Tax Break for Pet Owners

This morning I read a piece in the Michigan Oakland Press Parade Magazine that Michigan Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R.Mich) is proposing a bill that will use the federal tax code to help pet owners. The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (stands for HAPPY) Act would allow pet owners to deduct the cost, up to $3500.00 per year for pet food, vet care, and other pet-related expenses from their income tax. Rep McCotter says the bill was created to assist pet owners with tax relief while also strengthening the "human-animal bond."

Animal rights activists are for the bill, as this gives some 60% of American who own pets the chance to keep them in their home and not have to relinquish them to shelters and other places when the going gets tough. A director for the Tax Foundation opposed the bill saying this should not be put out there to make people happy. It's only being put out there for congressmen to gain popularity among the voters.

I know that there are tons of animals out there at shelters, on the roadside, in people's homes that need assistance. And as I have often told my daughter, "You can't save everyone of them." Our local shelter has put out reports saying people often leave animals on leashes tied to the door knob of the building over night. They find these animals when they come in the morning. People do this to avoid having to be accountable for their actions and to avoid having to offer any type of monetary donation for the care of their animal.

To me, this is a good bill. It does help people in need, as long as the people in need are using it correctly. Pet food is expensive, veterinary care is even more expensive and it is heartbreaking, gut-wrenching when you have to give up an animal. I have a friend who takes in strays the way we change our underwear (I know, weird way of putting it but she does.) She works tirelessly caring for her own animals and never hesitates when a friend in need asks for her assistance. And one of those foster babies I'm hoping to take home myself sometime next year. (Long story there)
I have a senior dog with many health issues as well as a cat who can only eat one kind of cat food without getting sick. These two are my four legged children, now that my human children are grown and on their own. They have given me hours of love, attention and affection and I will do everything in my power to do the same for them so they live out a happy, healthy life.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
Patti

License to Kill

By A.J. Llewellyn

I'm disturbed by the rising number of men and women who kill their children before - and sometimes not - killing themselves. With so many people I know clamoring for kids of their own it sickens and angers me that some parents feel they have the right to take their children's lives. To me, it is the ultimate act of great selfishness.
Whether it's the newborn tossed in a dumpster or a pre-teen shot in bed, it is often done to spite an estranged or ex spouse.
I am furious when I hear of some parent slaughtering their babies as if they are judge and jury.
There's also a disturbing trend nobody talks about.
The people who kill their pets.
A friend of mine recently died and in my last conversation with her she told me she had put in her will that her five healthy, happy, loving cats were to be euthanized upon her death.
I loved my friend but I was outraged, and told her so.
We argued for about half an hour on the subject but she was an old lady and firm in her beliefs.
"Nobody will take care of them the way I do," she said. "Nobody."
This is very true. Nobody cares for our pets the way we do, but do we have the right to kill them?
A woman of means, I suggested she place in her will that the animals were to be found loving, adoptive families. She could even leave money for their upkeep.
She refused.
Again, I call it selfish.
If something happened to me, my first concern would be for my animals but I already have in place two friends willing to step up and take them in as their own.
It's something that horrifies me, that anybody who professes to love a life, human or animal, can snuff it out.
I argued with my friend and was devastated when she passed and her son, who inherited her estate instructed the housekeeper to feed the cats until the food ran out.
"Once the food is gone, they die," he said.
The housekeeper and I smuggled extra food in the house and after three weeks, he figured out we were disobeying his instructions. He called the vet, who, though reluctant to kill five perfectly wonderful animals, had no choice since he'd been given his own instructions and payment ahead of time.
I will forever remember the pitiful wails of those beautiful creatures as they were driven from the only home they've known.
I listened to a psychologist on the radio yesterday describing the scene that greeted a woman who went to pick up her young son and daughter when her ex husband failed to return them after a scheduled visit.
She described a scene of such brutality that the investigating officers required therapy afterward, let alone the woman who birthed those babies and was forced by the courts to let her wacko ex have access to them.
In a suicide note, the father said "Nobody can look after these kids like I can."
What about their mom?
I don't believe his words. I believe he did this to hurt her.
But again, do any of us have the right?
I say at a time when our values seem at an all-time low, giving ourselves a license to kill reaches a whole 'nother level of low.
What do you think?
Aloha oe,

A.J.