Category Archives: Morality

Bob & Carol Dawson’s Parrot Paradise

Environmentalism & Animal Rights, Ethics, Human Accomplishment, Morality

An uplifting couple of hours were spent today, Sunday, at the “Macaw Rescue and Sanctuary,” a magical parrot oasis, built and operated by the best of Western Washington, Bob and Carol Dawson. (Make that the best of the best.) Not since Sean and I visited Christy Hensrude’s Zazu’s House Parrot Sanctuary have we been so inspired. (We endorse both rescues unequivocally.)

In preparation for the first of many such future volunteer visits, we made toys galore from non-toxic wood Sean had cut in the garage. (Reluctantly, Oscar-Wood donated some of his colorful stash of beads.) Mounds of fresh, organic greens, assorted vegetables and fruits were washed (very thoroughly) and tossed with organic seed (pumpkin, sunflower, hemp and flax) as well as nuts, smashed in-shell with a meat pounder, so that the smaller birds could enjoy Brazil, pecan and walnut.

The food we served in Bob’s high-quality dishes, which required hardly any scrubbing. Yes, down to the smallest detail, these people are driven by devotion. So too were the toys hung. But most inspiring was taking in the totality of Bob and Carol’s creation, all 22 acres of it. Situated in beautiful rural western Washington and ranked #16 of 290 charities in the region; “Macaw Rescue and Sanctuary” is a glorious, well-kept and smartly run haven—a home to hundreds upon hundreds of free-flying flocks of happy, thriving parrots.

“Macaw Rescue and Sanctuary” is truly a labor of love.

DONATE!

With Bob Dawson in front of the small-bird enclosure:

Yummy:

The same enormous enclosure snapped from the outside:

This man is the real deal:

From The Parrot Archive:

“Oscar-Wood, Non-Stop Naughty”
“‘Dead Birds Flying’: Help Steve Boyes Help The Cape Parrot”
Precious Oscar-Wood Pacifies Himself

American Moral Relativism Meets African Traditional Morality

Africa, Conservatism, Healthcare, Morality

Anyone who hails from Africa proper knows how conservative Africans are. Most authentic Africans would find the left-liberalism and moral relativism of Americans repugnant.

Read on.

Patient Zero, the man who brought Ebola to the US, is Thomas Eric Duncan. According to Binyah Kesselly, board chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority, Duncan lied on a Liberian health screening questionnaire.

Duncan answered “no” to questions about whether he had cared for a patient with the deadly virus and whether he had touched the body of someone who died in an area affected by the disease.

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Liberian Ambassador to U.S, Jeremiah Sulunteh, condemned “this kind of behavior” (deception), and said that the Liberian government intended to take legal action against the man.

“Our hearts are broken to witness this reckless behavior on the part of Duncan,” lamented the Liberian ambassador. “Duncan has violated Liberian public-health law and this is punishable. He has done something shameful. We are truly sorry and apologize to the US, a country that has been there for Liberia all the way.”

Very decent sentiments you say.

Tapper, however, looked on aghast, replying with a non sequitur: How can Liberia prosecute a victim of the disease who is suffering so?

Of course, the one issue has nothing to do with the other: If a man knowingly concealed that he might have been weaponized with Ebola—he has a moral culpability to other human beings.

Tapper, however, has seldom encountered such moral certitude of this kind among folks in the homeland. He knows only the moral relativism that pervades America.

UPDATED: American Rabbis For Israel First (Good Column; Back Page On WND)

Ilana Mercer, Israel, Judaism & Jews, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Morality, Nationhood, Paleolibertarianism

“American Rabbis For Israel First” is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt:

“Here is an angry and cogent Israeli response to incessant provocation and violence, and one of the factors that triggered the Gaza campaign,” wrote a reader. In his missive, the reader had attached an article for my edification. Chief among the problems with the article is that its author, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, is not an Israeli. Rabbi Boteach is an American. Online, he describes himself as “‘America’s Rabbi,’ whom The Washington Post calls ‘the most famous Rabbi in America.”

Rabbi Boteach’s Huffington Post defense of Israel titled “Fed Up With Dead Jews” is thus not an “Israeli” response to the latest flare-up between Hamas and Israel, but a Jewish-American one.

Mistaking a Jewish-American defense of Israel for an “Israeli” one is understandable. When it comes to things Israel, very many American Jews sound like Israelis. While one would expect an Israeli to vigorously defend his homeland, in theory and in practice, one does not expect an American—Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or Baha’i—to defend the interests of a foreign country, with the intensity ordinarily reserved for one’s own.

In “Fed Up,” Rabbi Boteach inveighs: “We have every right to be fed-up. No nation should have to live like this. No nation should have to die like this. … what we do know is that the option of dead Jews is no longer acceptable. We have a right to live.”

Rabbi Boteach and Israel are as one.

Far be it from me to question the Rabbi’s capacity to commit to two countries. Seamlessly does Boteach spread passion and “Kosher Lust” (his new book) wherever he goes. In question here is the unseemliness of dual patriotism; the conflict of interest, if you will. …

… Contra Boteach, my own passions are tempered by time and place. I live in America. My neighbors are American. This is my home. I may be a Jew, but I’m an American patriot first. My loyalties lie with my (war-weary) countrymen, first. …

… An American writer’s intellectual energy ought to focus on American interests, first. Personal probity demands it! Otherwise, the columnist is a fifth column. …

… Read the complete column. “American Rabbis For Israel First” is now on WND.

UPDATE: GOOD COLUMN; BACK PAGE. From the Facebook Thread:

Kerry Crowel: “Whoa … Ilana, that is one hell of a good column.”

Ilana Mercer: “Kerry Crowel, thanks. I thought so. But it’s on second page, as usual, on WND. Second page is more or less the rule for one of the site’s longest standing columns. When thinking of where to publish next book, one takes into account the kind of promotion the column gets. Or no promotion, rather. But thanks for your kind comment.”

NIMBY Liberals For Open Borders

IMMIGRATION, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Morality

“Oh my Gosh! That’s a tough one. I’ll have to think about it. No thank you. I share a house with mom. In spirit, I’m with you, but … I wish I could. I’ll have to pass.” Those are some of the responses given to a journalist, who ventured out into the predominantly left-liberal Old Alexandria to ask community members, first, to sign a petition in support of the resettlement of some Central American minors in Old Alexandria. And next, whether the signatories would be willing to take such a child into their respective homes.

This lovely little clip captures the essence of your average, Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) liberal.

If you’re interested in the status of legislation that “Robs Peter To Pay Pedro” (I’m not), then “House Republicans passed a border supplemental bill Friday night.”