Must Syria Be Iraq?

I admit to an attitude of mockery toward "commentator" Glenn Beck. However, a friend sent me an excerpt from his broadcast.  I was deeply saddened.  I agree with what Glenn Beck said:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=294976200639003

I sent the comment below to the president and Massachusetts senators.  Although President Obama still promises the most open White House in history I doubt whether mine and other comments are seen or tallied in any useful way. Surveys show we Americans don't want to continue the endless wars, we don't want the President to be Bush II. Yet here we are.

I continue to send occasional comments into the White House's equivalent of the astronomically labeled "Black Holes" in outer space.  This from today:

"NO to U.S. war in Syria, upon Syria or within Syria. Please learn from the bad years that have injured our souls, that have corrupted American ideals, that have killed our people and thousands of innocents, that have bankrupted our country, that have cost us our place as positive examples for the world.

"The lies that led us into Iraq caused harm that will not be resolved in hundreds of years in the Middle East. The dictators we supported in South America have killed tens of thousands and degraded the lives of millions.

"Please, look for a higher and wiser vision. Endless wars have not supported but invalidated our ideals. Continuous political language speaking eloquently for the greatness of America -- when will that be made true and real? How far down must we fall before we see ways to match our actions with our persistent dreams? Do we really want to stand as those of whom they say: "Bring in the big guns. Bring in the killers?" We must look, in MLK's example, for a light we have not yet seen. We must look for a better way."

Helen Thomas Attacked, Even Unto Death

Reporter Helen Thomas of the United Press and the United Press International died last month and there’s been a lot of renewed talk about an offhand remark she made about Israel. She covered the presidents for more than 50 years and was the heart of the Washington press corps. For her remark she was attacked, and all sorts of evil occurred: stripping her of past honors and more. When she was interviewed a few years ago by Playboy they identified her as disgraced.  Following is part of the reaction I wrote in my journal at that time and the last part I wrote while thinking about the continuing calumny heaped on her (even unto death) by jealous people.  They do it because she was a highly accomplished WOMAN who rose above them. You could feel the glee and sanctimony when they heard the remarks and sprang to attack, as if they finally GOT her, as if their minds were famished from years of watching her excellence. I posted the following on the UPI Downhold wire and also in her funeral book.

"When Playboy labeled Helen Thomas “the disgraced dean of the White House press corps,” it bothered me in my heart.

Who is disgraced?  Justice is disgraced when a 35 year old white man is serving a six year sentence for killing his wife while in an adjacent cell a 25 year old black man is in the sixth year of 25 years to life for having marijuana in his pocket.

Torture disgraces all of humanity. Disgraces are common.

Helen Thomas was attacked, maligned, opposed, envied, scorned.  She was not disgraced. Grace could no more be removed from her than her courage and her constant spirit.

When she was removed from her seat I felt a lightning quick silence, like a wave through the air and out to the horizons and around the world. Disgrace was when humans of various kinds hooted and reveled and sprang to opportunities to contribute to the desire to obliterate her. 

The Israeli stuff?  Quibbles like old shreds of debris blown by the wind at the feet of a monument.  Mistake or not, consider why the reaction was so vicious. Other mistakes that result in innumerable deaths and unimaginable destruction, mistakes that hurt the soul of the world – these in their thousands are disregarded, discarded, tossed into the transient box, their perpetrators allowed and welcomed into ordinary life.  We must get on.

In Helen Thomas’s case – mistake or no -- why such a reaction to such a person?

I am a very small person compared to her but in instances when I have stood up in a very strong way I have sometimes felt anger and rage coming at me like a blast from a furnace.  What she stood for was very simple at its core. Now the world is inundated with the infinite verbosity of political and public relations language, language which is dead, which does not breathe. Those who want, in Helen’s way, to find out what happened and to report it – they are scarce on the ground, hard to find in the noise.

What Helen Thomas did in her life will resonate – to borrow from Rilke -- “far beyond life and far beyond time.”

She is and always has been to me a warrior and an exemplar.”

Maybe it's not killing if we do it somewhere else

Less than 90 whales remain in Puget Sound and now the World Wildlife Action Fund reports a consortium of coal companies plan to use trains to move 100 million tons of coal every year from Montana's Powder River Basin to coal terminals to be build in Oregon and Washington. From the terminals the coal goes onto giant barges to be shipped overseas - spewing coal and toxic pollution into orcas' waters.

Along with the destruction of the ocean waters coal pollution will be spread over huge continental areas. Take it somewhere else, get the money, don't look at the killing.

The waters and life in the oceans are as essential to human life as the air we breathe. To destroy life in the oceans leads directly -- and sooner than you think -- to the destruction of all life. Another vision now being developed leads humans to take a role as stewards of life and of the planet and of our fellow inhabitants.
 
This monumental plan by Big Coal exemplifies the bad and ignorant processes that are destroying the world -- get the money now, buy and buttress yourself with luxuries, let somebody else worry about it. That is as wrong-headed and out of date as the inquisition.

As distressing as this plan for profit is the knowledge underlying it:  This destruction and these deaths will not make the front pages of any  mainstream paper nor be reported on any mainstream tv news.  Perhaps when the corpses are floating, a titilating visual, a tsk-tsk.

We cannot trample in the web of life without consequences to ourselves. Beyond the actual terror of this kind of thinking, overriding everything is the damage being done to our souls and to the soul of the world.

Go to World Wildlife Action to sign the petition.  

https://online.nwf.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1773

Obama speaks for Elephants but Not For Wildlife of the West

 

“On Monday, President Obama made an unprecedented move in the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking.” the Wildlife Conservation Society reported. “In a visit to Tanzania, the President launched a poaching crackdown, dedicating the United States to fighting back against poachers and criminal wildlife traffickers.” 

This touched and surprised me.  “Larger” planetary concerns such as oil drilling and fracking are mired in layers of politics and power.  As to concerns about “wildlife”  has President Obama taken any other action that clearly speaks to the essential matter of wildlife as part of the evolving new approach to human stewardship of the planet?  

Consciousness grows slowly as we see, learn and work to develop a different role in the wellbeing of the planet.  The lives of the “wild” animals who are our co-inhabitants of the earth most often are not considered, or they are placed in secondary or minor positions within the discussion.

The actual concept of the web of life – and especially the reality that we humans live within the web, not above or separate from it – still is thought in the main as poetic or irrelevant or invalid. Business and commercial leaders, if considering the concept at all, demonstrate that they regard the idea primarily as being obstructive to their goals.

Any new approach to planetary thinking has to consider the human position within the animal realm – to which we belong. We are animals. How strange that we flaunt and praise our “civilization” and “progress” while we wear the skins of our fellow beings, enslave them in “meat industries,” trap and use them for experimentation and entertainment.  In the case of elephant and rhino poachers humans often shoot them with tranquilizer darts, then saw off their tusks while they are alive and leave them to die long and horrible deaths – all that for what is called “ivory” to be used for objects or adornments or ground up to sell as potions for sexual potency.

Obama comes late, as most people do, to the global plight of elephants.  But most remarkable, he does not come at all to the American equivalent:  whole sale federally funded massacre of wolves, coyotes, wild horses and other such “wild” animals in the west of the country. There is an industry for rounding up and killing wild horses for their meat. These and other killing actions are fueled primarily by the political contributions and the subsequent power of ranchers who abrogate unto themselves the kind of status formerly held by kings and emperors.  To increase, everlastingly, the profits of the meat industries – America is business - they demand to kill all animals who may encroach or compete from adjacent lands.

Since they are imperial, they see no other options. Since they possess the power of one of the globe’s most profitable businesses, they exist in private kingdoms within the United States. They are no more interfered with than the leaders of other sovereign nations.

Obama takes no stand on the wholesale killing of wildlife in the American west. 

Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that American “advisors” routinely use campaigns of education and various kinds of pleadings to convince those in “emerging” nations not to kill the wild animals who are a part of their identity, their heritage, their birthright – and not incidentally the foundation for profitable tourist and travel enterprises that can profoundly affect the quality of their lives. 

There are a few organizations and voices who speak for the animals of the American west.  {These “animals” are as American as you and I!)  However, in the overwhelming snarl of distortions, omissions and lies that comprise so-called news and information in the America that has come to be, they are voices in the wilderness.  

 

Nevada Governor Becomes a Horse Hero

On June 17, 2013, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a bill paving the way for the State of Nevada to enter into cooperative agreements with organizations to humanely manage mustangs under the State's jurisdiction. Primarily these horses live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

Deniz Bolbol from the American Wild Horse Preservation Group attended the signing ceremony with representatives of local wild horse advocacy groups. The Preservation representatives: "We look forward to working collaboratively with local and national organizations to put in place a humane management program for the Virginia Range horses and prevent them from being removed from their homes on the range."

I wrote to the governor:

"Thank you with all my heart for signing the bill to improve the lives of wild horses.
They are as American as you and I.  They belong to our heritage and our ideals of freedom. They share with us co-habitation on this planet, our only home. 
Your enlightened action is an invaluable example of the kind of approaches we need to take as we become stewards of life -- for the sake of all of us and for our souls."

U.S. Navy Wants to Bring Hell to the Oceans

I am writing to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel about the Navy's plan to blast the oceans with explosives and sonar, bringing torture and death to marine mammals and other destruction we haven't yet realized. 

"Dear Secretary Hagel -- Now that you are even more prominent in the world, please reflect on the new perspectives now arising about the web of life and how we need to be caretakers, shepherds and stewards instead of being those who exploit, harm and kill life on the planet, without thought. 

 We cannot live if we reach a certain tipping point in our destruction of this web, in our harm toward the earth, our only home.  The tipping point is far closer than we thave thought.  Please think, not just for reasons of a deeper morality than the usual, but for reasons of survival of our descendants.

 It's not beyond the realm of possibility that our children and grandchildren will be alive when the waters rise disastrously, when the planet tells us in the ultimate way that the harm we have done has ended forever life as we know it."

"They" Keep Trying To Kill The Wild

Our government's Fish and Wildlife continually bows to pressures to remove protection from "wild" horses, wolves, coyotes, prairie dogs and almost anything else considered "wild" in the western states. The only truly "wild" -- in the meaning of out of control - creatures in the west are the ranchers or "cattle barrons."

The "wild" horses and other "animal" beings in the West are as much or more of an integral part of America the Beautiful as are you and me and any human alive.

When governing forces, local and federal, "manage," corral, torture and kill them, they are killing part of our heritage, part of the dream of this nation to be a light to the world. American advisors continuously work in "developing" countries to persuade them not to eliminate their "wild" animals and "wild" spaces, teaching and trying to get them to see that these are an irreplaceable part of their heritage. As well as being a limitless resource for travel and tourism income.

Are we to be more primitive than those "natives" we seek to educate about care of their lands?

The true driving force behind these movements to kill and eradicate the wild in the west of America comes from the wealthy ranchers who act as kings and despots, separate from the laws and interests of this nation, separate from mankind's historic quest for a more informed morality.

The cattle (meat) industry is a major cause of destruction of the planet, as well as a cause of multiple diseases for the human population. These ranchers need to be seen in the perspective of the reality they actually represent. No matter how much raw money they may have from their meat industries, no matter how much raw money they give to political candidates -- they must be brought to see that they are not apart from humanity, from other living things, or from the planet. There is no option except for us to become stewards instead of killers. We must do this for all of life and all of the dreams that impel us to acts of thoughfulness rather than domination and death.

 

Struggle For "Wild" Horses Continues

These "wild" horses are as much or more than an integral part of America the Beautiful as are you and me and any human alive.

When governing forces, local and federal, "manage," corral, torture and kill them, they are killing part of our heritage, part of the dream of this nation to be a light to the world. American advisors continuously work in "developing" countries to persuade them not to eliminate their "wild" animals and "wild" spaces, teaching and trying to get them to see that these are an irreplaceable part of their heritage. As well as being a limitless resource for travel and tourism income.

Are we to be more primitive than those "natives" we seek to educate about care of their lands? 

The true driving force behind these movements to kill and eradicate the wild in the west of America comes from the wealthy ranchers who act as kings and despots, separate from the laws and interests of this nation, separate from mankind's historic quest for a more informed morality.

The cattle (meat) industry is a major cause of destruction of the planet, as well as a cause of multiple diseases for the human population.  These ranchers need to be seen in the perspective of the reality they actually represent.  No matter how much raw money they may have from their meat industries, no matter how much raw money they give to political candidates -- they must be brought to see that they are not apart from humanity, from other living things, or from the planet. There is no option except for us to become stewards instead of killers. We must do this for all of life and all of the dreams that impel us to acts of thoughfulness rather than domination and death. 

Ignorant official killing in Newton Massachusetts

They found a bear cub in the city of Newton, MA, which has a large population percentage of wealthy, elites, and "well educated" persons.  What to do?   The quickly arrived solution:  Kill it. The options of relocation, sanctuaries, and consultation with wildlife and animal agencies were not even considered.

I wrote to the mayor:

"Treatment of the bear cub -- What a shameful commentary on your community.  What ignorance is revealed.  Can we hope that officials and police of your city can become aware of the evolving consciousness about the web of life itself and the human relationship to all of life?  Unless we develop an enlightened perspective on the natural world a day will come – and not in the far distance but closer to now than you think – when humanity cannot live on this planet. 

 It’s not namby-pamby to protect rather than going immediately to killing when encountering other forms of life.  A more enlightened perspective has to do with our survival. 

 Additionally, is this kind of killing the example you want to hold up to children?  In an increasingly violent time the examples held up from leaders need to be for thoughtfulness, peace and kindness, not knee-jerk murder at random."    

 

China Altman 1 Melrose St #4  Boston MA 02116  617 933 9926

Androcles Says

Androcles Says

RAMPANT KILLING OF WILD HORSES, BURROS AND WOLVES - Speak to the new Secretary of the Interior

Comment to Secretary Sally Jewell:  https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=2437&autologin=true


Androcles said:  The "wild" animals are as valuable and intrinsic a part of the American landscape as any of its historic buildings and monuments.  American advisors continually plead with emerging countries not to destroy their native wildlife because of their irreplaceable value, not just in terms of tourism but in many other ways.  Will we be more ignorant than the emerging cultures we counsel?.

U.S. FORESTRY ALLOWS LOGGING TO DESTROY 800 YEAR OLD TREES

U.S. Forestry allows logging of old growth trees in the Tongass Forest, our nation's largest forest.  Go to http://act.alaskawild.org/sign/Tongass_pcomments_3-20-13/?akid=488.39845.TMS5ww&rd=1&t=3    to add your comments.

 I said: 

These old trees are treasures of our country, of the world, and of the planet.  They are irreplaceable.  In recent times we humans have begun to recognize that trees and other green things sustain the air of the earth -- without it we cannot breathe, we cannot live.  Additionally the old trees --, just like the old virtues of care and kindness and looking beyond the moment -- teach us by example and give us a unique way to see and reflect upon present time, past time and future time.  Just as they are inextricably linked to the air we breathe they are inextricably linked to our spirits.  To kill them is similar to saying, as a culture, that we will kill all our elders.

Harvard Finally Agrees to Close its Primate "Facility"

Harvard will close the sprawling unclean and horrendous primate facility, affecting at least 2,000 monkeys.  Now the fight will be to persuade this institution of higher learning to allow the survivors to go to sanctuaries rather than selling them to other research facilities. I wrote to Harvard's president and to the facility: 

“At last this school has agreed to stop the atavistic, inhuman and ignorant torturing of the animals who are the nearest relatives to human beings. I was relieved to hear it but noted the size and duration of the effort necessary to bring it about. 

Closing the lab is obviously the right thing to do but it comes late, after years of torture, abuse and killing. The next step is to arrange for these sentient beings to go to sanctuary rather than selling them to other laboratories. What will Harvard do?

In a more reasonable world all the staff and particularly the leaders and "professors" connected to this facility would go through an extended period of mourning, atonement, and re-education about their status and their thinking in regard to the world in which they live.

 Harvard University triumphantly regards itself as a leader and a light for the entire world -- how many other medieval and unnecessary enclaves does the university support? Time to look. Time to see. Time to wake up. Thank you.”

On the White House site and Facebook I submitted the following reactions to the State of the Union Address:

China Altman The lack of emphasis on climate change and the welfare of the planet itself were glaring omissions. Re-examine traditional triumphalism -- it's a confabulation made up of denial of reality and blindness to new and necessary visions. Not just as Americans but as humans we must live within the whole of humanity as guardians caring for the earth. We live WITHIN not above or outside the web of life. 

 

As president it would be wise for you to meditate upon this. It's difficult but citizens are more weary than you realize of the same old cliches. We need truly new visions, and recognition of the greatest reality: what to do about mankind's destruction of our only home, the earth. How many think you will be among those chosen when space ships go to another home, after this one is uninhabitable? How many think about the reality that your children and grandchildren -- if not yourselves -- will be alive when the waters rise?

 

-0-

 

He did state that we can't solve our financial problems on the backs of senior seniors and the poorest citizens.  I commented: 

 

"We slipped into a kind of capitalism that allowed corporations to become "people," meaning - in reality - they became separate nations within our nation, with their own rules, laws, and privileges that allowed them to be excluded from the laws and ideals of the larger society. Admit they are now imperial units. Bring them back onto the tax rolls and back into the Union. Think of Lincoln.  His abiding idea was preservation of the Union, with participation of all parts, including especially those who disagreed, in order to work out the ideals of democracy within the inevitable and useful contentions of competing ideas and people."

 

CHARM CAN ENDANGER

Many people find delight in the Jacquie Lawson ecards developed by a talented British artist. I like their dancing teddy bears, their signature cat, the two dogs and the continuous representation in so many ways of a world of wonder and innocence, a quite sophisticated world that offers the kind of soothing and solace we wish could exist. Or that, in our dreams, we dreamed of as children. 

 

 Just now when I went to their site, I saw they are offering a desktop animation, their delightful version of a circus with dancing elephants and so on. Oh oh.

 

Though they don’t intend it, they are enlisting in the romanticism of circuses. I wanted to speak up but to keep my thoughts within their so amiable world of whimsy and beauty. Here is what I said: 

 

“Your cards and the Advent Calendar have brought me much joy. However, I am concerned about your Circus offering which I have just previewed. While it’s beautifully done, I ask you to re-consider its present form. I am among those who feel deeply that elephants and other "wild" animals should not be exploited in circuses. They are prisoners, ill-treated. They can not sign on or agree. The social life necessary to their well-being is not possible.

 

 

"Many countries now are passing laws forbidding the use of these animals in circuses and supporting another kind of circus that stars humans (who can consent and who are paid) or companion animals such as dogs who work only with their guardians. Although I'm sure you do not intend to promote the abuse of elephants and tigers and others, yet presenting a romantic circus according to the out-of-date version of the past is sending a message that indirectly supports that abuse. Though you haven’t intended it, the very success of your considerable and beguiling charm is indirectly enlisted in the anachronistic and atavistic meme about circuses and the archaic world represented, part of which is based on the mistreatment of animals. Thank you for reading this. I admire your company VERY much.”

 

Not just anger but charm can harm. There are several relevant quotes which I can't just now call to mind.  They all say something like this:   Of all things be most careful of life.

http://www.jacquielawson.com/thecards.asp?c=3349101&hdn=0

Police Who Kill and the Zeitgeist

       In Mason Ohio police Taser-ed and kicked a mentally ill man to death. In Boulder a policeman killed a community's pet elk. In Brighton Colorado a policeman killed a man's pet dog. In White Plains NY police killed an elderly man in his home after his medical alert sounded.  Black comedians joke that a black man can never reach into his pocket if police are near -- "They will kill you." After Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida will teen-agers have to stop wearing hoodies? Will some company begin manufacturing hoodies with the words "Don't Kill Me" embroidered on the back? 

        Stories of killer police are reported almost daily. Commonsense observance of our culture tells us there are many other killings and assaults not reported.

      It's easy to have an angry knee jerk reaction: Bad Police!  However, while I have the same knee jerk at first, I have to think about the police as they exist within, hired by and enforced by the zeitgeist, the spirit of our age and society. I think we need to think about the hidden and unacknowledged messages they are receiving from the world we have helped to create, that we create every day.

       Ever since I was in the civil rights and anti-war protests of the 1960s I've been reflecting about the police violence I saw close to me in Boston. I began wearing a hard hat when covering Boston Common demonstrations because the police waded in with night sticks. When they brought those sticks down on the heads of the kids near me I could sometimes hear the skull crack. It was just luck and vigilance that kept me away from those sticks. The police used a killing force with the sticks, I never saw anything resembling just a prod. We know from films and photographs of the demonstrations in southern states that the same violence was common. Mostly the dead are reported. No reports -- in Boston or any of the southern states -- detail the crippled, those injured beyond the hope of healing.

         I watched the police at the demonstrations, both to try to keep from being beaten and to see what I could find out. Their faces usually looked maddened and fierce, with determination, as they brought down the night sticks. The demonstrators usually were slender and young, dressed in light weight clothing, carrying nothing. The police were in thick military type uniforms, boots, armed with guns and sticks. The imbalance was dramatic.

         When I lived as a journalist in Hungary during the Russian occupation I experienced and saw what it felt like in an occupied country. The Russian solders, with their rifles, stood on street corners. The posture of every single individual on the streets changed from that you saw in their homes. You could see in the bearing of their heads and shoulders that they felt themselves to be in danger from a force they could not affect or control, a force that could kill them at random, with no repercussions possible, no matter what the circumstances.

          Reports, stories and observations tell us that this is often the situation of young men of color in the American society. There are also, of course, other classifications of those who are not entitled to the "protect and serve" ethos of police work: prostitutes, the homeless, the poorly dressed, the mentally ill, teen-agers wearing expressive clothing. When you expand the classification to the "animal" community, it's open sesame. All stray or unaccompanied cats, dogs and companion animals of any kind, all "wild" animals may be killed. A woman who adopted a wolf puppy in one of the western states had to move to a remote area because of threats from both neighbors and police that they would shoot the pup through her fence.

          In every circumstance, human and animal, the police have a procedure:  report that the victim was attacking them or scaring them. If it goes to court there is even an inside argot, an invented word:  "testa-lie," as in "I have to go testa-lie in court today."

           However, from watching the police and from reflecting on European actions against the Jews -- study shows that the brutality and killing was not alone from Germany, not only from Germans -- I think about the zeitgeist. We all live in it, no matter how independent we may think we are from it. We all create it or allow it to be created. We are never entirely innocent of it.

           For the police who are killing, I wish we could consider them in the context of our persistent national definition of the "man" as a powerful agent who expresses and proves his primary characteristic by the act of killing, by the position of being able to dominate to the point of killing. Sure, there are the other ideas and scenes of the "gentle" man, the ahh-h-h moments of a man cuddling a baby or a puppy. Just one moment: why the ah's?  Why isn't that "normal."

           While there are millions of instances and discussions in government, politics, law and religions about whether and how society can regulate the hormonal affects of estrogen for women, there is no discussion about the concomitant hormonal affects of testosterone for men. In fact, the testosterone-ruled man is held up repeatedly as a hero in films and other presentations. Looked at from another point of view, these men may be considered as being on the verge of pathology. Sure there may be a time for killing, as there may be a time for everything. I don't know. But why did we create a zeitgeist in which we -- more often than we would think -- tacitly approve of police as killers? There are nations, perhaps primarily the Scandinavian ones, where police are not expected to be killers.

          Thinking about our zeitgeist in which we brutalize and distort the definitions of men -- and women -- we need to also consider police killings in the context of our national obsession (illness) about guns. The matter of killer police is not separate from the gun rights conflict.

          Apart from that, what to do with the police who "illegally" kill? Could we think about how to be kind to them, how to help them. Killing is never neutral. If it doesn't change a person's life in some way, that is a cause for serious concern. Next,relieve them of duty, perhaps a term of imprisonment. Most important, intensive and extensive therapy to be provided and required. Maybe a lifelong pension and a prohibition from being hired for police work. Although this last is a bit frightening -- we must not be seen as providing a guaranteed pension for police who kill. That would open the door even wider. Daunting questions.

          I am only a person looking out the window at a tree. Please don't kill me.  

Typo -- A wish?

In my post on the Mason Ohio police killing, I mistakenly typed the officers as kicking with their "books" -- instead of boots. What kind of world would it be if police carried books? They could still be used as weapons, I suppose.

Police Kill Mentally Ill Man

Two police in Mason, Ohio used repeated Taser prods and kicking with their books to kill a mentally ill man. I wrote to the mayor and chief of police. No doubt you and the “damage control” specialists are labeling it an “incident.” However, the clear evidence makes it self-evident that Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick tortured and murdered Doug Boucher, an unarmed man, mentally ill. The number of Taser strikes, his bloody face, the forensic evidence of being kicked with boots – it’s beyond imagining what the last interval of this man’s life must have been like. How pitiful, how shameful, how horrifying that when they roughly grabbed his arms to handcuff him they realized he was dead. The American public now knows it is routine for police officers who wrongfully assault and/or murder a person to claim that the person was threatening them. There’s even a word for it when used in court: “testa-lying.” Among those in a well-trained police force no officer would ever have to resort to this shameful strategy. It goes without saying that the police officers in Mason need to have training to help them handle situations such as this without torturing or killing a person. The officers involved need to be relieved of duty. They also need therapy to deal with impulse control and anger. From their actions, it is logical to suspect that they are the ones with mental problems, much more dangerous to society than Doug Boucher who, though “mentally ill,” has no record of harming another human being. The police in Mason, ironically serving “Ohio’s largest playground,” must urgently reassess the purpose of what it means to protect and serve. It is essential for everyone that those words reflect reality, not just continue as meaningless phrases for self-praising speeches. We can have peace without employing police to act as bullies who use out of control force. Any society is judged by its treatment of the most helpless and the most innocent.

Boulder City Manager Steps Up re Elk killing

Following is the unusual letter I received from the Boulder Colorado city manager, followed by my response to her. "I share your concern about the number of incidents in our police department over the past year. We have had four employees make very poor decisions. Those four employees represent about 1.4 percent of the police department. "The city has taken each violation very seriously. Boulder’s internal affairs officers investigated the situations from a policy and discipline perspective, and external agencies investigated when appropriate (such as DUI, weapons sales, and the Mapleton elk). The Boulder Police Department cooperated fully with these external investigations and also took additional actions when department policies and officer codes of conduct were violated. "While Boulder works very hard to maintain a model police department, no organization is perfect. The issue, however, is not whether an organization has occasional problems; it is how the organization responds and deals with each situation. The Boulder Police Department has a long record of being responsive to allegations of misconduct and in dealing with them appropriately. . . . "In reference to the elk that was killed in the Mapleton Hill neighborhood on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, we are taking the situation very seriously. There are two separate investigations underway to determine the facts and details of this incident – an internal investigation by Police Department’s Professional Standards Unit (internal affairs) and a criminal investigation by Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife (CDPW). "Officers Sam Carter and Brent Curnow, the officers involved in the elk shooting, have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigations. "The CDPW’s investigation will focus on whether a crime was committed by the officers. The Boulder Police Department is cooperating fully with wildlife officials and cannot comment on the agency’s investigation. Questions should be directed to CDPW.. . . We will be awaiting the outcome of the criminal investigation before reaching any conclusions. This could take several weeks to complete. "I appreciate your concern about the police department and can assure you that the situation is being thoroughly investigated; the city will respond appropriately." Very truly, Jane S. Brautigam City Manager -0- Dear Jane S. Brautigam – Thank you for responding to my concerns about the elk killing. I am impressed with what you write and your general approach. Sometimes I and other animal activists are regarded with dismissal or disdain. It was inspiriting to be connected with your ideas. As you know the matter about how we treat animals has far more dimensions than we knew before. As I said, it’s not just that we should treat animals differently than we did in the past; it is that a new approach and new insights are tied into the visionary thinking that will bring us – we dearly hope – to a new evolutionary point in regard to the web of life. To a point wherein we don’t just deny or feel anxiety about the ruinous damage to the planet but where we turn in the direction of guardianship. More and more we see that a hope for life lies in new visions about life. Though I’m not religious in the traditional sense, I recently found that, far back in the writing of Revelations it was said: “Hurt not the trees nor the waters...” Probably the officers who thought it was routine or okay to kill the elk need to see a broader perspective. How to bring that about will be a daunting challenge. I extend my respect and kindest wishes. Thank you again – China Altman

"Manly" Policeman kills pet elk

A police officer in Boulder Colorado killed a big tame elk which had become a fixture in a neighborhood where the people fed it and treated it like a mascot. The officer posted photos of himself as a hero. There is an internet petition protesting what he did. I wrote: Policeman Sam Carter - Feels good to kill a tame elk who just walks up to you? Who are you? What will you do next -- go into people's yards and kill their dogs and cats? Many of your fellow human beings have become aware of the web of life WITHIN which we live. We are not ABOVE it and our survival on the planet depends on our becoming guardians of this web. It includes every living thing, large and small. The reflex of killing as a first response to seeing a so-called "wild" animal affects all of us and damages all of us. It is out dated. It is not "manly" as you no doubt think it is. Killing that elk was no different than killing a person's pet. Do you plan to go to the zoo and shoot the animals in the cages? Is this really the example you want to hold up to children? Far from making you a "manly" example, what you did identifies you in another way and not favorably. Please re-think your approach to animals, to living beings, and your impulse to kill without thinking. Whenever you kill a being that is loved you are killing part of the souls of everyone who regarded that being with love. The more you encourage the knee jerk killer in yourself, the more you set yourself onto a path into the past, into a darkness that you may not see, a darkness that will affect every day of your life.

Nevada Governor Backs Selling Wild Horses for Food

I wrote to Governor Sandoval who backs the brutal roundups of wild horses, including foals, to sell to slaughter houses: All over the world American consultants are working to persuade local peoples not to kill the wildlife. Practical reasons: Wildlife is an essential part of the tourist and travel industry. Wildlife is part of what makes any given area unique. Other reasons: Wildlife are part of the web of life. Only recently we humans realized we were WITHIN and not above the web of life. We are not its rulers. We trample in it at our peril. What does it matter if we round up wild horses and sell them to eat? Our routine of killing to resolve wildlife "issues" belongs to the past. Certainly we can honor the past of the Wild West. That doesn’t mean we keep on as if we lived in the past, as if we were still those people who wiped out the herds of bison. They also thought it didn’t matter. Those who would like the earth to continue for our children and our descendants are thinking now about how we can transform our thinking and our approaches. We now see that we can harm the web of life. Harm can be caused that we can’t fix, no matter how hard we try. We are just beginning to learn about the web of life in ways we never knew before. Maybe you’ll say we can’t tell, right now, what we need to do in order to be guardians and caretakers of the earth for the future. Maybe not, but we can try to learn every day. We can re-examine the old ideas instead of blindly following them. And right now, we can stop holding up to our children examples like killing wild horses. Right now we can do that for our souls. And for the soul of the world. Thank you for reading this.