Countdown: March for the Animals!

The 2011 March for the Animals is next Saturday at Tompkins County Community College. The March is one of the biggest and most important fundraisers for the SPCA of Tompkins County. Please help George, Walter, Norman, and me raise money to support the lifesaving work of the SPCA. Sponsor us here!

These funds help the SPCA provide medical care to the animals at the shelter. They are hoping the event will raise $100,000, but right now, only 23% of that amount has been raised. It may sound like a lot, but every little bit helps. Please sponsor us!

Firstgiving Donation Page

Save the Flying Squirrels!

From the Center for Biological Diversity:

In 2008, the Bush administration removed Endangered Species Act protections for the West Virginia northern flying squirrel. This removal came despite dire projections from global warming models that predicted complete disappearance of the squirrels' habitat and a lack of evidence to show the species' populations had rebounded.

In response to a suit from the Center and allies to restore protections for the squirrel, a federal judge in 2011 reinstated its endangered status, holding, in a precedent-setting ruling, that the Service had violated the Endangered Species Act by not following its own science-based recovery plan for the species.

Rather than accepting that pro-science ruling, the Obama administration has decided to appeal it. Apparently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not want to have to follow its own recovery plans when deciding whether protections should be retained.

Please contact the Interior Department to help put the squirrels back on the endangered species list - it is the right thing to do. Remember, extinct is forever. We can't bow to short-term thinking when considering the health of the planet and its inhabitants, especially those who can't speak for themselves.

My First Prezi

Quotation of the Day: Current Events Edition

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.... Keep a big hunk of it but part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward to the next kid who comes along,"

~Elizabeth Warren

Please watch this video for the entire quotation - Warren makes an excellent point about the public resources that facilitate private wealth creation.

cockscomb

Seneca Lake

George Bearing Gifts

On Saturday, we went up to Seneca lake to see about a "lake retreat." Ultimately, it didn't work out, but we did have a nice drive, walk on the lake, and side trip to Sweet Land Farm.

Off the International Spectrum of Sane Behavior

Noam Chomsky was on Democracy Now this morning. I love his response to Amy Goodman's question. (He is also great in the movie The Corporation.)

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to wrap for a minute by asking you two quick questions. One is about politics in this country. Do you see a big difference between Obama, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry? Do you think there would be a drastic change in policy if a Republican were to win in 2012 and if it were Perry or Romney? 

NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I must say that politics in this country now is in a state that I think has no analogue in American history and maybe nowhere in any parliamentary system. It’s astonishing. I mean, I’m not a great enthusiast for Obama, as you know, from way back, but at least he’s somewhere in the real world. Perry, who’s very likely—very likely to get the—to win the primary and win the nomination, and maybe to win the election, he’s often in outer space. I mean, his views are unbelievable. Bachmann is the same. Romney is kind of more or less toward the center. These are—the positions that they are taking are utterly outlandish. I mean, as you mentioned before, I just came back from Europe, where people just can’t believe what they’re seeing here, what people are saying. I mean, take one of the really crucial issues for the human species: doing something about environmental catastrophe. Well, you know, every single one of the Republican candidates—maybe not Huntsman, but every major one—is a climate change denier. It’s kind of ironic in the case of Perry. He says there’s no global warming, while Texas is burning up with the highest temperatures on record, fire all over the place, and so on. But it doesn’t matter, it’s just not happening. In fact, the one who has conceded that maybe global warming has taken place is Michele Bachmann. I heard a statement of hers in which she said, "Well, yes, maybe it’s happening. It’s God’s punishment for allowing gay marriage," or some comment like that. I mean, this—what’s going on there is just off the international spectrum of sane behavior.

PRESS RELEASE: Libyan Animals in Crisis

Because of the Civil War in Libya, the animals at the Tripoli Zoo are in crisis. Please make a donation today to help them. Hopefully, when the crisis is over, they will be able to move to more appropriate habitats. CNN aired a story on these animals several weeks ago, and they are still in desperate need.

From the International Fund for Animal Welfare

(Yarmouth Port, MA) - The Tripoli Zoo received critical funds today from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW- www.ifaw.org) that extend a life line to animals caught in the middle of the ongoing armed conflict in Libya.

Moments after the National Transitional Council (NTC) took control of the Libyan capital, IFAW’s focus turned to the animals living at the Tripoli Zoo. The zoo is located in very close proximity to Gadhafi’s former compound at Bab al-Aziziya which was the center of intense fighting. More than a thousand animals live in the zoo including a tiger, lions, hyenas, hippos, deer and monkeys to name a few.

“The situation in Libya is still very unstable but we’re doing everything in our power to help the animals caught in the middle of this crisis,” said Dr. Ian Robinson, IFAW’s Emergency Relief Director. “The arrival of this initial aid into Tripoli gives us hope and we continue working hard to establish long-term support for the animals.”

The cost to feed the animals at the Tripoli Zoo is close to $2,000 a day. Large carnivores like the tiger and lions can eat 20-30 pounds of meat a day. IFAW’s support will help ensure that animals have sufficient food and water. Extended power outages in the capital city have also disabled the zoo’s refrigerators. Under scorching temperatures the existing veterinary medicine has been rendered useless. Not currently available in-country, these medicines are also desperately needed and IFAW is working on ways to get these and other supplies into Tripoli.

“We thank IFAW so much for their interest and support of the Tripoli Zoo in this time of great need,” said Dr. Abdel Fattah Husin, Director of the Tripoli Zoo.

From the onset of social and political unrest in the Middle East last spring, IFAW stepped in to help the Tunis Zoo in Tunisia and two animal welfare groups in Egypt. In 2003, IFAW rushed a team of experts and supplies to the Baghdad Zoo and worked there for weeks to ensure the well-being and survival of over 400 animals including lions, tigers, brown bears, wolves and primates.

P.S. I do not approve of the conditions of the Tripoli Zoo but do not believe these animals should suffer due to human conflict.