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Election news, because we care about issues here
By Gina Spadafori
June 3, 2008
No, not that election, even if Christie does have a “Cranky Dog Bloggers for Obama” T-Shirt.
I’m talking about the 23rd State Senate District Dem primary in California, where Lloyd Levine wais trying to win the right to run against the GOP candidate in the fall. Too early to say anything, except that I sure hope the very early trends hold up, with his opponent winning handily thus far. Insomniac’s update: Buh-Bye, Lloyd.
Levine (who doesn’t have or seem to give a rat’s ass about pets) hooked up with animal-rights nut jobs with big checkbooks to push a forced spay-neuter nanny-state bill, AB 1634, in a spittle-heavy campaign complete with dirty tricks, lies and personal attacks by the animal-rights nut jobs. The bill targets reputable, ethical breeders, will be ignored by careless, clueless backyard breeders and Mexican puppy-smugglers and gives puppy-mill scum a complete pass. It puts the state’s nose into a decision with potentially negative consequences that should be discussed between a responsible pet-owner and a veterinarian and made with informed consent. AB 1634 is misguided sound-bite legislation that doesn’t do anything to fix how animals get into the shelters, who puts them there and why shelters shrug and say they can’t do anything except kill pets and point the finger of blame everywhere else.
I honestly can say I’ve rarely known a politician I’ll be so happy to see have the door hit in the ass on the way out.
AB 1634 isn’t dead yet in California, by the way, even with Levine given the boot. We’ll have more on that, probably today. Whether Levine gets the boot or not.
More good political news: It looks as if the Ohio proposal to exterminate all generic pit bull type dogs — even the most gentle and trustworthy pets of responsible pet-owners – is being pulled from consideration. (Tip of the hat to the KC Dog Blog.)
Gee, what a bad morning for animal-rights zealots determined to pick off all domestic animals — we must kill them to save them! – one breed and one species at a time.
***
Wanna blog for money?
One of our favorite dog-bloggers, Joy at Dogster, has called it quits. And Dogster is looking for her replacement. What a cool job for the right person. (As in, someone who loves dogs, never sleeps and gets the shakes if Interwebs access is removed for more than 10 minutes. How do we know this? Eh, just trust us, we know!)
Anyway, here’s what it takes to be the next Dogster blogger. Big shoes to fill, but I’m confident they’ll find someone wonderful.
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“I honestly can say I’ve rarely known a politician I’ll be so happy to see have the door hit in the ass on the way out.”
Oh, I’d hazard a guess that Rick Santorum (stalwart defender of such gems as the ill-named “Puppy Protection Act” ans PAWS) would be a contender for that same status!
Happy to see Levine on his way out, though!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — June 4, 2008 @ 5:31 am
Sorry but I’m in SC. Two words: Strom Thurmond.
Comment by slt — June 4, 2008 @ 6:12 am
Excellent news from CA!
Let’s hope it’s the beginning of a trend.
Comment by Caveat — June 4, 2008 @ 6:33 am
someone who loves dogs, never sleeps and gets the shakes if Interwebs access is removed for more than 10 minutes. How do we know this? Eh, just trust us, we know!
OMG Gina. That is supposed to be part of the mystique! You’re giving away all the secrets of successful blogging!
Comment by Christie Keith — June 4, 2008 @ 8:35 am
I can think of one I’ll be happy to see gone in November far more than Mr. Levine… ;)
Comment by Christie Keith — June 4, 2008 @ 8:35 am
Dogster has lost a lot more than a blogger, because of certain..blatant bias and attempts to pimp commercial pet food, the word is out that Dogster is a place to avoid.
I cannot post here the profane, and hilarious, replies to the offer “Hey, you wanna sell out and write for Dogster?”.
Better research and less collaboration with the PFI can be found elsewhere.
Comment by LoveyHowell — June 4, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Christie: “I can think of one I’ll be happy to see gone in November far more than Mr. Levine… ;)”
***
Well, I do in fact have a list …
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 4, 2008 @ 8:47 am
Lovey, I gotta tell you it’s really, really difficult to earn a living if you do not take advertising.
In our contracts we spell out for our sponsors that they are buying the banner at the top of the page. They are not buying us, not buying content, not buying us laying off them if they do something awful.
They buy space, or, in the case of Pfizer, the right to have their logo on our Web search page, since their sponsorship made the development of the database possible.
It’s the “newspaper model,” with a wall between editorial and advertising. We haven’t made any agreements with a pet-food sponsor, but I can’t say we never will here. But that doesn’t mean we won’t continue to report on things as we always have been.
I can’t say what’s going on over at Dogster because I don’t know. And, really, I don’t much care because we have our own work to do here.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 4, 2008 @ 9:36 am
As a former regular user of Dogster I can tell you it has developed a very strong pro-AR bias. That is the primary reason you will hardly ever find me there, and then only in one small forum of friends.
Comment by Dutch — June 4, 2008 @ 11:01 am
Advertising is one thing, what happens at Dogster is a whole other color.
Same color as what you step on in a horse paddock.
Only it smells worse.
Itchmo forums has some of the story .
And archives of ALL of it are being kept safe.
As well as the “inside ” stories told in private by those former Dogsters who have morals.
Newspapers are dying on the vine _because_ of the sell out factor so using their failing model and buying into the lack of ethics is probably not a good idea.
There are plenty of ways to make a living that do NOT involve shilling for the pet food companies.
Comment by LoveyHowell — June 4, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
Newspapers are dying on the vine not because of the lack of ethics but because of the Internet.
Unlike many magazines, in which advertisers get friendly content with their ads, newspapers do not offer this. Advertising and editorial are separate. Buying ad space doesn’t get you new coverage at a newspaper, nor does it protect you from bad new coverage.
If you can figure out a model for a Web site to earn money without advertising, well, you just let us know.
Shilling, to me, means writing something you know not to be true to promote a product. We don’t do that. What we do is sell an advertiser space to promote their product, with no endorsement pro or con from us.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 4, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
Woo hoo, no boo hoo because Lloyd’s gooo-ne. What a relief. CA voters are coming to their senses. Now, to whack some sense into Canucks.
Comment by Social Mange — June 4, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
>CA voters are coming to their senses
Well now, let’s not be hasty. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence in three-plus decades of voting that sense has much to do who or what wins.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 4, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
The website I mentioned was Dogster, nothing was said about Petconnection , Dogster was specifically mentioned as THE website I was posting about, in both posts.
Other posters are bearing out what I posted about the unsavory reputation Dogster is gaining as a front group.
The internet is going to make obsolete more than newspapers.
And why is it my job to tell Dogster and the ilk how to earn money without selling their souls?
They can go back to school, learn a trade, sex trade worker, hang, starve, beg in the streets, options are endless.
Comment by LoveyHowell — June 4, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
Lloyd may be out the door, and good riddance to bad rubbish, but AB 1634 remains to haunt us all.
From Petpac:
“PetPAC needs your help
now more than ever.”
Save the date of Wednesday, June 18, 2008 when the final battle on AB 1634 will take place in a hearing of the Senate Local Government Committee at the State Capitol in Sacramento.
PetPAC needs your help now more than ever. We need your financial support today to help us fight the massive last minute efforts funded by our opponents.
“We’re gearing back up,” said Judie Mancuso of the pro-AB 1634 California Taxpayers for Safe and Healthy Pets. Mancuso says that her group is hoping to revive the issue of mandatory spay/neuter before time runs out. She says the group hired a powerful lobbying firm to try and run the bill across the goal line in the Legislature. They have also paid for billboards in Sacramento to influence legislators. (Capitol Notes, 5/28/08)
In addition to our lobbying and public relations campaign to stop AB 1634, PetPAC will be holding a rally at the Capitol on June 18.
Let me be very clear, our mission is to defeat mandatory sterilization for pets in California. Mancuso and her PETA friends are spending heavily to pass AB 1634, we need your financial support today as we have significant expenses in the coming weeks in order to fund our campaign.
Please join us in Sacramento on Wednesday, June 18. We will be providing additional details in the days ahead. Thank you for supporting PetPAC.
Sincerely,
Bill Hemby
PetPAC Chairman
Comment by Deb — June 5, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
I will be there. AB 1634 should be pretty much a dead issue, but we need to strike a stake through it to be sure.
And a good turnout will also help to ensure that no other lame-brained state pol in California will think this is anything more than the manipulations of animal-rights extremists who believe “a breeder is a breeder is a breeder” and all are bad.
Easy answers rarely are either, and AB 1634 is a classic example.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 5, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
A stake in the vampire’s heart would be a good thing. It used to be said ” As Maine Goes, So Goes the Nation”. In the case of anti-animal owning legislation, I submit the saying should read “As California Goes……”
Comment by Deb — June 5, 2008 @ 3:28 pm