Mark and I have been together for more than 7 years. We have just adopted a baby girl who is the love of our lives. We live in a small town in the North East with our three dogs and one obnoxious cat who believes himself to be a dog. This blog is set up to express my views and my feelings on a day to day basis. I will write about things that make me happy, sad, and angry. Hope you enjoy and get outraged a little.
Shepard Fairey, the graphic designer and illustrator who created the iconic images for Obama's campaign, has turned his focus to the current fight for equality in the gay and lesbian community, designing a poster intended specifically for use at this weekend's rallies in California and elsewhere. The image is inspired by the art of a young man named Aaron Harvey. Thanks to the donations of two print sources, posters will be donated for the rally this Saturday at City Hall, which is part of the larger nationwide action called Join the Impact. More info will be forthcoming later today.
I was on a blog site called 23/6 reading something about Bush (nothing good mind you) and I happened to notice this ad from Google. Not only did this person lose 12 Lbs in two weeks, she went from black to white (pasty white at that). So remember people when you see ads, they are there to make money - from you!
This video has been out for a while, but I finally watched it today. Olbermann lays it all out plain and simple and says something that I have said form many years - With so much hate in the world, how is loving the person that I do so wrong?
And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?
With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
With the last two post being filled with so much hate, I give you...
This ain't comin from no prophet, Just an ordinary man, When I close my eyes I see, The way this world shall be, When we all walk hand in hand,
When the last child cries for a crust of bread, When the last man dies for just words that he said, When there's shelter over the poorest head, We shall be free,
When the last thing we notice is the color of skin, And the first thing we look for is the beauty within, When the skies and the oceans are clean again, Then we shall be free,
We shall be free, We shall be free, So stand straight, Walk proud, 'Cause we shall be free,
When we're free to love anyone we choose, When this worlds big enough for all different views, When we're all free to worship from our own kind of pew, Then we shall be free,
We shall be free, We shall be free, Have a little faith, Hold out, 'Cause we shall be free,
And when money talks for the very last time, And nobody walks a step behind, When there's only one race and that's mankind, Then we shall be free,
We shall be free, Listen to what I'm saying to you, We shall be free, Cause every night and day I pray it's true, Together, Forever, We shall be free,
We shall be free, We shall be free, Stand straight, Have a little faith, Walk proud, Hold out,
We shall be free, Listen to what I'm sayin' to you, We shall be free, Every night and day I pray it's true, Together, Forever, We shall be free,
Now I understand where the kids get their hatred. I am referring to the post below this one.
VAY (AP) - A sign erected by a northern Idaho landowner that advertises a "free public hanging" of President-elect Barack Obama and several other political figures is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service.
Bonner County Sheriff Elaine Savage said she and a Secret Service agent from Spokane, Wash., planned to take a firsthand look at the sign put up by Ken Germana.
"That's a political statement," Germana told the Bonner County Daily Bee. "They can call it whatever they want, a threat or whatever."
The handmade white cardboard sign posted to a tree has the words "FREE PUBLIC HANGING" written in large orange letters. A noose fashioned from a length of rope hangs down the middle of the sign.
The name of the Democratic Illinois senator is written in equally large letters near the bottom of the sign. In smaller letters are the names of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and civil rights activist and former presidential candidate Al Sharpton.
My God. It amazes me that in 2008 we have so much hatred in this country. These people are really beginning to sound like domestic terrorists. "According to a memo produced by the FBI's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center in 1994, domestic terrorism was defined as 'the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.'" (Wikipedia)
The FBI should be have this person in custody, but as we saw in the McCain rally's, the verbal threats against ACORN and Obama, that will never happen. How can the color of one's skin produce so much hatred in a country that is supposed to be so far advanced. What I see is a country that is still trying to grow up.
Where do kids get their ideas? They don't just pull them out of their ass. From what we saw in the McCain campaign, the hatred comes from the parents and their friends. Why is it that these people feel that wanting someone dead is better than the terrorist that we are fighting? These people are no better and to pass this hatred on to their kids just floors me.
REXBURG - Controversial words spoken by kids on a school bus have some Madison County parents concerned.
Matthew Whoolery and his wife aren't blaming the school district for what happened on the bus but they do think all parents need to be careful about what they say and teach their children.
Whoolery and his wife couldn't believe it when their second and third graders got off the bus last week and told them what other students were saying.
"They just hadn't heard anything like this before," said Whoolery. "They were chanting on the bus, 'Assassinate Obama. Assassinate Obama.' Then adding in a name sometimes of a classmate on the bus, 'Assassinate Obama and Kate.'"
Now I am a little surprised that Fox News actually defended Obama, but if they didn't they would have had major backlash. Also the journalist that stood up to Nadar is the same that journalist that stood up to "Joe the Plumber". Shepard Smith has become the one redeeming thing about Fox Snooze. Here is how Nadar (who barly made a mark in this election) started his interview:
(Obama's) choice, basically, is whether he's going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.
Smith, with a look of disgust, had only one response - "Really?" and then a long pause, "Ralph Nadar" another long pause, "What was that?". The rest is Nadar defending himself and his comments and Smith getting more and more disgusted. It's one for the books. Of course many people in the McCain Campaign will probably start to support this biggot.
At the end of the interview there was this exchange as well:
Smith: I just wonder, if in hindsight, you wished you used a phrase other than Uncle Tom?
It just amazes me that the McCain Campaign (or any campaign) had such power over the press. If this was a true "free press" all this would have been out during the campaign. Why would the press (or the people on the campaigns not in power) have the need to deceive the American people. Oh Yeah - POWER!! Some of what is in the video is below, but you have to watch the whole thing. It will make you glad that Obama won. Just as a little note - a possible Vice President didn't know who was in NAFTA. It tells you right there in the name - North American Free Trade Agreement. My GOD! We side-stepped a bullet on this one.
Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.
Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We're told by folks that she didn't know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We're told she didn't understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn't accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings......
Notwithstanding that there is to be an avalanche that will continue for many days now we're told of story upon story of the foibles of Sarah Palin.
She actually "thought Africa was a country, not a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country.
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California , Hawaii , Oregon , Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.
To sum up briefly: You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama . We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms. Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at Red state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you.
Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties. Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico .
No this is not a clip from the new Harry Potter movie. This is actually one of McCain's spokesman, Michael Goldfarb, who is still trying to make a connection between Obama and anti-Semite people.
But CNN's Rick Sanchez calls Goldfarb out for the hypocrisy of hyping a sinister connection between Obama and a guy that McCain funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to, and from there, Goldfarb goes right off the rails, refusing to answer Sanchez's questions with anything other than intimations. Repeatedly asked to name a second anti-Semite that Obama allegedly "pals around with," Goldfarb does nothing but issue hollow, Page Six-style intimations.
You have to watch this video to see what a complete incompetent fool this person is. If he has another name, I would want to know about it, but what I see is someone who is acting lilke a third grader and complaining that someone took his cookie. What a sad day that people can make acusations and then sit there with a little smirk on their faces and someone (probably the people that hate blacks) will belive this little piece of shit.
Since the market is crashing again today, I thought I would post something Pink Floyd sang almost 30 years ago. Read the lyrics and watch the video - couldn't be more true than today:
Money - by Pink Floyd
Money, get away. Get a good job with good pay and youre okay. Money, its a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash. New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think Ill buy me a football team.
Money, get back. Im all right jack keep your hands off of my stack. Money, its a hit. Dont give me that do goody good bullshit. Im in the high-fidelity first class traveling set And I think I need a lear jet.
Money, its a crime. Share it fairly but dont take a slice of my pie. Money, so they say Is the root of all evil today. But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that theyre Giving none away.
Huhuh! I was in the right! Yes, absolutely in the right! I certainly was in the right! You was definitely in the right. that geezer was cruising for a Bruising! Yeah! Why does anyone do anything? I dont know, I was really drunk at the time! I was just telling him, he couldnt get into number 2. he was asking Why he wasnt coming up on freely, after I was yelling and Screaming and telling him why he wasnt coming up on freely. It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out
Said Mullen: "It is time that religious believers began to recommend ... discouragements of homosexual practices after the style of warnings on cigarette packets. Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan 'SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH' and their chins with 'FELLATIO KILLS'."
The Evening Standard reports: "The poem begins: 'The Bishop of London is in a high huff, Because Dr Dudley has married a puff; And not just one puff - he's married another: Two priests, two puffs and either to other.' The ceremony, which took place in the summer, was roundly condemned by the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, as a breach of Church of England rules."
The Bishop of London called Mullen's marks "highly offensive" and gay rights group Stonewall UK is calling for Mullen's resignation.
If you have kids under the age of 6 years old, this is a must watch video.
From the video:
The problem with cough and cold preparation is two fold. One, they don’t work. We really have abundance scientific data now showing that these products do not reduce congestion and do not reduce cough in children who have colds. Number two; they pose risks particularly in children under two but even in older children. We have so much data now of serious side affects occurring when parents gives these products to young children.
The following video is from 2007 - and nothing has changed!!!
According to MSNBC, Rosie O'Donnell will be making a comeback to television with her own variety show. The show, called Rosie’s Variety Show, will be airing on NBC the night before Thanksgiving. If people embrace this new adventure from Rosie NBC will more than likely take it to a full series.
The special will feature celebrity guests, musical acts, comedy skits and a prize give-away for the show’s in-studio and home audiences.
The show’s Nov. 26 airdate manages to trump Fox’s upcoming variety show starring Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, which is expected to debut in the winter or spring.
For NBC, the project’s live aspect is of particular interest, both as a way of distinguishing the product from competitors and to discourage viewers from recording the show for later viewing. NBC has aired “America’s Got Talent” results shows live this year and plans a quartet of “Saturday Night Live” primetime specials.
“This will reinvent the idea of what a variety show is for 2008,” NBC vice president alternative Craig Plestis said. “There’s very few performers willing to put themselves out there live. It makes it more TiVo-proof, and it’s something none of the cable networks can do.”
From Americablog: How's deregulation working these days? Wasn't industry supposed to self-regulate? You know it's bad when the Bush FDA gets off its butt and actually says something that alerts consumers to a problem.
A chemical blamed for sickening infants in China has been found in candy on American shelves.
Connecticut consumer protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said Wednesday that tests on White Rabbit Creamy Candy found melamine.
The candy has been found in stores in Connecticut. It was imported from China and sold primarily at Asian markets.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended last week that consumers not eat White Rabbit candy and that retailers remove it. Queensway Foods Company Inc. of California distributed the candy and says it is recalling it.
Melamine is used in plastics manufacturing and has been associated with contaminated infant formula and other Chinese products containing milk protein.
Not only is candy potentially something to make you sick, now pediatricians are requesting that the FDA recalls child's cold medicine.
Pediatricians are urging the Food and Drug Administration, which scheduled a public hearing Thursday on the issue, to demand a recall of the medicines for children younger than 6.
"Parents should know that there is less evidence than ever to support the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner. "There is nothing that is holding the FDA back from asking for a voluntary recall now of products marketed to kids under 6."
Of course this will never happen since parents spend more than $286 million on this type of medicine.
It turns out that when the FDA set standards for cough and cold medicines some 30 years ago, no separate studies were done for kids.
Cough and cold medicines send about 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year with symptoms ranging from hives and drowsiness to unsteady walking. Low doses of a medicine are not likely to cause a problem; the main risk comes from unintentional overdoses.
The same ingredients usually are found in different products. For example, giving a child a cough syrup and a decongestant could inadvertently lead to an overdose.
How scary is that. Read the rest of the story here
Update: The FDA has REJECTED the request for a ban on child's cold medicine. FDA thinks people are stupid enough to give adult medicine to kids (which do not work either - see video below). Continuing story here.
"I think there's a really good chance that Sarah Palin could be President, and I think that's a really scary thing...cause I don't know anything about her. It's like a really bad Disney movie, 'The Hockey Mom.' Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska, and she's president. She's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's absurd."
College humor decided to make that really bad Disney movie a reality.
This last Saturday was one of the best days that we have had in a long time. Mark, Mikayla, and I decided that we needed some time away from our "normal" life (read: school, canning, garden), so we took up an offer from our neighbors to go apple picking. The place we went was called Douglas Orchards and is located in Shoreham, Vermont. Our neighbors have been going here for years and they love it.
The drive took about an hour and a half and was very pleasant. I got to talk with Nancy, which I don't get to do often. Jon and Nancy's son, Gabe, is four now and we talked about the different stages that the kids were going through. Mikayla is in one right now that I will touch on in another post. The only distress that I had was riding in the back of the van. I was reading a book to Gabe (which is not smart for me) and then we started to go around many curves (again not good). I started to get real nauseated and my head started to spin. I held it together and we arrived at the orchard.
The day was beautiful and the place was amazing. The trees were all full with perfect apples. I was in awe. As you can see from the pictures below, you couldn't find a tree that was not full of apples. At the end of the picture I included a video of the day as well.
While Wall Street is crashing, McCain tries to support his "Fat Cat" Carley Fiorina and her "Golden Parachute" from Hewlett Packard. She was FIRED in 2005 and still walked away with $40 million. This is the type of person that McCain says caused the Wall Street bust. Oh and many other employees of HP were fired and got nothing. Listen to McCain try to explain why she is different. What an ASS!
Following Bush's address last night, congressman Barney Franks told reporters: "I’m glad the president said what he said. It’s not that making the speech was going to help, but failure to make a speech was probably hurting. In America, if you don’t hear from the president, it’s not a crisis."
He then laid into the White House 'photo-op':
"All of a sudden, now that we’re on the verge of making a deal, John McCain drops himself in to make a deal. I really worry about this politicization of it. Frankly, we’re going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between the Democrats and Republicans on a bill, where I think we’re getting pretty close, and troop down to the White House for their photo-op, and then come back and get on to it. We’re trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign."
While looking for something on the Internet I came across a couple of articles titled "Ten Reasons Not To Hit Your Kids". There are only 10? The way I read this is here are the ten reasons not to hit your kids and later we will talk about the reasons why you should hit your kids. This is just ridiculous. And truthfully, would anyone that is hitting their kids really look for a sight to explain why hey should not hit them?
Dave said what the rest of the country is thinking, "What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
From Huffington Post:
"In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"
Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."
"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?"
"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
Update - Here is the video. Dave is Great and again says what the rest of the country is thinking. Gets good around the 2:30 mark.
Obama says that the debates are still on, as they should be. From Huffington Post;
Here is a PSA for No On Prop 8. The nice thing about this ad is that there are kids (in their teens and 20's) that talk about having gay parents. The interesting part is that these kids turned out just llike every other kid in America. They all have different quarks, but the one thing they had in common is parents who loved them.
"The HSLF board of directors—which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans—has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, regardless of party affiliation, to vote for them"
On May 3, 2008 President Bush signed a bill into law that dogfighting, cockfighting, and other forms of animal fighting. The law, known as Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, "provides felony penalties for interstate commerce, import and export related to animal fighting activities, including commerce in cockfighting weapons. It will make it much harder for criminals who engage in dogfighting and cockfighting to continue their operations. Each violation of the federal law may bring up to three years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine for perpetrators".
Here is a clip from Billy Boy's Fox Snooze show where he is debating the law with a lawyer - and he says she is wrong and doesn't understand what she is talking about. How arrogant is this dip shit and how can so many people consider him a journalist? To me he sits right alongside Jerry Springer.
The conversation deals with the hacking of Sarah Palin's email account. Billy wants the person who hacked the email to be prosecuted (as they should) as well as the website that posted the emails - two different people. According to the Supreme Court, Billy, there is something called the First Amendment and the person that posted the emails on their website falls under it. Near the end the attorney gives Billy a scenario. She said "what if someone obtained a document illegally that proved a massive conspiracy among the presidential candidates, and they leaked it to Fox News. And we knew it was stolen. You don't think we would put it on the air? You're darn right we would put it on the air."
Billy's response, "Oh, I'd have to see". Yes he would have to see. If it were a document that made McCain look bad, they would destroy it. If it made Obama look bad, it would be the story to end all stories. Again, why people. This man is a joke and an ass.
Jimmy Kimmel did an interview with Michael Phelps recently and they talked about Phelps' role as Dr. McSwimmy this season on Grey's Anatomy. Watch the sneak peak below - he is going to be good.
I wanted to start to compile some video that make me smile and put them on the site on Friday, but that never happened. So here at 11pm at night on Saturday are the video that I found. I will try to get more for next week and actually put them up on Friday - if Mikayla allows me to.
In April Madonna created a youtube video promoting her single, “Four Minutes” from her album “Hard Candy”. In the video she is vacuuming the set of the video. She jokingly complains that she has to do all the cleanup work herself “as usual”.
Well in Diva fashion, Bette Midler has done a parody of the video to promote her new album “Jackpot: The Best Bette,” which will be released on September 23. In the video (which she is on the set of her new movie “The Women”) Bette plays it as her character in the movie. I have both videos below as well as the trailer for the Women 2008 and some classic lines from the 1939 version.
Now I have always thought that the best way to make this play (movie) a classic is to have a bunch of gay men or drag queens play the parts. Since that never came to be, having some of the top gay icons in the movie is fine with me. Yes I do have the 1939 movie and have seen it many many times. Don't Judge!
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security. We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare. We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans. We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes. We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war. We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to rescue "no child left behind".
BUT...
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns. We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG. We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war.
When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, "GET A JOB!" But when one of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say? SURE, NO PROBLEM. Where's the checkbook?
"But what about the debt we're leaving on the backs of our childen and their future?" "Children? WHOSE Children? OUR children won't have to pay for this. YOUR children will."
The Republicans have had their hands in our pockets for well over 8 years. Now they are robbing us blind IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and smiling about it!!!! The Republicans have shown their true colors and now they expect us to vote them back into office?
What's next? Should we bend over and spread 'em? Oh, I'm sorry, but we've ALREADY DONE THAT!! SEVERAL TIMES!!!
Although the kittens in the picture are not the ones from the story - they are four weeks old - the same age as the ones killed at the shelter. To be able to do that has to take someone with a cold cold heart!
Wednesday September 10, 2008
Animal shelter workers are trying to figure out who killed 10 kittens - and why.
A parking lot sweeper found six dead kittens Thursday - the day after the animals were stolen from Springdale Animal Services. Five of the kittens were four weeks old and were taken from their mother, who was pining for them.
"We've been asking 'why' all day," said Teresa Johnson, the shelter's assistant manager. "Why?"
The six dead kittens were among 20 cats released from their cages during a break-in Wednesday, said Jill Hatfield, the superintendent of the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. Four other dead kittens were found at the Springdale shelter.
"They did terrible things," she said. "Some were thrown in dog pens inside the shelter. Luckily none of the dogs did anything."
The fate of the other 10 kittens wasn't known. It's possible they escaped.
Nothing was stolen in the break-in.
The Humane Society of the Ozarks is offering a $2,500 reward.
Police are investigating whether the break-in is related to one at the Fayetteville shelter last month. The night of Aug. 9, someone freed dogs and cats from their cages.
"They didn't harm any of the animals at our shelter, so we aren't sure if the two incidents are related," Hatfield said.
Animal cruelty is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of one year in jail. Arkansas is one of only five states in the country with animal cruelty laws that do not have felony provisions.
"We want these folks caught," Hatfield said.
If you have information on this case, please contact: Springdale Police Department (479 ) 750-4484
Update: The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $ 2, 500 reward for information in connection with the break-in at Springdale Animal Services that left 11 kittens dead and 10 more missing.
Someone entered through an unlocked window overnight Wednesday at 321 Randall Wobbe Road, opened all the cat cages and killed four kittens by throwing them against the ground, shelter officials said.
Seven kittens wearing shelter collars were found dead Thursday morning in The Home Depot parking lot at 675 E. Joyce Blvd. in Fayetteville.
Animal control was called out to a house in Madill after dead puppies and malnourished dogs were found in the backyard. Authorities say residents have already been warned about an excessive number of animals living in the home. KTEN's Hailee Holliday reports.
Over 15-dogs were either chained up or in pens in the backyard and 4-puppies were found dead.
Animal control and police were notified about the situation at the house on 3rd street.
The residents of the house were not home at the time.
Authorities say the dogs were extremely malnourished and having this many animals in the city is against the law.
They also claim more dogs were inside the house.
Animal Control Officer, Jeremy Proctor, says, "You're only allowed to have 3 dogs within city limits so these people have way too many. We're going to do an investigation and we're going to take the dogs outside the residence and do a further investigation to see what else needs to be done.'
There have been no charges so far on the owner of the dogs.
Animal control say they will pick up the dogs and have a veterinarian check them.
Authorities say if charged, the owner of the dogs could face animal cruelty charges.
This last weekend we made salsa. Actually this is the second time we made salsa. The first was the weekend prior when we went to Mark's mom's house to do our annual salsa fest. This actually was only the second year, but it will continue for many more. Mark's mother found the perfect salsa recipe. The problem with this recipe is that when one person does it, it takes almost four to five hours. It's an all day event.
Along with the salsa, we made tomato relish. This goes on almost anything - well OK anything. The reason it is so good - sugar.
The picture above is the salsa. Below are the recipes - enjoy:
Salsa (usually doubled)
10 cups peeled, cored, chopped red ripe tomatoes (approx 6 pounds) 5 cups seeded, chopped long green peppers (approx 2 pounds) 5 cups chopped onions (approx 1.5 pounds) 1 6oz can tomato paste 2.5 cups seeded, chopped hot peppers (approx 1 lb) 1.25 cups cider vinegar 3 cloves garlic 2 tbsp cilantro 3 tsp salt t tsp hot pepper sauce (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a lrge sauce pot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling bath. Yield: approx 12 pints.
Tomato Relish (usually doubled)
12 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced, about 4 pounds 4 large onions, peeled and sliced, about 1 1/2 pounds salt 6 red chili peppers 2 cups vinegar 2 1/4 cups brown sugar 1 tbsp curry powder 1 tbsp flour
Layer tomato and onion slices with salt in a large bowl. Cover bowl with a towel, let stand overnight.
Drain. Place tomatoes, onion, and chili peppers in a heavy kettle. Add 1 1/2 cups of the vinegar. Heat to boiling, boil 5 minutes. Mix sugar, curry powder, and flour in a bowl. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup vinegar to make a smooth paste. Stir paste into vegetables in a kettle. Cook, stirring often, 1 hour. Spoon into hot, sterilized jars and seal. Especially delicious on top of grilled hamburgers.
Mark sent this article to me this afternoon. It's from the Army Times. It's kinda of scary where our country is going. The article, "Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1", tells of how the 3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT is going to be redeployed here in America. Yes, that's right they are going to be here to "help people at home" and this may be a permanent part of the Army now. This may sound good, but lets look a little closer.
They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
So at the end of Hurricane season, near the election, and after many years of disasters already, the government has decided that they are now there for the average person. I don't think so. If you think that when this happens we are able to fight back - think again. Below is a video from Prison Planet that tells about Concentration Camps for Americans. We should all be afraid.
Now of course people are saying that this cannot happen in America. Maybe, maybe not, but why don't we all unplug from the Television News that only wants to give you the stories that would play on Jerry Springer and do some research. Look at America since Bush took office and notice a change. Read other people's information. The information that is out there cannot be given to you in a two minute story surrounded by pharmaceutical ads. Unplug from the MSM and notice that we are in a world of hurt here that is only going to get worse.
This is the best god worship video I have seen. The three in the video are singing praise to god and the Renewed Mind Is The Key. Now I had to watch it all the way through and if I didn't I would have missed the wonderful "white-boy" popping and moon-walking that starts around the 2:00 minute mark. The song will stick with you all day. Its just wonderful!!
I also love the verse: "We've got all our potential power that god could ever give. Now we stand up on our legal rights and boldly make them live." This comes from a blog I read: Famous Like Me
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A family's two pit bulls burst into the house from the backyard to attack a 4-month girl, mauling her to death even as her grandmother tried to escape with the baby into another room, police said.
The grandmother, who was baby-sitting at the time of the attack Friday, was hospitalized Saturday with non-life-threatening injuries. (Rest of story)
I am not sure that I could ever recover from something like this. This is such a tragic story. The history of the Pitbull:
Dog fighting, which could be carried out under clandestine measures, blossomed. Since Bulldogs proved too ponderous and uninterested in dog fighting, the Bulldogs were crossed with English White and Black and Tan Terriers. They were also bred to be intelligent and level-headed during fights and remain non-aggressive toward their handlers. Part of the standard for organized dog-fighting required that the match referee who is unacquainted with the dog be able to enter the ring, pick up a dog while it was engaged in a fight, and get the respective owner to carry it out of the ring without being bitten. Dogs that bit the referee were culled.
As a result, Victorian fighting dogs (Staffordshire Bull Terriers and, though less commonly used as fighters, English Bull Terriers) generally had stable temperaments and were commonly kept in the home by the gambling men who owned them. (wikepedia)
Here are some statistics from 2007 that gives us more insight on the breed:
Information about 2007 dog attack fatalities was gathered through media accounts that were available at the time of the attack or found through internet archives, including Google News Archive, The Internet Archive and NewspaperArchive.com.
35 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2007. Pit bull type dogs were responsible for 60%. Pit bulls make up approximately 2-9% of the US dog population.
The combination of pit bulls (21), rottweilers (4) and American bulldogs (3) accounted for 80% of all fatal attacks.
51% of the attacks occurred to children (11 years and under) and 49% occurred to adults (21 years and older). Of the adults, 76% occurred to ages 55 and older.
46% of fatal attacks in 2007 involved multiple dogs; 23% involved chained dogs.
71% of the attacks occurred on owner property and 29% off owner property. Of the off-property attacks, 70% (7) were attributed to pit bulls.
60% of the victims were female; 40% of the victims were male. Of the female victims, nearly half (10) were 55 years and older.
The state of Texas had the most fatalities (7). Of these fatalities, 86% (6) were attributed to pit bulls.
In 2007, two fatalities involved dogs from two different breeds, thus producing a "death credit" total of 37, rather than 35. Four dog breeds each contributed to one death and included a: mastiff-mix, doberman, Siberian husky and wolf-hybrid. (Dogbite.org)
Waking up this morning started the day off not in the best frame of mind. Mikayla was a little off and everything that Mark and I did did not seem to change her mood. So to say the least I was a little off myself. Mark and I were talking about Wall Street and what is happening. Americablog had a letter from a reader of their telling the story of how this couple had started to put money away for their retirment and how they had built built it up over the years and in just a couple of days the market is back to where it was when Bush came into power. And it is still falling.
So after Mark headed off to work, I started to look at the headlines (thise in the main street media as well as elsewhere - you know the place that the MSM doesn't want to go until people demand they report it) and here is what I found:
The Bank of Canada joined the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks in providing extra cash for banks to calm financial markets.
The central bank of Canada agreed with the U.S. bank on a swap facility to pump $10 billion into Canadian money markets. The swap, which expires in January, will give commercial banks in Canada access to more cash if needed.
Russian Military Analysts commenting on these reports state that though it is unlikely that the American President can suspend US elections solely on the basis of an Economic Emergency alone, it is entirely probable that he could do so should their Nation suffer another 9/11 type attack, and which they ‘cryptically’ observe could place as early as September 22nd as American Military Forces begin to conduct their World-Wide tests of their new nuclear alert system as they conduct another test of their so-called Star Wars Missile Defense System.
Faced with a surge in voter registrations leading up to Nov. 4, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines, equipment failures and confusion over polling procedures that could cost thousands the chance to cast a ballot.
The crush of voters will strain a system already in the midst of transformation, with jurisdictions introducing new machines and rules to avoid the catastrophe of the deadlocked 2000 election and the lingering controversy over the 2004 outcome. Even within the past few months, cities and counties have revamped their processes: Nine million voters, including many in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida and Colorado, will use equipment that has changed since March.
The financial crisis that began 13 months ago has entered a new, far more serious phase.
Lingering hopes that the damage could be contained to a handful of financial institutions that made bad bets on mortgages have evaporated. New fault lines are emerging beyond the original problem -- troubled subprime mortgages -- in areas like credit-default swaps, the credit insurance contracts sold by American International Group Inc. and others. There's also a growing sense of wariness about the health of trading partners.
It is one of the ironies of the subprime mortgage crisis that while millions of people stand to lose their homes because they can no longer afford to pay their mortgage, the people at the top of the financial institutions that wrote the loans or packaged the risky debt on Wall Street are still tucking themselves in at night, safe and sound inside some very ritzy real estate.
Now we have to think about this siuation that we are in. We have been under a Republican administration for 7.5 years. The House and Senate have been Republican run for the first 6 years. These people are not taking responsibility for the crisis that we are in. They want to blame, blame, blame. And then we have McCain, as the market was crumbling, stated that "fundamentals of our economy are strong". Then when the Powrs That Be in his campaign tell him that the market is crashing, he changes his tune.
With lies, foreign policy mistakes, connection to Bush, a running mate that has no concept of the world we live in, and now a lack of understanding the economy - how can people still think this person (campaign) are good for this country? It makes me worry.
I have not mentioned anything about baby number two just yet because, well, nothing has happened. Although we are active, we are just waiting to hear from the adoption agency. This could take anywhere from now or three years. Yes, three years. This is why we started the process this early. We are actually hoping that the baby will come sometime next spring. This way Mark and I are done with school and we will have a better mindset to go into something like two wild kids.
So then why am I writing about the next child when nothing has happened? Well nothing has from the adoption agency, but from Mark it has. First a little history. Mark has a heightened sense when it comes to many things. I still remember very vividly the day we were driving downtown Orlando (when we used to live there) and out of nowhere he said "do you know how they can bring us down. They can fly planes into building just like those". He said this as if he was having a conversation in his head with someone else (he does that often). He was pointing to two or three of the taller buildings in Orlando. I looked at him with surprise. The day was September 8, 2001. I thought nothing of it and then...
Then in July of 2006 after we started the process to adopt for the first time, he told me one morning that he had a dream that we were going to adopt an African-American baby girl. The adoption would happen in either March or April. Then a few weeks later he came down after waking up and told me that he had a dream with our daughter's name in it. Her name, of course, would be Mikayla. Now Mark is not one for thinking of names, but this name sounded right. Now we told everyone, including our agency, about the dream. They were all very shocked when the dream came true. Now think about this as well. The dream happened in July and nine months later we have a little baby girl.
Now a couple of days ago Mark came downstairs and told me that he had a dream of our second child. This child was (if I remember right) going to have a white birth father and and African-American birth mother. He got the feeling that this next child is going to be a little calmer than Miss Mikayla and will be a boy. The difference her is that with Mikayla Mark felt that Mikayla's spirit was talking with him. With our son, he said that it felt like someone else was guiding him in his dream.
So, if we go on the same assumption that Mikayla graced our lives, we should have a new baby boy sometime in May or June. Although Mark feels that the baby had already been conceived and we will be graced sometime in April or May. Lets see what happens. Oh and if it is a boy his name will be Zachary (unless we come up with a different name - but I like it).
Just recently Mikayla has started to do something that Mark and I could not figure out. We have been doing a little potty training (not much she is too young still), but nothing too in depth. We have been asking if she has to pee or has done so. We ask if she has pooped and she usually says yes when she did. She has not gotten the idea that she needs to tell us before she does it, but when she has we take it to the toilet and flush it. This, we hope, will associate the process with the place to do it.
But then one day we were walking through the bathroom (yes we have a walk through bathroom) and she ran to the toilet, lifted the seat, and grabbed her shirt and pulled it towards the water. We thought she was going to pull it into the water, but she only pulled it far enough to go over the rim. Then she closed the seat cover and flushed. You probably already know, but for Mark and I (we are slow in that way) we could not figure out what she was doing. This became an event that happened more than once a day. We figured that it was something that her little mind needed to process and only she knew what it was.
Then one day it hit me - she was copying her Daddy and Papa. She wanted to pee int he toilet like we did so she would walk up to the toilet, open the seat, and pull on her shirt since that was the only thing that she has. She was pretending to pee like us. Once we figured this out (again we are slow), we figured that she was ready to understand that she needs to sit while she used the potty (unless of curse she is trying to be Madonna). So from that point on we are making it a point that when she is around we are showing her what she needs to do when she used the toilet. We now tell her that she needs to sit when she pees and she turns around and tries to sit.
Below is a little movie of her trying to use her shirt to pee from.
From Towleroad:
