For a little difference in topic, I want to discuss raspy singing technique and the vocal damage it can cause.
Recently Steven Tyler’s vocal issues caused the band to cancel their tour and retire. Axl Rose has also had many vocal issues in recent years, as has AC/DC’s Brian Johnson.
What do they all have in common? A raspy singing voice. Although they do not all sing with rasp constantly, they have used it for the majority of their songs. “Dream On,” “Walk This Way,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” and “Hell’s Bells” are just a few examples. Rose has sung in many styles, from a natural baritone to a high falsetto. Most times, however, all three return to an almost guttural raspy style.
It could be argued that their voices and therefore vocals could be stronger today had they not employed the technique. However, their music would have definitely been different and arguably inferior had they done so.
Can you imagine Welcome to the Jungle without ‘Welcome to the jungle, baby. You’re gonna die…!?”
It makes you wonder: if Janis Joplin had lived, would she have eventually lost her voice from performing all those raspy vocals?
Rose, Tyler, Johnson and others could have preserved their voices had they played it safer. But then we would not have their classic bodies of work in quite the same way.
As a long-time fan and an animal rescue and welfare volunteer, I am writing to ask you to reconsider your current financial backing of Best Friends Animal Society’s grant programs, as they stand. Currently Best Friends provides grants to animal shelters for mentoring and other projects to try to keep animals out of shelters so those shelters can maintain 90% or more “no kill” rates. While that sounds good and may be an admirable goal overall, it is actually hurting animals and people right now.
I am unsure of how things are going in New York. However, in Kentucky, which according to Best Friends has a middling 83% live release rate, things are not going well at all in the animal world. Since Covid, when spay/neuter surgeries were canceled, owner surrenders are up, adoptions and donations are down and we are in crisis. Strays in many areas are not being picked up because there is no room at the inn. Owners wanting to relinquish pets are put on wait lists. If they do not want to or can not wait, some are just dumping their animals on the road. Responsible citizens are forced to try to care for animals not their own or let them suffer. Rescues are full to capacity and need more fosters. The situation is so bad in some areas that packs of roving dogs are a threat to the community. The above photos are just a couple scenes shared recently on social media.
Ultimately the only way to combat the pet overpopulation here is through more spay/neuter. While there are several spay/neuter clinics throughout the state, there are not enough. Many can not afford or find transportation for the services that exist. Additionally many clinics are booked out months in advance, allowing more litters to build up. While there is no excuse for abuse, this is believed to be a factor in the increase in animal cruelty cases in the state.
Although local groups of advocates are seeking help from the state legislature to obtain more spay/neuter funding, additional help is needed. Please urge Best Friends to give grants for more spay/neuter and attack the root of the pet overpopulation problem, or consider directing your resources toward an organization that will.
I have unsurprisingly seen a lot of rancor between conservatives and liberals over politics on social media lately. I have also seen calls for civility. For what it’s worth (not much), in my opinion all of this could be mostly avoided if both parties would move to center, where most of us live, on some issues. Of course, they won’t because they are too dependent on their bases and the big money that flows in from special interests.
Whether people want to hurl insults at candidates and each other or stay above the fray, I hope people will take a balanced look at the issues, not rely solely on one news source, whether it be Fox News or MsNBC, and vote accordingly.
Labor
I for one think that young able-bodied people should be employed, but I also think they should be able to receive a living wage to pay their base-level bills. Potentially lowering overtime pay and blocking use of earned leave for some workers would not help achieve that goal. PolitiFact | Project 2025 doesn’t call for eliminating OSHA or overtime, just for changes
I do not think abortion should be used as birth control. The Supreme Court, with the addition of Trump’s Supreme Court justices, have effectively taken care of that issue with the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision. However, they went too far and have left the much of the issue at the discretion of the states. Ky’s Republican-led legislature has banned abortions in the state. Women needing an abortion for medical reasons must now have or find the means to travel out of state for the procedure. Furthermore, some Christian nationalists’ Heritage Foundation in the Republican Party want to force an FDA ban on mifepristone, an abortion pill, and to even bar ers from performing emergency abortions to save mothers’ lives. Although Trump has distanced his views on abortion and gay rights from Project 2025, his backers and vp have ties to the Heritage Foundation’s plan. I think the majority of Americans are definitely with me on this issue.
I believe that we do need some limits on immigration due to limited resources and for national security. I also think that undocumented immigrants who have lived here for years, have families, work and contribute to society should be grandfathered in or exempted from any future changes and have a path to obtain citizenship. Although Biden has received criticism on this topic, the administration has recently made some progress on immigration. Harris has researched root causes of Southern border immigration. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-immigration-biden-administration-border/ Trump stated in his nomination acceptance speech that immigrants are dangerous and are bringing disease into the country. He wants to start immediate deportations. https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/mass-deportation-migrants-trump-actually-work-rcna161637
Economy
The economy was in decent shape until Covid hit. The pandemic brought on huge global inflation on costs of groceries, building supplies and more. It affected health care for humans and animals (It is the primary reason for the current pet overpopulation crisis. Spay/neuter surgeries were greatly reduced during the period). Biden has I think unfairly been blamed for the current problems. The US economy is one of the strongest worldwide. Both sides will need a strong plan to continue recovery that will help average middle and working-class Americans.
Trump wants to drill for oil more in the US, which is already at record drilling levels.
Re animal issues, Trump’s record is a mixed bag. He signed the PACT Act. Although many people think he made animal cruelty a felony, there were already animal cruelty felony charges available in all 50 states. The law that Congress passed and that he signed addresses crimes on federal property and crush videos. He also signed the Congress-passed Horse Racing Integrity Safety Act, improving racing conditions. Unfortunately, he allowed hunting trophy imports, rolled back endangered species protections, which Biden later reversed, and blacked out information on federal websites.
Harris voted for the Big Cat Safety Act and the above-mentioned racing act. Ashley a prosecutor, she backed legislation to include pets in domestic violence protection orders.
These are just some of the issues currently facing us. Please take the time to think critically about them and vote, hopefully while still keeping some friends and family. One way or another, the election will be over in November.
As we all now know, on Saturday, July 13, 2024, Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old, who was registered as a Republican but who had made a $15 donation to ActBlue, fired multiple shots from an automatic rifle toward Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. Trump’s ear was injured, one man was killed and others were injured.
The incident set off a nationwide firestorm, with many, including President Biden and officials from both parties, denouncing the act, pointing out that political violence can not be accepted and calling for a cooling off period. Most local politicians, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, whose name has been bandied about as a possible replacement for Biden, should he drop out of the race, as well as Kentucky’s Congressional delegation, including Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and lone Democrat Congressman Morgan McGarvey, expressed similar sentiments. However, some leaders were not as cautious. Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga) posted on X: “Joe Biden sent the orders.”
Many citizens took to social media to express their frustration and thoughts on the subject. Some Republicans and MAGA supporters shared posts with images of Trump after the attack standing with his fist in the air yelling “Fight!.”with a caption to the effect of “If you are sorry the assassination attempt wasn’t successful, unfriend me now.” Some, seemingly forgetting, refusing to believe or accepting Trump’s involvement in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, also accused some Democrats of promoting hate for continuing to denounce Trump’s policies and actions. Some Democrats shared posts saying “I’m begging y’all to care like this when it’s a third grade classroom instead of an ear.” Biden, for his part, said it was a mistake for him to have said to “put a bull’s eye on Trump.” Some Democrats and progressives also continued to hammer in the possible effects of Project 2025, a 900-page document prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump has stated that he does not agree with all the components of the plan. However, many believe that if he is back in office, much of the plan, including the dismantling of the Department of Education, allowing of cronyism and nepotism in the executive branch, loss of environmental protections and promotion of Christian nationalism, will come to fruition.
Questions about the handling of security for the rally by the Secret Service were also expressed.
The incident has sparked a national conversation on the polarization and ugliness of current politics. It also occurred at a time when Biden’s fitness for a second term has been called into question. Some issues in question are below.
Issues:
Gun Control
While political violence can not be tolerated in a democracy, it is not a new occurrence in the United States. Everyone knows or should know that Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy were both assassinated by gun violence while serving as President. What is relatively new in America is the proliferation of automatic weapons, which can be used to kill and injure many more much more quickly. Common-sense gun control measures have been introduced in Congress, but they have largely been voted against by the majority of Republican lawmakers on the basis of Second Amendment rights. One exception was a bipartisan bill, opposed by the NRA, which passed in 2022 after the Uvalde, TX school and Buffalo, NY supermarket shootings. That bill included tougher background checks for those under 21, closing the boyfriend loophole and implementing funding to states for red flag laws to remove firearms from those considered a threat. However, the bill did not address specific types of firearms private citizens can own. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has also introduced a joint resolution to try to dismantle a Biden administration rule based on the law requiring more gun dealers to run background checks. The law also would not have made a difference in this case, as the gun used reportedly belonged to Crooks’ father. Crooks, a nursing home kitchen worker, had reportedly been a member at a local sportsmen’s shooting club.
The Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act, S 3407, filed by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren {Mass), Ed Mackey (Mass) and Cory Booker (NJ) in the current Congress, would ban military-style assault weapons for the public, strengthen background checks, raise minimum age for purchase to 21, create a 7-day waiting period, create a federal gun licensing system and invest in research and gun violence prevention. The bill has no Republican co-sponsors. According to Gallup poll results released in October 2023, 56% of Americans favor stronger gun laws.
Polarization on Other Hot-Button Issues
Abortion
Few issues cause as much division among Americans as abortion. However, in a 2024 Gallup poll, 54% of respondents identified as pro-choice, while 41% identified as pro-life. The 2022 Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade is credited for helping Democrats win control of the Senate in mid-term elections. Both Biden and Trump (at times) have claimed to hold pro-choice beliefs. However, Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominees were integral in overturning Roe.
LGBT Rights
Biden’s position, like many Americans’, on gay rights has evolved over the years. While serving in the Senate, he voted against legislation that would have required states to recognize gay marriages conducted in states where the practice was then performed. However, he changed his stance to support gay rights a dozen years ago. During his presidency, approximately 15% of his appointees to federal agencies have identified as LGBT+. Americans’ attitudes on LGBT issues are complicated. In a 2022 Gallup poll, 71% supported gay marriage. However, transgender issues remain much more divisive.
Separation of Church and State
Separation of church and state is a tenet set out by the founding fathers in the First Amendment to the Constitution. It states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” Recent members of the religious right have attempted to circumvent the law by requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in school classrooms in various states. The current Supreme Court, with Trump’s conservative justices prevailing, ruled that the state of Maine had to fund religious instruction in a rural area lacking public education.
Animal Welfare and the Environment
While many may consider animal welfare a niche issue, those of us involved in animal welfare advocacy and rescue are or should be very concerned with our elected officials’ stances and records on the subject. Trump did sign into law the PACT Act, which was passed by Congress. Although many thought it made any kind of animal abuse a felony, it did not. Most animal welfare laws are controlled and implemented by the states. However, it did make some crimes committed on federal property a felony. It also closed a loophole allowing prosecution for crush videos (Google if you are brave enough).
Trump signed several executive orders that were detrimental to animals. He rolled back endangered species protections, allowed trophy hunting imports and allowed blacking out of information on animal cruelty from federal websites. While Trump eventually reversed his decision on hunting imports after public outcry, Biden reversed Trump’s policies on the Endangered Species Act.
On the environment, Trump removed the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, a move Biden reversed on his first day in office. If re-elected, Trump is expected to try to begin drilling for oil within our borders and removing energy and resource saving requirements for corporations.
Economy
Inflation has grown quickly since the Covid pandemic. Many blame Biden for our economic problems. Worldwide, however, the US is ranked as having the sixth strongest economy.
Wokeness
While not a traditional issue, many Republicans and Democrats today are annoyed and frustrated with the tendency of some further left and/or younger people to insist on politically correct “woke” language and viewpoints. Trigger warnings, safe spaces and canceling are all part of the culture, often associated with younger generations.
Media
Many feel that some media outlets have contributed to the current state of affairs in American politics and culture. It does seem that some issues are seized upon by the media for ratings (ie Me Too, BLM). However, after the next news cycle, the issues are rarely discussed anymore. There is also the question of objectivity by mainstream media, CNN, FOX News and others.
Personal Conclusions
Most Americans have more in common than we are led to believe by extremists in both parties. Everyone wants freedom and to be able to provide for themselves and their families. What that may look like may vary from individual to individual. If we can respect each other’s freedom of speech without devolving into hate speech, demand transparency and objectivity in media and get beyond wedge issues, we might be able to choose political candidates who better represent us to have a better-functioning democracy and society. If not, the American experiment may be short-lived.
Melody watched as a grey suv sped along the narrow holler road. It stopped in front of the Everett’s’ trailer, and a tall blond man got out and knocked on their door.
Melody reached the porch steps before the door could be answered.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m here to meet the Everetts for a documentary I’m working on,” the man said. “Marty Williams.” He extended a hand.
Melody did not return his handshake.
“The Everett’s are pretty private. It’s probably best you leave.”
Undeterred, Marty knocked again.
Linda Everett opened the door and peered out. “Yeah?” she croaked.
Marty repeated his spiel. After several seconds, Tommy and Joey, Linda’s brothers, came to the door too. They were trailed by Peanut, the family’s ancient fat chihuahua.
“We don’t know nothin bout no movie,.” Linda finally answered.
“You all don’t have to talk to him,” Melody interjected.
Linda looked them both over and shut the door.
Marty shot Melody an annoyed look and walked back to his car. “I’ll be back,” he said.
“I’ll be here.” Melody pushed her hair out of her face and stood as tall as she could until the suv turned and left.
She walked next door to her house and returned to filling water buckets. She wanted to get the dog runs cleaned and the fosters fed before the rain. Those people, she thought.
It was not the first time outsiders had turned up to try to get a gander at Wise, Kentucky’s infamous inbred Everett family. There had been a magazine article done about them last year. Ever since, once a month or so, some idiots would turn up wanting to capitalize on them, save them or just be nosy.
They do about as well as some others around here, Melody thought. They did not deserve to be the butt of jokes or a carnival act for something beyond their control. Besides Melody took them groceries and dinner a few times a week. They did not need outside help.
Melody was carrying buckets up the hill when Linda called out to her. “Who was that fella?”
“Just more of the same. I’d just ignore him if he turns back up,” Melody said.
Linda nodded and went back in her house, nudging Joey and Peanut back inside. Linda, although somewhat limited, was the highest functioning of the three and was her brothers’ caretaker. Melody noticed she looked extra tired. I’ll take them over some of my sourdough bread later, she thought as she shoveled poop.
An hour later, Melody was just sitting down to read her latest book when she heard car engines heading through the holler. She glanced out the window and saw Marty’s suv followed by a sheriff’s patrol car.
Shit, she thought. She grabbed a loaf of bread and headed back next door.
“Hi, Dave,” she greeted the deputy.
“Melody, I got to let him be. He’s not trespassing yet,” Dave said.
Marty knocked on the door. This time, Linda answered immediately. She looked at Marty, Melody and Dave. “Come on in then,” she said.
“You don’t have to do this,” Melody said.
“Might as well get it over with,” Linda said, taking the bread Melody handed her.
Melody shot her eyes at Marty and turned on her heel toward home.
“Just stay cool,” Dave called to her before leaving. “I don’t want to have to come back out here.”
Melody ignored him and went into her house, but she kept an eye on the house next door through the window.
Twenty minutes later, Melody heard a door open and footsteps outside. Then Marty was on her porch knocking on the door. She answered without a word.
“I just wanted to let you know I don’t have bad intentions,” Marty said. He handed her a card.
“That’s got my YouTube channel and podcast info. Take a look.”
Melody nodded, took the card and closed the door. She thought about tossing the card into the trash can, but instead she laid it on the counter. She had transport for two dogs heading to rescue in the morning, and she needed to get crates set up in the car for the little hound and the pit mix. She had retired here for the peace and view, but she had gotten involved in animal rescue after seeing so many animals in need in the area. She loaded the car, made herself a sandwich, curled up on the couch with Patches, her calico cat and fell asleep before reading five pages of her book.
Marty took it easy on the narrow, twisty hollow road, but he gunned the engine once he reached the main road. He wanted to make it back to his motel before dark.
This day had turned into a much longer one than he had anticipated. At least he had Linda’s signature as guardian on the interview contract so that he could share whatever he ended up recording on his Youtube channel. After meeting the Everetts, he could spend the night working on tomorrow’s interview questions for the family.
He called Lina, his production assistant, on the way.
“I finally got the contract signed,” he stated. “I’ll email Will when I get to my room. Can you give him a heads up though?”
“Sure. No more problems?” she asked.
“After getting the sheriff to send a deputy out, no. I’m working on the neighbor.”
They exchanged pleasantries on the LA weather and its superiority to Kentucky’s still humid fall before hanging up.
Marty got back to the room, ordered a pizza and opened a beer. He powered up his laptop and began typing interview questions from his notes. He had interviewed Skid Row addicts and prostitutes, as well as addicts and people down on their luck throughout Appalachia. His goal was to continue making a good living, but he liked giving people a chance to be heard too. For many of those he interviewed, it was probably the first and only such chance they got.
Linda woke up early, before dawn. Peanut was nudging her hand with her fat, white face and needed to go out.
“Alright, I’m coming,” she said softly, trying not to wake Tommy and Joey. Her day would be that much longer and harder if they woke up this early.
She opened the door for Peanut and lay back down on the couch. Before she could get back to sleep, Joey started stirring on the recliner.
“Go back to sleep,” Linda told him. “It’s not morning yet.”
“Gotta pee,” he said loudly.
He came back from the bathroom and sat on the recliner, but he was soon up again.
“Hungry,” he said.
“Ok,” Linda said.”I’ll get up and make you something to eat.” She knew she would not be getting any more sleep this morning.
Marty arrived at the Everetts’ mid-morning to find the whole family minus Linda on the front porch. Joey was coloring, and Tommy was stroking Peanut’s silver face and staring into the distance.
“Hey, guys,’ he greeted them.
Joey glanced at him and said hey.
Linda answered the door before he could knock.
“Good morning,” he said. “Should we get started?”
Linda nodded and brought her pop bottle out to the porch.
“Ok,” Marty said. “To get started, Linda how long have you guys lived here?”
“All our lives,” she said.
“So you lived here with your parents?”
She nodded.
“Who’s the oldest?”
“I am, then Joey and Tommy. I’m 61.”
“How do you make ends meet?”
“Well, we get by. We get food stamps and disability on them.”
“So you’re doing ok then?”
“It gets hard sometimes. I have to get a ride to town to the store. Sometimes I take cans I keep and turn them in for money.” She pointed to two large garbage bags filled with cans and plastic bottles in the corner of the porch out of range of a leak in the roof. “So you have some people helping you?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Melody gives us a ride sometimes. Or the old guy up the road. Course I always have to take them to keep an eye on em.”
“I bet that gets tiring,” he said.
“Aw, we do ok.”
“Tell me about your family growing up.”
“Well,” she said, “we were always poor, but we had enough. Daddy worked the mine and momma kept house.”
“How far did you go in school?”
“I went to ninth grade. Joey went to junior high. Tommy was in special classes in elementary, but I can’t remember how long. Joey, do you know how far you went in school?”
He grunted.
“That’s ok,” Marty said. “So Joey and Tommy receive disability payments. What were they diagnosed with?”
Linda thought. “I’m not sure. Mental,” she offered.
Marty swallowed. “Were your parents related?”
“They were double first cousins. They knew each other all their lives,” Linda said.
“That’s nice…do you think that’s what caused Joey and Tommy to have some issues?”
“I don’t know,” Linda said, seemingly considering the information for the first time. “Maybe, I don’t think so.”
“Ok, anything else you want people to know about you and living out here?”
Linda paused. “It’s pretty out here. You can fish or hunt or just go for a walk. And it’s quiet too. Most people don’t bother you.”
“What about this area in general?” Marty asked. “Do you think things have gone downhill since most of the mines closed?”
“Yeah, it’s sad,” Linda said. “You can’t make a living anymore. Most of the younguns get on them drugs if they stay round here too. Just ruins em.”
“I bet. Well thanks,” Marty said. “I’m gonna go through this footage and see what we got, but I might have a few more questions.”
Marty said goodbye to the family.
Marty saw Melody loading pups into crates in her car when leaving the Everetts’. He waved to her as he drove by, but she looked away.
Linda left the boys on the porch and went into the kitchen to start a pot boiling for lunch.
Yesterday while working on a spreadsheet to begin sending animal welfare surveys to legislative candidates, it came to my attention that contact information for challengers is no longer being sent to the Secretary of State for publication. I was told this change was due to a legislative statute change.
Today I called the Legislative Research Commission. A staffer was unsure which bill caused the change, but he said he would check into it. I could see release of addresses maybe being a safety concern, but I do not understand the reasoning for denying public access to email addresses. After all, current legislators’ email addresses are public knowledge.
The staffer did inform me that the reason for lack of pre-filed bills was the passage of House Bill 10 in 2022, which was voted in by the great majority of legislators. I have reached out to my state representative to see if he could shed some light on the reasoning, but I have not heard back yet.
These changes, in addition to the fast-tracking issues pointed out in the League of Women Voters’ recent report, only serve to further erode public transparency and access to the legislative process. Not everyone has the time or inclination to follow the session closely. However, the legislature makes decisions affecting everyone’s pensions, healthcare, education and rights. The public deserves to be able to have a say in such importation decisions.
Last week the League of Women Voters released a report on changes the Ky legislature needs to make on the fast-tracking of bills to give more transparency and allow citizen input in the legislative process. Although local newspapers and TV stations covered the release, it sadly did not seem to garner a great deal of public interest.
Granted, in a society dominated by viral videos and sound bites, the report release is a bit lacking in flash and sex appeal (see pic added for attention of former federal Congressman Madison Cawthorn above). However, repercussions from legislative decisions affect everyone in the Commonwealth much more than who is or is not a certain magazine’s chosen person of the year, for example.
The report, which can be found at Report (squarespace.com), mainly addresses the fast-tracking of bills. This fast-tracking has gone on for years with both parties in leadership. However, in the last few years of a Republican supermajority in the General Assembly, the practice has grown exponentially. Examples cited in the report are public pension changes aptly hidden in SB 151, a sewer bill, a few years ago and the much-maligned SB 150, which targeted transgender people last year.
Per the report, fast-tracking can occur when readings of bills are held before any committee action, when a day’s notice is not given between readings and in committee substitutes. Passage of bills through these means has increased tenfold in the last twenty-five years. The report acknowledges that Ky is not the only state legislature operating in this manner, but it argues that the legislature should follow the following rules:
“The House and Senate can hold the three required bill readings after a standing committee sends the bill to the whole House or Senate for a vote, as specified in the Rules.
Each chamber can also allow a full day between the last standing committee action on a bill and the House or Senate floor vote on the bill.
Consistency on those two steps can greatly improve the opportunities for legislators and citizens to review the bills coming to a final vote and provide an opening for legislators to hear and consider citizen thoughts on those provisions.”
I would argue that changes need to go further. The legislature voted last year against pre-filing bills before session. For the last few years, the practice after bills are filed is for them to be moved to “Committees on Committees,” rather than on to committees based on subject matter, until a committee head calls them. These two practices need to be changed. Citizens have little warning as to what bills will be filed in a given year, and they have no chance to contact committee members hearing a bill.
Most Kentuckians, even those who vote, are busy with jobs and families and have little time to monitor the goings-on in Frankfort. Some leaders in the legislature are counting on that to keep their power and further their own agendas and those of the lobbyists courting them. Demand that the people you elect to represent you are looking out for your interests and valuing your input. And remember that most legislators are up for reelection next year!
Maybe you’re an animal lover with a pet. You see the sad TV commercials about abused, neglected animals, but you wonder if just donating is enough. So you start to volunteer walking dogs and cleaning cat cages at your local animal shelter.
Maybe a few years down the road, after being busy working and raising kids, you get more involved in transporting animals from shelters to rescues. You see how little protections there are for animals, so you begin to advocate for better welfare laws.
You hear about a particular shelter or rescue that has gotten overwhelmed or is underfunded, and you spend hours, days and weeks working with like-minded people to make changes. You schedule transports of animals on Sunday, because you have to work all week and your kid has a sporting event on Saturday. Still your partner gets annoyed, and your kid says you care more about animals than them.
When you have spent money set aside for bills on boarding and vetting someone else’s pet and too much time away from your family, you decide to take a break. You mute animal friends on social media so you won’t be tempted to get too involved again. But every once in awhile, you get a desperate message from someone about a sick, injured or abandoned animal you can’t refuse.
Finally your kid is grown and you retire. You envision a future of part-time work, traveling and maybe the occasional transport. Then your phone dings. There is a dog chained and half-starved with an embedded collar in your community. The shelter is full. The owner may or may not be charged. Can you help?
How can you help those in animal rescue?
Spay or neuter your pets! Rescuing animals to prevent those in shelters from being euthanized due to overpopulation has been compared to trying to empty the ocean with a spoon. We can not rescue our way out of this issue. The only real option is to lessen the amount of unwanted animals in the first place.
Donate or volunteer. Just be careful not to overload yourself with volunteer responsibilities as weil.
You can also get politically involved, and ask your representatives to enact stronger animal welfare laws.
Above all, try to give your animal rescuing friend or family the benefit of the doubt the next time they flake and miss or cancel on something. It is probably not intentional or personal.
Update: the no’s have it! Now there’s at least a way to fight this ridiculousness in court.
I will vote no on Amendment 2. When I go to vote, it will be with the image above in mind.
That may sound strange to some. Don’t all the people who love babies and children want to vote yes to stop almost all abortions in the state? When Roe was overturned this year, abortion was left to the states. Ky’s trigger law, put into place by the Republican super majority legislature, made Ky a place where a safe abortion, whether early, in cases of rape, incest or otherwise, could not be had. While litigation has continued, the constitutional amendment on the ballot is our last chance to stop this extreme measure.
I love babies. I also think they should be cared for and loved. If a child is born to someone who does not want children or has been raped ,their chances of living a good life are already lower. What about adoption though? Some on the right seem to think that is the solution to the problem. They seem to ignore the fact that there are approximately 10,000 children currently in foster care in Ky.
Furthermore, if states have gotten to decide abortion, what else will the Supreme Court put back in their hands? Gay marriage? Interracial marriage? Religious freedom? The right to protect yourself? Where does it stop?
The Court’s political, narrow-minded decision did away with a fifty-year precedent. If you value your freedom and rights and consider yourself a red-blooded American, I highly suggest you consider the fact that, if they can take away this established right, they will take away anything.
When you enter the voting booth, please think of what you cherish most about being an American. Think about the future of our children. Then cast a no vote on Amendment Two.
My niece’s wedding, my son’s expecting and my impending retirement have me feeling some kinda way. I just watched this video of a book I read to my son when he was a baby, and I bawled like a baby. Here it is, so you can start your day blubbering too.
Mel's Musings (aka bersain1) 