A Morning for Posting a Blast from the Past

This is your first paragraph.

I'm off in a few minutes to accompany my parents on a trip to Fresno to pick up a half dozen sheep and a couple of llamas, so here is a post from 2003. It's a transcript of a short speech I made before the New United Nations in May of that year. As many of you will recall, it caused quite a stir and lead to the recognition that some animals must be treated as people.

I'll blog more late tonight or tomorrow.

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A short speech given by Mr. Cross, a Speaker from California.

Thank you for your warm welcome, Madame President.

I'll make this speech short and to the point. As you all know, when the Change came, certain dogs and cats who were in close physical contact with one or more humans who experienced Change...meaning they either became a New Race, gained Magic or, in my case, Mutated...experienced a Change of their own. These dogs & cats now have intelligence and lifespan equal to the humans they were in contact with. They can communicate with humans via telepathy and learn and creatively think. My own dog and cat, Roscoe and Lily, have designed games, written short stories and poetry and are both regular contributors to several online publications. In England, a cat named Sweet Pea is one of the best selling authors of children's books in Europe. The Vice President of South Africa is a German Shepherd named Oskar. There are a hundred other examples out there, in every country.

But you knew all that already, so here is something you didn't know and are going to have to deal with.

Every time one of the well over 200 Smart Dogs or Cats speaks with another, ordinary dog or cat (or any other animal), that animal gains more intelligence and the ability to speak. After a few conversations, they become at least as intelligent as the average human. This has been going on since just a few days after the Change and there are now tens of thousands of Smart Dogs & Cats out there.

Additionally, if one of the original Smart Dogs or Cats sires offspring or bears a litter, those babies are Smart Dogs and Cats. As you can imagine, this means that the population will be growing exponentially every year. Estimates done by people far better at math than I predict that by the year 2020, most Canids & Felids... yes, I'm including all of the wild species, too... will be Smart. I strongly suggest that our friends in countries with lions & tigers & other large cats take this into consideration when planning human settlements.

I have no idea how many Smart Animals of other species there will be, but you can bet the numbers will run high.

I will leave it to your organization to discuss this and figure out what suggestions you want to make to the people of the world, but let me finish by saying this: These animals have been part of our lives for many thousands of years. They know us better than we know them or ourselves. They have been our friends, our protectors, our work partners and, in some places, our food. Now they are our equals and, if we include their wild brethren, they outnumber us nearly 5 to one. Our attitudes towards them must change.

Like the New Races, they must be accorded full rights. Failure to do this is not an option...especially if you live where the wild ones do.

Thank you for listening to me on this important subject. I will now answer questions.

(Questions & Answer section clipped for brevity)