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The continuous slaughter of elephants by Islamist armed terrorist groups is bad enough. These criminals have been killing elephants for years for their beautiful ivory tusks, which they sell to the Chinese for money to buy more guns. But now there is emerging evidence that some U.S. trained and armed African armies are using modern weapons and helicopters to slaughter elephants on a mass scale. This whole situation should make you sick. First, the Chinese and rich Thais are paying huge amounts for ivory, which is fueling the growing armies of poachers. They use the ivory for such things as nick knacks and chopsticks. This behavior must end now. Make your fricking chop sticks out of wood or plastic.
The U.S. Government must immediately:
1. Re-instate a world wide ban on illegal Ivory Trade. Any Ivory from elephants who died from natural causes can be auctioned and the funds directed to support wildlife parks to protect elephants. Killing elephants for their ivory should be a crime of consequence, like life in prison.
2. Demand that China stop this nonsense NOW, or suffer massive trade sanctions. This is a sad case of people who are newly rich and want to “show off” by having expensive do-dads to show their friends how rich they are. I’m not picking on Chinese people, they probably learned this obnoxious behavior from Americans, who are professionals when it comes to showing off their wealth in bizarre destructive ways. Americans are also experts in animal extinctions, like what was done to the American Bison. So maybe we can use our knowledge of our own sad past behavior to save what is left of the herds of elephants in Africa, and make the Chinese realize how stupid it is to make chopsticks from ivory. They are shaming themselves in the court of world opinion, just as Americans did by slaughtering the beavers for hats or minks for coats. Most Americans have learned their lesson. We wear baseball caps made from fiber. Our coats are made from cotton and fabric. So to the Chinese people, I say take a hint from our past and join us in saving the elephants.. Stop the demand for ivory and the poachers will stop killing elephants.
3. The U.S. Military and its AFRICON (African Command) needs to be called on the carpet. The former commander, Gen Ward was removed and demoted for his activities. The U.S. must INSIST on keeping track of any weapons they are dolling out to the corrupt military forces in Africa. Any use of our assets, aircraft, etc.,to kill off wildlife should result in severe penalties, embargoes, and police action to bring these criminals to justice.
4. The U.S. should work harder with other countries to end the depredations of Islamist and other terrorist groups like the Janjaweed. Africa has suffered so much from these types of groups that it is unbelievable that the western powers have been unable to help poor African countries to protect themselves against these thugs.
Check out this article from www.savetheelephants.org Here is a clip from it:
The Tough Truth of Ivory Funding Terrorism
Christina M. Russo — Yale Environment 360
December 11, 2012
September 20, 2012 INTERVIEW Shining a Bright Light on Africa’s Elephant Slaughter Fueled by a rising demand for ivory, the mass killing of African elephants has reached extraordinary levels. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman discusses his in-depth investigation of the deadly ivory trade, which involves the U.S.-backed military forces of several African nations. by Christina M. Russo
With the slaughter of African elephants sharply intensifying recently as global prices for ivory have escalated, few articles have conveyed the scope and brutality of that trade as vividly as the one written earlier this month by Jeffrey Gettleman, of The New York Times. Entitled “Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits,” Gettleman’s report described how tens of thousands of elephants are being killed annually for their tusks, with the carnage increasingly being carried out by African armies or by brutal armed groups that use the tusks to “sustain their mayhem.”
Jeffrey Gettleman In an interview with Yale Environment 360 contributor Christina M. Russo, Gettleman, the Times’ East Africa bureau chief, explained how weeks in the field helped him piece together an elaborate ivory trade that is fueled largely by Chinese demand and involves elements of the military from the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda — all of which receive some funding or training from the U.S. government. Gettleman, who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, also discussed how infamous armed groups — including the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), the janjaweed in Darfur, and the Islamist group, Shabab — all participate in the poaching.
Read the rest of this: Save the Elephants
Here’s a sample of this brilliant analysis:
Why Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil
Glen Ford at the Left Forum
BAR executive editor Glen Ford made the following presentation at the Left Forum, Pace University, New York City, March 17. On the panel were Gloria Mattera, Margaret Kimberley (BAR), Suren Moodliar, John Nichols, and Victor Wallis. The discussion was titled, The 2012 Elections: Lesser Evil or Left Alternative?
“He has put both Wall Street and U.S. imperial power on new and more aggressive tracks – just as he hired himself out to do.”
Power to the people!
Let me say from the very beginning that we at Black Agenda Report do not think that Barack Obama is the Lesser Evil. He is the more Effective Evil.
He has been more effective in Evil-Doing than Bush in terms of protecting the citadels of corporate power, and advancing the imperial agenda. He has put both Wall Street and U.S. imperial power on new and more aggressive tracks – just as he hired himself out to do.
That was always Wall Street’s expectation of Obama, and his promise to them. That’s why they gave him far more money in 2008 than they gave John McCain. They were buying Obama futures on the electoral political market – and they made out like bandits.
They invested in Obama to protect them from harm, as a hedge against the risk of systemic disaster caused by their own predations. And, it was a good bet, a good deal. It paid out in the tens of trillions of dollars.
If you believe that what Wall Street does is Evil, then Obama’s service to Wall Street is Evil, and there is nothing lesser about it.
They had vetted Obama, thoroughly, before he even set foot in the U.S. Senate in 2004.
He protected their interests, there, helping shield corporations from class action suits, and voting against caps on credit card Interest. He was their guy back then – and some of us were saying so, back then.
He was the bankers’ guy in the Democratic presidential primary race. Among the last three standing in 2008, it was Obama who opposed any moratorium on home foreclosures. John Edwards supported a mandatory moratorium and Hillary Clinton said she wanted a voluntary halt to foreclosures. But Barack Obama opposed any moratorium. Let it run its course, said candidate Obama. And, true to his word, he has let the foreclosures run their catastrophic course.
Only a few months later, when the crunch came and Finance Capital was in meltdown, who rescued Wall Street? Not George Bush. Bush tried, but he was spent, discredited, ineffective. Not John McCain. He was in a coma, coming unglued, totally ineffective.
Bush’s bailout failed on a Monday. By Friday, Obama had convinced enough Democrats in opposition to roll over – and the bailout passed, setting the stage for a new dispensation between the American State and Wall Street, in which a permanent pipeline of tens of trillions of dollars would flow directly into Wall Street accounts, via the Federal Reserve.
And Obama had not even been elected yet.
“True to his word, he has let the foreclosures run their catastrophic course.”
Obama put Social Security and Medicaid and all Entitlements on the table, in mid-January. The Republicans had suffered resounding defeat. Nobody was pressuring Obama from the Right.
When the Right was on its ass, Obama stood up and spoke in their stead. There was no Evil Devil forcing him to put Entitlements on the chopping block. It was HIM. He was the Evil One – and it was not a Lesser Evil. It was a very Effective Evil, because the current Age of Austerity began on that day, in January, 2009.
And Obama had not even been sworn in as president, yet.
Who is the Effective Evil? I haven’t even gotten into his actual term as president, much less his expansion of the theaters of war, his unique assaults on International Law, and his massacre of Due Process of Law in the United States. But I want to pause right here, because piling up facts on Obama’s Most Effective Evils doesn’t seem to do any good if the prevailing conversation isn’t really about facts – but about intentions.
The prevailing assumption on the Left is that Obama has good intentions. He intends to the Right Thing – or, at least, he intends to do better than the Republicans intend to do. It’s all supposed to be about intentions. Let’s be clear: There is absolutely no factual basis to believe he intends to do anything other than the same thing he has already done, whether Democrats control Congress or not, which is to serve Wall Street’s most fundamental interests.
But, the whole idea of debating Obama’s intentions is ridiculous. It’s psycho-babble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it.
I have no doubt that New Gingrich and Republicans in general have worse intentions for the future of my people – of Black people – than Michelle Obama’s husband does. But, that doesn’t matter. Black people are not going to roll over for whatever nightmarish Apocalypse the sick mind of Newt Gingrich would like to bring about. But, they have already rolled over for Obama’s economic Apocalypse in Black America. There was been very little resistance. Which is just another way of saying that Obama has successfully blunted any retribution by organized African America against the corporate powers that have devastated and destabilized Black America in ways that have little precedence in modern times.
“When the Right was on its ass, Obama stood up and spoke in their stead.”
Obama has protected these Wall Streeters from what should be the most righteous wrath of Black folks. To take a riff from Shakespeare’s Othello, “Obama has done Wall Street a great service, and they know it.” He has proven to be fantastically effective at serving the Supremely Evil. Don’t you dare call him the Lesser.
He is the More Effective Evil because Black Folks – historically, the most progressive cohort in the United States – and Liberals, and even lots of folks that call themselves Marxists, let him get away with murder! Yet, people still insist on calling him a Lesser Evil, while he drives a stake through Due Process of Law.
A somewhat insulting anti-Christian, anti-Jesus parade in Hollywood by a small group of gays in recent years spotlights the difference between the Christian and the Muslim worlds. The parade, in which a grown man in diapers is being pushed down Hollywood Boulevard to see his “mommy” at his home at Virgin Records (note the store is now closed down) while a mob of dressed up gays are singing “Silent Night, Holy Night”, hardly raised an eyebrow. The media never mentioned it; the Christians just shook their heads, wondering what new insults they will have to endure during their joyous holiday season.
Compare this to the recent anti-Mohammad video that caused such an explosive reaction in the Middle East. Riots in Cairo at our Embassy, westerners threatened with death, and an ugly mood all around. In Libya, a pre-planned attack against our Embassy in which four Americans, including the Ambassador, were killed, took place in a very hostile atmosphere. Although the video was not the cause of the attack, the Libyans were becoming more anti-Western by the day. A lot of this because of a video made by an unknown guy and hardly seen by anyone until blared out in the Muslim press.
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, California, a small but insulting, mocking parade goes almost unnoticed. I would challenge those gays to go to the streets of Cairo and put on an anti-Muslim parade, like dragging a mannequin of Mohammad behind a camel. How many of them would come back to Hollywood in pine boxes? Gays want to be treated equally in all matters, maybe they should give some respect to others, including, dare we use the word, “Christians”.
But the larger issue is that America spends billions of dollars in foreign aid, much going to Muslim countries. When do we pressure these countries to change their ways, respect freedom of speech and freedom of religion? Probably never. Maybe a good Christmas present to the Christian community would be to fire everyone in the State Department. Why should we support rotten governments around the world who are reviling us, our beliefs, and our religious tolerance? And, by the way, our sexual tolerance. Being openly gay in the Muslim world is dangerous. Some countries in Africa are threatening to murder homosexuals and may be doing so at this moment. How much foreign aid and support is given to these countries and why do we continue to do it? Killing Christians in Egypt (which is happening) or gays in Africa, should motivate the State Department to issue some strong words: like stop this crap or you will never get another dime from us and we will embargo and sanction your evil country.
A final point: if you are in a personal bad situation and are hungry, you can go to one of the many Christian churches in the area for a free dinner. They will not ask you if you are gay or straight, Christian, Jew or Muslim. They will just feed you. And they will do it with a tremendous joy in their hearts.
You can watch the video here: http://youtu.be/sz0AtmAQ1-8
Posted by Ed Murray
Post to Media your likes or your beefs about all the different media, including the entertainment you like so much at Chuck-E-Cheese. Bad TV shows, the bobbing heads of the news, the great American Idol show, the seventy-million LA radio stations that are all in languages other than English, the internet, your favorite plays, the recent films. Let ‘em have it, pro or con.