Friday, November 14, 2008

brave little kitten

i know i am only the tenth zillion person to post about this on their blog today but i just had to post this video of this sweet little kitten who survived a horrific attack by teenagers who were kicking him around like a ball. can't even wrap my head around that; just reading the words hurts my heart. the video doesn't show the attack, just the cute little fuzz ball and the vet who did the surgery to save him. i literally looked at the link on the ccn site for like three minutes, trying to decide if i should watch it, and then i did a search and read someone's comments on a blog which indicated there was nothing more horrific (as if it were necessary) than the poor little creature after his surgery, which saved him at the expense of his leg.



sigh..........

and you know what? i don't even care what led these particular kids to do this, because by the time they're horrifically abusing animals like they did this one it's too late for them. they had some sort of fucked up things done to them, or witnessed by them, and now they have no empathy for other creatures and have embarked on a life of abusing others, human or not human. some of them will even grow up to be serial murderers of humans, which is why it's so important to treat animal abuse and cruelty like the crime that it is. find them and throw the book at them, contain them as best as can be done, because there's no way to save them. that i know of, anyway, and i'm by no means an expert on everything (even though my husband might think that i sometimes think i am!) perhaps i am being a bit too bleak, but it's hard to imagine how it's possible to rehabilitate anyone so callous and cruel that they would kick a kitten, never mind injure it so gravely that it loses its leg.

yet it's so very easy to admire the little kitten... curious and playful and looking to explore things. a terrible start i wouldn't wish on any creature, and he'll end up in a very good home with people who really love animals and will really love him. first thing when i get home (after feeding the cats their nummies - delays make herbie frantic), i am going home to pet and fuss over and be thankful for my furry little babies even more than usual.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Obama - Yes!!!!

YES!!!!
YES!!!!
YES!!!!

i completely stole that from an email from my brother, patrick, who lives just outside of amsterdam with his family. it completely sums up how i feel and if i'm going to capitalize anything on this little blog, the end of the reign of darkness we have fallen under qualifies more than anything else. whew!!!! seriously... i am so happy, so excited, so completely fucking RELIEVED!!!! i didn't know it was possible to be so relieved!!! about half way through obama's speech last night i started crying and just couldn't stop. 90% of it was sheer relief that, as gerald ford once said about completely different circumstances, our long national nightmare is finally over. i just didn't know how we could make it through another four years if mccain won and now i don't have to.

i am still kind of in shock. we have a black president - woo hoo!!!! this country will never be the same in ways that can only be great, wonderful, positive and thrilling! i never thought it would happen in my lifetime and i have never been happier to be proved wrong. i am so proud of this american experiment in a way i cannot even express, and i think of all the little kids who will grow up thinking that having a black president it totally normal, when everything in our history says otherwise. what an historic occasion, an historic paradigm shift. i love that these kids will think "why shouldn't the president be a black person? or a woman? or both?" it's just the first step towards finally starting to heal our country but what a first step!

drew and i were talking after he got home with the champagne - buying it beforehand was just too jinxy - while watching obama's speech and agreed that it felt so great to hear someone telling us we were going to have to sacrifice and work hard to restore our country, our world, instead of telling us to go shopping. what could be more crass, really, than telling a traumatized country to go hit the mall? but that's just what bush did. i distinctly remember reading how the president and first lady went to dinner at a mexican restaurant to let the country know things were "back to normal" when they were anything but and we were only just starting to tumble down the rabbit hole. i remember thinking "what the fuck do they mean back to normal?" it made my head hurt then and it still does now. i know that i am hungry for leadership that i can believe in, that restores hope to all of us, and i think obama can do it. as drew said last night, i am eating my words, even about the fisa vote (but man, he better fucking fix it pronto.) i think our country is so fucking starved for real leadership and is so worn out from the bullying, greed and neglect that bush tried to pass off as one and the same. i truly am more hopeful at this moment in history than any other... about my country, its founding ideals and principles which i truly and deeply cherish, and our place in the community of nations.

so say we all.

Monday, November 3, 2008

vote!!!!

this is it, folks. if you haven't voted early, get thee to the polls tomorrow and VOTE FOR OBAMA! i didn't think it was possible that there could be a more important, more nerve wracking election than 2004, but this is it. it's not just who is going to president, but which direction our country will take. our democracy is seriously imperiled and it seriously frightens me what could happen if obama doesn't win.

so go vote! as cesar chavez used to say, we're gonna pray a little and work a lot! let's do it!