"Forget it, old people. No More TV for you, starting in 2009."

Speaking of German Shepherds

Domini Canes. Speaking of German Shepherds, I came across this the other day:

Obama: "mutts, like me." And Finally.. In Dog We Trust

Obama's Pet: "And Finally.. In Dog We Trust"

In his victory acceptance speech, Barack Obama announced the future arrival of a new presidential puppy. His subsequent remarks proved problematic, though not Palinesque. He said, "Our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me."

A bizarre statement in several regards:

1) As Diane Wilkerson of the ASPCA explained, it is not true that one finds no purebreds in shelters. Unfortunately, she revealed herself to be only quasi-literate when she called that belief a "misnomer" (presumably she meant misconception).

2) The real question for both the eloquent Mr. Obama and the tongue-tied Ms. Wilkerson should have been: What is wrong with a mutt?

Good for Obama for jokingly applying the term to himself (many of us could share in that designation): But if diversity is good enough for humans, then why not for dogs? The emphasis on pure lines and pedigrees, though of some obvious utility in competitions, has done at least as much harm as good. Anyone familiar with German Shepherds and the hip problems arising from inbreeding will know what I am talking about. And it's also worth noting that the Shepherd (we don't need to get into the difference between American and German-not to mention, East and West German--lines here) is a relatively new designation, dating only from the end of the 19th century (1899, to be precise).

Is the canine world--which is, of course, to say: their owners (dogs are famously happy to be dogs and could teach us all many a lesson)--one of the last popular bastions (few of us own race horses, no pun intended) of respectable "racial" thinking?

The Obamas perhaps have an excuse in that the children have allergies to dog fur. According to the Chicago Tribune, the family is “leaning toward a goldendoodle,” a hypoallergenic hybrid of a golden retriever and a poodle. Other fans have suggested the Peruvian Hairless, a rather grotesque-looking creature (I hope someone knows or tells the Obamas that these dogs often have skin problems, which may be no picnic for the kids, either, and that the genetic selection process may not be the most humane in the world; oh, yeah: these animals are also often short on teeth). And while we're on the subject, although it's interesting to note that this was once the favorite of the now-vanished Incan royalty, is that a good example to follow in any regard?

My own dog, who is both a mutt and a shelter dog, is a Shepherd mix (with ample fur--as my wife can attest--and a fine set of teeth, which he, however, uses only for good and never for evil), whose intelligence and good nature are unrivaled. As it happens, he came to the shelter because a family whose children--like the Obama children--proved to be allergic had to give him up. By pure good chance, he went from one loving home to another within the space of a day, but few dogs can count themselves so lucky.

The Dakin Animal Shelter, where we obtained him, is a non-kill shelter, I should stress, but even if animals are not being killed (and many are), it is still a tragedy to see them abandoned and homeless. It would be a shame, were a president so notably committed to compassion and openmindedness even inadvertently to prejudice the population against shelters and shelter dogs when more animals than ever are in need. Already the current economic crisis is leading to a marked influx of deliveries to shelters, from families who feel they can no longer care for their animals.



Here's to mutts of all species.

Palin speaking: Who is how gullible?

The press made much of the recent sniping in the McCain campaign and the attempts by some McCain loyalists not only to criticize Sarah Palin's political and common sense, but even to portray her as positively cretinous. The kicker was the assertion that she did not know that Africa was a continent rather than a country, which should have seemed preposterous even to the most hardened but still rational liberal--or would have, had not Palin, in attempting to defend herself, given an answer so opaque or clumsy as to suggest that there was something to it:

if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about Nafta, and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context,” Ms. Palin said. “And that’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks, if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right.”

"the country"? Maybe she meant South Africa, though that's still wrong and incredibly stupid.  And she sure didn't help herself when she fell for a Canadian prank call purporting to be from the President of France.

Anyway, I always thought it sounded too good to be true--akin to the stories about Dan Quayle asserting that people in Latin America spoke Latin; that began as a joke and became an urban legend.

Now the New York Times reports the truth behind the Palin story. The accusations were attributed to one Martin Eisenstadt, on the staff of the McCain campaign:

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

Now a pair of obscure filmmakers say they created Martin Eisenstadt to help them pitch a TV show based on the character. But under the circumstances, why should anyone believe a word they say?

Eternal vigilance is the price of not getting yourself into really embarrassing situations.

Amy Winehouse's Rehab in Yiddish

From the Forward: Yid Vid: "If Amy Winehouse Were a Yiddish-Speaking, Bearded, Orthodox Guy Who Had a Little Too Much Manischewitz…"

Hampshire College '08 Election Night

Full commentary on the history and politics blog.

Change You Can Motherf***ing Believe In!

Tired of all that non-partisan nonsense?

from Jewcy:

What's happened since Rahm Emanuel was last in the White House, acting under assorted titles as a chief strategist for Bill Clinton? Well, he became a U.S. representative from Chicago. His brother Ari, the overcaffeinated Hollywood superagent, inspired the character of Ari Gold on Entourage, played to Emmy-winning perfection by Jeremy Piven, who's not so much a caricature as a Platonic ideal of the real thing. And Rahm is a lot like his West Coast sibling. He talks like a sailor spending shore leave at David Mamet's house, and his menacing-hilarious theatrics have earned him as many enemies as they have compulsively readable magazine profiles.

Full article:Change You Can Motherfucking Believe In
How Rahm Emanuel Will Manage Obama's White House

Québecois comedian persuades Palin he is Sarkozy

Unbelievable. A few highlights:

A: Exactly, we could try go hunting by helicopter like you did. I never did that.
Like we say in French, on pourrait tuer des bebe phoques, aussi
P: Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We can kill two birds with one stone that way.
A: I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun.

or

A: You know my wife is a popular singer and a former top model and she's so hot in bed. She even wrote a song for you.
P: Oh my goodness, I didn't know that.
A: Yes, in French it's called de rouge a levre sur un cochon, or if you prefer in English, Joe the Plumber...it's his life, Joe the Plumber.
P: Maybe she understands some of the unfair criticism but I bet you she is such a hard worker, too, and she realizes you just plow through that criticism.
A: I just want to be sure. That phenomenon Joe the Plumber. That's not your husband, right?
P: That's not my husband but he's a normal American who just works hard and doesn't want government to take his money.
A: Yes, yes, I understand we have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit.

(the video and the full story)