>24 Jun 1998  Glenn Johnson <[log in to unmask]>  CA legislation
>Following is my personal opinion on the battle for ferrets in CA.  Are CA
>ferret lovers ignoring one of the best weapons they have?  Nothing will
>ever be achieved for ferret lovers in CA as long as they fight alone.
>There are not enough ferret lover votes in any given district to make the
>slightest dent in an election result.  Politicians understand red hot
>pokers, and to them a red hot poker is the possibility of losing an
>election..  Now if they had to sweat very dog and cat lover vote in their
>district, they would all become devout animal lovers over night.  They
>might even see a need to distance themselves from the known animal bashers.
>CA ferret people need for the dog and cat lovers to feel as threatened as
>they are.  Every time you talk to a pet lover, give them a " I heard that"
>or a "I think I read somewhere that" so-and-so is trying introduce anti
>dog/cat legislation that......and then make up any kind of ugly story you
>can think of.  Image how many times that story will be passed on and on to
>other pet lovers!  You need not even mention ferrets.  "It's not whether
>you win or lose....it's how you play the game" is fine for teaching
>youngsters values at little league baseball, but it'll never ever help a
>CA ferret.
>Glenn J.      Chuki...Pop didn't invent the art of hate/smear.
 
As this amply illustrates, I was mistaken when I attributed the statement
"...the end justifies the means..." to Glenn Johnson.  It was my summary of
his encouraging others to start rumors (lie - my summary) and I sincerely
apologize to him about my inaccurate quote.  I'll leave it to the reader to
determine if I had misjudged the intent.
 
Bill, Hillary & I discussed this and they have asked me to ask Chuki to
give Glenn some kisses so that perhaps he'll realize that I am trying to
extinguish flames with love.  I learned that from Weasel, Striper, Garrett,
and especially J.R.  Ferret.  Weez would come up to dad, stick his head up
my pant leg, and just give the slightest little nip saying "Hey, I want a
hug!" When I picked him up, he kissed my nose, eyes, etc.  and then tried to
jump back down to the floor because he had stuff to do.  Striper always
loved to be held, laying upside down while looking at the world.  Then he
would kiss his dad's ears, nose, and eyes.  Big old albino Garrett who had
been raised with big dogs was slower to give kisses.  Toward the end, after
a 3 month battle (including adrenal surgery) with cancer, his emaciated body
still had kisses for the stupid hooman who loved him so.  And my baby J.R.
who, even as he was preparing to leave and irritating young Bill & Hillary
so they wouldn't be sad when he left, gave me kisses the very last time I
held him alive.  Someone on this list says they learned all they needed to
learn about life from ferrets.  I totally agree.  And apologize to whomever
it is I have misquoted in that phrase.  For now, I'm going to go hug Bill &
Hillary.
 
John Gordon
[Posted in FML issue 2386]