First the Arts, and Now This?

Our Federal and Provincial Governments are trying desperately, and unsuccessfully, to balance a budget gone wild for many reasons. Some of them include an unpopular war in Afganistan and the unholy expenses for the Winter Olympics dog and pony show that has broken the back of our local budgets...the Provincal Government has recently announced cuts to everything, including Education, the Arts and now Animal Welfare...
To say that these ar ill-intended and vicious is not worth repeating...everyone knows that when push comes to shove, the corporate world pays last...and those who make life worth living, and enrich the experience of learning are punished for not goose-stepping to the agenda of profits despite personal pain and loss.
Can our children learn in an environment almost devoid of progressive (read dangerous) ideas, like animal rescue for the sake of helping fellow creatures with no other agenda than to undo the damage we've done to them? Or let's talk about the assault on music programs in schools, the elitist approach to "extras" in the classroom like art supplies and the most basic learning tools...can your parents 'afford' them-if not, you too shall fall behind.
These are tiny cuts that bleed out...and they do not speak well for a place that boasts of "branding" their Province and Country through flamboyant Olympic tents full of empty nonsense and jingoism...
Canada is no longer looking like the shining example in North America these days...and cuts to the Arts and ignoring the plight of the creatures that are the selling point for so many visitors, from all over the world, seems counter-productive.
In the Great Depression, the movies were full of glamour and parties, entertainment being the great escape of the people for 5 or 10 cents...we should be fully supporting the things which we can't quantify but make us truly happy...the satisfaction that comes from creating something wonderful, in painting, music or any form of artisitc endeavor...rescuing and releasing an injured and healed raptor, giving a lifeline to an unwanted "pet' that would otherwise be euthanized, at best..this is all about sustaining life, and immeasurably increasing the quality of all our lives.