News from around the globe that the newspapers seldom print
Disclaimer and fair comment
While I agree with most of the material passed on I may not be in agreement with all. However there is much we can learn from some that we disagree with. Remember it was once thought that the earth was flat.
It is
left to your judgment to determine what you agree with and what to act
upon.
How stupid can we get?
This is a news story from the U.K. Our turn is coming for we have plenty of abject fools here.
Court
warning on "racist pets" 
22nd October 2004
Pet owners have been warned that they could be held responsible for the racist actions of their animals under Britain's anti-hate legislation.
This warning
came after astonishing scenes at a English magistrates court earlier
this week. "Trigger", a former brewery dray horse of
some 12 years but who now entertains children who are able to pet him
and ride on him at fetes and fairs was brought before the court
for alleged racist behaviour, namely that on April 1st this
year, "Trigger" did cause a racially aggravated assault by rearing up
on his hind legs and throwing to the ground Ali Khan at a country fair
at Follyton near Luton, Beds.
"Rides for
whites only" claim
The court heard how
the eleven year suffered some bruising but because "Trigger" had
happily given rides to youngsters from the white English community at
the fair only to throw off Master Khan, it
was alleged by the prosecution that "Trigger" had clearly behaved in
a racist and offensive manner, causing the Khan family to suffer low self-esteem and
claims of being ridiculed following the attack. They sought compensation
from the "Bedfordshire Equine Association for Retired Drays" for hurt
feelings, and being victims of an unprovoked hate-crime.
Co-accused, "Trigger's" owner, BEARD's secretary, Major Brittan (Black Watch-retd) was called to the dock and provided evidence that "Trigger" was not a hater. With emotion in his voice the octogenarian major who had seen action in Tripoli during the Second World War said that the now notorious horse "loves all children", He suggested that a flash camera used by Khan's parents had caused alarm to "Trigger" by which he did rear up. "Trigger" had no intention of assaulting the young boy, he added and the accused had no idea about the ethnic origin of the riders who mount his saddle.
Tip of the iceberg
Mohammed Iqbal prosecuting, said that the news of the incident had appeared in the local newspaper and following the fair, other Muslim parents had contacted him with similar stories. There appears to be institutionalised racism within the equine world and he further suggested that retired shire horses are in particular prone to hate-crimes. Iqbal told the magistrate that "they (Shires) adopt an aristocratic English, arrogant and superior stance no doubt still thinking they live in a world of privilege, superior to horses of other races and contemptuous of those they view as being different".
Happier days (taken- June 1998). "Trigger" (on left) in action working for his former brewery family masters.
He called on the bench to set an example to horses everywhere that such behaviour has no place in today's much celebrated and harmonious diverse society and that if any horse or other animal caused suffering to a member of society's ethnic communities, such action would not go unpunished.
Shock at sentence
The court was adjourned for lunch, after which the Magistrate Rebecca Rosenthal announced that the bench, following deliberation, had found Trigger guilty of racially aggravated assault and declining a custodial sentence due to lack of adequate Prison facilities for horses, she imposed 100hrs community service working in the Muslim communities of Luton until such racist behaviour had been eradicated and that a strong message of non-tolerance of hate behaviour was to be delivered to the equine world.
Awarding costs and damages of £8,500 to the Khan family for suffering from "equine hate", Rosenthal went on to say "Trigger's" advanced age was no barrier to punishment and she said she would be writing to the world-famous animal psychologist Dr. Doolittle who lives near Dunstable to initiate a "race awareness programme" among both working and retired horses who have contact with children.
She deferred verdict on Trigger's owner, Major Brittan pending background social and psychiatric reports.
