Wait.....Wait For It...Wait For it.....

Responsibility? what’s that?
Responsibility? not quite yet
Responsibility? what’s that?
I don’t want to think about it; we’d be better off without it
So much on my mind, I have to say paying close attention to our government this week was excruciating............................
While I watched the hearing for HR 6598 a song kept creeping into my head, Responsibility by MxPx. The lyrics remind me of every irresponsible horse owner who refuses to see they hold the power in their hands to finally run the horse killers off. But that would mean they would have to think when breeding, or buying or trading a horse. Why think of the future? Why think of being responsible for a living being who is immediately affected by your inability to live up to an unspoken promise?
The Pro Slaughter camp really have shown their true colors over the last week. Cheating on a poll on Washington Watch, a committee member admitting he did not care if they got to HR6598 because he was against it, calling horse rescues under the guise of needing to place horses, and let's not forget the 288 horses that will go to slaughter every day this week while another chance for the horses slipped through the cracks. What happened to Due Process? Whether in a court of law or on Capitol Hill we as Americans should be able to have our concerns heard. First Larry Craig (Minnesota Bathroom Visitor) stalls S311 in committee and now in a committee chaired by an Anti Slaughter supporter the newest version of the bill is still not getting it's fair chance.
So as for our leadership in DC? I have come to the conclusion. After I watched the entire committee hearing on HR6598, I sat back and realized that there is a reason we have a DO NOTHING CONGRESS, regardless of who is in power. I am dismayed to see the people, that we as voters, have allowed to run our government continue to destroy what our country was founded on. Sometimes I seethe with such anger when I hear the words of Goodlatte or read how once again Stenholm was able to blur the lines of reality. And then it hits me. This is just one issue that I have watched very closely. There are thousands of issues that our government is very good at not dealing with, brushing under the rug, or completely destroying with amendment after amendment. And let's not forget the continued partisan squabbling and arrogant men and women who rarely can agree on anything for the betterment of our country. Watching the proceedings of an immigration law discussion get dragged out for hours and hours after the committee started late and took a 45 minute lunch it all became very clear to me. We are paying the people in Washington full time wages for doing a part time job. They have perks thrown at them by every interest group, they get treated like kings in there hometowns, and they continue to give themselves raises every chance they can while people like my husband who works 7 days a week, leaving the house at 7 am and often getting home long after dinner time and hasn't had a raise in three years!!
There are people out there who have been out of work for months and will soon see there unemployment benefits end and will more than likely find themselves with repossessed cars, foreclosed homes and sadly some who will have to turn to living in their parents homes or in shelters while they struggle to get themselves back on their feet. These are people with degrees and years of experience who have worked so hard for what they have. And who is getting a bail out? High risk investment companies who played with other people's money. How does this make sense? Insurance companies who continued to raise rates and then give their executives $20 million bonuses!! This type of irresponsible, pass the buck business has become the status quo whether it is big business or horse breeders who are sending horses to slaughter for being the wrong color.
We have President Bush who has lost all credibility, the man has even lost his own party's respect and trust, come on TV and tell everyone he is talking with his advisers? The same advisers that have advised us into this debacle? Please enough already. I know when this is discussed on the hill, in hearings and on the floor of our great Capitol building it will takes weeks and weeks, if not months, then DC will go on Thanksgiving break, then they will go on Christmas break, then they will go on Winter Break. They get more vacation then my kids do.
So the purpose of my rant?
If the government refuses to take care of it's own people than how are we ever to think they will do the ethical thing when it comes to our National herd [especially when there is hard cold cash being stuffed into their pockets]? If they, (our ELECTED officials) continue to leave Washington with unfinished business we will lose everything WE have fought for. It's bad enough that we can't get an animal cruelty bill passed what happens when there is a bill on the table to protect Senior Citizens or Kids from predators and it's forgotten so our government whiners...err, leaders can get on the first plane to Disney World.

Now as for the second half of the song Responsibility, I have a message for our government leaders:
You think I'm so simplistic
I'm onto you and your tricks
I'm still young and I'd like to stay that way
'Cause growing up won't make everything okay
I'm still young and I'd like to stay that way
I've got a voice and I've got a lot to say
I've got a lot to say. . .

I am Back!!

I am so sorry to have not written for days. When Mike lost his job I was a bit freaked out and I couldn't write. I was always worried and always on the edge of tears. But last night Mike got a call and he was hired at another plumbing company. We didn't get to have our planned date today but it is okay because he has a job!!!!!!

Anyway our date would have consisted of bitching about McCain and his running mate. How so many in our country are naive about this Republican Ticket is beyond me. I don't understand how this woman who has come out of left field with a horrendous environmental and animal rights record as she has I would think CNN would have covered it sooner than last night. She believes that the war is God's Plan and that the church where she spoke these words believes that Alaska is going to one of the safe haven's during the "End Of Times". Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4LjsfWbZLA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQq4b5IQhq8&feature=related
She told the members of the church to pray for the gas pipeline and that again it was God's Will. Now normally I would say everyone has a right to their beliefs and this is a free country after all. BUT guess who paid for the travel expenses for that trip? The Alaskan Tax Payers Did, That's Who!!! $639.50 of state funds were used for her to spread her gospel. What happened to the separation of church and state? Why would tax paying Jews, Muslims, and other denominations be okay with this type of abuse of power? Maybe Palin feels since Alaska is so far away from the rest of the country her words would never be heard, I don't know, but it is scary to think that of all the men and women that died defending our rights, our way of life, our ability to choose what is best for OUR families. Those who laid down their lives during The Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and now the Iraq War all died in vain, if we don't stand up and say enough is enough!!!! I guess Separation of Church and State means nothing in 2008. It scares the hell out of me, when we allow our government officials to write and approve laws with a Bible in their hand instead of the Constitution, it only leads to more of our freedoms being stripped away.

In the end I am an Independant who is a christian, I believe the Lord is my Savior, I also see him as my only judge. I know when I die that I will answer only to him, not the Republican Party. I refuse to allow this group of judgemental liars be my moral judge. I find it ironic that the Republican Party is always complaining about Democrats wanting BIGGER government when in truth they are the ones who want to be in our homes ruling over every move, every decision we make for ourselves while they meet men in public restrooms (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/28/craig.arrest/ )
and flirt with underage congressional pages ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901574.html ). \
Then the lying about why we as a country invaded Iraq while they line their pockets with dirty oil money. I find it terrifying that many people in this country believe that Saddam and his government had something to do with 9/11. He didn't! It was proven that he didn't, history will show that Saddam and Osama bin Laden HATED one another. Osama bin Laden saw Hussein as a plight on the Muslim world, an infidel and Saddam saw him as a threat to his rule over terrified Iraqis.
(http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0303-01.htm ) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jun/16/alqaida.september11

So again with Sarah Palin and now the Lipstick/Pig comments Republicans prove they are better at Spin and munipulating the press, the American people and most of all the TRUTH!!

Make Some Noise...Make A Difference!

I have Stage Fright? Could it be!!?? I couldn’t wait to get the Blog up and running, now I can’t seem to figure out what to write about. I have started this paragraph five times only to hit the backspace key each time, unsure of my words, unsure of the message I am trying to get across. Even the word message does not feel like the right word. Do I mean my belief, my opinion, or perspective? How do I begin to explain what I am thinking and feeling when I cannot even decipher my own thoughts in my own head? Is this block coming from frustration, helplessness, or is it a deeper problem, like lack of confidence?

I could write about the fact I have not touched a horse in a week because I can’t fill my gas tank anymore to make the 45 minute drive to the barn. I could write about how the Olympics are right around the corner and our U.S. Team is preparing to make us all proud. I could write about how internet stalking of rescues is at an all time high. But does anyone really care about these things, when we still have horses going to slaughter in Mexico and Canada every week? When every day we have horses, mules, and donkeys popping up that have been suffering long term abuse and neglect?

It’s time to look at ourselves and see what we can change about ourselves to help the horses more every single day. We need to not only work on the anti-slaughter legislation but changing the state and federal laws that continue to protect the abusers of our National Herd. I know many people feel like me. How can we get the federal and state governments to change the laws when they themselves are contemplating the destruction of our wild Mustangs in the name of Big Business?

I think we each have a talent, better yet, a weapon that we are not utilizing. Our voices, our intelligence, our experience in the Horse World among all different types of people, young, old, wealthy, and very horse poor. It cost nothing to email our government representatives, it cost nothing to talk to fellow horse people who have no idea what is going on. Even more we have an entire country that may not own horses, but love them, respect them, and have childhood memories of their first pony ride or seeing their kids grin ear to ear as the touch the soft muzzle of a sweet horse at a fair or a local farm. The people who see horses as a National Icon, but do not live with them every day, they are a resource to our National Herd we must tap. We must reach out into the mainstream public and touch their hearts…..no their sense of right and wrong, the most human part of all of us who want to right the injustices that are happening every day to the voiceless, helpless victims of abuse, neglect, and our government’s inability to step up to the plate.

So please stand up with me and network for our American horses. Start conversations with your fellow shoppers at the pet store or grocery store. When you go to a horse show this summer, ask the trainers, riders, and spectators if they know what is happening to the horses every day over the border. Educate yourselves with talking points, statistics, and quotes from those among us who have first hand knowledge of what happens at US auction houses in every state in the Continental U.S. Don’t be afraid to say the word slaughter or describe what is happening, unless a person really can get a sense of what is happening they will not be moved enough to act!

If we make some noise …..we can make a difference.

Laura Boothby