King Solomon. Did You Buy a Sick Pup? Vespa Runs! Rest for Wildlife. Visions of the Arctic. Fragile Arctic. Hiroshima. Voting Rights Act.

For “ Mammal Monday”:

“The top ten reasons to spay or neuter your pet were killed at a pound this morning.”      Please spay or neuter your pet.

_________

Proverb of the Week: The Tender Mercies of the Wicked? 

Proverbs 12:10  A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

“King Solomon recognized that a righteous person will not only treat his fellow man kindly, but will also care for his animals. It seems the implication is that the godly person shows more kindness to animals than a wicked person shows to other people—even on a good day. We should treat animals—and people, especially—with compassion, not cruelty.”  From: http://cogwa.org/daily-bible-verse-blog/entry/proverb-of-the-week-the-tender-mercies-of-the-wicked

_________

“If you or a friend bought a sick puppy online, please contact us» “

Published on Jul 9, 2012 by hsus

“This is the reality behind many of the commercial kennels that tout affiliation with the American Kennel Club. Dogs live in filth and misery. Now a report from The Humane Society of the United States details why "The Dog's Champion" isn't living up to its name.”

For more on HSUS' findings on the AKC, visit:  http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2012/07/akc_puppy_mills_070912.html

_________

Watch Vespa, a disabled Chihuahua mix, who was born to run – and now she can.

Run, Vespa, RUN!  From: http://videos.theanimalrescuesite.com/?p=568

_________

A Day of Rest for Wildlife and People

“Peace and quiet in the outdoors, the opportunity to flee the city grid or the orderliness of the suburbs, and an opportunity to take in the soothing tonic of the natural world—these are values that Americans hold dear, and millions more of them each year, in fact.

I’m speaking of birdwatchers and hikers and wildlife photographers, as well as those everyday housebound souls who just want to take a stroll in a state forest or charge down a hiking path—fleeing the settlements and designs of humanity and recharging their spirits in our ancestral home.

Just around the bend, autumn is an especially nice time for these outdoor experiences, with, in so many parts of the country, the cooling temperatures and the bright hues of the changing forest defining seasonality itself. But while it’s peacefulness we seek in the woods, it’s not always what we find. For those out to see or watch wildlife, and to do it safely, it just doesn’t feel safe with so many hunters also trudging around the woods.

Most states allow hunters to take to the field with rifle, shotgun, or bow-and-arrow all week long during hunting seasons. My concerns right now are the 11 states that provide other outdoor users freedom to enjoy the outdoors, or at least partial freedom to do so, on Sundays—with a ban on Sunday hunting providing some measure of balance, albeit limited, for outdoor users.

Considering that hunters are a diminishing segment of our population, you’d think that such a lopsided allocation—being allowed to kill wildlife six of every seven days—would be enough to satisfy them. But no. In Pennsylvania today, and before long, in the other 10 remaining states, lobbyists with the National Rifle Association are setting their sights on opening hunting seasons on Sundays too. They want it all.

A more selfish demand than expanding hunting season to include Sundays is hard to imagine. Between the stifling heat of summer and the cold of winter, autumn is a season we all can cherish, and fundamentally, it is one that ought to be shared.

Birdwatchers, wildlife photographers, horseback riders, families out for a picnic—these audiences, these people, often don’t feel comfortable wandering in the fields and the woods when every day is open season. Seeking out nature and looking for wildlife shouldn’t require this kind of risk assessment. You shouldn’t have to dress your children in fluorescent orange and cross your fingers if you want to go look for the season’s migrating birds at a state park or other public lands.

What makes this such an outlandish political power grab is that hunters are a dwindling part of our culture. In Pennsylvania, they are outnumbered better than 3-to-1 by others who want a larger share of outdoor recreation. Nationwide, the ratio is nearly 6-to-1—and the ratio is skewing more and more in favor of the non-hunters every year.  More at : http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2011/08/sunday-hunting.html

__________

Visions of the Arctic 

“Of all the places Earthjustice works to protect, few are as iconic and misunderstood as the Arctic. At best, it conjures images of a distant, icy land sparsely inhabited by polar bears and walruses—beautiful, but removed from our everyday lives. At worst, it's a frozen wasteland devoid of life but rich in oil, a place to exploit at will.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Arctic is a thriving, diverse landscape filled with life. Here, caribou in the hundreds of thousands still embark on epic migrations across mighty rivers and coastal plains. And here, wetlands, lakes and oceans teem with life, supporting whales, polar bears, seals and waterfowl. Learn about Earthjustice's work to protect the Arctic.   http://vimeo.com/12771280

-------------

President Obama: Protect The Fragile Arctic Ocean

Take Action: Protect The Fragile Arctic Ocean

“Shell Oil’s ships are steaming towards the remote and fragile waters of Alaska’s northern coast. These waters are home to threatened polar bears, endangered bowhead whales, walrus, seals, and birds that range through every state.”

Make your voice heard!https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1275

------------

Shell Oil Living in a Land of Make Believe

“Earthjustice calls Shell’s oil spill response plan for the Arctic “totally inadequate.””

Oil drilling platforms at Cook Inlet, Alaska. (Photo: Florian Schulz / visionsofthewild.com)

“Apparently, Shell Oil and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) live in a land of make believe. Thankfully, Earthjustice makes its abode in a place called reality.

Earlier this month, BOEMRE approved Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to drill for oil next summer in the Alaskan Arctic’s Beaufort Sea. Putting the sled in front of the dog team, BOEMRE approved Shell’s risky drilling plan before ensuring the company had a realistic oil spill response plan. Shell’s current oil spill plan would be laughable if the consequences weren’t so dire.

Shell claims that it will be able to clean up 95 percent of an oil spill with booms and skimmers if one were to occur in the Arctic’s remote, icy waters. Never mind that only 8 percent of the oil after the Exxon Valdez spill and only 3 percent of the oil after the Deepwater Horizon spill was captured and removed from the ocean using skimmers and booms.

Never mind that 23 hours of darkness, 20-foot swells and widow-maker chunks of ice riding wave crests are par for the course in the Beaufort Sea. Yep, 95 percent, piece of cake.”  

More at: http://earthjustice.org/blog/2011-august/shell-oil-living-in-a-land-of-make-believe

-------------

Lloyd’s Urges Caution In The Arctic

“Will Obama listen to the risk market makers?

Are you listening, Mr. President?

“The Obama administration is all ears—deaf ones—when it comes to dire warnings about drilling in the Arctic made by scientists, policymakers, international figures and celebrities.

The latest caution came today from the world’s largest and oldest insurance market, Lloyd’s of London, which warned that offshore drilling in the Arctic would “constitute a unique and hard-to-manage risk.” The agency urged companies to “think carefully about the consequences of action” before exploring for oil in the region.”  More at: http://earthjustice.org/blog/2012-april/lloyd-s-urges-caution-in-the-arctic     

and https://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/report-sounds-warning-arctic-development-risks

--------------

Arctic offshore spill preparation lacking:

http://www.adn.com/2012/04/11/2418547/arctic-offshore-spill-preparation.html

--------------

Shell's Arctic drill plan has too many holes:

http://www.adn.com/2012/07/16/2544429/shells-arctic-drill-plan-has-too.html 

___________

___________

On This Day

Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Aug 6, 1945:

“On this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world's first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman, discouraged by the Japanese response to the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender, made the decision to use the atom bomb to end the war in order to prevent what he predicted would be a much greater loss of life were the United States to invade the Japanese mainland. And so on August 5, while a "conventional" bombing of Japan was underway, "Little Boy," (the nickname for one of two atom bombs available for use against Japan), was loaded onto Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets' plane on Tinian Island in the Marianas. Tibbets' B-29, named the Enola Gay after his mother, left the island at 2:45 a.m. on August 6. Five and a half hours later, "Little Boy" was dropped, exploding 1,900 feet over a hospital and unleashing the equivalent of 12,500 tons of TNT. The bomb had several inscriptions scribbled on its shell, one of which read "Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the Indianapolis" (the ship that transported the bomb to the Marianas).”

_________

 

Johnson signs Voting Rights Act, Aug 6, 1965:

“On this day in 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote. The bill made it illegal to impose restrictions on federal, state and local elections that were designed to deny the vote to blacks.

In a speech to Congress on March 15, 1965, Johnson had outlined the devious ways in which election officials denied African-American citizens the vote. Blacks attempting to vote were often told by election officials that they gotten the date, time or polling place wrong, that the officials were late or absent, that they possessed insufficient literacy skills or had filled out an application incorrectly. Often African Americans, whose population suffered a high rate of illiteracy due to centuries of oppression and poverty, would be forced to take literacy tests, which they inevitably failed. Johnson also told Congress that voting officials, primarily in southern states, had been known to force black voters to "recite the entire constitution or explain the most complex provisions of state laws"--a task most white voters would have been hard-pressed to accomplish. In some cases, even blacks with college degrees were turned away from the polls.

Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak and it was often outright ignored, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of blacks in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo. Still, the Voting Rights Act gave African-American voters the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and vastly improved voter turnout. In Mississippi alone, voter turnout among blacks increased from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. In 1970, President Richard Nixon extended the provisions of the Voting Rights Act and lowered the eligible voting age for all voters to 18.”

_________

Yesterday:

Now that it is just about a week since the pups had their shots, I am opening the door of the puppy pen and letting them run around in the Grooming Room before each meal.  Airborne viruses like Distemper and Parvo could have been tracked in on anyone’s shoes from the outside, but the pups should be safe by now.  They scamper around the pen like they are greyhounds on a track!  I put a Pee-Pad down, but they just drag it around, or try to ‘kill’ it, so I had to go back to newspaper, which they use, when they are out of the pen. Then I put their meal inside the puppy pen, and they walk in there to eat and then just flop.  A tired dog is a good dog.

Doing laundry, and other odd jobs, like clearing out a lot of my email inbox, kept me busy for the rest of the day.