In Squirreltown, Black Morphs are celebrities.
4 Likes
hear, hear
1 Like
(Southern Missouri, natch.)
3 Likes
Illinois too.
2 Likes
On social media in particular there seems to be a steady assault on social institutions, cultural institutions, democratic institutions, basically the things that have long united our country or made it greater.
Now, who might be motivated to divide us and to destroy or weaken what makes us strong?
1 Like
These people pray to the Irish God. Have faith in the lard!!
Iāve heard bad press about the Red Cross since I was a kid hearing returning GIās who hated the RC.
My only experience was with the ādonut dollies,ā who came maybe every 60 (?) days with their donuts and some kinds of games like Trivial Pursuits".
Yes, you were damn lucky; perhaps itās because youāre a cute lilā squirrel! 
Back in 1999 ( IIRC), around Christmas time, our cat tried to burn our house down. (Long story- older home, overheating floor gas heater, and a trash can with a hot dog in it that the cat just had to have. Mix well, and you have a disaster so bad they called in the bomb squad dogs to make sure we didnāt commit arson. No, itās just that truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.)
Our home burned, but not too badlyā¦ at first. People went through our burned-out home looking for stuff to steal (along with stealing our car), but itās a good thing they didnāt hang around, because hours later, it caught fire again. This time it burned to the ground, and we lost every thing we had. So, we called the Red Cross for help. They refused. If not for my MIL buying us used clothes and whatnot, we would have been screwed. So, yeah. Oh, and I read years ago that at that time, their president made over $8,000,000 a year. Now? Probably over 10 million. And those poor people screwed over by Harvey and Irma really needed them. Theyāve let go every person with any knowledge of disaster relief management, so what exactly do they do as a charity, now?
Iām sorry for the rant. I do not donate to the Red Cross, and I tell others our experience and about the presidentās cushy salary, so they can decide if they want to support a lavish lifestyle for them with no help given in return. Because that appears to be what the Red Cross is about these days.
1 Like
As a young person I remember a book called The Road to Hell, which basically covers this problem. Essentially, once your charity gets too big, it has to shift its primary focus to sustaining itself. And in theory, thatās okay, 'cause you do have to pay your workers. But too often the charities divert way too much money to the very top because they think that self-sustenance comes from flying the CEO around in a private jet with fancy suits and Congressional lobbyists in tow. Thereās probably some truth to the need to present a level of āprofessionalismā or ārunning with the big dogsā in terms of building trust in the financial strength of the brand, but it very easily gets out of hand.
I for one am really interested in seeing how the American Black Cross grows in response to the issues that the Red Cross has. 'Cause your story isnāt unique by any means. So far, ABC seems to be avoiding the trap, but theyāre still new on the scene.
I apologize for thinking the hot dog story is pretty funny but sorry about the house. Iāve heard the same things about the Red Cross that everyone has for decades. I donāt follow it closely enough to know anything other than āit should run betterā. I donāt often have this kind of personal experience about a story and figured that it was relevant.
Of course it wasnāt at the time, but after all these years, we think itās pretty funny too! 
And unusual, which just goes to show like I said that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. No need to apologize.
1 Like
Letās hope that they look to the Red Cross and see what their mistakes have been, and avoid replicating those mistakes themselves. I watched a video of one of the leaders (?) talking about their work in Houston during Katrina, and how much they had done, and it was very inspiring! Now thatās a group I could see donating to. Letās hope they grow to become as large as the RC without losing their way also.
1 Like
Indeed. By all accounts they appear to be doing just that. The thing they lack that the Red Cross has is a government mandate to be the default provider of emergency services from the nonprofit sector. But I think that would be a stain on their reputation at this point.
Iām a big fan of people who, once they figure out the system isnāt going to help, create a new system.