Two of the principal attributes separating Homo sapiens from every other living creature are higher intelligence and acceptable modes of communication.

Animals usually get along well enough to avoid attacking one another (even verbally) generally out of fear that the bite they receive in return could be worse. They do not consciously exercise self-restraint - something rational beings are automatically expected to do.

But civil discourse seems to be in short supply these days and aggressive canines may not be the only ones needing behavior management.

The state Bar thought this serious enough to create a Civility Task Force which just released a report admonishing overzealous attorneys who use offensive courtroom language and display inappropriate conduct in pleading their clients' cases even after stern warnings from the bench.

Rancorous exchanges both among elected officials and with members of the public at many governmental forums are growing more commonplace as conventional etiquette and reasoned arguments are swept aside in favor of scoring debating points that inevitably draw media coverage.

This was the case at the recent San Rafael City Council meeting where self-styled campaign-reform crusader, Jonathan Frieman, engaged in verbal fisticuffs with Mayor Al Boro.

Frieman is a wealthy man whose basic contention seems to be that his openly acknowledged funding of highly negative mailers launched at candidates he disfavors exonerates him of all blame for lowering the levels of political discourse.

Kudos for such disclosure. However, if greater transparency and denunciation of false and inflammatory communications are laudatory goals, it is difficult to find justification for attacking a reform ordinance as he did which county supervisors and the League of Women Voters of Marin have worked hard at crafting that moves Marin closer to adopting countywide fair-campaign practices.

Even more puzzling is the reluctance of San Rafael Council members Damon Connolly and Greg Brockbank to sign something as benign as a "fair campaign pledge," repudiating shoddy campaign tactics until given a clearer definition of what negative means.

They might want to recall Justice Potter Stewart's simple explanation for the term pornography, "I know it when I see it."

Even in a body as august and proper as the U.S. Senate, where the observance of senatorial courtesies is a hallowed tradition, the intense heat generated by certain issues sometimes brings members perilously close to ad hominem attacks. Just the threat of such verbal bashing can squelch all meaningful dialogue.

In the super-charged atmosphere of the Sotomayor Supreme Court confirmation hearings, while her character was not maligned, the mere fact of her Latina heritage and several of her impolitic out-of- court pronouncements was enough-despite a long record of carefully measured rulings as a federal judge - to persuade some senators she held deeply ingrained prejudices.

Knowing in advance of her vulnerability to such charges and to effectively disarm her opponents, she was counseled to offer only the barest insights about her views.

The result was pure Kabuki theatre that unfortunately told neither her questioners nor the public very much at all.

When we lose our ability to talk and act civilly to one another we are descending into conduct more typically associated with a lesser species.