On Daylight Savings Time and “The End of America”

Sunday morning, Monday morning, and today, at 4:30, I heard a breathing sound frightfully close to my face, and it wasn't coming from my husband. I slowly opened my eyes and saw six eyes staring back at me. Charles, Violet and Emily haven't gotten the memo that we humans decided not only that we would invent a way to think about what occurs in our lives and the life of the universe and call it Time, but we would then manipulate it in an attempt to serve the economy or decrease the use of electricity.

It's not their fault, but for them it was 5:30 am, and that means it was time for breakfast.

I have to get them used to the new schedule, but rather than making them wait 60 minutes, which basically would have been equivalent to giving myself a headache, I settled for 20. And what a long and annoying 20 it was, including pacing and circling (Charles), rooing (Violet-it's the greyhound's way of talking) and smacking me in the face (Emily-and she did it without her claws, thank heavens).

These mornings remind me of how much the nonhumans in our homes depend on us and acclimate themselves to our lives. They eat when we allow them to, they go out when we allow them to, and they go in the c-a-r (we can't say the word in our house without a stampede to the garage) only when we allow them to.

It's Election Day, and I long to be able to see the day when I'm going to go to my polling place and cast a vote for the end to some use (any use, really) of sentient nonhumans. I long for the day that we've done such a great job with our vegan education that experimentation on animals is rarely done, horse racing, dog racing, circuses and rodeos are all but extinct, and we will vote to legally ban all of them. (I doubt the ban will come first, and I doubt animals we use for food will be first to be given consideration.) I long for the day that I don't feel compelled to rescue greyhounds, because their breeding has dramatically decreased due to the death of the dog racing industry.

Finally, last month, Kelly informed us in a comment that there was film about Naomi Wolf's book tour for Give Me Liberty (I posted about it twice–it's the sequel to The End of America) at My America Project . On this Election Day, no matter whom you have decided is deserving of your vote, in honor of the founding fathers whose work has largely been undone, I recommend watching "The End of America," and sending it to your friends and family.

And of course . . .

MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS VOTE YES ON QUESTION 3!