Say it Ain't So, Arnie!

(Is there an apostrophe in 'aint'???)

Anyhoo... just saw this reported on the Animal Place blog. I'm off to go call Arnold! Fellow Californians, please join me. This would be disastrous for animal rescue organizations, as well as an unnecessary burden on everyday people who are already having a hard enough time putting food on the table in these tough times. We already know that animal relinquishments to shelters are skyrocketing due to this darn economy; I can only imagine how much worse it might get if caring for our companion animals becomes even more costly.

CA: Don't tax vet bills

Governor Schwarzenegger wants to define taking your sick, diseased, distressed animal to a vet as a "luxury" item, imposing a 10.5% tax on veterinary medical services.

Since when is being a responsible guardian considered a "luxury"?

There are 15 million dogs and cats in California and dog and cat guardians spend nearly 2.75 billion dollars on veterinary services. Animal Place is no stranger to vet bills - we spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to provide optimal care to all the animals at the sanctuary. This isn't a luxury, these costs are a necessity for us and for the millions of people who choose to welcome animals into their homes.

We appreciate that times are tough, that we need to look at creative ways to stimulate our state's economy. But taxing necessary medical care for the 15 + million animals in the state is not only unfair, it's cruel. With unemployment rising, people should not have to make a difficult choice between what might be an affordable medical procedure for their companion and killing/relinquishing their animal because of the extra taxation.

You can help:

Please make a brief, polite phone call to Governor Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 and urge him to remove the Fido Fine from the budget proposal. When you call, please select your language choice, then press 5 to leave your opinion on a current issue, then press 1 to select the issue of extending the sales tax to veterinary services, and then press 2 to oppose this proposal. After calling, please send a follow-up email to your state legislators and urge them to reject the Governor’s proposal.

Contact your representative; tell them to remove the Fido fine from the budget proposal. (You can find out who your legislator is here.)

California, what were you thinking???

Prior to the election, I really didn't think there was much chance of Prop 8 (the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage) passing. California seems like such a liberal place, and everyone I know seemed to be planning to vote 'no'. But apparently I was living in a little bubble of liberal naiveté, because it did pass after all, and that makes me sad to be a Californian right now.

I don't understand how anyone could believe that writing discrimination into our constitution could be a good idea?

And I really, really don't understand why these protect-the-sanctity-of-marriage types even give a crap about gay people getting married. I mean really, how can they justify wasting the time, energy, and expense of waging war against gay people when there is so much suffering in the world - so many serious problems that demand our attention and action?

This story, which ran in October in the Sacramento Bee, makes me sick. (This is just an excerpt; you can find the entire story here if you want to feel even more ill.)

Pam and Rick Patterson have always followed teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and tried to live within their means.

He drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic to his job at Intel. She is a stay-at home mom who makes most of the family meals and bakes her own bread. The couple, who have five sons between the ages of 3 and 12, live in a comfortable but modest three-bedroom home in Folsom.

It's a traditional lifestyle they believe is now at risk. That's why the Pattersons recently made a huge financial sacrifice – they withdrew $50,000 from their savings and donated it to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, the ballot measure that seeks to ban same-sex marriage.

"It was a decision we made very prayerfully and carefully," said Pam Patterson, 48. "Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and their children."

The Pattersons, who have been married 14 years, say there were thinking about their children's future when they decided to tap into their savings to contribute. And they also said no one pressured them into giving.

They were reluctant to talk about their donation – not even their families knew how much they contributed – and agreed to do so only because it is listed on public campaign documents.

"The amount may surprise people," said Rick Patterson. "But people who know us, know how much the family means to us."

Um, hello? Can we step back for a moment and think about what that $50,000 could have accomplished had the Pattersons not opted to spend it promoting hatred and bigotry?

• $50,000 would purchase and deliver insecticide-treated bed nets to 5,000 families in the poorest parts of the world, protecting them from malaria, a preventable disease that infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than a million— one person dies about every 30 seconds.
• $50,000 would cover the feeding, shelter, and medical needs for 21 cows, 21 goats, 21 sheep, 21 pigs, 21 turkeys, 21 ducks, 21 geese, 21 rabbits, and 21 chickens (that's 189 animals total) at Farm Sanctuary for one year.
• $50,000 would buy laptop computers for 50 college freshmen through the Harlem Children Zone's program to improve the lives of underserved African American children.

Okay, your turn. What would you do if you had $50,000 to donate to charity?

{Sniff.}

As the mother of a non-Caucasian child, Obama's election affects me in a more personal way than it would have a few years ago (pre-Carlos). To know that my child will grow up able to take for granted a person of color's ability to do and be anything he wants - that is a priceless gift.

Two things have made me tear up today. First, this quote - I don't know who said it, but I love it -

"Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Barack could run, and Barack ran so our children could fly."

And second, this photo -

The looks on all three of those faces say more to me than any words ever could.
(Image taken from Yes We Can (hold babies), discovered via elle, phd.)

How sad that the non-white children of our country have had to wait for so long to see this day, and how wonderful that the day has finally arrived.

While I marvel at the historic implications of Obama's success, and find myself intermittently caught up in the euphoria and sense of overwhelming hope that I see on faces all around the world, these moments of happiness are tempered by fear. Fear that the problems are too large, or that Obama, despite his best intentions, is too entrenched in politics-as-usual to effect the kind of massive change we need to turn this country around.

But I'm making a conscious effort to focus on my hope that his election will harness all of this positive energy and give us all a push in the right direction. This is not the end of the struggle - only the beginning - an opportunity to begin to truly effect change. Obama and his budding administration can't do it alone - we all need to stay engaged to push for the changes we so desperately need to turn this country - and this planet - around. If we play our cards right, maybe there's still a chance that the world we pass on to our kids can be a better one than what was left to us. That's something I wasn't so optimistic about a week ago.

Have you seen this yet?

GirlieGirl Army Rocks

One of the great vegan blogs, GirlieGirl Army, has an excellent post today - check out the full entry, I'm just going to re-post my favorite bit here but there's more you should see...

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said ‘I do’ to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the ‘Keating 5′?

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Kucinich 2008 Weekly Update

Several of you who played the Candidate Match Game I posted about recently found out that your beliefs were closely aligned with Dennis Kucinich's and expressed interest in learning more about him, so I thought I'd start posting these weekly campaign updates here on my blog.

Political Fun

Well, I'm not watching the debates right now because we don't have CNN... but here's a fun game to help you determine which presidential candidate is the most closely aligned with your opinions and beliefs: USA Today 'Candidate Match Game'. (After you answer the questions, don't forget you can use the little slider things on the right-hand side of the screen to give certain topics more or less weight.)

Now, I know some will see this as dumbing down the race or over simplifying things and allowing people to be lazy and not do research. I can see that point of view, but I also think that in this day and age, it is very hard to keep track of everything that's going on, especially with every different media source putting their own spin on things. Personally, I often find politics very confusing. So I thought the game was fun, and a good jumping-off point to possibly encourage people to do more research on the issues and the candidates.

For what it's worth, my results are (1) Dennis Kucinich, (2) Bill Richardson, and (3) Mike Gravel. Leave a comment and tell me what your results are!

New Constitutional Convention Initiative Town Hall Meeting (Dennis Kucinich)

I received this today from the Kucinich for President 2008 campaign and thought some of you might be interested...

This evening (Wednesday, November 14th) at 9pm EST the campaign will hold a national town hall meeting via our new streaming media capability on the web. The address is www.kucinichtv.com

This town hall meeting will provide an opportunity for the campaign to introduce the New Constitutional Convention Initiative to supporters and anyone who is concerned about the state of affairs in the United States. The New Constitutional Convention Initiative will include a a series of nationally broadcast discussions (via www.kucinichtv.com) that seek to accomplish three outcomes:

1. Outline the ongoing assaults on the Constitution
2. An educational component / civics lesson to clarify the intent of the framers and provide a foundation for understanding the ongoing assaults on the Constitution
3. Discuss in detail what can be done collectively and individually to restore crucial constitutional principles
4. Provide a venue which will lead to a coordinated and sustained national effort to renew the Constitution and restore accountability in government

The New Constitutional Convention Initiative will hold a national conference call each week for the next 10 weeks - culminating in a major event at the end of January. A complete list of dates, panel participants and moderators, and topics / themes for each week, will be made available in the next week and distributed to anyone interested in participating.

Either Congressman Kucinich or I will be on the call to introduce the initiative - depending on the outcome of an expected important Congressional vote.

Please pass the word and let's get this party (Constitutional Convention) started.

Best regards,
Mike

Michael Klein
Campaign Manager
Kucinich for President 2008

Deep Thoughts

{WARNING: Rambling and possibly less than coherent writing ahead. Proceed at your own risk.}

I've had a lot of heavy thoughts rolling around in my little brain lately, and I'm sure I'm going to do a terrible job of articulating them, because they are the kind of deep thoughts that don't necessarily lend themselves well to written expression. Still, I want to try.

I think, as a vegan, I go through phases in my life where my vegan beliefs and lifestyle choices are more of a background component of who I am (I always practice them, I just don't always think about them so much; they feel more like habit). Then, there are other times, like now, when thoughts about animal rights and veganism seem to consume a lot of my mental and emotional energy. And it's not just animal stuff; I find myself thinking a lot about all kinds of social injustices and terrible things happening to people all over the world too.

I feel weighed down by all of the suffering in the world (both animal and human), and part of me feels helpless to make a difference. But then another part of me tells the first part, "That's bullshit. Quit being such a lame ass." I think what this sophisticated conversation between my two brains actually means is that I need to take on some kind of concrete, tangible task(s). I'm hoping if I do, I will feel useful and more hopeful.

As for what the tasks should be... well, that's a good question. As you may have noticed, I'm rather swamped with life as-is, and would probably be insane to take a bunch more stuff on. So I need to be smart, but still find a way to create more peace within myself. Matt and I have a couple of acres here; I'd love to provide a home for some rescued farm animals... chickens, turkeys, who knows... but I worry about keeping them safe from the dogs. We would need to make an investment of time and money to do some fencing or something I guess. I honestly have moments where I think I should uproot my entire life and go live in some far-off place where I can work with a sanctuary like Best Friends or Peaceful Prairie. I won't do it, but wouldn't it be great if I could? Or maybe direct animal contact isn't what I need to do - maybe I need to find ways to do more outreach and education? Ack, who knows. Suggestions are welcome.

I think part of my problem is I'm feeling very isolated and alone in the way I perceive the world and choose to life my life. None of my family is vegan, including my husband, which is tough sometimes, as much as I love him. I don't have any vegan friends (at least in real life, although I love all my bloggy pals) and I feel like it would be really empowering to be able to plug into some kind of network of like minded people and get involved in some kind of activism. But I live in the boondocks...

And moving beyond veganism and animal rights (the topics I am the most drawn to on a deep, instinctual level), I've been thinking a lot about politics and how much I hate feeling like I have to choose the lesser of two (or ten) evils. I'm sure I'm going to piss some people off here, but honestly the front runner Democratic candidates don't seem all that much better than the Republicans (okay, a little better, but really not much). They are all in the pockets of big corporations, and aren't liberal enough for me. I find myself feeling apathetic and avoiding watching or listening to any national news, because I'm so sick of hearing the same old crap over and over. I feel like most politicians' priorities are severely out of whack, and unfortunately that's probably true of most of the general population.

Consider this information, which I found on the No Impact Man blog some time ago...

Two 2006 studies reported the following statistics:

• 58% believe climate change as a result of global warming has already begun
• 58% also believe that increases in Earth’s temperature over the last century are due more to human activities than natural changes
• 85% say global warming is probably happening
• 88% think global warming threatens future generations

Sounds pretty good, right? Everybody's getting on board, realizing we have a serious problem here that needs to be dealt with... but wait - a 2007 poll by CBS news asked "What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" and got the following responses:

• 28% say War in Iraq
• 16% say Economy/Jobs
• 8% say Health care
• 6% say Terrorism (general)
• 5% say Immigration
• 4% say Foreign policy
• 3% say Poverty/homelessness
• 3% say Defense/military
• 3% say Misc. social issue
• 3% say Misc. government issues
• 16% say Other
• 5% say Unsure

Whaaaaaaaaaat???? Where is 'Environment'? or 'Global Warming'??? In my mind, the environment and the problems we're inflicting on it are absolutely the most critical issue facing this entire planet's population right now. I just feel like I'm on a totally different page from 99% of politicians and 'Average Americans'. (God, that sounds smug and superior. I don't mean to sound that way, I really don't.)

Well, as far as politics go, I've decided rather than drop out completely, I'm going to do what I can to support the one candidate I actually respect and admire. Dennis Kucinich seems to me to be honest, straightforward, and about as liberal as they get on the national level. Plus, he's vegan, which certainly can't hurt! So, GO DENNIS!!!

And to throw another one at you, I've been reading Enrique's Journey during the last couple of days, and have found myself deeply affected by it. I don't know how anyone could read this book and not be changed by it, but in my case I have been drawing some parallels between certain characters and situations in the book and certain things I know or suspect about Carlos' birthfamily, so it all hits pretty close to home.

So, to add to the list of sadnesses weighing on my mind lately, I've now been thinking a ton about the plight of would-be illegal immigrants, both those who make it to the US and those who don't. The lives they lead, the people they leave behind, the horrors they endure on their quest for a better life, the brutal deaths that many ultimately face... well, it puts any little problems in my life in perspective, that's for sure.

Okay, okay, you are probably thinking I'm crazy by now, if you've actually stuck with me throughout this whole rambling post. I guess I just needed to get some things off my chest. If this is your first visit to my blog, come back again sometime, I usually post about pretty beads and jewelry and silly little pictures of my adorable son.