Month: August 2011

Categories
Critters

And the Missouri Smoke and Mirrors Continue

Attorney General Koster has come out with a look how much we care about the doggies site, which is basically a load of bilge water.

Two breeders have been closed down. Two. And both breeders were allowed to hold on to their dogs until resolution of their cases, and one is even allowed to breed dogs again in six years.

I don’t really care about the political party of all the people involved, because both Democrats and Republicans have tried to help the dogs, and both Democrats and Republicans have done a lot of damage to the cause of animal welfare in this state. What I do care about is truth, which is sometimes hard to see when politicians use so much smoke, and so many mirrors.

This little joy-joy announcement was a good reminder, though, that I need to re-focus back on my Missouri Kennel Campaigns. Currently I’m going through the entire USDA APHIS database, as well as other resources, finding what I feel are the worst breeders. Then we’ll start the battle anew.

Because contrary to what the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation states, contrary to what Governor Nixon, Director Jon Hagler of the MDA, and AG Koster claim, things are not better for the dogs in this state.

Categories
Critters

Putting Lies into Context: Debe Bell and the Six Bell’s Rabbitry

updated

Several Tea Party pundits have jumped on the media bandwagon for Debe Bell and the Six Bells Rabbits.

“There was no warrant”, they claim, based solely on what they were told by Bell (never bothering to fact check).

“The rabbits were in great shape!”, they shouted, again based on what they were told by Bell (assuming that Bell was telling the truth, while a dozen or so veterinarians, animal care personnel, and sheriff’s department personnel were all lying).

Well, nothing like a few facts to show how foolish these people are.

In the sidebar to the story is a link to both the warrant and a slideshow of the conditions on Bell’s farm. You better have a strong stomach before clicking the link to the slideshow.

The sad thing is, many puppy (and bunny) mills in Missouri share similar conditions, but they’re not being closed down.

update

The Baltimore Sun picked up the story as have the Denver TV stations.

second update

A judge has denied Bell’s restraining order and the rabbits can now go up for adoption. Finally, these bunnies have a chance.

Last I heard, though, Tea Party friends of Bell have decided that the photos were doctored, that Colorado has entered into a conspiracy with the USDA and HSUS (and probably little green aliens from Mars) to deny Bell her Constitutional rights to continue treating rabbits like crap.

Categories
Just Shelley

Golden Girl: This old broad

If you’ve been reading my weblogs in their various incarnations since the painful beginning, you’ve read me talking about my car, Golden Girl.

Golden Girl isn’t a fancy car. It’s a 4 door 2002 Ford Focus with a Zetec engine and painted in metallic gold. It is my very first car.

No, I’m not so young. I’m just one of those who didn’t decide to drive until I was…well, older than most people when they learn to drive. I started to learn to drive in Boston, practiced cross country, and received my first driver’s license in San Francisco. I bought Golden Girl a few months later via the internet, at a time when this was still a very new idea. I test drove a Focus, but didn’t meet Golden Girl until I picked her up.

My car was my delight. I drove her from California to Missouri, and from Missouri to Idaho, and back to Missouri, and on to Florida, then Missouri, and back to California and then returning, once more, to Missouri. Once in Missouri, I visited every nook and cranny in the state—including many dark hollows posted “Do Not Trespass”, with guard dogs that look at you as if sizing up which part to bite first.

Golden Girl is no longer young. A broken strut earlier has today been joined by a cracked thermostat housing, which followed a massive amount of work last year. There’s a short in the car somewhere, most likely in the instrument cluster that causes the instruments to peg out, go to zero, and then eventually recover. One could live with hyperactive instruments but the car’s lighting also dims as the same time, which can makes things a bit interesting at night.

I take her in to be worked on more frequently than I take her in to have her oil changed. And I no longer trust her for driving outside the city. Heck, half the time I don’t trust her for driving in the city.

I can’t afford to get a new car, and I won’t buy a used car full of someone else’s problems. I have to consider that at this point I’m driving Golden Girl until she can go no further, and then hopefully some charitable organization can get a little extra good from her.

Then I’ll be as I was before I bought Golden Girl—living carless.

It’s hard to think about going without Golden Girl, though. This last decade has not always been easy, with some sad losses along the way, but I’ve always had my car.