Sunday, September 9, 2012
An extra day of life? On the useless gifts’s from animal organizations
Posted by Richard Drake on Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 10:41 AM
I have come to think of them as a sort of “animal torture porn” - the extra long commercials all to the tune of Sarah McLachlan’s lovely voice. The images are so repulsive, especially for anyone who cares about animals, that most people I know quickly reach for the remote when the damn things come on TV.
And it isn’t as though people don’t love animals; it’s just that they despise the commercials.
But enough about the animal porn that is supposed to make you open your hearts and wallets. Let’s talk about something else. Once you make a donation to help animals, either to the Humane Society or the ASPCA, you are bombarded with all sorts of mail.
Solicitations for funding is one thing.
But sending us tote bags?
And holiday cards?
And calendars?
You get just about everything, in fact, to entice you to make a donation to the ASPCA but a Sarah McLachlan CD (which seems a little cheap, if you ask me).
Ultimately one would have to ask oneself, if these organizations didn’t waste so much money sending swag to folks they hope to get money out of, how much more they might have in the bank, to actually help animals?
Might an animal have an extra day or two of life, while seeking to be connected with a person who might love and care for them?
Of course, when you realize that on the national level - those folks who like to send out all those calendars and tote bags - only a small fraction of their budget ever goes to actually helping shelters themselves, it sort of makes you wonder why you are sending them any money at all.
Eventually you may get to to the point when you think, “Oh, I’m gonna send in a check so someone else can have a calendar? Just like like someone else sent in a donation so that I could get a tote bag?”
Circle of life, baby. It’s a beautiful thing.
But maybe, just maybe, we should cut the tote bag, Christmas card and calendar folks out of the equation altogether, and just donate to our local animal shelters, who won’t waste the money on sending us stuff we really don’t need.
And maybe the animals in those shelters will benefit.
******
Second Amendment News I: Zoning trouble over fence leads to fatal shooting
In Louisville, Kentucky, one man was shot and killed and another critically wounded following a dispute over a fence.
The shootings took place at the neighborhood homeowners’ association meeting.
*****
Second Amendment News II: Dispute arising over dancers bumping into each other leads to gunplay
In Houston, a dispute in a nightclub over one dancer bumping into another dancer (and thus to an argument) led to gunfire, with three men dead, and three women wounded.
****
My political good deed for the day
I promised the Dan Coody folks that I would put this link in my blog. I will do the same for anyone else running for local office this year.
http://coodyformayor.com/blogs/transparency-in-leadership.html
***
Quote of the Day
Words are vehicles that can transport us from the drab sands to the dazzling stars. - M. Robert Syme
sdrake@cox.net
Speaking of Http://coodyformayor.com/blogs/transparency-in-leadership.html, rsdrake@cox.net
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The Great Billy's Bar & Grill Fight: Should anyone - let alone an off-duty police officer - be carrying a concealed weapon when they know that drinking is on the night’s agenda?
April 16, 2013“If they can’t protect me from their own police who’s going to? I mean I’m worried if I’m going to get home to see my three children and then I find out the person who pulled the gun on me was a person of the law.” - Witness Ronna McAlister, interviewed by Channel 40/29 http://www.4029tv.com/news/arkansas/northwest/Two-officers-on-leave-after-fight-at-restaurant/-/8897460/19742414/-/wdsh47z/-/index.html Billy's Bar & Grill could have been the site of a stupid tragedy a few days ago, when two off-duty police officers (one from Little Rock, the other from Prairie Grove) got into a public fight in a Fayetteville pool hall. /more/
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I’ll miss Annette Funicello more than Margaret Thatcher: The whitewashing of historical figures cheapens us all
April 9, 2013"We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. /more/
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Shocked, I tell you, shocked! When television “ghost-hunters” profess shock and awe at what they encounter
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- Mar 28, 2013
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I’ll miss Annette Funicello more than Margaret Thatcher: The whitewashing of historical figures cheapens us all
"We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame.
- Apr 9, 2013
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Event Calendar
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Re: Waltons Arts Center should build their own damned music pavilion in Rogers, and leave the one in Fayetteville alone
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richard,
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