Saturday, June 20, 2015

Burning Ivory

Looking at these two images, what sort of thoughts emerge? Justice for poaching elephants for their ivory tusks? It seems like the right thing to do. Now imagine the perspectives of those who came to possess the ivory in these images. Those who still possess products made of ivory are reaping the reward of diminishing supply, not only because elephants are on the verge of extinction, but because the ivory seized from poachers is being destroyed. Does it now make sense to destroy the stockpiles of ivory seized by poachers?

Elephants are an intelligent and endangered species, I'm not advocating poaching elephants, I'm merely suggesting that storing seized ivory instead of destroying it might actually create a disincentive for poaching because its value will decline as the supply increases.

The futility of this thought exercise is that the value of ivory is so extremely high that it doesn't really matter much what happens to seized ivory. Destroying ivory seized from poachers has more of an emotional reward than an economic reward.

But what about those who own ivory, even passed down through generations? What kind of person would have the gall to continue to keep or display anything made of ivory? Would it even be socially acceptable to say the animal from which it came died of natural causes? Would it even be socially acceptable to display anything that was dead? It seems rational for hunting and fishing of species that are plentiful, at least among others who hunt and fish, but not so much anymore by most people.

It's fast becoming unpopular to capture and display live animals too. Would you seriously imagine yourself comfortably living in a zoo? Imagine what the animals must be experiencing. Some people think the animals don't know the difference, but those people don't understand the size of the animals natural habitat. Zoo animals are suffering.


Thursday, June 18, 2015

Alternative News. Feel the Bern?

Once again I feel the urge to provide news you might not see because of the main-stream media's focus on Trump, shootings and faking ethnicity.

Study Confirms Legalizing Medical Marijuana Doesn’t Increase Use Among Teens By Any Other Name? Why the Facebook Real Name Policy Matters CLINTON CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISES WITH PRO-TPP LOBBY FIRM AS CONGRESS RESCHEDULES TRADE VOTE
BERNIE SANDERS ON OBAMA’S “BIGGEST MISTAKE” POSSIBLE OBAMA SEC PICK SPECIALIZES IN HELPING CORPORATIONS HIDE POLITICAL EXPENDITURES Plan B: Ditch Help For Workers, Just Get Corporations What They Want
4 Subtle (And Not So Subtle) Ways the Media Undermines Bernie Sanders
Despite traction in the polls and huge crowds, the media still treats his campaign like a sideshow.
Koch Brothers are Buying Black Silence
Workplace injury, illness costs being foisted on workers, government, OSHA's Michaels says
In Historic Ruling, Bush Officials Can Be Sued for Post-9/11 Roundups Federal Judge Upholds Racial Profiling Conviction Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio Twilight of the Professors: The Neoliberal War on Higher Education
Education for the 51% in Poverty “Justice” System Abuses Young Man Until He Lynches Himself New Overtime Rules Will Be a Father’s Day Gift to Millions of Dads
5 Reasons Why Vitaminwater Might Be Just as Bad for You as Coke CNN’s ‘Courageous’ Advertorial Mill "... it will take money from corporations to produce content that resembles news but is actually PR..." Proposed Trade Deal Prompts Concern Over Imported Shrimp
600 Million Samsung Galaxy Smartphones May Be Vulnerable to Cyberattacks Top 10 Reasons Millennials Are More Liberal Than Their Parents
22 States Where Student Loan Debt Could Cost You Your Driver’s License — And Fox News Loves It!
Here Are The 21 Republicans That Voted Against A Torture Ban How Right-Wing Media May Have Already Scared The GOP Away From 2016 Latino Outreach Efforts From Arkansas To Beijing: Wal-Mart Is Eating The Earth
A Judicial Election Threatened North Carolina Republicans' Agenda. So They Canceled the Election.
Why Is Bernie Sanders Surging in New Hampshire? It's Simple.
The Student Loan Crisis and the Debtfare State
NASA Study: More Than One-Third of Earth's Largest Aquifers Are Being Rapidly Depleted Virginia Democratic primaries a victory for labor-backed candidates
Hillary Clinton’s changing position on same-sex marriage
Bernie Sanders Contrasts His Views With Those Of Hillary Clinton End of the Miracle Machines: Inside the Power Plant Fueling America’s Drought
For believers, fear of atheists is fueled by a fear of death
Bernie Sanders’ Record Proves He’s The Only Honorable Candidate
Brownback and Jindal go down in flames: America’s worst governors proven bullies, liars, fools White House sends signal for change on antibiotic use in meat and poultry production; meat and pharmaceutical industries throw a tantrum
WageCrushers.org Tracks the Groups Lobbying Against Family-Supporting Jobs
FCC Votes To Give Consumers The Right To Block Annoying Spam Robocalls And Texts Parents Can Lose Custody of Children Just for Being Kinky
The Banned Chemical That Keeps on Killing Goldman Sachs restricts intern workday to 17 hours in wake of burnout death NOAA: Hottest May, Hottest Spring, Hottest Year-To-Date On Record By Far
This girl was shot in the chest after her idiot dad paintballed the wrong guy One artist has found a creative way to highlight the ridiculous hyper-sexed image of popular girls' dolls. America’s Electoral Farce
Capitalism and the TPP: A Kinder, Gentler Totalitarianism Trade in Services Agreement Media Outlets Are Lying Their Asses Off About Fracking
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS PARTNERSHIP WITH COCA-COLA IS BAD FOR SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND CHILDREN HOW THE MEDIA FELL FOR A GMO FRONT GROUP ATTACK ON DR. OZ Oregon Working Families Party Wins By Playing Offense, Not Defense
The economic case for saving the world’s oceans CIA authorized experimentation on human beings, document shows Grand jury witnesses told not to mention police “chokehold” in Eric Garner case
And finally: Total Greek Deal Failure Sparks Biggest Buying Spree Since 2011, Stocks Set New Records


Monday, June 8, 2015

New Reference Page

I added a new reference page to my blog, in case you didn't notice it above. Identifying and understanding the means of communication can expose the psychology of authors, the real agenda behind messages and may even expose distortions and deliberate omissions. The desired effect is healthy skepticism for messages that would otherwise be dismissed as simply imparting information for its own sake.

Thursday, June 4, 2015