I knew Prada wasn't my style...

I know I'm one tough cookie (hence the picture), but look what Momma C forwarded me from the papers today!

From today’s AP wire:

Cop wrestles pot bags out of dog's mouth

March 31, 2006
BOSTON --This Prada's bag was no designer purse. A Boston detective searching the apartment of a drug suspect wound up wrestling a sack containing 108 bags of marijuana out of the clenched jaws of a pitbull named Prada.

The dog was running around carrying a tan-colored bag Tuesday as police were searching the apartment, where they had already found a loaded gun, $1,000 cash and 14 bags of marijuana.

Prada did not give up without a fight.

When an officer tried to grab Prada's bag, the pooch pulled back. The plastic tore, and police said could they could see bags of marijuana inside the sack in Prada's mouth.

"All 108 bags were recovered from the dog's mouth after a vigorous struggle," police said in a written statement.

That's what I call dedication to a cause!

On the lookout

There's a lot of crap going on here in Durham these days. I will shortly write about what I think about the terrible things members of the Duke Lacrosse team have been accused of doing, along with all the hope the actions of local Duke and Durham folks have given me for a better future. (You can keep up-to-date at the blog: Justice 4 Two Sisters. )There are some fierce cats down here.

Speaking of fierce cats, we have a frequent visitor to our house whom my mommas have now determined is "playing us."
A rather-big-for-a-stray cat had been visiting our doorstep and receiving handouts while my mommas tried to find its human companions. At first, we gave it milk but quickly learned from a friend that milk can be bad for cats (the little saucer thing is a myth perputated through old cartoons coupled with nostalgia). When we switched to Kroger-brand cat food, he snubbed it and stopped coming around. We'd still see him going up and down the street from house to house (which is frightening because our home backs up to a busy street, and the cat doesn't seemed phased by it.) And one day, he actually came around with a weird little collar and a tag that read "Tim" - but no phone number. We ran to get our digital camera so as to put up "Wanted", er, "Lost Cat" posters, but when we came back out, he had disappeared again.

It has been an on-going saga... When we get a picture of him, I will post it as we are still trying to find out where he belongs. (He, of course, isn't scared of me one bit. I am a bit of him.) (He has claws!)

So for now, while I compose my response to the Durham events, be on the lookout for a rambling player cat. I know he can't be all that bad. As I learned in yesterday's paper, at least we currently don't need a restraining order.

from the AP wire

Crazy cat terrorizes Connecticut town
March 29, 2006
FAIRFIELD, Conn. --Residents of the neighborhood of Sunset Circle say they have been terrorized by a crazy cat named Lewis. Lewis for his part has been uniquely cited, personally issued a restraining order by the town's animal control officer.
"He looks like Felix the Cat and has six toes on each foot, each with a long claw," Janet Kettman, a neighbor said Monday. "They are formidable weapons."
The neighbors said those weapons, along with catlike stealth, have allowed Lewis to attack at least a half dozen people and ambush the Avon lady as she was getting out of her car.
Some of those who were bitten and scratched ended up seeking treatment at area hospitals.
Animal Control Officer Rachel Solveira placed a restraining order on him. It was the first time such an action was taken against a cat in Fairfield.
In effect, Lewis is under house arrest, forbidden to leave his home.
Solveira also arrested the cat's owner, Ruth Cisero, charging her with failing to comply with the restraining order and reckless endangerment

Great pic

On New Year's Day,my mommas and I always take a New Years Day walk. It's a great way to start of the year refreshed and thinking about the year to come.

I always need to take a break about a mile in because my hips are so achey.

Momma B is the best scratcher in the world...

Adopt this.

I’m confused.  

I know, I know, I’m a dog. It’s not that easy to confuse me, but here’s the deal.

I just read in the paper that Catholic Charities of Boston has halted the adoptions of all its children in order to circumvent Massachusetts’s anti-discrimination laws. Put another way: the Diocese of Boston would rather NO children find a safe, permanent home and family than place a child with a same-sex couple.

So I’m confused. I live with two mommies. And I suppose because I’m a dog, this is okay. But I can’t see why a little boy or little girl with no mommy and daddy couldn’t live here with us. Well, sure, the child would probably take up more of their time and get to go places I couldn’t go, like school and inside the mall and restaurants – so, sure, I’d be a little jealous. But, doesn’t raising a child take a lot of love and patience and generosity of spirit (and not just a few bucks)?

Anti-adoption proponents make it seem like gay couples just up and decided one day – hmmm, we should go pick ourselves up a little kid – you know, like some people up and decide one day to purchase a handbag or designer pet (don’t get me started on THOSE people). It takes a little bit of planning and a whole lot of soul searching to decide to adopt. Hell, it’s easier nowadays to use a turkey baster and parenting buddies, than to decide to open your home to a hard-to-place child that’s been a ward of the System.

My mommies are pretty young but have been together for seven years (on Friday). They have a comfortable home and now are both employed in good, stable jobs. For many years, they have said that, while their individual genes would produced one heckuva good looking baby, if they were ever to parent, it would be through adoption – solely because there were TOO many children out there who needed homes.

Momma B is from Florida, the state where Anita Bryant “saved the children,” and gays are now banned from adopting. If there is ANYTHING good to come out of this Massachusetts thing, it’s the awareness of these various states that already have these discriminatory laws on the books.

Momma C grew up Catholic and tried to hold on to that faith for as long as possible. And while there are many American Catholics fighting for justice (not just on this issue), she could no longer stand the “spiritual violence” perpetrated through the mandates of its patriarchy. She and Momma B have found a wonderful new, yet challenging, spiritual home within Momma B’s home faith (PC(USA), which consequently is having its own battles in the realm of LGBT issues – the difference being the structure of the denomination allows for this dialogue on social change to even exist)). But they participate fully in the life of the church, go to Sunday school - Momma C is even in the choir.

So, see, I’m confused. As I’ve mentioned before, when my Momma’s are away, I sneak a peek at that Maury Povich on TV, and it appears that heterosexual couples sometimes don’t even WANT their babies. They “accidentally” make them all the time, it seems. When they’re not ready. When they have no support network of extended family and community. Warm home? Decent job?

Talk about “spiritual violence!” What these folks are saying is that my Mommas are not fit to raise a child. Even though Momma C has had classrooms full of children in her charge, they're saying, just don’t bring any of them home! Don’t love them! Don’t care for them!

Long long ago, before Momma C had the crazy idea of becoming a non-profit auditor, she had dreamed of being a producer of children’s programming on PBS. After some college, she thought of writing children’s books. When she came out as a lesbian, she was so scared that they (some nebulous “they” she could never articulated) wouldn’t let her near kids again, based on some of the stories she’d heard - parents getting their own biological children taken away from them “because.” But these fears turned out to be unfounded. She got many jobs working, inspiring, teaching young people. It was, as they say, “all good.”

But now, she is fearful again. She and Momma B had not planned on adopting until they were much more settled; Momma B wants to go to law school, after all. (You see, Momma B is nothing to sneeze at either – as her family likes to say, she earns the karma points for ALL of us, directing a non-profit that coordinates funding for people living with HIV/AIDS and ALL that that entails. Law school would make her just that much better an advocate.) (Momma B told me that back at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, gay couples started adopting because they were the only folks that WOULD TAKE an infected child. Adoption policy folks, we suppose, thought that would be okay because the child wouldn’t live very long!) Where was I…?

Oh, yes, Momma C is fearful again. The Far Right and Christian Conservatives (once again undermining the idea of “moral values”) are trying to make this the new front in the “Culture Wars.”
Well, I say “BRING IT”! As a pup, I stayed somewhat out of the marriage thing. Dogs can’t marry. My parents weren't married. Not my issue.

But I know, from first hand experience, what good parents I have. I cannot believe that anyone in their right mind (left mind?) or anyone with any REAL moral decency would prevent them from adopting a child that needed a permanent loving home. BRING IT!

I cannot believe that anyone that knows my parents would think that they could not provide a safe environment for a young person to develop into a decent upstanding citizen.

BRING IT!
I cannot believe that a church purports to be doing this “for the children because they don’t have any say in the matter” (as oppose to when they “choose” to be born into violent and abusive families).

BRING IT!

You really want to make this the battleground?
You ain’t see nothing yet.