I still remember that day in 1995 when wolves were reintroduced to the Yellowstone area after a tumultous battle to bring back some semblance of natural balance to the area. Since then the draw of the wolves have meant a contribution of $35 million tourist dollars to the local economies according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to Webster's Dictionary, someone who is defined as a monster is "a person so cruel, wicked, depraved, etc as to horrify others". While we are still waiting word on a plea from Michael Vick, his two co-defendents certainly fit the description for me.

Warning: details of cruelty in this paragraph.  The two co-defendents have already pleaded guilty to dogfighting. In court papers, according to CNN, these three men "executed approximately eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions" in April of this year by methods such as hanging and drowning. Keep in mind they decided to start a dogfighting venture in 2001. How many innocent lives have been lost since then.

Oh Monday, what a bad rap you have. For many, it’s the start of the work week. Back to toiling away, facing that inevitable question from co-workers, "So, what dya do this weekend?" Or in some cases, "Does someone have a case of the Mondays?"

It’s no secret there are a lot of animal lovers who read Daily Kos. Just look at the response to Irish Witch’s beautifully written diary about preparing to say good bye to a feline member of the family. So many of us have been blessed with the companionship of a dog, cat, horse, house rabbit, etc.

...by creating an outgoing message for you on your voice mail. That’s right that’s just one of the terrific items in the YearlyKos Convention auction which ends this Sunday!

Got a few minutes? How about a few bucks as well? Then please make a donation to Bloggerpower.org to support the efforts of the YearlyKos Convention.

Well here it is, the last day of the auction. Starting at 4:00 pm PT the first YearlyKos Convention Auction starts to close. The last one will end at 8:00 pm PT.

It's kind of like election night, anxiously waiting for the results (but ya know, without all the punditry or blown Florida calls).

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the YearlyKos Convention auction! And before we get into some of the items, I’d like to first thank the donors who gave so generously to this auction which benefits the 2007 YearlyKos Convention. Thanks as well to the volunteers on the auction team – Hyperbolic Pants Explosion, oortdust and Sandy on Signal.

Okay, let’s start out with a word from a horse (of course):

Here at the world headquarters of the YearlyKos Convention we are busy developing a convention that we are confident will top last year’s groundbreaking event. But to bring you a convention of this magnitude it takes, well, money. So in relation to this, let me give you a heads up on a few items of interest that will help us bring you another fine convention.

In the last week and a half you have seen a number of diaries about the YearlyKos Convention. This is primarily because we are in the midst of a fundraising drive, which ends this Thursday, to support this groundbreaking convention.

Sometimes there are matches made in heaven (Bill in Portland Maine and a Rum and Coke) and sometimes there’s not (Bush and the American people).

In fundraising campaigns one of the most powerful tools you can create are matching gifts. In all the years I worked in non-profits, we would invariably see more funds come in as a result of these type of campaigns.

And in this last election cycle some of the more high profile fundraising matches you saw were the DCCC’s 3:1 and the clever idea by the DNC to match up not only donations, but people as well.

So here’s my proposal to the DailyKos community.

Were you at the conference but were not able to buy a YearlyKos t-shirt because they sold out? Would you like one because they go with your eyes? Or do you want one just because?

Well now you can order them at the GoodStorm website. You can order black or white t-shirts.

I've been working on this conference for about a year now and in this journey to bring us together I have been honored to meet so many wonderful, caring, and motivated individuals. So if you'll indulge me just a bit, I would like to pass on a few words of thanks. I know this won't be comprehensive, but do know I am so grateful to all who made this convention possible.

That's right, it's bigger and better then ever. It's the YearlyKos MEGA-AUCTION! This time around we have more than 100 items on the auction block.

Our Auction Coordinator Extraordinaire Hyperbolic Pants Explosion is still working on loading them all onto to eBay but you can see many of the items by clicking HERE.

And oh do we have great items for you!.

Hi I'm Bob, Bob the Cat. You may know me as the cat that tried to buy Hunter's Rant in the eBay auction. But now in solidarity with LondonYank in her recent diary I've decided to show who I really am and ask for your support for YearlyKos.

How, you may ask?

By writing a diary this morning entitled YearlyKos is Canceled.