Good morning and Happy Easter.
Looks like a beautiful day here in WV, so after the morning workout and CBS Sunday Morning, I might go get some prep work done on the garden. Here is a thread for you.
*** Update ***
Keeping up with the hard hitting news, it appears that the first dog has been selected.
It just occurred to me- they have their “in” now. I was wondering how the Malkins and the Red States were going to get their two minute hate on over a puppy, and now that Kennedy is giving it to the Obamas, they now have an excuse to hate… a puppy. Just watch.
Jennifer
Happy Easter everyone! The new Whitehouse doggie is a cutie. John, what part of West Virginia do you live in? We live in Seattle, but we lived in Parkersburg for two years for work.
John H. Farr
Good morning!
I’m happy you have nice weather. We sure could use some. It’s snowing heavily in Taos at this very moment, and a little sunshine would be nice. BTW, I have two great-grandfathers buried in Parsons, WV (Tucker County) and wonder how things are back there. The last time we visited (a while back), the $5 Wal-Mart plastic chairs in front of our motel room were chained to the railing … not a good sign!
bago
Still up in Seattle.
JL
John, Tunch and Balloon Juice bloggers. Happy Easter! Prime Rib is on the menu with green beans, roasted diced sweet potatoes and salad.
For those who do not celebrate Easter have a wonderful day.
geg6
It is a gorgeous morning here in western PA, too. And I am contentedly reading the papers, drinking my OJ, and watching CBS Sunday Morning. Last night my man made me a lovely dinner of grilled salmon with cucumber dill sauce and we drank a delicious pinot with it. It’s the first time in my life a man has cooked for me and I found it to be the most incredibly romantic gesture. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have found him. I’m so happy today! Hope all Balloon Juicers have as lovely a day as I am. Happy Easter all.
Svensker
We belong to the Quaker church, which does not celebrate Easter (every day is the Lord’s Day, for Quakers, and no day any more divine than the other), but the hub’s family is Greek, so they celebrate Orthodox Easter, which is next week. It’s very confusing around here!
But I’ll listen to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion today just for the sheer gorgeous Lutheran sureness and glory.
Robertdsc-iphone
Happy Easter to all, be it of a religious significance or an Easter Bunny persuasion.
It’s mostly clear and cool here in Los Angeles. Not a lot of stuff is planned for today after I get out of work in an hour.
** Atanarjuat **
Happy Easter to you, too, John. May everyone’s egg hunting be fun and fruitful on this sunny day (apologies to everyone else whose weather is most inclement).
On the hard-hitting news front, did you see this article?
Right Wing Slams Barack Obama For Ordering Pizza. Really.
Man, that’s some embarrassing desperation. Even Little Green Footballs is ashamed of this nonsense.
-A
J.
Reasons to like Easter, even if you’re not a Christian…
dmsilev
I predict a wingnut explosion over the dog: It’s a European breed, given to the Obamas by Teddy Kennedy. Just the thing to get the RedState crowd into a full frothing rage. I’d give it a day or so, and then we’ll finally be able to ask "Why do the Republicans hate puppies?".
-dms
J.
This just in: Glenn Beck announced he’s doing a comedy tour. No foolin’.
Michael D.
They are going to bitch and complain that the puppy was given to them by Kennedy and not acquired from the Humane Society.
That’s my guess.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@dmsilev: I was flipping through the channels waiting for my coffee, believe I heard Brit Hume on Fox say, when asked about the new puppy, it was a girlie dog. Anyone else catch that? Then the loathsome Chris Wallace said they could criticize the Obamas (sounded like plural) but the dog was off limits. Perfect.
Speaking of perfect, a most lovely day here in metro Atlanta, sunny, dry, and the noise level hasn’t started up yet.
Happy Easter (ie Spring) to John, Tunch and all.
A Mom Anon
I heard this morning that the puppy had a previous owner who could not take care of it,so Ted Kennedy took the little guy in and gave it to the Obamas. Which means the dog could have ended up in a shelter or rescue program anyhoo. Mrs O also said something about making a donation to the Humane Society shelter in DC too.
Good on them.
South of I-10
Happy Easter everyone! Weather is okay so far, but we are under a Tornado watch and expecting strong thunderstorms later. Hope you all have a great day.
dmsilev
FreeRepublic never fails to ruin any faith you might have in humanity:
Et cetera.
-dms
Alan
What kind of garden? A vegetable garden? Raised bed? Self watering? Hanging upside down tomato garden? :)
Brian J
@** Atanarjuat **:
That’s just…pathetic.
But let’s assume for a moment that it was even the slightest bit true. My guess is, if you dug through the expense reports of the past few presidents, you’d find all sorts of interesting but ultimately wasteful spending on personal habits. It can be frustrating, particularly in a time of economic hardship, but unless these guys are spending $200,000-plus a pop for a fleet of sports cars, my response is a giant, Who gives a shit? I certainly can’t speak from experience, but I imagine it’s a stressful job that is very demanding and taxing in all sorts of ways. If the guy in charge wants to spend a little extra money on a subscription to Netflix, why the hell should we care?
Of course, it’s not true, and the fact that this is umpteenth time they have either been too lazy to spend an extra few minutes investigating the details of the story before clicking "submit" or not caring whether it’s true is another instance of the bankruptcy of the modern Republican party.
vishnu schizt
Here in Little Beruit (aka Portland, OR), we have rain on the way and thunderstorms possible this afternoon. Probably god’s wrath against all of the DFH’s or something like that. I’ll continue to earn my DFH cred at a yoga intensive today. To all Balloon Juicer’s; I honor the light in all of you…
Namaste
Pasquinade
Reagan’s extraterrestrial fixation – will records reveal UFO briefing?
Tomorrow, nearly 250,000 pages from the Reagan administration will be released for the first time. The release resulted from an April 9 letter to the National Archives and Records Administration from President Obama’s legal Counsel, Gregory Craig. The letter ordered the release of the records which had earlier been held up by the Bush administration. President Bush never decided if he should assert ‘executive privilege’ effectively preventing their release. In contrast, President Obama decided not to exert executive privilege in the 30 day period set by his January 21 Executive Order on presidential records (EO 13489).According to Politico, the pages to be released contain information on Reagan’s “presidential briefing papers, speechwriting research materials and declassified foreign policy records.” The papers are important since President Reagan often included references to extraterrestrial life in his speeches. These extraterrestrial references eventually became part of a tug of war between President Reagan who tried to include them in speeches, and staffers who tried to exclude them. Monday’s release of further Reagan presidential records may shed light on President Reagan’s fixation on the reality of extraterrestrial life, and why he was convinced this could unite the world. More intriquingly, they may yield clues into whether he received a secret briefing on UFOs and extraterrestrial life.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honolulu-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m4d12-Was-President-Reagan-briefed-about-extraterrestrial-life
Dennis-SGMM
Clear skies and sunshine in my corner of SoCal. When you have a moment, you might check out the finalists in the Third Annual Peeps Diorama Contest.
smiley
@dmsilev:
I’ve seen that sort of thing in a few places. Those people can’t see through their hate.
Happy Easter, all. Beautiful day here but still a bit cool.
Comrade Jake
@dmsilev:
They are all class over there.
magisterludi
My fondest Easter memories are from my grandmother’s farm near Barboursville, WV. There was an old iron pump underneath some apple trees off the side porch. The water from it was almost sweet and always ice cold. My great grandfather’s outhouse was in the back near a shallow creek. He shunned the indoor plumbing added in the forties. Across the creek lived the dreaded Boogeyman, my grandfather told us. I guess he thought the fact that there were briars and snakes galore over there weren’t enough of a deterrent, so he scarred us psychologically for life, just for good measure.
Mama churned her own butter and I have never tasted again anything like it. And her fried chicken, which came fresh from her coop (she was also executioner) was incredible. Add a hot wilted lettuce and bacon salad, biscuits and blackberry cobbler and strawberry pie with homemade rennet frozen custard on a big old table under said apple trees and…. ah-hh bliss.
Alan
More on gardening…you may find this thread on a Vespa scooter forum interesting.
Bill H
@Pasquinade:
Well, I read your reference and… What "views on extraterrestrial life" are you talking about? He makes a perfectly reasonable reference along the lines of, "My brother and I squabble all the time, but if someone from outside the family picks on either one of us we join forces." Certainly nothing bizarre about that, he is pointing out that differing nationalities should not be that big of a deal, we are all brethren in humanity.
Incertus
A pleasant Zombie Jesus Day to everyone. We’ll be spending it with family this evening as Easter, which is really odd since none of the immediate family are believers. And yet there’s this insistence on calling it Easter. I’m tempted to dress up like a zombie for dinner and see what happens.
Montysano
It’s a gorgeous day here in Rocket City, USA. CBS Sunday Morning is over, and now we’ve got the White Album on the turntable. My normally gloomy and somewhat goth teenage daughter is dancing and singing to "Ob La Di". Is there any music more universal than the Beatles? My kids seem to have come out of the womb knowing all the lyrics.
The photo of Michelle Obama getting dirty in the garden just made my week. We really hit the jackpot with the First Lady.
The pizza story? It’s The Conservative Movement in a Nutshell.
Punchy
I’m loving how Atrios’ commenters keep calling it Zombie Jesus day. Good comedy.
Punchy
Looks like Incertus beat me to it…..
MikeJ
Rainy, 47°, and I’m gonna cook two different Thomas Keller recipes today. Laughably easy ones, but it sounds more impressive if you leave that out.
Genine
Happy Easter John, Juicers and various pets! Have fun all!
Col. Klink
Some Iberian dog? Typical. It’s probably an illegal immigrant breed. What kind of dog comes from Portugal anyway? It’s just like the Portugese man of war; Obama’s stinging America by his choice of first pooch. Can I get on Glen Beck’s show, yet? At least put me on Hannity. Please.
Montysano
BTW: if anyone is planning any painting projects, let me give a shout-out to FreshAire paint w/no VOCs. My wife insisted I use it on a recent project, and I was skeptical because a) it’s expensive and 2) she’s hairy-legged pagan arugula-eating eleetist, islamocommie also. But the stuff is amazing: you can literally paint a room, close up the paint can, and have no residual odors at all.
Just Some Fuckhead
@John H. Farr: John, that was funny as hell. Maybe a more charitable interpretation is they didn’t want the wind to blow those chairs away. They are pretty lightweight.
Jay
@magisterludi: My mom’s family is on Big 7 Mile and she grew up exactly as you described. They even still make apple butter every year in giant copper kettle.
I say the Wingnut Obama Dog Meme will be that is a literal "Wag The Dog" distraction.
And I’ll also say that they made a mistake in not picking the Labradoodle. Much less over-bred. Pic will be forthcoming.
passerby
@Dennis-SGMM:
Thank you thank you.
I look forward to the Peep Show every year. I am a Dioramaphile. I was wanting to make an entry this year but, it wasn’t meant to be.
This year’s entries look a lot more sophisticated than they did last year and the attention to detail is very good. I think this art form has successfully captured the imagination of the people and I can’t help thinking about the hours and resources that folks put into these works.
John Galt would have been delighted by the diversity of creativity found in working with Peeps.
Hard to pick a favorite but I loved the Chinese Dragon as well as the Day the Earth Stood Peeped. The Purple Tunnel was simple in concept and elegant in it’s execution.
Thanks for the link Dennis. I really enjoyed that.
Jay
Labradoodles Rock!
passerby
@Pasquinade:
As one of the few TinFoil Hatters who is unabashedly out of the closet, I’ll bite on this one.
From what I’ve read, Potuses since (at least) Eisenhower have been briefed on the existence and activities of our "Outter Space Brothers". When Obama talks about transparency, he’s not just referring to financial goings on.
Exciting times.
R-Jud
@Montysano:
No-VOC paint is absolutely the best choice if you have a nipper on the way and are painting a nursery for him/her. Especially if it’s your first and you’re extra neurotic, like we were.
We have guests and spent our Easter with them out at the Stiperstones in Shropshire. Baby was amazingly good to us on a 4-hour hike, for which I give partial credit to this thing (the rest of the credit goes to her lovely disposition)– if you are having a baby, get one.
I concocted a lamb stew in an ale and stilton gravy and it is doing its thing on the stove now. We will eat it with new potatoes and asparagus on the side and homemade Yorkshire puddings the size of a hat underneath. Mmmmm.
Ash
I would certainly hope the president gets briefings on UFOs. Aliens or rockets, anything unidentified is scary shit.
wrb
Do you pick stocks?
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/12/standoff-ends/
Krista
Happy Easter everybody! We had our Easter dinner last night at my mom’s, up in northern New Brunswick. Unfortunately, we had to make a super-hasty departure this morning to get ahead of the 15-20cm of snow we’re supposed to get today and tonight. It was a good visit, though.
John, re: earlier thread, I’m glad to hear that Tunch is in fine fettle as per his visit to the vet. And I think that any wee doggie would be incredibly lucky to be adopted by the Obamas, and that the haters should just go and get a life already.
passerby
@Montysano:
They make an odorless paint? Wow, wish I could go with Freshaire (fumes = headache for me) but at $35/gal, as a renter I’m compelled to keep it cheap. I frequently haunt the "Oops" paint shelves at Lowes and Home Depot and it paid off. I just scored a $5 can of Valspar Ultra Premium Satin in a rich cream color perfect for the Kitchen.
At least I can ventilate through the back door. What I like the most about Spring is opening the house to (real) fresh air.
Polish the Guillotines
@Punchy:
A friend of my brother’s used to say Easter was when Jesus came out of his cave, saw his shadow and declared there’d be six more weeks of winter.
Libby
Happy Easter lovely BJ peeps. And a glorious day to those who don’t celebrate the Xian/pagan rituals.
gwangung
Prepping an apple/mushroom pork roast with brown sugar glaze in the crock pot today. Will see how it comes up, later…
Lazing around on a rainy Seattle morning, feeling very relaxed after a very chaotic comedy cabaret last night….Hmmm….making money is good…
Libby
I’m also impressed with the entries this year in WaPo’s annual peep diorama. I couldn’t really pick a favorite. They were all great. They do get better every year.
GottaLaff
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/04/sarah-palins-pick-for-aks-attorney.html
Father of witness to Palin’s AG pick’s rape comments writes blistering letter to the AG pick…
Then gets response from AG pick.
Whew!
As the Stomach Turns…
Kirk Spencer
@passerby: If fumes bother you, try milk paint. Yes, you can find and buy it commercially, but..
1 gallon milk (fat content immaterial)
2 cups builder’s lime (aka hydrated lime – NOT quick lime)
pigment of choice. On the midwestern plains the classic pigment was rust – thus the consistent color of all those barns. I recommend just about any powder pigment from the art store. Make sure you measure precisely when making so you can match it at later need.
There are several things you can add to this mix – I’ve tried most so will comment.
A quart of linseed oil will slow the drying but produces a paint that’s waterproof/washable. The milk paint itself is, somewhat, but with the oil it gets more-so. It’s also glossier (the basic recipe is fairly flat after it dries, this is something between satin and gloss).
A quart of vinegar will curdle the milk faster. While milk paint is fairly resistant to mold, this (like the linseed) will make it almost completely resistant. (I never had problems with milk paint and mold in which either the oil or vinegar were added. I had occasional problems with the ‘base’ recipe – usually when I painted while spores were ‘active’.)
A tablespoon or so of borax plus slaked chalk produces a brilliant white.
The big thing from your point of view is that the smell is NOT "OMG PAINT".
sus
I don’t ususally do any online petitions, but this is to support ND for their decision to invite Pres. Obama to speak. If you want to take a minute to sign.
http://www.wesupportnotredame.org/
Zuzu's Petals
Happy Easter/Spring everyone!
I just received an e-mailed pic of my baby granddaughter in her very first Easter dress. My grammy heart is just melting.
Weather here in Sacto is gorgeous in a full-on spring way.
Life is good…thank you FSM.
Lettuce
Here’s Doug Powers attempt at humor from Malkin’s blog:
Before taking full possession, the first family will have a trainer break Bo from a canine condition specific to Kennedy-family dogs known as “Dike Nervous Disorder,” which means that every time the dog is riding in a car that’s driving across a bridge, it poops on the back seat.
It took longer than expected for the Obamas to decide on a breed because the teleprompter was having trouble spelling “Portuguese.”
White House insiders tell me that the plan is to let Bo get accustomed to his new White House surroundings before letting him choose a church for the Obamas.
Svensker
@magisterludi:
Wow, them’s good memories.
I have similar ones from my G-ma’s farm. Even the water tasted better.
passerby
@Kirk Spencer:
I don’t have the guts to try this paint recipe on the house walls but I’ve copied it to use on an old Adirondack chair and some scrap wood garden benches, maybe on homemade birdhouses.
The fun part about this is the option of powder pigments. That promises the freedom of choice for any color I can imagine…a muted chartreuse maybe…guaranteeing unique results. And I can mix only as much as I need.
I’ll have to get on line and read more about milk paint. Thanks for the suggestion.
omen
perfect representative for the cruella de vil party.
JenJen
Happy Easter!
Of course, being Russian Orthodox, we refer to today as "Heathen Easter." :-)
Kirk Spencer
@passerby: Good idea about the testing.
For what it’s worth, the first time I encountered this stuff was when I was around 1968 or 69, when my parents were big into buying old furniture and refinishing it. We were used to applying the remover, waiting fifteen minutes or so, and wiping off – or at most, a bit of scraping. This stuff, on the other hand, required major effort to remove. My parents laughed about mixing and using it when they were children and that they hadn’t realized how tough it was back then.
One caveat – it doesn’t keep. Use it in a couple of days, or plan to toss it out. That’s why I mentioned care in measuring the pigment. Now allegedly the stuff you buy will last in the cans for a while, till used. Given it’s supposed to be standard casein paint I don’t know why, but that’s what the companies claim. (Note, wikipedia’s casein paint link gives another recipe, this one for artist’s casein aka milk protein paint.)
Winston Smith
And here’s Bill Dupray’s contribution over at "The Patriot Room":
Obama Names New Dog After Himself.
You have to read it to believe it.
JenJen
@Winston Smith: Oh Good Gawd. That didn’t take long.
passerby
@Kirk Spencer:
Not surprised to hear that. Anyone who’s left a spoon overnight in a bowl after eating cereal has seen the adhesive effects of casein. And then, of course, there’s always the example of Elsie the Cow and her Elmer’s Glue.
Regarding the casein paint, since I’m not a big fan of matte finishes on furniture, I wonder if there is such a thing as an oil based gloss-ifier that I could add to the mix. If not, the default remedy of applying a coat of polyurethane would give me the finish I’d like along with the waterproofing that’s good to have on outdoor things.
JenJen
Well, that settles it. Brit Hume has now weighed in, and proclaims Bo, The First Puppy of the United States, to be "girly."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/
I’m sure if the Obamas had sons, the dog would be more masculine. Or something.
angulimala
Where was the puppy during Chapiquidick? Why won’t it account for it’s whereabouts that day?
AnneLaurie
Natty is an adorable doggy, and I don’t want to start a flamewar, but honesty compels me to point out: In the genetic sweepstakes, crossing garbage to garbage doesn’t improve the garbage. I’m glad the Obamas had better sense, or instruction, than to increase the number of abadoned Fad Dogs churned out by household livestock producers and dumped when their novelty-driven buyers discover the poor things have all the worse traits of both parents.
Thlayli
@Lettuce:
So funny I forgot to laugh.
Svensker
@JenJen:
My Greek hub calls it "white people’s Easter". He’s confused, too.
Nicole
The Peep show was wonderful! Thanks for the link. Having just eaten an entire box of the chocolate-flavored ones, it made for a lovely and appropriate way to amuse myself as I wait for the sugar coma to hit. 5- 4- 3- 2- zzzzzzzzzzzz
Jay
@AnneLaurie: WOW! How misinformed are you?!?
Labradoodles were initially bred to be service dogs for the blind who have allergies.
Although not a recognized breed, he came with papers verifying a solid bloodline, and he is without a doubt the best dog I’ve ever had.
Sometimes I can’t believe my good fortune at being the one to get him when his original owner couldn’t take care of him.
"Garbage" would never enter the mind of someone who spent 2 minutes with him.
Now go spank your own ignorant ass.
AnneLaurie
Jay: A heartwarming story. Unfortunately, 99.999% of all ‘Labradoodles’ are the products of greedy/cynical household-livestock producers who are thrilled to have a new ‘designer dog’ to shill to idiots looking for this year’s fad pet. ‘Backyard’ breeders & other commercial pet-millers whose physically & mentally crippled stocks of poodles and labradors were becoming so visibly unviable & socially notorious that they were running out of ‘cute’ puppies to flog through chain petstores simply swapped specimens, or cages. Now ignorant impulse buyers who had some idea that "poodles are really neurotic" or "labradors these days have lots of skin and hip problems" are presented with adorable fluffy-coated crossbreds whose recessive genetic flaws *might* be masked by the out-cross, at least until the 3-month money-back-guarantee fails. And since there’s no concensus on what a ‘real’ labradoodle looks like, as long as the individual puppies can toddle across a room without falling over or wetting themselves, there’s no expensive culling for breed disqualifications, either!
If the Obamas had chosen a labradoodle — even a "true" crossbred like your Natty, from sound background stock — all the Paris Hilton wanna-bes would be besieging their local petshops looking for a doggie Just Like The President’s. And within a few months, every shelter & humane society in the U.S. would be overburdened with no-longer-adorable not-puppy labradoodles, many of them with serious health problems. There will be some of the same fad-driven hysteria around PWDs now, and I’m sure all respectable PWD breeders are flinching a bit because they know their "good fortune" will mean hard lives for a lot of unfortunate dogs who wouldn’t otherwise have been conceived. (If you don’t believe me, ask a dalmation breeder how the Disney movies "helped" their breed.) But there are only so many PWDs available for this kind of abuse — the number of dogs who’d suffer if a cross between two of the perennial top-AKC-registration-numbers breeds had been chosen as ‘the White House dog’ would be infinitely greater.
Laura W
@AnneLaurie: I always appreciate your animal advocacy posts. You clearly speak from deep experience. My two closest friends have Labdood puppies, and they are adorable and sweet, but yeah…I’m with you and just keep my mouth shut and love the dogs cuz it’s not their damn faults.
I also appreciated your Melissa E./Shakira duet the other night. Found it the following morning. Had never seen that one. Melissa is a wonderful collaborator. I’ve posted this one probably twice in my time here on BJ, but in case you’ve not seen it yet…Dog needs water!
Jay
@AnneLaurie: Well What The Fuck!!?1/
Are we all supposed to bad-mouth our dogs and shit on Disney because of the assholes of the world?!?!?
I’m sure you mean well, but you are completely full of shrill AND shit, and my dog, as well as it’s parents and siblings, are very well bred, healthy, and well adjusted.
Why don’t you go throw paint on a fur coat or something?
Jay
I saw this linked at WV Blue, AnneLaurie, and you and your "99.99%" might learn something from it. It’s people like you who give liberals a bad name.
Oh, and Dalmations were stupid and spastic LOOOONG before the movie.
John Cole
I think AnneLaurie has a very good point, and it is kind of undeniable. The inbreeding of these animals has been disastrous, and I just watched a show that pointed out that upwards of 25% of some breeds have tragic genetic disabilities. there was an hour long special on National Geographic that highlighted many of these problems.
That doesn’t mean you are a bad person for owning one of those breeds, and that doesn’t mean your dog isn’t special and wonderful and healthy. It does mean that a lot of animals and people have suffered in the rush to pump out the flavor of the month breed, and there have been pretty tragic unintended consequences.
Rather than take what she said personally, particularly since the first thing she said was “I don’t want to start a flamewar,” you might look into what she has said. Maybe there is a reason people are advised to buy labradoodle’s with three year warranties? Could it be that AnneLaurie is right?
Jay
Maybe, but as the link I provided reiterates, anyone who uses "99.99%" about anything other than Ivory soap is hyperventilating, and insulting someone’s choice of dog without ever being around the owner or the dog, regardless of any preface, is a guaranteed non-starter.
I stand by my assertions that we responsible dog owners shouldn’t be chastised for advocating for the breed of our dogs, we are not to blame for irresponsible pet owners or puppy mills, and that people like AnneLaurie give liberals a bad name.
Now, I’ve got 1+ hours to relax before the best show on TV comes on.
Scott
Looks like Newt has chimed in on the first pup. Nasty as usual.
He sounds like a cranky old man…you kids get off my lawn with that dawg…..
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/12/gingrich-focus-on-obama-puppy-fairly-stupid
A touch bitter.
But, Portuguese? Why can’t we have a good ol’ merican dawg.
(Too Obvious?)
Jay
Seriously, John, how could someone take:
as anything other than an insult?
AnneLaurie, if you want to educate people, get some fucking tact.
AnneLaurie
Way to demonstrate your Zenlike moderation about other peoples’ pets, Jay…
Seriously, dalmations are one of those ‘tragic’ breeds our host mentioned. A proliferation of C.R.E.A.M. breeders after the *animated* Disney movie back a (human) generation ago, compounded by the exploiters cashing in after the live-action remake, has farked the dalmation gene pool so thoroughly that even the eugenic purists at the AKC have considered ‘opening the registration books’ to new blood. Quite a few people who love any particular breed (better?) are torn between their natural proselytizing instincts — because of course MY guys are the most versatile, all-purpose, wonderful doggies EVAH! — and the fear that when a breed gets "too popular", the indoor-livestock sellers and naive idiots end up producing a wave of crippled innocents who suffer their whole misbegotten & frequently abbreviated lives in the name of "fashion". And, yeah, the professional AKC pimps can be as bad or worse than the fashionistas… that’s why the assistance-dog trainers stopped using the once-ubiquitous German Shepherds, later Dobermans, later Goldens: too many of those dogs, even from the "best" lines, were coming up lame & had to be retired almost as soon as they were skilled enough to start working. American Cocker Spaniels used to be shaggy little all-purpose field & family dogs, before 75 years of misguided "enthusiasts" turned the breed into what some detractors refer to as "American shi-tzus". I’d bet a store-bought cookie there are plenty of Portugese Water Dog owners/breeders who are ambivalent about the new White House dog… but I still think it would be even *worse* FOR THE DOGS if the Obamas had gone with a cross between two very common breeds, both of which have already suffered at the hands of their "proponents".
When I got my first papillon, twenty-plus years ago, the breed was still uncommon enough that most random people who admired him on the street assumed he was a sheltie, a ‘very hairy’ chihuahua, or a pomeranian; now the breed is common enough that more & more Paps are used as advertising models. As a direct effect of their popularity, unfortunately, there are now enough abandoned papillons in need of re-homing to support at least two dedicated national rescue groups. So, "lucky me" — our last three Paps have been rescues, and theoretically "cheaper & easier" to acquire than our first three (2 pet-quality ‘washouts’ from a reputable breeder & a retired showgirl). But given a choice, I’d rather have strangers telling me I’d been sold a ‘bad’ sheltie than ever hear another news story about 28 papillons coming into rescue after their owner was evicted… from her car. And of course, those are the lucky dogs, because they’re healthy enough to be re-homed & now in the hands of people who’ll make sure they’re treated better.
Jay
I’m not trying to be Little Miss Helper, now, am I?
You know, I’m reading the rest of that comment while watching Breaking Bad and I’m thinking, Jesus, she’s a Tweeker!
Now I want to hear how fucked up Jack Russell Terriers are going to get because of John’s posts.
AnneLaurie
Laura, John: Thanks for your kind words.
Mnemosyne
@Scott:
I hate to admit it, but for once I agree with Newt. What’s with the breathless 24/7 coverage for a puppy? I mean, it’s an interesting human interest story and a cute puppy, but maybe we should be talking about the economy or Afghanistan for a few days with the same fervor and focus.
The difference, of course, is that I know it’s not the Obamas driving the puppy coverage — it’s the lazy media.