Good evening, Kibitzers! I like elephants, and I think they have been getting a bad rap. They cannot escape their association with the Republican party, which was thrust on them by Thomas Nast in 1874 through absolutely no fault of their own. Nowadays, they are forever depicted doing mean and sleazy things that no actual elephant would ever consent to.
In reality, they are intelligent and often charming animals, which we humans are in the process of wiping out, just like everything else. We have abused and taken advantage of them, and then defamed them. In fact, the term “white elephant” is used to mean “a burdensome possession, creating more trouble than it is worth”.
The expression arose because albino elephants in Siam (now Thailand) and some other southeast Asian countries were regarded as sacred and turned over to the king when discovered. From time to time, a king would give someone a white elephant as a “gift.”
The sacred elephant could not be made to do work like other elephants, and it was expected that the elephant would be maintained in considerable luxury. It couldn’t be given away or otherwise disposed of, because that would be an insult to the king. So the recipient was often ruined financially by the upkeep of the gift; it was a terrible gift, and kings knew that. The bestowal of a white elephant was outwardly an honor, but everyone knew it was generally the sign of a career-ending mistake. It was rather like a steroidal version of the phrase “Bless your heart”.
But that’s not why I’m writing about elephants. I’m writing because I happened across these rather touching videos. Thai elephants were historically taken into captivity and trained to work in the logging industry, but in the late 20th century, Thailand addressed its deforestation problem by banning logging. This left a lot of unemployed elephants needing to be fed, and as they aged or became disabled, there was no way the people keeping them could afford to care for them, nor could they survive on their own.
“Elephants World” is a sanctuary on the River Kwai in Thailand that was opened in 2008 by a veterinarian and his wife, to take in a few elderly and injured elephants locally. Today they sustain about 30 such elephants by opening their doors to eco-tourists who visit with the elephants. They have 130 people on staff to care for the animals.
Such a staff member is Paul Barton, who entertains some of the elephants with classical piano music. As he points out, they seem to like it, since they could walk away if they did not. Instead, they flap their ears, which is heartbreakingly sweet. Barton introduces his friend Romsai:
Here is Ampan. She is 80, about 10 years past the natural lifespan of an elephant in the wild, and also nearly blind. She prefers Debussy.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by and tell us about your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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🌟 GOTV 🌟
🌟 POSTCARDING: If you are looking for a way to help and can’t do things like canvassing or phoning, consider hand-writing postcards asking people to vote. It’s easy because you’re given specific talking points from the campaign you’re working with, so you don’t have to think up what to say, and no one will be coming back at you with questions. And if you like to color, you can get creative decorating the cards. Note that you are responsible for buying postcards (and stamps if you don’t use pre-stamped ones.) Postcard stamps are 35 cents each; pre-stamped postcards from USPS are 39 cents each; two different pretty designs. If you can spend a little more, jan4insight makes some nice ones, the two postcard sites sell their designs, or searching the phrase “postcards to voters” on Amazon will show you many designs.
To get started:
🌟 PERSONALIZED LETTERS: Similarly, you can do more good than you might expect by writing personalized letters (from a template) to Democrats who are unlikely voters. Studies have shown this can boost turnout by enough to make a difference. As with postcards, you get names/addresses for these voters in targeted districts from the website, fill in the letters, address/stamp/fill the envelopes, but then, you hold them and mail them on Oct. 30, a week before election day! Note that, as with the postcards, you are responsible for buying envelopes, paper (no special paper required), and stamps. First class letter stamps are 50 cents each.
For more info:
🌟 CONFIRM YOU ARE REGISTERED, REPEAT REGULARLY, AND GET YOUR FAMILY AND OTHERS TO DO THE SAME!!!
- Many kossacks have been surprised to find that their or a family member’s registration has mysteriously disappeared, even though it had been active. Don’t wait until too late to catch and correct this bullshit.
- HEADCOUNT.ORG will direct you to your state’s Department of State/Division of Elections (or similar) webpage, which is the horse’s mouth, as it were. My state page shows me as registered at my current address, for example.
- VOTE.ORG looks you up in its own database, which they admit is older than states’ databases. If they show you as unregistered, I recommend you check through Headcount before you panic. Although I registered at this address several years ago, last month they said I was not registered; this month, they say I am.
- Or, google something like “am I registered to vote” plus your state, and go to your state government’s page directly.
🌟 FOLLOW Yosef 52: Several times every day, the dauntless Yosef 52 posts GIANT resource diaries, containing links for virtually every Democrat who is running this November for just about anything north of dogcatcher. At the end, there are links to online tools for taking a wide variety of action. Please rec and share these diaries as you can, to get more eyes on these resources, and also, don’t forget to make use of them if you’re looking for a candidate to help or a way to help them!
🌟 VISIT ShowerCap’s Action Guide for the Goddamn Midterms blog: He has tons of candidate information, and several handy “six pack” collections set up to distribute your Act Blue donation among six deserving campaigns.
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It is now Day 138 of the new hurricane season.
It is Day 391 since Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico.
PLEASE FOLLOW Denise Oliver Velez and the SOS Puerto Rico group for the latest news about developments in Puerto Rico and the USVI. Denise’s most recent Puerto Rico diary is here. She generally collects resonant tweets at the top of her comment threads, as well, and in the APR’s thread most mornings, to make it easy to retweet. If you tweet or FB, please share something about Puerto Rico and USVI regularly.
PUERTO RICO and USVI DISASTER RELIEF DONATION LINKS
The Daily Kos community has its own project: Puerto Rico resident Bobby Neary (newpioneer) leads a small team dedicated to helping a specific rural elder who was left by the storms without power, water, a roof, or any belongings but a moldy mattress. If you like to see concrete results, this is the project for you. See newpioneer’s diaries for ways to help. See this one in particular, and this comment with photos. See also his lovely and heartbreaking poem.
(🌅 = most recently recommended by Denise)
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