Lock Up Your Dogs, America.
Stories culled from many sources, but mostly from Salon.com.
SON OF HUCKABEE
Newsweek recently reported that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s son, David Huckabee, lost his job as a Boy Scout camp counselor in 1998, when he was 17, for killing a stray dog by hanging it from a tree.
The hanging was a violation of the Scout law because “A Scout is kind,” but it was also a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to $1,000 and 12 months in prison. John Bailey, then-director of the Arkansas State Police, told Newsweek that a local prosecutor asked him to investigate, but that the governor’s [Mike Huckabee’s] chief-of-staff and personal lawyer both pressured Bailey to keep away.
David Huckabee has said he was trying to put a sick stray out of its misery, or as [his father] Mike Huckabee said, “There was a dog that apparently had mange and was absolutely, I guess, emaciated.”
Since 1998, David Huckabee has avoided further dog killings, though he was arrested recently for attempting to bring a loaded .40 caliber Glock through airport security.
What are the some of the first signs of a future serial killer? Yes, you are correct: Torturing or killing animals. If it really was suffering, hanging a dog with rope is a LOT less humane than finding a big rock to crush its head and put it out of its misery. Messier, yes, but it doesn’t require … premeditation.
Of course, the attempt to take a gun through airport security provides the distinct possibility that David Huckabee is simply retarded.
RUDY’S JUDY HAS A FEW (PUPPY) SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET
In 1975, Rudy Giuliani’s [current] wife, Judith, shortly after becoming a registered nurse, began working for U.S. Surgical Corp. selling medical staplers to doctors. The sales pitch involved demonstrating the staplers on [live,] anaesthetized dogs.
When asked why the demonstrations required live dogs, “A dead dog doesn’t bleed,” said U.S. Surgical CEO Leon Hirsch in a 1988 Time Magazine article. “You need to have real blood-flow conditions, or you get a false sense of security.”
The dogs were euthanized after the demonstrations.
Let’s face it: We all thought quite differently about dogs in the 70s, before PETA told us all just how wrong we are for treating them like … well … animals. Still, I don’t think I could have put a dog to sleep, used it for a sales pitch, and then really put it to sleep, even back then when such practices were acceptable.
However, I would very much like to go back to the days when dogs were dogs and, while you loved them, they were decidedly NOT members of the family who were required to travel with you throughout your day. Each time I see someone with a dog in a store - or worse, in a coffee shop or restaurant - I resolve not to visit that business again.
That’s not your child. It’s a DOG. You’ll never be arrested for leaving your dog alone at home.
MR. ROMNEY’S VACATION
Mitt Romney’s own family apparently proudly gave this story to the Boston Globe as an example of his cool, calm decision making:
Back in the early 1980’s, Clark Griswald … er … Romney was taking his family on a vacation. It was a long drive and his five young sons took up all the space in the car, so he strapped his Irish Setter’s crate to the roof with the dog inside. He told his kids - one of whom was about three at the time - that he had planned all the stops they’d be making and there wouldn’t be any additional bathroom stops.
There was one unplanned stop, though, when they noticed a brown fluid flowing down the back windshield. “Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down [the dog] and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: Emotion-free crisis management.”
It was also probably a violation of Massachusetts animal cruelty laws, according to Time Magazine. Further, “It is common sense that any dog who’s under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels,” said Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA. “That alone should have been sufficient indication the dog was, basically, tortured.”
Even in the days when dogs were dogs, one did NOT strap the animal’s crate to the roof of the car for travel. That alone should be a clue that Romney had no real empathy for the family pet. Then he simply hosed the dog down and continued on without comforting or making the dog more comfortable? That’s “emotion-free crisis management”?
No, that’s being an unsympathetic asshole. Further proof is his telling a three year old there won’t be any extra bathroom stops. Anyone who has traveled with a kid that age can tell you there WILL be stops whether YOU like it or not.
I don’t know about anyone else, but between this story and his recent speech on religion, I’d be terrified to have this guy in the White House. He’s an automaton.
Are there cyborgs in Canada?