Tony Soprano

Check out this website: http://www.rangerjoes.com They have a lot of military surplus and the prices are reasonable. Maybe they'll give a discount if you explain your situation. Have you checked your local Army/Navy surplus store in your city? If you have one in your area, that's another good place to go for bunk beds, etc...

Very cool indeed. I actually got to take care of two 6 week old wolf pups that were rescued in a smuggling sting of an exotic pet dealer with questionable ethics here in my state. It is my favorite wild canine. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Some of you have emailed me asking what breed Elton was, and honestly all we could tell from his size and appearance was that he was a yellow lab mix. His face was so destroyed from the acid that was poured on him that he didn't even resemble a dog when we first got him in. If anything constitutes spirit possession, it's these kinds of people. This is beyond sick and twisted. If I ever get my hands on someone like this, forget the cement shoes and Paulie Walnuts and even the Geneva Convention...torture is even too humane for these people. Sad thing is that they will continue to get worse, become child abusers, wife/girlfriend beaters and eventually murderers. Intrinsic evil can't be contained or rehabilitated. I remember way back when; when I was a full-time "TWIt", back in the '90's, how this topic would always be sort of off-limits when I asked about it. I questioned the TWIt doctrine about animals in heaven and spent a decade with legit bible scholars about this subject and when I showed the numerous verses regarding the topic and the swiss cheese it made out of their teachings, I was dismissed. Oh well... Besides, there's plenty of books on the topic anyway. Email me if you want a list that I used and I also have the concordance references too. I know all see my little buddies at the return. I hope that God finds me worthy enough of letting me be a steward in the animal section of heaven! God Bless You All!! Proudly Serving God, My American People, and God's Creation 8th Medical Brigade, 4215th U.S. Army Hospital 2nd Platoon, Veterinary Services U.S. Army Reserve Below are some websites that may be of interest to some folks. Not preaching here. Just some links that may be of interest. My shameless plugs: Matthew Scully www.matthewscully.com The Humane Society Of The United States www.hsus.org The American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals www.aspca.org The American Humane Association www.americanhumane.org The Animal Protection Institute www.api4animals.org Progressive Animal Welfare Society www.paws.org International Fund for Animal Welfare www.ifaw.org Protecting Feral Cats www.alleycat.org Protecting America's Greatest Cat www.cougarfund.org My Favorite Breed of Dog www.germanshepherds.com Conventional/Traditional Franciscan Resources: www.franciscans.org www.franciscans.com www.franciscanresources.com www.johnmichaeltalbot.com Secular Franciscan Resources: www.nafra-sfo.org

Thank you for a wonderful link!

You just ever have a day where you hear some bad news and cry like a baby, but then when the good memories take over on the bad ones, your standing there crying and laughing at the same time and people around you look at you like it's time for the men in white coats to take you away?... I had one of those days today and I just had to remember a little buddy of mine. A real cool dog that could teach a lot of humans a thing or two.... I stopped by my vet's office tonight to see my friend Barbara, who I volunteer with for a local animal rescue group in my area. Since I'm a Vet Tech in the Army and my unit has been mobilized, I have upcoming emergency veterinary training that I'll be going to in August and I wanted to update her on the new things I would be learning. When I got there to see her, I also got an update on a wonderful and gentle dog I was blessed to know and who warmed my heart and encouraged me through his will to live, that nothing of value is worth giving up on. "Elton" is a dog who was cruelly blinded by a caustic substance and left for dead in a deliberate and sadistic act of animal cruelty. On October 28, 2003 he was found lying in the road and left for dead, when finally a compassionate person rushed him to my vet's animal hospital here in Chesterfield Virginia. Elton was found to be in extremely poor condition; malnourished and starved. Bruised from beatings and 30 pounds underweight. His coat was rough, dirty and matted. One could only imagine the hardships and sufferings he endured. His eyes were gone, burned away from whatever acid was thrown in them, but he showed a gentle nature and a strong will to live. He ate well and perked up at the first sign of kindness, so it was decided to treat his injuries and give him a second chance despite the fact that euthanizing him seemed to be the most humane thing to do at the time. He responded well to all the surgeries and the love everyone showed him, and in time he recovered completely and went home with his new family whose two other dogs became his seeing-eye dogs. He was a happy dog and lovingly cared for by his adoptive family for the remaining three years of his life. I found out today that Elton passed away and crossed the rainbow bridge last year. And so I say a prayerful and loving goodbye to Elton, a brave dog whose story caused an out pouring of love, prayers and donations for his care that inspired us all... God Bless you, Elton, and good-bye

How a culture treats it's animals is an example of how it treats it's people...

Yes, maybe I will have to have a "sitdown" with the government.... I'll bring Silvio & Paulie with me... lol....

Oh, one final 2 cents worth…. Does communist China have Veterinarians??? Or are they only just good at math?? Is this the “cost effective” measure they consider humane euthanasia??? What happened to the superior communist/socialist economic and social philosophy???? Proudly serving you in the U.S. Army Reserve "Forget the gun. Take the cannoli"

When different "culture's" belief systems are whacked out, that's when they need to be educated and hopefully they realize their thinking is jacked up. There's no excuse for this. This isn't a "cutural difference". It's insane cruelty. It's the same excuse the jackass I worked with who ate his dogs used. Why do we even eat cows, chickens, or dogs and cats? Red meat is one of the worst things you can eat. Ask any cardiologist or nutritional scientist worth anything. Just go check out a factory farm or a veal processing plant and see the conditions there. It's enough to make you puke and never touch the stuff again. I'm starting to go off in another direction with my rant here, so I better make my opinion/point here before all of you go to sleep 'cause of my complaining... ok...My whole point is educating people that there are other humane ways and alternatives to handle things. In my opinion, this is just sick. This has nothing to do with different cultures and belief systems. This is just an example of no compassion at all.

I agree w/ you totally. I'd love to see them try that with my German Shepherds... How we as a society treat animals is disgraceful. And we will all be held accountable for it too. For that, I can't wait. Not something St. Francis would condone for sure. A good book for anyone who loves animals is by Christian author Matthew Scully, at http://www.matthewscully.com It's a life-changing book. Its a beautifully written and very powerful book and shows how man is abusing his stewardship of God's creation. That's my shameless plug. My Army Chaplin turned me on to this book when I was going through my training as a veterinary technician last year. God bless those animals souls...

Another fine example of another sick and twisted culture... This kind of stuff is what makes me agree with Ann Coulter that we should conquer the world, impose our way of life and spread Christianity wherever there is a breathing soul. I work with a guy who's here on a green card from the Philippines and we talked about this sort of thing the other week. He went on to describe with glee how they skin and prepare their dogs and cats before they cook them, most of the time while their still alive... and I told him to his face that he was SICK, and that I hoped that when his green card expired and he was finished making his family back home rich from sending his paycheck home tax free, that he had BETTER BECOME A LEGAL CITIZEN AND ASSIMILATE!!!! Needless to say, he no longer speaks to me, but I don't give a rat's behind. I know Koreans who do the same thing. One was locked up here in Virginia for eating his dog and his defense was "cultural insensitivity". Just my two cents. TS Proudly serving in the U.S. Army Reserve! "Forget the gun. Take the cannoli."

hahahaha...lol Do you BBQ them? I have a smell colony of them myself. Cats are very cool indeed. God's created some cool stuff. I love my dogs too. Glad you enjoyed! TS "Forget the gun. Take the cannoli."

DOG QUOTES Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is how dogs spend their lives. -- Sue Murphy To err is human; to forgive, canine. -- Unknown Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail. -- Henry Wheeler Shaw No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich. -- Louis Sabin When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem. -- Edward Abbey If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater... suggest that he wear a tail. -- Fran Lebowitz You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, "My God, you're RIGHT! I NEVER would've thought of that!" -- Dave Barry If your dog doesn't like someone you probably shouldn't either. -- Unknown Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well. -- Bonnie Wilcox Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies. -- Gene Hill The more people I meet the more I like my dog. -- Unknown In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog. -- Edward Hoagland I once decided not to date a guy because he wasn't excited to meet my dog. I mean, this was like not wanting to meet my mother. -- Bonnie Schacter A cat sees us as the dogs. A cat sees himself as the human. -- Unknown Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace. -- Milan Kundera When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you've growled all day long. -- Unknown A really companionable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it, and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along. -- E B White I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. -- George Bird Evans Even the tiniest Poodle or Chihuahua is still a wolf at heart. -- Dorothy Hinshaw Dogs never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation. -- Jerome K. Jerome When a dog wags her tail and barks at the same time, how do you know which end to believe? -- Anonymous Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane. -- Smiley Blanton I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts. -- John Steinbeck You may have a dog that won't sit up, roll over or even cook breakfast, not because she's too stupid to learn how but because she's too smart to bother. -- Rick Horowitz My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide whether to ruin our carpets or ruin our lives. -- Rita Rudner When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all powerful. I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me -- whenever, wherever -- in case I need him. And I expect I will, as I always have. -- Gene Hill

CAT QUOTES No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens. -- Abraham Lincoln Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat. -- Mark Twain The smallest feline is a masterpiece. -- Leonardo da Vinci With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats? -- Fernand Mery I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior. -- Hippolyte Taine Everything I know I learned from my cat: When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet's, pee on your owner. -- Gary Smith I'm aloof, I like to run around outside, but I also like to curl up in warm spots. I eat fish. -- Megan Coughlin on why she'd make a good cat When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her? -- Montaigne After scolding one's cat, one looks into his face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that he understood every word and has filed it for reference. -- Charlotte Gray A dog will flatter you but you have to flatter the cat. -- George Mikes You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals. -- George Mikes One is never sure, watching two cats washing each other, whether it's affection, the taste or a trial run for the jugular. -- Helen Thomson Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. -- unkown A cat sees no good reason why it should obey another animal, even if it does stand on two legs. -- Sarah Thompson Cats are kindly masters, just so long as you remember your place. -- Paul Gray Dogs come when they're called. Cats take a message and get back to you later. -- Mary Bly There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life. Music and cats. -- Albert Schweitzer I have noticed that what cats most appreciate in a human being is not the ability to produce food which they take for granted, but his or her entertainment value. -- Geoffrey Household If a dog jumps into your lap it is because he is fond of you, but if a cat does the same thing it's because your lap is warmer. -- A. N. Whitehead I love cats because I enjoy my home, and little by little, they become its visible soul. -- Jean Cocteau No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch. -- Leo Dworken Like a graceful vase, a cat, even when motionless, seems to flow. -- George F. Will A meow massages the heart. -- Stuart McMillan Cats are the ultimate narcissists. You can tell this by all the time they spend on personal grooming. Dogs aren't like this. A dog's idea of personal grooming is to roll in a dead fish. -- James Gorman If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they too, would purr. -- Martin Buxbaum Cats always know whether people like or dislike them. But they don't always care enough to do anything about it. -- Winifred Carriere If a cat does something, we call it instinct. But if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence. -- Will Cuppy Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, he is still only a whisker away from the wilds. -- Jean Burden The mathematical probability of a common cat doing exactly as it pleases is the one scientific absolute in the world. -- Lynn M. Osband How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. -- Robert A. Heinlein As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind. -- Cleveland Amory Two things are aesthetically perfect in the world - the clock and the cat. -- Emile Auguste Chartier Kittens are born with their eyes shut. They open them in about six days, take a look around, then close them again for the better part of their lives. -- Stephen Baker A cat has absolute emotional honesty. Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. - Ernest Hemingway You can't own a cat. The best you can do is be partners. -- Sir Harry Swanson

Fox news just reported that this nutcase first came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old from South Korea and has been here under the status of "resident alien"? What exactly does this mean? no joke, I’m clueless about this term. can someone also explain to me how you can live in this country over 20 years and not become a citizen or assimilate? His parents speak no English according to Fox and the poor folks weren't even aware their kid was turning into a nutcase. What a shame this had to happen?

Although I'm not native, my prayers go out to all. This is a sad day for Virginia & Virginians. Don't know if this has been verified From the Suntimes... Interesting... A Foreign National here illegally on an expired visa is purpordedly the gunman... Gunman kills 32 at Virginia Tech before being killed (http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/343354,vatech041607.article) April 16, 2007 BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times Columnist Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa. The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said. Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said. The exits to the buildings where the shootings occurred were chained by the shooter, the source said. Students complained that there were no public address announcements or other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire. They said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage — around the time the gunman struck again. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus. ‘‘We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur,’’ he said. He defended the university’s handling of the tragedy: ‘‘We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don’t have hours to reflect on it.’’ Steger said the university decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means of notifying members of the university, but with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out to everyone. Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum would not say how many weapons the gunman carried. But a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was incomplete, said that the gunman had two pistols and multiple clips of ammunition. Contributing: Associated Press Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I know this has been around the internet a 'zillion times, but I just wanted to send this out to all you G'Spotters & wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays. Its so refreshing to finally be able to say the words "Merry Christmas" again w/o having to deal with a confrontation and lecture from some waybrained moron. God Bless & Ever Forward -T "Forget the gun, take the cannoli." Twas the night before Christmas, Da whole house was mella, Not a creature was stirrin', Cuz I had a gun unda da pilla. When up on da roof I heard somethin' pound, I sprung to da window, To scream, "YO! Keep it down!" When what to my Wanderin' eyes should appear, But da Don of all elfs, And eight friggin' reindeer! Wit' slicked back black hair, And a silk red suit, don Christopher wuz here, And he brought da loot! Wit' a slap to dare snouts, And a yank on dare manes, He cursed and he shouted, And he called dem by name. "Yo Tony, Yo Frankie, Yo Vinny, Yo Vito, Ay Joey, Ay Paulie, Ay Pepe, Ay Guido!" As I drew out my gun And hid by da bed, He flew troo da winda And slapped me 'side da head. "What da heck you doin' Pullin' a gun on da Don? Now all you're gettin' is coal, You friggin' moron!" Den pointin' a fat finga Right unda my nose, He twisted his pinky ring, And up da chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, Obscenities screamin', Away dey all flew, Before he troo dem a beatin'. Den I heard him yell out, What I did least expect, "Merry Friggin' Christmas to all, And yous better show some respect!"

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'Canes Win! Flyers castoffs get a cup!!!! Hope this makes Bob Clarke choke on his cheesesteak! WOOHOO!!!!!!

It looks as though the Flyers castoffs on the ‘Canes have brought w/ them the Flyers playoff curse too. This doesn’t look good b/c the Oilers are the younger team and w/ a game 7… This will be tough…hope the “canes can pull it out… I’ll have to get out my Bob Clarke & Craig McTavish voodoo dolls and see if the curses & situation can be switched…

Yes.... It was a bad game for old Roddy Proboscis & the 'Canes.... They were asleep at the stick... Although Roddy's schnoze is one for the books, the NHL schnoze of schnoze's has to go to Tim Hunter... Anyone remember him? I know all the old school hockey historians will. That nose was pounded by Dave Brown too many times for me to count...

How about all those Flyers castoffs on the 'Canes! Brind'Amour & Williams come through! Even though it was with a little help from an Edmonton goalie on crack. What was he thinking... Last night was one of the better Finals games I've seen in years. I hope this turns out to be a good series. Lord knows the NHL needs it. now if I could smoehow rid the Flyers of that cancer Bob Clarke.... -T "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."