Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Austin Humane Society Gets into the Matchmaking Business!

Meet Your Match is an innovative new method for matching puppies and adult dogs with potential adopters. It matches the expectations of a new pet owner with the behavior and personality of the dog. Meet Your Match has been proven to increase the likelihood of a human/canine bond, which in turn, reduces returns to the shelter.

The Meet Your MatchTM Canine-ality Adoption Program was created by animal behaviorist Emily Weiss, Ph.D., in conjunction with the ASPCA. AHS was chosen to be the first shelter in Texas to implement the program!

Over 13,000 animals a year (which is 1,100 per month or 37 per day) are killed in Austin because they don't get adopted.

Don't breed or buy when you can save the life of an animal who deserves a second chance. Besides the Austin Humane Society, there are breed specific rescue groups, Town Lake Animal Center, Lago Vista PAWS, Central Texas SPCA, Humane Society of Williamson County, and many others with available animals. There's even a ferret rescue.

The Meet Your Match Canine-ality Adoption Program helps you find the dog that's right for you and your personality. All of our dogs are tested to determine his or her canine-ality characteristics including friendliness, playfulness, energy level, motivation and drive. Each dog is then placed into one of three color-coded categories: easy maintenance (purple), average maintenance (orange) and high maintenance (green). Within each color category are three descriptions to help you better understand the dogs canine-ality.

When you arrive at the Austin Humane Society, you'll be asked to fill out a Dog Adopter Survey. This one-page survey gathers information about your expectations of dog ownership and helps us determine the canine-ality that best suits your lifestyle. Based on the results of the survey, you'll receive a color-coded Guest Pass to help guide you to dogs that best meet your expectations and lifestyle. For example, if your pass is green, look for dogs with a green cage card.

You:
PURPLE: Couch Potato, Constant Companion, or Teacher's Pet.
ORANGE: Busy Bee, WallFlower, or Goofball
GREEN: Free Spirit, Go-Getter, or Life of the Party

Your dog:
COUCH POTATO
Like the easy life? Then I'm the perfect match for you. I'm a relaxed, laid back kind of dog who enjoys long naps, watching movies, curling up on laps, and walking very short distances from the couch to the food bowl and back.

CONSTANT COMPANION
Looking for an emotionally secure, mutually satisfying, low maintenance relationship? I am all you need. Let me sit at your feet, walk by your side, and I'll be your devoted companion forever.

TEACHERS PET
I've got the whole package smart, fuzzy, four legs, love to learn and live to please. Go ahead, teach me anything. Sit, stay, balance your checkbook, I can do it all. Keep me entertained and I will be yours forever.


WALLFLOWER
Shy yet charming canine searching for patient owner with relaxed lifestyle. Looking for gentle guidance to help me come out of my shell. Treat me sweet and kind and I'll blossom.

BUSY BEE
I'm a naturally playful, curious and trusting canine. Take me for a big walk every day; give me something to do. After my job's done, I'll curl up in with you in the evenings. I'm a dog on a mission to please you and myself.

GOOFBALL
I'm a fun-loving, happy-all-the-time, glass-is-half-full kind of dog looking for someone who loves to laugh and play around. Must have a great sense of humor and a bunch of tennis balls.


LIFE OF THE PARTY
I think everything is fun, interesting and meant for play, especially you. Anything you do, I'll want to do too. With my own brand of surprise, life with me will keep you constantly on your toes, and the fun is guaranteed.

GO-GETTER
Want to get more exercise? Action is my middle name. My Lets GO! lifestyle will keep you motivated to get outside and move. I've got tons of energy; and just like the sun, I'm burning and working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I'll run for miles, chase a ball for hours, and still want to play at the end of the day.

FREE SPIRIT
Intelligent, independent, confident and clever, I prefer making my own decisions but will listen to you if you make a good case. We're partners in this adventure. Treat me like one and we'll both live happily ever after.


Visit Austin Humane Society for more information.

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Note: I did not write most of this posting, nor do I wish to imply that I did. I do want to promote the practice of adopting shelter animals and simply reformatted an email announcement from the Austin Humane Society with additional statistics for the purpose of promoting this innovative new program. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Kinky's on the Ballot

Posted by Kinky Web on June 22, 2006 04:07 PM:

It's Official!

AUSTIN, Texas -- June 21, 2006 -- Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams today informed independent candidate Kinky Friedman that his name will appear on the statewide general election ballot for governor this November.

"According to the verification, your petition has a sufficient number of signatures to qualify you for a place on the ballot. Accordingly, your name will be certified to the counties on Sept. 6, 2006 as an independent candidate for the office of governor," said the letter from Williams' office.

"The people of Texas have spoken -- they're ready for change," Friedman said. "They're sick and tired of politics as usual, and they're ready to elect an independent candidate in November."

"Not one but two viable independent candidates have made the ballot for the first time in nearly 150 years," Friedman added. "This tells us what we've long suspected: the two-party system has failed our state. Only an independent candidate - one who is not owned by special interests - can restore Texas."

The campaign delivered 170,258 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on May 11. Of those, 137,154 signatures were considered valid, an 81 percent validity rate. (The state comptroller, who is also running as an independent, submitted 222,514 signatures of which 108,512 were valid, a 49 percent validity rate.) The signatures for Friedman's campaign, which were collected during a 62-day period almost entirely by volunteers, represented voters in all 254 Texas counties.

"The campaign appreciates the fact that the Secretary of State certified the signatures within the six-week period he promised," said campaign director Dean Barkley. "We also congratulate Comptroller Strayhorn on her success. We have no doubt this will be the most exciting race for governor the state of Texas has ever seen."


Kinky website

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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

MySpace.com and Responsibility

I read an article in the Austin American Statesman today about the parent of a 14 year old girl suing myspace.com because the girl met a 19 year old guy through the site, arranged a meeting with him, and was sexually molested. How many more stories are needed to make parents understand that myspace.com is a FREE site, anyone can set up a profile, contact just about anyone else through their profile, and ultimimately it's not the responsibility of myspace.com to monitor communication between members?

Maybe things have really changed since I was in high school back in the stone ages before the internet. I had real friends, not fake myspace friends I had never met. We communicated in person or on the phone. I went out with people I actually knew, not people who contacted me blindly through a message board of some kind, which is the only analogy I can think of to compare the stone age of my high school years to now.

I have a myspace.com profile which I use mostly as an extra address book. I spend maybe 5 minutes a day on myspace checking my email, denying friend requests from random people I've never met, and sometimes reading bulletins. If I had children I would set up a profile so I could monitor their myspace profile and see what kinds of people they were accepting as friends.

If you are a parent and you don't know what I'm talking about, you are negligent in your parental responsibilities. If your child is using chat rooms and/or social networking sites as their main source of social interaction it is your responsibility to talk to them, find out why they are on the computer all the time instead of participating in real activities, and why they think they need to talk to people they've never met on a computer. If they can't make real friends maybe they need some kind of afterschool activity that involves other kids their age so in the future they will be capable of interviewing for a job, getting along with co-workers, their spouse, their children, and every other person they encounter when they leave your care.

That's right; I said your care. Parental responsibility encompasses many things and if you are relying on myspace or any other social networking site to care for your your child maybe they should be charging you so your child can access the site. Until then, don't expect myspace to be your free babysitter or your lottery because you failed to teach your child to use good judgement or meet the person whose car she's getting into after school.

It seems like every DatelineNBC I've seen recently has been about internet predators so I have to conclude other people have seen the same thing.

The common theme: if your child is on the internet YOU need to monitor their activities and make sure they understand why it's not a good idea to invite pervy69 over to hang out. Something bad is going to happen. If he's talking about sex and sending pics of his dick your child is probably going to be molested. If you haven't taken the computer out of their bedroom and made sure they only use it when you're around, you haven't accepted your parental responsibility to keep your child safe.

It's not up to myspace, it's up to you.

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Saturday, June 17, 2006

And All the Little Ducks Lined Up Behind Rove



If you look only at the White House spin, you could say the President had a pretty good week:

  • Karl Rove didn't get indicted (Scooter Libby still probably will, but not for a while);
  • al Zarqawi got bombed and the FBI was on the case, confirming the identity so there could be no speculation, returning a positive DNA match in less than 72 hours;
  • the Senate got preliminary passage of a non-binding referendum to "stay the course" in Iraq;
  • Bush made a super-secret visit to Iraq to look into Prime Minister al-Maliki's eyes and assure him of continued U.S. support;
  • those silly Democrats are still supporting the amnesty option for illegal aliens so a November take over doesn't seem as scary for Republican incumbants as it did last week; and
  • the first of the 6000 National Guard troops reported for duty on the border.
Meanwhile, back in the real world where the rest of us live, gas prices are still high, middle class wages are not increasing, the Fed is talking about raising interest rates again, hurricane season started and not a single city in the country is fully prepared to deal with a disaster of major proportions according to the Dept. of Homeland Security, and the Taliban is back in Afghanistan.

Now before you start in on the pessimistic attitude, let me point out that I didn't receive my talking points from the Pentagon, so I'm just going off the cuff. I heard there's a possibility that not only the President (which we already knew), but possibly the Congress, is out of touch with the American people.

I'm also starting to revise my speculation on who Jeff Gannon was dropping in on, based on Bush's penchant for holding hands with sheiks and gazing into the eyes of men to justify his position.

It would also explain why Laura always looks so uncomfortable.

Karl Rove is clearly back in charge, though, because even though the most recent polls show only a 1 point gain in Bush's job approval rating, I feel like I'm watching FoxNews on every channel. There's so much to get excited about! I even heard Pat Buchanan say this may be the last chance to get a gay marriage amendment passed because the younger generation has a more tolerant attitude. I think he thinks that's a bad thing, though.

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Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Snow and Bartlett Wonder What They Have Gotten Themselves Into

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

From msnbc.com:
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, left, and White House Counselor Dan Barlett, ride in a military helicopter wearing helmets and flak jackets for a trip from Baghdad International Airport to U.S. Embassy in the Greenzone Tuesday, June 13, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. Snow and Bartlett traveled with President Bush who made a surprise visit to Baghdad.
10:23 a.m. ET, 6/13/06 Sphere: Related Content

Monday, June 12, 2006

Dems are Falling Into Trap

With all the talk last week about the gay marriage amendment being a wedge issue designed to get the right wing nutcases all excited, it struck me that it's only important to them. It's so far off the radar when compared to gas prices, outsourcing to cheap foriegn labor markets, the war in Iraq, the average 1 cent increase in middle class wages, etc. The real wedge issue in November is illegal immigration and it seems the Democrats have found a way to lose their opportunity to gain a majority in either the Senate or the House by supporting legislation that any rational person would find ridiculous.

Of course, they have sided with Bush, the worst, least competent President in recent American history. Come on Democrats! Step off your soap box for a minute and look at this situation from a neutral position. You, the opposing party, are lining up behind the President against your voting constituents. Meanwhile, the Republicans are smiling. Have you wondered why? It's because you've fallen into a trap.

Just for a moment forget that anyone broke into the country, let's put that aside so the hard-liners can stop trying to dilute the immigration-illegal immigration issue. No one in their right mind would agree that someone who steals the identity of someone else, which is a felony, after all, should be entitled to benefit at the expense of the person whose identity was stolen. That's common sense, right? So why is the President insisting on trying to let those same offenders collect social security and welfare benefits? His poll numbers are low, he doesn't care, but it can cost you your seat.

This stinks of Rove, and no matter how you feel about him and/or his dirty politics, he got Bush into the White House twice. That's no small feat. He was able to make Bush (the one who avoided the Vietnam war) into a hero and Kerry (the one who not only served, was commended and hailed as a hero) into a coward. Now you've fallen right into the trap. After the mid-term election when the Republicans still have the majority, you still have a bewildered look on your face, and most importantly to me, we still have no Congressional Oversight, Bush will announce he no longer supports benefits for illegal immigrants "earned" while they were using falsified documents.

In the meantime, you will keep following blindly behind him, not realizing the voters are making the decision to vote you out because we think you are now as incompetent as the President because you are not looking out for the best interest of Americans.

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Iraq Has Become a U.S. Welfare State

According to House Budget Committee cost analysis dated Sept. 23, 2003 (.pdf link | html link), the estimated upside cost of the war in Iraq might reach $418 billion by 2010. In contrast, the projected budget for Hurricane Katrina relief is $1.1 billion by 2009.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on March 27, 2003 said, "There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people... and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."(1) The same day Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "I don't believe that the United States has the responsibility for reconstruction, in a sense... [Reconstruction] funds can come from those various sources I mentioned: frozen assets, oil revenues and a variety of other things, including the Oil for Food, which has a very substantial number of billions of dollars in it."(2)

In reality, it's only June 2006 and the cost has already reached over $287 billion and rising quickly. U.S. taxpayers pay the salaries of the police, military, and who knows exactly what else since most of it is just passed out as cash and sometimes gets lost. If they lived in the U.S. and received taxpayer money, that would be called welfare. No one in this administration seems concerned that there is no way to find out where the money goes.

Who cares, right? We have a booming economy, why be concerned about a billion here or a billion there?

I'll tell you why Mr. Bush. It's not your money. None of your businesses were successful and after seeing your spend and borrow style, Americans are starting to see what I've been saying all along: you are incompetent.

I'm sorry you couldn't play golf or go fishing everyday like you did when you were the governor here in Texas. At this point a majority of Americans might agree that's the best course of action for you now. We'll keep paying you, just don't do anything else, don't say anything else, and please don't promote anyone else who has been loyal to you. Again, as I've known for a long time, those are the ones who don't know what they're doing. If you have to fill a vacancy, look around for the person whose views are the polar opposite of your own.

Remember that Condi Rice told you the memo titled Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S. was historic and nothing to worry about. She was your national security advisor, gave you bad advice, and we had the biggest terrorist attack in American history only five weeks later. She should have been fired, yet you ignored her incompetence and promoted her. Try to remember who, if anyone, said it should be taken seriously. That should be the Secretary of State. That's how you choose the best person for the job, Mr. Bush. You've taken a baby step with Tony Snow; he criticized a few of your decisions. Do some more hiring like that. We'll all be better off.

(1) Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03
(2) Source: Senate Appropriations Hearing, 3/27/03

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Monday, June 05, 2006

Prejudice and Stigmatism

This is from my blog on myspace

After I posted the last blog I kept thinking about the gay and lesbian community I know and why I probably feel as strongly as I do about equal rights without prejudice against sexual preference. I do know a large number of gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual people and I consider them friends. Some of my straight friends think it's weird, but they didn't choose their sexual preference anymore than I chose to have green eyes.

I keep thinking about last year when my car was stolen and it wasn't my straight friends making sure I had their number if I needed anything, it was gay guys and drag queens, some of whom I thought of as only casual aquaintances at the time. Since most of the people on my myspace friends list know me from my nightclub job, you'll notice the majority are gay, lesbian, or maybe you can't tell for sure. Most of them are people I have known for years. Some of the drag queens were still boys when I first met them and I can tell you they are more comfortable with themselves now than they were then. This is who they are and it's not for me or you to judge what is right as long as it doesn't adversely affect you. Allowing them to marry does not adversely affect you.

Over the weekend CNN had a special on HIV-AIDS with Bill Clinton as the featured speaker. He has chosen to use his connections and fundraising ability to call attention to, initiate, and facilitate education, prevention, diagnosis, and elimination of this disease above all else. One of the comments he made stayed with me and it is truly one of the most impactful and enduring statements I have ever heard regarding prejudice and stigmatism. If you are in favor of denying equal rights to any group of people I want you to think about this and see how it relates to you. It is applicable to any form of prejudice, but it was made in the context of the stigmatism against people infected with the HIV-AIDS virus.

As well as I can remember, Bill Clinton said, "Stigmatism and prejudice have no relation to the person being stigmatized, only to the one(s) holding it against them. Stigmatism and prejudice are rooted in fear and can only be eliminated by learning about what it is that causes the fear."

The next time you support a "morally conservative" (translation: prejudicial) issue, ask yourself what you are afraid of and see if you can still, with a clear conscience, support it.

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How Stupid are You?

I was originally planning on a title of How Stupid is the Right Wing? After seeing the main topic on every cable news network today, I had to change it to include everyone. The proposed "defense of marriage" amendment to the Constitution (you know, the gay marriage one, Karl Rove's favorite way to energize the base - by the way after they waste this week without an amendment they're moving to that other matter of national importance: flag burning) is not only a complete waste of time, it is designed to hide the fact that W and this administration are not only incompetent, but completely out of touch with the American people. A small minority of right wing Christian conservative bigots are interested in denying equal rights to a group of people, many of whom are members of their own families, and it is disgraceful.

Rather than expand on my own views of why subjugating committed couples to fight for equal rights as already outlined in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constution Amendment IX "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." I refuse to dignify this bigotry and prejudice with any more attention than it has already received. The right to marry and divorce if they so choose is inherent as it is available to others.

U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights

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