i agree... but, i bought a bird feeder, spend $ 40 on wood one, natural + food, guess what. no birds. they have not found it! may be to many cats around? berlin47112

But some people won't stop Cool Monkey.  I kind of agree with you that you are not helping the birds by making it easy for them so they don't have to go get their food like other birds.  Then there's all the problems like you said.  My wife insists on throwing bird seed out near our front porch.  I bought a $40 wooden bird house too but they only care about the food.  They won't come just for the house.  I've walked up to the front more than once to see a big rat scurrying away too.  Then there's this big hawk that actually sits on top of my wife's car.  We chased him off once, but he'll sit in the neighbor's tree waiting for us to leave.  Once he even dive-bombed us, scared the beejeebies out of me.  I don't know if he's after the doves, the rats, or me? Bird feeders are a big mess, but my wife really enjoys watching them from the window so I don't have the heart to stop it.  If the darn hermit crabs wouldn't spend so much time under the sand, she probably wouldn't need to feed the birds.  I blame the hermit crabs. 

We are one of the richest nations in the world. Many of our corporations have entered into Mexico, and other 3rd world nations with NAFTA and other treaties to make record profits to the demise of our workforce that cannot compete with desperate workers willing to do the same jobs at low pay and long hours. then our news media and citizens blame those seeking better lives, as did our ancestors, by coming here and seeking our good christian aid to better their lives. The media and many people who proclaim their christianity and subservience to the divine master and great feeder of masses, while passing on emails such as these, demanding that we stop being a charitable nation, and instead embrace anger toward these faceless people. The fact that this writer puts some quote by "the Lord" does more damage to the context of christianity than these people are doing to our economy. I think that it isn't really charity if it is easy and doesn't test us spiritually in some manner. This issue has been ridden by the likes of Lou Dobbs and Charlie Daniels, who both proclaim themselves as christian, yet what message did Jesus tell us to carry? To deny those who seek succor? I think that this is a terrible issue, and I don't know the answer. I know that comparing people to birds is not really accurate or appropriate. Some people have used that argument to justify stopping aid to starving nations in Africa, or even in regions, such as Appalachia, or New Orleans, post-Katrina, saying that these people if they are fed, will only reproduce and create more hunger...and I can't get my head around viewing people in this manner, as if they are pests, or rodents... I live and teach in an area that is heavilly populated with immigrants, and I've never seen a classroom where 50% of the students didn't speak English, so I'm not sure where these numbers come from...other than to say they must come from the emotions of people trying to enflame the emotions of other people. If my response offends you, then good, maybe it will make you think. Either way, you don't have to pass it on, just know that I am one christian who believes that my faith tries me on a regular basis to change the way I think...less like a sheep, and more like a lamb. One Voice crying out in the wilderness. Christianity is not about church and social programming; it is about giving love, always.