I do not have a wide readership That's all right with me. I am not a political blog, nor an informative one. I don't try to sell products. I don't tell people how to look younger, lose weight, live their lives, etc. Mostly, i am here, on the web, to talk about my family. I share pictures of my sons, my dog, my brothers and talk about my friends, family, and our lives. We share first steps, first days of school, first girlfriends, and golf schedules. I am a mommy blogger. I happily admit it. I don't usually get long winded about a cause. Today, that changes.
I am involved in my community. I sit on a board for a local non-profit that helps our community provide good, clean, safe low income housing. I parent my children, and even on occasion take in other people's troubled children (and kids from troubled homes). I cheer my young Republican's individuality. I cheer my younger son's independence. My husband served in the US Army. My near brother, who shares our home, has cerebral palsy. I hold my best friend when she tells me her husband has a girlfriend. I sit for hours on the telephone listening to the health complaints of my ailing mother in law. I am just a regular person. Sometimes i can be a wonderful friend, other times, not so much. Sometimes i can be a wonderful parent, other times i lose my patience and daddy has to take over. I am not a bad person, but the state of Oregon has a bill floating out there that would make me one.
Mostly, I am nobody special. just another worker drone, tryin to keep home and family together. Sometimes family has a larger meaning. Family can be my near-brother, who isn't really a brother at all. Family can be the wounded girl who came into our home and hearts, and just wasn't ready for mainstream life yet. Family can be the brother whom i was fortunate enough to reunite with. Family can be the man who loves my mother and did his best by me, who i call dad, even though he isn't. Family can be the girl i have called best friend and sister since the 7th grade, or even the girl from the 6th grade. Family can be our dog, Bosco, who shares his love and patience with us all.
Where am i goin with all this? Well... there is a bill currently heading for committee in the Oregon State Senate that would outlaw Bosco's very existence. Yep, there is this idiot from Washington County who thinks that what would be really good for Oregon, for my family, during this financial crisis, while thousands of Oregonians are losing their homes and relying on emergency services for the very food they eat; what would be really good for us while we lose our jobs, our homes, our dignity, when school budgets are slashed, police and emergency services stretched to the breaking point... you know what would be great for Oregon?!?!?! lets ban pit bulls. not just pit bulls, lets ban dogs that LOOK LIKE pit bulls. and lets fine anyone who doesn't comply 6500 bucks, throw them in jail for a year, and KILL THEIR DOG, too. oh sure, if you already own one, you can go pay a fat fee and register your dog like he is a sex offender just released from prison (oh wait,tons of our Oregon sex offenders don't register, move without saying, or don't go to jail at all). Let's make owning a pit bull worse than being a rapist! The dog doesn't have to do anythin wrong, doesn't have to bark at all hours, doesn't have to bite, doesn't have to act the least bit viscous, doesn't have to be pit bull at all... just look like one. That's Bosco's crime. He looks like a pit bull. Who cares that he is about the most loving dog on the planet. Some other pit bull owner sucked and now its my problem, my dogs fault. He is a member of this family and i will stick by my dog and i will be at the public hearing when they occur in Salem. I will get involved and fight for my right to have the dog of my choice in my home as my companion.
if you think this fellow, this Sen. Bruce Starr is an idiot, i urge you to look further into this matter. I urge you to email him, write him, call him... here's his web page : http://www.leg.state.or.us/starrb/
let him know that you, too, love Bosco. let him know that BSL (breed specific legislation) is wrong. Do your research, i did. (i could put in half a dozen links here, but honestly, i am tired, i am cold, and i am angry, so probably not the best time to start tryin to code in click able links)
Bosco is a great dog. He is Indiana's best friend. he has done nothing wrong. Why is it okay to kill him? he has more dignity and right to life than many of the politicians making up stupid useless laws that wont help our state when we need it the most, how we need it most.
politics: (n) from latin. poli meaning many, tics being blood sucking pests.
2 comments:
There is no reason for your family to worry about your dog Bosco. This bill has little chance of even seeing a hearing, and I don't believe the Senator from Washington County had it drafted with the intent to push the legislation.
There are a few Oregon families who have had their lives turned upside down by an uncontrolled, aggressive pitbull, and my guess is that they feel as passionately about the issue as you do and insisted their elected representative do something to prevent the same harm from occuring to other Oregon families.
In reality, you are right. There are more important things that the legislature should be addressing than banning ownership of pets. This bill hasnt even received a FIRST reading in the Senate chamber, and I doubt it will go any further than that.
I know the Senator in question personally and know that he did not intend on going into families homes and ripping out a member. This was an idea a constituent of his was very passionate about and was pushing him to introduce the bill. As a courtesy to his constituent, the person he was elected to represent, he allowed them to draft the idea and the discussion to start.
As soon as the idea was out there and his constituent was able to have some discussion and see how much people love their dogs and how most people treat them responsibly, he killed (last night). This is why Senators are elected and he was serving those who elected him and giving them a chance to present their case in the public arena. Please do not call him an idiot when he is more thoughtful than most elected officials out there.
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