When a young dog like myself reads the news, it can make me howl in a way that isn't funny. I need to be pawsitive, so I am declaring August 8, 2008, the first annual Compassion Day for Humane and Human rights.
I came up with the idea after reflecting on the need for stronger protection of human rights and humane rights in the world. I'm having a moment of compassion meditation with my family to remember everybuddy who suffers.
Today is opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This makes me remember the May '08 earthquake in China that killed almost 70,000 people and countless animals.
This Beichuan pig survived in the rubble of her home.
Today is also the day after the world's attention was drawn to a statement made by a U.S. mayor whose two Labrador dogs were slain by police.
Below you can see the Labrador retrievers walking with Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, in an old photo. That's Chase, on the left. He was a four-year-old Lab. Payton, on the right, was a seven-year-old. They were shot and killed by a sheriff's SWAT team during a "drug raid" of their home on July 29, 2008. No one in the home was involved in drugs; all were innocent victims.
According to a Washington Post interview with Mayor Calvo, when the police went in, they shot Payton near the front door and followed Chase as he ran into a back room.
In the Mayor's August 7th statement, he gave further detail: "Payton was shot some distance from the front door. He was shot where his body was found, near the entrance to the kitchen. After Payton was shot, Chase reacted to the gunfire and ran away from the deputies. He was hunted down and shot in the back while he fled. His body was found in the rear of the house."
Such inhumane-ity. Such a violation of human civil rights.
Turning to the Olympics, everybuddy knows that China's hosting of the Olympics has been controversial. Controversy is fine with this dog. But I don't want humans to forget why there's controversy: Criticism stems from China's policies on Tibet, its lack of human rights for its citizens, and its lack of humane protection for animals.
The photo below says it all. A Beijing human is mimicking the Statue of Liberty at Miniature Manhattan in World Park, one of the three Beijing parks where Olympics protests have been permitted by Chinese authorities.
Chinese authorities have probably nixed many protests. One was Amanda Beard's event at Athlete's Village. But cancelation didn't stop Beard, the Olympic 200-meter breaststroke champion, from protesting outside the hotel: She unveiled a poster of herself naked in support of the anti-fur movement.
Pawnote: Our hearts go out to Mayor Cheye Calvo and Ms. Trinity Tomsic.
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