Horses & Pigeons Save The World

On Tuesday after one of our runs in Central Park, my friend Dale and I were talking about the world's troubles, with all of its strife, hatred and senseless warring. We agreed that all hatred and killing came down to the ego and its irrational fear; fear of losing something: one's security for example. We also agreed that one ingredient towards a peaceful existence is tolerance. You can witness this exemplary behavioral practice on any given day or hour of the week on a New York City Subway. It takes a lot of tolerance to live in a city like New York underground or above. So, if we can practice tolerance on a subway car why can't we practice it elsewhere?

It's been said many times that we can learn a lot from animals and I agree. Take the example of pigeons and horses as pictured above. Everyday before the horse-drawn carriages (I disapprove of this business completely) in Central Park are loaded up with tourists, they are fed a bucket of oats. Within seconds of the bucket being placed in front of the horse, a flock of pigeons alight at the horse's feet. They know that in order for the horse to swallow it needs to lift its head after licking up its morning carbs. (The metal plate in the horses mouth doesn't make eating any easier.) Pigeons are extremely smart as well as friendly and trusting of horses and humans. When the horse lifts its head out of the bucket the pigeons jump onto and into the bucket pecking up the nutritious oats. When the horse has swallowed and leans in for another mouth full, the pigeons acquiesce. This sequence is repeated until the bucket is emptied. Both the horse and the pigeon get what they need. The horse could obviously take out a one-pound bird with a quick kick to the head but he doesn't. He's tolerant of the pigeons. Maybe, he even has a willingness to share?

Why are we humans so afraid to tolerate and or share? Why do we have such a need for greed? Why do we not look after and care for each other more? Why do we not learn from all our past mistakes? If we are so much smarter than pigeons and horses, why as a species do we kill each other at such an alarming rate? (In Iraq alone, an approximate 100,000 civilans have been killed since 2003.) And yet, we're considered the most intelligent and most highly developed species. How many horses were killed by other horses last year?

My philosophy is that you don't not need to like me. Nor do you even have to respect me but you can not touch or harm me. That's pretty basic. The respect would be nice but hell, I'm giving that one away as a freebie. Just don' hurt or kill me is all I'm asking. Think of the effect this credo would have on the Middle East situation. I'm not even suggesting that the Israelis and Palestinians share the Strip and the 1950 Armistice Line blow away with a desert wind although, in my wildest dreams that's exactly what would happen. They too have pigeons and horses in Gaza. Don't they see how they get along?

Thousands of miles away from the fighting in Iraq, Israel and oops, I forgot, Darfur, is the place where you live and work. How much tolerance and sharing takes place there? Are you lifting your head up to see what the 'pigeons' need? Do you tolerate those that you may not understand or like? The Bucket is very large and there's enough inside for everyone. Go ahead, show the animal world that you really are the smartest species around and share.

Our Little Nancy Pelosi

I love the Family Circus cartoon strip where every time mother Thel asks her son Billy,
"Who did this" referring to a broken vase or a spilled glass of milk. And Billy always answers, "I don't know."

But we, the reader, know that Billy broke that vase and spilled the milk.
Yesterday, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi pulled a Billy when she said, "I wasn't briefed, I was informed that someone else had been briefed about it" when questioned about her awareness of the CIA and the Bush Administration's use of water-boarding detainees on their the war on terror. Poor little Nancy. Like most politicians she has selective memory recall especially when it suits her cause best.

Speaker Pelosi and the majority of Democrats and Republicans approved the use of torture in the war against terror. What were they thinking at the time, 'do it but just don't tell me about it'? What's so telling about the Associated Press article is Pelosi's excuse for looking the other way about using torture because she was focusing on getting congressional control away from the Republicans so her party could change course.

"It was clear we had to change the leadership in Congress and in the White House. That was my job — the Congress part," she said. What about the part where we as a nation practice what we preach? Things like honesty, integrity, and our refusal to torture?

What's so Billy-like is Pelosi's, 'I don't know who did it but it wasn't my fault but if you keep asking me I'll find someone else I can blame it on' attitude. And just like Billy, Speaker Pelosi takes on the cartoon persona of her namesake whenever she's in a jam. Ernie Bushmiller's "Nancy" is a precocious eight-year old who is constantly daydreaming and is easily confused. In the April 26, 2009 strip our adorable Nancy sits daydreaming in a pink sleeping gown when Aunt Fritzi calls to her repeatedly from another room. "Nancy stop ignoring me!" And cute, little Nancy musters the strength to pop open her sleepy eyes to say, "Sorry Aunt Fritzi. During the school year my brain takes weekends off."

This is not the time to take a brain vacation Speaker Pelosi. This is the time to be honest, to practice the change that you and the Democratic party promised that you would bring after gaining "control." So grow up little Nancy and admit your faults and mistakes. Even your lazy pal Slugo Smith would do that.

What Would You Do With $165 billion?

Let your imagination run wild. You've borrowed 165 billion dollars and have no intentions of paying it back. What would you do with all that money?

Today, the US Senate voted (70-26) and approved additional Iraq/Afghanistan war money that the Pentagon says it desperately needs. (See related New York Times article). How much more money shall we, the tax payers contribute to an endless campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan? If the Senate bill is passed in the House a total of $800 billion just for combat costs will have been spent on these campaigns thus far. With the release of Tuesday's congressional committee report estimating that the total economic impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are to reach $1.6 trillion by 2009, when will this reckless spending end?

With the Nation's schools in dire financial straights, living cost skyrocketing and the creation of millions of Iraqi refugees, thousands dead or maimed when will the spending end? In my home state of New York taxpayers will pay an estimated $47.2 billion for the total Iraq war spending that has been approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided in New York City alone:

16,485,965 Children with Health Care for One Year
8,700,175 People with Health Care for One Year
268,181 Affordable Housing Units

So again I ask, when will the spending end?

I don't know about you but I certainly don't feel any safer spending all this money and neither do the woman in Iraq. Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women for Women International published her findings in a Women for Women International press release. Zainab Salbi who is Iraqi reported, "The situation for women in Iraq varies from province to province but, overall, the same problems exist:

89% believe that someone in their family will be killed in the next year.
88% of women thought that the separation of people along ethnic or religious lines was a bad thing.
70% of women say their family cannot afford to pay for the necessities of daily life.
76% of respondents said that girls in their family are not allowed to attend school.

One woman who was interviewed commented, “They gave us freedom and they took from us security…but if I have to choose, I will choose safety and security.”"

So again I ask, when will the reckless spending end? I don't feel that it's been a very wise investment especially since the people who are spending it will be long gone in their final resting places when the next generation is struggling to pay back the mountainous debt. So, forget today's approved $165 billion and think about what we could do with the $1.6 trillion. A fraction of that money could provide food and shelter to the 2.5 million refugees of Darfur who live under plastic sheets; purchase new books for city classrooms; and provide the USA homeless with their own housing.

Do I support the men and women of our military? Of course I do. (My father was a medic in the D-Day operation and I have a slew of black and white photos of his European tour. Since learning of his heroic service when I was a wee lad I felt a connection and reverence for anyone in uniform who risked their lives for their country and to help save the lives of others.) However, I do not support the current Iraq, Afghanistan campaigns in the way our tax dollars are being spent. If a business spent monies in the reckless ways that the Congress, Pentagon and the US Military has that business would be out of business faster than you could say '165 billion'.