Near the Old Man of Storr, Scotland I took this in 2004

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Interconnectivity

Here's some much needed good news c/o PETA

Victory: Lufthansa Stops Shipping Dogs and Cats to Laboratories


"Wow, that was fast! Less than a day after PETA released heartbreaking photos and posted an action alert on our Web site drawing attention to the plight of more than 50 dogs who were transported on a Lufthansa cargo plane from the U.S. to a notorious Charles River Laboratories animal testing facility in Scotland, Lufthansa has announced a new policy prohibiting the transport of dogs and cats to laboratories. To everyone who responded to our call to action, thank you!

It's a great first step and an important victory for cats and dogs. We're delighted that Lufthansa acted so speedily. But all animals suffer in laboratories, so here comes Part Two: Let's get Lufthansa to extend its new policy to cover all species.

Click here to thank Lufthansa for protecting dogs and cats and urge it to do more!"

---

That's pretty wonderful, and gives me hope that my petition will create a butterfly effect, as it were. And it will come to fruition, that animals will get included in the constitution... and soon!

Please keep signing and asking people to my petition urging the Canadian government to include animal rights in the constitution!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution

Lastly, it's such a beautiful Spring, and the lilacs are about to burst into bloom. They are so beautiful..pictures coming soon:) Though we have been having weirdly freezing weather all thanks to the interconnectivity of everything, and more specifically the tornadoes in the States.

There's that butterfly effect again...ah butterflies. Well, I saw some images of the twisters, and as scary as they may have been they looked so damn cool. I hope no animals were harmed. Though the animals would've known the twisters were coming. The same way my kitty(-ies) always acts bizarro on or near a full moon. And all the animals who knew to run up in to the mountains when that big tsunami hit a few years back.

We are ALL connected. Every thought, action and word we speak affects everyone else.

When you are in a bad mood and you take it out on some one, that person will take that out on someone else..a ripple effect. Who knows how far that bad mood will end up? Think about it.




Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day, seen!


Happy Earth Day!!
I hope you do something today to reconnect with our broken and ill-treated earth.
And by earth I mean our physical environment. Clean up a public space, a park, a sidewalk, just pick up crap on the street, feed the birds or squirrels, smell the flowers.

while you're out doing good deeds, my petition
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution
And now...

It's time for a little Wilson Pickett, and here's one of my faves:

"If you need me"

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Wilson+Pickett/track/If+You+Need+Me?from=imeem


and some Garnet Silk, big up, " Splashing Dashing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDrIZ_zvxpQ

And I'll end with a little Barrington Levy, "Be Strong"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXVdLY83C2k

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tell Lufthansa to stop sending animals to their deaths!

And with the light comes the seemingly never ending darkness..I got this in an email from a no-kill cat group I support. I added an email address

Here's the email...


PETA recently obtained heartbreaking photos showing at least 50 beagles confined to crates and loaded like cargo on a Lufthansa transport plane. The beagles were destined for a Charles River Laboratories (CRL) animal-testing facility in Scotland where they will likely be poisoned and killed in drug and pesticide tests.

CRL condemns tens of millions of animals to confinement, poisoning, mutilation, and death in its own laboratories and those of its customers. The company was recently fined $14,000 after 32 monkeys were cooked to death when a room at its facility in Reno, Nev., overheated.

By transporting these animals, Lufthansa is facilitating and profiting from the abuse of animals in laboratories. Please take a moment to let Lufthansa know that this practice is unacceptable.

Send a quick e-mail to Lufthansa vice president Jens Bischof --here are the parts I added via Jennifer.Urbaniak@dlh.de, I think she's an assistant of his, or click on the "send a quick email" link which will take you to the PETA site with a pre-written letter to Jens, the bastard. Here's the address to Charles river Labs, askcharlesriver@crl.com

Urge Jens to join other progressive airlines like Qantas and Cathay Pacific by enacting a policy against transporting animals destined for use in laboratories.

Here's the letter I wrote addressed to both Jennifer and Charles Labs, and Jens too, via PETA:


Luftsansa

Mr. Bischof I have just learned that your airline has made deals with Marshall Farms, who breed animals for "scientific" purposes, meaning, they torture animal victims, in upstate New York, and Charles River Laboratories (CRL) an animal-testing facility in Scotland. Your airline transports animals such as beagles to their death by torture, poisoning, unimaginable terror and pain. How can you allow this? When people choose to close their eyes to evil we have seen evidence of what can happen, such as the horrors of the Holocaust. Everyday, thousands of animals quietly endure pain and torture in the name of "science", and this too is a Holocaust.

Most people think of animals as nothing more "things"; to be eaten, their bodies worn, their children taken sold, and eaten. People kill them for fun this is called "sport". People use words like "breed"- though has anyone asked the animal if s/he feels like procreating, and words like "owner", once again indicating that most people feel that animals are their property. Also, we must not forget all the quiet torture animals must endure, locked up, beaten scared, hunted, because most people regard them as nothing more than things with no feelings.

Mr. Bischof, by continuing to allow animals to be sent to their hideous demise, you are totally complicit in this heinous torture that must stop. Silence coupled with apathy are two of the worst evils.

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."

Martin Luther King

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me -
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me
.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

The modern amendment to this poem could read:
"Then they came for the animals-the house pets, mountain gorillas, or animals being tortured in a lab, but I was not able to understand that we are all connected- so I did nothing."

And here is my petition,
Sign my petition urging the Canadian government to include animal rights in the constitution!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution




Signs of Spring

"Il Giardino"

Here is what Spring looks like in my neck of the woods! It's a shame I can't also upload the amazing smells; the deep, spicy hyacinth, the sweet cherry blossom, the delicate daffodil..
So, beautiful!






Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Spring with bounce

So my petition is over 700 signatures to date, ( 703 to be exact!)!!!
How excellent is that?

For any newcomers who don't know what the petition is about, just briefly I want my government, here in mild-mannered Canada to recognize animals as having rights and, to that end, include or, encode animal rights into the constitution.

Here's the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution

In other news, Spring has definitely sprung. The wee birds have been up since before the official ass-crack of dawn. They were happily chirping away at 4 this morning, when there was still no sign of light, anywhere.

Superior cat is nestled next to me resembling, as she always does, a baby seal, crossed with a little bear and a door mouse, yes, she is
that cute!

And on a personal rant, I hate wix.com, they are the devil's spawn, truly! Fuck, I've spent so many god damned hours of wasted time trying, in vain to get a website up and running, but each time I do something, something else disappears permanently. All you have to do is touch anything at all, and poof, you've lost all your work. It's bullshit, or perhaps mmm, maybe even elephant shit, cuz they're bigger, :)

Superior cat just repositioned herself, she was keeping my leg so toasty, to the point of sweating.

Even though the weather's getting warmer, I still do agree that "April is the cruelest month", as dear old Eliot reminds us. It's such a liminal period of flux and transition, growth and death happening all at the same time. Plus a lot of people have exams, which is also cruel. I will be giving exams, and the cruel part is the first one will begin at 8 in the morning! Who's going to be even vaguely ready to even spell their own name, let alone anything else at such an hour?
Maybe that's the point? Survival of the fittest? Weed out the whingers. Well, I guess in ties it with the whole Spring birth-death cycle. Meh.

Happy middle of April, and coincidentally, the middle of the week! Do something fun today, and eat something that makes you really happy.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Almost Easter

Happy almost Easter, or if you'd prefer, Eostre's day. Eostre's familiar was a hare!

Even if the day means nothing to you, I hope you will celebrate the new birth of spring, which is something to celebrate.

My favourite thing are flowers, which are amazing! How do they know how to create themselves to perfectly and smell so beautiful, and their colours?

And in other animal related news, the petition's gaining, I have close to 700 signatures, on the combined 2 sites!!! 672 to be exact.

Passover and Easter are 2 of my favourite holidays, and then of course is Thanksgiving.

My cat has taken on a new nick name, as it were, she's now known, by me, as "superior cat", because really, she is.

This house feels like a bloody daycare cum halfway house c/o my ass sister. Anything she wants, she gets, and that means having anyone live here whenever and for however long. I just heard her snap at the kid she's brought over to stay I assume, "start being a little more creative!"
" You don't know how to pick up stuff and read? "You need me to guide you?! You're not a baby yo, I don't do it like that!"

Nice

Anyway, I'm off to eat lox and cream cheese with my grandmother.