Archive for January, 2012

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Vets Helping Heroes


31 Jan

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Posted in Dogs, Healthcare, Pets, Politics | Comments Off

I love highlighting organizations like this one. I have written in other places about Pets2Vets, which helps provide companion animals to veterans. The animals come from shelters, so the soldiers aren’t just getting a pet, they’re saving a life.

Vets Helping Heroes works to help provide veterans with service dogs, which comes with a much higher expense. Currently, our federal government does not provide any assistance to veterans who would benefit from a service animal. Vets Helping Heroes is lobbying to change that, but in the meantime, they are raising funds to provide as many service animals as they can.

Daughter’s are not Crimes


30 Jan

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Posted in Discrimination, International Politics, Politics, Religion | Comments Off

Living in the United States sometimes serves to insulate us against what happens in the rest of the world. We think that because of the internet and other modern conveniences that the rest of the world must be like us, think like us. And it’s not true. We need to be reminded about universal human rights, and that there are people in this world who do not enjoy them.

In Afghanistan, a man and his mother strangled his wife to death. Her crime? Giving birth to a third daughter instead of a son. Wasn’t that Ann Boleyn’s crime in 1533?

Movie Review: Dylan Dog In the Dark of Night


29 Jan

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Posted in Movies | Comments Off

Let me start by saying I remember when the previews for this movie first came out. We loved them, in a mockable kind of way. We knew this wasn’t going to be “good” movie in the traditional sense, and that was fine. If we were looking for “good”, we might have watched the new True Grit instead. But we were looking for fun and enjoyable, hoping for as few cringeworthy moments as possible.
Dylan Dog delivered.
I would’ve liked a bit more reaction from him knowing the girl (monster hunter or not) had been killed.

I’d even watch a sequel.

Blog Feature: Kenzo the Hovawart and Viva


28 Jan

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Posted in blogging, Dogs, Pets, Writing | 3 Comments »

I know, your first questions is “What is a Hovawart?”. Can I answer that by saying that Kenzo and Viva live in Denmark. I know that’s not an answer, especially since the breed appears to be almost as rare in Europe as it is here in the US.

Hovawarts look kind of like Golden Retrievers to me, so it amazes me that they are one of the breeds often discriminated against, as a “dangerous”, but they are.

I hate breed specific legislation and my favorite thing about this blog is the dedication to making it visible, and fighting against it.

Animal Rescue


27 Jan

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Posted in Pets | Comments Off

I will do a longer post about this next week over on Life by Pets, but I think this article by Emily Yoffe over at Slate is something all animal lovers should be paying attention to. On online boards, I’ve been around people who accuse anyone who buys a pet from a breeder of “killing shelter pets”. And while in some shelters, it’s still pretty easy to just walk in and find a pet, that’s not always the case. Rescue organizations need to figure out that a perfect home isn’t likely, and a good “forever” home is better than none.

The Dinosaur Nursery


26 Jan

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Posted in Science | Comments Off

As salmon return to their birth places to spawn, so dinosaurs returned to the same spots to lay their eggs. Well, maybe not exactly like that, but new evidence found at the oldest dinosaur nesting grounds ever discovered does show that multiple dinosaurs built their nests in the same area at roughly the same time, and that dinosaurs kept coming back to that area to build their nests.

The nesting ground, found in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa, contains the oldest dinosaur nests ever found, older than previous nesting sites by 100 million years. That’s amazing.

Subverting the Cause


25 Jan

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Posted in Discrimination, Gay Marriage, Politics | Comments Off

Awhile back, I signed up to get the AFA (American Family Association) emails. Basically, their newsletters telling me who to boycott serve as notices to me for companies I should support.

I got one this week telling me I should “Pray for Home Depot Chairman Frank Blake to make wise decisions regarding his company’s direction.” And that I should boycott the company because they sent an email to AFA stating ““We have never changed our commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people, and we have no intention of doing so.”

Thank you, Home Depot, for doing the right thing.

Marriage is Marriage


24 Jan

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Posted in Discrimination, Gay Marriage, Politics, Racism | Comments Off

I want to say that I am proud ofWashingtonstate, and I am. At the same time, I still can’t believe it has taken us this long. Yesterday the first hearings were held for both the state Senate and House bills that will bring marriage equality to our state.

I don’t even want to call it gay marriage, because it’s not like it’s a separate thing. It’s marriage. Making interracial marriage legal did not change marriage. It was not a separate thing from same race marriage. This isn’t about gay rights. It’s about equal rights. And it’s about time.

Happy New Year (again)


23 Jan

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Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Happy New Year! What, you say the new year has already started? Only if you go by the Western calendar. Today’s the start of the lunar new year, better known as the Chinese New Year. And that’s great, because if you’ve already failed your New Year’s Resolutions, you now have the perfect opportunity to start over again, or to make new ones, or decide resolutions aren’t for you, but maybe goals are.

It doesn’t matter what you do, but if you need an excuse for a fresh start, then you have one. Go make this year better than the last.

Blog Feature: Another Housewife


22 Jan

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Posted in blogging, Writing | 2 Comments »

I met Mrs C from Another Housewife on the Women in Red message boards. She and I have two very different approaches to life, which is actually one of the things I enjoy most about her posts. She looks at things so differently than I do, that reading her blog helps me expand my horizons.

At the same time, we have a few things in common, too. Not just being bloggers, but we’re both avid readers. I love that she looked up the costs of the books she got from the library to see how much going there saves her.

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