To add onto Debbie’s comment of “where do they think our professional players come from?”, banning that kid from playing ball “because he’s too good” also sends the messages to a) not bother making an effort and b) that being proficient at something isn’t worth it. My 8 year old son plays coach-pitch ball, and there are several players on other teams that he’s mentioned to me, in the context that he would like to be as good a player as they are. Playing with others who are above average gives everyone else something to work towards. It’s the same as when you work in an office with someone whose ideas and work are a notch above yours – it inspires you to work a little harder and consequently get better at what you do.

Our schools have already dumbed down their curriculums to meet the lowest common denominator. Someone got the idea that the self-esteem of kids who can’t succeed or keep up will be irreparably harmed, so rather than raise the bar and encourage slower kids to try a little harder or make them repeat material until they pass, they changed the program to be achievable by anyone. And as a result, we now have high school graduates with falsely inflated senses of self-importance who can’t read, can’t write and can’t do math. Our technical and medical jobs are being taken by people from India and China – where educational failure and lack of success are unacceptable. Don’t do the same thing with kid’s sports programs. I say, “Let the kid play! Everyone else can try to keep up with him!” It’ll be a good thing for everyone involved.- Bridget

Carol writes:  maybe the other players should go to the batting cages for a little practice.


Photo courtesy of AP

I was raised on a farm, and that was the way you put an animal down, when they were sick or badly injuried.  But I didn't know you could "just shoot that many for no reason but to get rid of them???

Does Pennsylvania allow us to dispose of the men in the same way????!  They should live in a 5X5 area, fed maybe twice a day, and cleaned up after once a week -- see how they like it! I also always adopt my pets and the are as valuable to me as any pedigree would ever be. -Bonnie

Wendy  - I just wanted to throw up when I read this story.  My Sable had hot tar put on her butt and was turned loose in Dutch Point housing project at 4 wks old because she was deemed "too gentle to fight".  The tar was to mark her as non agressive.  You had told me about getting Barbie before you announced it on the air.  Isn't is amazing what some "people" can do to someone you & I now cherish so much ?  Puppy mills should all be raided , remove the animals , and burn them to the ground.  There is no jail sentence long enough.  Becki

Hi Wendy, Just read the article on your page about the kennel owners shooting the dogs.  That is terrible and heartless.  I adopted a dog from the Little Guild of St. Francis last August 31...she is the best dog any one could ever want.  No one can believe that she wasn't raised by us and that she has only been with us a short time.  I get sick when I hear about the puppy mills and I wish that they would shut them all down.  I agree with you...adopt a dog....we are thinking about adopting another one for company for the one that we have right now.  - Iris

I think that's so disgusting. I know what I'd like to do to those guys.
And they should lose their kennel licenses. Shame on Pennsylvania for
letting them do that. They need to change that law.
Linda



It's hard to believe these adorable puppies could have
come from here:



Or here:



But unfortunately, it's very possible..

These were two of the "nicer" pictures I found from a Google Images search of puppy mills, some were so horrible I felt I couldn't post them on my page. 

LEARNMORE about puppy mills
(WARNING!  Graphic and heartbreaking stories)

**********************************************************************************
With all of the cruel things that people do to dogs, this next story just amazes me..

(From CNN) -- A dog sheltered a newborn baby abandoned by its 14-year-old mother in a field in rural Argentina until the boy was rescued, a doctor said Friday.

A resident of a rural area outside La Plata called police late Wednesday night to say that he had heard the baby crying in a field behind his house.

The man went outside and found the infant lying beside his dog and her six newborn puppies, said Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires.

The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.

The dog had apparently carried the baby 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.

"She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died.

"The dog is a hero to us."

China, the Argentine farm dog turned hero!