O.K...I guess I am confused...

I fully admit that I get a great deal of the information that formulates my opinions on current events from the internet, news pages, cable television, all over the place.
I spend a lot of time doing this. I wish to be an informed "global citizen".

This is why I spend so much of my time these days just completely stumped and confused.

I see that instead of a lot of people being proud that we as a country have come far enough along in our spiritual and social development to have elected an African American man to be our President, that the racial insults have ramped up to a frenzy. I see a news posting which depicts President Obama as an African witch doctor, complete with a bone through his nose and become really ill that such vileness can exist in our allegedly advanced country.

I see the "Talking Heads" of the news channels make reference to our President being a Socialist because he wishes to make sure all Americans have health care.
I see an allegedly intelligent and well-educated Senator speak at a function and actually utter the words indicating that people don't really die from lack of health insurance. What?
That the people that don't have health insurance don't really want it. WHAT????
That there are hospitals that provide care free of charge without any problems to such people.

I'd like that Senator to spend a few hours at Metrohealth Medical Center, or better still, the V.A. hospitals here in Cleveland.

Now for the part that REALLY confuses me and makes me scratch my head.

Most of the folks that spew this insanity claim to be God-fearing, Christian people.

I'm trying to figure out in what part of the Bible it states that people should be allowed to go hungry, suffer pain or even death because an insurer decided that a medication that was prescribed by a Doctor isn't really acceptable. Did they miss a few Sunday school classes?

I have seen these things with my own eyes. I have heard all of the arguments that we are creating a Welfare State. I have a newsflash for these ill-informed people.
The majority of the people that I deal with on a day-to-day basis are working poor.
Some work two jobs, more than 40 hours per week, and still don't have health insurance, can't afford food, medications and clothing for their children.

Many are Veterans of our military, who have served actively, some in more than one war.
They can't afford their medications. They get to wait six months to see a doctor.
They can be placed in the VA nursing home if their families can't pay, which is in Sandusky, Ohio.
Not exactly close driving for their 85 year old wives.

Why is doing what Jesus said we should do for each other Socialism? Didn't he tell us we should feed the hungry? Heal the Sick? Care for those that need care? Isn't that the Christian thing to do?

As a nation we desperately need to re-evaluate our values and priorities.
It's not single family homes, gay marriage, working mothers or a host of other finger-pointing lame reasons cited by the billionaires club that is our Senate and Congress.
It's plain old fashioned corporate greed. It's what seems to me to be a possibly DNA
based childhood feeling that as long as WE have something it's ours and nobody else can have it.
As long as Rx companies can continue to charge $100 per pill they will do it.
As long as CEO's can continue to build still another vacation home on still another beachfront, they will do it.

We need to grow up.. we need to get going.. and apparently we all need to become Socialists.

Animals Don't Have Souls?

Virtually all of my life I have been an "animal person".. I just love them, whatever their genus, species (well, let's leave those without legs out of this discussion..) and have raised, bottle fed and observed the critters all of my years.

My daughter had her first theology class disagreement when the class was told "animals don't have souls". Apparently the creatures God created aren't worthy of heaven?

I have to respectfully disagree with this idea.

Let's take my enormous, ancient Chow/Retriever mix dog, Ginger. Ginger is one big old ball of furry licking-your-skin-off because she loves you doggy. Since day one when she came into our home, she seemed to COUNT when all three of us came through the door. If one came in without the other two, she'd pace about until two and three arrived. Same routine, every day. Sorry, can't convince me she doesn't "know" exactly who her people are and how many of us there are!

She also has the really sweet habit of having to place herself exactly between all members of the family. If one is upstairs and another is downstairs, she has to be on the landing between floors so she has access to both people.

I also have to use the example of the picture in this blog. We bottle fed Tinkerbell from a half pound tiny scrawny ball of fur with ears. She had parasites and infections and really shouldn't have lived. She spent several weeks in our incubator, which was actually our bathroom with a humidifier pointing into a rubbermaid tote, Tinkerbell inside.

Whenever she would emerge from her incubator for feeding, it was imperative in Ginger's world that the kitten get some slobbery love. Never mind that Ginger easily could have taken out little Tink with one paw, she gently and carefully sniffed and cuddled Tink until we decided it was time to take her back to her resting spot.

I also believe that animals grieve for their family members and other animal pals. When we lost our Tasha, Ginger spent several weeks in what looked like a deep depression. She'd ask to go outside and would stand looking forlorn when she didn't find Tasha. One terrible and heartbreaking incident during this time occurred when I was moving Tasha's collar with it's jingly tags from one place to another upstairs. Ginger heard it, came flying upstairs, hoping to find her lost friend. No feelings? No soul? I don't think so. We observed the same behavior with Tasha when we lost our sweet little Bichon, Max.

These observations and more have given me even more reason to volunteer with rescue groups and do all I can for animals who can't speak for themselves. They trust us to care for them.. not abuse, neglect or breed them in tiny stinky cages for profit and then be discarded.

It's not funny to me to hear that some nitwit drowned rabbits in a pet shop and thought it would entertain her Facebook friends to see her holding up the poor things dead bodies with a big idiot grin on her face.

I live for the day when more people understand that animals are precious and deserving of care. The stories I see daily sicken me and make me more determined than ever to keep doing what I can, one animal at a time, to take care of them as I believe He that created them would want.

Please! Return to the Undisclosed Location!

Seriously, I can't take it anymore!
For weeks now, our ex Vice President Dick has been running amok all over any media outlet that will give him five minutes.
I find this strange because frankly, we have seen more of this guy in two weeks than we did in eight years! I know he was safely tucked away in some bunker, AKA "undisclosed location" so he could step into Bush the sequel's booties in case something happened to him, but THIS IS RIDICULOUS!
In addition to spending a lot of time and energy defending the policies that were attached to the strings he apparently pulled for eight very long years with the moronic marionette Dubya, he's bashing the policies of Barack Obama, a man that has more common sense in one of his nose hairs than the entire Bush administration had combined.
It's time for the man to retire back to Wyoming or whatever unfortunate state he hails from, quit doing his "Penguin from Batman" imitation, and kill some fish or shoot some hunting buddy in the face or something. Isn't there a third world country that has a feeble minded idiot for a leader that he can go "consult" with? Certainly if he could control Dubya, who was an idiot wrapped in a moron, he can find something more productive to do with his time.
Enough already! GO AWAY DUDE!

Insult To Injury

I should have seen it coming. Here I am, staring down the double-barrel of a milestone birthday.
FIFTY. Five decades. Half a century. Not able to call myself "middle aged" because seriously, most folks don't live to 100.
Ok, I was dealing with it. Attempting to get excited about the prospect of reaching this "golden" phase of life. All sorts of famous, wonderful people claim that the best part of life begins at 50. Oprah. Cher. Goldie Hawn. All folks with sufficient funds to lift, tuck and otherwise repair the ravages of old age.
Of course, there are the positives and negatives that inevitably come with any milestone. On surveys I am now grouped with the "45-60" gang. Not so bad. Being told by the doctor that "we don't heal as well as we used to at your age" (little putz. Is he even old enough to have graduated from high school, let alone med school?!?!?) and further humiliation at eye doctor. "Bifocals may be the way to go this time...." and the realization that there are just some things I won't ever do.
I won't ever fly an F14, be a rock star, or climb Mount Everest. the closest to any of these activities I achieve at this point is flying around in my Dodge Caravan, playing my guitar for an audience of two (both canine) and scaling the mountain of laundry that seems to accumulate wherever my teenager drops her things. I've come to embrace and cherish all of these things as how I chose to live my life. However, I was utterly unprepared this afternoon to go out to my mailbox and pull out the mail, casually leafing through it on my little front porch. Then I saw it.

A welcome to old age letter from AARP

! ! ! ! !

I am certain that the blood curdling scream that found its way from my antiquated, wheezy old lungs must have frightened the entire neighborhood. Dogs as far away as Kentucky howled in commiseration with my wails of humiliation. I've faced adversity before about my age. My oldest nephew once said to me when he was just a small lad of seven or eight, "WOW Aunt Donna! You were born in the FIFTIES??? Did you know FONZIE?"

Now all I have to do is pick out my next car. I'm leaning toward a blue-green buick with curb feelers.

Donna's Winter Day Anthem
(sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Slogging through the snow
Meals on wheels in my hands
over drifts I go
gale force winds with blizzard snow bands!

the drifts up to my knees
ice and snow surround my toes
now I think I have to pee
oh, I really have to goooo!

oh, winter time, winter time, how I hate it so!
when I have to go to work and freeze
up to my knees in sno- ow!
winter time, winter time, how I hate to go
out when it is winter time to fall down in the snow.

TEENAGERS !

A very wise friend of mine has a quote on her blog that I just love.

"Raising teenagers is like nailing jello to a tree."

After this weekend I have a thought to add to hers.

Wonderful teenaged daughter spent the entire weekend at a church retreat, for which we prepared greatly, spent hugely (snacks and food for the entire troop) and were excited about.
Being the parents that we are, we very much missed our little darling.
However, it became apparent to us very shortly after she arrived home that we should have enjoyed the bliss just a little more than we did.

My new mantra, "Teenagers are like all of the seven dwarfs rolled up into one person."

Sneezy ~ She arrived home with the sniffles. Nothing drastic, but the sniffles. I think I have picked up enough tissues now to use to cover even the biggest float in next year's Macy's parade.

Sleepy ~ After complaining loudly that the dog had her sofa spot, child plopped, and became unconscious. I mean OUT. A nuclear explosion could have taken place on the coffee table and she'd have slept through it. Except, of course, when dinner was ready. Suddenly awake!

Dopey ~ Forgive me, but I have to say it was pretty Dopey to wait until 8:10 on the Sunday before school is back in session to suddenly remember a ton of homework. Of course, our reminders over the past two weeks were met with.... GRUMPY.

Doc ~ She is smart, very smart in fact. Smart enough to amaze us, unfortunately, blinded by her belief that when she turned fifteen, we lost every single brain cell we used to posess. Honestly, we're so dumb at this point that we shouldn't be able to function beyond a drool.

Happy ~ This rare incarnation of sweetness and light is rarely spotted anyplace in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio.

Bashful ~ Not really applicable to sweet daughter. She's actually quite outgoing, unlike her parental unit sitting typing this blog!

Grumpy ~ See Dopey.

Letter to Barack Obama

Today I received an email from the Inauguration Team for the President-Elect asking for a donation to help fund Inauguration Day.
Took me a few mintutes to find the email address to send a message, which is below:


Dear President Elect Obama:
I was so filled with hope. I donated money. I blogged, wrote letters. attended events. Talked up Mr. Obama to everyone and anyone.For the first time in my lifetime, I had hope. My family had hope. My 15 year-old daughter also worked tirelessly.We took time out from a schedule of church, school, volunteering with a local food bank and charity to do what we could. Took off of work to stand in line for hours before election day, at one polling place available to us in Cleveland, where we had to park blocks away and walk, and stand with thousands of others that wanted true change.Along with the change we hoped for, my little family also desired acceptance and equality.My partner and I have been together almost 30 years. We made the decision together to conceive our daughter, who we have raised to be a caring person, a true global citizen that wants to become a doctor and work with Doctors Without Borders.Unfortunately, equality is apparently out of reach for my family.Although I am in every respect my daughter's parent, I am not her biological mother. If I die, my social security cannot go to my partner to help care for my child and assist her in attaining her amazing goals.Why? I simply don't understand why my child's future is less important than my straight, married and even divorced neighbors.I had hope. Then Prop 8 passed. Aided and endorsed by the very man you've asked to deliver the invocation on inauguration day.When I received the email asking for a donation to help fund that day, I was crushed and put into my place all over again.Apparently my money is good enough, but my 30 year, faithful and loving relationship is not.The invitation to Rick Warren doesn't instill any hope in me whatsoever that I am going to be an equal citizen in the US any time soon.It's business as usual, and frankly sir, it's simply hurtful and a slap in the face to all of the individuals and families like mine that believed in you.