Oct. 1 - Happy World Vegetarian Day!

October 1 was designated as World Vegetarian Day back in 1977. I think the originators wanted to call attention to the vegetarian lifestyle and celebrate this choice. People go veggie for various reasons but as you all know for me it's all about the animals.

I find animals fascinating and admire them for their numerous capacities. More importantly I value the fact that they have the right to exist for no reason other than they have the right to exist, as do we. They do not exist for our use any more than we exist for theirs. I don't feel that they are ours to eat, to wear as leather or fur, or to use as forced entertainment (such as circus performance animals.)

I understand that some people need to eat animals, just as this prairie dog needs to eat this carrot. They have no other means of survival if they don't eat animals. These people have as much right to survive as does this prairie dog.

Is this what people in this country are doing? For the most part, no. We let someone else grow the animals under inhumane circumstances, slaughter them, and then package them in clean, neat little containers so that we don't even have to think about what they went through to end up in the meat section of our local grocery store.

How about these little guys? They clearly are enjoying each other. So, do pigs not feel pain? They do. Do pigs not form family units? They do. Are pigs not intelligent creatures? Yes in fact, they are.

How about this photo? At first you see what looks like a cat being frightened and perhaps pursued by the dog in the foreground.....

.... then we see that the dog has jumped in to help/save the cat from its watery difficulties.

No doubt animals can be fierce and aggresssive... this is how they have survived. But animals can also be curious and fun-loving, interesting and interested in the world around them.

Is this duck not beautiful? Does it have to suffer to become my fancy meal at an expensive restaurant? Can I, perhaps, choose an alternate source of protein for my meal?

What about this little guy? Does the fact that he's an amphibian make him any less worthy of consideration than the mammals or birds? Does it not bother you to use his cute little body as a science experiment? as an appetizer?

I know some of you get tired of the pro-animal rant. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I am ready to see more compassion towards these beautiful creatures. Animals are like children and the elderly; they need protection from those more powerful.

Choose kindness over killing.

Tina Fey Does Palin

If the video of Sarah Palin/Miss Teen USA wasn't enough for you, here's the SNL skit of the Couric/Palin interview. Tina Fey does a great job. At Saeed's request, here it is:

A Humor In Politics Add-on

While I was writing the post below (please read it first) Saeed sent this to me via email. It's a take off on the interview Palin had with Katie Couric embedded below picture.




Some additional gems:
"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?"
- Sarah Palin,
CNBC "Kudlow & Co" interview, July 2008

"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
- Sarah Palin,
Alaska Business Monthly interview, March 2007

Humor In Politics

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of politics. This campaining (misspelling intentional) seems to last forever. Most disturbing is how the election has turned into a competition. No longer is its purpose to elect the most competent leader for our country, but a sport-like contest with the media as its judge. It's all about winning, no matter what.
Fortunately, people are clever and use the crazy political statements as fodder for humor. Gabriel forwarded me what must have been an online communication between two opposing speakers/bloggers. The first speaker is upset about how the liberals twist anything McCain does to make him look bad:

"I am now convinced that you liberals could put a negative spin on anything: 'McCain saves baby from burning house, successfully delaying the presidential debates.'"

The online opposition answered:
"Except in this case he and his friends were paid to throw the baby into the burning house, did nothing to save it, passed laws to make it easier to throw babies into houses, said the baby was fine and then when it became politically expedient they said, hey, someone should save that baby!"

Political cartoonists are having a field day, but interestingly, there are very few cartoons about Obama. The two I saw were about him trying to distance himself from Jesse Jackson and Reverand Wright, not particularly funny or worrisome. Perhaps the paucity of cartoons about Obama should tip off the voting public about quality of the two tickets.

Enjoy the following political cartoons.

I think the above cartoon can be supported by the following video:















To those of you out there who haven't made a decision yet, take your guidance from the cartoonists. Cartoonists simply state the obvious in clever ways.

Out Of Gas

I don't know how it is where you live, but here and in nearby Charlotte the stations have run out of gas. Last week I gassed up the truck and noticed that all the pumps had only regular, no super or super duper gas. When I went to work this morning the station on the corner had so many cars in line that they were blocking traffic. When I drove home this evening the station was totally out of gas. One of my coworkers said her dad bought gas in Charlotte for just over $7 per gallon. It's all my coworkers could talk about today. I felt like I was watching the growth of hysteria in slow motion. By the end of the day people were leaving work early to find gas.

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I don't feel the terror that others obviously feel. I'll either have gas or I won't. If I don't have gas I'll either walk to work, get a ride from someone who has gas, or will stay home. I suppose others have more potential negative consequences than I do and truly suffer, but right now I have half a tank of gas in my car and peace of mind.

The news reports that we'll have more gas this weekend... I hope so.

The World According To Cyrus

I didn't take nearly as many pictures this time because I was too busy doing other stuff, but Cyrus was as cute as ever. Since I was busy I'll let him narrate.

Is this new toy for me? C'mon mom, hurry up.

Wow... that is SO cool.

I am TOTALLY going to take it for myself.

Look ma! No hands!

Am I not amazing now that I'm four months old?

Do you see that belly there? I been workin' on that for four months! Way too sexy for my shirt.

Now that mom's gone I'm gonna get that ducky for myself.

I love you ducky.

Who me? I ain't in love with no ducky. What ducky?

I decided to put my shirt back on and hang out with Baba-joon. He's very silly and makes me laugh. Go to the video and watch how silly he is with me.

Good morning Bibi-joon!
Surely I didn't wake you up with all my jumping?

Look! Look! Look! I can even point my toes when I perform my double-Lutz jumperoo moves.

Baba-joon must think I'm a purse the way he's holding onto me.

My shirt says, "Chicks dig me". It's so true...

... but the only chick I dig is my mommy.

I Miss Grandson #3

We will be going to Athens this weekend and it goes without saying that I can't wait to see Cyrus-joon again, but I got to thinking about how much I miss my third grandson, Cha Cha. Obi is grandson #1, Mr. Nichols (aka Pickles) is #2, and then there's Cha Cha, the first dog in my life. We were so against Anahita getting a dog at a point in her life when she was not stable, still moving yearly, and had limited funds for herself let alone a dog. On a practical level I still think it was a poor decision but as for Cha Cha himself - he's great! He has been Anahita's best friend and companion through thick and thin, and his personality is irresistable. I really, really miss him. Maybe she'll move back to the eastern side of the U.S. and I can look into those soulful eyes again.

"Leftovers" Soup

I have found a wonderful way to use my leftovers from the Vietnamese restaurant we frequent. Typically I bring back Lemongrass Tofu or Ginger Tofu or Tamarind Tofu... you get the idea. Annie Chun's has a variety of different prepackaged soups and meals, available at my local grocery store, that are convenient for me to store in my locker at work. I like the soups because they easily reconstitute with hot water. I add my leftovers from dinner (and some fresh basil if I have it), sprinkle some chopped fresh cilantro on top and presto! An awesome soup full of flavor and lots of "stuff"!

You may say, "So what?" which is a perfectly logical question to ask. The ingredients are healthy, relatively low sodium, no monosodium glutamate, and best of all... a biodegradable bowl made mostly from cornstarch. Because it decomposes you can throw it away but you can also put it in your compost and as it says on the label, "... treat the earth respectfully." If that's not good enough for you, you can go to www.1bowl.org which will take you to the World Food Program (an Annie Chun's link) to donate money for hungry people.

Small companies like this who consider the ethical issues related to their products are the ones I like to support. It makes my food taste better! :-)

Warning for vegetarians: not all products are vegetarian.

Double Decker Cat Tower

Last week Saeed had some nice bookshelves built into his computer room which necessitated rearranging and moving the furniture. We had to clear a path so that we could move the recliner into the livingroom. In the process I stacked one scratching post on top of another and in no time Obi was on top of it acting crazy! By the time I retrieved my camera he was gone and Chappu was eyeing it like only a true mountaineer would; the rest is history:

There must be something about being up high on a new tower that makes cats go crazy! That yarn mousie has always been attached to the post, but it's never been so darn irresistable.

Aha - got it!

Oops - lost it.

Got it again by cleverly looking the other way.

I love that "I'm not concerned" lick that cats do when they're playing or in a chase to give you the impression that they're not really all that interested in what's going on.

This time that mousie is not getting away.

Whew!

While Chappu recovers from her wild scramble I find Obi calmly ignoring all the ruckus just a few feet away. Since all was calm I walked into the kitchen to find in the food bowl...

... what else? The work of Chappu. She's a very busy cat.

Posing in the winner's arch.

Not much later I found her snuggled in with Obi on the blanket-covered recliner. I'd like to bury my face in all that orange fur but I'd have trouble explaining all the scratches on my face at work tomorrow. It'd be so worth it though!