You know, there's a special place in hell for people who are mean to animals. I used to watch those animal police shows all the time until I realized it just aggravated my already severe hatred of my fellow bi-peds, and so I gave it up.

The news lately has been full of dog stories: man films neighbor tossing peanut butter covered rat poison cubes into back yard in an attempt to poison his Lab. Man and neighbor get into a tussling match after man attacks neighbor for letting dog swim in apartment complex pool. Man had a history of anti dog violence (kicked one neighbor's small dog, other violent incidents prompted neighbor to move). Dog kicking man dead, btw, died in pool of either a stroke or drowned, can't remember.

And you had the puppy cookers a few years ago...those little black teenagers who thought it would be funny to stick a couple of puppies in an oven and see what happens.

Or all those animals who were confiscated from that farm owner in south GA, a number of them so emaciated that the state oh so quietly had them euthanized. Something like 120 animals were seized; you'll note that the media outlets reported only finding homes for about 70 animals but did not report what happened to the others.

Driving to New Orleans in the middle of the night back in January, I nearly killed us as I swerved at really the last minute to avoid hitting an orange cat that had already been struck once and was probably already dead or nearly so. But I couldn't help it. I refuse to run over an animal on purpose (unless, of course, this is a B grade horror movie called Attack of the Porcupines and they are coming after me to quill me to death. Then running them over is perfectly acceptable). And logically speaking I knew that the flopping of the cat that I saw was probably a last minute spasm of the cat's nerous system, since it was pretty clear via the tire track that ran across it's back that it's spine was crushed. Actually, Mr. Manners told me in no uncertain terms not to do that again unless I wanted to flip the jeep and kill us rather than an already dead cat.

The first thing that causes people to lose our humanity is that we lose respect for life, no matter what it's form. If you can look at an animal - an animal that contains no guile, that is not out to harm you, that has no agenda, that doesn't speak or curse, that doesn't hate you, that just wants your love and affection and hey! maybe food and a belly rub or two, and an ear scratch...and you want to kill it for no reason....

You are one fucked up dude.

So: there's a corner of hell for people who can't stand barking dogs and who kick dogs who talk. They are stuck in the middle of a giant cavern full of howling dogs. Full. Arrroooooooo! For eternity. And Just Out Of Reach are Earplugs Guarded by Cerebrus. Spelling? No, not me!

There are other special kinds of hell for people who throw dogs and cats around....and in this kind of hell people become chew toys, like miniature people....and boy aren't we tasty, because we continually bleed, but because it's hell we don't break!

Oh, the interesting things the brain comes up with!