From CNN:
Two cheetah cubs held captive and abused at a remote village restaurant in eastern Ethiopia are now in the custody of a government veterinarian and U.S. troops, a senior official said Monday.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AND THANK YOU!!!
I know it’s a small thing in the grand scheme, but it’s a great relief to me.

And on another happy note—Loose Id is doing me the honor of putting RHENN in the spotlight this week.
Much thanks to all the nice folks there who’ve been very kind to me.

And I think I’ll quit while the news is good…

I’d never been to Texas before. But having managed to snare a super-discount rate, I decided to take advantage of it to interview Miss Mae, owner and proprietor of Miss Mae’s Diner in Bluebonnet, Texas. I swear, the town’s smaller than the airport I have to fight my way through, but I manage to make it to the restaurant, ready to talk to one of the great characters in Celia Stuart’s new novel, ONCE IN A BLUE MOON.

Miss Mae is gracious enough to spare a few minutes, even though the place is teeming with the after-church crowd. Mindful of the limited time I have before my connecting flight, I whip out my steno notebook, trying to focus and ignore the wonderful smell of food that floods the restaurant.

“My name is Raine Weaver, Miss Mae. And I’m here because I’ve heard you were an expert on the small-town cowboy type, having watched the Boudreaux boys all your life. I’m particularly interested in your take on the Alpha-Beta-Gamma male theories, and—”

Miss Mae snorted, fanning herself with a delicate lace handkerchief. “Alpha-Beta-whosa?? If you’re lookin’ for some kinda fraternity here, you’re sittin’ in the wrong pew, sweetie. This town’s barely a fly on the rump of Texas.”

Slumped shoulders, big sigh. It’s going to be another one of those interviews. “But Cece told me…but I came all this way because…”
(more…)

There are very few things in the WORLD that make me more angry than abuse against animals (the exception being abused children, of course).

So of course I was fuming like a madwoman when I read this story.

Two baby cheetahs, an endangered species, btw, being starved and tortured and forced to fight each other for the amusement of a crowd in a small Ethiopian village. Captured by poachers who probably killed the mother, and who also blinded the female baby by kicking her in the face, they are on the verge of death.
At this time, soldiers of a U.S. counterterrorism task force are working to secure their freedom—that is, if they live long enough.

And nothing–NOTHING–makes me want to commit violence myself more than this kind of behavior. I’ve personally adopted four abused domesticated animals in the past. And I swear, the only thing that’d keep me from grabbing a weapon of my own to use against such ‘people’ is the idea that I’d become the thing I most despised.
But I think I could get over it pretty quickly.

And for all you fucking inbred, troglodytic, cowardly sons-o’-bitches who need cockfights and pit bull-baiting and shit like this to get a nut—I think we need to lock the REAL animals up.

No, this is not language I typically use, but this is a passion of mine. Whether you believe animals are just for food, or work, or that they have no souls—whatever.
Nothing that can feel pain deserves to spend its life being tortured.

(deep breath, deep breath…)
Calming down. Rant over.

And to make up for it–I recommend a visit to Sela’s blog for A Good Chuckle.
It really is.

It’s difficult to make a definitive list of things you’re grateful for. There are so many things we take for granted. On the worst of days, I often challenge myself to think of something, ANYTHING, to be thankful for, hoping it’ll turn my thoughts in the right direction.
It doesn’t always work.
But it doesn’t hurt, either.

I’m thankful for having the basics: shelter, warmth, food—and internet access.

I don’t have a ‘family’ per se, but I’m thankful for the few members I have.
I’m even more thankful that most of them live out of town.

I’m thankful for the good e-friends I’ve made, who are too new to know what they’ve gotten themselves into.

I’m thankful for the progress I’ve made in my beat me/kick me/thrill me writing/publishing career.

I’m thankful for the big ol’ willow tree in back that shades the yard in the summer.

I’m grateful for cats who never allow me to get bored, and give me things to blog about.

I’m thankful that my webmistress knows what the hell she’s doing, ‘coz I sure don’t.

I’m thankful for The Hood.

I’m thankful for all the stories in my head who refuse to leave me alone.

I’m thankful that my day job is not who I really am.

I’m thankful that God made Chocolate.

I could go on and on with this ad nauseam—but I’ll wrap it up by saying:
I’m grateful there are people out there who actually think what I write is worth reading.

THANK YOU.

I planned for my next blog to be my little list of good things for the holiday.
I’ll have to save that for tomorrow. I feel a rant coming on, & I need to get it off my chest before I focus on being thankful.

First of all–today was the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. And yes, I’m old enough to remember it (I was a wee thing, of course!).
I remember it as the first time in MY life that I perceived a complete change in my society. The innocence was GONE. Followed within a few years by Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy…it was like watching the country lose its virginity. I remember watching tapes of this man getting his head blown open. I saw Oswald and Bobby killed on live television. I remember the rioting, the war, the protests, the lies. But most of all, I remember how everything–EVERYTHING–changed.
(And if you believe Oswald acted completely alone, I’ve got a grassy knoll to sell ya…)

And speaking of lost innocence…
Debra Lafave, the schoolteacher accused of having sex with one of her 14-year old students on multiple occasions, was sentenced today.

She received just three years of house arrest and seven years probation after pleading guilty.

EXCUSE ME???!!!

I know there are double standards in every aspect of life (which does NOT make them right, btw). I understand the boy’s parents wanting to end his ordeal quickly.
But oh, pleeeeze–REALLY now!!!!

Her lawyer argued that she had ’severe emotional problems’. Well, I’ve never heard of a rapist who didn’t.
And this defense, according to lawyer John Fitzgibbons…
“To place an attractive young woman into that kind of hellhole is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions. I am not sure that Debbie would be able to survive.”

Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming. She’s too pretty for prison is a DEFENSE??!
Guess Big Bertha, she of the 350 pounds and black tattoos who waits drooling at the prison entrance, will have to make do with the butt-ugly ones, huh?

Let’s switch moccasins here, shall we? A 25-year old man does a 14-year old girl on multiple occasions–once in a car driven by a witness.
Even if he’s blond, blue-eyed, ‘attractive’, and had a troubled childhood—would the public not be in an uproar about such a sentence??
Give me a break!!!!

Ahhh…that’s done.
Tomorrow I’ll do thankful.

Celia Stuart has a new release out today.

It’s called ONCE IN A BLUE MOON.

I’ve had the pleasure of previewing this book. It will knock your socks off.

Complete with droolworthy cover.
Run git one.

Even strong-willed Texas divas have an Achilles heel and where Ty Boudreaux is concerned, Bad Betti Blanchard will break every rule she’s got. Can a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and Bluebonnet’s favorite son find common ground outside the bedroom?

Despite the interfering in-laws, a jealous baby sister and a holiday no one wants to remember, Betti and Ty discover that even though their happily ever after doesn’t come easy, anything worth having is worth working for.

I got a little surprise when I opened my natural gas bill this week.

No, it wasn’t the bill itself. We’ve been warned on a nationwide basis that those were going up. And they did. Mine went up $40 per month—and I’m on the budget plan, spread out over the entire year!

The surprise was a little insert included with the bill. It was an appeal for a special program the gas company was sponsoring. They were asking for donations from customers to aid those who couldn’t afford to pay their bills.

I confess—I blinked. And I blinked again. “Lemme get this straight,” I murmured to myself. “You’re going to prey on people who struggle to pay their gas bills to donate money to your cause…after you raised the gas bills so others couldn’t AFFORD to pay??!!

Um…hey, folks? How about trying to keep the bills down, or set up more relief programs for people in need? How about more concentrated research into alternative energy sources, instead of deliberately keeping progress slow because it pads your freaking pockets??!!

How can they DO such a thing???

Because they can get away with it.

THE PAMPER PRINCIPLE.

That’s what I call it. It’s the principle that declares that an organization or business can legally fuck you—with or without lubrication—as long as they’ve got the dick that you want.
Bend over, baby.

Let me be more pc about it. Let’s say you’re on a small income. Let’s say you’ve got a small baby.
Let’s say I manufacture Pampers, or some other disposable diaper, and I’ve pretty well got the market cornered. I decide to raise prices by $5, $20, maybe $25 dollars a pack.

Guess what? You’re gonna pay.
You’re not gonna go back in time to those smelly cloth diapers that leak & constantly need washing. You’re not gonna let the kid run around soiling everything in the house. You will pay.
When the automobile gas prices went up, even BEFORE they were sure there’d be hurricane damage–we paid.
Cigarette taxes–we paid.
If Bill Gates declared that everything Microsoft would self-destruct within one week unless every user sent him $5, we’d fork it over in a heartbeat.

And every year I hear more and more stories about elderly people freezing to death in their homes, kerosene fires, carbon monoxide poisonings, electrical fires from space heaters–all because more and more people cannot afford to pay.

Me? I’ve got an old house with a very old gas furnace. At this exact moment in time, I can’t afford anything else.

But I am being proactive about the whole thing.
I’m considering buying stock in Vagisil.