I got a link to some interesting information from a good friend of mine, regarding animals in transport. I, of course, went and read the information and looked at the pictures. I can’t help but look at their eyes. The pigs, crammed together, literally standing their front hoofs on the back of others as their space is so limited, are transported by truck for thirty hours with no break, no water. I cannot tell you what it does to me to see these animals being treated like this. It is the most gut wrenching feeling to know that as I speak a chicken is being de-beaked and de-toed, cows are being castrated, pigs are being castrated and having their teeth pulled all without any kind of pain relief. I see the revolting and deplorable conditions that these animals must endure. What I find truly crushing is the little human contact these animals have goes beyond what we would consider barbaric. Most of the larger animals are lame due to their crappy diet, their confinement and lack of exercise....
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Quick shout out to the bush administration for ending the silly machismo goofiness with Iran and acting like big people. Holla! Now just work it out. Once again, sigh, back to the melodrama created by the X. Every year he has to let me know by April 1st when he will have the boys over the summer holidays. Once I get that, I have until April 15th to pick a weekend during that time to pick them up and drop them off and another weekend during the summer that he would normally have them (1st, 3rd, or 5th) that I choose to keep them home. Sounds so incredibly simple. I get a letter from him stating when he will have the boys on March 30th and on April 8th I send a letter saying I will have the weekend of June 9 – 11 to come pick them up and drop them off. Please let me know as soon as possible if the address or location is different than the home address. Easy. Simple. That’s April 8th. On May 27th he comes to pick the boys up for the first half of their summer visit. Half an hour later, Jo...
Calling all STUDENTS, TEACHERS & ALUMNI from UH, Rice, St. Thomas, UTHSC, HBU, Baylor, HCC … AND employees of large corporations with meal services. Friend, did you know that laying hens are arguably the most abused animals in all agribusiness? About 95% of these roughly 300 million hens in the United States are confined in barren, wire "battery cages" so restrictive the birds don't even have enough space to spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering. We at In Solidarity with Animals , on behalf of The Humane Society of the United States , are asking that you fly to the aid of these tortured hens by influencing your school to purchase eggs only from suppliers that do not use battery cages. Important note: ISWA strongly urges each and every one of you to Go Vegan! and drop eggs from your diet entirely (as there is always ...
I watched Democracy Now! this morning on Link TV with Amy Goodman. The main topic was Enron but during the headline news segments, a surprising thing happened. I was able to witness, for the first time since his selection by the Supreme Court to be our president, bush as a human being. He admitted that the mistake he made was saying things like “bring it on!” and “dead or alive”. Now it wasn’t the actual verbiage, it was the demeanor, he genuinely seemed remorseful. It was something I had been waiting to see. Then he said that another one was Abu-Garbled (literally, it was hard to understand what he said), “we’ve been paying for that for a long time.” Sigh. The moment was nice, but oh-so fleeting. Then on to Enron. There were some information on there that made Josh and I look at each other with expressions of “wha..?” They had all the goods. Here are some of the facts I learned: FDR set up a policy that oil and gas industries, major industries, cannot be donors to political funds. Tha...
Being a parent is so weird. When they are toddlers and little guys you are all about keeping them near you, not letting them out of your sight, monitoring their intake of food, entertainment, external stimuli. Then they hit middle school and you can physically see them, like baby eagles stretching their wings in mock flight, moving towards independence. It’s just after eight thirty in the evening on the last day of school, and both of my boys are elsewhere. And I couldn’t be happier. They are out amongst their own exercising their social muscles and interacting. This has been an incredible year. Cody has been through such monumental changes, physically, mentally and emotionally. Being thirteen is so complicated. He has always had a grace socially, finding the positives in each person and managing to overlook the negatives. He is all boy, yet has found a balance with his softer side that makes him the boy all the girls really like. But he has made huge leaps in his belief in himself aca...
Justice thus Peace You know, I didn’t sit in on the trial. I didn’t hear all the evidence. But to me the only thing that mattered in this whole Enron debacle was one thing – the selling off of stock while telling employees that not only could they not sell theirs but they should be buying more. That was it. That in of itself said corporate greed. You can look at Home Depot’s plummeting share prices while paying the CEO triple digit millions in pay and see that not much has changed. The usual shrug and eyebrow raise with a “what do you do?’ and “it’s all about the shareholder” is a load of crap. It’s all about those at the top taking as much as they can possibly shove into their pockets, socks and undergarments at the buffet while others are still waiting in line for table scraps. These are the same people that dismiss people who are plunging into poverty because the medical insurance they had doesn’t happen to cover the illness they chose to get. These are the same people that call il...
UN Bashing Musings I do not understand those that continuously criticize the UN. I find it odd that the very people that find fault with the United Nations are the same ones that cannot seem to see the deficiencies of our current administration. I think that there are many factors that contribute to the incessant stumblings of the organization, but I believe that this in inevitable. You can call someone clumsy and useless if they are constantly falling down, only if you ignore the fact that someone is relentlessly sticking a foot out or an obstacle in the path of that person. The United Nations is a great concept. But if you have members who use economic blackmail to undermine the union and its processes, it is not the collective that is at fault, it is the parts. Over and over I hear the attacks. But where is the praise? Why was the UN not given kudos for stabilizing Liberia during the reign of Charles Taylor to the point that the first woman president could be elected? I would think ...
Charitable Musings I have always had a problem with charity being tax deductible. I understand that it encourages people to give, and all that, but it seems kind of fake to me. Are you giving to be able to write it off against your abundant earnings for that year’s tax return or are you giving solely to do good? To be generous? What is giving if you know you will be able to get it back? It’s not really giving, is it? For the first few years of our membership at church, I adamantly stuck to anonymous giving. We always gave cash and it went directly into the collection plate, not by mail or any other traceable form. I felt that was pure giving. But then we started getting statements from the church to show, for our charitable records, how much we were giving to sustain the ministry and to develop the land and construct a building. The big zero. I didn’t care. But Lance did. He felt that we were being viewed as freeloaders. We came and said were members but did we contribute anything tang...
Musings on Death and Dying I have never had a problem with death for myself, in that I have never feared it. My friend once got extremely angry with me when, in our early twenties driving 95 mph to Austin I decided to let her in on my deep philosophy of when it’s time to go it’s time to go. She was glued to her seat with her hands in a death grip to anything that would lessen the impending collision. Not the best time to discuss deeply held beliefs – she thought I had a death wish. I didn’t and don’t. But it’s not something I stress about. I don’t like the idea of lingering, I have made it a painfully clear to everyone and anyone who will listen that life support is just prolonging my absence from home. When I am called, I want to go. I don’t want to be a miracle of medicine or science. I just want to leave this temporary plane. And go to where I know a ton of people are waiting for me. Where I will be loved and feel love and I will be removed from all the things that tear, even ever s...
The planning has begun. July 14th - 23rd the (shudder) circus rolls into town. My plan is to be there every day, for every performance, with my placards and information at the ready for those who go in to see animals being forced to perform unnatural acts for their enjoyment. There are several days towards the end of the week that have three performances planned. There is no excuse for this kind of cruelty. We humans have declared our superiority to animals, repeatedly. Ok. We get it. They get it. We win. Can we stop now? Please. If you know someone who is taking their kid to the circus, recommend something else. Inform them. Help them to see that buying a ticket is promoting the beating of baby elephants, the cutting of the paws of tigers to get them to stand on their back legs. No child wants to be a party to animal abuse. No parent wants to impart torture as a childhood message. Yes it has existed for a long time. So did slavery. It is time to end it. Join me. July 14 - 23rd at the ...
Today was the funeral and memorial. My God, how loved my brother was! There were hundreds of people at the memorial. It was absolutely amazing to see how many people he had touched. I was given the opportunity to say a few things. Here is my Tribute to my Spiritual Mentor and Big Brother. I loved him so much. I want to start out with a couple of thank yous. I want to thank Faith Community Church for the support that it gave Paul and his family. You are what a church should be. You are the embodiment of what I believe Christ expected from us – charity, kindness, nobility, grace, humility, compassion and community. There is nothing more comforting than knowing that during your family’s most critical time, there is literally an entire congregation caring for the needs. It was a luxury not many have and my family is eternally grateful. I want to thank Sam. Sam is the consummate Christian woman. Never did I hear her take credit for all that she did during Paul’s illness. She always gave the...
Saturday May 13, 2006 5:35 a.m. I received a call from my younger brother. Paul is gone. My big brother is dead. The news of death is such a startling thing. Even when it’s inevitable, which it actually always is for all of us, but when it’s expected there’s almost a reaction from others that well, he had been ill for a long time. But the ice water sensation still washes over you. The dagger stab to the stomach and heart still penetrates your soul. My mom said that it was, in a sense, the best mothers day gift he could have given her. At first glance that might seem horrible, but you have to understand that as a parent watching for six long, heartbreaking years your son’s body betray him – well, that goes beyond anyone’s comprehension. To have a child killed suddenly or horrifically is something that every parent dreads, but to watch the systematic decline of a vibrant son, with his mind encased in a stiff and twisted body, I can’t fathom how excruciating that must have been. It was a ...
Correction - it is not 14 days of circus performances, it is actually 14 performances. Here are the dates. All at Reliant Stadium July 14, 2006 Friday, 7:30 PM July 15, 2006 Saturday, 11:30 AM July 15, 2006 Saturday, 3:30 PM July 15, 2006 Saturday, 7:30 PM July 16, 2006 Sunday, 5:30 PM July 18, 2006 Tuesday, 7:30 PM July 19, 2006 Wednesday, 7:30 PM July 20, 2006 Thursday, 7:30 PM July 21, 2006 Friday, 7:30 PM July 22, 2006 Saturday, 11:30 AM July 22, 2006 Saturday, 3:30 PM July 22, 2006 Saturday, 7:30 PM July 23, 2006 Sunday, 1:30 PM July 23, 2006 Sunday, 5:30 PM Send an email or letter to Bill White, Reliant Park management, your local paper and television stations and the Houston Chronicle. I will do a little research to see who is sponsoring them and I will post their contact information. If you are not local - find out if one of these things is breezing through your town and start writing! Remember- silence is their friend. They proliferate covertly. Start...
Below is the email I sent this morning to Bill White, our very good mayor. Ringling will be here for two freakin' weeks in July, which I believe is the longest engagement they have. Anyway, feel free to use the following as you see fit. I will be there everyday of the circus in the record heat (not related to global warming even in the slightest)....if it isn't cancelled. email address: mayor@cityofhouston.net Dear Mr. White From the moment you took office, you have shown your willingness to not only be a “hands on” kind of mayor but also someone who gets things done. When the Katrina victims needed us, you stepped up and took control. It was a time of emergency and you did what you needed to do to get the job done. It was awesome. I was so proud of Houston! You have lead by example, one that I followed, in selecting a more environmentally friendly electricity company. I have admired your approach as I get a feeling of honor and truthfulness from you as a leader of a major city...
One More Thing I love John Stewart. The Daily Show is great. I kind of dislike the people in the audience who burst into hysterical laughter upon the raising of one eyebrow. It gets annoying. But he is brilliant. I also like Steven Colbert and his hilarious parody of O’Reilly and his freakish factor. And I watched the snippets of the skit that bush did with his impersonator all over the news. So clever! So fun! That george! He’s just too much! Yet it was on Democracy Now on Link TV that I saw Steven Colbert at the annual press corps dinner do the most extraordinary thing I think I have ever seen – he was within a couple of yards of the president and from all that way he could rip him a new a-hole. At the same time he masterfully sliced and diced the obviously de-spined press corp. I can honestly say that I have never witnessed someone “sticking it to the man” so eloquently. There were times that it was obvious that most of the press didn’t know how to react, sitting in stunned silence,...
Sunday There is something truly horrible about our gastrointestinal system waging a mutiny. There are times that a little temper tantrum can be declared without much disruption to the day. I have been suffering from what really feels like food poisoning. Every fiber of my being is connected to my stomach making the act of breathing, blinking or feeling, the cause of extreme stomach convulsions. It goes beyond misery because you absolutely cannot engage in ANYTHING for more than a few minutes, maybe, just maybe, half an hour before you are back to your WC battle station. Eventually it just turns into some kind of cruel cosmic joke because there simply is nothing left in the stomach except its lining yet the urge to expel dominates. Next time I hear of some gastrointestinal virus running rampant in a refugee camp, I am so sending money and Imodium. I have noticed though, that this is the only way I seem to be able to justify taking it completely easy. I wrestled and negotiated with mysel...