Sunil K. Sharma

Saxophonist David Valdez in Portland, Oregon maintains a richly informative blog with excellent and challenging instructional articles and links to related material from other first-rate musicians. Here's a cool post Valdez wrote on subV7s, an effective device for adding movement and dissonance to static or modal harmony that resolve smoothly:

One of the most useful post-Bop harmonic devices is the added subV7s. This all purpose device can be used to add more harmonic motion over static or modal harmony, create delayed resolutions, to create smoother transitions into new keys, and to get a little more juice out of boring progressions. It's simple and it sounds quite modern when used correctly . . .[full article]

The Obama Administration and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s war against nature continues to escalate. On the western front, we have the Bureau of Land Management’s intensifying campaign of rounding up and confining wild horses in California, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado and elsewhere. The brutal roundup has left a trail of dead, seriously injured and traumatized horses in its wake.

The basic plan is the capture and confinement of tens of thousands of mustangs (mares and neutered stallions), which are to be sent to holding facilities in the Midwest and Eastern US. Salazar’s central aim is to eliminate many of the wild herds that currently exist, and reduce the populations of the remaining herds to levels far below what is necessary for their continued survival. The plan also calls for aggressive sterilization of wild horses on public lands, which would in effect drive the wild horses into extinction.

The bullshit excuse dished up by the BLM -- ever beholden to ranching interests -- for the roundup is that wild horses overgraze and cause environmental degradation of public lands. This ridiculously perverse claim stands in stark opposition to science, which shows that, in fact, Equidae like horses and burros have a beneficial effect on the environment and other animal life (see also here). The reality, as pointed out by the National Academy of Sciences, Government Accounting Office and others, is that the main cause of environmental degradation on public lands is livestock use, particularly cattle and sheep, whose numbers completely dwarf those of wild horses and burros.

Ranchers have for decades sought the removal of wild horses and burros from public lands so that more cattle and sheep can be grazed for slaughter, and more public land be opened up for profitable private uses. The Interior Department -- under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- has been more than willing to comply.

Public outcry over the hunting and capture of wild horses and burros led to The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. Over the subsequent 39 years, however, creative misinterpreting of the Act has led to the removal of tens of millions of acres of public lands for wild horses and burros, and there concomitant capture and often horrible deaths. Estimates suggest that the number of wild horses and burros has dwindled down to between 15,000 – 36,000, while over 38,000 horses are currently under BLM confinement. Meanwhile, taxpayers are paying through the nose for the BLM’s murderous program, thus effectively subsidizing ranching interests (one of many ways this parasitic industry lives off the public dole), while losing public land in the process. The projected cost to taxpayers for the roundup and confinement program is well over $70 million for FY2011.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act declares that, “wild horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.” More than that, wild horses are indeed one of the oldest, if not the oldest, truly indigenous American species. They must be protected and allowed to roam free.

I implore people who care about these magnificent creatures to take the time to voice opposition to the BLM roundup and confinement program. Here are some links to organizations that are defending the wild horses and burros, which have useful fact sheets, sample letters and op-eds, and lists and addresses of the relevant government figures to contact. Please act now!

* Friends of Animals
* The Cloud Foundation
* American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
* Dear Colleague and Sign on Letter from Congressman Raul Grijalva and Nick Rahall