Neighbor Wars: Don't Start None Won't Be None

This ain't Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

I recently moved into a duplex.  Pets are allowed, I paid my pet fee.  I got a not from my neighbor a couple of weeks ago stating that my dogs howl when I leave and that he works at night and sometimes works from home and is unable to sleep or get any work done.

As a former 3rd shift worker I feel his pain-- to an extent.  My dogs, Carlton and Beaux, both have separation anxiety.  When I leave Carlton howls and Beaux does his best to be like his big brother (Poor thing his "howl" sounds more like the pitiful cries of an alley cat).  Let it be known that while they do howl when I leave they generally settle down after 10-15 minutes and sleep, but they will bark if someone knocks on the door, as they are good watch dogs and quite frankly that's their damn job.  I did acknowledge his note and made efforts to try to muffle the sound.  I put Carlton in another bedroom with the door closed.  It was very inconvenient for me to have to drag his crate into my room each morning, and out of my room each day when I returned home.  Carlton can't be trusted out of his crate and I'd come home to all of my things torn up so this had to be done.  I tried putting them in my kitchen, which is upstairs and on the far wall-- so he was as far as possible from my neighbor's bedroom.

So now to the second note from my neighbor.  He said that the noticed a difference but then proceeded to tell me there "are other things that can be done to keep a dog from howling."  Well enlighten me motherfucker! I've worked with animals for over 7 years now and have been dealing with Carlton's separation anxiety since I got him as a 3 month old puppy and he is 5 now.  But I am sure that he's way more qualified than I am to deal with this.  I refuse to drug my dogs for his benefit so if that is what his suggestion is, he can kiss my ass as well as theirs.

I decided not to even reply to the second note, because my mean side would have responded, not my nice side.  Well as it turns out my neighbor has issues of his own.  Not sure if it was him or his roommate but they are noisy as hell! Sounds like they are trying to knock the building down.  I said I was also going to let that slide but then I heard a barking dog.  Wait one damn minute.  You are complaining about my dog's noise and you have a noisy dog of your own?  After I didn't hear the dog anymore I felt like maybe I was just hearing things, but then I almost stepped in a pile of dog shit the size of Omaha on my half of the yard.  I told myself not to even get worked up about it because a stray dog could have done it or a dog who was being walked by an irresponsible owner... until this morning, when one of the guys's girlfriend drives up and lets a dog out of her car, off leash who was doing whatever the hell it wanted.

So I finally decided I would reply to his last note.  Asked him to enlighten me on his "ways to keep a dog from howling." I also added that he and his roommate (and the girlfriend) make their own fair share of noise. I also let him know that I'd appreciate it if they didn't let that dog poop on my half of the yard (or at least pick it up) and that I have heard the dog barking.  I am not complaining at all about the dog at all.  As a dog owner I understand that just like children, no dog will be quiet 100% of the time.  I just ask that they keep the poop out of my half of the yard and remember that while they are complaining about my noise they are making noise of their own.  Hopefully this is enough for him to leave me the hell alone, but if not, we can make this into an all out war and I guarantee he is not ready.

America: Home of Religious Freedom... as long as you aren't Muslim

Hey America, your hypocrisy is showing!  People always talk about how America is a place for freedom.  Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion.  Seems to me, however, that a lot of Americans think that it's the home of religious freedom if you are Christian.  

First let's talk about separation of church and state.  Kids don't pray at school anymore (where they probably REALLY need to be praying) but no one felt like "In God We Trust" should be removed from the money.  Yet religion becomes political when it's convenient!  One big religion topic that is political is President Obama's religious affiliation.  Polls say half of the country thinks he's Muslim.  *Insert "what the fuck" face here.*  First of all, does it matter? Secondly, that's a personal issue.  Maybe he's Muslim, maybe he's Christian.  Let him be what he is.  

The next issue is the mosque that is proposed near ground zero.  Yes, 9/11 was horrible.  No, we shouldn't forget.  But we also should not blame an entire religion for what some radicals did.  If we did that, then think about slavery and the holocaust... in that case Christians would all take the blame for what a few of their own did.  Not right.  One bad apple may spoil the bunch, but we aren't apples! We are human beings.  My problem is that a lot of people don't even realize that this mosque is already near ground zero.  It's been there for almost 30 years.  They are in a different building now but in the same general area.  Did anyone protest their continued existence in their location?  Probably not.  I bet if you polled every racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Latino hating, Muslim hating jackass in the country, they are mostly Christian.  Probably a few atheists but I doubt it.  So you are supposed to be "Christ-like" and show people his love so that they can give their life to you, but if you are an example of Christianity, a lot of people would probably just rather go to hell!  

And last but not least, the icing on the cake that made the shit hit the fan.  "Reverend" Terry Jones of Gainesville, FL planned to burn 20 copies of the Qur'an in honor of 9/11, and I guess to protest the mosque being near ground zero.  Are you kidding me?  Is this a bad movie? (And to tie in to the hypocrisy theme, you know there'd be trouble if Muslims in another country were burning the Holy Bible!) Lots of countries already hate us.  There are terrorists just itching for a reason to blow us up.  Are the right for wanting to do so? Not really.  But they are radicals, you cannot reason with them.  So while we still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, while we are about to remember the 9th anniversary of our worst terrorist attack, you want to bring negative attention to us?  I read somewhere that this is the one guy who was able to unite President Obama, President Clinton, Sarah Palin, and a couple of other people.  They all think this is a BAD idea, and that this guy is basically pointing a giant neon sign at our country that says "blow this up."  Earlier today I saw an article that he'd decided not to do it.  Best news I'd heard all day.  But all good things must come to an end.  Now he's claiming that he only said he wouldn't do it because he assumed that there was a deal between him and those wanting to build the mosque in NY.  He doesn't burn the Qurans, they build their mosque elsewhere.  *insert another "what the fuck" face here*  So now that he realized that there was no deal, he's rethinking his decision to "cease fire."  (Click here to read the article on CNN.com)  At this point, I am about ready to head to Walmart to get some duct tape, rope, and twillight movies on DVD, then drive to FL, tape this guy up, and force him to watch that shit until Sunday evening.  Maybe then we can avoid any more terrorist attacks that were planned as a retaliation to his foolishness.  If he does go on with this foolish idea of is, all I have to say is Jesus be a bomb shelter, because we will need one.