Where's Mine??

Ya know, the more I think about it, the madder I get! Where's my great big debt-erasing handout from the federal government?? The less-than-great decisions I've made in life are nothing compared to the fat cat moneygrubbers that are asking for a bailout from Uncle Sam!

I keep chipping away at my credit card bills (not to mention the gas cards) and paying my debts. I give up a LOT of other extras so that I can participate in the dog hobby that has become the main portion of my life, day in and day out. I have cut out attendance at several show clusters or performance events that I normally attended thanks to the high price of travel and trying to stay afloat. We are in dire need of a new automobile but cannot even begin to budget for it right now - a '93 gas-sucking Suburban that's about to kill off its second transmission and whose brakes are grinding badly; the 2000 Astro with 193K miles on it that couldn't pass inspection last week and is now in the shop likely needing a catalytic converter, among other things; the mother-in-law's "not-so-Grand Am" with a leak in the intake manifold and is now completely dead; and then the Sprinter that runs on the ever-more expensive diesel fuel and doesn't really fit in either of our job's parking lots.

So handing out big money to HUGE corporate businesses that made bad business decisions (while maintaining golden parachutes for the higher ups) kinda chaps me.

Next thing you know, Exxon will be knocking on the government handout door because they don't think they're making enough money, although it feels like financial rape every time I pull up to a gas pump.

I think the following letter from Michael Moore pretty much sums up how I'm feeling at the moment!! Here's an excerpt - the link to the full text follows:

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

Link to the full article:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=235

So What's the Difference??

A disturbing article made the rounds on some of my chat lists yesterday which brought tears to my eye. I cannot imagine myself shooting dogs that I do not want to provide minor medical care for. Even though dogs are, for all practical and legal purposes, considered property - I do not find such actions to be ethical. This case, involving Amish commercial breeders, I find tragic.

So much of the recent punitive and overbearing legislation trying to outlaw dog/pet breeding and the keeping of sexually intact animals is the result of attempting to "legislate ethics". As a result...ethical breeders are the ones being harmed the most...not commercial breeders...not irresponsible dog owners. So various animal rights groups are able to get these types of laws passed through local and state government - and they keep knocking on the federal government's door as well!

But animal rights groups aren't really about helping animals - they are about harming the human animal. They hate people, and they don't particularly care for animals either. Witness PeTA's euthanization rate - 97% for 2007. Whose employees/followers dumped the bodies of freshly killed pets, who they had promised the people they took them from that they would find homes for them and almost immediately put the final needle into them once they were in their killing van. They didn't care about those animals - they treated them like garbage.

Now...most folks would comment on the commercial breeders' actions mentioned above with something like..."well, what can you expect from puppy millers after all."

Okay....well...here is another example of a mass slaughter performed by a "humane" shelter that was too lazy to take care of a health issue at their facility, as reported by No-Kill advocate and "Redemption" author, Nathan Winograd - check out this story. Oh...and by the way...this is a "HSUS Partner Shelter" - and they killed over twice as many pets as the Zimmermans in one day. Different method, but the same result.

They are no better in my eyes.

Wonders Never Cease

And not the good kind of wonderment either! The last week or so's news headlines have left me shaking my head.

First off was the Google alert I received which sent me along to an online news article regarding two Borzoi that escaped their yard and attacked and killed a small dog belonging to a neighbor. This is a nightmare for Borzoi owners - and containment is key for our dogs. They were bred to chase and catch game - so yes, one needs to be careful around small, furry pets and one needs to watch one's fences for any repair needs. Unfortunately, upon further inspection of the story one can find events which could have precluded this unfortunate event...

(1) The dogs had escaped before and killed a dog earlier in the year. So were extra steps taken to try and prevent further escapes after the original? If not, why? I am terrified of my dogs getting out of the yard, not only for the safety of smaller animals (although the dogs running loose in our neighborhood tend to be of the large variety) but for the safety of my own dogs. We live close to busy roads - the last thing I want my dog to be is a road pie.
(2) The dog that was killed in the latest attack was also loose. Its owners left it in the yard as they ran away screaming. Hello - let's just add to the hysteria in the air. Screaming just upsets all involved and sets everyone, including animals, on edge. That's not going to help. Why did they not pick up their dog? Peek-a-poos aren't that heavy.
(3) The Borzoi were obviously not bloodthirsty threats to people. A stranger had caught the pair and put them in his backyard and called a number he had gotten from the dog's collar tag. They sound like a controllable couple to me.

Because of these events, it is likely that the dogs could be declared dangerous - and rightly so in this case. But it's sad for the Borzoi breed - these are quite charming and funny, as well as beautiful, dogs. But irresponsibility in keeping them properly (or any dog, for that matter) can bring trouble for all, not just one's neighbor. In today's heated climate against dogs and dog ownership, to have my breed placed on a "dangerous dog" list because of people's irresponsibility, causing them to fall victim to obscene insurance rates and BSL legislation is unacceptable.

I have always stood behind the phrase "punish the deed and not the breed" when it comes to fighting BSL legislation. This event brings that motto even closer to home.

The next headline comes courtesy of Tulsa, Oklahoma. A 2 month old infant was left in a swing chair unattended (mother and grandmother were too busy to attend him because they were....sleeping). Unattended, that is, except for a 2 month old lab puppy and an elderly Pug. (Latest news article HERE) This is such a sad situation resulting in not only a dead child, but the puppy as well as it was put down. The poor thing was just a-waggin' its tail as the AC officer loaded him into the truck - it wasn't a vicious puppy....it was just a baby itself, with super-sharp puppy teeth and claws. Lord knows I've been left with marks from playing with rowdy puppies - they don't have to be mean to mark you up at that age! If it hadn't been this incident, the poor child would have likely died from another common parenting "skill" - that of being left alone in a vehicle in the heat of summer - yet another common headline that has been all over the news as of late.

What confounds me is that local and state (and then we had the federal PAWS legislation) governments are wanting to pass all sorts of restrictions on animal breeding and husbandry for an activity that the IRS insists is just a hobby, yet they want to legislate it out the wazoo, if not make it illegal to have a pet with all the body parts it was born with...but yet any yahoo can contribute to the human gene pool, no licensing (or apparently knowledge or responsibility) required.

Also...can some explain why the AR nuts claim how cruel and unusual it is to dock a tail, crop ears or even remove dewclaws on a puppy - yet preach and lobby for the more intrusive and risky surgeries required to spay and neuter pets!? They're all about ripping out uterus's and tearing off testicles (and the younger the better) but don't dare crop that tail at 3 days!