This emailed request for donations thumped into my inbox about 2 pm today. It bothers me.  I know the Red Cross does lots of great work. I know they are doing that work now.  I have given them money in the past to help support their work. But, still. This email is just too damn timely. Too calculated. Too tailored.  Too in tune with modern marketing techniques. They are using the hurricane.  It doesn't feel right. Or, am I expecting too much from a do-gooder organization that needs more funding to do more good? Oh, yeah. If you think I'm [...]

Last Monday we went to the reproductive vet for a routine, post-no-puppy check-up to make sure that SeQueL's body was returning to normal. Unfortunately, it was not. Instead, her uterus is irritated and producing mucus. This happens, and the doctors don't yet understand the underlying cause. SeQueL doesn't feel bad, but the condition will not resolve itself, and, untreated, it will eventually become life-threatening. There are two treatment alternatives: Spaying Treatment with a prostaglandin drug twice a day for 7 or so days to calm the uterus. With this approach, the doctor says, about half the patients are able to [...]

SeQueL is not pregnant, but she is healthy and very comfortable.  When we went to the reproductive specialist vet a couple weeks ago, the ultrasound showed no living puppies.  The vet, Dr. Janice Cain of Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center is the area's best, according to our breeder friends who insisted that we go to her, even though she's located across the Bay Bridge in deepest suburbia.  Dr. Cain was very careful with us, and talked about how relatively common losing a litter is.  Ten years ago, she said, the ultrasounds were not as good, and we probably would have assumed that [...]

Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of the United States must make a choice between two ways of living--a decision, which will affect us the rest of our lives and our children and our grandchildren after us.On the other side, there is the Wall Street way of life and politics. Trust the leader! Let big business take care of prices and profits! Measure all things by money! That is the philosophy of the masters of the Republican Party.Well, I have been studying the Republican Party for over 12 years at close hand in the Capital of [...]