s supposed to be a compliment.
The new genus and species of parasitic flatworm was introduced this week in an article in the Journal of Parasitology. The tiny creatures, which are the thickness of a human hair, invade the lungs of freshwater turtles in Malaysia, often with deadly consequences.
Thomas Platt, a turtle disease expert who discovered the new species shortly before his recent retirement from St. Mary’s College, said that the name is meant to honor President Obama — not gross him out. Though most people (understandably) aren’t big parasite fans, Platt has a deep respect for the resilient little creatures.
They “face incredible obstacles to complete their [life cycles] and must contend with the immune system of the host in order to mature and reproduce,” he said in a statement.
Go here to read the rest.
What did the flat worm do to cause the scientist to name it after Obama?
He was once a copy editor for a commercial company which produced corporate newsletters, pretty close to a zero marginal product job, but at least something a private party was willing to hire him to do uncoerced.
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After he left that job, he spent the next 11 years pestering people in various ways (and being paid a salary for it). He had a sideline at the UoC Law School teaching boutique courses, another zero-marginal-product job. Then he landed in the conventicle called the ‘Illinois legislature’ and from thence to Congress (courtesy the gremlin who kept passing his opponent’s divorce records to the newspapers uncrupulous enough to publish them). As we speak, his legacy is the ISIS disaster, the ruin of any residual professionalism in the IRS and the Department of Justice; making the military a toy theatre for grotesque social experiments; Dodd-Frank; and a policy monument to himself which is collapsing under the weight of adverse selection.
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This biologists couldn’t have administered more condign punishment.
For comedy gold, read the comments on Breitbart about the parasite. The scientist is supposedly a fifth cousin of Obumbler.
This is truly just memorial to that parasitic worm in the White House.
How sweet it is!
Thanks for making my day!
EEOT fiction can’t be outdone by this reality.
Worm indeed!
(Breitbart, here I come.). Thanks PF
If his presidency will be forgotten, the parasite will not. What a fitting memorial!
This news has been traveling fast.
A report from the Jasper Dog Park in BC tells of an owner of a pitbull / black Labrador mix having spent an hour running around the park dragging it’s ass. The owner stated; “I wasn’t sure what was bothering Michelle, until I saw the long ugly Obama coming out of its behind.”
Even though the classification of worm is different, it’s interesting to note the wide acceptance of this honorable mention, and how people have embraced it. The worm will live on….but not it’s namesake.