HeiressofBickworth
HeiressofBickworth's JournalMy dog story
When I was about 12, we obtained a Boxer. The neighbor who owned it was a violent man, beat his wife and kids and did the same to the dog. So one could say we "rescued" her. There wasn't much we could do about their family life as this was before domestic violence became a situation requiring legal protection. I think my parents thought that if we took the dog, one source of irritation would be gone.
When Ginger came to us, in our house, she was loving, obedient and tolerant. She was a huge thing. When we would all sit on the couch to watch TV, she would lie across all of our laps. She loved tummy rubs and would flip on her back at the slightest hint that she might get one. My sister was just beginning to crawl at the time and Ginger was extraordinarily tolerant of being sat upon, poked in every manner, disrupted while she ate. Every night, just like clock-work, she would go down the hall, walk into each bedroom, sniff around the bed, checking on each of us kids.
HOWEVER,
She became so over-protective, we were unable to have people come to the house. She would growl, bare her teeth and lunge at anyone who came to the door. One time, I recall vividly, my mother had the Flu and was lying on the couch. The neighbor brought over a bowl of soup. When she knocked on the door, Mother called out "come in". When the neighbor opened the door, Ginger had her by the throat and on the ground until we could pull her off. Ginger went into a frenzy every time the garbage was picked up at the curb. One time, Mother got her a bone from the butcher. It was in the back yard which was fenced. Somehow, a little dog got in the back yard and had her bone. Ginger took a running start and blasted through the closed sliding glass door -- and didn't get hurt.
It was hard to know how to discipline her as she was such a good dog -- inside the house. I remember my parents discussing what was to be done about Ginger as she presented such a liability that one day someone would sue. Eventually, events resolved the issue before action could be taken about her. Whenever she was in the back yard, she was on a chain -- we found out early that she was able to take a six-foot fence in a single bound. One day, she took that leap, however, her chain got caught on her dog house and she was hung. It was the only time in my life I ever saw my father cry.
EVERY episode of "Stalked" is disturbing
And I find it disturbing that at the end of the program, the host says a million people are stalked a year. Stalking is serious business.
My granddaughter was stalked by a 16-year old boy when she was about 10. He lived near the school she went to. It got so bad that she had an adult escort from the bus to the building and when she entered the building, the school went on lock-down. No one in or out except through the office and with proper documentation. She never went in the halls without an adult escort. She had an adult escort her to her bus and stay with her until the bus left the property. Fortunately, the boy didn't drive and wasn't able to follow her home. After a few weeks of this, we withdrew her from that school and enrolled her in another. Her parents had to prove a written reason for changing schools. Once she started at the new school, we never had any indication that the boy was around. It was an intense few weeks -- I don't know how people put up with it for years.
If I recall correctly
"winning Vietnam" and "giving them what they need" were code words for using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Both before the war ended and certainly for a time afterwards, the war hawks bemoaned the lack of will to go nuclear. Thank heavens cooler heads prevailed and although napalm and defoliants were ecological disasters, nuclear carried with it international political risks that would have been even bigger disasters.
Here's my guess
The corporatists believe the only good citizen is a working citizen and even then, not so much. They tailor their policies to deny government benefits (earned or not) to any non-working citizen (children, seniors, disabled) in an effort to deplete their numbers and absolve government's obligation to do anything for them. They work towards policies that deprive the working citizens of income, vacation time, sick leave, health care and retirement funds.
Their vision of a perfect world is the 1% owning everything (but performing no labor), workers getting enough to stay alive and work, and when their working days are done, rely on policies to deprive them of any assistance that stands in the way of their dieing and getting out of the way.
Most of the civilized world thought it repugnant Nazi Germany attempted to engineer the "master race" by denying rights, income and future of certain groups of people. The Republican plan uses this theory to create the "working class" with no rights, no money and no future.
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayCurrent location: Snohomish County, WA
Member since: Wed May 18, 2011, 02:12 AM
Number of posts: 2,682
