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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Stay Free! | BushIsNotAChimp.org
  • Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 16:41:47 -0400

Hello,

Although the press release below is unaffiliated with Stay F---! (it's from Monkeywire, another project of mine), I thought some of you might appreciate it regardless. It's a response to the news, released over the weekend, that President Bush is succeeding in his plans to water down the Endangered Species Act.

::::

For immediate release

CRITICS BLAST LIBERAL MEDIA FOR BUSH "CHIMP" REMARKS
http://www.bushisnotachimp.org/
http://www.monkeywire.org/

Leaders of a Brooklyn-based primate news service have called on political activists and news media to cease from referring to U.S. President George W. Bush as a chimp or monkey.

The heads of Monkeywire, which bills itself as the "number one source for news about monkeys and apes," have called the Bush primate references "misguided and demeaning."

Bush has been described as a "chimp," (Globe and Mail), a "grinning chimp" (In These Times), a "smirking chimp," (SmirkingChimp.com), "the Chimp in Charge," Democratic Underground, a "hairless chimp" (The Columbian) [incorrect on both counts], and a "pretzel-eating chimp" (AP) with a face that reveals "thin-lipped brow-furrowed monkey confusion" (San Francisco Chronicle). The President's actions have similarly been conveyed in simian terms: "Bush proposes to monkey with the Constitution" (Slate).

Monkeywire cofounders Carrie McLaren and Joe Garden maintain that such comparisons overemphasize physical similarities between Bush and chimpanzees while downplaying important differences in genetics, behavior, and natural habitat.

Humans share over 99 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, our closest genetic relative. However, that fraction of a percent accounts for clear differences in mental capacities, physical dexterity, and body hair.

Bush shares with lower primates the ability to make his desires clear despite an inability to communicate in English. He also understands and reacts to negative stimuli, and makes use of simple tools. However, Bush's dental records -- which were used as evidence of the President's service in the National Guard -- clearly demonstrate that he is human.

The Monkeywire heads say the most marked distinctions between Bush and chimpanzees are not physical characteristics, however, but behavioral ones.

"Bush has proposed changing the Endangered Species Act to allow imports of endangered species and body parts," says McLaren. "A chimp would never do that."

Chimpanzees are an endangered species. The chimpanzee population has dropped from 2 million to 150,000, due in part to the slaughter of apes for "bush meat."

When changes to the Endangered Species Act were proposed last year, renowned primatologist Jane Goodall predicted that bush meat trade could eradicate all great apes within a couple of decades.

The Monkeywire heads also cite Bush's position on global warming as evidence of his anti-chimp position. Bush withdrew from the Kyoto Treaty and reversed his 2000 campaign pledge to regulate industrial emissions of carbon dioxide. The Monkeywire founders argue that such decisions may contribute to the devastation of chimps' natural habitats.

"Obviously, Bush is not a chimp," said McLaren. "But we hope everyone can come together to release him into the wild."


CONTACT

For more information on changes to the Endangered Species Act, contact Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity at (520) 623-5252
http://www.sw-center.org


For depressing news about the modern-day plight of primates, visit:

The Great Ape Project - http://www.greatapeproject.org
The Jane Goodall Institute - http://www.janegoodall.org

NOTE: The above organizations have no affiliation with Monkeywire.



  • Stay Free! | BushIsNotAChimp.org, Carrie McLaren, 07/05/2004

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