"True, much of the dated advice ... is now amusingly camp,
but the potential thrill of being single still saturates each page."
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Wednesday, July 31, 2002
The family said Lindsay took her own life on 16 July because she could not cope with the ordeal or her treatment by the defence when she gave evidence.She was asked twice to hold up the underwear she had been wearing at the time of the attack.
The judge imposed a supervision orderHer father Frank said: "We still feel very angry about the way Lindsay was treated in court.
"We'd like some help from the powers that be to look into ways to change the situation."
Mr Armstrong, who was in court with his wife Linda and son Damon, told reporters: "This should not be allowed to happen. These girls should be treated with a lot more respect and dignity."
Mrs Armstrong said
UPDATE****UPDATE*** And I thank my intuition for telling me to do that. While holding him, after one of his episodes, he passed out in my arms and did not recover as usual. My regular vet was not available so I went to his backup emergency vet, Kendall Williams, Blackhawk Veterinary Hospital. Excuse me if I gush with praise.
My first Janesville vet, 3 blocks from my house, Dr. Hicks of the Janesville Clinic, would not see the dying cat unless I could give him money "up front" even though I had spent about $200.00 there since coming to Janesville. He had diagnosed an ailment of the mother cat as ringworms without doing a culture but by using a Woods Lamp which had shown the tell-tell glowing yellow of ringworms. He gave an ineffective remedy, a topical, MicaVed Lotion 1% (miconazole nitrate), so ineffective I would term it an old wives tale remedy.
Because Luna had sores all over her body, she had this MicaCrap covering her whole body for six weeks, she was miserable, breathing irregularly and still itching. And the crap is not cheap; $15.00 a bottle. So I went to the internet; found vets were advised not to use the topical; drugs and dips were recommended but they also required 6 weeks of treatment. However, there is a new treatment that has good results with only two treatments, Program. I gave Hick's clinic the current literature from the internet; his assistants reacted with disdain and disgust that I would question the good doctor who has been practicing a thousand years, seems kind, has many clients stack up in his waiting room and who just won an award. Dr. Hicks ignored the literature, never returning my calls.
So I found a new vet, Dr. McSweeny of All Creatures Great and Small, who knew what I was talking about when I said Program cures Ringworms. But Dr. McSweeny was not going to do anything until he had cultured Luna's itch sores to be sure that her problem was ringworm. Because Hicks had not done this, I lost another 10 days. Ringworms are contagious and the spores could be spreading through the rest of the pride.
***UPDATE***Well, it turned out that the culture said she did NOT have ringworms; but I am going to give her Program anyway. If it works on ringworms which is not a worm but a fungus, it may be that what she does have is some kind of fungus and (another) maybe Program will work on that too. Because the next step is putting her under anesthetic and do a biopsy. And that will cost big bucks, again. To say nothing of the fact that Luna was totally feral when we met and still will not even show her face if another human being is present. Any trip to the vet consists of her screaming at the top of her lungs and panting in total panic until we get home. Yeah, I am really looking forward to having her all alone with strangers, being strapped down on a table and a mask put over her face. So I am going to try Program first.
Gaia, as you may have read in the entry, "To Dance Beneath the Diamond Sky",, has a thing he has done since someone dislocated his hip when he was five months old. He goes to a place where he is alone and walks back and forth crying loudly. Mostly after he eats. Afterward, he is disoriented and sleepy. I had made up my mind that I was going to start holding Gaia after these episodes and Friday while I was doing this, he was going in and out of consciousness and did not seem to be recovering as he had before. When he came to consciousness, he threw up white foam.
When I called Dr. McSweeny after 5:30 p.m., he was closed but his message suggested an emergency doctor who covered for him. After I saw Gaia was in real trouble, I called Hick's clinic as they were open and I did not want to pay emergency fees. I told them I would have money to pay them in seven days but did not have it tonight. I told them I thought the cat was dying. They said: no money-no care. Their exact words; "Mary said we want to see the money up front." Yeah, he just won an award.
Fine, I called the emergency doctor. Well, it ended up costing about $400.00 but he saved my golden Gaia. And diagnosed a long standing problem. I loved him and everything else about the clinic. Hick's clinic would have never spent the time to actually find out what was wrong. So sometimes obstacles really are the things that point out the correct direction if they do not kill us first.
When I arrived at Blackhawk Vet Clinic, Dr. Kendall Williams was holding the door open. It was obvious he was wanted at home from the phone calls, but he never rushed anything and treated Gaia like he was the most important person in the world. He took the history. My wonderful Mt Horeb Vet, Dr. Vogel and her sainted assistants, Julie and Dana, had copied all my cats' medical records before I moved. I gave Gaia's to him and he read them.
He did the regular checks and took blood and x-rays. He was able to read the results himself that night, and although the cat was practically comatose, as usual nothing was out of the ordinary in the exam or the tests (this is why it is so hard with animals).
He said he wanted to keep Gaia overnight and would give him fluids as he was badly dehydrated. But I cannot leave them overnight anymore (the past; the trauma; I just can't).
Dr. Williams took his time, never hurried, decided to let us go home with instructions to get urine if possible. Gaia had none in his bladder that Williams could take. We had been there over an hour, maybe two and William's clinic started at 8:00 a.m. the next day. But he was ready to stay as long as it took. I was in despair, I believed Gaia would not make it through the night but what could I do? Nothing showed up in the tests.
Just as I was getting ready to put Gaia in the carrier he stooped down and tried to poop but a huge gob of mucus was all that came out. Dr. Williams scooped that up, whipped off to test it and came back to announce it was colitis. He had medication which got Gaia through the night along with the intravenous for dehydration. Gaia did not eat or drink or urinate that night (is still not eating or drinking) and would not take the pills. He pooped big piles of mucus twice that night climbing on the bed to do that right next to me.
The next morning, I went back to the clinic and the vet gave him water intravenously and took the urine sample the hard way. He got the pill down Gaia's throat. It is Sunday and Gaia is better now but still not eating or drinking. I am forcing a little liquid food down him. He accepted one pill but is fighting them again. This is bad because the whole pride sees me fighting with him and the strangeness affects everyone and disunity sets in.
Now for an internet search on colitis-I only remember snatches of what the doctor told me. It is the colon making mucus to lubricate the poops-it is because of the stress and tension Gaia carries, (he is the big brother; takes care of his itchy mother Luna, Thea and Dreamer); Colitis is like an ulcer?
Interior Secretary Gale Norton's decision to shelve grizzly bear recovery in central Idaho and western Montana "sets a dangerous precedent in vetoing a major conservation initiative in a way that undermines the purposes of the Endangered Species Act," Jamie Rappaport Clark, the National Wildlife Federation's Senior Vice President for Conservation, said here today.In her first major wildlife decision since assuming office, Secretary Norton announced earlier in the day that she is abandoning plans to reintroduce grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem of the Northern Rockies in favor of an official position of "no action."
"Imperiled wildlife in the United States is not brought back from the brink of extinction by no action," Clark said. "Gray wolves would not be thriving in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho today if Secretary Norton's policy had been in place when that recovery got underway. Her decision not only deals a severe blow to grizzly bear recovery, but sends a chilling message for other wildlife recovery efforts across the country."
Last November, after years of study and public comment both in the region and nationally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Interior Department issued a final record of decision to move forward with grizzly bear recovery.......
(click above to read the article)
Another "what goddess are you" test I took from e-mode said I was a Sphinx
In Egyptian mythology, a Sphinx is a winged creature with the head of a woman and the body of a lion, noted for killing those who could not answer its riddle.
Here is a copy of about half of the entry.
Now feast your eyes on conservative Justice Antonin Scalia's own deep qualms about the corrupting influence of democracy --- specifically, that democracy leads people to the dangerous belief that government derives its just powers not from divine authority, but some fuzzier notion like, say, the consent of the governed; that the government is supposed to represent the will of the people, rather than "the hand of almighty god":
"Few doubted the morality of the death penalty in the age that believed in the divine right of kings, or even in earlier times. St. Paul had this to say. ... "Let every soul," he says, "be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God ... Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation, for rulers are not a terror to good ...These passages from Romans represent, I think, the consensus of Western thought until quite recent times --- not just of Christian or religious thought, but of secular thought regarding the powers of the state. That consensus has been upset ... by the emergence of democracy.
It is easy to see the hand of almighty God behind rulers whose forebears, deep in the mists of history, were mythically anointed by God or who at least obtained their thrones in awful and unpredictable battle whose outcome was determined by the Lord of Hosts; that is, the Lord of Armies.
It is much more difficult to see the hand of God or of any higher moral authority behind the fools and rogues --- as the losers would have it --- whom we ourselves elect to do our own will.
How can their power to avenge, to vindicate the public order be any greater than our own?"
And, lest anyone think these are mere philosophical musings, [*Justice* Scalia] issues a call to "people of faith" to correct the error:
"It seems to me that the reaction of people of faith to this tendency of democracy to obscure the divine authority behind government should be not resignation to it but resolution to combat it as effectively as possible,
and a principal way of combating it, in my view, is constant public reminder that
--- in the words of one of the Supreme Court's religion cases in the days when we understood the religion clauses better than I think we now do ---
"we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a supreme being."So, the guy who put Dubya in the oval office now seems to believe that his authority derives ultimately not from the Constitution, but from the Bible. This is certainly an unusual sentiment for a Supreme Court justice to express.
But, oddly, that's not the most remarkable......
Go read this journal entry and be afraid.
I think it is so important that all new readers see and read this entry. Tell other people.
Your cats should always have several ways to get out of your house and be safe in your backyard until you can get to them. Just in case something bad happens (like a fire) and you are not there. And now there is a way to make this possible!
This entry is also for people who do not want other people's cats in their yard. Take some responsibility yourself. You may have more money than the offender. You can build a fence rather than starting a war with your neighbors. Read On.......
My cats are safe outside at last!
Most people know what horror I and my cats have suffered since 9/11/2000, when neighbors shot my 5 month old kittens for target practice and never stopped killing them after that.
If you're interested in the details, click here - or you can also click "Higher Consciousness" on the green Index way at the bottom of this page or on my home page graphic.
I moved away from that house and that city when the legal system refused to protect me and instead persecuted me, saying I was just as bad as the animal abusers because I, like everyone else in that city of 4,000 people, let my cats go outside. I, however, had the misfortune to live next door to Mr. and Mrs. Satan from Hell.
Get this people - the victim of animal abuse is not as bad as the abusers. She did not "ask for it". You condone and excuse animal abuse when you have that attitude. You blame the victim and excuse the abuser. No one is responsible for animal abuse but the abuser. And believe me, they enjoy it and are always looking for an excuse to do it. Don't help them excuse their cruelty.
Cats have a right and a need to be outside in nature and nothing they do gives anyone the right to hurt them. They need the herbs, they need the exercise, they need the experience, and they need the healing power of nature just as we do. The house is just a big cage unless you really turn it into a jungle jim with a lot of eatable cat greens, open windows and fresh water.
NOW THERE IS A WAY TO HAVE IT ALL - THE CATS CAN GO OUTSIDE AND THEY CAN BE SAFE TOO!
I am writing today to announce that, on a six foot wooden fence, the Cat Fence-In System really does work. It can also be put on a chain link fence. I linked to the Cat Fence-In website below and copied some language from their site at the end of this entry.
THE BASE FENCE
Well you have to put the cat fence-in system on a fence. So you have to fence your yard. A six foot fence is best, wood or chain. I found out a lot of things when I had mine built. Here is some information you might find useful.
The thing I would tell you about having the base fence built, is to tell the builder to place the fence right on the ground. If you do not give specific instructions, they will leave a few inches space and the cats will escape under the fence.
You can ask them to dig a trench (there is a machine, a trencher, that will do this). Order a fence one-half foot larger than your city's regulations allow, and have the installers place the extra inches in the trench.
However some people say there are problems with trenching. The ground freezing causes fence buckling when part of the fence is underground; other people say this is nonsense. I have no idea.
I had the fence set as close to the ground as possible and then I placed 4x4's along the bottom of it. Perfect! No one even tries to dig out. I did notice the boards seem father apart than when they first came and Lemke said that was because the wood was wetter when it came and as it dried there was some shrinkage. But it is not significant enough shrinkage to allow a cat to escape.
Be sure that the gates are also hung as low as possible.
Be sure the last fence post is placed as close to the house as possible. In accord with the no gap rule, avoid a large gap between the house and first fence post. The post closest to the house should be braced toward the house so it doesn't start leaning away from the house as the concrete dries.
Avoid Wet Wood - Lumber for base fence should be held for at least a month before it is used.
Have them deliver the lumber and let it sit in the garage a month or two before it is used unless they will guarantee that it will not shrink after installation, causing it to have wide spaces between each board.
If the wood is not dry when installed, when the shrinking of the base fence's wood is finished, there may be a gap between the gate and the fence post to which the gate is attached. A gap large enough for a cat to squeeze through. Best to get some guaranteed that the wood has set around long enough to have dried sufficiently so that the subsequent shrinkage is minimal.
Cats, who are small lions, need exercise; the mental stimulation of the outdoors; the pleasure of eating catnip and cat grasses; rolling in the dust and sleeping in the sun. All animals including cats have a right to the pleasure and comfort of nature.
But it is simply not safe to let them roam. Remember the group of boys who barbecued a live kitten on an outdoor grill at a party. And remember the Wisconsin tavern party where they tortured a kitten to death for fun and bragged about it later. The jerks own the world and the legal system spits all over victims.
The latest story I read, was a pet store worker stomping a kitten to death in front of children waiting to buy her. He said she bit him, just like the Wisconsin DNR supervisor said, when he clubbed a cat to death with a pipe. Neither of these jerks did any time or was even fined.
But Of Course, if you live in a huge city and do not have a yard; or if you live paycheck to paycheck as so many of us do; a loving indoor cat home is far better than the alternatives for cats.
But now, if you can build a fence, cats can be given the freedom of a back yard.
Of course,you will have cat doors on the first floor hopefully in several places; (a window and a door to the back yard). You will NOT have problems with other animals coming in your house because you will have the cat fence to keep them out of the yard.
Dr. Patricia McConnell who has a radio program Calling All Pets has mentioned on the air that there are tubes that can be attached to the second floor windows of a house which lead to a tree in the yard.
McConnell is a zoologist at UW-Madison and an animal trainer who specializes in non-aversive problem solving. She raises and trains border collies.
Then Marc Morrone did Martha Stewarts TV show on these tubes and he said the tubes are called Kittywalks and you can see them at www.midnight-pass.com
I recommend professional installers unless you can actually see the system installed somewhere before you attempt to do it yourself. The trickiest places are the gates and where the fence attaches to the house. There must be no gaps.
Lemke Fence of Wisconsin, 1-800-242-2009, installed my Cat Fence-In system on the 6 foot wooden fence they built for me. They work all over Wisconsin. I tell you this because most fence companies I called had no experience doing cat fences, and didn't want to try.
"Put it up yourself after we build the base fence", they said. Yeah right, if I could do that I would just build the whole damn thing myself.
Lemke had knowledge of the Cat Fence-In system; ordered the system from Cat Fence-In; and agreed to install it. They did warn me that it would be the first time for them.
I feel it would be better if the fence owner finds the Cat Fence-In website; orders what they need and have it delivered to their home. Then hire the installers.
The boss and president of the Lemke Fence company, Dave, was an OK guy to work with and was committed to getting it right. He came out to view the job after it was done. It was the first time they ever installed the cat fence system. They did not get it right the first time but they came back and kept trying until they did it right. Now they have the experience. But they did not get the gates right and they substituted their own fasteners for the twists sent by cat fence-in. The directions state the net must be tied to the bracket a special way.
I have no stock or any financial interest in either company, not Cat Fence-In or Lemke. My interest is in getting cat owners to see that their cats have a right to the outdoors and the grass and trees.
Below are some of the problems Lemke Fence and I encountered when trying to install the cat fence in system. Read and remember.
WHICH SYSTEM TO CHOOSE
The producers of the cat fence-in system say the system should be placed at least five feet from the ground but I found that to be misleading. The system should be placed as close to the top of a six foot fence as possible.
They seem to say that the "stand up combination barrier" should be used to keep unwanted animals out of your yard and the "hang down barrier" should be used to keep your cats in. No No No!
Take my word, I learned the hard way. NEVER, never, use the hang down barrier - it is really for 12 foot fences or attached to the gutters along low roof lines.
ALWAYS buy the stand up system, called the COMBINATION BARRIER KIT that the creator states is to keep unwanted cats out of your yard. But read carefully. He is actually saying, the combination barrier works great to keep them in too.
So, no matter if you want to keep the cats out; keep the cats in; or both; use the Combination Barrier Kit and System.
The only place I would use the hang down Strato Barrier is a roof that comes down low to the ground. Mine is only 9 feet from the ground and Wander Cat is giving it the serious looks. The gutters have nails holes every two feet so the strato barrier could be easily attached.
TREE GUARDS
My cats used to go up the tree branches and leap onto the roof from them.
Then, they would trot over the roof to the other side of the house like a little pride of lions.
Then, they'd drop from the roof into the FRONT yard, where there is no stinking fence.
I have very resourceful and intelligent cats. They can jump 8 feet from a sitting position.
So I learned that unless all tree limbs are over 12 feet from roofs, you must use the tree guards provided by the Cat Fence-In System.
At first, I had a tree-trimming service come and cut the branches back, although I never thought I would ever cut a tree. I don't like to cut branches and make them look unnatural, but the reason I want the cats outside is to exercise vigorously. I want them to be able to climb the trees. So I cut the tree branches back rather than use the tree guards.
Once I installed the Combination Barrier Cat Fence-In System, and cut the branches back far from MY roof, only one cat seriously tried to get out of the yard and that is Dreamer. The rest became content to stay in the backyard and seem to enjoy it with no desire to leave until Dreamer found a way.
Dreamer started to leap from a tree limb higher on the tree to a NEIGHBOR'S roof (10 to 12 feet). None of the other cats could bring themselves to try it.
I doubt if you have a cat like Dreamer.
(It's a bird, it's a plane, it's WANDER-CAT)
And the thing is, after he jumped down from the neighbor's roof, he waited right there for me to come and get him and bring him back into my yard. My crazy boy, Beautiful Dreamer.
Go to my home page called Spiraling Cycle or to the green Index at the bottom of this page - click on the May Day Holiday, and it will open to a picture of the feral Luna and her babies. Luna had allowed a human (me) to touch her for the first time only about five weeks before that picture was taken. I touched her for the first time, the night she had the babies, April 19th, 2000. Dreamer is the gray tabby baby and you will have trouble finding him. This turned out to be the story of his life.
I finally had the tree guards installed. It seems no matter how far he has to jump, Dreamer will jump. Perhaps secretly he flies. I had them install the tree guard as high up as possible before the branches start. This way the cats can get some exercise running up and down the trunk.
Boy - that tree guard was hard to install. None of us could figure it out. The guys spent over an hour trying to make it work in the heat and flies. Then one of installers threw the directions on the ground and installed it by his own common sense. It works perfectly.
Dreamer understands he cannot get over the tree guard. I do think he believes if he just thinks about it reeeal hard, he will figure a way to get to the great, wild, out-side-the-fence.
Now, after almost five months, he seems to think about it less than he did at first. But I did make him a jungle jim out of branches and tree trunks that he leaps around on. It is in the middle of the yard, far away from the fence and the roofs and the tree. Go for it Wander Cat! Sometimes he sits for hours on his highest jungle jim branch and just stares at the tree. But he has failed so many times, he is embarrassed to try again.
**********************THE DREADED GATE AREA************************
The other thing to be careful of when installing this system, is The Gate area. The treatment around The Gates is important because there is a gap between the gate and the fence. The gap opens as the gate opens; at the opening (O) and at the hinges(H). Kevin realized that the gate bracket and fence post bracket must be level with one another. If your gate opens outward they probably will not be level. Kevin fastened thick wood squares to the gate and attached the bracket to the gate's wood square. That way the bracket on the fence post and the bracket on the gate were level. That and the overlapping mesh eliminated any gap in the netting barrier where the fence and gate meet.
I would also attach a bracket on the actual house and attach netting from that bracket to the first fence post eliminating any gap between the house and the fence.
It is necessary on the last fence post to leave about 3 inches of net overlapping at the hinge opening and from the fence post about 3 inches of net overlapping at the gate opening. we also used hairpin or H clips to hold the brackets together as an extra precaution.
I will have to remember to take the hairpin clips off when opening the gate every time. What a hassle. My second installer didn't want to overlap the net so he gave me this hassle and the net got ripped when his stupid boss opened the gate from the outside ripping off these clips. These clips are really unnecessary. Use overlapping nets. If the gate and fence post to which it attaches are not level, fasten the gate bracket on a raised wood square to make the fence-post bracket and gate bracket level with one another.
UPDATE***************UPDATE**********************UPDATE*****************
Buy the Gate Hardware Kits for the Combination Barrier System ($30.00 each). I could not figure out why the gate kits were any different than the regular brackets, but my new installer, Kevin, saw at once that the left bracket had the loops for screws going one way and the right bracket had the loops going the other way so that the brackets fit together tightly preventing gate gaps.
USE SNOW RELEASE CLIPS FOR NET TO BRACKET ATTACHMENT
AND IF YOU LIVE IN AN AREA WHERE IT SNOWS BE SURE TO BUY THE SNOW RELEASE ATTACHMENT CLIPS and use them.
The second installer insisted on using the twist ties not the snow release clips. Now I am watching the backyard brackets being pulled down and destroyed because of the heavy snow weighing down the nets. These goddamn men who think they know everything and leave you with their mess to clean up long after their gone and who will not follow directions should not be paid until they do what they are told to do or you will regret every dime you give them.
MORE STUPID MAN TRICKS
It is up to the installers to make sure there are no gaps in the Cat Fence-IN system. The first time my installers tried to install the system, my Lemke Fence installers left gaps when they went around the posts.
They did not take the anchoring strip right up to the edge of the posts and screw the anchor strip down right next to the post; then screw the anchoring strip to the side of the post, and screw down as they went around the post, (side, front, side). Then screw the strip down when the fence boards start again right next to the post.
No, they screwed the strip about 3 inches from the posts; went over the posts; and screwed it down again two or three inches from the post. Of course, this left gaps in the corners where the post and the fence met.
And the cats found those gaps.
They did the same thing when the edge of the north/south fence panels met the fence panels going east and west. They did not keep the anchoring strip's E/W screw close to the N/S screw creating a gap in the corner.
Don't feel superior. You will do stuff like this if you try to install it yourself. It is only after you actually see the system up, that you understand how it works and how to maintain it.
I recommend watching the cats the first week. Take some vacation time. When Lemke first put the system up, they used the strato barrier and the cats got out. Then, the gates were not done properly, the posts had gaps, and the cats got out.
You need to watch the cats the first week. If anything is wrong you want to catch it. You need to spy on the cats when they think they are alone before you relax. Just be thankful you don't have Mr. and Mrs. Satan from Hell living next door during this process.
You should know that after the tree guard came, all my cats gave up trying to escape pretty quickly. But the best use of the cat fence happened because other cats are always trying to break in and that cat fence keeps them out.
The intruder cats perch on top of the wooden fence but then cannot figure out how to make it over the top of the cat fence-in netting. There would be big fights if they got in.
I can tell by the way they scream and curse at each other across the netting. A lot of "your mammas". So another good reason to get the cat fence is to keep unwanted cats out of your yard
BASE FENCE AND THE CAT SYSTEM ARE NOT CHEAP SO YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO EXPECT THE INSTALLERS TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS
CAT DOORS
There will be the additional cost of the cat doors. Get 4 way lock magnetic ones - do not get those that make you put electric collars on the cats - forget electric anything as far as animals are concerned! They have cheaper pet doors you can put in your window but I would have to put a table out side or the cat could not come back in.
BASE FENCE:
For 102 feet of pressure treated lumber, at $20.00 a foot, (plus 2 gates and locks, posts and cement, and installation), the cost to me was $2,040.00.
CAT FENCE IN SYSTEM IS INEXPENSIVE - INSTALLATION IS EXPENSIVE
The Cat Fence-IN system (net with anchor strip, bracket holders, screws, net fasteners,= $1.50 a foot; the gate kits = $30.00) is not expensive but Lemke charged a lot to install it (about $700.00). I agreed in order to give them and me the experience.
Total Costs for; the base fence, the cat fence-in system WITH INSTALLATION came to approximately $2,800.00. The unnecessary tree trimming was an additional $350.00.
This cost was for a small backyard.
And to me, it is worth every penny!
Those people who are comfortable financially really should build cat fences so that the property, when you sell it, will ever after be safe for cats. You will be doing a good thing that will last long after you are gone. Put a metal fence plate telling future owners where to get replacement parts.
The peace of mind, the freedom from terror, the obvious pleasure of the cats as they eat the grass and herbs (helping their digestion and eliminating hairballs by throwing up); watching them roll in the dust, try to catch the bugs, hop on and off the trees, watching them hide and jump out at one another and sleep in the sun; bring me my greatest pleasure in life.
The cats are so much more active outside than they are in the house.
Now I have the pleasure of working in the garden with my cats lounging next to me again, and being outside at night in the dark watching the silver crescent moon and the stars, giggling together in the strobe light dark. The light is strobed because the yard is filled with hundreds of fireflies and their lights are going on and off. While the cats jump up and swat at fireflies, I hold their flashing bodies in my cupped hands. When I open my hands, they don't fly away but sit calmly on my fingers a while.
We are losing the weight we gained when we were confined to the house in Dodgeville, not able to step a foot out the door, even Talker, the billion pound cat, who enjoys watching television very much.
Even Dreamer, crazy Dreamer, the traumatized, who was there when Magic was killed, and who was hunted by the killers, has become semi-normal. He has started to be with the pride, tries wrestling with them, licks back a little when his surviving brothers groom him.
The way the brothers have always cared for Dreamer, no matter how unresponsive he was, laying catatonic under their tongues, it touches me and reminds me of how they cared for the dying Sparky as if they could lick away the pain.
Dreamer is losing his stricken look. He, who, after Magic was killed, never would come near me unless it was to try to sit on my shoulders the way Magic did, and never would sleep with the other cats, now sleeps next to me. Sometimes he stands on his two back legs holding up his front legs with paws on me, obviously wanting to be picked up. When I pick him up he lays horizontal across my chest and wraps his paws around one of my shoulders looking up at me. Yes, we are growing happy again.
NOTE: 6 months later - Dreamer does not want to leave the yard anymore - will not leave even if given the opportunity. He learned to like being safe in his own outside territory.
Now there is just Gaia, the golden one, whose hip was dislocated when I found him at the back of my property. Who frequently goes to a place where he is alone, like the basement, and paces back and forth crying loudly.
I am going to hold him as much as I can, when he does that.
I feel that is what he needs. I have been letting Thea take care of him, but now I am going to just find him, pick him up, hold him and talk to him when he does that.
NOTE: And it was a very good thing to make that decision, to have enough peace to be able to focus on Gaia and make that decision. Golden Gaia had colitis, which can kill. If you want to read about it, Click the "Table of Contents" under this entry and find an entry called Gaia. Click on that title.
Here is the link to the cat fence system:
Since 1990 throughout the United States and Canada, CAT FENCE-IN is still keeping thousands of cats safe in their yards.Cat sanctuaries use the CAT FENCE-IN system.
Animal behaviorists recommend CAT FENCE-IN to their clients. It relieves indoor stress, boredom, and depression. It also stops arbitrary in-house elimination problems. Cats are by nature, outdoor animals.
Through the Looking Glass See the July 15 2002 "Why Josh himself would agree to this is unknown. Like I said, he's read my site. I mean, would you hire me? I'm awful! I goof off and screw up constantly. I steal things and slack off and have made veteran CPAs weep like infants at my shoddy bookkeeping.Still, a loyal reader was trusting me to do a good job, and I was filled with determination to do just that, a deep, strong, steely determination that lasted well into the first hour I was there. Then I just started cramming papers into random folders and writing checks to myself.
Ha ha! No, I'm doing a very good job, and I'm not just saying that because I'm going back to work there on Monday. I'm also saying that because he hasn't paid me for Wednesday and Thursday yet.
Anyway, as I said, I pretty much have been sitting by the...."
The best link is the contest for the worst bridesmaid dress. Whooo ooo I have heard women complain about these dresses all my life. Whiners! How bad can they be, I thought.
Whew, I had no Idea.
Who picks out the bridesmaid dress? - the bride or is it consensus between all the women? Because if it is the brides-then they hated their bridesmaids. Holy puke, these are hideous dresses. I would not wear them even if the bride were my best friend.
The report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades. The report warns that either consumption rates are dramatically and rapidly lowered or the planet will no longer be able to sustain its growing population.Experts say that seas will become emptied of fish while forests - which absorb carbon dioxide emissions - are completely destroyed and freshwater supplies become scarce and polluted.
The report offers a vivid warning that either people curb their extravagant lifestyles or risk leaving the onus on scientists to locate another planet that can sustain human life. Since this is unlikely to happen, the only option is to cut consumption now.
The world's ticking timebomb
Marine crisis:
North Atlantic cod stocks have collapsed from an estimated 264,000 tonnes in 1970 to under 60,000 in 1995.Pollution:
The United States places the greatest pressure on the environment, with its carbon dioxide emissions and over-consumption. It takes 12.2 hectares of land to support each American citizen and 6.29 for each Briton, while the figure for Burundi is just half a hectare.Shrinking Forests:
Between 1970 and 2002 forest cover has dwindled by 12 per cent.Endangered wildlife:
African elephant numbers have fallen from 1.2 million in 1980 to half a million now. In the UK the songbird population has fallen dramatically, with the corn bunting declining by 92 per cent in the past 30 years.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the main source of employment for the University of Wisconsin's biologists, botanists, and ecologists. These are the people who did animal research before they found normal employment.
The DNR uses the hunting community as their base of support in a cover known as the Conservation Congress. The Congress determines the DNR's regulations and harvest animals at Conservation Congress meetings.
The Conservation Congress meetings are attended by hunters in their camouflage outfits. They determine the use of the state lands to the detriment of hikers, bicyclists, nature lovers, family campers, and everyone else who want to use the public lands that all Wisconsin taxpayers support.
The DNR encourages hunting in the State's parks and has gradually added more and more species and extended the hunting seasons until now there is hunting at all times the parks are open. No one can take their dogs to the state parks without fear of their being shot anymore.
When regular citizens complain about these regulations, they are told they should attend the Congress meetings. There is not one meeting but a meeting is held in each county, so no matter how big the group of people opposing a regulation, the group does not go to one meeting. The group is split up so that it is never more then 1/2 the people in each county. The more "up-north" the county, the less people willing to go face the hunters.
At the Congress meetings, hunters boo and shout down non-hunters when they try to speak and even when hunters are not allowed to do this, the air of menace and threat is thick at those meetings.
Hundreds of non-hunters tried to use the Congress meetings when the idiot DNR wanted to pass regulations to kill mourning doves (open Wisconsin's blue book and see that the mourning dove is the state's symbol of peace) but it was hopeless. The men who wanted their boys to "start" on birds won, as usual. They said the doves were a good animal to use when practicing shooting because the birds fly in a zig-zag pattern. People were intimidated and the civilians learned what animal welfare people had been dealing with for years.
Non-hunters now refuse to attend those "Conservation" meetings and most have resolved to end that system and bring wildlife and public land regulation back to the legislature.
The Congress/DNR has Boards; Boats; Airplanes; its' own police force; Public Relations spokesmen (and they ARE men) and lots-of-meetings, all at the tax payers expense.
Unfortunately, the practice of having a constituent Congress is confined to the DNR. The Department of Health does not have a Patient Congress to determine their regulations. The Department of Insurance does not have an Insured Congress to determine insurance rates. The Department of Transportation doesn't have a Driver Congress to determine the speed limits.
A DNR supervisor clubbed a starving, lost cat to death with a pipe with the full support of the department who mobilized their P R people and their attorneys to protect him. They whined about the cat biting him and maybe the dead cat had rabies (it did not). The great big manly men are too stupid to bait a live trap, I guess. I don't believe a word of it. I believe he was hurting the cat when it bit him. This clubbing of cats is just what DNR culture approves of and encourages. The entire DNR rose as one to defend the cat killer against normal community sanctions. DNR personnel are not subject to the state cruelty laws.
The DNR has Scott Craven, UW-Extension Wildlife Ecologist to encourage people to kill feral cats or to support that killing. Craven will deny this but skeptics should listen to Craven's interviews on the Larry Meiller radio show on Wisconsin Public Radio. They are on tape although I am not certain of the dates. But there were a series of shows around the time the Madison Humane Society started a trap-neuter and release program for feral cats (approx. Sept 2001). Craven, in one of his many slanders against feral cats (and the Humane Society) said, why not trap and just "get rid of the problem once and for all". Meiller said his cat hated Craven and they laughed. Craven's name fits his character. On one of these shows Craven talks about his regular meetings with the DNR to "solve the feral cat problem". Who appointed Craven and the DNR to do this? No one.
The DNR kills swans because they are non-native species despite the protests of the Mayor and citizens of the city where these swans have resided for over 20 years (we are all non-native species). The DNR bands animals and does not remove or enlarge the bands as the animals grow. Their bear banding radio collars lead the bear hunter's dogs right to the bears who are then ripped apart by the dogs. The DNR encourages bow and arrow hunting; and hunting with muzzle loaders (so the boys can pretend they are back in the wild west);they encourage hunting with dogs; no form of hunting is too cruel for the DNR.
The DNR has allowed caned hunts, and game farms. They have publicly disparaged the animal welfare people as bleeding hearts and fools for years. The DNR ignored those people's repeated warnings, and deliberately created an immense herd of deer for the hunting industry. Now, because of overcrowding, Wisconsin deer have chronic wasting disease.
Guess what the bright lights at the DNR say about that problem?
SURPRISE! Let have more HUNTING. The DNR is proposing a 6 month hunt to kill ALL the deer in south-western Wisconsin. They will go on private land to do this whether or not they have the consent of the owner. They are leaving the fawns to starve. AND THEY LOVE IT. They are calling themselves sharp shooters, the assholes. They are filmed laughing as they go out in trucks for their fun.
Now, city dwellers may not understand the full implications of the final solution. During deer hunting season, rural Wisconsin is a war zone. People have been shot and KILLED walking their dogs. Companion animals are routinely shot. Walking on a nature trails, bullets are whizzing all around you and your children. You are advised to wear orange vests in the parks. People are killed in their backyards hanging laundry. Bullets fly close to the beltway in Madison and terrified deer crash through plate glass windows seeking shelter from the bullets. Cops come and kill them. Hunters tresspass on private land routinely, even when it is posted. Rural landowners must kill deer dying on their land with their legs shot off- the brave hunters leave them to suffer to death when following their wounded victims becomes too much trouble. After all, you can just find another one to shoot.
My cats were shot by a hunter in the city of Dodgeville because he knew the hunter cops would not enforce the law. Contempt for the suffering of animals is mass culture in Wisconsin because of the KIND of recreational-killing culture the DNR has created, leads and protects. Their kind of recreational killing (as opposed to hunting culture) does not emphasize a quick, clean kill for the animal but emphasises a variety of thrills for the hunters. A license is not given when you achieve the level of proficiency that means a quick death for the animal. The DNR encourages children and blind people to hunt by any means they choose.
Everyone is paying tax dollars to support the DNR and their bloated budgets and their public relations officers who explain to the fool citizens why it is good to club a cat to death. And if you let this continue without protest you ARE a fool.
Because what goes around, comes around. And it is coming around for your wallet. You will finance this mass kill of deer, the crematoriums, the "sharp shooters" over-time; the new laboratories, and the new herd they will immediately rebuild.
Although private labs are available to do the testing the DNR (under the cover of the USDA) has refused to allow that. It is my guess that the University of Wisconsin and the State see a money making opportunity in the massive testing of deer heads for chronic wasting disease the DNR is mandating. WHY do they have to test? It is unclear to me whether it is because the hunters want it to see if they can eat the meat and/or if the DNR mandated it to see the extent of the problem. It is also unclear to me who is going to pay for the testing since the hunters have been asked to help the DNR wipe out the herd.
***NEWS fLASH***THE DNR HAS VOIDED THE REGULATIONS WHICH PROHIBIT NIGHT SHOOTING AND IS ALLOWING HUNTERS TO SHOOT DEER IN THE DARK***NEWS FLASH***
Don't come to Wisconsin to enjoy the beauty of the night skys because these boys are going to kill someone foolish enough to think that in the US of A you have the right to enjoy the state parks or walk in safety on your own private land. It is only a matter of time.
EQUINOX: All the planets and most of the moons in the Solar System revolve around the Sun in a single plane. Seen from the Earth, the Sun and planets appear to travel within a few degrees of an imaginary line named the Ecliptic. The Earth’s axis and equator are tilted relative to the Ecliptic, so for half of the year the Sun appears to be north of the equator (so the northern hemisphere enjoys longer days) and for the other half the opposite is true. Twice a year, the Sun’s path along the Ecliptic crosses the equator, and days and nights are equal in length at all latitudes - these are the vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) equinoxes. They fall on about the 21st of March and September.The Moon’s orbit also broadly follows the Ecliptic, so at the time of the equinoxes the new and full moons will be essentially over the equator, the quarter moons will be at their furthest from it. Consequently, at sunrise and sunset the angle between the horizon and the Moon’s path is either at it’s greatest or smallest.
The equinoxes mark the beginnings of spring and autumn. The corresponding start dates for summer and winter are the solstices (from the Latin sol, sun, sistere, make stand). These are the days when the Sun is stationary at its greatest separation from the equator before gradually converging with it again. On these days the noon Sun is at its lowest or highest point in the sky for the year.
Inconstant Moon
LIBRA TIONLibration in latitude is due to the Moon's axis being slightly inclined relative to the Earth's. Each of the lunar poles will appear to be alternately tipped slightly toward the terrestrial observer over a roughly four week cycle.
Diurnal libration is due to the observer being on the surface of the Earth, up to four thousand miles to one side of the Earth-Moon axis, a significant proportion of the centre-to-centre distance. The difference in perspective between the rising and setting of the Moon appears as a slight turning of the Moon first to west and then to east.
Libration of longitude is an effect of the Moon's varying rate of travel along its slightly elliptical orbit. Its rotation on its own axis is more regular, the difference appearing again as a slight east-west oscillation.
Although the Moon always presents the same face towards the Earth, due to its rotation and revolution being locked to the same period, the combined effect of these different librations allows us over time to see some 59% of its surface.
António Cidadão has created a spectacular 133K animation illustrating libration
It Can't Happen Here: Civil liberties we have lost since September 11By Craig Cox, Utne Reader
Non-citizens can now be detained indefinitely on minor visa violations.
Broader wiretapping and Internet surveillance are now allowed.
The government's ability to conduct secret searches has been expanded.
Attorney General John Ashcroft now has the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and can deport any non-citizen member of those groups.
The FBI now has the authority to demand access to sensitive business records without demonstrating that a crime has been committed.
Law enforcement officials have broad latitude to investigate citizens for "intelligence purposes."
Airline security officials can refuse to allow a passenger to board a plane based on the book the passenger is reading
Contemporary journalism contributes to this problem by relying on technologies that help ensure an assertion, once it is repeated enough times, will never be checked against the actual evidence.Consider for example the claim that FAT kills 300,000 Americans per year, and is thus the nation's second leading cause of premature death, trailing only cigarettes.
A Lexis database search reveals that this "fact" has been repeated in more than 1,000 news stories over the past three years alone. Yet the evidence for this claim is so slim as to be practically non-existent.
As University of Virginia professor Glen Gaesser points out in the forthcoming revised edition of his book, "Big Fat Lies," the supposed source for this claim was a 1993 medical study that made no such assertion. That study attributed around 300,000 extra deaths per year to sedentary lifestyle and poor dietary habits, not to weight, which was not even evaluated as a risk factor. Indeed the authors of the study, Michael McGinnis and William Foege, became so frustrated by the chronic incorrect citation of their data that in 1998 they published a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine objecting to the misuse of their study.
A year later the New England Journal published an article which actually did assert that obesity causes approximately 300,000 deaths annually. This article, "Annual Deaths Attributable to Obesity in the United States," is a classic example of junk science at its worst. After calculating the death risk associated with various weight levels derived from six epidemiological studies, the authors employed the following assumption:
"Our calculations assume that all excess mortality in obese people is due to their (obesity)" (emphasis added). That was, to put it mildly, a remarkable assumption.
As Gaesser points out, "the authors made no attempt to determine whether other factors - such as physical inactivity, low fitness levels, poor diet, risky weight loss practices, and less than adequate access to health care, just to name a few - could have explained some, or all, of the excess mortality in fat people."
In fact there is a great deal of evidence that such factors are far more relevant to mortality than weight. Indeed, long term studies conducted at Dallas's Cooper Institute, involving tens of thousands of subjects tracked for a decade or more, have concluded that all of the excess mortality associated with increasing weight is accounted for by activity levels, not weight.
These studies show moderately active fat people have far lower mortality rates than thin sedentary people, and essentially the same mortality rates as thin active people.
In other words, adding just one variable to the mix - activity levels - eliminates fat as a risk factor (the activity levels associated with optimum mortality rates are quite modest - a brisk daily half hour walk will by itself put a person in these categories).
Furthermore the 300,000 deaths per year figure was derived without taking into account factors such as yo-yo dieting and diet drug use, both of which have been shown to have devastating effects on health.
Nor were variables such as class -poor people die sooner than the well-off - and social discrimination, which has been shown to have a very negative impact on health, taken into account.
In short, the claim that fat causes 300,000 deaths per year should be dismissed as an assertion for which there is essentially no evidence. Journalists in particular ought to start noticing that fact, rather than endlessly reprinting the same piece of junk science.
The problems of those who, like Miss Solovay and Mr McAllister, are already overweight, are either ignored or laughed at. Alleged diets of fast food washed down with Coca-Cola and lazy days spent on the sofa in front of the television inspire little sympathy.
The way of life is seen as unprepossessing, self-indulgent and self-inflicted. No one is therefore overly surprised to hear that fat people are discriminated against at work, more likely to lose a custody battle over a child, and less likely to be selected as jurors.The obese are also likely to earn less: according to one study published by a medical journal last year, fat women earn on average $6,710 (£4,503) less than their slimmer peers, even after allowing for educational and other factors.
In such a hostile environment, the fat fightback will not be easy. It is beginning with the F-word itself. A string of lobby groups are being set up on behalf of men and women who are proud to be "fat". Short and succinct, the word is preferable to "overweight", "oversize" or even plain "obese", according to Allen Steadman, the director of the International Size Acceptance Association: "Fat is what it is, so why call it anything else?"
Representatives of the airline industry have been summoned to an annual convention of fat people in August. There they will be asked to explain why special seating rows cannot be fitted for larger people...
Once the F-word has been fully re-claimed, and the state legislatures reformed, the biggest battle will begin. Fat people are preparing to contest the view that they are responsible for their own condition.
Miss Solovay is a vegetarian who insists that she eats carefully and eschews fizzy drinks. "I've been oversize since I was 11," she said. "I haven't eaten meat since then. I don't eat fries or fast food - in fact my eating is better than an average American. And it's important to exercise. You can be fat and be fit."
Mr McAllister works more than 60 hours a week, avoids red meat and says he is on a low calory diet. "My blood pressure and cholesterol levels are fine, I pay attention to what I eat and I certainly haven't got this way from sitting on my backside drinking beer. I am fitter than many people who are thin," he said.
Maryanne Bodolay, 46, the administrator of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, weighs 25 stones. She said: "I'm a big girl because I am genetically programmed to be so - and, I believe, because I started dieting when I was young. It's the yo-yo syndrome: you lose weight, then you put more on. My sister weighs 125lb [8st 13lb], and she can eat me under the table."
There is no evidence, say some researchers, that fat people really do eat more than others - and ample evidence that dieting rarely works in the long term. "Research shows that people who diet do lose weight, but 95 per cent regain it over a five-year period," said Joanne Ikeda, the co-director of the Centre for Weight and Health at the Berkeley campus of the University of California.
Fat people know that they face a long campaign to persuade their fellow Americans to regard them differently. Fat will never be the new black. However, Miss Solovay insisted: "Some day this will be seen for what it is: the next stage in the struggle for civil rights."
State considering charges in starvation of chickens
An animal rights group spokesman says the 200,000 deaths are among the worst cruelty cases in the country.The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has completed its investigation into the March deaths of thousands of chickens at a Trilby egg farm and referred the matter to the State Attorney's Office.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Jon Powers said Monday that the matter was investigated by the department's agricultural unit and turned over to prosecutors late last week. He said he could not disclose whether any recommendations were made, just that it would be up to the attorneys to decide whether criminal charges should be filed.About 20,000 chickens starved early in March after the Cypress Foods company went broke and ran out of food. When a court-appointed receiver stepped in, her attorneys said she immediately set to work looking for a food source, but the remaining chickens at the Trilby farm were in such bad shape that about 180,000 were euthanized.
Another 800,000 chickens were euthanized at the company's Georgia farms.
This month, two national animal rights organizations -- the Humane Society of the United States, and Farm Sanctuary -- wrote to State Attorney Bernie McCabe asking that criminal charges be filed against the company and its owner,...
If you're a former employee of Enron or (likely soon) Worldcom, yeah, times are tough, but you've at least got the ability to look for another job and at least feed yourself. If you're an "employee" at an egg farm that goes under, you may not be so lucky, especially if your former title was "laying hen".Cypress Egg Farms went bankrupt in March and hundreds of thousands of chickens either starved to death or were euthanized because their health had deteriorated so much. I imagine that it costs a fair bit to feed that many birds, and when assets are frozen in a bankruptcy case, the accountants take over, as described here:
"A judge had initially refused to release company assets to feed and to care for the birds until Georgia's State Agriculture Commissioner interceded, explaining what should have been obvious that withholding food constitutes willful neglect and cruelty to animals".Of course, the courts are considering going after the egg farm, not the boneheaded judge.
Stories like this are good to remember when you hear farmers talk about how much they love their animals.
MULTAN, Pakistan, July 2 --
A Pakistani tribal council ordered an 18-year-old to be gang-raped to punish her family after her younger brother was seen walking with a girl from a higher-class tribe, police said today
She says these groups need to be included in the public debate so that bright minds can acknowledge their kernel of truth, deal with it, and debunk the rest of the bile. Take away their legitimate issues. I agree strongly with this part of her analysis.
She also states that affirmative action programs should now become class-based programs, designed to elevate the poor. I strongly agree with this. This is the time for that to happen.
She does not understand why new immigrants are receiving preferences over U S citizens in affirmative action programs. This is something I did not even know about.
I do not agree with her that blacks and liberals should move away from issues like the confederate flag and reparations. I think the symbols and language the government is allowed to use to define us have a direct and deep impact on the consciousness of the masses.
Flying the confederate flag is treason and the country needs to understand that. That issue provides the podium for educating the people about the way race prejudice divided this country and still divides this and other countries. How all these foolish divisions lead to territorial wars, and unending misery. Honoring the confederate dead is like honoring the Nazi dead.
We do need to choose issues that educate the masses about our republic, our democracy. The unique thing about our country, beside its promise of equal opportunity, is our constitution's protection of minority rights. We see by the Pledge debate, that very few of our leaders understand this when they are confident that their beliefs are in the majority.
Despite the fact that they are sworn to uphold the constitution, the Congress spit all over the religious rights of the minority in their remarks about the 9th circuit's holding that "under god" in the pledge of allegiance was unconstitutional.
The U.S. Congress all stood up whining about how much "Under God" needs to be in the pledge and on the money, bla, bla, but not one of those phonies stood up and said, to fly the confederate flag is treason. I suppose God still supports slavery.
She poo poos these type of campaigns. Swain said she wants to move African-Americans to a 28 point program which seems by her description to be self-help campaigns based on religious or moral values. Illigitimate children....crime... But I am not sure. I need to read the book to see if her programs are oriented to systemic change or are just more blaming the victim.
The Black Moslems do all this bootstrap stuff. I have not noticed that this improved the status or living conditions of the race. Financial improvement has happened for the organization and its' leaders, but not for the race. However, affirmative action and the civil-rights laws did change the position of African-Americans in this country.
Swain's insistence on healthy debate; and her recognition that class is the uniting issue for our country in 2002; her plea to recognize the truths in the misplaced frustration of poor and disposed white citizens; all are a welcome addition to the public debate. The tendency to silence our opponents is futile and self-defeating.
The New White Nationalism in America by Carol M. Swain
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