On The Murder of Dr. Tiller

Standing in the foyer of his Reformed Lutheran Church, Dr. Tiller was murdered today (as his wife sang in the choir) with a gun by an alleged 51yo man who has been apprehended.

Dr. Tiller has been a target of pro-fetus groups around the nation for thirty-plus years, and was shot in both arms by a member of the Army of God (and be sure to check the associated people AND groups) some years back. His clinic has been repeatedly vandalized over the years and for three years he was surrounded by federal Marshalls for personal protection.

Army of God's statement on the murder today (and no, I will not link to their hate site):

A great day for the unborn children scheduled to be murdered by Babykilling Abortionist George Tiller.

George Tiller reaped what he sowed and now has been cast alive into everlasting torment and fire for the innocent blood he has shed.

Psalm 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

I pray the person who performed this deed is never known or apprehended.

Right wing anti-choice groups have repeatedly targeted Dr. Tiller over the years, and he has been the topic on O'Reilly and other non-news shows (30 sec vid of Dr. Tiller reciting the history of violence against him and his legal clinic):

*****

Now, regardless of how one feels about abortion, it is legal in this country and will likely remain so.

In 1969, when I was sixteen years old by a month and ten days, I was FORCED to have my child as abortion was illegal. Regardless of whether my child was the result of rape, incest or the stupid action of an ill-informed, unprepared teenager, I was still forced to have my child like thousands of other females my age, older and younger.

So, what did the pro-fetus folks have to say about Tiller's murder today? Well here is one outstanding comment from Roman Catholic Randall Terry:

"George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

A pretty horrid statement, but hardly as horrid as this statement from Randall Terry:

.."You better believe that I want to build a Christian nation," Terry said, "because the only option is a pagan nation. Not that the government can make someone a Cristian by decree. A Christian nation would be defined as 'We acknowledge God in our body politic, in our communities, that the God of the Bible is our God, and, we acknowledge that His law is supreme." snip "When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it." He added, "I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed."

Or perhaps this will strike your fancy:

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you... I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."

That's right, boys and girls, hate is the new right just like the old right.

Now, I don't want to cull Randall Terry for no reason as I do not want to target Roman Catholics at all. Roman Catholics, according to Gallup polling, support abortion rights at 40% while their non-Catholic counterparts support it at 41%. Likewise, Roman Catholics support stem cell research at 63% while their non-Catholic counterparts support it at 62%.

I am perfectly fine with Roman Catholics and everyone else believing what they will and acting that way as long as it does not amount to taking their beliefs and creating law that prohibits non-Catholics or non-believers from exercising their individual rights.

I even give Terry the right to his vitriolic hate speech, given the First Amendment, and I would support the ACLU in protecting his rights to speak hatefully. Much of the western world, obviously, does not protect this kind of speech and it is understandable why especially if and when it incites violence.

Randall Terry pushes his right to the very edge in threatening people. Nonetheless, he does not cross the line into advocating direct violence in these words, nor does he incite riots or violent civil disobedience.

UPDATE: Here is Randall Terry today, and listen to his words carefully... they are important (vid, 3 minutes):

Personally, I detest hate speech and everything that goes with it and I cannot tolerate Randall Terry for even a moment. I also hate guns. Nonetheless, Terry's speech is protected by the law of the land JUST like abortion is legal AND THE LAW OF THE LAND as are guns.

We cannot pick and choose our freedoms. They are broad and there for everyone. This is not only what the religious right and abortion opponents don't get, but often what liberals and progressives don't get as well.

Was Dr. Tiller's murderer a domestic terrorist? I don't know. I have no idea what motivated this man, what group or groups he belong(s)(ed) to, or what caused him to enter a church today, brutally gun down a doctor in cold blood and (allegedly) threaten a bystander then speed away in his sedan.

But I can say these things under the First Amendment:

1. ANYONE that supports Randall Terry is a loon and probably just as vicious as he is.
2. ANYONE that thinks we don't need better gun laws isn't paying attention.
3. ANYONE that believes the US should be a theocracy is off their rocker.
4. ANYONE that supports violence against another person or group is amoral.

LGBT News For The Day

Meet in the Middle Live Feed here. It takes a while to load and jumps or stalls every now or then, but hang in there... some great speakers.

As LGBT folks and their supporters march through Fresno, CA as this is being typed, kicking off the next battle for marriage equality in the state, New Hampshire is poised next week to make same gender marriage legal.

On May sixth of this year, the District of Columbia's City Council approved, 12-1, a measure which would recognize LGBT marriages from out of state. This has some breath taking implications which could force the hand of the US Congress and the President.

A Bill has been introduced to legalize LGBT marriage in New York.

Update: Here is a vid on New York's Governor Patterson on the topic. Hat tip to JeremiahFP at dKos:


Maryland is looking at the question of whether to recognize LGBT marriages from other states.

Update: Illinois votes on Civil Unions tomorrow, May 31, the last day of session.

Here is an NPR interactive map showing the disposition of LGBT "marriage" in each state with historical discussion on the issue for each state. Domestic partnerships/civil unions are called out separately.

My Thoughts About Prop 8

I was devastated by the news that Prop 8 was upheld by the CA Supreme Court. As IT has pointed out, some believe the decision not so incredulous as was believed at first, but still, we have three classes of people: Hets like me that can do what- ever they want inclu- ding marry a dozen times and di- vorce just as many; lgbt couples who are mar- ried (some 18K post March 2008 to midnight November 4, 2008); lgbt couples who cannot now marry.

The law being upheld means that in California, lgbt folks cannot marry but somehow are seen as still having equal rights. To me this is tomfoolery. Marriage isn't a nuance of words. It is a legal contract between two adults. It is a civil action.

Three states allow lgbt marriage; Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Others are very close to allowing lgbt marriage, and several are strongly on that path. Some 30 states have laws prohibiting it (state DOMA-like bills).

As a het, I cannot possibly under- stand to my core the experi- ence of lgbt folks who want to marry, but cannot, or the terrible fear that engulfed married lgbt couples prior to the California Supreme Court decision. Being the eternal optimist (a survival skill), I just had to believe the Ca Supremes would do what was right even though it was patently evident through the hearing before them, which I watched, that many members of the court bought Ken Starr's bizarre legal thinking which is the saddest part of all given what Starr enunciated: That sure, Californians can take away rights through the initiative process via an amendment to the California constitution. Apparently, the court didn't buy that the removal of civil liberties deserves the higher bar of legislative action to do so via a different instrument, a constitutional "revision".

In effect, about 41% of registered California voters exercised their tyrannical right to dispose of marriage equality of a smaller minority. It was a ghastly and shameful day.

The core of this issue is the understanding about secular rights versus theological opposition. One can choose to follow their faith personally, and I have absolutely NO problem with that. But in terms of our laws, we have no business imposing our religious beliefs on others who may or may not be of our individual religion, sect or denomination, let alone a person of faith to begin with.

The protests held on Tues- day should have been much larger than they were. This is NOT about lgbt issues alone. It is about the integrity of our constitution, particularly the 14th Amendment.

At the protest I attended, they asked the hets among the crowd that were supporting their lgbt brothers and sisters to raise their hands. There was a small smattering of us. Rather than feeling proud, it made me ashamed of those that really don't give one small damn about civil liberties or the framework of this country.

While the talking heads on TV blather over Newt Gingrich and his religious views and those likewise of Lou Dobbs, there is little basic discussion of what this precedent means: That through a curtly-worded legal initiative petition, we can rescind the rights of any group of people. Thus my signature line on dKos: Whose marriage do we get to vote on next?

My signature line is serious. We could limit marriage to only Baptists or, perhaps, the fastest growing church, Latter Day Saints. We could take away the right of single or lgbt adults to adopt or foster children. We could take away the right of apartment dwellers to own a dog. We could limit attendance at public schools to only white people (gee, that would be novel) and emergency room service to only those with insurance. We could fully outlaw divorce.

And each time, those unaffected could register to vote, and in turn exercise their tyrannical rights.

Ask yourself where this could stop.

As well, since the decision, I have worried over what the courts would deem more important than civil liberties which would require a constitutional revision instead of amendment via initiative. I can't think of a single thing short of California removing itself from the United States and taking our star and funds with us and that is just a guess.

So where ARE the people that believe so strongly in civil liberties such as members of the Libertarian party? Or is this just about what you can do with your land and limiting taxes?

And where was the democratic majority? Where were my friends and neighbors that voted in my precinct distinctly in opposition to Prop 8 (we had the highest no vote of any precinct in the county)? Are civil liberties by the masses so assumed that until a right of the majority is taken away no one will give a damn?

And where was my priest and those priests of other Episcopal churches in the county? Where were the friends/family of lgbt singles or couples or married couples? Is my county so conservative that we only relish our rights in the privacy of our own homes never to be seen (God forbid!) in public, marching with a sign and white ribbon pinned to our lapels?

The only thing I can lay at the feet of those that can't manage to get their fannies out to protect their friends, family, neighbors and the Constitution itself is that Americans are lazy. Indeed, that will be our undoing. Democracy, like relationships, require work.

If we are not willing to do the work then we will continue to get what we deserve: some cockeyed form of democracy and a discounted version of civil liberties as handed to us on Tuesday.

That may be acceptable to some, but it is not acceptable to this native Californian.

We Won't Back Down

HRC has produced this short video of people in solidarity with California on Prop 8.

Nicely done. Made me cry, actually.



And here's a link to IT's latest diary over at dKos.

Photo Journal of OC's Prop 8 Protest

Update: go here for IT's diary on dKos.

In order to minimize the suffering of my poor mouse which is going south, I refer you here.

I'll have more to say about this later, but I think you will enjoy the protest wherever you may be in the world.

And if you have delicate feelings about language... just ignore all the swearing... heh.

Update with cartoon (hat tip to JekyllnHyde at dKos) Click on cartoon to enlarge.

The Very Newest Line On LGBT Marriage: Didn't Count This As Humor, But Should Have

I have read, watched and heard some awfully absurd things about lgbt marriage and why it should not be approved. But this takes the cake! I have to say it certainly made my giggle reflex come to life.

Just about every thought, coming from this thrice divorced writer, is patently bizarre. Try this on for size:

...It is that marriage is concerned above all with female sexuality. The very existence of kinship depends on the protection of females from rape, degradation, and concubinage. This is why marriage between men and women has been necessary in virtually every society ever known. Marriage, whatever its particular manifestation in a particular culture or epoch, is essentially about who may and who may not have sexual access to a woman when she becomes an adult, and is also about how her adulthood--and sexual accessibility--is defined.

Good Lord. Put me on a dinosaur and carry me away, would you?

So now, in 2009, we surrender women to the past in the necessary care of only a man? What about herself? What about law? What about family and friends?

This... this clearly absurd idea is the reason to be against gay marriage?

We're winning as evidenced by such shoddy, if humorous, logic. Next thing you know, the reason to stop same gender marriage is that certain complexions don't look good against off-white!

I guess when you are desperate, you throw whatever the spaghetti machine spits out at the wall to see if it sticks. It ain't stickin'.

Oh Noes! Socialism!

Here in the US, we don't like political isms and throw them about like baseballs as if Americans have ANY clue what any of them really are given at least one of them (communism) was not allowed to be taught in school. We just needed to follow the bouncing ball and hate communism, no matter what it was, which, of course, we all did. Some of us followed so carefully and faithfully we ended up in coffins via Vietnam which, of course, is now a fully democratic country; the spitting image of the US, just like Iraq.

1. For example, if one supports welfare for children, one supports socialism (bad). If one supports NAFTA, that's free trade economics (good) and anti-unionism, also good. We simply cannot have unions for they are an ism that doesn't end in ism and was a terrible mistake brought about, in theory, by Catholicism. In some countries, they meet: NAFTA and economics blend into something called child labor which results in capital profits which is good but which is opposed by evil humanitarianism which would not allow children to be labor slaves, thus humanitarianism is bad.

2. Taxation is always, always bad and so bad it doesn't even meet the ism test. Taxation leads to pools of money that are then redistributed to do all kinds of bad things. Thus, taxation is the root of socialism. A few examples of socialism through the more evil taxation are:

• Roads and bridges. Our folks and/or grandparents walked always uphill through five feet of snow everywhere they went. We should too. No need for roads, let alone evil bridges that connect one place to another. We'll have none of that! You want a road? Pay for its building and maintenance yourself!
  
• Schools, colleges and universities. Only some people need schools. Most can sign their X on the line by someone in the family freely showing them how to do it. As for colleges and universities, that is for the intellectual elites (elitism is never, ever good) and normal people don't need an education. Education is socialism. Elites should be killed off. They are a clear threat to America as GOP candidates such as the American patriot Sarah Palin have so carefully, forcefully and originally noted.
  
• Fire departments and police departments are a form of socialism and should be stopped immediately. In this case, evil taxation has supported this collective which we don't need and worse, these institutions are unionism, too. In the case of fire, get a bucket and a hose. In the case of police, just join the NRA and give everyone guns and ammo and that should do the trick. If you cannot defend yourself, you don't deserve to live or keep your private property.
  
• Insurance. Insurance is an exception to the rule. In this case, because it is not based on taxation, and is a voluntary pool of funds designed to make a few CEOs really, really rich and sometimes cover those pooling their moneys when they file a claim, it is a form of ism that because it is not government controlled is always good. Currently, there are moves to stop the enriching of CEOs by the horrific suggestion that people might be able to get something called health care (this is an obscure service/thing that, simply, means if you need medical help you can see an actual doctor instead of dying in the waiting room of the local privately owned emergency hospital) from an elite that stupidly went to a socialism supported college or university school to learn how to help people who are sick [another form of humanitarianism but with the caveat that they are in business for themselves (at least for now)]. In the case of so-called health care, companies are actually expected to sometimes give up the moneys they are paid so they can pay for someone to get health care. This is never good, as they know, and they often will not pay, as well they should not. There are also other forms of insurance for things like cars and jewelry and such. All these things are owned only by elites and who cares about them as they should just all be killed letting the companies keep the money. One particularly egregious form of insurance is for those who fall off someone's 12-story building while welding a beam because they were too stupid not to or someone who falls off a roof while fixing a chimney or who slips in a puddle of water and breaks their back. In all cases, these people are idiots who should never see a penny of funds from the insurance companies. And these companies agree. They have good elitists (the capitalist kinds) to make sure that not a penny of money ever goes to the purely stupid so the capitalist CEOs can build bigger houses and fly in the skies in things called magical airplanes. Bottom line: insurance good. Insurance payments bad. Any attempt by our horrible government to take away moneys from these wonderful insurance companies should be a clarion call to the NRA members to fight against their own best interests. Don't you just hate it when someone has their own best interest in mind? I know I do.

3. Our government has been, and remains, a nanny state. For some stupid reason, the government gets involved with water and air and food. They seem to believe that they have some kind of knowledge that really helps. So here is my advice:

• Water. Since the earth was created, about five thousand years ago, Adam and Eve and all of our other relatives drank it. So go ahead, drink it. Who needs the government to tell us when or what we can drink. Stupid fools!
• Air: If you are reading this, you are breathing and are not dead. We don't need some stupid federal agency filled with socialism educated elites to make ridiculous rules on what we can breathe. We all breathe air. Nuff said.
• Food: Sniff it. If you don't like the smell, don't eat it. It's don't ask don't tell. One word of advise: Stay away from anything red including apples and berries. We know how that goes. Figs might not be great either, but pray and sniff before making a decision.

4. Endangered schpecies and the like. This is really a threat to America and just gives jobs to socialism educated elites and WE pay for this through the evil taxation.

• Schpecies don't matter. All that matters is humans and given were given the right to kill anything we want by God, we should. In fact, we must.
• My gun is endangered. I want it protected and so does the NRA! My friends, buy ammo and lots of it. Stock up.
• Bowling alleys are endangered. We really need a national discussion on this issue, seriously. If, as Newt Gingrich suggests, a couple of bombs can knock out all the electricity in the US, then we have to have volunteers to set the pins and return the balls. Let's get together and figure out how to keep it going!

5. National Security. Despite all the people that made us give up almost all of our nuclear bombs, we still have a few left, thank God. We need a national convention (perhaps we can walk to someplace in the central US?) to figure out where to drop them.

This common sense stuff has been brought to you by republicans throughout the United States (except Texas because these folks are planning to leave after they take all the money they can from the federal government to rebuild their state house that burned down. God Bless Rick Perry and God Bless Texas.).

If you like these thoughts, please contact the head of the Republican Party (whoever that is next week) and let them know. If you walk to Washington DC, you can find someone.

Some Thoughts for Tuesday

Hat tip to slowbutsure over at dKos (who admittedly stole it from KentuckyKat).

Given tomorrow is Sunday, I thought this might be a good time to reflect on Tuesday from a Biblical perspective. Being a bit lazy about it, myself, I thought this might do the trick. Enjoy. This is one of my VERY favorite clips:



Oh... and while I'm at it, you really need to read this. Here is a lovely excerpt from the piece which speaks to the new GOP Judiciary Counsel William Smith recently installed by Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions a notorious homophobe and bigot who thinks that an out lgbt "would be a concern" if nominated to take a seat on The Supreme Court.

Smith was responding to a speech given by a McCain consultant and former Bush aide Steve Schmidt to the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican lobbying group. In his post, Smith linked same sex marriage to child rape, bestiality and pedophilia.

Sort of reminds me of Rick Warren, our pal hanging with the schizmos of late.

You may need to watch the vid again after reading this last part.

GOP Leader: Gay Marriage Bad For Small Biz and More!

So as if it wasn't bad enough that the majority of Christian churches feel the need to control the constitutional rights of lgbt folks who would like to marry, the GOP has recently turned it into an economic issue.

There cannot be anything more insidious than this.

But watch Keith Olbermann tear the crap out of this argument:



Let me just say that as a single person, I have not ONCE been employed by a small business that insured even me. Not once. And if insuring families is the issue, then I would think the answer would be either 1) not to hire married hets because obviously, they suck up the most money, or 2) don't hire anyone married at all, or 3) don't hire anyone with kids, married or not, or....

You see where this goes.

And while we're at it, let's see what NOM has been up to after their last inane "Gathering Storm" add against lgbt marriage.

Now, they seem to be thinking that same gender marriage shouldn't be acceptable because it confuses children. Like purple dinosaurs don't? Like divorce doesn't? Like hunger and poverty don't?

What a pile of absolute crap.



Now, this child, Ethan, who is a Colorado sixth grader, organized an equal marriage rights rally might be the one to debate Michael Steele. Kudos to Ethan... baby, you are the future!

International Nutro Cat Food Recall... Urgent

*****Please crosspost this by link or copy text to your site or e-mail list*****

Here is the story, and the foods, by type/brand/size are listed at the bottom. This is very important. If you feed ANY nutro dry cat food product, please check this information with what you have, then print out and take the list with you when you repurchase.

As a suggestion... move your cats to Wellness dry or preferably Wellness wet (in both cases, move AWAY from a fish diet).

*****

Recall -- Firm Press Release
FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Nutro Products Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Dry Cat Food Products
Contact:
Monica Barrett
Nutro Products, Inc.
(615) 628-5387
monica.barrett@ effem.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Franklin, Tennessee (May 21, 2009) -- Today, Nutro Products announced a voluntary recall of select varieties of NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods with “Best If Used By Dates” between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010. The cat food is being voluntarily recalled in the United States and ten additional countries. This recall is due to incorrect levels of zinc and potassium in our finished product resulting from a production error by a US-based premix supplier.

Two mineral premixes were affected. One premix contained excessive levels of zinc and under-supplemented potassium. The second premix under-supplemented potassium. Both zinc and potassium are essential nutrients for cats and are added as nutritional supplements to NUTRO® dry cat food.

This issue was identified during an audit of our documentation from the supplier. An extensive review confirmed that only these two premixes were affected. This recall does not affect any NUTRO® dog food products, wet dog or cat food, or dog and cat treats.

Affected product was distributed to retail customers in all 50 states, as well as to customers in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Israel. We are working with all of our distributors and retail customers, in both the US and internationally, to ensure that the recalled products are not on store shelves. These products should not be sold or distributed further.

Consumers who have purchased affected product should immediately discontinue feeding the product to their cats, and switch to another product with a balanced nutritional profile. While we have received no consumer complaints related to this issue, cat owners should monitor their cat for symptoms, including a reduction in appetite or refusal of food, weight loss, vomiting or diarrhea. If your cat is experiencing health issues or is pregnant, please contact your veterinarian.

Consumers who have purchased product affected by this voluntary recall should return it to their retailer for a full refund or exchange for another NUTRO® dry cat food product. Cat owners who have questions about the recall should call 1-800-833-5330 between the hours 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM CST, or visit www.nutroproducts. com.

Recalled Pet Food

The varieties of NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods listed below with “Best If Used By Dates” between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010 are affected by this voluntary recall.

Nutro Products Recall List – Dry Cat Foods

U.S. Product Name
Bag Size
UPC

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Kitten Food
4 lbs
0 79105 20607 5

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Kitten Food
8 lbs.
0 79105 20608 2

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Kitten Food (Bonus Bag)
9.2 lbs.
0 79105 20695 2

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Kitten Food
20 lbs
0 79105 20609 9

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Kitten Food (Sample Bag)
1.5 oz
none

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult
4 lbs
0 79105 20610 5

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult
8 lbs.
0 79105 20611 2

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult (Bonus Bag)
9.2 lbs
0 79105 20694 5

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult
20 lbs
0 79105 20612 9

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult (Sample Bag)
1.5 oz
none

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult Oceanfish Flavor
4 lbs
0 79105 20622 8

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult Oceanfish Flavor
8 lbs
0 79105 20623 5

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult Oceanfish Flavor (Bonus Bag)
9.2 lbs.
0 79105 20698 3

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Adult Oceanfish Flavor
20 lbs
0 79105 20624 2





NUTRO® MAX® Cat Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
3 lbs
0 79105 10228 5

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
6 lbs
0 79105 10229 2

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
16 lbs
0 79105 10230 8

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor (Sample Bag)
1.5 oz
none

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
3 lbs
0 79105 10243 8

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
6 lbs
0 79105 10244 5

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor
16 lbs
0 79105 10245 2

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Roasted Chicken Flavor (Sample Bag)
1.5 oz
none

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Salmon Flavor
3 lbs
0 79105 10246 9

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Salmon Flavor
6 lbs
0 79105 10247 6

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Adult Salmon Flavor
16 lbs
0 79105 10248 3

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Weight Control
3 lbs
0 79105 10249 0

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Weight Control
6 lbs
0 79105 10250 6

NUTRO® MAX® Cat Indoor Weight Control
16 lbs
0 79105 10251 3

Off She Goes!

Today was a wonderful day for our rescue cat Buttercup.

After a two-day stay at our vet to get a major looksie, have a dental and some x-rays, Buttercup left in the arms of her new mom, a movie industry agent!

What a lucky, lucky cat. She not only has a new mom, but a cat nutritionist and one of the best vets around to take positively wonderful care of her.

We are thrilled!

With Two You Get... Eggroll?

Believe it or not, we are STILL dealing with the cats from the 15 February foreclosure/hoarder situation in Los Angeles. Two of the three ferals were trapped and a wonderful woman in so. Orange County has taken them to see what she can do with them (just how tame (or not!) they really are.

Well... one, a female, was inobviously preggers, and so now instead of two adults, we have two adults and three kittens.

She sent me some photos today, and when I was lightening them up to post... imagine my surprise... check this out:

Photo 1 as it came in.





Photo after light- ening.





And what is mommy cat saying, exactly? Well, her pupils are saying she is afraid (and look how she is holding her whiskers... about 45 degrees back... meaning half way to tear your face off:).

Typical cat! Hide n pounce:)

My New Old Job

Some things never change, but do, but not quite. Or something like that.

Out of the blue, and in alignment with my prayers for more work, I got a call from a dog rescue which I used to run a kennel for. It was a disaster when I started--the kennel that is. It took me almost three months of very intense work to spit shine that baby into something to be really proud of... rain and shine, fires and drought. The dogs were fed and exercised properly, the place was spit-shined, the owner was happy as a clam and I didn't have to deal with stupid humans who often have very weird ideas about dogs and what they like or need.

Despite eight years of college (and a whole lot of additional classes of interest), I chose not to go into my field of education as I couldn't square my environmental leanings to the industry. Later, recruited by the community to work on land use (read development), my science background helped me to parse the truth from the bullshit (more bull than truth in these things) in environmental impact reports (EIRs). If you have ever read one, you probably thought all was okay. Trust me... it's NEVER okay. Never.

I am probably one of the best educated shit scrubbers in the biz. Well, maybe not. I do have a friend that left a law practice to do the same. Shit and law have a lot more connection than geology/biology and dogs and cats unless you are in the field of animal testing or vivisection and if you are, I curse you.

Anyway... so I get the help call (read SOS) and now I work, again, for a woman that somehow just doesn't seem to attract people that have a clue as to how to run a kennel. But this time, the dynamics are VERY different and extremely challenging. Just my cup of Joe.

Cut to the chase...

I am now working 14 hour days so if I am absent a bit, please forgive me. The really cool part is now, JUST WHEN NEEDED, I will have the money to defend a piece of property in court that I have been working on for almost 25 years... a little less than half my life. This land is incredibly important to save not only for the plant/animal particulars (including endangered species), but for connectivity to already acquired lands which is important to large mammals.

So... sore and tired as I am, I am thrilled, exhilarated and challenged.

Thanks Be To God... and God, I really mean that.

Domino and the Woman With Faith!

"I have faith," she said.

This is an amazing video about a Laguna Beach, California woman helping a woman from Phoenix, Arizona who had lost her dog in San Diego three weeks prior. Just an amazing and heart warming story.

Watch the woman of faith find the lost dog... hankey alert, BTW...

OMG! Great Stand Up By Pres. Obama... VERY Funny

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Prayers for Paws (And Me, Too!)

I have three or four cats that may be homed in the next week or so... plus two that are leaving a foster this weekend.

First, the kitties that need prayers for a good home:

Buttercup.

This little girl so badly needs her own home. She is a singleton and finds it difficult and stressful here with other cats. I have a potential adopter up in the Ventura area interested and so far... so good. Pray that Buttercup finds the perfect home and that I make a good and wise decision for her. Poor kitty was abandoned, then taken in by another who had to place her... AGAIN. So this will be her third home, not including her being in rescue. This is real hard on a cat.


Whaler

This once obese seal point Sia- mese boy is now trotting through the house so happy with his new trim body! This is a wonderful cat who really needs a super special home that will continue to care properly for him and keep him slim and trim. He does well with others, and the adopters are happy to move their kitty to his food (Wellness chicken, a very premium wet food). It is really important I make the right decision for Whaler! He was found on a street corner near a park just crying his eyes out, taken to the shelter, then adopted, then given up (he wouldn't eat... was sick), then here. All better now after nine months!

Snowflake, Beauty and Elvis

We have a great home for one of the above cats.

Snowflake, the pure white, is an awesome, mellow cat that does well with everyone and does fine with dogs. This cat came from a hoarder who was busted and she was in less than stellar shape at the time, but is just perfect now. Snowflake has been here two years, and we really don't know WHY other than the fact that pure black and pure white cats are the hardest to place. Personally, I'm pulling for Snowflake who likes to sleep atop the piano where I keep my little St. Francis and angel statues, Bibles, hymnal etc. Smart kitty.

Beauty, the grey and white do- mestic short- hair, is a lovely, playful and ex- tremely gentle cat. She was given up with another cat we have, Bella, when a child in the family was said to have developed allergies. She was loved and well cared for and now we just have to find the perfect home. Great cat, and quite beautiful.

Elvis, the show- shoe Sia- mese mix, is a gor- geous and goofy love bug and super affectionate. He is not the most coordinated cat I have ever come across (!) but his temperament is just superior! Elvis is quite beautiful, as well. This is an all around funny and wonderful cat. Elvis was given up due to allergies.

Some Things to Chuckle At

You know you wanna (1:11)!



Paired with this (1:41):

Noodle, Happy Fifth Week Birthday! Welcome Fioria!

Noodle, the enormous kitty, turns five weeks old today! AND, my wonderful foster found him a kitten sister about his age (but smaller... gosh how could ANY kitten be as huge as this monster?!) so he can learn to do kitten things in order to become a better CAT. Single kittens don't tend to be very well adjusted, and, wisely, she is tossing that option!

Mom was VERY upset at first, refusing to accept Fioria and swatting everything in sight, but after 24 hours, she was nursing both Noodle and his new sister both of which are weaning. Mom Ragu is a great mom and extremely protective.

So... also welcome Fioria!

Here we go!

First, here is our boy, Noodle! Note his eyes have lost almost all their "baby" blue color, and he is going to have gorgeous green eyes! You can age kittens about this age by their teeth and eye color.

Meet Fioria (on the left)! WAAAAAAAAY to cute, these two, who my foster color coordinated. Having a kitten attack yet?

Here they are in repose, Noodle in the front, Fioria rear.

And here are Fioria and Noodle doing exactly what they should be doing! Being able to save another kitten from death is a really nice thing. The kill rate at shelters right now is sky high.

And, of course, every- one has to eat... Ragu nursing Noodle and her new adopted daughter, Fioria.

If It Be Your Will

Of the many, many Leonard Cohen songs that move me, If It Be Your Will is right at the top of the list:

"If It Be Your Will"

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

From the 2007 tribute to Leonard Cohen, who recently played in Los Angeles to a packed audience (if you never have seen him perform, you really must), here is Antony covering this gorgeous piece--more a prayer according to Cohen--in his understated way:



I was so blown away the first time I saw this I sat literally mouth open, near paralyzed just in the absolute beauty of this song... which Cohen said (specifically beauty) was the point of this song.

Here is Cohen singing this absolutely beautiful and somewhat haunting tune:



Amen, I say. Amen.

Newt Rediscovering the Religious Right?

A while back, I made the observation that Newt Gingrich was courting the religious right and despite his claim that he would decide "later" whether he would run for president in 2012, Newt sure seemed to be doing so.

As time passes, we see more and more evidence that Newt is not only courting the religious right, but perhaps attempting to herd them into a possible following.

*****

This June, Newt will be one of the religious right's special guests at a Pastor's Policy Briefing hosted by The Family Foundation, Pastors for Family Values and the Virginia Renewal Project. If you don't know the groups, you probably don't want to. If you do, Google is your friend.

The Title of the conference? Rediscovering God in America. It is not coincidental that Newt wrote a book by this title in 2006, and has produced a DVD by the same name (see trailer here).

And let's see, recognize any of these other religious right/political right wing names who are also speakers?

• Historian David Barton (and here from 2005), self-taught historian oft considered a historical revisionist (probably the kindest of the charges), darling of the Christian evangelical wing and GOP (especially in Texas). Here's RightWingWatch on Barton.
  

• Mike Huckabee, former AK Governor and 12-year Baptist preacher who came in second in the 2008 GOP primaries. In a speech 2008 speech given in Michigan, Huckabee supported amending the US Constitution to reflect God's Standards. (Vid. here, beginning moments of video.) It is fairly clear that Huckabee has his sights on 2012.
  

• Bob McEwen, former GOP congressman from southern Ohio, former house ally of Newt, and caught up in the 1992 banking scandal.

• Lt. Col. Oliver North of the famed Iran-Contra Affair of the 1980s.

• Lou Engle, co founder of "TheCall", a third-wave charismatic movement, and participant in the film 2007 film Jesus Camp, can be seen here (video, Engle in the first 27 seconds in San Diego just days befor the November 4, 2008 election specifically to support passage of California Prop 8); and here (vid. at 0:59, a trailer to a documentary about the movement); and here from CNN on post election Prop 8 protests, see Lou Engle at 2:35); and here where Engle and others speak to "The Call", including a short statement by Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, and offshoot of Lou Dobb's Focus on the Family. Perkins was a state representative in Louisiana 1996-2004 and was alleged to have done business with David Duke, KKK, in the mid-90s (see wiki for allegation and refutation). Perkins has some interesting things to say about the Christian right's current relationship with the GOP here (US News and World Report, 01 May 2009). Perkins, an attorney, graduated from Liberty University (see Dr. Jerry Falwell, Jr., below).
  

• Dr. Jerry Falwell Jr., son of televangelist Jerry Falwell and current Chancellor/President, Liberty University. Falwell supported Huckabee (above) in the GOP presidential primary.

• Dr. Mat Staver, Dean of Liberty University School of Law and founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. Defended the "Good News Clubs" in their rights to use public school grounds. See quote from Staver (page down about a third of the way) here.

• Dr. Laurence White. Here's as good a description as any: Dr. Laurence L. White is the Senior Pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas for more than 25 years. Pastor White is a regular speaker for national pro-life, pro-family organizations like James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family,” D. James Kennedy’s “Reclaiming America,” Beverly Lahaye’s “Concerned Women for America,” and Tony Perkins’ “Family Research Council.” ... Dr. White also serves on the National Advisory Board of the Family Research Council. He is currently the Chairman of the Niemoller Project and the Texas Restoration project. In 1997, Pastor White was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by Liberty University of Lynchburg, VA. in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the pro-life movement. ..

So, the question is, what is Newt, the spanking new Roman Catholic, doing suddenly hanging with a bunch of right wing evangelicals?

It seems pretty clear that he is trying to establish his creds with this bunch in advance of his 2012 run for president. The only way Newt stands a chance to win in 2012 is to have the blessing of this bunch in order to draw the evangelical vote.

Will it work? Who knows. She From the North is the darling of the populist and evangelical crowd, she herself being one, and it is hardly a coincidence that Gingrich has been downplaying (or should we say up-playing her lack of political experience and knowledge?) her readiness to run, though he has generally done this gently.

And even if Gingrich could manage to peel off evangelical support from another candidate, he most certainly cannot peel off support from evangelicals (and fundamentalists) who view Roman Catholicism as everything from apostate to the work of the devil and there are plenty of these folks out there [read here; here (a short video from Larry King Live with Albert Mohler, April 9, 2007); here (another short video from Larry King)].

These represent the rather "nice" differences. There are many that are far more harsh.

For many of you who read this site--many of us here tolerant of individual beliefs especially when they do not abandon secular civil rights for those who do not believe as we do--you can see the irony in all of this and it most certainly is not lost on those who believe that their religious views are the only correct or moral views and that laws must reflect their religious views. This, of course, is where some things come together, and some things fall apart.

During the fight on Prop 8, for instance, many leaders of various religious stripes, banded together to see Prop 8 pass and the literature and arguments were shared between them. They also band together on pro-fetus issues. They diverge on the issue of the death penalty and on many other topics.

So, I predict, Newt is in for a bumpy ride in the near future. And so are we. And, irony of ironies, so is God.