Answer: NO. Only human beings have rights. Human beings are the only creatures capable of conceiving rights or exercising them. Animals have no conception of rights, or the obligations that go with them.
They also have no concept of right or wrong - that is to say, morality - or of law; some may have a kind of limited intelligence, and can be taught to obey human commands and do wonderful tricks, but they lack reason and abstract thought, along with other strictly human qualities. The higher animals can in fact be loyal, useful companions to human beings, which is a lovely thing as far as it goes - but they can never be human beings.
That being said, in your Head Trucker's estimation, human beings have a moral duty to treat animals humanely, not abusing or mistreating them; the higher the animal, the greater the duty. This duty can and should be enforced by law.
Consider the elephant in this video: would you want him for a roommate? What do you think he smells like? Is he really a person, just like you?
Optional homework assignment: Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and for each occurrence of the word "everyone," mentally substitute the word "elephant," and see where that gets you.
Your Head Trucker has answers to a lot of other questions now bedeviling the public mind, like What is a woman? and Is Donald Trump a pathological liar? but it's probably best that I stop right here.
What it's all about: liberty and justice for all. From Wikimedia Commons.
Well, fellas, during this momentous week just ended, I've posted a number of reports and videos that I thought were especially significant, out of a sea of memorable words and deeds that keep on flowing past our eyes and ears. But I am an old man, whose physical powers are not what they used to be - and to my dismay I find that a similar decline seems to be occurring with my mental powers, which were always keener than the former. I simply don't have the stamina to keep pace with all the frenzy of events now happening, though I hope perhaps what I have already posted has reached someone, somewhere, who might not otherwise have seen it, and opened an eye or sparked a new thought. Knowledge is power.
Never before in all my life have I seen such a united and nationwide outpouring of public protest, not even in the turbulent 1960s. The horrific murder of George Floyd has galvanized the whole nation, if not the whole world, awakening the consciences of millions to the urgent need for reform, and return to fundamental American values. Though tempted to despair, somehow I feel sure that out of this dark night in the nation's history, a righteous dawn will come, and soon, if we seek it together - all ages, races, and sexes. A way must be found to knit this country back together again as one united people - how to do it, I don't know, but it must be done. Or else.
Today is Sunday, ostensibly a day of rest and reflection - though how often in our busy modern world do we work or play even harder on Sunday than on the other days of the week? - and instead of once again spending hours combing and sifting through the news, the best thing I can think of to honor the Sabbath Day is to present for your contemplation the sublime words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948 as the sum of human aspirations for a world of liberty, justice, brotherhood, and peace. Now is exactly the right time to remind ourselves of what the life of this nation, and of all mankind, can be, and should be.
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Your Head Trucker has never cared anything for David Letterman, but this clip of him talking about his "aha" moment regarding gay marriage is one I hope a lot of people heard:
Humans have rights, and they get to do what humans get to do. Case closed, goodnight.
The Human Rights Campaign has come in for a lot of criticism lately, for being supposedly elitist and ineffective. Well, I don't know about all that; I joined a few years ago but I've not really sat down and analyzed all they do.
What I do know is, it's always good to have some folks who are actually present in the halls of Congress, actively lobbying legislators for a good cause, and reminding them of other voices, other interests besides their own. And one thing HRC does do well is make it easy to send a shout out to all my Texas congresspeeps and senators with just one press of a button.
So it is that I'm on the return-mailing list of them all - and they're all Republicans, natch. Usually I just delete their silly newsletters and such without bothering to read them; but today I got this uncharacteristically intelligent mailing from one representative, who happens to have a 90+ percent rating from Conservative Union:
Currently, in the country of Uganda, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by a life sentence in prison. It is considered under their penal code to be "carnal knowledge against the order of nature." However, a new piece of legislation has been proposed that would increase the punishment from a life sentence to a death sentence. It would also make it criminal to discuss homosexuality in public, and even make it illegal to rent property to someone who is openly homosexual.
Regardless of one's view about the morality of sexual orientation, I will never support a measure that would impose a nation-wide death sentence for one's sexuality. Further, I believe that is a direct violation of human rights, and the United States is one of several nations who have called on the Ugandan government to disregard the proposed bill all together. As we continue to monitor this issue, rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind.
Huh. Well you see boys, there's always hope. Even some Republicans can indeed have a spark of human kindness, of human decency within them.
Even if it does mean violating Biblical principles. Because of course, Leviticus does in fact mandate killing the gays.
But if even a dyed-in-the-wool (no linen! not even polyester!) Texas Republican can see that it's time now to move on from a primitive 3,000-year-old moral stricture, well - maybe there is hope for the world, after all.
A couple of days ago, the Obama administration told a federal judge that it would release photographs of abuse of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq, as asked by the American Civil Liberties Union in a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request. ABC News reports that Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, a former Assistant Director at the Central Intelligence Agency during the Bush administration, calls the ACLU's actions "prurient" and "reprehensible."
Lowenthal said the president's moves in the last week have left many in the CIA dispirited, based on "the undercurrent I've been getting from colleagues still in the building, or colleagues who have left not that long ago."
"We ask these people to do extremely dangerous things, things they've been ordered to do by legal authorities, with the understanding that they will get top cover if something goes wrong," Lowenthal says. "They don't believe they have that cover anymore." Releasing the photographs "will make it much worse," he said.
Even though President Obama has announced that the Justice Department will not prosecute CIA officers who were operating within the four corners of what they'd been told was the law, Lowenthal says members of the CIA are worried. "They feel exposed already, and this is going to increase drumbeat for an investigation or a commission" to explore detainee treatment during the Bush years, he said. "It's going to make it much harder to resist, and they fear they're then going to be thrown over."
Which is a good development, to my way of thinking. Lower-level officers and employees of the United States Government should think twice about carrying out illegal and immoral orders, no matter what Administration is in power; in fact, they should refuse to follow such orders.
The Nuremberg trials and the Tokyo War Crimes trials established the principle that "I was only following orders" is not at all a sufficient defense when it comes to violations of fundamental human rights and basic decency: this country along with its World War II allies prosecuted and punished a great many German and Japanese leaders and their subordinates for carrying out such orders.
Just imagine how different, how very different, the story of the Nazi regime would be if masses of German government employees as well as German soldiers had refused to follow the inhuman policies of the Nazi government.
Imagine how very, very different the world would be if everyone believed more strongly in "love your neighbor as yourself" rather than "my country, right or wrong."
As to who should be investigated and charged with war crimes now, in this country, well, that remains to be seen; I think the country, or at least the great flag-waving mass of ordinary people who don't want to believe anything truly evil has been done in their name, is just now starting to wake up to the fact that the schoolbook picture of America as a cartoon-colored fantasyland where nobody in government ever tells a lie or does anything wrong - is utterly false.
What I say is, let all the facts be uncovered and published, and then let the truth fall where it belongs. Andrew Sullivan:
It's the elite that doesn't want accountability. Because it's their asses on the line.
There is a difference between good faith mistakes and a criminal conspiracy to violate and make a mockery of the rule of law. That's why a real investigation of all of it - including the alleged results - needs to take place and take its time. Give it two years to report, to allow emotions and tempers to cool. Then and only then make a decision on prosecution, so that there is no scintilla of haste or heat.
To close one's eyes and ears to the shocking, unpleasant, revolting, and highly inconvenient truth is to be a willing partner in all those crimes - a false patriotism that loves a pretty lie better than it loves one's country.
But "when I was a child, I thought as a child, and spoke as a child"; yet "now is the time to put away childish things."
It's hard, very hard, to tear one's self away from that pretty grade-school image of America; just as it is very hard to grow up and realize that your own mother and father are, after all, only human, and do make mistakes - sometimes very serious ones. Dysfunctional families are the ones who have lots of secrets, who tell long-running lies to outsiders and to one another in order to keep up appearances, who neglect the truth behind the facade they show to the world, who don't deal with the real problems at the heart of things.
Likewise, I would suggest that a true patriot is the one who educates himself to see past the rosy, false, Disneyesque myths about his country to see it as it really is - and then works to make right what is wrong, and to lift up what is fallen: "that government of the people, by the people, and for the people should not perish from the earth."
Listen to the words, not just the music, of this song - about an abusive family - or a dysfunctional nation?
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
