Siberian Tigers

By Si Dunn

Tragically, zoo tigers once again are in the news. On Christmas Day, 2007, a Siberian tiger somehow escaped or was let loose from captivity and killed one person and badly injured two others at the San Francisco Zoo. Police officers fatally--and correctly--shot the Siberian while it was in the process of savagely mauling one of its victims. Nothing else could be done at that point. Even though the tiger had been born and reared in captivity, it reverted to its nature once it was out of its enclosure.

Where possible, wild animals should be protected and given sanctuary in their natural habitats. This should include very strict enforcement of anti-poaching laws. Numerous animal species, including tigers, are prized in some cultures for their pelts, paws, meat, organs and blood. Poachers can make many thousands of dollars off animals such as tigers and gorillas by selling them, in pieces and vials, in international medical and souvenir black markets.

One example of poacher economics: Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers are still alive in the snowy forests of Far Eastern Russia. But a billion people want them made into rugs and drugs. In a cruel twist of the laws of supply and demand, each endangered tiger now is worth tens of thousands of dollars to thieves willing to kill and steal the animals from nature preserves and zoos.

Unfortunately, many nations are letting economic development--some of it illegal--encroach on their nature preserves. Wild animals are being forced into smaller and smaller spaces that can only support fewer of their species.

More should be done--now--to protect animals in the wild and animals in zoos, just as more should be done to protect zoo visitors wishing to see magnificent creatures up close.

#

Fixing Washington -- Two Modest Proposals

Can Congress and the White House get any more unpopular in 2008? Well, yeah, but their 2007 popularity (or lack of popularity) ratings have been plenty ugly enough. Indeed, they were, as many Texans like to say, downright double-ugly as the year ended.

Modest Proposal #1: To end Washington, D.C.’s “inside the Beltway” fixation on running—and ruining--America, why not move the nation’s capitol to a city near the geographical center of the United States? Yep, Wichita, Kansas, should become the next vortex sutra of American politics. Our leaders should have to rule from the very heart of the heartland. And those poor, left-behind K Street lobbyists? They will just have to buy plane tickets, bus tickets and train tickets if they wish to bring their bags of cash into the new center of influence.

Modest Proposal #2: We can keep electing presidents, vice presidents and governors. But everyone else over the age of 40 should have to register for the political draft and, if selected, be required to serve a four-year term as a U.S. or state senator or representative. There will be no more campaigns and no more cash donations for these offices. All political draftees will attend eight weeks of special boot camp, where they will re-learn American history and appropriate state history. They also will study the contents of key historical documents and learn how to work together as teams willing to honor, protect, defend and serve their states and nation. It will be government of the people, by the people, for the people, in a much truer sense.

Religions (or no religion), handicaps, birthplace, and income levels should be no impediment to holding office, as long as one is a native or naturalized citizen. Someone living on Social Security, Medicare and Republican rip-off drug plans could be drafted and suddenly find themselves drawing a U.S. Senator’s salary, with full benefits.

Anyone claiming to be “too stupid” or “too crooked” to serve will not be allowed to dodge the political draft. America has survived many episodes of these two qualities already, at all levels of government.

Moving the capitol to the heartland and letting America’s “real” people rule will not destroy our nation. Indeed, it couldn’t make us any worse than what we have already become: a dollar-ocracy where everything, including loyalty and patriotism, gets sold to the highest bidder.

These two changes might even help us become the kind of nation we were taught to believe in—and often did believe in—when we were young: America the Beautiful; esteemed leader of the free world; open to all, friend to all; the land of opportunity—not opportunism.

Wichita vortex America!

#

Home-Schoolers for ‘Huckleberry’ Huckabee?

The Washington Post is crediting an “extensive network” of conservative Republican home-schoolers with helping fuel Mike Huckabee’s rapid rise from political obscurity to leading the GOP race in Iowa just before the Jan. 3, 2008, caucus.

The Post has offered this observation: “Home-schoolers could …prove to be a powerful force on caucus night. By one estimate, about 9,000 Iowa children are home-schooled. Their parents could form a sizable portion of the 80,000 or so Republicans expected to show up on Jan. 3.”

Here’s a bit of a news flash for the Washington Post: Not all home-school households are Republican. Indeed, many Democratic and politically independent households also are home-schooling some or all of their children.

Home-schooling often is chosen so children can pursue special interests and talents in the arts or science or pursue curriculums that range far beyond what is now offered in public schools hobbled by state and federally mandated testing programs. Also, many liberal-minded and independent families are troubled by political and religious clashes in local school board meetings and the spillover effects on teachers and administrators.

Yes, many religious conservatives do home-school their children. Some even use the Bible as a math book, physics text or inerrant world history book. They are free to do this in many parts of the United States, just as they are free to vote for Mike “Huckleberry” Huckabee.

But even if Huckleberry Huckabee scores a stunning win in Iowa and home-school families are given much of the credit, don’t automatically assume that all home-schoolers are conservative Republicans.

GOP home-schoolers may be better organized (especially around religious affiliations), and they may be getting most of the publicity. However, the Democratic and independent candidates in Iowa and elsewhere also can count on enthusiastic votes from home-school families who fervently share their values and hopes for a better America.

#

Robert M. Young on Working with Actors

Robert Malcolm Young, who has been hailed as “one of America’s foremost independent filmmakers,” is widely regarded as “an actors’ director.”

Bob Young now is in his early eighties. But, as he demonstrated at the first Lone Star International Film Festival in November 2007, he still working and enthusiastic about using new technologies to tell stories.

His numerous film and television credits span several decades. They range from a 1956 documentary, Secrets of the Reef, and several "National Geographic Specials" in the 1970s, to feature films that include Alambrista! (1977), One Trick Pony (1980), Saving Grace (1985), China: The Panda Adventure (2001) and Human Error (2004). He also directed several episodes of the TV series “Battlestar Galactica” between 2004 and 2007.

How does he approach working with actors and screenwriters?

“You have to be willing to let your own perceptions be challenged. I don’t think of a script as a bible,” he says. “It’s not just about the script but about the humanness of the characters. My responsibility is to the authenticity of the material."

#