Cape Karen
I have a soft spot for felines. I've always enjoyed the company of my furry pets. First, there was "Booby" a kitten who found his way to our first home in Hyannis, MA. He was a scraggily little thing, covered with matted fur and loaded with fleas. After a trip to the vet to have him spayed, groomed and de-loused, he became the first "child" in our new marriage. He was my first pet and he gave us two years of unconditional love. Booby escaped and got lost during our move from Hyannis to Barnstable; but somehow he showed up a year later in our new backyard - I couldn't believe it was him! He was covered with matted fur again, and had become too feral to be reclaimed. We left food and water outdoors for him, and he stayed around for awhile, but soon ~ he went missing for good.
Then there was "Tiffany," a gift for our daughter, Heidi, one Easter. Instead of the intended bunny from the pet store, she came home with a tiny, marmalade kitten. Tiffany was with us for fourteen years, until we, sadly, had to have her put down. She was a wonderful friend and companion, and I still miss her.
Now, we have "Smudge" - she's a beautiful long-haired calico who is completely a "momma's girl." She is a delightful pet and a great friend. She's nine years young, and is wonderful in every possible way. Frank found her for me at a (now-defunct) shelter, when we first moved here to the Great Smoky Mountains. She could have ended-up alone and abandoned, too, if someone hadn't found her one night, wandering on the side of a mountain road. They, gratefully, brought her to a shelter, so we could eventually adopt her. We have been so blessed by her presence in our lives.
And that's the point of this blog - there are just too many feral cats and, therefore, too many abandoned kittens, running around everywhere, starving and alone. Spring always brings the newborn kittens, and then they are left by their mothers, after weaning, to fend for themselves ~ (usually around our house for some reason?)
Just two weeks ago, I took in an abandoned Siamese kitten I found under our backyard shed - she was the cutest thing you ever saw. I called her little "Sabrina." But, our Smudge kitty is the Queen of the Household now, and it just wasn't going to work out. She was just too 'put-out' by the little kitten's presence. So, I posted an ad, and she is now on her way to her new home in Cincinatti, OH, with a delightful young couple who were vacationing here; they saw my ad the day after I posted it, at a store called, "The Cat House," and they took her home as a companion for their one-year-old Siamese cat. She is a delightful, friendly kitten, and she's going to be a real beauty when she grows up.
Then, just yesterday, I found two more abandoned kittens. Two little yellow-striped marmalades, like our former Tiffany, crouched-up tight together, sitting on the back tire of my car. They looked to be about 3-4 months old. (This isn't their picture - but it's real close to what they looked like.) And, they were soooo pathetic... scratching like crazy with fleas, their little ribs showing from starvation, their eyes bulging in fear and desperation and loudly crying in pain and hunger. It just broke my heart, and it made me ANGRY ~ to the point of tears!
I couldn't take them in with all those fleas, and I think they are probably too feral now to be tamed. I began calling around to find someone to help them, and I came up totally empty. There is NO animal rescue organization in this entire town! This is a town where 15 million people come to vacation each year. It also seems to be an area where many local (ignorant) people don't bother to neuter their pets. It seems the only recourse I have is to call the Sheriff's department, in the next town over, and they'll send out their ONE animal control officer to try and capture them.... then they will be taken somewhere and killed. Arrgghh!
Innocent baby kittens, alone and abandoned, who ended-up feral, starving and diseased by fleas. All because some idiot wouldn't take the time, or spend the money, to have their female cat neutered in the first place. It's a damn crime! Something needs to be done here for these poor little creatures. And I'm going to do all I can to make sure something IS done... pronto!
Watch out Pigeon Forge, TN ~ Karen's on a rampage!
(Here's our well-loved Smudge ~ showing off her "pretty tummy" for you.)
With the war in Israel and the Middle East dominating our headlines, an important matter, that will affect millions of people for decades to come, has pretty much been ignored by the press this week instead of getting the attention it deserves. HR 810, a vital stem cell research bill, has been quietly dealt a death-knell by President Bush. He exercised his veto power for the first time in five years, sending HR 810, and the hopes of millions, right onto the trash heap.
And this has been done by him all in the name of "principle."
President Bush is a very stubborn man and no amount of scholarship or science will ever convince him that he is dead wrong here. (And, even if he did come to his senses, he would never admit it.) Obtaining stem cells from frozen embryos for medical research, embryos that are destined for destruction, would be a life-giving endeavor, not a life-taking one; but, somehow, that truth seems to have escaped him. Just as his refusal to accept the science that told us global warming was a reality, and that it was being caused to a large degree by our own man-made pollutants, has left us all in a frighteningly vulnerable position for the future ~ his ignorance on this matter has stopped another important truth from one day being of benefit to mankind, as well.
Stem cell research holds the promise of one day curing diseases like alzheimers, Parkinson's disease, cancer, heart disease, spinal injuries and cerebal palsy ~ just to name a few. It is considered the 'medical breakthrough of the century' and yet, the future of this medical science has been denounced and derailed by just one man with veto power - one man who believes it's immoral, and who says it's against his religion. That couldn't be further from the truth. Even the most devoted pro-life advocate realizes that long-frozen embryos aren't going to benefit mankind once they are destroyed. Even they realize that using those now-useless embryos, to extend and save lives, is better than just tossing them away. (Perhaps they see it as the lesser of two evils, but at least they see it.)
President Bush has some fatal flaws, and they will follow him into the history books. He isn't terribly bright, but he thinks he knows it all; he can't admit it when he is wrong, and he has 20-10 tunnel-vision. He grabs onto something 'he thinks' is best, and like a dog with a bone, you can't get his teeth off of it. He hangs onto his lies, his mistakes, his bad judgements and his poor leadership - as if his opinions were the holy truth; his mistakes, divine correctness; his bad judgement, immortal goodness; and his poor leadership, The Only Way. No-one and no-thing can sway him from going his own way; not solid, proven scientific studies, not the views and desires of the majority of the people, and not even the blatantly obvious.
There was another event in our past - that was treated like stem cell research is being treated today by Mr. Bush. Galileo said the earth was round, not flat, and he was considered to be an 'evil man speaking a terrible heresy.' Time has proven that Galileo was speaking the truth, and that his science was correct. Hopefully, time will do the same when it comes to allowing the life-giving benefits of stem cell research to move forward.
The sad thing is, the potential cures that could come from this research have now been set-back many decades - all by this stubborn man tenaciously clinging to his own ignorance. A two-thirds vote in Congress could undo his veto - but I'm not hearing anything being said about that. All of our news sources are focusing their attention these days on the "Crisis in the Middle East," and on the "evil of Hezbollah" - which makes me think, with Dubya still at the helm, that a full-scale war with Iran is probably in our near future.
And he calls himself. . . pro-life.
Watching the Dan Rather interview on Larry King the other night, we were given a glimpse into what is happening, behind the scenes, in our mainstream news boardrooms. It seems that journalistic reporting is no longer about good 'journalism' or even good balanced 'reporting' - broadcast news now comes under the heading of "mass entertainment." The good old days, when we could count on our courageous journalists to blow the whistle on corruption, or find them uncovering illegal matters, like the Watergate scandal, may be over.
And that truly scares me.
These days, if a news reporter dares to speak the truth, when and where they find it, or if they attempt to challenge the 'status quo' ~ they know that, by doing do, they could be fired. That's what happened to 44-year veteran CBS reporter, Dan Rather, after he dared to publicly question the dubious military record of President Bush. (And, I think he was right.) From what he said during the Larry King interview, it sounds like if you don't broadcast only what "they" say you can broadcast, and in a way which "they" see fit, then you can just pick up your ball and bat and go home ~ no matter who you are. That controlling, censoring attitude would tend to put a damper on the most enthusiastic, devoted and knowledgable reporter, and it puts a heavy lid on the freedom of the press. The uncovering of an uncomfortable truth, as was done by the New York Times recently, and then denounced as a "breach of national security" by President Bush, is going to quickly become the way of the future, if we let it.
Tell the truth to the masses today . . . and you'll be sorry . . . .
I always felt somewhat comforted to know that good journalists were 'out there' delving into things that we mere spectators didn't have access to; and I always believed that they would be the first to tell us if something sneaky was going on ~ in Washington, or elsewhere. Now, it seems, it will take more than good journalism for them to come out with the truth; it will take bucking the system. By reporting something that the government doesn't want us to know, they're not only putting their jobs on the line, but their reputations as well. They can easily become the victims of a public counter-attack ~ from the President himself.
What does that mean to us? It means that, too often, we will not know about some of the things we have the right to know about. It means that our government could start controlling what the press reports, when the press reports, where the press reports, and how the press reports. It means that, these days, President Nixon could have breathed a big sigh of relief and remained confident that he would never have been caught and impeached.
And, if that isn't frightening ~ then I don't know what is?
That our news is being controlled is not something new. It's happened before - but, not to this extent - and I don't think we can just sit back and accept it. We all have to keep on asking the questions, delving for the truth and encouraging our journalists to keep on reporting whatever they find.
In this age of terrorist attacks and Mideast turbulence, our current government leaders, with the help of their 'spin doctors' (like Creepy Carl Rove, of all people) are coming up with too many creative 'excuses' for allowing government secrecy - secrets which could eventually result in the permanent limitation of some of our Constitutional freedoms. And this is all being done under the guise of "protecting us" from harm. Even as President Bush keeps saying, over and over, in speech after speech, that he believes every country in the world should embrace "our example" of democracy ~ he is quietly violating and eroding some of our most important democratic freedoms, by ignoring Constitutional law and by disavowing courageous and honest reporting.
I think that our journalists are the first line of defense against the potential loss of our rights and democratic freedoms; and I think they all need our on-going support and encouragement, to keep on keeping on.
So, that being said - good luck to 74-year-young, Dan Rather, with his new adventure into HD NET reporting, and his other up-coming activities.
I still think he's one of the best ~ and CBS was just plain stupid to let him go!
A friend and I are doing an online book club discussion together, based on the book, "The Disease to Please" ~ written by the late Harriet Braiker, Ph.D. (My friend is a world-class, full-blown, active people-pleaser and I am a 10-year, recovering people-pleaser.) As women, we were prone to this 'disease' simply by our gender and cultural expectations. Raised to be "nice" and trained to never show any angry feelings, we fell right into the thoughts, feelings, and compulsive behaviors of people-pleasing. (This is by no means a women-only disease. There are plenty of male people-pleasers, too - but they are usually referred to as Type A personalities, or as "workaholics.")
In order to begin to recover, we PP's have to discover and identify what our own needs are ~ before we can stop ignoring them. This is not easy. Needs? What needs? (How about some personal time, some "space," some time to just "be"? How about a whole day off to do whatever we want?) Oh - those needs ~ guilt, guilt!
At this time, S. is caring for her husband who is battling late-stage prostrate cancer. She has discovered that she can't tend to his needs and still continue to do everything, for everyone in her life. Understandingly, she has hit the proverbial DTP wall. Years and years of people-pleasing has left her exhausted, depleted, and frighteningly over-extended. Her many friends, and her large family, have been well-trained over the years to depend on her.
Now, she is caught like a fly in a spider's web; and, sadly, it's a web of her own making.
Because S. has taught others ( yes - we do 'teach' people how to treat us . . . ) to come to her with their needs, wants, demands and expectations, they are still doing so - and, with A. so sick, she can no longer find any reserves within herself to meet their many needs. She is suffering greatly because of this. So, we are embarking on this journey to try and reclaim S. ~ before she becomes ill herself, or has a breakdown. As a recovering PP, I can only offer her some hard-won insights and a few basic suggestions - it will be up to her to go from there, using this wonderful book as a guide.
It might seem moot to be working on this issue with S. while she's caring for her ill spouse, but she is so over-extended, and so overwhelmed, that to do less right now would be to court personal disaster. She desperately needs to carve-out some 'down time' for herself ~ by erecting some personal boundaries. To be 'all things to all people' right now just isn't an option.
Unlearning old habits doesn't come easy, but with Harriet's advice and suggestions, we're making some progress. S. was able to say "no" when her sister called trying to invite herself to come over for tea the other day; she took a much-needed nap instead. Her older sister (B.) has a habit of making her feel terrible, by saying cruel and insensitive things to her, and it just drains her energy. (She described it by saying, "I often feel like I've been sprayed by a skunk after being in her company.") So, I'm really proud of her for saying "no" to B. and for sleeping for an hour, instead of feeling obligated to entertain her. "Round of applause!"
In examining this tendancy to overdo and over-extend ourselves for others, it struck me that a good trait (caring about people) can become a terrible trap, if it's taken too far. Perhaps it's born of an insatiable need to be needed? Perhaps it's a way of trying to control others, so they won't ever get angry at us? Perhaps we don't like ourselves, and need others to tell us how wonderful we are ~ because of all the things we do for them ~in order to bolster our poor self-image? Whatever the root of the problem, that it is a problem is not in question. Somewhere along the line, our general "niceness" becomes contaminated by the DTP, and we set our feet on the path to fatigue, stress, over-work and unrealistic, lofty expectations of ourselves.
I'm enjoying our book discussions, and I'm learning a lot about myself, and about my friend S., in the process. S. gave me many loving doses of positive-affirmations when we were neighbors ~ and her kindness and support helped me to heal from years of parental abuse and neglect. It's been really good to reconnect with her, and to be able to offer her some support and encouragement during this difficult time.
Maybe this is called. . . "paying it back ?" . . . I hope so.
