Dumb as dead cats.

Like carts following horses.

You heard Stockton is the city with all of its houses either in foreclosure or being sold after foreclosure, right?

"Pets "are getting dumped all over," said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies."

Never mind that the shelters were full to overflowing...they always are, this part of the country. It hasn't mattered what time of year it was - you find abandoned pets, and you want to shelter them...you'll be turned away. We're full. FOREVER.

You pay taxes to provide shelters, by the way. Your dollars just can't work hard enough to keep up.

Where I stand on this, from a truly objective standpoint - and you have to remove all emotion from this to get there - is that if you look closer, you'll find much more than abandoned pets. You'll find child and spousal abuse. Substance issues. Alcoholism. Ruined credit reports...what history has always found in populations of people unable to keep the wheels turning.

I'd wager a lot of these folks haven't had health insurance for a loooong time, too. They've been handed the old "you're screwed and nobody cares" line so often, it just rolls down to the next level.

And there hasn't even been a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster to blame.

Next biggest thing to Stockton is Sacramento, state capital.

The houses are new, shiny and huge. Welcome to the new ghost towns of California.

Dumb as dead cats. I swear.

Dumb as dead cats.

Like carts following horses.

You heard Stockton is the city with all of its houses either in foreclosure or being sold after foreclosure, right?

"Pets "are getting dumped all over," said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies."

Never mind that the shelters were full to overflowing...they always are, this part of the country. It hasn't mattered what time of year it was - you find abandoned pets, and you want to shelter them...you'll be turned away. We're full. FOREVER.

You pay taxes to provide shelters, by the way. Your dollars just can't work hard enough to keep up.

Where I stand on this, from a truly objective standpoint - and you have to remove all emotion from this to get there - is that if you look closer, you'll find much more than abandoned pets. You'll find child and spousal abuse. Substance issues. Alcoholism. Ruined credit reports...what history has always found in populations of people unable to keep the wheels turning.

I'd wager a lot of these folks haven't had health insurance for a loooong time, too. They've been handed the old "you're screwed and nobody cares" line so often, it just rolls down to the next level.

And there hasn't even been a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster to blame.

Next biggest thing to Stockton is Sacramento, state capital.

The houses are new, shiny and huge. Welcome to the new ghost towns of California.

Dumb as dead cats. I swear.

Dumb as dead cats.

Like carts following horses.

You heard Stockton is the city with all of its houses either in foreclosure or being sold after foreclosure, right?

"Pets "are getting dumped all over," said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies."

Never mind that the shelters were full to overflowing...they always are, this part of the country. It hasn't mattered what time of year it was - you find abandoned pets, and you want to shelter them...you'll be turned away. We're full. FOREVER.

You pay taxes to provide shelters, by the way. Your dollars just can't work hard enough to keep up.

Where I stand on this, from a truly objective standpoint - and you have to remove all emotion from this to get there - is that if you look closer, you'll find much more than abandoned pets. You'll find child and spousal abuse. Substance issues. Alcoholism. Ruined credit reports...what history has always found in populations of people unable to keep the wheels turning.

I'd wager a lot of these folks haven't had health insurance for a loooong time, too. They've been handed the old "you're screwed and nobody cares" line so often, it just rolls down to the next level.

And there hasn't even been a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster to blame.

Next biggest thing to Stockton is Sacramento, state capital.

The houses are new, shiny and huge. Welcome to the new ghost towns of California.

Dumb as dead cats. I swear.