With complicity from corrupted governments America is going down without a whimper. The treasonous politicians are akin to gun-toters for elephant poachers.

Imagine America to be a huge elephant, the citizens her riders, and the politicians her caregivers. Picture the elephant striding along with the riders atop her on a colourful blanket spread across her back. The elephant's entrusted caregivers, walking by her side, have been bought off over the years and have allowed foreign poachers entrance into the elephant's domain. The poachers want to kill the elephant for her ivory tusks. The elephant's caregivers have a quid pro quo arrangement with the poachers. For each exchange of money the poacher gets one shot at the flank. Some caregivers even supply the poachers with the poison used in the darts aimed at the elephant. The caregivers turn a blind eye while the poacher takes his shot. Each hit injects more poison into the elephant's system.

Once in a while a rider atop the elephant turns around just at the very moment the poacher is taking aim at the flank. Before he can cry out to warn the other riders he is either pushed off the elephant by a paid-off fellow rider or shot off by a marksman trained to spot headturners. He is allowed back on the elephant if he promises to keep his eyes ahead and his mouth shut regarding maneuvers at the flank. If his love for the elephant outweighs self-interest he is imprisoned elsewhere in the jungle or quieted in a more permanent manner be it succumbing to his injuries or suiciding himself. In any event he is seldom heard from again.

The constant injection of poison into the elephant's system is destroying her vital organs. The riders on her back are feeling her bony backbone through the coloured blanket. Some of them are calling to the caregivers to check into her health to see if she is suffering from a disease. The caregivers ask the riders to dismount while they take the elephant into the huge tent. But always they come out and say, "Don't worry - she's fine" and everyone climbs back on.

But now the elephant is really acting strangely. She's weak and faltering and is throwing people off her back. When they land they see their entrusted caregivers blatantly taking money from poison-dart poachers. They cry out in alarm and run after the elephant desperately trying to get the attention of the riders clinging haphazardly to the ears and the slipping blanket. "OUR ELELPHANT IS BEING ATTACKED!!" they shout. "OUR CAREGIVERS ARE POISONING THE ELEPHANT!!" they scream.

Slipping and sliding in the slimy trail of diarrhea they grab the sleeves of the caregivers demanding they look to the flank and stop the attack. They beg for mercy for their elephant. She needs rest and rejuvenation but instead she is being whipped to run faster and faster toward enemies that can now clearly be seen in the distance. These enemies aren't holding dart guns but instead have weapons of mass destruction aimed at the very heart of the elephant. She is being driven into a blind where she'll be attacked and only then will the citizens on her back hear her great ROAR as she goes down taking everyone with her.

By the time we catch up she'll be dead and we won't even get the chance to hold her head in our hands for one final goodbye. She'll never know how much we loved her and how we tried to protect her. She won't hear us tell her we trusted her caregivers and therein lay our demise. What good will it be to be sorry for our ignorance? We'll have lost our wonderful elephant.

As we fall to the ground in misery and despair the caregivers and poachers fight over the ivory and plan their next hunt.

MUTWARE & THE BABOONS (visiting Mutware the elephant in Rwanda)

ELEPHANT RIDERS REBEL (reader asks what can be done)

Rwanda's famous Mutware (giant elephant a tourist attraction in Akagera National Park). Reuters AlertNet, May 5, 2006
Submerged in the muddy waters of a Rwandan lake, Mutware cools down from the scorching morning heat, ignoring the crowd of visitors who have come to visit him. Flapping his ears as birds rest on his back, the 38-year-old rogue elephant seems out of sorts - there is no sign of the aggressive beast that wrecked at least three cars last year, prompting a security warning from the U.S. State Department. "Mutware, Mutware, wake up!" several villagers cry out, eager to please the tourists who have come to see the elephant. But it takes several hours and some cassava flour and leaves to Make Mutware move. Villagers say the elephant is tired after a long night of feeding on their crops. Mutware's bathing spot, Lake Ihema, in Rwanda's eastern Akagera Park, is just one of the attractons some 25,000 foreign tourists visited last year in tiny Rwanda.

Rwanda's Mutware escapes again. Baltimore Times, May 26, 2006
Mutware, the infamous elephant of Rwanda, has struck again. He recently escaped from a game park in Rwanda and went about scaring the daylights out of villagers he passed on his sojourn to nowhere in particular. The bull elephant acquired his fearsome reputation last year after the US security warned about his bad temper. A resident from one of the villages that is not happy with Mutware's unscheduled visits said, "We can no longer move; we are in fear of Mutware, who has destroyed our gardens." The zoo keeper told the news that, "He has destroyed crops, but so far no one has reported any damage to infrastructure." Mutware, who is a friend of sorts to tourists who come from far away (thankfully) usually wallows in Lake Ihema as a tourist attraction. He obviously got tired of that gig. Last year alone, the 37-year-old elephant single-handedly destroyed three vehicles in a park. Park rangers say Mutware is usually a wonderful animal, but has a short temper where foolhardy visitors who wander into the park unaccompanied are concerned.

Roque elephant excapes in Rwanda (The infamous 37-year old Mutware usually has a good character and violent incidents in the past came about because foolhardy visitors ventured into the park without guides). BBC, May 18, 2006

Elephant prompts embassy warning (has destroyed three vehicles, terrifying visitors). BBC, Dec 9, 2005
Mutware can normally be found wallowing in Lake Ihema in Akagera National Park. "The first sign he's feeling aggressive is that he flaps his ears - the second is that he sends clouds of dust up into the air and the third sign is when he stamps his foot on the ground. "When that happens you'd better get out of the area," Mr Muhizi concluded

Africa's ivory trade thrives (buyers are businessmen-visitors-diplomats from France-Italy-China-Korea-USA). BBC, Dec 14, 2003. Go to 7.Systems of Thought

Elephants sentenced to death (residents of India village believe authorities overreacting). Sydney Herald, Mar 17, 2003

SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT, by George Orwell

Ivory trade threatens elephant (elephants grieve over dead). Rense.com, Oct 31, 2002

FAIRY TALES & JOKES