WRITE FOR CHANGE @ CHANGE.ORG

I've mentioned this before. I start my day with coffee while sometimes pouring through the Change.org website to see what petitions are being initiated and to see what other activists are doing. It's a way for me to feel like I might be making a difference, even if it's a very small difference. That's important to me for some reason.  Here's a recent letter to me from Representative Curry regarding CRUSH MOVIES -- the filming of animals being crushed to death: 

Rep. Kathleen Curry's Reply:

Dear Betsy,

Thank you for writing. I was not aware of this situation, and agree with you that it is a form of torture. As a State Representative I am not in a
position to try and overturn the US Circuit Court of Appeals, but I hope
that there is an effort by the animal rights groups to do so. Colorado must comply with the federal requirement set in 1999, so I hope that some kind of protection against such cruelty can be arrived at legally in the future.

Sincerely, Rep. Kathleen Curry

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YOUR T-SHIRT IS NOT FUNNY...

I'm awaiting a response from the email I wrote The Onion:

I sent the letter below on Sept. 10, 2009. The information about The Onion selling a t-shirt with the slogan: "My Friend Went to Thailand and All I Got Was This Lousy Kidnapped Prostitute"   came to my attention through the Colorado Chapter of Notforsalecampaign.org.

Dear Ms. Richardson,

I find your T-shirt slogan about kidnapped prostitutes not only lacking of humane decency but it's an outright assault on humanity. Who's your target market? People who find the greatest atrocity on our planet -- kidnapping a child or young woman or man and forcing them into the sex trade -- something to laugh at and poke fun at?    

What's funny and acceptable humor to one person can easily be offensive to another. I get that. I get that sarcasm has its place and that some find it hilarious and others don't so much as smile at it. Determining when humor crosses a line is often subject to personal opinion. My line may not be where your line is. But even with free speech, boundaries have been defined. Something as simple, yet undeniably inflammatory, as yelling "Fire!" in  crowded movie theater is not within the protection of free speech.  

Putting the slogan - "My Friend Went to Thailand and All I Got Was This Lousy Kidnapped Prostitute"  on a shirt at the Onion store is more than simply twisted humor or something that could be categorized as 'differences of opinion'. It  sorely diminishes the seriousness of an issue that is at the heart of what every human being deserves. Freedom. And it dismisses the horror of a life forced into the sex trade. How could you condone the concept of putting a slave forced into sex at the butt of a joke? I've personally communicated with someone who was trafficked as a child into the sex trade. It's unimaginable horror. Do you know that it's estimated that every two minutes a child is sold into slavery?  

Please respond to my plea to pull that t-shirt from your inventory - stop selling it - and make a very public apology  to the human race worldwide. Your t-shirt is not funny and it's way, way beyond offensive.    

Sincerely,   Betsy Seeton
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Actually, it's estimated 2 children are trafficked into the sex trade every 1 minute. I goofed and wrote it backwards!  I didn't catch that error until after I sent the email.