Friday, March 14, 2003

The day will come~~when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals the way they now look upon the murder of men.--Leonardo Da Vinci

Well Leo, that ain't gonna happen. This incredible genius said that 500 years ago but of course, humans will always eat meat, and nothing will ever change that. Rather than poke fun at an organization like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, human carnivores should direct their attention to what's going on in the slaughterhouses of the U.S.A., supposedly monitored by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Ptooey *spit* on this crumby excuse for a bureaucratic watchdog for the public interest. Public interest, my ass.

I watched the slide show that MzKitty provided a link to in her recent blog. This was about the PR event PETA sprung on a horrified populace in which a comparison was shown between the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust and slaughter of animals. I must be a totally unfeeling asswipe, because I saw no disrespect for the horrible conditions of the Jews. And I honestly do not believe any disrespect was intended. The PETA PR people obviously did it for shock reaction. Which they got, didn't they?

Unfortunately, the message that (edible) animals suffer atrocities on their way to your plates may be lost because people won't (or can't) get over the human side of those pictures. It missed the mark as far as the message PETA was trying to convey. That's too bad. Unfortunately, also, is that most people do not have a clue as to the horrendous torture pigs and steers endure before they are, mercifully, dead. I think I've written before about the inhumane conditions under which these animals are killed.

So my biggest gripe is not with people who only see that appetizing piece of steak in a nice little package, but because no-one cares how the animals who provide that meal are killed. The USDA is the biggest farce of a government monitoring agency there could possibly be. If animals were slaughtered in a humane manner before being chopped up into pieces, I know a lot of people like me wouldn't give a rat's patoot how much artery-clogging steak anyone consumed. Hey, it's your heart, have a ball.

Ironic, isn't it? -- that so many people are offended by one publicity stunt by PETA, and yet are the same armchair quarterbacks sitting cozily in their recliners and smugly telling the pundits on TV, "Yeah, let's go get that bastard" (Hussein) What will they say when we start getting pictures of Iraqi women and children slaughtered in Baghdad coming across our television sets? The US will do all it can to avoid "collateral damages" (read:: kill civilians), but let's get real. Worse, pictures of body bags or caskets of precious American solidiers and their grieving families. Perhaps those offended by one PETA picture should take stock of their priorities for today, c. 2003 a.d.
posted by Lorraine 9:03 AM 
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Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Co-incidence? Or fate?~~Funny thing happened to me yesterday while I was doing my cute volunteer thingie at the hospital. The audio/video guy or whatever he's called, from the QA office where I work, asked if I wanted to be in one of the instructional videos the hospital puts together for the enlightenment of the staff. I already have three video roles tucked in my movie resume, so I said Sure. In the previous videos I got to wear a hospital gown and pretend to be a patient, and just lay or sit on the bed. Tough job.

This time the video was a Customer Service How-To, which I thought was ironic considering the attitude of one of the schedulers Monday which was NOT the way to handle a disgruntled customer (me). I had to put on one of the men's blazers over my uniform as I was playing the part of a real person and had to hide the logo on my smock. So while Chuck was waiting for the head Urologist who was playing the part of the real doctor, he took some takes of the Urology Clinic scheduler and me communing about appointments. And so on, blah, blah. Sounds boring, but the bit was funny. The whole film is supposed to be funny. Comedy makes more of an impact in motivational videos, I think.

Chuck did not want to substitute the real live chief honcho Urologist with a mere resident just to continue the movie, so we called it a wrap for the day. Chuck needs to go back to Square One and get his cast committed to this movie, so he said he would call me tomorrow for the next cast call. My insignificant role required me to act confused when a "doctor" who is standing behind me starts talking about Mr. So-and-so's prostate surgery to the scheduler. This is a no-no (confidentiality). So the first half is The Wrong Way and the second half is The Right Way. Or something like that. A star like me can't be bothered with those details.
posted by Lorraine 10:05 AM 
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Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Ohmygawd~~Quick, quick. Think, Lorraine, you dunce....you just deleted the entire page of wit and wisdom here. What you gonna do now? Write something, for crying out loud!!

Oh no, now I'm talking to myself in front of the Blogger edit site. OK, let's see what we got. Everything up to now is in the archives. That's a good thing. Now I have to think of something to blog about. That's a tough thing.

Hey! I got it. Let me tell you about my day Monday. *Sigh* Whew, some of the old brain cells are still re-charging, thank goodness. OK, I had an appointment with a neurologist at 10:00 a.m. Monday. I indulged myself by driving up the turnaround at the entrance of the hospital to use the valet service. This is a "luxury" that only costs $2.00 and saves me walking time. I announced myself to the schedulers at the Neurology Clinic desk and was told I didn't have an appointment with them Monday, 10:00. Whaaaa?

I was getting a bad feeling, I think it's called "rage". What to do? I went over to the Neurosurgery clinic, about 30' away right next to Dermatology and Internal Medicine. They told me my appointment was for Thursday, April 10th at 10:00. Back to Neurology, told them. They said "Everybody makes mistakes". I think they were implying I was not familiar with a calendar and didn't know the difference between Monday and Thursday. I huffed off into the sunset.

Actually, I vented my frustration to Gwenne, the volunteer on duty at the hospital's reception desk. Much to my delight, she said I could have a certificate for $10 to the gift shop or $7 for the deli. No contest there! The deli has primo eats. She also gave me a certificate for a free valet parking next time I wanted to use it. Well, I'm thinking, this morning was looking pretty good.

Gave my parking ticket to the woman at the security desk in the foyer. (The valet service is run by the Security Dept). Off the young man went to retrieve my car. So I waited. And waited. Finally, the young man appeared at the automatic doors, I smiled cutely and waved "Hi" to him, he pointed to a big old SUV behind him. I said, Thanks, but that's not my car.

Another flurry of activity from the security desk. The young woman in charge of keeping owners and their cars united was a little flustered and apologized. She also came over to where I had plunked myself down in an empty wheelchair......and gave me two dollar bills to help defray my terrible (?) experience. So I think I came out ahead in this venture. In fact, I made out pretty damn good, eh?

My car finally showed up at the front door, poor creaky old thing. She's been so good to me since I bought her 15 years ago, but now she has aches, pains, is starting to rust and looks pretty pathetic. Actually, she looks a lot like me.
posted by Lorraine 6:14 PM 
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