The Critters
Bluedahlia
[View all posts by Bluedahlia]
I am a thirty something married woman, mom and student, that grew up and lives in Idaho. (Despite its share of notorious political figures and history of skin-head hate-groups, Idaho is a beautiful state to live in!) I grew up riding and showing horses in 4-H and working on my step-fathers mtn. ranch haying, fencing, branding, moving cattle, etc. I am currently working on finishing my undergrad work so I can apply to grad school this summer in Pharmacy. Don’t get me wrong, I know Big Pharma is EVIL! I plan on being a scrupulous pharmacist; like my husband. =) My husband (Oldwolf) and I have 4 boys between the 2 of us and an deep sense of loyalty and fairness. We are animal lovers that share residence with 3 cats and about 20 fish. The horses live elsewhere… (Small house for 6 and pets - Lol). My views tend toward ultra liberal, angry feminist, and secular humanist. I am frightened for our great country and worried about the values represented by our society. I believe that knowledge and intelligence are two of the greatest endowments a person can have. I despise apathetic people who can’t be bothered to learn new things. I believe variety is the spice of life and can be applied to anything to keep it interesting. I value differing opinions and values as long as they don’t demand to be pushed on me or hurt anyone. (Everyone finds different paths to travel, it is a good thing and makes people interesting to be around.) The Zoo is an amazing place with amazing people. Hope you get comfortable and stay awhile!
♦
Briseadh na Faire
[View all posts by Briseadh na Faire]
♦
Cats r Flyfishn
Meow, meow, meow, and meow.
Became politically involved in 2004 when I realized that something had to be done to keep George W Bush out of the White House for a second term. Unfortunately, the Republican controlled Ohio Board of Elections made sure that GWB won that state. Sound familiar?
We must remain vigilant to protect our democracy. Otherwise, we lose it.
♦
Dave [ForTruthiness]
Sometimes known as ForTruth.
[View all posts by ForTruthiness]
omnivoreWuttup Yo’. I’m one fine muthafucka.
Born in Buffalo, NY, 1968. I am the Taurus. Moved to Phoenix, AZ, 1976. Now live in Flagstaff, AZ.My interests are: Paid vacation, recess, lunch, and sleep. Back in the day, I did accomplish some shit. I have a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Northern Arizona University, 1991. I have a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of Phoenix, 1995. I have been certified/licensed since 1997. I have spent 9 years working with children and families, 2 years counseling people in Methadone treatment. I now work with a general population of adults with various issues.In the past few years politics have really been pissing me off, so I became more involved and interested in the issues. Peace.
♦
Evil Spaniard
[View all posts by Evil Spaniard]
Well, what can I say about me?
I was first interested in USA policy, or must I say in a higher level of awareness than before, when 9/11 happened. I was shocked. Really such an attack was a unique thing in the history to witness, although it was through the omnipresent TV sets of the modern world. It wasn’t a simple terrorist attack, in a far away embassy, or the killing of an overconfident tourist, or a periodist killed in a war zone. It was in New York, no less, and the attackers managed to outdo the craziest dreams of all the terrorists of the world: destroy completely a series of the tallest skyscrapers of the world.
The very first day I saw the smoking towers I did think “This means an important change in our world”. Shortly after, the news where blaming Al Qaeda and Bin Laden, and the Taliban at Afghanistan. I saw that the next step would be a full blown military response to the attackers. Although I don’t like war in any form, i did find this attitude somewhat “justified”. After all, the Taliban had demonstrated not long time ago that they were fanatics, destroying the ancient Buddhas carved at the mountains of their country, because that didn’t fitted the their strict view of Islamic religion. But I feared the civilian victims that would fall, as fall in every war.
But, even after Afghanistan was invaded and war wagged against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, USA people, and specially politicians kept banging the drums of war. I, as most people around the world saw with horror how the politicians of the country used the momentum built around 9/11 to deviate the impulse and targeting Iraq. I, as most people around the world, knew that the connections of Iraq with the attackers were feeble or nonexistent at best. And then, the WMD fiasco. Even a blind could see that a country like Iraq was, impoverished, and under an UN embargo, and constant inspections, although leaded by a nasty assassin dictator, incapable of having large stocks of WMD and far less attack the USA. Everyone was agreeing in that. Except the USA.
Being by then an avid reader of news to know what was happening with the USA and those responsible for the attack to the Twin Towers, I did see how the USA public was lead, as with blinders, to a war with Iraq using as an excuse what happened on 9/11. I was shocked of the attitude, so often of despise from the USA to the UN in the past, of complete bully ramming through the UN, all life allies and common sense. A lot other western countries had a terrorist attack and their attitudes were never so irrational, so arrogant and blindfolded, destroying the UN and the world unity.
After that, the inenarrable violence of the invasion of Iraq and the bombing of Baghdad, televised to the whole world, the dead of our periodist José Couso by USA troops, the protection of the Oil Ministry, while the treasures of ancient cultures were looted from museums, and the realization that really there existed no links with Al Qaeda and the WMD excuse was a giant lie fabricated by the USA to sell the war, with USA GOP representatives lying through their teeth.
All that drew me to ThinkProgress, and other political blogs and web pages, and subsequently to TPZoo, to know who was really the USA people, their thoughts, and why were they so blind, when so much people outside the USA knew that it was an incredible blunder, as they showed in so many demonstrations, all around the world. Never before was seen such a unanimous feeling.
Now, thanks to these blogs, I know that there exist an important number of people in the USA that can see what a mistake was it all, and willing to change the causes that made it happen. It’s that the cause I’m now at TPZoo. The people willing to change the world for good.
♦
Europeanview
[View all posts by Europeanview]
Hi, my name’s Amelie. I was born in the middle of Europe in 2006. When my real mom decided five of us were one mouth too many to feed, she picked me to be the one, kicked out of the nest. Europeanview is my surrogate mother. She picked me up and nursed me through my childhood and adolescence and finally let me roam free in her garden. Europeanview is a lot like me. Prickly on the outside and quite soft underneath. She loves nature and her fellow men and occasionally despairs of the world she lives in. On the whole a warm resting place, good food, good people and a good story are her idea of a good time and the Zoo is the place to find the latter two.
♦
Gorn [gorn by any other name]
[View all posts by gorn by any other name]
I’m a silverback gorilla. A strong, dominant troop leader, I am the center of my troop’s attention, making all decisions, mediating conflicts, determining movements of the group, leading others to feeding sites, and taking responsibility for the safety and well-being of the troop. If challenged by a younger gorilla or an outsider, I will scream, beat my chest, break branches, bare my teeth, and charge forward. Fortunately, evolutionary pressures help me to reach for higher goals, unlike Republicans. In my evolved nature, I’m a progressive, tolerant of those who are different, and intolerant of liars and hypocrites of any political or social affiliation. My particular passion is preserving a free, secular society for the entire animal kingdom, devoid of supernatural mumbo jumbo and pseudoscientific nonsense. I am skeptical of all extraordinary claims that are devoid of extraordinary evidence. I believe in science, reason, and gorillist ideals. Join me in beating a path through the jungle, my friend.
♦
gummitch
Me? I’m a year shy of 60, and that’s really hard for me to say. I’m still waiting for the do-over, because I learned a lot of useful information over the years, almost all of it too late to do me any good. I grew up in small towns in western New York and in Oregon, because my father kept getting transferred. It was disruptive, but I did get to see a lot of the US, driving back and forth. In 1965, we moved to Modesto, California and I’ve lived on the West Coast ever since. After college, I bounced around to Portland, Seattle, Berkeley and finally back to Portland in 1984. Since then, I’ve worked for the local transit agency, first as a graphic designer and now as a half-assed technical project manager, responsible for various electronic information systems. Married (unsuccessfully) twice, and have a son that is 22 and a step-daughter also 22. Both of them are friends to me now, and I’m really glad adolescence is over. Over for them, at any rate. Not sure about me. My loves include books, movies, beer, whiskey, food and photography. Oh, and baseball, when it isn’t making me furious.
♦
Jane E. Schneider
[View all posts by Jane E. Schneider]
I’ve lived in southeastern New York for all but a few years of my life. I’ll turn (gulp!) 52 shortly before Christmas. Despite thirteen years of Catholic schools, I’m now an agnostic. I prefer animals to most people, and Wayne and I have a large collection of cats. My main interests are: sleeping, baseball (Mets, you tear my heart out!), reading (though my eyes aren’t up to it much these days), photography (extreme amateur), nature, science, and, always, sleeping. Oh…and, of course, political issues. Always of a liberal bent, my early dreams of saving the planet have, of necessity, now been focused on trying to help save my country.
♦
juancristobal [Juan]
After finding out about a Republican program to exploit foreigners for their propaganda machine, I was hired to be Bill O’Reilly’s fact checker. After about two weeks on the job, without anyone asking me to verify anything, I started skipping work every now and then, to see if anyone would notice. No one did. Finally, to protect my no-show job, I decided to feed Bill some fake stories and suggestions to go with them. I confess, it was me who told Bill that there was a “War on Christmas”, and gave him a few silly examples to cry about. I was also the one who got him to launch his boycott of France, and I invented the fictional “Paris Business Review” which would supposedly substantiate his claims that his boycott was working. Oh, one more thing, I’m the one who convinced Bill that it was Americans who gunned down unarmed SS soldiers at Malmedy. To date, they have yet to ask me to check a single fact, including the obviously bogus ones I gave them.
♦
nwmuse
I have spent my adult life in the Pacific Northwest. Yup, webbed feet. I am interested in politics and reading (though I buy way more books than I ever get around to reading..). I love the ocean, especially in the Pacific Northwest. I’m a musician, though I think I must have been a politician or a spy in another life.. Or maybe a starving artist.. I still hope to be an astronaut when I grow up, or maybe a famous writer or poet. I’d like to discover the cure for cancer or Aids. I’d like to end poverty and world hunger, and bring peace to all the nations or the world, or maybe just be able to stretch my neck tall enough to reach the highest leaves of the tree I am currently feeding on..
My motto continues to be “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans..” (John Lennon).
♦
Raven
C’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, c’caw, .
♦
RUCerious
I’m a native SoCal boy, actually a Valley boy (San Fernando). Two weeks out of Catholic HS, I enlisted in the Army, seeking my fame and fortune. Unfortunately, after 2 years 8 months I escaped with neither, but luckily still had my life. I attended UC Santa Barbara, married, had a daughter, divorced and worked in the natural food business for 14 years. Came up to the NW in 84, worked as a buyer at a natural foods distributorship from 85 - 89. In 89 I had one of those mid life epiphanies, realized I should have been a computer programmer. Went to school nights for 3 years and went into business for myself, doing database programs for small businesses. Taught at the local CC for four years before winding up over at Costco Wholesale. Married (for the third and final time) in 2000, to my Vietnamese wife Lisa. Amber was born in March of 2003, and keeps mom and dad real busy. I’ve played guitar and harmonica and sung since I was 13, and really enjoy it when I find the time.
♦
sabyen91
I was born, raised and live within commuting distance of what O’Reilly would call Satan Central (Madison, WI). I am proud to have voted for Russ Feingold a couple of times and Tammy Baldwin…hmmm, must be two times now. Several years ago I was redistricted into her district. I am a divorced dad of a 10 year old son whom I have 95% of the time. I grew up during the Reagan administration. I still hate that man for doing what he did to survivor’s benefits. It hits home. I work in accounting and yes, it is as boring as you imagine.
♦
Shayne
Being a Critter here at The Zoo is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in years. What more do I need to say. I’m the mother of one middle schooler and I own a business with my husband but work out of the house. That leaves me plenty of time to watch the news and absorb all the frustration that comes with it. Living in a mostly Republican county makes it difficult to find political conversations that don’t end up in confrontation and I was thrilled when I met my fellow Critters and was able to express my feelings about the path this country has been going down.
♦
Spudge_Boy
[View all posts by Spudge_Boy]
Born and raised in ——-, I have — brothers and sisters, and I am #–. I graduated from the ——— of ————- in ——–. From there I went on to become a -(spy)- for the ———. I have traveled all over the world, being assigned as far away as ———- and ——. I worked from —- to —–, with my field of expertise being————–. In —-, I retired from ———— in —— and moved to ——- ——–. Since my retirement from the ———-, I have enjoyed ———— and raising my family with — children and my lovely —- whom I adore. We now live in ——– where I enjoy —— and ——-. I had hoped to write my memoirs, of all the places I have worked and visited, and of all the adventures I have been a part of, but I am afraid the pages would surely end up looking like this: ————————————————————-, so I decided to start blogging here at TheZoo instead.
♦
WaltTheMan
[View all posts by WaltTheMan]
Born in Washington, DC in 1941, I have lived all over the world. In addition to myself, my Mom gave birth to triplets when I was 3 (If you can imagine the trauma from being the center of attention and then being totally ignored, that took the cake.) and a sister (Born on Halloween.). The picture is of my Mom and myself in 1942. I have three sons, a beautiful spouse and a loving and & lovable granddaughter with an intense interest in nature. I am currently retired in Florida where I dabble in woodworking as a hobby.
♦
Wayne A. Schneider
[View all posts by Wayne A. Schneider]
Born in a mining colony on Rigel VII, I was raised by Vulcan traders who found the wreckage of my family’s spaceship. I was the only survivor. During a subsequent, still-classified visit to the planet Earth, I was exchanged for some Vulcan political dissidents being held in a secret hangar in Ohio (Hangar 1 
wanted on their home planet for expressing illogical ideas. My adoptive Earth family raised me as one of their own, never telling me my true origins. I was left to discover this on my own as an adult. On a visit to a place the humans call New York City, my true identity was revealed to me by a strange woman who wore a head scarf and consulted a glowing orb. I’d say I got my $200 worth that day.Posing as one of you, I have experienced many things during my time on your planet. I attended what you call an “institute of higher learning” where I learned about the effects of massive alcohol consumption on education. (It doesn’t help.) I even enrolled in a military organization calling itself the United States Air Force. They sent me from Louisiana, to Maryland, to Georgia, to Alaska, to West Germany, then back to Louisiana again, then back once more to West Germany, then to New Jersey where they told me my services were no longer needed. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble to go through just for that. These days I pose as something called a “Production Planner” in a small family-owned business, with occasional computer programming work thrown in for fun. In my spare time I write silly song parodies and political commentary of an insignificant nature. But it all helps me keep my sanity while I wait for the people from my home planet to come rescue me.
♦
Zooey
I was born in Twenty-Nine Palms, California, on November 3, in the last century. I was bawling my eyes out because I had been rudely awakened from a deep slumber in my water-filled room – where I dreamed of a world run by people who cared about one another – by an obnoxious smack across my newly-born, yet cute-for-life behind, by some guy wearing a mask. I didn’t get a good look at him, as someone was whisking me away and putting some kind of drops in my eyes. Not two minutes old and already they were trying to control me. But they wouldn’t succeed. Never! They would rue the day they…ever……(yawn)…tried to…con…trol… (yawn)…me… zzzzzz…zzzzzz…zzzZZZ…ZZZZZZ…
(A few years later)
Life is good for the Zooster. No one controls me now – and I’ll never tell where the bodies are buried, so don’t bother asking. The men have flown the coop, but I’ve managed to scrape up all the droppings they left behind, and things are good. Of course, we all have to deal with that moronic boss at work…but wait, I forgot! Not me! I’m happily unemployed – no moronic bosses for me. Now that I have the time, I decided to finally embark on my University career as a psych major. But really, don’t come to me with your problems. 
I guess somewhere along the way, I pissed off someone from China, because I seem to have found myself in interesting times indeed, and I’m hanging on by my fingernails like everybody else. We’re in this together, so let’s get a move on.
