It's such a small thing to ask, and it's so easily done. And it's less expensive, and in today's economy every penny counts. Am I talking about veganism? I very well could be. But no, I'm talking about why some people, despite the current mainstream debate and even Oprah vowing to opt out--can't seem to stop supporting the breeding of cats and dogs when we kill millions each year simply because they're homeless.

When I heard that Vice President-elect Joe Biden had bought a German shepherd puppy from a breeder in Pennsylvania ( http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/politico/20081211/pl_politico/16498 ) my first reaction was an incredulous laugh. What? Is that guy not paying any attention whatsoever? Has he not heard about the debate over Malia and Sasha's new dog, and whether s/he will be a mutt like their dad or a purebreed? Has he not seen the petitions and websites and statistics that are being flung over the Internets attesting to the millions of cats and dogs killed each year for their crime of homelessness and that 25% of them are purebreeds? Doesn't he know that he has just made an important statement, and it's not a favorable one?

Apparently not.

Here's why this matters, at least to me. I'm not asking the guy to stop eating and wearing animals. Okay, that's not true; that's my nefarious goal. Look, everyone's watching Biden's every move and he knows that. His choice tells me that he can't see why saving a life and giving an animal a chance is more preferable than creating one to suit his needs.

And that scares me.

There are 14 pages of comments over at The Huffington Post ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/12/bidens-puppy-a-postelecti_n_150655.html ) already, and the puppy is definitely damn cute, but of course he is--he's a puppy. Here's the "Contact Joe" page from Biden's site. Let him know how you feel.