Best Of Tics: 1-5-05

Now I’m not the greatest animals rights person in the world. If you’ve been to our house and met our dog you have probably even had me ask you to kill it. But, sometimes animal cruelty is taken to such a horrible level I feel I need to comment.
This article contained such cruel treatment of seals I couldn’t ignore it.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - Los Angeles County supervisors expressed concern Tuesday that the $700,000 estimate to replace the official seal on thousands of items might soar because the new decals haven't effectively covered the old versions."The original plan was just to cover up the seals," said John Musella, spokesman for Supervisor Don Knabe. "Now, they will have to pay to physically remove the old seals and put up brand new ones, which will escalate the costs greatly beyond the $700,000 estimate the Chief Administrative Office gave the board."On Monday, county officials discovered that the tiny Christian cross on the two original seals in the Board of Supervisors' hearing room could be clearly seen through the new $1,800 seals glued on to cover up the cross. In fact, the cross is now directly over the rendering of the San Gabriel Mission, which is pictured on the new seal without a cross.Earlier this year, county workers installed the two 6-foot-diameter seals costing $3,800 on the wall behind the supervisors' chairs at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.In May, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California threatened to sue unless the cross was removed. In June, the supervisors took the first of several 3-2 votes to replace the seal with a cross-less version. On the new seal, the Pomona goddess of fruits is replaced by an American Indian woman and the cross above the Hollywood Bowl is erased. The bowl is moved up a position, and the San Gabriel Mission now rests in its former spot.On Tuesday, county workers took the new seals off the wall of the board room in preparation for transporting them to the county sign shop to figure out how to repair them."I'm not sure what we are going to do next," said Tom Tindall, an Internal Services Department general manager who oversees the sign shop. "We took a vinyl buffer and put that on the seals. We thought that would completely mask the old seal."Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said the seals still looked "horrible" when he viewed them Tuesday morning."Whatever it is that needs to be done, (ISD) is paying for it because they did a terrible job," Janssen said. "They just need to take a look at it and figure out how to smooth it out. They said just a piece of plastic between them will work."But Tony Bell, spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said he thought Janssen was downplaying the situation. He said Antonovich now expects the price of the total replacement project to rise."It's taken a real toll on taxpayers, especially at a time when resources are precious, just to appease the ACLU," Bell said. "The old seal never had its day in court. It's just a shame."

I have several comments after reading this article:
1) "expressed concern Tuesday that the $700,000 estimate to replace the official seal"
If people are paying $700,000 to replace their old seals I am looking for volunteers to head to the artic and help me catch some.
2) "The original plan was just to cover up the seals,"
What kinda of monsters try to just cover up old seals. At least give them the dignity of a good clubbing death.
3) "discovered that the tiny Christian cross on the two original seals in the Board of Supervisors' hearing room could be clearly seen through the new $1,800 seals glued on to cover up the cross."
As a Christian I must speak out on the fact that they are gluing non-christian seals to Christian seals just to cover up small crosses they are wearing, I’m sure, as an evangelism tool. It’s worse than Rome people!
4) "two 6-foot-diameter seals costing $3,800"
Aren’t seals 6ft. in diameter a little chunky?
5) How exactly do you repair a seal? Are they leaking? Do they not do the work like they used too? Has their typing speed slowed down?
6)"We took a vinyl buffer and put that on the seals."
What kind of sickos put a vinyl buffer on a poor old seal. Come on Los Angeles, you need to stop the plastic surgery on everything that moves. Enough is enough!
7) "The old seal never had its day in court. It's just a shame."
I would like to offer my services to make sure these seals are represented fairly in court against the ACLU. Just because they can’t speak, are slimy, don’t stand up well to baseball bats, and tend to reek of mackerel, doesn’t mean the constitution of the United States of America does not apply to them.
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND GOD SAVE THE SEALS!