Reasons to always Vote, and always vote Democrat

Politics can be frustrating, controversial, and childish.  The commercials are frequent, confusing and paid for by groups with innocuous names that start with "Freedom," "Liberty," or "Citizens."  Sometimes it can feel like all politicians are bought and paid for by special interest groups and corporations.  Congress has such a low approval rating, because they are too divided to get anything done. I've heard all of these reasons and more from people that claim to be too disillusioned to vote.

True or not, forget about all of that.  Politics and governing are VERY different things.  These three truths about politics are unlikely to change anytime soon: campaigns are the only way that politicians can get elected, negative campaigning surprisingly works very well on undecided voters, and the candidate with the campaign with the most money nearly always wins.

So why vote and why vote Democrat?  First off, elected Republicans are actively legislating to suppress the vote of people that do not typically support their candidates.  In short, they are realizing that they can't win on the issues and rather than change their policies to be more in line with today's societal realities, they have instead decided to choose the people that can vote to guarantee their own reelections.  The mantra of voter fraud is a statistical red herring.  It happens so rarely because it is a felony, and not too many people are willing to go to jail in order to vote 2 ballots.  Is this a valid reason to make it harder for any American citizen to vote?

Graphic taken from The Plain Dealer.

Republican policies are not based in the best interest of the majority of Americans and are not based on research, statistics or scientific evidence.  More guns in the hands of more people do not make us safer, they actually increase murder and suicide rates.  Raising the minimum wage to the proposed $10.10 an hour will not either increase unemployment nor drastically raise purchase prices; throughout history, raising wages results in less poverty and would allow people working full-time to not have to get food stamps paid for by tax dollars.  Obamacare is not remotely close to a socialist policy and likewise, it is not raising unemployment.  The job losses that are cited as results of Obamacare are actually reflective of elderly people finally being able to retire because their health insurance is no longer tied to their employment, and this actually opens up positions for people that are unemployed and looking for work.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans does not kill jobs.  The tax rates of the richest among us are at their lowest rate ever and yet we have high unemployment.  There are so many tax loopholes that the largest corporations are often subsidized by the government rather than paying any taxes at all.  Those corporations then repay us by shipping jobs overseas, increasing the salaries of their CEO's and paying their American workers such low wages that they have to rely on food stamps to survive. They bemoan too many regulations, claiming that the free market will manage itself, and yet we have had several environmental disasters resulting in fires and contaminated public water due to being under-regulated and much more concerned about profits than they are about their workers or the environment around them.

In short, VOTE!  Vote in every election even if it seems like it doesn't matter to your life, because it does.  The government provides us with roads, highways, libraries, schools, police, firemen and more.  It is the only institution that can make and enforce laws for people, animals, parks, and the environment.  The government is our only protection from corporate interests, and corporations are neither chosen by our votes nor beholden to the best interest of the public.

These are all my sincerely held opinions, but they are based on facts, and I am more than willing to provide documentation on any of my assertions to anyone that asks.

Fellow Pet Parents in the U.S., please take a moment to help protect our beloved pets.

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I just posted a comment on Regulations.gov to let them know that I support stricter pet product guidelines.  The Docket # is 2011-N-0922

You can find more information on this issue at Care2 by reading this article.

This is what I posted in my comment to the FDA:

Please help protect our beloved family members. Some people choose to take care of animals as opposed to having children and these pets bring us constant love and happiness. We give these pets everything to make them happy, and the thought that giving them a treat to bring them momentary happiness could kill them is devastating. As more animals that are killed from tainted pet products, people will stop buying their pets treats. It is simply not worth the risk of losing our beloved pets. Manufacturers should understand that even if they do not care about how their products can harm our pets, their profits will dwindle as people stop to buy their products. Please consider this from both a compassionate and practical viewpoint, and enforce stricter guidelines on pet products to ensure their safety.

I also shared this photo of Kita on the FDA's website. I hope they realize that this rawhide is not worth his life.

Please take a moment to visit the FDA's site and let them know how you feel about your pets and the importance of stricter guidelines on pet products to you and your family.

It's Time to Talk About the U.S. "Budget"

The debt ceiling being raised is not supposed to be a bargaining tool or even a topic of discussion. When we reach our credit limit, we can't just simply stop all government spending at once.  If we really want to use the family comparison, would you tell the credit card companies that you just now decided to be fiscally responsible and don't intend to use your credit cards anymore nor intend to pay any of your bills? That'd be convenient, but impractical and illegal.  When the U.S. credit rating dropped a couple of years ago, it was due to the world being concerned that we would default on our loans.  We are only as credible as our word and cannot simply make a decision to no longer pay other countries back the money that they have loaned us, and the fact that the option is even discussed each year makes us a credit risk.  Simply put, this isn't optional, and the Republican party has no right to use this as a bargaining chip in their fight to defund anything that helps the average taxpayer.

Kita is very sad to hear about more budget fights

Unchecked capitalism would no doubt be disastrous, because an economy entirely based on greed does not help anyone but the most rich among us.  If we managed the economy in the way that the Republicans would like us to, there would not be any social safety nets, so retirement would be impossible for the middle class.  There would not be a minimum wage or child labor laws.  All schools would be privately funded, creating a vast education gap between the haves and have-nots.  Companies would be able to cut costs, cut corners and pollute the environment as much as they would like.  Don't believe in global warming?  Well, it is your choice to ignore scientific facts, but you won't be able to ignore toxic waste, water that is black and can cause cancer, and smog so thick that you can't see 5 feet in front of you. Government regulations aren't around just to annoy rich people; they are around to save lives and maintain some level of fairness in our society.  

This economy is actually beneficial to corporations.  People are so desperate to find work that they will take jobs below their education level for low wages and no benefits.  Those that complain about how they are treated can simply be replaced by the currently unemployed.  You can go to work every day, do everything right, be a leader or the best person at your job, and you likely will never get a single promotion or wage increase.  People are simply expendable.  Without labor standards, the workplace can be so unsafe that people can die on the job and their employers have no cause to pay their families or take any responsibility for their death.

I think that some voters hear what Republicans have to say about individual issues and think that their arguments make a lot of sense,and on the most basic level they often do seem logical.  However, as voters it is our job to think through their policy ideas to their logical conclusion and figure out which direction is most beneficial to us as humans and citizens.  It is time for us to realize that policies have very real implications and that their effects can be disastrous.  Just something to think about as we prepare for another fight over the budget.

Saving Money on Pet Supplies

Kita with his Christmas Gift

Pet supplies are expensive, but when you love your pets as much as we do, you can't help but spoil them. These are some techniques that we use to keep our pet supply costs down.

Post-Holiday shopping: Just like clothing goes on sale at the end of a season, pet supplies are marked down a lot right after the holidays.  Stock up on toys for the following year right after your favorite holidays and hide the presents for your pets or the pets of family and friends until the following year.

Make sure that you sign up for rewards cards at your favorite stores and register them online. Also, sign up for email updates to find out about upcoming sales and clearances, as well as to find out when there are free or discounted shipping deals.  Add items that you need often to your "shopping carts" online at stores like Petsmart and Amazon.  Then wait until the items go on sale to buy them.  Amazon - Up to 50% Off in Pet Supplies Markdowns

If you have picky pets, be sure to ask the pet store clerks if they have free samples of pet food that you can try out or whether they have an option of returning food that has been opened if your pets do not like it.  Many pet stores will offer one or both of these options, but they are rarely advertised.

Look for pet coupons in your newspapers and mail and ask your friends and family members to clip coupons for you of the items that you buy most often.  This can save you a lot of money if you buy common brands of pet food and treats.  Some stores have coupon books that they will give out or sell for a low cost.  A great example is the new puppy coupon book sold at Petsmart for $20.  The coupon savings in that book far exceed the costs and include discounts on pet supplies and visits to the vet, pets hotel and grooming salon.  Get Pets Coupons for Amazon.

Most importantly, make sure that you are feeding your pets healthy food made by trustworthy companies.  Chicken jerky treats can be particularly dangerous for dogs and sometimes food and treats from China cause pet deaths.  Sign up for alerts from the FDA on recalls, and if you aren't sure about a product, research it online before buying it.  Losing a pet is devastating enough without realizing that it was due to feeding them food that you thought was safe.

Why I'm Not a Fan of Fireworks

After dealing with fireworks for two nights in a row, I must say that my tolerance for them is even less than before.  Due to budget cuts, our town chose to cancel the official fireworks show this year.  As a result, there were more amateur fireworks than usual.  In Ohio, it is legal to buy fireworks, but illegal to set them off, which is just one of many laws in the state that are completely perplexing to me.  Regardless, each year, people set them off everywhere without suffering legal consequences.  I believe that people should not be legally barred for doing anything that does not harm anyone other than themselves, but most of the time there are kids and pets nearby as they go off, leading to potential endangerment.

  

All of our pet's ears move to the side or
back when startled

There were more fireworks last night and they were louder (and closer) than the night before.  Kita refused to go outside last night after a few fireworks had gone off.  When we managed to drag him out and put him on his leash, he would not move from directly outside the door.  As a result, he went to bed without going to the bathroom, whined this morning, and is still refusing to venture into the yard.  Zoey hid in my closet while the fireworks were going off.  Seph behaved very strangely; his eyes grew large with each sound and his heart was beating rapidly.  He made sure that all of us were under his constant supervision last night, so he didn't take his evening naps.  Unfortunately, this didn't cause him to postpone his 7 AM breakfast time!

What really matters is that all of us are safe at home, and I am grateful for that.  Hopefully the fireworks won't continue throughout the weekend, but it is very possible, based on past experience, that they will. As long as no one gets hurt, I can't complain much.

Want to get to know Kita better?  Click here to visit his page!