www.TheWillaWoman.com

Thinking about all the soldiers that will be coming home and entering into the disabled community, I'm going to start posting interesting things about this war and this administration. Just my opinions, just my thoughts as a disabled citizen. More to come. Here's a clip for an upcoming documentary " No End In Sight ". "A comprehensive look at the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq war and its occupation of the country."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- From the state that popularized purse puppies, drive-thru dog washes and gourmet dog food delivery comes the latest in canine convenience - a company that contracts out dogs by the day to urbanites without the time or space to care for a pet full-time. Marlena Cervantes, founder of FlexPetz, bristles when people refer to her five-month-old business as a rent-a-pet service. She prefers the term "shared pet ownership," explaining the concept is more akin to a vacation time share or a gym membership than a trip to the video store. "Our members are responsible in that they realize full-time ownership is not an option for them and would be unfair to the dog," said Cervantes, 32, a behavioral therapist who got the idea while working with pets and autistic children. "It prevents dogs from being adopted and then returned to the shelter by people who realize it wasn't a good fit." FlexPetz is currently available in Los Angeles and San Dieg...

Jul 25, 11:12 PM EDT NEW YORK (AP) -- A black Labrador who became a national canine hero after burrowing through white-hot, smoking debris in search of survivors at the World Trade Center site died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. Owner Mary Flood had Jake put to sleep Wednesday after a last stroll through the fields and a dip in the creek near their home in Oakley, Utah. He was in too much pain at the end, shaking with a 105-degree fever as he lay on the lawn. No one can say whether the dog would have gotten sick if he hadn't been exposed to the smoky air at ground zero, but cancer in dogs Jake's age - he was 12 - is quite common. Some rescue dog owners who worked at the World Trade Center site claim their animals have died because of their work at ground zero. But scientists who have spent years studying the health of Sept. 11 search-and-rescue have found no sign of major illness in the animals. The results of an autopsy on Jake's cancer-riddled body will be part of ...

Sitting outside the back entrance of the Paramount theater, I thought I was a sure thing. Surely a crip in wheelchair with a dog that helps her would get me at least an autograph. Being on "the no-list" myself, a sighting of a D-list celebrity would be a huge feather in my cap. Heck, maybe it would even have the power to cure me! It was 8pm Friday night and the crowd was getting rowdy. Kathy Griffin was fashionably late, but we didn't care. Then the rumble started. Here comes a black limo. It must be her! Suddenly there she was, a vision in red hair and brown slacks. Here it comes, my brush with fame! I readied my pen and my dog. "Miss Kathy, might I please have an autograph and a hug?", I groveled. Next thing I knew, I was being pounded about the stomach and head. Fists were flying and they weren't mine. Kathy was going balistic. Holy crap. Ok, ok, all that never happened... but that's what I've felt like for the past 3 days!! We went t...

Here are some pix of my new prehensile-tailed skink "Cutie Pie" with her mate "Junior". They're both soaking in their water dish. Cutie pie is the little girl above the darker Junior. I think they're getting along famously now. Yay!

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fallout intensified Friday from NFL star Michael Vick's indictment on charges linked to dogfighting, a practice that a longtime lawmaker denounced as "barbaric" on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who has addressed lawmakers often about his love for animals, shook with emotion during a forceful condemnation of dogfighting. "Hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars are often at stake in the breeding, the training and the selling of fighting dogs. How inhuman, how dastardly!" shouted the senator. "The training of these poor creatures to turn themselves into fighting machines is simply barbaric." Senate criticism increased Friday when Sen. John Kerry said he had sent a letter to the NFL commissioner calling for Vick's immediate suspension. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee also said he planned to introduce new anti-dogfighting legislation. Joining the call for Vick to ...

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- It's a bad idea to burglarize a place marked "K-9 training facility." Police dog handlers arriving Wednesday at the abandoned nursing home where they hold training sessions discovered two men and a woman dismantling the building's copper pipes and wiring, Hall County Sheriff's Sgt. Kiley Sargent said. When the officers arrived, the three dropped their tools and ran. That was their second mistake. "For anyone to try to run from a whole unit of canines, it's just a no-win situation," Sargent said. Pamela Puckett, 37, quickly surrendered. Marc Black, 18, was tracked to a trash bin behind a nearby convenience store. Paul Perry, 39, was treated for a superficial dog bite just below the buttocks after his arrest, authorities said. Signs outside the northern Georgia facility warn, "Caution!!! Gainesville Police Department K-9 training facility - Keep Out." "It's not like it was a secret," Sargent said. "...

Holy crap, a product that actually works! The Furminator . I got mine at our local pet shop. The groomer there used it on Frankie and it really sold me. Tried it, loved it. The hairballs around the house have virtually disappeared.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Man's best friend helped save this tiny cat. A 15-day-old female panther named Milica has been adopted by a Rhodesian Ridgeback after her mother refused to feed her and tried to kill her in the Belgrade zoo. "The mother panther has killed all her cubs since 1999," zookeeper Dragan Jovanovic said. "We believe she has been traumatized by the sound of NATO bombs" during airstrikes in the Serbian capital intended to stop former President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999, he said. Now Milica fights with several newborn puppies over milk from her adopted mother. She also appears to enjoy every bit of attention she gets from her new family.

Two Rochester Institute of Technology students, Jaimen Brill and Asmah Abushagur, are launching an online clothing site for the blind and visually impaired. The site, White Cane Label , is a non-profit effort to help blind people shop online and easily keep track of their wardrobe without the help of a sighted friend. The site’s interface will be driven by sound and text instead of images. Customers will receive recommendations based on their answers to a clothing questionnaire that gauges their personal style. The recommendations will consist of detailed descriptions of each item, including styles and price ranges. After ordering an item, they’ll be mailed the outfit with braille tags indicating the designer, clothing type, size, and color for easy reference. A second label will include washing instructions. They are relying entirely on designer donations to supply their inventory, but will be charging full price in an effort to stop sighted buyers from taking advantage of any deals. ...

Here's a link with info about the bills introduced in Texas that ban collection of reptiles and amphibians on public roads and right of ways in Texas... and what you can do about it. A SUMMARY OF LEGISLATIVE ABUSE ORCHESTRATED BY REPRESENTATIVE HARVEY HILDERBRAN DISTRICT 53

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) -- The sound of barking underneath a street Tuesday led a team of city workers to a dog trapped in a narrow culvert - and you might say they used a backward approach to rescue the mutt. The sickly, scared dog was about 50 feet from the nearest entry point, but since the culvert was just 15 inches in diameter, the workers couldn't fit into it themselves. Not even offers of food could draw out the dog. "He was exhausted," said Tony Talamantez, a public works foreman. Then Talamantez and his colleagues had an idea. They rigged up a long video camera used to inspect drain pipes, and approached the dog from the back. They used the camera to nugdge the dog forward until he reached an entry point big enough for a person to pull him out. The camera recorded the rescue, showing the dog scampering ahead in fits and starts as the camera pokes him in the rear end. The dog wore no tags, only a worn collar. But Julia Gosen, animal control officer for the city, said ...

Dog finally off Wash. state voter rolls SEATTLE (AP) -- Duncan M. McDonald is finally off the voter rolls after the Australian shepherd-terrier mix was sent absentee ballots for three elections. King County Elections Director Sherril Huff said she canceled the voter registration Tuesday for the dog owned by Jane K. Balogh, 66, who registered her pet to protest a change in the law that she said made it too easy for non-citizens to cast ballots. Balogh put her phone bill in the dog's name, then used that as identification when she mailed in the registration form in April 2006. In November, she wrote "VOID" across Duncan's ballot and returned it with an image of a paw print on the signature line. She admitted the ruse when an election official called, but the dog was still sent absentee ballots for school bond elections in February and May. "Quite frankly, the process did take too long, and it should have been addressed after the November election," said Bobbie...

Two hours long... stick with it. Zeitgeist, The Movie

Lizards aren't cuddly, are they? You tell me. This is Ken, Baby Doll's new mate... hopefully. This is Cutie Pie, Junior's new mate... most likely! Here's a close-up of Cutie Pie This is Cutie Pie's and Jr's first date! I think it's love... so far, so good! Ok, here's the story. As most of you know, I raise reptiles . I have 2 snakes, I breed Leopard Geckos, and I have a toad and two Prehensile-tailed skinks . Well, now I have FOUR Prehensile-tailed skinks! My first two skinks were Baby Doll (female) and Junior (male). I had thought that they could live together, but it turns out that even though they are both the same species (prehensile-tailed skinks, aka Corucia zebrata ), they are different sub-species. Baby Doll is Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti (my spell check is going nuts right now!), and Jr is Corucia zebrata zebrata . (Here's a link if you want to read the technical stuff.) Needless to say, they did NOT get along at all. They literal...

Pets on the lam after holiday fireworks RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Animal welfare officials are looking for pets that ran away this week after they were spooked by Independence Day fireworks displays. Since Wednesday, there have been 13 runaways reported in Wake County and more were expected, Mondy Lamb of the Wake County chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Thursday. Animals generally escape because they aren't properly confined. "Animals don't know where big booms are coming from," said Lamb. "They just hear loud noises and need to run away from it." Reports of animals that ran because of fireworks also have come from Durham and Johnston counties. Last year, Johnston had a couple of hundred reports after July 4 and so far this year there have been about two dozens calls, said animal services Director Ernie Wilkinson. Officials at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Shelter said 12 dogs were brought in as of Thursday and three were r...

Impeach.

At a recent medical check-up, I had my doc check some suspicious brown spots that had appeared on the side of my left boob. I was concerned about possible skin cancer stuff. She checked them carefully and then said they were " liver spots ". Liver spots? Also known as AGE SPOTS. Oy.