Month: September 2008

Over the course of the next few days Sparrow Chat will be changing. The old pad has been redesigned and its new look will, hopefully, last well into the future. It is expected to complete the changeover within a very short timescale – half an hour, if all goes well. If it doesn’t, any glitches should be ironed out fairly rapidly.

So if you do have problems raising the page, be patient and try back after an hour or so. Once the new look is up and running, please email if you encounter any problems.

Thanks

RJ.

The BBC World News broadcast its 5.00 am summary to the world this morning, and the news anchor described her as, “…. a gun-toting, church-going, mother-of-five…”. Many Americans will not view the portrayal as particularly grotesque, but the antithesis it conjures will be obvious outside of the US.

The very next news segment concerned a shooting in Washington yesterday, in which a number of people died. It served to emphasize the contradiction arising from professed Christianity coupled with a desire for lethal weaponry. The nomination of Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has caused raised eyebrows and muted ‘tut-tuts’ across most of Europe.

The concept of a crucified Christ viewed through the crosshairs of an AK47 does not sit well outside the United States. Despite serious attempts by the religious marketing moguls, always eager to purloin another buck or two from any available source, few Europeans are sufficiently simplistic as to entertain the idea politics and religion make loving bed-fellows, even when the weaponry is left outside the boudoir door. Sarah Palin may consider her religion not at odds with a willingness to kill things, but as a Republican she’s likely one of the first to condemn Islamic extremists motivated by a similar philosophy.

There are still huge numbers of US citizens who take an egotistical delight in poo-pooing what the rest of the world thinks of them. After all, for decades their nation has marched, jack-booted, around the planet wreaking havoc on any country daring to resist US doctrine.

Those times are long overdue for change.

Just as the Middle East has to drag itself from agrarianism to modernity before the fundamentalists eventually bow to the inevitable and leave the stage, so too has America to relieve itself of doctrines designed solely to inflate the US ego. Religious self-righteousness; the self-delusion of superiority over the rest of the planet; a notion that weapons are more important than words, all need to be released if America is ever to become both ‘in’ and ‘of’ the world, assuming a supportive role rather than taking what it needs and leaving others to pay the price.

Sarah Palin and her “soulmate” John McCain, are devoted to preserving the present US model, just as were their predecessors, Cheney and Bush. They are prepared to sacrifice the American people on their altars of Christian fundamentalism and gun violence, as Cheney and Bush slaughtered four thousand US soldiers and uncounted Iraqi innocents in the cause of their twenty-first century, God-inspired, Crusade into the Middle East.

The choice of the ultra-right-wing conservative, Sarah Palin, as a potential US vice president, with all its implications, was brilliant Republican strategy by those determined to preserve the status quo in this country. At a stroke it has re-opened an issue that dogged the Democrats for the last twelve months, though they hoped it had died at their Convention: the vexed question of race versus gender. Even if Clinton’s supporters were won over by their heroine’s speech’s in praise of Barack Obama, this new star in the ascendant, this Boadicea or Tomyris, may well be viewed as a substitute to lead them to the glory that will be theirs when a woman finally becomes the most powerful person on earth.

After five years of a bloody Iraq war, are Americans finally ready to relinquish their egotism and join the rest of the human race?

In his book, “The Limits of Power”, Andrew Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, and former US army colonel, writes in its introduction:

“History will not judge kindly a people who find nothing amiss in the prospect of armed conflict so long as they themselves are spared the effects. Nor will it view with favor an electorate that delivers political power into the hands of leaders unable to envision any alternative to perpetual war.

Rather than insisting that the world accomodate the United States, Americans need to assert control over their own destiny……..the onus of responsibility falls squarely on citizens.^[1]

Bacevich rightly believes it is the politicians’ promises to maintain the status quo, reinforce America’s egotistical beliefs, and glorify its self-obsession, that wins them the votes into power. The electorate needs reassurance that nothing in America will ever alter; that all is permanence.

The decision to choose Sarah Palin may appear to be a willingness to change – a ‘first’ in gender equality at the top – but the opposite is true, because Palin represents everything about America that resists change: its multiple obsessions with God, guns, abortion, a superpower mentality, and imperialism heavily disguised as benevolent foreign policy.

Is the US finally prepared to evolve into the humane, caring, nation it has pretended to be for years while it was waging wars across much of the globe? Or, is a ‘gun-toting, church-going, mother-of-five’ too much for the addicted American psyche to resist?

The answer will come on November 4th.

^{[1] “Bill Moyer’s Journal, PBS, August 15th 2008}

Filed under: Metaphorical oppositions

I haven’t had time to write very much on Sparrow Chat of late as I’ve been busy on other projects. That will soon be rectified. I have managed to keep track of your comments and other writing.

One of my good blogging pals today sent me an article from a British newspaper.^[1] It concerned a young heifer found wandering round a field with the drum from an old washing machine stuck over her head, no doubt the result of natural bovine curiosity as to what was inside, and whether it was edible.

While the story undoubtedly has its lighter side, one has to stop a moment and consider what would have happened to the beast if human intervention had not come to the rescue? It may well have died.

After many years with the British RSPCA, it became second nature for me to wash out, or crush, old food cans before discarding them. Taking a pair of scissors to the plastic rings used for holding six-pack drink-cans is also a habit I developed, having seen the havoc wreaked on wildlife by such items.

Human society has become very sophisticated over the centuries; all our food comes pre-packed, refuse disposal trucks remove our garbage almost without us noticing. No wonder we spare little thought for what happens to all those items no longer serving a purpose in our lives, confined to the trashcan – out of sight, out of mind.

Much of our waste ends up in landfill sites. Anyone who’s been to a municipal tip knows the majority of its occupants are wild animals and birds. The landfill provides a ready food supply for wild creatures, but along with its bounty comes a dreadful price in suffering and death. Our used food tins are lethal to those mammals with heads just big enough to fit inside an empty bean or meat can. Dense fur acts as an effective seal. It takes no more than three or four breaths before the air in the bottom of the tin is exhausted and the animal suffocates. It’s not just wild animals that are effected. Over the years, I saw numerous examples of domestic pets whose lives ended in this manner. Cats are frequently victims of the menace.

While a loose can is unlikely to cause problems, those on a landfill are often half buried in debris, making a more secure container that won’t roll around; much easier for an animal to get its head inside. When the can is originally opened, often the lid is only partially cut around with the opener, bent upwards to pour out the contents, then pushed back down inside before being discarded. This allows an animal’s head easy access inwards, but acts as a razor-sharp barrier, cutting into the creature’s head and neck when it tries to withdraw itself.

There are two simple remedies; wash out cans to remove all trace of food before we discard, and, when possible, crush the container. If not, at least remove the lid completely.

We all buy canned drinks that come in a handy six-pack. Whoever invented the flexible plastic device that neatly holds the cans together probably made a fortune. Unfortunately, the rise of the six-pack has been responsible for the demise of thousands of animals and birds.

The plastic holder comprises not only six flexible rings, but a number of other, smaller, holes as well. Altogether, the device is fiendishly efficient at trapping many species of animals, birds, and even fish. As an RSPCA inspector, I soon lost count of the number of occasions I was called to assist creatures caught up in these things, or the many different species I encountered. The list seemed endless. Swans, or other waterbirds, secured around the neck or bill; small mammals, their heads through one of the holes, and a foot (or feet) caught up as they struggled to get clear. Hardly a week went by I didn’t encounter problems from this one piece of deadly plastic, and while freeing one creature brought immense satisfaction, the lingering question was always how many never got rescued and died a lingering death?

Preventing this large-scale suffering is so very simple. A few moments spent snipping through the plastic with scissors, until no holes remain, is all that’s required.

We’ll all find it hard to resist smiling at the sight of the British heifer above, in such a ludicrous predicament. Yet, she was one of the lucky ones. The next time you’re about to throw some packing material or other garbage into the trashcan, just pause for a moment. Stop to consider whether you’re throwing away an item that could prove lethal to any animal. If so, ask yourself how it can be rendered safe.

Often, it only takes a moment, but that moment of your time could save a life.

^{[1] “Cow who got into a spin” Daily Mail, September 1st 2008}

Filed under: Animal welfare