Deer Overpopulation - When Feeling Good Trumps Suffering

There is a small nature area, a rare place in a big urban area, that was home to a few deer. As time went by, the deer proliferated in the absence of any predator. A biologist in the area warned that deer overpopulation results in degraded habitat, a reduction in other wildlife that could no longer survive in the deer caused overgrazed degraded landscape, and ultimately starvation, disease and suffering to the deer because their needs outstripped the available food resources. When it was decided to cull the deer population, this received an enormous outcry from people that were never around watching deer become diseased, starved, and hit by cars, but all of sudden wanted to save the deer. Their arguments included that deer were there first, before people(people arrived hundreds of years earlier to the area), and therefore the deer had the right to stay. Now of course no one was going to tear down their house to increase deer habitat, and even if they did, it would only be a quick matter of time before the deer overran any increase in habitat size. Because of pressure, the deer population was not culled, and the deer were left to die of disease and starvation. Meanwhile, the park service fenced off more areas in the park to protect vegetation, and thereby deprive the deer of even more of their limited food source. And so the deer suffered, especially in the cold winter when food is limited and their already underweight bodies could not adequately protect them from the cold. Some deer were hit by cars. There was no end to this sad state of affairs. What would it take, one person lamented, before the public acted responsibly? The spread of disease to humans caused by deer from such things as Lyme disease? A car accident where someone was badly hurt by running into a deer? The so called deer loving animal lovers, blind to any argument regarding the spread of disease, suffering to the deer, hardship to other wildlife populations that results directly from deer overpopulation, disappeared from the scene, having won their hollow victory. Proving once again that the worst friend an animal could often have is a so called animal lover. It is their need to feel good that comes first, not the welfare of animals or an ecosystem. And of course, no animal organization took a stand, always aware of the need to keep donations flowing and never rock a boat. Interestingly, two expensive ideas raised by the so called animal lovers, transplanting deer populations(which studies show results in poor survival rates for the transplanted deer)and sterilization(costly, complicated and not effective but better than nothing) were ultimately rejected because the "save the deer people" were unwilling to foot the bill. In the end, the deer were left behind, out of sight, out of mind, to starve and suffer.

Over Six Million Slaughtered, Silence Again About Genocide - The Congo

One day in the future, if humanity survives the carnage it inflicts upon the planet and each other, and if in the wake of that human caused misery somehow a better human emerges, maybe then humanity will consider how over 6 million were killed and no one lifted a finger. Rwanda had its terrible, preventable genocide in the 1990's, when hundreds of thousands of people were hacked to death by machetes because of their ethnicity. The Democratic Republic of the Congo became the next stage for genocide. Many countries had a hand, including Rwanda, Uganda, the west and others, in which rival militias and invading armies proceeded to murder and rape on a mass scale. And all the while the people of the Congo, and the Congo itself, were being destroyed, few to no one lifted a finger to stop the genocide and mass rape, let alone even report to the world the terrible events that were unfolding. The Congo is the world's second largest rain forest. It is, like the Amazon, the lungs of the plant. It is home to incredibly rich biodiversity. Three of the five great ape species, not including homo sapiens, live in that rain forest, although they too are being decimated. In one of the richest places on earth live some of the world's most impoverished people. In one of the richest places on earth exists one of the most unsafe place for women. Millions have been slaughtered, millions have been raped, and barely anyone even knows about it, let alone tried to stop the carnage. Rape and murder in the Congo continue. The forest and its wildlife continues to be destroyed. The world continues to ignore the Congo. Meanwhile, the minerals that fuel the high tech explosion continue to be extracted by Congo slave labor. The minerals that fuel the high tech industries of the west, of China and elsewhere, still finances warlords and murderers. Logging and the bush meat trade continues to destroy the forest and its wildlife. The Congo is being destroyed, its people exploited, murdered, raped. The often low tech mining extraction of the minerals the high tech world needs relies on some of the most exploited workers in the world. The nightmare of the Congo does not stop.

Vaquita Porpoises - A Conservation/Wildlife Organization's Success Story?

A major conservation organization listed vaquitas as number 6 of their 15 success stories for the year 2013. Now, less than three years later, with perhaps less than 30 vaquitas left, the survival of this species is even more at doubt. This year alone three vaquitas were found drowned in fishing nets. That is an enormous loss for a population that is already so greatly diminished there may be no hope for recovery. How is it that a conservation organization measures success? Were people lulled into a false sense of hope that perhaps prevented more serious interventions to be implemented in time to prevent extinction? When conservation/ wildlife organizations list their alleged successes, is there anyone that questions the validity of these claims, and will we ever hear about their conservation failures? If 2013 was a conservation success story for vaquitas, how is it that things look so dismal for vaquitas less than 3 years later?

Leaders That Choose Hate Lead To Ruin, Not Success

Imagine leadership that does not capitulate to evil as did Nelson Chamberlain, but at the same time will do everything they can to secure peace and not resort to war. Leaders that choose war as the absolute last course of action. Leaders that do not seek scapegoats or an enemy to despise in order to be liked by the people and in order to unite them. Leaders that choose hate lead to ruin, not success.

Imagine True Public Servants As Leaders, Not The Existing Pack Of Thieves

Imagine how much better the world would be if the world had leaders that do not, and will not, allow themselves, their friends, their relatives, their associates, to become enriched by virtue of their being in public office. Imagine if they make this commitment not only for the time in which they hold public office, but also for when they leave public office. They are thereby ensuring themselves and the public that they are true public servants, and that they will not use public office to enrich themselves or their friends,family, and associates in any way whatsoever.

World Leadership By Kleptocracy, Further Confirmed (Finally) By Panama Report

Public office should be the place where dedicated people go that want to serve the public. Instead, it is attracting thieves. Many people in power receive salaries and benefits, including retirement pensions and benefits, far in excess of what most people will ever receive. If the salary and benefits are not enough, aspiring leaders should do the world a favor and seek employment elsewhere. But because many leaders and aspiring leaders are so enamored of themselves, and in that they often have out sized egos, are insatiably greedy, with insatiable appetites for wealth, luxury,extravagance and power, they assume that they do not have to be humble men and women servants of the people. Instead, in their minds, the people are there to serve them. They are good at deflecting attention away from themselves, such as by blaming foreign elements, or by manipulating religion and playing on ethnic and religious tensions. It also does not help that they have legions of cronies, apologists, and lackeys covering up for them. There needs to be more leaders living a humble life unencumbered by extravagance and an obsession for things, and that do not accumulate wealth in excess of his or her salary. There is a long list of leaders, past and present, alive and deceased, that have become, or became, wealthy by virtue of kleptocracy. There have not been enough spotlights shining on these shameless people.

Live And Let Live Continues To Elude, But Not Bullying And The Hell People Create For Each Other

Bullies pick as their target people they think are weak, inferior or afraid. Bullies can be a teenager, or an employer that relishes the power he or she has over subordinates. It can be any relationship where one person feels they can or need to step on another. Sadism is built into bullying. Live and let live continues to elude humanity.