Author: David

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Proverbs 2

When you become acquainted with the Bible, you find scriptures that draw you in.  Proverbs does that to me.  I find myself repeatedly returning to the words there.  Thanks to the Logos App, I can engage in my own personal Bible study.  I opted to use the Logos App instead of enrolling in Theological Studies at a university.  Several things drove me in this direction: cost, the worry that colleges now have lost the root of knowledge, and I wanted a self-directed approach to study.  I wanted to test the promises of Proverbs 2 to gain my knowledge.

My study today was understanding the people in that chapter.  I was delighted to see that “a woman” was listed as a person of interest.  On a lark, I hovered my cursor over the word, “woman” and found that a woman was defined as “an adult female.”  The nice thing about the Bible is that it has been steadfast throughout the centuries; not given to woke nonsense.

As I see it, wokeness formed because people had become so distant from God.  The further that they moved away from Him, the more they lost knowledge of Him.  And lost wisdom.

I was watching a YouTube video of a school board meeting in Chicago in which a parent was complaining that their daughter was forced to disrobe in front of a transgender woman ( a guy with a penis who claims to be a woman (I just wanted to be clear on the issue)).  When I said, “forced,” I mean that several women employees walked the girl back into the locker room and stood with her as she was forced to disrobed.

In the board meeting, attendees booed the parent for complaining.  I was flabbergasted as to how far we as a society have fallen away from God.  One of the speakers told the parent, “Don’t bring your white God in here.”  I could hear the flames of Hell heating up.  It is not too late to come back to Him.

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Old Man’s Dreams

Last night, I dreamt that a storm was coming and that the Lord’s children prayed that the storm waters would be blessed by God and become the Holy Water that washes upon the face of the earth to cast out evil that is in and upon it. The air would become pure and you could breath in the holiness of the moment.

I woke to find a fine layer of snow upon the ground and I pondered the dream.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament promised to give old men dreams:

Joel 2:28 says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.” Luke reminds us of this in Acts 2:17 when he writes, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

But for the mater of interpretations, Genesis 40:5 says, “They said to him, ‘We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me..” And yet, in 1 Corinthians 14:28 says, “But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.” And yet, the memory of the dream remains.

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Status Quo Budget

I have discovered that I can’t leave the animal welfare profession even though I am retired.  Last night I dreamt of working on a status quo budget.

The phrase “status quo” literally translates to “the existing state of affairs.’  In budgeting, it means a budget that reflects the current pattern and operational levels without any planned changes or increases. (according to Google)

In reality, given inflation, there is no such thing as a status quo budget; last year’s dollars will not present this year’s operation.  So, even with a status quo level of budgeting, you’re forced to reduce areas of your budget due to rising costs of, say, pet food; unless you are prepared to provide cheaper food; which, might cause other budget areas to arise: due to indigestion.

The best insurance for your budget is developing a good relationship with your city/county commission.  As I have mentioned in past blogs, in Florida I had a County Administrator hell bend to reducing Animal Control’s budget.  But, due to our relationship with our Commission, they stopped him every year because the Commission receives a lot of animal-related complaints and we made sure that we responded promptly to them.   The County Administrator never figured out our secret, because he never saw the big picture.

That same Administrator always had us providing cost-cutting budgets each year.  In many of them, I would cut my own salary so as to meet the needs of the County.   Although losing me was no sweat off the Administrator’s back, the Commission didn’t want to lose their contact person in Animal Control.

In last night’s budget, I was disillusioned with Animal Control agreeing to a status quo budget without thinking that it was really a budget reduction.  So, if you think you are ahead by agreeing to last year’s budget, you are going to have to rethink your budget as a reduction.  Just know that in advance and let me go back to sleep.

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Will You Be Sleeping?

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
13 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age
3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

The Coming of the Son of Man
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day or Hour
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 13:1–37.

Olivet Discourse 

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This is totally shocking….

That is one of the many titles we see on YouTube or any other news sources.  When have we become a society where all of our social media becomes click-bait?  Everyone is battling for attention, “click here, click here”

I find myself moving beyond sensational headlines.  I don’t know anywhere that I feel I am getting the truth, because all the media does is feed us crap.  I know, I know, crap is a four letter word; but it is hard to call it anything else.

We have become such a society of disinformation that it is becoming impossible to discern what is truth.  I am starting to believe that it is becoming increasingly difficult for truth-tellers because lies deliver more clicks.

I harp on the notion of integrity; but I am quickly learning that integrity is becoming extinct.

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There are no bad dogs.

Recently, I was contacted by a blogger who wanted facetime on my website.  I am always curious about people who approach me and want to write on my website when they have a website of their own.  In checking out his website, he had a tagline that claimed, “There are no bad dogs.”

This is the greatest lie that we can tell people.  In the same vein is when we tell people that all dogs are alike.  People usually make that claim when talking about pitbulls.  That too, is another lie.

Anyone who has worked in an animal shelter knows that pets have phenotypical and behavioral differences.  We chalk that up to genetics.  It is foolish to think that genetics does not impact behavior.  Let us face it, poodles and chihuahuas are the meanest dogs.  We chalk that up to their genetically small brains.  They don’t make the newspapers because they are too small to cause any real damage to a person.  Pitbulls are the breed most likely to cause a fatality due to their size, aggression, and numbers.  There is something about a pitbull owner that seems to think that they need to breed more pitbull mixes.  I think they are having a contest to see just how many other breeds will breed with a pitbull.

For many years, dog fighters would breed their line of pitbulls to be mean.   They would come upon a specific genetic marker for aggression and milk it. Many of the offspring of those animals find their way into animal shelters.  One of the biggest problems that we face is that most pet owners do not know how to respond to the aggression they see in their pets.  Like having a misbehaving child, they blame themselves and attempt to adapt to these new behaviours.

It is tragic the number of pitbull owners who give up their pet after witnessing numerous incidents of aggression and wait for the “the big one.”  The one action that is so severe that they are forced to surrender their dog.  That action is usually a bite so severe that it cannot be overlooked.  The victim is usually a child.

Pitbulls are not alone in being potentially dangerous.  It is the responsibility of shelter staff to see aggressive behaviour before you place the dog on the adoption row.  Too often, animal shelters are trying so hard to reach a 90% save rate that they will intentionally overlook a dog’s behaviour in hope of being able to announce they’ve become no-kill.  For that reason, maybe people should avoid a no-kill shelter fearing that their no-kill rating is more important than an adopter’s safety.

Animal shelters that adopt potentially dangerous dogs and pet owners who choose to keep a potentially dangerous dog should be charged with reckless endangerment if someone is ever injured due to their complacency.  An animal shelter is negligent when keeping a dog that has shown aggression towards their own staff.  If more shelters were held responsible for their animals that they adopt, they might reconsider the importance of being called no-kill.

Don’t get me wrong, no-kill is a good thing, if it is done in a responsible way.

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Analytics

Every once in a while, a blogger finds their way to this site. I don’t know how they find me, but they do, wanting to author an article for you. I’ve agreed a couple of times, only to regret it. I’ve decided that if someone is going to write something stupid on my website, it was going to be me, which I do quite frequently.

I infrequently ponder who might be my readers and in what numbers they visit me. The site analytics tell me that this site is visited, on average, fifty times a day. The next question is why?

I would like to think that I can impart some wisdom to keep animal welfare workers out of trouble, or people are visiting to see my paintings in the gallery. To see if I have gotten any better. The problem is that you have to look at a lot of bad paintings to find the one or two that I could be really proud of. Some might disagree and claim that their 12-year-old can do better. That is hurtful thinking, but probably true.

Maybe it is an ex-employee looking me up to see if I have died yet. Maybe it is one of those humane societies that I worked with to see if I have written anything bad about them. It could be an ex-wife who is checking to see if I am still saying stupid things; which I am.

I am hoping that someone new to animal welfare accidentally finds this site and can learn from my experiences. Our field is a challenging one and the challenges have even gotten harder. COVID drove people to adopt pets when they were working from home, and then gave them up when it was time to go back in to work. Inflation grew so much that people could not afford to feed themselves and chose to give up their pets. Cities and counties had to adjust budgets to deal with the invasion of illegal immigrants coming into our Country. In many ways, times have gotten harder for animal shelters who are forced to do more with less funding. That is why I speak out against organizations who are trying to bully animal shelters to adopt out more animals when the adoption market is dry.

I’ve always encouraged being good stewards and showing integrity. Keep up the good fight and do what you can to give homeless animals a new future. Feel free to check in every once in a while to enjoy a friendly chat from time to time; although it is one-sided. Don’t forget to bring your coffee.

Don’t get angry with me when I change topics away from animal welfare issues. As I have gotten older, I have been nurturing my soul. I found Christ a long time ago while serving in Thailand. I have made the mistake of not mentioning Him before. I will not make that mistake any longer. He is my life and He directs my way. Throughout my entire career, I always knew that God had my back.

I never turned on the comment feature on the website because the world is full of mean people and I pay enough money for the site that I don’t want to listen to them. I figured that if you really needed to find me, it doesn’t take much work to drop me an email. If you are experiencing difficult times, my email address is in the menu. If I can’t offer solid advice, I can always pray for you.

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Laws

As humans, we face a multitude of laws.  The first law that is presented to us is natural laws. When we begin to learn about walking, we discover gravity.  Moral laws are harder to grasp and might result in a spanking, or two.  Around school age, we learn about herd laws; as we break into two groups: bullies and non-bullies.

These three laws seem to follow us through life and the definition of each law becomes more sharply defined.  Natural laws seem to hold firm while herd and moral laws become more polished or eroded.

Over the past several years, herd law has separated the world into woke or non-woke groups.  Liberal or conservative.  Unlimited genders or two genders.  Men allowed in women’s bathrooms or not.  You see the point.

Some moral laws seem fixed, but many of those laws, that we once held close, have been redefined, some would say eroded.  The more that I think about men sharing public showers with young girls causes me to accept that the herd laws simply break down to perverts and non-pervets.  Sorry, that is a sensitive issue with me.

During the last Presidential speech to Congress, many of the Democrats wore pink in support of women.  Yet, those same people supported allowing men to play in women’s sports.  Herd law gets complicated.  It is so much easier to associate with conservative views… things are simpler.

Moral laws are available to us in the Bible, if we choose to read it.  And here is where we discover that herd law just breaks down to two groups (again), those who believe and those who don’t.  In the end, that is all that it amounts to.

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Doctrine

Doctrine is those things that you hold firmly.  It is the thing that you build your principles upon.  Sadly, it is also the thing that divides us.  False doctrine is something that erodes us.  It goes beyond faith, it becomes who we are.

Every animal shelter would have a principle for how we treat the animals in our care.  That doctrine should insure that each animal is receiving adequate care.  That principle should also extend to how we treat the animal when an animal is suffering and we are unable to provide it with the care that it needs.

Animal shelters need to document these principles so that everyone in the organization will understand our doctrines.  Many times, our doctrines are what paves our path to humane treatment of the animals in our care.  It is upon these doctrines that we submit our annual budget request.

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Being on the Right Side of Animal Rights

As much as I lambast animal rights organizations for bullying animal shelters for not adopting aggressive dogs so as to meet a 90% statistical number; I find myself on the same side wth them when it comes to wild animals.  I think all roadside zoos should be shut down.

Although my college background is in wildlife resources, I am against State laws that require that trappers only have to check their traplines once every three days.  I can’t imagine an animal being stuck in a leg hold trap for three days.  I can’t imagine an animal having to be in a leg hold trap for even three hours.  Whenever I am given the opportunity to update a city or county animal ordinance, I always work in a prohibition on leg hold traps. There is no use for them in populated or unpopulated areas.  They are a danger to domestic pets and they are intended to harm another living thing.

While I am bandstanding, wild species should never be a backyard pet.  For a while idiots were allowed to purchase ligers, half lion and half tiger.  There are probably still people keeping these animals in their backyards.  The real dumb ones probably have them running around in their houses.  The problem with natural selection is that instead of wiping out the person with deleterious genes (for stupidity) is when a child becomes injured due to someone else’s gene pool.

I worked with someone conducting college research on taking coyote puppies and attempting to domesticate them.  They hand-raised them from birth; only to find that the animals were coded from birth to be wild.  The human species is not smart enough to figure out that wild animals are coded with DNA to be wild.  It is inhumane to make them any different than what they are coded for.