you don’t realize the treatment those animals get.. good roberta tennant. This pic is not CUTE AT ALL. Sorry.

Cruelty consists of any act(s) which a person intentionally causes, procures or permits any animal to be:

Abandoned
Exploited
Tortured
Denied food and drink
Seriously Injured
Cruelly Beaten
Overdriven or overloaded
Repeat: OVERDRIVEN OR OVERLOADED
Denied Veterinary care
Mutilated or killed
Exposed to unsafe or unsanitary conditions

This law not only includes the person(s) who actually inflict the act of cruelty but also those who know of such situations yet do not act to either stop or report the act.
Source: New York State Agriculture & Markets, Article 26, Section 353

Aggravated Cruelty: Torturing, overloading (beasts of burden), cruelly beating, mutilating or maiming any animal, wild or tame, or permitting any animal to be tortured, cruelly beaten, overloaded, mutilated or maimed.
Punishable by imprisonment for up to one (1) year, or a fine of up to $1000.00, or both.

Bite-happy asses will now haunt my dreams forever.

Thank you, Roberta.

A friend sent me this joke (it has nothing whatsoever to do with the donkey picture…or does it?)
One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well.
The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey
realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well
and happily trotted off!
(ending is a surprise… keep reading.)
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt. The trick to
getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a
step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it
off and take a step up.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your
heart from hatred – Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries – Most never
happen.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give
more.
5. Expect less
NOW ——–Enough of that bull. . .The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected, and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY’S LESSON:
When you do something
wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite
you.

Well, what if we want to tip you anyways hmmm???? then what?!

*picks a fight, a la baby hamster with a doberman*

… sigh. Meg, you’ll gobble me up.

anyhoos, I have a tech support comment: I’m using IE 6, and your “Remember personal info” checkbox doesn’t function.

Waaaaaaitaminnit… I use FireFox with AdBlock installed. Is that heading maybe not empty after all?

[checks IE -- aha!]

…nevermind. Heh.

Ah. Now I get it. Nicely done.

So this explains the vanishing tip jar, but what’s with that empty “Gooooogle” heading in the left-nav?

You’ll also note the tip jar was removed, and I placed some ads in the sidebar instead. Ads will help cover the cost of the Typepad service and add to the Cute R&D. [snicker]

Once again, thank you all very much for the extremely generous tips. I’m very grateful! [hamster bowing head] You’ve feed the little hamster wheel that keeps Cute O going!

Sincerely,
-Meg

I stopped reading Bobbie Lee’s comments after the first posting, so I don’t know if she made valid comments or not. It was the fact that she said “I’m leaving forever,” and then came back…FOUR TIMES…that made me lose interest in anything further she had to say.

One of the definitions of a troll is someone who keeps on repeating herself over and over and over and over and over, as if the sheer volume of her opinion will drown out everyone else’s.

Make your point ONCE and drop it.

For the record, I am very pro-animal welfare, but I am equally vehemently anti-troll.

Hear, hear, Bobbie Lee. I am one of those people “passionate about animal welfare”, not usually shocked by the word “shit” (but for the fact it was on Cute Overload!), and ready to put the matter to rest. I’ve had an interesting time posting and reading, and I think from now on I will be reminded more often to donate to my choice of creature-benefitting charities.

Again, bring on the guinea pigs.

Ave atque vale.