Actually, Dswan, I kill wildlife fairly often. Only in the appropriate season and only what I eat...and I don't feel bad at all about it. But I can sympathize about the snake...or any other critter that gets killed for no good reason at all. I've sadly run into enough boneheads over the years (and many aren't hillbillys...not sure if we technically can legally call them "hillbillys" in Canada...it may be like "champagne" is only rightfully applied to certain wines produced in the appropriate districts in France..perhaps we can call them "sub-alpine oriented peoples" ) who seem to feel that the only appropriate response to any critter on their property is extermination. I have a skunk that lives under my front verandah...not so much lives but loiters. In the several years that it's been resident, I've smelled it only once, and my olfactory abilities are finely honed. I've enjoyed watching the old girl raise litter after litter of handsome young skunks. A visiting relative was shocked by my entire family's nonchalance over the skunks. I told him that we learned to accept them and their odd habits, in much the same way my family came to accept him. Still, on his own little slice of rural bliss, he routinely dispatches any and all skunks, coons, and squirrels as they are "vermin". I find this appalling. What's worse is that he is an extremely civilized, well read and thoughtful individual...and unless Manchester, UK qualifies as part of Appalachia, I'm doubting his hillbilliness. Every day I hear complaints about Canada geese, cormorants, and sundry other birds and mammals. More and more, these complaints are coming from retirees and yuppies, refugees from the urban sprawl of Toronto or Ottawa. I hear comments about control and culling, and how the environment is "out of whack" Personally I'd like to see the exposion of these minivan driving Homo sapiens brought under some sort of control..they've taken to building their large bulky homes in every corner of our once proudly rural township...they clutter our roads and insist on trying to recreate the exact situations they left behind...if anyone has any suggestions I'm open.

I suggest you get a second and third quote at least, then you'll know if that is in the range. Maybe it is called semi-custom, but I had a great experience ordering mine from a kitchen and bath store who took my specs and ordered my vanity from a kitchen cabinet company (Executive Kitchens). They have a door style called VEneer Slab in their Contemporary line that looks like what you want. It took 8 weeks and was built to my exact specs for about $850 and was 19" deep and 22.5" wide. I believe all cabinet companies would do this and you would see veneer and stain samples at the Cabinet store. At this link to their site below I believe you can find a local dealer through "Contact Us". Now you know exactly what you want so the next quotes won't get new extra steps added on piece by piece. I suggest take the time to visit a kitchen cabinet store with photos from Staceyneil's vanity and all the details you can print about the Godmorgon vanity you like, and the legs. If you are working with a contractor they would install it when it is ready as part of the job. Good luck! Executive Kitchens contemporary veneer slab doors http://www.executivecabinetry.com/styles_bycollection.php?collection=Contemporary Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Godmorgon series

I think, like the ACLU, there are individuals and groups, who try to marginalize PETA and other animal rights groups, by painting them as extremists, when in fact they often represent the feelings and beliefs of the mainstream. The Humane Societ of the United States is a national organization that has made dogfighting one it's priorities. The group, lead by Wayne Pacell, has had a strong presence in the south re: efforts to enact legislation in southern states and was widely quoted re: the Mike Vick case here in Atlanta newspapers. If you are interested in learning about the issue of dogfighting and efforts that this group is involved in, as well as how you can get involved, go to their website: hsus.org. PETA has also had involvement in dogfighting. They have conducted undercover investigations that have lead to legal action and changes in laws. PETA has had many successes working with corporations, government, and individuals to help raise awareness and advocate for laws that are not cruel to animals. For example, several juice companies (including Welch's)recently agreed to stop experiments on animals. PETA is a wonderful organization that has made a profound impact on animal welfare. It is true that there are those who focus on some of PETA's "wild tactics" to get attention or some of the issues that relate to vegan lifestyle, meaning awareness of exploitation of all animals, including bees, but busting down the honey bee business has not been a focus of work for PETA, if at all. If you have not really familiarized yourself with all PETA does do, visit their webstie at PETA.org.

dave_donhoff: "You can't lay this at the feet of the financial industry... the industry doesn't have the power to corrupt the natural constraints, to eliminate levels of competition, or to subsidize/lubricate one area of operation or another. ONLY governments have that capability." I disagree. The industry IS the power. This country is ruled by money and the ability to make billions...those who control that ability, control us....AND the gov't. While Wall St. was indeed enabled and abetted by lack of gov't oversight, regs, etc....they continue to hold the nation hostage by manipulating the market to drop anytime anyone even breathes the word "regulation". Case in point..the Dow rallied on the news of a bailout; as soon as noise was made about building in restrictions, oversight, etc...the Dow dropped. Message? Bail us out, but don't even THINK about trying to prevent us from doing this again as soon as we mange to cook up our next ponzi scheme. The entire finance system has been purposely and systematically engineered to operate covertly and in such a convoluted and often incomprehensible manner, with Gov't enabling and abetting the system...that most of the dirty deeds that generate millions or billions never come to light...or if so, it's too late..such as now. The bottom line is that "Wall St." has lost its credibility as the "experts" who are those best suited to choose their own SOP's. While I am hardly a fan of government regulation...I can't really see any other way to at least try to prevent them from screwing with everyone again at some point in the not too distant future....and most important, to instill some basic level of confidence in the system. Gov't regulates just about EVERY other profession much more stringently than this one...the SEC is pretty much a jokeÂand look what has happened. In addition, in respect to finance, the whole system is currently set up to foster and HUGELY reward fraud, deception and abuse...allowing penalty free activity that if you or I did the same, we would be charged with a crime. Case in point...CEO OÂNeal, formerly of Merrill Lynch, who presided over the company while all of these shenanigans were going on. He is either a moron ÂÂor a thief. Either wayÂhe ran off with millionsÂ....so far scott free...leaving us ALL holding the bagÂ.and he was THE key player in the ultimate demise of Merrill. I don't profess to know how to do it...but the double standard MUST stop. People and entities who know that they have little or no accountability should hardly be trusted with the finances that are the keystone to a healthy economy. Either that...or just give everyone a free pass on fraud and call it a day. Here is an interesting Op/Ed piece that is IMO, entirely on point: ******************************************************* Commentary: Blame boards of directors for financial mess Story Highlights Nell Minow: Wall Street directors ultimately to blame for financial crisis Boards approved huge pay unrelated to long-term performance, she says Executives reaped enormous sums while shareholders suffered, Minow says Minow: Shareholders should be allowed to vote on pay packages By Nell Minow Special to CNN Editor's Note: Nell Minow is editor and chair of The Corporate Library, an independent research company specializing in corporate governance. Minow was named one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance by Directorship magazine in 2007 and "the queen of good corporate governance" by BusinessWeek Online in 2003. She has written more than 200 articles and co-written three books. Since 1995, Minow has also written "Movie Mom," an online parents' guide to "media, culture and values." Nell Minow says it's great when executives make a lot of money but only if they really earn it. As big Wall Street firms topple like dominoes, there is plenty of blame to go around. Failure this broad and deep takes a village, and regulators, lawyers, compensation consultants, auditors, executives, shareholders, and the press all played a part. But the people who are most responsible for the massive meltdowns of these institutions are the boards of directors. Their sole responsibility is to act as fiduciaries for the shareholders in managing risk. They not only failed to perform this task but indeed, in their approval of outrageous pay plans with perverse incentives, they all but guaranteed the current disaster. I am a capitalist. I love it when executives earn boatloads of money. But it infuriates me when they get it without earning it. If the executives' compensation is tied to the volume of business rather than the quality of business, we should expect dealmakers to be more attentive to the number of transactions than the value they create. This is the basis for much of the sub-prime mess, whose collateral damage is taking down the biggest firms on Wall Street. At Merrill Lynch, former CEO Stanley O'Neal received total compensation of more than $91 million for 2006, according to The Corporate Library's calculations. He was given that package based on performance numbers that came out before nearly $23 billion in write-downs by the company. O'Neal received more than $160 million in stock and retirement benefits while shareholders lost more than 41 percent of their investment value over the year. Three executives brought in to Merrill less than a year ago will share a $200 million payment as they turn over the company to Bank of America in a last-minute deal to help it survive. American International Group (AIG) replaced CEO Martin Sullivan after the company posted losses for two consecutive quarters totaling $13 billion. Sullivan's contract entitled him to about $68 million. His replacement, a board member who served as CEO for three months before the company was taken over by the government, will get as much as $7 million. The boards of directors approved pay that was completely disconnected to performance. This, after all, is the world of the ultimate oxymoron: the "guaranteed bonus." So we should not be surprised that executives took the money and ran. Fewer than 13 percent of public companies have claw-back policies requiring executives to return bonuses based on inflated numbers. All of the incentives are for them to inflate the numbers, take the money, and run. And that is why companies whose names used to be synonymous with stability and trustworthiness will live on through history and business school case studies as discredited, greedy and corrupt. The people who insisted that government regulation interfered with the perfect efficiency of the markets are now getting bailed out by taxpayers with some walloping welfare checks. I just hope that this time the government does a better job of protecting itself than it did with its bail-out of Chrysler almost 30 years ago and this time insists on a piece of the upside rather than a fixed repayment. If the government is going to run a business, it has to act like a business and make sure its interests are aligned with the executives. Despite the post-Enron adoption of the most extensive protections since the New Deal, a survey released this week by Kroll and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that corporate fraud rose 22 percent since last year. The option back-dating and sub-prime messes show that even the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley reform law and expanded enforcement and oversight cannot eliminate the severest threats to our markets and our economy. This proves that there are limits to structural solutions. Ultimately, markets are smarter and more efficient than regulation. What the government needs to do now is insist on removing obstacles to the efficient operation of market oversight. Shareholders must be able to replace directors who make bad decisions and they should have a non-binding "say on pay" vote on executive compensation as they do in the UK and several other countries. Our current system of executive compensation does not tie pay to performance, it does not provide an effective incentive to create long-term shareholder value, and it does not meet any possible market test. Executive compensation must be looked at as any other asset allocation. The return on investment for the expenditures on CEO pay is by any measure inadequate. Some have argued that the amounts at issue are so small in proportion to the assets being managed that they do not have any material impact. On the contrary, the CEO compensation in America's public companies is a leading indicator of serious problems -- and one reason my firm has consistently given most financial services companies "high-risk" ratings. And it is more than a symptom of the pervasive problem that is toppling our most respected financial services companies. It is a perversion of the market that imposes enormous and growing costs on America's working families -- as shareholders, customers, employees, and members of the community. These outrageous pay packages juxtaposed with losses in share value and jobs diminishes our credibility and increases our cost of capital. In today's global economy this is an expense we clearly can no longer afford.