This Land Is Your Land, but . . .

It's not my land.

Congrats to Obama, major milestone for our country. But don't mistake the election of one particularly articulate man as an indication that all civil rights have been won and the battle's over.

I think most of you know that no dog has ever been US president. But I bet you didn't know that no dog has ever served as a member of Congress. In fact, no dog has even been NOMINATED for Congress on a major party ticket . . . ever. Recent population statistics place the canine population of this country at over 20 million, an extraordinary number that exceeds many other minority groups. Yet dogs continue to exist in unspeakable squalor and filth in percentages far exceeding any other group in America. There are countless documented cases of whining and crying all day in tiny cages not even fit for animals. Euthanasia is illegal in this country, that is, for those who have representation in government. But did you know that countless dogs are euthanized every single day, then cremated or tossed in unmarked graves?

Don't ask me to celebrate Obama's election while so many still suffer under the thumb of discrimination. How long are we canines to accept systematic disenfranchisement?