Watching the City Council Animal Circus Through Windows 386 Eyes

Burque Babble is in a limited "safe mode" until its humble blogmeister gets out from consecutive days of 7:30 A.M. meetings and the editing of 45 six-page student research papers. While in "safe mode", resolution is trimmed to 16 colors, sound and video drivers are disabled and your humble blogmeister's eyes are even redder than their normal crimson condition from allergies. Onboard RAM is also shut down, so don't expect anything profound, grammatically correct or remotely coherent during this "safe mode" period. Technicians are working hard to prevent a "blue screen of death" this early morning via a constant flow of French Roast coffee.

In other words, the disclaimer above will be longer than today's post. If I had more time/active brain cells I'd pontificate further on lack of media coverage at the James Quinn memorial ride (and the ride itself), but that's gonna have to wait.

Instead I'll just mention that I did happen across a smidgen of the City Council meeting Monday, enough to hear Lee Diclemente from the animal rescue group Watermelon Mountain Ranch basically call Councilor Sally Mayer a mass animal murderer. And I got to hear the squawkingly discomforting un-dulcet tones of Councilor Mayer as she said things like:

"No one in this city has worked harder than I have for animals."

The Journal has the story here. The exchange reminded me of SO many K-12 education discussion/debates/arguments, with the word "kids" replaced by "animals". These discussions/debates/arguments always go something like this:

Participant #1: I am thinking about the kids (animals), and you are heartlessly destroying them.
Participant #2: No, I am thinking about the kids (animals), and you are selfishly depriving them of a future.
Participant #1: You are as evil as (insert one of the following: Hitler, Idi Amin, John Wayne Gacy, George Steinbrenner) and will go down as the most evil person in the history of kids (animals).
Participant #2: No, you shut up.
Indignant Voice From Gallery: Won't someone think about the kids (animals)!

Then I fell into a "safe mode" slumber as the animal-centered mudslinging continued. I notice from the Journal story that Councilors Ike Benton and Martin Heinrich eventually voted with the minority against freezing CABQ Animal Welfare funds, unlike Councilors Mayer (naturally) and Debbie O'Malley.

I kinda wished I'd stay up long enough to hear from Benton & Heinrich on the issue. Perhaps their analysis went beyond the "you're a killer, no you're a killer" dialogue described above. Both gentleman can usually be counted on to edify things a bit, imho.

I'd also like to get a count on the number of hours the Albuquerque City Council has spent in session discussing animals over the past twelve months. Peace treaties have been finalized in less "discussion" time is my guess. Canals have been built through entire Central American countries in less time. Again, I'm just guessing, and I'm in "safe mode". I could be wrong.