Animal Cruelty Laws Among the Faster Growing in the United States

Finally! There is some good news to be had when I read the paper this morning. After all, isn't it time that we FINALLY become a compassionate society? Why is it ok to torture animals because we deem them somehow less than ourselves? The answer is that it isn't, and anyone who would excuse such, does it merely for their own benefit.

Look at the sad case of Michael Vick. Not long ago, when the Vick debacle happened, Whoopi Goldberg had the incredible audacity to defend Michael Vick, the NFL football player arrested for abusing and murdering dozens of dogs. Whoopi said, " from where he comes from" in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual".

"It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico," she said. "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country." No matter how you slice it, this statement goes BEYOND ignorant!!!

This is what a bit bull puppy looks like. They are adorable, intelligent and fiercely loyal. They have a bad reputation because some ignorant people - like Michael Vick - train some dogs to be mean. Unlike a human being, it is not in a dog's nature to be cruel. What was Michael Vick's goal? I mean, did he really need more money??? Wasn't the MILLIONS that he was already making enough for him??

This is what one of Michael Vick's pit bulls looked like after a dog fight :



From Vick's indictment for these heinous crimes: "The 27-year-old Vick, whose nickname is listed as "Ookie" in the indictment, allegedly established the Bad Newz Kennels in early-2001 in Smithfield, Virginia. It was this property, for which Vick paid $34,000, that the star athlete and his codefendants used as the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dog fighting venture and hosting dog fights." According to prosecutors, Vick and his cohorts began purchasing pit bull puppies in late-2001 and would eventually "sponsor" individual dog fights with purses as high as $26,000. In the indictment's most harrowing parts, federal investigators describe what happened to some Bad Newz Kennels dogs that either lost matches or did not perform well in test fights. After a March 2003 loss by a female pit bull, codefendant Purnell Peace, "after consulting with Vick," electrocuted the animal. In April, prosecutors allege, Vick, Peace, and Quanis Phillips, "executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions." These animals, the indictment claims, were killed "by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

So Whoopi, I don't care what part of the "South" you are from - inhumanity and cruelty still look the same as they do in other parts of the country. Dog fighting is illegal and there is NO EXCUSE whatsoever - not your geographical origins as Ms. Goldberg suggests - not "Culture" as actor Jamie Foxx has suggested. There is NO excuse - PERIOD. Cruelty to animals is WRONG and those that engage in it - barely register as human beings as far as I am concerned.

One of my favorite books is "The Singer" by Calvin Miller. In it he recounts life in the Garden of Eden. God walks Adam through the Garden and introduces him to the animals. " And God called down the Sparrow from the Tree and said to Adam, 'Behold your Sister ~ a life not so great as yours but precious just the same."

All life is precious - human life - canine life - it makes NO difference no matter what part of the country you live in. Whoopi should be ashamed for defending this atrocity! To find out more about how you can help animals abused in this horrible way, please visit: the Animal Charities List . Don't sit idly by and let someone like Whoopi Goldberg continue to spew ignorance. Cruelty is never OK.

Now, thanks to laws changing all across the country, people like Michael Vick are no longer going to simply get away with murder because their victim is "just an animal". Thanks to conscientious and compassionate people everywhere, real change is happening. How can we suppose to live in a society that is cruelty free if that ideal does not extend outside of our own species?

The WORST Husband in America? Stephen Fowler this is for YOU....

I don't usually watch reality tv but this caught my eye on youtube. It's difficult to believe that one human being could so successfully malign our country, our mlitary and so many other human beings all at one time. I find just about EVERYTHING about this man offensive!

The worst part of watching this wife swap preview was watching the so-called perfect family. The "mother" actually talks about how spending too much time with her children makes her unhappy. How selfish and self invovled can one couple possibly be?? It was heart-wrenching to see how unhappy their children are.

Stephen Fowler claims that his IQ is 159 or something like that. I find that highly unlikely, after all hitting it out of the ball park when it comes to being a pompous ass doesn't exactly make him Einstein.

As an American, I find this couples' behavior to be absolutely repugnant. "We are training our children to be citizens of the world..." Can you feel my eyes rolling?? This family wouldn't even acquiesce to reciting the Pledge of Allegience. In the opinion of this American, for being such "smart" people, they certainly are not very commendable people. The man especially was an embarrassment to his children, his spouse, his country and his gender. It's hard to imagine a man more grossly odious than Stephen Fowler.

Worst of all was his obvious disdain for the military. It makes me absolutely nauseous to think of the good men and women in our armed forces who put their lives on the line everyday for this piece of human excrement to have his right to make an ass out of himself. I can't believe that Uncle Sam would even allow someone so imperialistic in their thinking to become a citizen. I say we throw him back over the pond and let the British proudly claim their native son.

In addition to the horrid affront this man continually made to the United States military, claiming we needed those with lesser IQ's to "feed it" etc... he was the worst example of masoginistic thinking that I have witnessed in a long time. I'm surprised that he even allowed his wife to leave the kitchen and his expectations of his children were clearly to be seen little and heard not at all. These two so-called Americans are not WORTHY of the name and should be ashamed of themselves, I certainly am embarrassed to have to call them my countrymen.

Why?

Here we are, finding ourselves on the very cusp of History. In just a few days, Barrack Obama will be sworn in as the first black president of the United States of America. It's mentioned over and over again, and believe me, part of me gets it and feels the import of the moment. Still, in a truly color blind society, which is what our country aspires to be, is the constant reminder truly important?

I think the message and the hope of Barrack Obama are so much more important than his skin color. I think emphasizing too much on the obvious doesn't bring out the best in all of us, but rather accentuates the worst.

Let's just run with the historic moment though, shall we? Since the news media everywhere wants to focus on Barrack Obama's color, lets go there. On this momentous occassion, why would our new President choose to use the Bible of another President for his swearing in? Why would he even consider being the first President in US history to use the bible of President Lincoln? I understand the connection of the first black President using the bible of the President who signed the Emancipation Proclaimation, I really do. I just think this moment is worthy of it's own momentos, not clinging on to those of the past, no matter how reverred.

Doing It for the Sisterhood

It's been a while since I wrote here. My poor blog looks and feels sadly neglected. Sorry about that, life has been crazy lately and with all that has been going on with the Democratic primary, I have been at a loss for words honestly. That in itself is something of an anomoly for me.
So, if you read my blog, you know that I am NOT a Hillary Clinton fan. As I watched the days drag on, even I dispaired at Obama's inability to put her away. The Clintons, like a cat with 9x9 lives, they always find a way to land on their feet. (I'm desperately hoping that Hillary's next landing space is NOT next to Obama on the Democratic ticket! Don't do it Obama....)

All that said though, even I will admit that I found Hillary's "exit" speech to be powerful and stirring. In my minds eye, I was taken back to the days of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, when a woman was considered chattel - the property of her husband - and didn't even have the right to vote. I listened to Hillary talk about the glass ceilings that have been broken, and I realized that TODAY, I can tell my daughters that truly anything is possible. Where once their best hope was to be a teacher, now my daughters truly can dream as big as their abilities and imaginations will let them.

I was proud, as a woman, of her accomplishment and of her fortitude. How many had called for Hillary to quit? Many really... myself included. Now, looking back, I'm glad she stayed in the race as long as she did. I'm glad that she didn't just quit when the road was long and hard. What kind of message would that have sent to the men in our country?

I listened to Geraldine Ferraro and Gloria Steinem - neither of whom I hold in great regard - talk about the culture of misogyny in our country and I began to wonder if there wasn't something to what they were saying. Sure, some men came out and supported HIllary, but how many "good ole boys" are there still today? How many men out there truly believe that a woman is incapable of being President just because of her sex? A lack of a penis does not indicate lack of intelligence or lack of judgement. In fact, I would suggest that as mothers, WE understand the cost of life. We know what it is to want peace and strive for peace. I think those traits would make for an excellent President.

Yes, Hillary was not my choice for President, but I am grateful to her for lighting the way for all of our daughters - YES IT CAN BE DONE!

Why I'll NEVER Eat Ground Meat Again!

So, I know that on Super Tuesday Two, today's blog content is not my usual fair. The purpose of this blog was never intended to be about political commentary though, but instead about all the things that make me, as an American angry! Today's topic certainly makes me, well angry isn't even the word.

Most of you heard about the beef recall a week or so ago. It was the largest beef recall in history. Most of the beef that may have been tainted - headed for school cafeteria's around the country and into our children. Here's the problem, the issue is what is called "downer" cattle. You may not be familiar with that term. I wasn't until this news story broke. "Downer" cattle is a phrase used to refer to sick and dying cattle that usually can not stand on their own. They are hung in cargo trucks from their necks and transported to slaughter houses around the country. Usually when they arrive, they are covered in their own feces, thereby increases the risks of E.Coli, mad cow disease, and untold amounts of other serious infectious diseases.

The Humane Society released an undercover video, which is just too shocking to show here, but if you are interested in viewing the evil that some men are capable of, you can find it on youtube by searching for "downed" cattle. In this video, workers at the slaughter house were shown using cattle prods on animals that couldn't walk, pulling or dragging the animals with fork lifts and spraying their noses and faces with high pressure water hoses. To what purpose would a human being do this, I ask you?

The only answer that I could come up with is that those individuals who did this are not human, but MONSTERS. Their hearts are so full of greed, corruption and hate, that they have no pity or compassion for a totally helpless animal. I for one will NEVER be party to this again. For health and for moral purposes, I will never eat ground meat, hot dogs, or other byproducts like this ever again.

Do you want your children to be party to cruelty? Do you want your children eating meat from animals that are so unhealthy that they can't stand? Don't want to take my word for it? Investigate it for yourself.

There is a way to be humane - what these animals had to experience wasn't it.

He's a Dreamer.....

As my father and I sat and listened to Barrack Obama speak tonight, my 84 year old father turned to me, and with flat eyes said, "He's a dreamer...." Right away in my mind, I heard the words of one of my favorite songs, you know it, sing along with me..." You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." Those are stirring words, and as always, they were stirring words that Barrack Obama spoke to supporters in Houston tonight.

You see, I agree with Obama that change works from the bottom up. I agree that the people are the power behind the change, and I agree that the time for change has come. It is time for our country to once again fulfill it's promise, to all it's citizens. I want to hold my head up high and say that I'm proud to be an American. I'm tired of the status quo in Washington, interest groups mattering more than the will of the people, and most of all, I'm tired of the nuances which divide us.

Red or blue, Republican or Democrat - each one of us is more alike than we are different. We all love our families. We all want our children to lead a better life. We all want security for ourselves and to have our basic needs met. If we work together, we can achieve our dreams. Imagine what that would be like. Imagine the kind of world that we could then pass on to our children.

Yes, Obama is a dreamer, but I say that in order to acheive great things, you have to first dream great things. I like the vision of my country that I see through Obama's eyes. I think it's time for that vision to be more than a dream.

Right now, I know what those in the Clinton camp are saying as their candidate talks to a high school crowd while Obama speaks in front of thousands...." Houston, we have a problem."

My Message on Super Tuesday - YES WE CAN!

As Super Tuesday descends upon us, my heart is filled with hope, for the first time in years - real hope. Today, I believe that the American people can, and more importantly, WILL, send a message to the world. Today, we stand for change. REAL CHANGE. Today, we stand for Hope. Today, we stand for a better future and a better world for our children. Today, as my state casts it's ballots, I'm proud to say that I will tell the world, "YES WE CAN!" What will your vote say?

For a little inspiration as you head out to the polls, I encourage you all to check out my new video bar... It's a new song by the leader of the Black Eyed Peas, and I think it says it all.