Democrats Need to Quit “Cowering in the Corner and Put out the Fire!”
Post Published: 04 March 2010Once in awhile you read something and say damn that takes the words right out of my mouth. So I am going to dedicate this to Mitchell Bard, a writer and film maker whose blog can be found at Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/attention-democrats-the-h_b_483868.htmls. His entry Attention Democrats: When the House Is on Fire, Don’t Cower, Grab a Hose is about the fire that is raging in the belly’s of American voters and how that fire is threatening to consume any progress the Democrats have made or hope to make in this political climate.
Bard talks about the impossibility of righting all the damage that has been done in the eight years of the Bush administration in 16 months and puts much of the blame Republican obstruction. But he doesn’t let the Democrats off the hook either. In words I wish were mine, he eloquently says it in a nut shell:
Democrats have to look in the mirror, too, and ask themselves if they have shown the courage and strength necessary to lead. They have to decide how they allowed a committed minority of 40 (and then 41) Republican senators to bully them out of coming together to pass legislation to start fixing some of the problems left to the country by eight years of Bush incompetence. Especially after the mandate they were handed in November 2008.
Voters are angry, and while it is illogical that people seem to be looking to break the gridlock in Washington by voting in Republicans who will, first and only, be concerned with perpetuating the gridlock in Washington, the anger is based on real concerns. Unemployment is high, and the government appears to be more concerned with the health of banks and health insurers than with the well-being of struggling average Americans. The American people voted for change in 2008, and you can understand if they feel like they’re not getting it…In short, the current state of affairs is what it is. The Democrats can’t go back in time, nor can they give a nationwide seminar to educate American citizens about the Jim Bunning- like obstructionism…(or the racism and ignorance of the Tea Party movement)
No, the Democrats have to decide what to do about it now. Or, to go back to my analogy, to figure out what kind of action to take now that the house is on fire… [a] fire [that] has made too many Democrats timid. They are either doingn nothing, or they’re pointing fingers at the malfeasance of the Republicans. Worse, many think that if they retreat and act more like Republicans, they will be rewarded by their constituents in November, as if campaigning as Republican Lite was ever a winning formula for Democrats. They are looking for an opportunity to vote against health care reform, as if their opponents won’t plaster the airwaves with ads touting their original yes vote.
Bard goes on to give the solution to put out the fire; passing bills like health care reform. Polls reveal that many Americans support much of the health care reform until we let the Republicans demonize it. The writer goes on to say that even if the Republicans filibuster, it will show the American people what they are. “ The best way to prove the Republican lie machine wrong is to pass legislation (even if through reconciliation) so Americans can see that reform isn’t the horrible government power grab the Republicans tell them it is.”
Bard makes a comparison to the GOP’s effort to torpedo Obama’s anti-terrorism policy. It isn’t working because we hear reports of arrests and killings of al-Qaida and Taliban leaders that make those of the Bush administration look puny.
So even if the Republicans filibuster everything; it will only “Make the GOP reveal to the American people who they are protecting.”
Here are Bard’s steps:
- Pass comprehensive financial reform legislation and let the Republicans filibuster it. Then it will be clear: The Democrats support the people and the economy, and the Republicans support the banks.
- Pass the Senate’s health care reform bill in the House, and then fix it in the Senate through reconciliation.
- If that can’t be done, bring an air-tight, paid-for, comprehensive health care reform bill (even with a public option) to the floor and make the Republicans filibuster it.
- Then the GOP will be revealed as the insurance company-protecting, sick-American-ignoring party it is.
One of his best lines is…”The current plan of too many Democrats is to hang out in the house, cower in the corner, and wait to burn to death. Call me crazy, but I think this is a lousy strategy.”
President Obama just called for an up and down vote on health care yesterday. In a passionate speech, he got right to the point, “At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem!” He finished with “I don’t know how this plays politically, but I do know that it is right.”
Hear, hear! I for one am tired of the cautious maneuvering of my elected officials worrying about what will get them a vote. Get up on your hind legs and support our platform and the progressive agenda even when it is not popular.
A Cure for the Winter Blues
Post Published: 01 March 2010We can finally put February behind us. If it hadn’t been for the Winter Olympics and the new faces on our Idaho political scene, I might have ran south to Tucson to live with my sister and brother-in-law. Thank goodness for those dear Canadians with their self-depreciating humor and generous hospitality. As I watched the closing ceremonies complete with the giant inflated Canadian Mounties and beavers, I thought how often we tend to take ourselves way too seriously in America. Today one AP headline points to all that went wrong at the “star-crossed” games.
Undoubtedly the horrifying death of luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili will forever mar the event, but three cheers to a country that can laugh when its Olympic torch technology goes a wry and openly cry when tragedy strikes. I have a theory that the farther north you live, the more humor and pragmatism you have and need. I think that those who can say that -30 is a warm spell and live in places like Banff and Saskatchewan or Cut Bank and Havre have got to laugh.
Speaking of Montana and humor, I had the privilege of hearing Montana’s Senator Jon Tester at the annual Frank Church Banquet in Boise this weekend. Senator Tester, along with Keith Allred, Democratic candidate for governor, and Congressman Walt Minnick were all keynote speakers at the annual Democratic event. Tester was funny, down-to-earth and decidedly upbeat. He told about his Montana wheat farming, family similarities to Congressman Minnick in background, and even noted his missing digits on his left hand as testimony to his Western roots. A guy that can melt this city girl’s heart and make a convincing case for Western values and still end with “git her done” on health care, has my vote.
Of course, I can’t vote in Montana, but I left the banquet and the weekend events even more excited about our gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred. I can cast my vote for this cowboy. You can even go to Pioneer Salon in Ketchum and eat a steak on a plate featuring the A for Allred brand. Yes, Allred’s roots go way back in Idaho and ranching, but better yet Allred has experience fighting the special interests that are ruining politics on the left and the right. He founded The Common Interest five years ago and has over “1,600 members—Democrats, Republicans, and independents from across Idaho.” He calls it a “citizens’ group to put practical solutions ahead of special interest and partisan politics.” They have had success in cutting taxes (what Keith Allred, a Democrat, calls fun) in 2006 and helped protect our property rights.
With a Governor Allred, I can foresee Republicans and Democrats working together again. We need someone with the experience as a mediator and the respect of both parties to fix the mess Otter and his cronies have gotten us into. Keith Allred has both of those because what we have isn’t working. Otter has chosen again and again to ignore the needs of regular Idahoans when he increased our vehicle tags by 138% and only raised the heavy trucking industry by a mere 5%. Then in the most partisan state of the state speech I have ever heard, Otter went on a witch hunt to cut funds for everything that appeared to have ties to anything progressive.
Funny thing happened…it turns out that it is not just the liberals that watch Idaho Public Television and a lot of republicans like our parks, too. Saturday night Allred challenges Otter’s “irrational pessimism” stating that he ignores four different evidence-based projections of more than $80 million in new revenue next year.” This of course translates into massive cuts to education. Instead of putting our heads together and coming up with solutions, Otter’s ear is bent to those who either lobby for prisons or trucking or the just say no group. The republicans and moderates that I respect don’t think like that and neither does Allred. Not only is Keith from Twin Falls, but he has the respect of, not only my Democrat, but many of my Republican friends and neighbors.
No, Keith luckily doesn’t have a haircut like Testor’s, but this city girl has finally found a cure for her winter blues.
Check out Keith Allred’s websites at http://www.allredforidaho.com/www.allredforidaho.com and http://www.facebook.com/allredforidaho
My Irish Friend Says It So Well!
Post Published: 31 January 2010A double-hitter; President Obama hits it out of the ballpark in just a few days. Don’t tell anyone but I believe that David Plouffe is back advising the President. It was an energized and offensive Obama at the State of the Union and later at the GOP retreat. I love it when my guy makes the GOP look like the obstructionists that they are…It was just too great to have a chance to show what a bunch of political opportunists these people are. I fell all over myself when the GOP speakers gave their talking points and campaign speeches only to be demoralized and out maneuvered by the President.
I personally feel that we have been polite for far too long. David Gregory gave it to Boehner today as well. Just what have you done to reach across the aisle? Yeah, you said it. Democrats need to stop being the party of polite and tell it like it is. Without the Stimulus Package, tax breaks, and intervention, there would be even more unemployment and financial problems.
Why do the populists think that the GOP will ever be the party for the little guys? Like the Republicans suddenly had a big epiphany and decided they weren’t capitalists anymore. Get a grip, tea baggers. You really think that the party that brought you Right to Work states, support for big oil and union busting is really going to get you a great health care package?
The blue dogs versus the far left; this is just pitiful. One thing we could learn from our friends on the right is unity. I don’t hear Boehner bad mouthing Steele. I say liberals need to get together and stand up for the party, each other and the president. We will either rise together or go down in pieces.
This blog from one of my Irish friends just had to be published here in Idaho….
The David of the Democrats
For President Obama to be allowed 90 minutes of national television coverage speaking at the GOP retreat was historic. It was probably one of the dumbest ideas the Republican leadership has ever had.
In agreeing to a request from the White House to allow cameras to cover the President debating 140 GOP House members through a Q&A process, the GOP displayed gross overconfidence, an underestimation of this President and a totally wrong evaluation of the political implications of recent polls.
The GOP leadership felt they had Obama’s number in view of recent successes. They saw this coming together as an opportune time to move in for the political kill – a chance to embarrass Mr Obama, and finish him off in full public view.
House members of the “Party of No” were salivating in anticipation – the GOP leadership couldn’t wait – they wanted a coup de gras to politically decapitate the leader of the opposition forces.
Alas for the Republicans, when it was over, only one of the 141 combatants who engaged, was able to depart the scene with his head attached and in the right place. As historians will record and it will be remembered, the battered, demoralized troops of the GOP limped away oozing volumes of political gore, licking their wounds and rueing to all in earshot,” that their original decision was a mistake “.
On retiring from the field looking like the “David of the Democrats”, the President returned to the Oval office to get on with more challenging work.
In Baltimore, the GOP was in “retreat”, though not in the way they planned. Written by John Hay “Telling Thoughts”
http://www.tellingthoughts.com/us-politics/the-david-of-the-democrats
And all this and the Georgetown game as well.
Peace dear liberals.
Wake Up and Fight Areva Before it is too Late
Post Published: 31 January 2010I was fortunate enough to attend a very informative presentation recently. I learned some very disturbing news about a huge foreign company’s plans to come into Idaho and put everyone and everything we know at risk. Far away in France, a giant company is planning on building a centrifuge uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls in the not so distant future. This company has had problems with completing projects. The last thing Idaho needs is another company that bails on us when the plant is partially finished or we have handed over everything including the keys to the city and every tax break, incentive, and exemption available.
This nuclear behemoth has already gotten tax breaks from the State of Idaho and could soon be approved for a $2 billion loan guarantee from the feds. Everyone, especially any of us in the southern or eastern part of the State should be alarmed because:
- the viability of this project is severely questioned because of sky-rocketing costs that have led to cancellations of even the most viable reactors.
- there is no known or viable disposal pathway. Just what we need is more waste endangering our aquifer and our air and land.
- this will result in radioactive material traveling in an out of the State posing a threat to our public health and environment.
I can just hear people saying it will create jobs and income for us, but at what cost? Areva could be the next Dell or HP that comes in and starts a project just to leave without a moment’s care for the unemployed or local and state debt. I for one am tired of huge tax breaks for the worst industries and businesses in the world while we dismantle human services and public education. Just what Idaho needs is another threat to public health, one that can actually destroy us. Many stood up when Sempra tried to ram a coal fired plant in here and it failed. We need to be even more concerned about this new company and the risks it brings. We talk about the danger of Iran if it chooses to enrich its uranium stockpile, so don’t sit back and let Idaho do this!
Time to Reflect and Get Tough, Democrats
Post Published: 21 January 2010At this time last year my husband and I were in Washington DC with over a million other Americans celebrating President Obama’s inauguration. It was one of the best moments in my life. I will never forget the solidarity of the crowd of all races and the pure joy of the moment. Well, we have been to the mountain top, and now we are in the valley.
It is 2010 and here’s to a new year. The best news is that I have a new shelter kitty named Sasha (she is really a teen cat). I went to the Twin Falls shelter to volunteer…ha! Three days later, I have a new friend. She is funny and sweet. She likes to sleep on high hard surfaces and tests the water with her paw. She does not come when she is called like Angel, but she is getting more affectionate each day. Her favorite pastime is squirrel watching.
I was hoping that 2010 would be a great new year, but so far I feel like just offering the whole planet up in prayer. I can remember some Simon and Garfunkel song from long ago about “a little good news!” what with the devastation in Haiti, the looming challenges for Democrats regarding the passage of health care and the upset and election of Brown for Senator Kennedy’s seat in Mass. things look bleak. Still there are sure signs of hope. In the face of falling approval ratings, President Obama is still the most admired man in the country, the outpouring of money, millions of dollars have been raised to help the people of Haiti, and here in Idaho, we have a new candidate for Governor that has the Democrats excited.
The election in Mass. should be a wake up call to all democrats and progressives in the country. I, for one, am tried of all the infighting and name calling. Some big names in the party are pointing a finger at Martha Coakley. There is no doubt that her 19 rallies versus Brown’s 66 were a problem, but I think that Obama and all the democratic senators and congressmen and women don’t realize the anger and frustrations of the American public. The democrats have not done a good job of keeping their finger on the pulse of moderates and the far right has taken advantage to the maximum. When tea baggers show up to protest a tiny meeting in our small town, you know that there is trouble on the horizon. I think that it is time that everyone on the left needs to realize that this is nothing less that an all-out war by tea-baggers and the GOP against any liberal agenda. Believe you me; the Democrats in Twin Falls and Idaho know it.
It is time that some of the bloggers like Markos, other liberal media pundits, and party leaders realize that they have to unite with the rest of the party and get things done. Those infamous blue dogs knew that there was a backlash coming, but they also need to know that they were elected as democrats. Come on everybody and quit crying the blues and get to work!
Howard Dean stated today that some of the Democrats in Mass. voted for Brown because there was no public option. Maybe a few did, but this sounds delusional to me. I agree with Chris Matthews on this one; they voted for Brown because he ran a good campaign and voters are confused and frightened by what they perceive the health care bill to be. Dean is right in that if we abandon health care now, voters will only have the lies they have heard and have a bad taste for anything democratic. I think that the voters saw the Nebraska deal and said this stinks. And it did and does.
If the Democratic Party in this country wants to reverse this runaway train, they have to get real and get in touch with the fears and anguish of the American people. Dean is confused if he thinks the only reason Democrats voted for Brown is that Democrat legislation is too moderate. Voters are buying the story that the Democrats are big government and that they are going to spend their children’s inheritance. Someone needs to get on it and yell about the fact that insurance industry’s stocks skyrocketed yesterday when the traders thought that health care would fail. This is the reality of the GOP and Brown; Mr. Independent who voted 96% + with the republicans in 2009.
Anyone who thinks that the GOP is a populist party and will look out for the little guy is smoking crack. The tea baggers have their points and uniting with the GOP can defeat Democrats, but the GOP are the ones that brought us to this economic disaster. If you think the democrats are in bed with special interests, you better take a look at the guys you are cozying up with, too. No, things are not going well. The war in Afghanistan is escalating, unemployment is still high, and housing starts are only barely looking better.
Maybe it would be good to reflect back on what we witnessed in the fall of 2008. Remember how the sky was falling? We have been handed much and then we chose to take on the toughest issue ever in trying to pass health care. Obama has said along that change isn’t going to be easy. We nominated him and thought everything would magically change? Have we forgotten what kind of push back Clinton and even Carter got? What did you do to make the difference lately? It is easy to sit and complain. Have you signed up to be a precinct captain or a neighborhood leader? Did you volunteer to drive someone to the polls or get out the vote? Did you call into Mass.? I did and I wish I had called sooner and done more. You say you are burnt out and spent out! Me too, but should we just sit back and let a mobilized right wing movement take over the country?
Haiti is an example of an event where two former leaders of our country can get together…it seems incredible that the members of our own party cannot get together to make health care happen or even win an election in one of the most Democratic states in the Union. I think that Obama is right tonight when he said that the voters in Mass. voted for Brown for the same reason they voted for him…they are hungry for change. I seem to remember a slogan that has been credited to the Native Americans…be the change you want to see. So let’s roll up our sleeves, quit name calling, and infighting and do it! If we don’t figure this out soon we will watch every bit of progress we have made be rolled back.
Sounds hard? Yeah and we have the first Black President that many said would never happen, significant new legislation in the Ledbetter Bill for women, and we are closer than ever before in passing health care legislation for most of the people in this country. Hard is nothing compared to the struggles for the citizens of Haiti or Afghanistan or other underdeveloped nations?
I have heard stories about looting and gang violence in Haiti. Last night on BBC radio I heard story after story from world health organizations that were on the ground there tell how patient and respectful the Haitian people were. One Catholic relief worker said that he saw “grace personified” in them. So much is focused on the negatives in any news event. We all wait for the bad news and no one even bothers to report the good news most of the time.
I personally think that the people of Haiti and others who live in underdeveloped or developing countries have lessons to teach the rest of us. I had the honor of working in Grenada after Hurricane Ivan. I went down with fifteen others from our church and we worked to build a new home for one family, painted, did repairs on various sites, and taught some classes. The daughter of our dear friends organized the trip. She was with the Peace Corp there when Ivan hit. This tiny island has been blasted time and time and again by hurricanes, but the spirit of the people there is amazing. Becca was so moved by the concern and care given her when most of the people around here had lost so much. They had experienced hard times again and again. They quickly went about the business of recovering with so little. I went down there expecting to give of my time and limited talents, but the people of Grenada gave so much more to me. They even staged a mini strike against a resort that had refused to serve us (we were Peace Corp riffraff to one hotel there when an interracial couple showed up). Becca was amazed when one of her friends asked her to sign a petition protesting the ill treatment of us! Everyone I met there was appreciative of the little help we gave and looked out for us. I realized that for many who have so little there is wisdom for those of us who have so much.
I just started reading Greg Mortenson’s second book Stones into Schools. In the opening pages of this mountain climber turned advocate for education for the children, especially girls of Afghanistan and Pakistan, he writes that “God never lets the kerosene of hope run dry.” This was said by Nasreen, a young Pakistani woman who dreamed of becoming a healthcare provider for over 23 years. Her dreams started after she attended one of the first co-educational schools in North Pakistan. The spark of hope was never extinguished even when her cruel stepmother harassed her and did everything possible to derail her education. She finally received a scholarship in 1999 for $1,200 to return to school but her mother-in-law , fearing Nasreen would neglect her son, applied to tribal elders and Nasreen was denied again. She tolled as a virtual slave as a young girl and then tolled for ten more years tending goats, tilling potatoes fields, and hauling water and fuel. Nasreen had three children and suffered two miscarriages without benefit of the adequate health care she dreamed of providing for her people. She keep her dream alive by caring for the sick and dying in her community. “The lamp in my life refused to be snuffed out,“ she said. Finally in 2007 the elders allowed her to resume her studies. Today she is only a year away from finishing her medical training, but she has decided to complete an OB-GYN nursing degree and return to one of the most lost and forbidding places on earth to provide health care. Nasreen has no bitterness about the “lost years” and feels as if the experience has “imparted some essential insights.”
I hope that 2009 and the beginning of 2010 will be times of reflection for us all. As I watch the tragedy of the quake in Haiti, I must believe that we can come out the other side of this and rebuild a better place for the victims of the disaster. I hope that my party, the party that stands for equality for ALL Americans, can move forward and tap into this hope to rebuild a better America for all of us. Remember, no one ever said it would be easy!
For Angel and All Pets
Post Published: 18 December 2009If you are lonely this holiday, please consider giving a home to a lovely cat or dog. If you are over 55 you can adopt a cat for free!!! Contact People for Pets–Magic Valley Humane Society, Inc. at 736-2299 or better yet…go see the lovely animals that need a friend at 420 victory Ave. Their hours are M-F 10 AM –5:30PM & Sat 10 AM –2PM. Closed on Sunday and Hoildays. If you want to just help please consider donating for a year-end tax tax deductible donation in honor of your beloved pets.
Today I am not going to be political except maybe to say that we need health care and affordable pet insurance. Good luck with that one, huh. Instead of ranting about Lieberman or climate change, I am going write about an angel. Not the type of angel you would see hanging over a manager or sitting on skyscraper ledges like Nicolas Cage in City of Angels, but a four-legged, as Native Americans sometimes call our animal friends; my beautiful, white long-haired cat.
I was lucky enough to be with my Angel cat for over 10 years. She was a rescue kitty that found me at the Twin Falls Animal Shelter. Someone had abandoned her and some dogs, Rottweilers, I think. She was hanging out with the big dogs and wandering around loose because naturally she hated being locked in. I was looking for a cat that could handle my two rambunctious bulldogs. Angel might have looked foo foo with her long white hair and furry pantaloons, but she was all tiger and Rottie inside.
Angel not only liked to hang with the dogs, she thought she was a dog. A door bell got her attention even on the Dominions commercial. She would greet me at the door and ran to meet any guests. She usually came when you called unless you were going to the vet. She was cautious of small children, but came to my grandson. She left her soft hair everywhere which looked like duck feathers when wet.
I understand that she was adopted out just before I got her to a family whose father was a mortician and they had to bring her back because of the white fur on his black suits. That was their misfortune and my fortune. I just carry hair extractors with me everywhere. You know those sticky roller things. .
My dear husband put up with white hair on his suit jackets and her fondness for fine leather. She stapled shoes, purses, and even my friend’s motorcycle boots. We learned to put up all leather shoes and even had a back up stash for phone cords before cell phones come around. For a time I covered most of my exposed cords with tin foil making my visitors wonder about my sanity. They probably thought I was afraid of wattage.
During the 2000 presidential election Angel caused havoc between me and my daughter. We were heatedly talking no arguing about the tight Gore/Bush results. I, who had dreamed of being a Nader’s raider in the 60s, but voted for Gore was arguing with my daughter blaming Nader for Gore potential loss. Jenn was hardcore Green party Nader supporter. I had my 10 foot long phone cord stretched out from the kitchen to the family room to watch the tightening race in horror. In a move that reminded me of my friend’s husband Daryl cutting the phone cord when his wife refused to hang up on one of her numerous, expensive long distance phone calls to a friend, Angel delicately bit the cord in two. My daughter, naturally, thought that that I had hung up on her in the heat of the minute. She didn’t return my phone calls for days. I think she still is suspicious about the timing.
Angel, with her wise, eyes-closed, Buddha smile, would sit at the top of the stairs or on the CD player (she seemed to favor Big Band tunes), or in front of my computer screen for hours. She loved to bat around spiky, shining soft balls. We had a nightly ritual for years of chasing up and down the stairs for one with me tossing and her doing the chasing, I think! She would go crazy over a loose coffee bean or crumpled paper. A few months ago I noticed that she wasn’t as playful and her dull coat was even duller. I thought that she was just aging and, well, she was about my age in cat years. Enough said about that.
So, to make a long story short, I didn’t go in for the yearly shots like usual and like everyone else money was tight. I will never know if I could have saved her, but I am sure I would have had more time to bat around paper with her. Please, please everyone get regular shots and check-ups for you and your pets. I know that finically times are tough, but I am sure that I would have still had my kitty and spent far less money in the long run if I had done that. The sad fact is that I failed to take her in for shots for the last few years because she was an indoor cat. I justified that and even though her coat was looking very dull for the last few years; I just started giving her some moist food that probably even contributed to her death. Unfortunately my vet would have most likely ran some tests if I had followed through. Her kidneys were failing and by the time she was noticeably sick, it was too late.
I had a few short months with her after it was discovered. Angel had such a sweet, calm nature that I even gave her IV fluids at home before her kidneys completely shut down for awhile. She endured numerous trips to the vet and allowed them to draw blood and insert IVs without protest. With tears in his eyes my vet said that she was the “best patient he had ever had!” It is too bad that I wasn’t a better caretaker of her. It may have been a congenital weakness or stress from being abandoned as a kitten that led to her early death, but I will never know. I want to let other pet owners know a few things I have learned from this tragedy.
I have spent numerous hours on the net reading horror stories about pet food. I don’t know if that was part of the problem. Angel did start to decline after 2007 when melanin was found in pet food nationwide. Even though I bought what I thought was high quality food there have been numerous recalls and outrage about pet food after that. Ironically this basic murder of pets by greedy companies has caused more scrutiny of pet food. The results are outrageous.
Melanin when bonded with formaldehyde is used in glue and totally harmful. The manufactures were basically putting plastic in the wheat gluten of some dog and cat food. Not only is wheat gluten useless in and of it self for cats, the manufactures of most pet foods have been making useless and poisonous crap for years. The same guys that show the lovely kitty daintily eating their “wholesome” cat food on TV have been grinding up beaks, bones, garbage, and even dead cats and dogs calling it animal by products. We know how over burdened the FDA is and how numerous problems have come up in our own food supply. Well the pet food in cans and bags is for the most part not what we think it is.
Remember that the first three ingredients on the can or bag should be meat, not meat by products or rice or wheat paste. By products can mean everything to hoofs, manure, and even dead lab animals. I gave my kitty moist food that was basically fish oil over rice. Don’t assume that because cat love it, it is good for them. Some of the nastiest stuff out there is full of fish oil and favors that they are drawn to but can be poisonous to them. Cats love this fishy stuff, but even tuna is not a complete food for them. It will actually harm them if given exclusively.
Of course, talk to your vet about good choices for what ever type of pet you have. There are pages and pages of conflicting advice on the internet, but I would trust the Humane Society http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/facts/pet_food_safety.html and the FDA http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/default.htm for recalls on cat and dog food. There has been a recent recall on pig ears and hoofs for salmonella which my dogs absolutely loved. This is a risk for the pet and the owner who can contract it through handling them. You need to check frequently on your brand because they are very specific and there are a shocking number of recalls. It is not as simple as just getting one brand of food.
The biggest way to keep your pet healthy is by knowing what your specific pet needs. Domestic cats are obligate or true carnivores that depend solely on the nutrients found in animal flesh for their survival; those gross mice they eat. The only reason that cat food is even a viable choice is because of the addition of an organic acid called taurine, which is present in the intestines of animals. Large ingestion by humans of taurine is under scrutiny right now because energy drinks are loaded with it, but that’s another issue. Even the “organic” pet food is tricky. Cats don’t need grains or avocados. One fancy organic cat food has avocado oil that is known to be poisonous to dogs. Grapes, onions, most lilies, and many houseplants are toxic to cats. Just one bit of some of those beautiful pink spotted lilies can shut down Morris’ kidneys for good.
I have since learned that even expensive pet food can be terrible. They are safe brands of inexpensive food and vet quality now. Please check on credible sites to see how your pet food rates. Sadly there have been hundreds of cats and dogs lost since 2007, but pet owners need to be aware first and foremost of all of any changes in their pets’ behavior or appearance. If I would have taken Angel in and questioned her poor coat several years ago, I most certainly would have had more time with her.
She was the best little four-legged Buddha cat ever and I miss her terribly, but if one person reads this and it saves their pet it won’t be for not.
“Not what I can Accept”
Post Published: 10 December 2009Okay, I said I would wait until the dust settles on health care before I wrote about it again, but I have gotten furious midnight emails and had heated cell phone arguments. This is from the progressives and democrats! I am as much in a quandary as many of my friends on future of health care reform and, gulp, the financial bailouts. I supported the President and I still support the President. With that said I want to remind everyone of the alternative.
What if McCain had won? Do you think that we would be having any debate on health care? No, we would be looking at some half-baked tax credits like Bush lite for buying our own coverage. Tax payers would get a quick fix for the pocketbooks, but no true reform. Remember that 10 page GOP insurance bill with no meat at all.
The alternate would look like…nothing for those with preexisting conditions, no attempt to insure the poor and children, no stem cell research, no Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, no Matthew Shepard Bill, and no attempt to rein in credit card companies in any form. And how about those windmills dotting our landscape? Instead of having a President flying to Copenhagen at the most opportune time to influence other countries, we would most likely not be attending just like Kyoto. Do you think that the folks that argue that global warming is a fairytale would be part of any discussion or change?
Remember like the blogger Ultrageek said today on the Kos that “the winners in war are not always known at the time.” Ultrageek makes the point that over a third of the country was “slave states” or supporting slavery before the civil war. Lincoln and the abolitions could have just given up. So do we quit supporting the President, the congress and senate that does want reform. Let the right take over. “Where would the 60% threshold be then? Who would the conservatives be then? Casey? Snowe?…And where would the middle ground be? Levin?”
Never in all my life have I seen such partisan attacks from the right and ultra conservatives. I thought that Bill Clinton had a tough time. Now the progressives are jumping up and down too. I think that it is time that critics on the far left of my party…to take a breath.
The news coming out of the Senate on health care is a two step forward, one step back kind of dance, but the best news for me is the guy that I respect the most on health care reform is on the bus. Howard Dean, the former Chair of the DNC, has been pushing for the expansion of Medicare even in his Presidential platform. His logic is “why have two bureaucracies, including one that hasn’t run this before like the Department of Health and Human Services.
I for one am excited about the decision to allow consumers between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy Medicare coverage. Maybe it is because I am 57 and it could be options for me and mine, but I agree with Dean about not creating a new bureaucracy. People are familiar with Medicare, it works well for the most part, and Dean went as far as to call it reform today. Would I have rather had single payer or a viable public option? Of course I would also have liked to seen Cheney up for war crime charges and an immediate pull out in Iraq.
To those of you that say, well we could have had Hillary. The same Hillary that her foes on the right were pillorying with a tell all movie soon after the inauguration, the same Hillary who sided against human rights sanctions for China, and the Hillary with all the insurance baggage from Clinton’s presidency. Then was Edwards who would have most likely been impeached after his dirty little secret came out.
No instead we have a man in office who the world has recognized with one of its highest honors in the Noble Peace Prize, a man who dared to reach out to the moderate Muslims in his Cairo speech, a man who is thoughtful and measured in his responses; the total opposite of Bush lite. A Republican friend and I were discussing church youth groups, the world , etc. He felt that the country and people had some how turned a corner and that the youth of tomorrow will be better stewards of the earth and less judgmental. I would like to think that the election of President Obama had something to do with that.
Yesterday there was a landmark decision in the Dawes Act that showcases the possibilities of this administration to do the right thing. In all fairness Senator McCain has been a central figure in settling the largest class action suit ever brought against the US government too. In a battle over compensation to American Indians for using their land for farming, grazing, timber cutting, and other activities the government finally settled up to a tune of $3 billions after a century of shamefully dragging its feet. This trust program had been mismanaged over three administrations and numerous Secretaries of the Interior. There have been charges of contempt for destroying documents leveled for the first time at past Interior officials in an effort to avoid payment.
This disgrace had spanned over three administrations and goes back to the late 19th century. Tuesday on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121216558 Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff and a resident of the Blackfeet reservation in Montana, said that she did not want the “case to drag on” and that “today we have an administration that is listening to us, an administration willing to admit the wrongdoings of the past and settle this matter to benefit those who had to do without access to their own money for way too long even though the settlement of came short of the one wanted.”
Not one of the left blogs that I read celebrated this. I agree with Shpilk again on the Kos http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/9/812597/-Navel-gazing,-self-defeatism,-hysteria,-asshattery. who writes “I expected some fallout from pushback, but what I’ve seen is like nothing I could have imagined these last few months. The nearly violent rhetoric of rejection approaches the same levels of poisoning I’ve seen from the right. It’s remarkably narrow minded, and it’s not what I can accept.”
Maybe this story on Dawes wasn’t the headline maker or even in most papers in the West, but it is the kind of stuff that is happening every day. Some are more worried that Obama will miss an activity in Oslo than looking at the progress we are making. I guess I am more concerned about what actually happens at the global summit. I just hope someone will report it.
Peace or War President?
Post Published: 04 December 2009It gives me no pleasure to publish this blog. I and Michael Moore were both waiting for a last minute epiphany from President Obama before he took the podium at West Point. I was hoping that by some miracle he would walk up and say…we are ending all this killing and fighting. I know those of you who know me best are saying…she‘s breaking from the fold! I only have my personal opinion. Here it is, take what you like and leave the rest as the 12 step programs say:
- I want no more of this war. The killing, PTSD, the suicides, Fort Hood killings, and the debt is obscene. I do not know what to say to those who have lost family and friends in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do we continue to fight this battle and lose more lives and limbs because of the past sacrifices? I know of no one to ask this and I wouldn’t if I did.
- I do know soldiers and young adults that are awaiting deployment or standing by for further orders. I have nothing but respect and support for our troops. I have a close family member who could be deployed. This is selfishly exactly why I want out.
- My husband estimates that each state in the union will need to send at least 600 service men and women. There are estimates of as many as 13,000 new cases of PTSD with additional 8,000 or more traumatic brain injuries with this surge. The cost is an extra $40 billion that we can ill afford. We haven’t even talked about the loss of Afghan life or of our allies.
- The most moving argument I have heard yet against this came from a Vietnam veteran speaking on CSPAN after the President’s speech last night. He spoke of the horrors and cost of war from his own perspective. He had served almost 40 years ago, but his voice betrayed how much those months still impact his life.
I have no long lens of history to look back on and see the possibilities of withdrawal on the region and the world. My mother once told the peace-nik me back in the sixties that my father’s life was possibly spared because of the bombing of Japan. I came home enraged after reading John Hersey’s Hiroshima in college. She calmly explained that I most likely would have never been born if there had been no Nagasaki or Hiroshima bombings. I will leave these musings on the historians.
I was pleased that there was no saber rattling and no macho pronouncements last night. Obama’s tone was calm, serious, and respectful. I have no issue with the venue. I feel that the young men and women sitting there will bare much of the cost. They are certainly not “the enemy” as Chris Matthews stupidly stated. There are the victims of the war as are innocent civilians. As a Christian, I cannot justify the thousands of deaths, even though the humanist me sometimes longs for vengeance, as with the recent Foot Hood shootings.
My heart goes out the most to those in the Army and the Marine Corps the most because they have experienced the biggest loss of life and injuries. A military wife I know commented that Obama has no idea what will be involved in deploying that many men, women, and equipment. She feels let down because she thought he was going to end the war. I am reminded that he never promised to end the war in Afghanistan. He promised to end the Iraq war; the old/bad, Bush’s war. He inherited so many problems from the previous administration, but now war is part of Obama’s legacy.
I hope that the generals and advisors know what they are doing. Today’s Times News’ column by David Brooks provides some fascinating insights into COIN, a strategy outlined in General David Petraeus and Gen. James Amos book, the “Army/Marine Corps Field Manuel 3—24” about a new way to see conflicts in the Middle East. While the President doesn’t embrace all the components of this reshaped military thinking that focuses on providing security and services to make villagers loyal, some believe it will make the difference in winning this war. General McChrystal, who was appointed to run the war effort in Afghanistan last winter, is one of the chief architects of COIN.
Brooks goes on to make the point that this new “hybrid strategy” will focus not on troop levels, but “how the war will be fought.” Watching the 60 Minutes program on McChrystal ( http://www.youtube.com/user/DODvClips ) a few weeks ago revealed an amazingly disciplined man who directed special forces in Iraq. Some call him a hero and others demonize him. He obviously pulls no punches and created controversy by calling for major troop build-up recently while loudly criticizing the previous efforts before the {resident announced his decision. Looking at the COIN strategy and Gen. McChrystal’s background it seems a little like sending in a pit bull to do a diplomat’s work. Many on the left, including Daniel Ellsburg, the former US military Analyst who released the Pentagon Papers, feel that McChrystal’s “drones” and “death squads” in Afghanistan have simply contributed to the growth of an ultimately unassailable anti-US resistance, and that even “hundreds of thousands” of troops will not charge the outcome.
Every day since the West Point speech more “experts” come forward to give their opinions on the wisdom of revealing strategies and pull out dates. Clinton announced today that 7,000 troops have been promised by NATO allied forces. The done attacks increase in our new US Marine mission called “Cobra’s Anger” while we all wait to see what happens. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/04/us-marines-launch-large-o_n_380006.html
I have to agree with Dick Durbin who is one of Obama’s closest allies. He recently told CNN that “The president took some time to reach his decision; I’m going to need some time to reach mine.” I have to agree.
