Do elephants make you emotional?

Absolutely. I'm still kind of traumatized by the picture of the baby elephant crying after his mother abandoned him (he got adopted by caretakers, but still).

Y'all have seen the "elephants reunited after 22 years video", right? [link]

My Unlikely Animal Friendships calendar this month is a different elephant-dog pair, and I really regretted googling them, because the dog died.

Well, this is depressing. Buzzfeed has a list of the lowest-paying jobs that require a bachelors degree. I'm earning comparable to the ones listed, and I have a doctorate.

That was depressing. So was their list of the highest-paying jobs that don't require a degree. I think I got some bad advice in high school.

Matt, at least you got the kitty into your apartment before he disappeared! He'll probably just hide and sleep all day underneath something.

I am pro-elephant. I am strongly anti-shaming people in unfortunate circumstances.

I really truly don't understand how the people who seem to despise the poor and the sick are always the ones loudly proclaiming themselves Christians. Isn't there any cognitive dissonance going on there at all? How do they reconcile the red letters in the gospels with their attitudes?

Isn't there any cognitive dissonance going on there at all? How do they reconcile the red letters in the gospels with their attitudes?

That's what I don't get.

Absolutely. I'm still kind of traumatized by the picture of the baby elephant crying after his mother abandoned him (he got adopted by caretakers, but still).

I saw that. For a second I thought it was a video, and I was backclicking like crazy because I did not want to *hear* him crying. Poor baby.

Well, I think they just convince themselves that *these* poor people are not righteous or something.Or, in the case of the twatwaffle from AFP that Chris Hayes ripped into yesterday, balancing budgets and fighting fraud. I love Chris Hayes...the only problem is sometimes he gets so upset he sputters. Maybe he can borrow some of Olbermann's power from Stephen Colbert. Msbelle, if it wasn't clear before, I totally think you're right. Everyone should be pissed off about that. But there are so many things all the time!

I really truly don't understand how the people who seem to despise the poor and the sick are always the ones loudly proclaiming themselves Christians. Isn't there any cognitive dissonance going on there at all? How do they reconcile the red letters in the gospels with their attitudes?

Two bright spots:
1. That Colbert quote
2. The pope. (I was going to elaborate, but really, just Pope Francis.)

My rage against congress is all consuming this morning.

I have emailed and made my calls. Fat lot of good it will do me.

I do have roller derby photos from my last bout, though. Which are more than slightly amusing.

[link]

My rage against congress is all consuming this morning.

AGREED.

I appreciate that my reps are all people whose world view overlaps with mine.

Also, I am pro-elephant.

I really truly don't understand how the people who seem to despise the poor and the sick are always the ones loudly proclaiming themselves Christians. Isn't there any cognitive dissonance going on there at all?

I really want Jesus to punch them in the face.

Which proves I don't know a lot about Christianity.