A federal prosecutor in Michigan tried to convince a federal judge to order the euthanasia all dogs swept up in a cruelty case this past summer. The problem is, Kent County Humane Society has been housing several of the dogs for months and believes that they’re adoptable.

The solution? Kent County hired a lawyer and filed an affidavit to argue in favor of letting the adoptable dogs live.

Guess what? They won the case today for 11 dogs in their facility, and they also won the right to evaluate four dogs that have been housed in a different facility.

Bad Rap’s verdict?

We were keeping our eye on this case since we first learned of the dogs’ plight and, and are just jumping up and down around here with the good news. We salute Kent County Humane for their MAJOR CAJONES tonight and are celebrating this victory for the dogs.

Read the story here.

Photo: Froggy, one of the dogs involved in the case, who will now get a chance to be adopted.

Dr. Waters’ team spent a decade collecting and analyzing medical histories, longevity, and causes of death for 119 Rottweilers in the United States and Canada that survived to 13 years of age. These dogs were compared with a group of 186 Rottweilers with more typical longevity.

Researchers found that female Rottweilers have a distinct survival advantage over males—a trend also documented in humans. That advantage appears to be determined by whether the female dog is sexually intact, however. “Taking away ovaries during the first four years of life completely erased the female survival advantage,” Dr. Waters said.

This isn’t just an interesting factoid that will impact the spay-neuter debate with respect to dogs.  It could have a lot to say about research into human longevity as well.

Dr. Parker’s group studied more than 29,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign uterine disease. The findings showed that the benefits of ovary removal—protection against ovarian, uterine, and breast cancer—were outweighed by an increased mortality rate from other causes. As a result, longevity was cut short in women who lost their ovaries before the age of 50, compared with those who kept their ovaries for at least 50 years.

How ovaries affect longevity in Rottweilers is not understood, but Dr. Waters’ research points to a new set of research questions, recalibrating the conversation about removing ovaries.

Breed-specific legislation redux: Florida legislators are throwing the baby out with the bathwater by moving toward enacting sloppy, breed-specific laws again, substantively reversing their prohibition of such a thing more than 10 years ago.  The bill under consideration is Florida HB 543 (Senate version: SB 1276).

In effect, they will be turning back the clock to a time when blaming the dog, independent of contextual evidence, was acceptable.   State Rep. Thurston (D-Plantation) isn’t suggesting any move towards owner responsibility.   And the fact that identifying breeds accurately is, at best, a crapshoot, has eluded Thurston, as well as his co-sponsors.    Solving those problems can’t be done through the legislative process.  The losers here will be good, innocent dogs and responsible owners. If you live in Florida, it ’s time to make your voice heard (thanks to Cathy A for the cite).

Cat killed despite microchip:  Sorry, but we’re not done with the Sunshine State yet.    A couple in Broward county lost their Bengal cat, O’Malley.  Fortunately, O’Malley was microchipped.  That’s good, right?  If he is found by authorities, he can be quickly identified and returned to his anxious parents.   Good news:  O’Malley was found by the authorities.  Bad news, according to the Sun-Sentinel: he was put to death anyway.

The cat’s death has the family and county commissioners wondering if the scandal-plagued agency – which was restructured in 2008 after facing criticism for animal abuse and misconduct – has reformed its ways. The county is apologizing, but officials aren’t sure what exactly happened and are waiting for an internal investigation to be completed.[...]

An audit of the agency two years ago found food for dogs and cats in short supply, animal carcasses rotted in maggot-infested bags and workers taking valuable dogs for their own profits. Officials were forced to change procedures to reduce the problems.

“I’m furious,” said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, who led the drive to reform the agency. “I’m tired of it – how many years will this keep going on?”

Excellent question, Mr. Mayor.

For some good news, we fly up to New York…

The angel of Union Square: Emelinda Narvaez has rescued 10,000 dogs out of her mobile van in lower Manhattan.  You read that right.  Ten thousand dogs.    This profile of Ms. Narvaez, a cancer survivor herself, shows her to be a truly remarkable woman.

[She] believes dogs are the “Angels of This Earth.” But to the more than 10,000 dogs she’s rescued in New York, Emelinda is the angel. She does her miracle work through her nonprofit, Earth Angels, a no-kill canine rescue and adoption organization established to rescue homeless and abandoned dogs.

For the past 41 years, every single day, rain, shine or sleet, Emelinda has been saving dogs on the streets and taking canines from overcrowded shelters (that otherwise would’ve been euthanized). She then nurses the dogs back to health and finds happy, healthy homes for her four-legged friends.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Emelinda.  I have to agree with the author of the Huffington Post article, on behalf of the 10,000 lucky dogs.  You are the angel.

Bow to wow: Now let’s hop on the subway and head a little north, to midtown.  We’re stopping at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  As part of the adoption drive for Animal Care & Control of NYC, a gorgeous golden retriever named Bailey was on the set of The Today Show last week.   Also present was gold medal winning U.S. Olympian Steven Holcomb, pilot of the victorious and historic “Night Train” four-man bobsled team (the U.S. had never won a gold in bobsled before the Vancouver Games).  Steve met Bailey, and promptly adopted her…a golden for a gold medal winner  (a golden tip of the cap to Jennifer Fearing of the HSUS for the story).

Paws for poetry: Switching gears entirely … April is National Poetry Month. (I learn so many interesting tidbits on this beat.)  In celebration, I’m volunteering you, so listen up.  Paws for Poetry is running a contest, and you are invited. See rules and regulations here for prizes and details.  The deadline is April 15, so you have a little more than  a month.  Good luck!

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credits:  Chow and pit bull terrier: Laura Dapkus, examiner.com.  Steve and Bailey: msnbc.com.

Four voices on lessons learned:

This world is too precious not to take an active role in understanding its other tenants.  While killer whales will always remain wild animals and command respect and reverence, gifted animal trainers like Dawn Blancheau and Julie Scardina devote their lives to furthering the boundaries of relationships humans can have with them. Dawn gave her life in the name of science and discovery, and her efforts brought enlightenment to thousands of people.

Second, consider Jean-Michel Cousteau’s compelling, eloquent YouTube commentary.   Next, a response from widely respected training guru Karen Pryor’s clickertraining.com blog.  Finally, our friend Heather’s sharply acerbic rant the day of the tragedy in the most wonderful RaisedByWolves.

Drive or walk — not both: The weird story of the week comes to us from the London Guardian.   A 23-year old man in County Durham had his license revoked after he was caught walking his dog — from his CAR.

Sharon Lowrie, prosecuting, said a cyclist alerted police that two men were dragging a dog along from a car. She said: “The driver was hanging on to the dog’s lead through the driver window, approaching a blind summit.” [...]

Paul Donoghue, defending, said Railton had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. “He accepts it was a silly thing to do and there was an element of laziness. He does not usually drive in a such a manner,” Donoghue said.

“Not usually”?  Why does that not make me feel better?

The problem with bad breeders: One more example of FAIL, courtesy of trusty reader/researcher Susan and the fabulousness of YesBiscuit…we take you to Greenville, South Carolina.  A pit bull breeder had entirely too many dogs of the wrong color.   Well, he can’t dump them with his pickup, right?  So he drops them off at the Greenville Animal Shelter in a U-Haul.

Shelter manager Shelly Simmons says it’s evidence of a growing problem…. “We’ve never had a U-Haul before,” she said.  Simmons said the owners were trying to breed “blue” pit bulls because they sell for higher prices. Instead, they got 17 puppies in every color except blue.”You have amateur breeders who try to have puppies for the wrong reason and when they do that they end up over their heads,” Simmons said.

This isn’t funny.  The Greenville facility where the puppies were dumped is a kill shelter.   I won’t get into the whole fallacy of the color issue.  It’s bad enough as it is.

Beautiful and amazingly creative furnishings: Another tip from YesBiscuit….if you have a cat, need a new coffee table and have the money to spend, you have got to check this out.  A seriously gorgeous table with an integrated cat hammock.  You read that right: cat hammock.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an email.

Photo credits:  Trainer with whale, KCPT. Cat table, O VALOR DO DESIGN, via bookofjoe.com.

Now I am not and have never been a fan of breed specific legislation and have written and talked about this numerous times. But as a former Marine, I know fighting the Marine Corps would be difficult, so in this instance, we decided our efforts should go towards helping the residents of base housing keep their family dogs.

As I posted here previously, our association was a little rocky at the start; very few of the dogs had any training and almost all needed at least some basic obedience training. But the owners were motivated, we had three dogs pass the CGC within a month, and many more were in training.

In the first few months we had a few dogs show aggression towards other dogs that was worrisome and we had two who showed aggression towards people. But overall, things settled down and we have been working dogs through the training they needed and most passed the CGC. More will pass this month.

The deadline for the dogs passing the CGC is rapidly approaching – April 1. Now we’re seeing the dogs who have known — to their owners — behavioral problems. Far too many owners tell us their dog never leaves the house or backyard because they can’t control him.  We’ve had a few walk into our training yard so aggressively we can’t deal with them at all.

This past week, a Rottie scared me badly and I don’t scare easily. And they have two kids at home. Plus the woman kept making excuses for him, “He was trained as a puppy but the kids keep me busy now. His jumping on you (and wrapping his front legs around your body and holding on while staring you in the eyes) is friendly.” Yeah, right, lady, his hackles were up and he was growling.  He’s not going to pass the CGC.

In more than 25 years of dog training, I’ve been bitten a few times. But, when talking about the problems with breed specific legislation, I always said, “I have never been bitten by a pit bull.” I can’t say that any more.

A few weeks ago a pittie was walked into our training yard by his owner, the wife of a Marine, and immediately the dog lunged towards another dog, aggressively, dragging his owner behind him. I stepped in to prevent a problem, grabbed the dog’s leash and he went for my face. I stopped him, asked him to sit and he jumped for my face again. I stopped him again, but he went for my face a third time and this time he got me. Luckily I’m pretty fast and it wasn’t bad. Most of the teeth punctures have healed well but one is going to leave a scar.

There was a back story, of course. The dog is an intact male, used for breeding, never attended a socialization puppy class, never went to a training class, and never goes on walks because the owners can’t control him. The young couple, who have two young kids, don’t know anything about dogs, breeding, genetics, or temperament. The only reason they came to us was because they needed the dog to pass the CGC, which he will now not pass.

Kate and Petra, my partners at Kindred Spirits, and I were talking the other day about some of the dogs who won’t be able to pass the CGC and we said the rescue groups were going to be overwhelmed. After calling some friends I found out the shelters and rescues are already over capacity. Because so many of the dogs being given up now have aggression problems, they are not going to be considered adoptable.

This past weekend I talked to a friend who does pittie rescue. She says now she has gotten much better at evaluating which dog to bail out of the shelters, not only because she can’t save them all, but because she was recently bitten quite badly by a pittie she took out of the shelter in northern San Diego county, just south of Camp Pendleton. She’s going to be okay, but she’s more careful now.

It’s a sad situation all the way around.

But one thing you’d think we’re all on the same page about is that Fabian Henderson, the guy who threw her off the roof of his six-story building in the first place, should get something more than a slap on the wrist.

You’d think wrong, at least, if you were thinking about the judge in the case. From the Facebook page supporting Oreo’s Law:

Fabian Henderson (Oreo’s abuser) was sentenced today. He got 6 months probation and some sort of treatment program for finding a job! He is not allowed to have animals but is allowed to be around his mom so therefore around his mom’s dog. Shame on the justice system!

Defendant: Fabian Henderson
Case #: 06995-2009
Charge: Felony Animal Cruelty
Judge: Hon. Dineen Riviezzo

Unbelievable.

Brent Toellner at KCDogBlog, who keeps an eagle eye on all things dog-law related, made an interesting connection between that decision and Lucas County’s infamous puppy-murdering ex-dog warden, Tom Skeldon, after reading an article about the court case in the Toledo Blade:

The city of Toledo has a contract with the county dog warden to enforce its local laws. Last year the contract was for up to $146,882. The contract calls for the city to pay the dog warden’s office $100 for every citation issued against a “pit bull” or “pit bull” mix dog.

So, in other words, Toledo was providing an incentive to Lucas County’s dog wardens to pick up ‘pit bulls’ and kill them in the shelter (the shelter has a well-known policy against adopting out ‘pit bull type’ dogs). Last year, Lucas County took in and killed over 1000 ‘pit bulls’ — which could have meant up to $100,000 in incremental revenue for the dog warden’s office based on the city incentive to do so. No wonder Skeldon and his crew were so focused on ‘pit bulls’, allowing dog bites to increase and shelter kill rates to hover around 77%. Their incentive was to capture, and kill, ‘pit bulls’.

Hopefully the city of Toledo will not only re-write their law to not include breed specific language (which was ruled to be unconstitutional by the court), but also rewrite their contract with the Lucas County Dog Warden’s office to incent activities that are good for citizens and for dogs — like maybe declining bite rates, decreased shelter killing, better return-to-owner rates, etc. Now THAT would be real success.

Then there are the crazy-ass folks in Chicago who are actually, get this, requiring their shelter volunteers to be fingerprinted before being allowed to volunteer. Not just background checked, folks: fingerprinted. From Dancing Dog Blog:

City budgets have sliced the life out of dollars allotted to Animal Care and Control (ACC) agencies across the US.  Skeleton crews work the problems of caring for and tending to the needs of dogs and cats. Those needs would not be met by most measures if volunteers did not step in to fill the gaps.

In Chicago, cutbacks forced ACC to reduce adoption hours from 49 per week to 17, closing for adoption on Sundays.  Volunteers revolted, the Sun-Times reported it, and a semblance of sanity was restored to the program’s hours.  Volunteers and the work they do should be respected. They are the life’s blood of many organizations.  I don’t think many would disagree, so this news comes as a surprise.

According to Fran Spielman, City Hall reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, the city “overlooked” the fact that Animal Care and Control volunteers (more than 250) have not been subject to what is said to have been policy since 2008. All 110 other volunteers for city departments have provided and allowed: social security numbers, background checks, and fingerprints.

That last was not a typo. Fingerprints are required of volunteers just as if they were applying for a civil service or federal job. To do work no one else will do in a noisy, stressful environment and all without a paycheck, you now have to be subjected to jumping through more hoops than if you were actually getting hired by a corporation.

Check out the comments section — it’s insanity. It’s all part of the same mentality that would rather see animals dead than adopted out to the evil irresponsible public, justified by the animal world’s version of Godwin’s Law, “It’s all about the people who would sell pit bulls into fighting rings.”

I wouldn’t allow the government to fingerprint me in order to volunteer at an animal shelter. So, good work at screening me out of your volunteer program, Chicago! Wouldn’t want someone who has actually read and cherishes the constitution scooping poop in your kennel runs!

Update: Bad Rap weighs in on Toledo.

I work there part-time, and I usually like it a lot. Strange but true: I love public policy, electric transportation and green energy technology, and I’m a total fan girl for infrastructure. (Infrastructure makes me all tingly!)

Yes, I’m a policy wonk. So far, the interesting subject matter and challenging nature  of the work has been enough to offset the fact that my “cube” at the best public utility in Sacramento is so distressing and depressing it would make a factory-farmed chicken feel better about a battery cage. I can’t get it changed, and some of these gray winter mornings the thought of working in that spot … well, you can tell the work is interesting to me, because I’m still there. Yes, I know that sounds whiny, and yes, I’m glad I have a job. But would it be too damn much to ask for a workspace that doesn’t make me want to cry?

But back to those back spasms. They come and they go. It’s age, it’s hormones, it’s my Sciatic nerve … it’s just something to deal with when it happens, so it goes. Walking, physical therapy and rest when it gets bad, there you have it.

Frankly, my doctor couldn’t care much less. She nice and she’s smart, but she works for an HMO (and yes, again, I’m lucky I have coverage), and she needs to get me in and out of her exam room in 15 minutes or less. And she needs to keep me out of the hands of specialists and surgeons and away from tests, all of which cost the HMO money they’d otherwise get to keep. So she tells me to lose (more) weight, walk more and go to the physical therapist. Thank you, goodbye. Please don’t call again. You’re welcome.

So I’m home yesterday, in occasional spasms of agony, when I notice puppy Faith is very quiet. This, it almost goes without saying, is not normal for her 9-month-old puppy self. I work her over a little and discover that she is in pain. So I call over to the veterinary hospital and in 45 seconds, I’m talking talking to our Primary Care Veterinarian, the saintly and gifted Dr. Bill Porte. After a few minutes, FayBee and I are on our way to see him.

Once there, she is ushered into the back, enveloped by worried vet techs, and soon, Dr. Bill is there, too. Within an hour, she has also been given a look-see by the surgical specialist and the neurologist (it’s a specialty center, 24/7), and the radiologist has reviewed her rads and ultrasound. Blood and urine tests are sent out stat. Nothing obvious presents, so she is admitted for overnight observation and fluids, after the night doc is called in to the room to meet me, meet my dog and get the overview from Dr. Bill.

This morning, Miss FayBee is bouncing off the walls at the veterinary hospital, licking the top layer of skin off the face of anyone who comes near. After hospital rounds, she’ll likely be released, at which time I’ll know more about what could have laid my crazy 9-month-old retriever puppy so low yesterday she didn’t want to pick her head off the exam-room floor.

We’ll drive home with me shifting in the seat painfully, heading home for more meds and a heating pad, wondering why health-care reform is so apparently unobtainable that despite insurance I can’t get help for anything — but my dog can get help for everything. Chances are I’ll start crying again, thinking that this time last year almost to the day my family and I were in a hospital emergency room with my scared and dying father, begging for someone to help him, to admit him, to ease his pain. And getting nothing and nowhere for hours and hours and hours.

The fact is, my father, despite the best efforts of his own, good, primary care physician, was chewed up and spit out dead by the health care system. The best care he got while dying? In hospice. Sad but true.

The whole thing makes me want to vomit, but that effort would surely make my back even worse — and God knows I won’t be able to get any urgent help with that. So in a couple of hours I’ll go gratefully reclaim my puppy, hug my veterinarian and let it go for a while.

***

On a happier note …

On Friday I came home and found two packages in my mail box. The first from from regular reader Cait Macanliss, who’d read my admiration of the felted dogs and cats I’d seen on Etsy and offered to create one for me herself, being a crafty sort.

She did, and I love it. The little dog is a model of the late, great Heather, right down to the gray on the muzzle, and she didn’t have to tell me that, so strong was the resemblance. She also included a big surprise: A Drew! (The picture doesn’t do them justice, believe me.)

I love these both, and I cannot recommend her work enough. If you’re looking for a treat, click on her name and drop her an e-mail.

The other package was from Iowa, from Dooley, a/k/a The Big D, who was known here at the house  by his ribbon color, Blaze Orange Boy, or BOB. Bob is living with my friend Alyce (a/k/a Verde) who also has the last remaining member of Heather’s litter, her 13-year-old brother Bogey.

Inside the package: A long, beautiful pheasant feather, and a note that read, in part:

The Big D is going to be a hoot in the field and a pain in my ass every day of his existence. I love him to death! I hope he drives me crazy for 13+ years like another dog I know.

So do I, Alyce. So do I. And that feather? From Dooley’s first retrieve as a hunting dog. His housemate Bix put the bird up, and Dooley brought him back. Good thing Alyce is a good shot, because the spurs on that old roo were 3/8th of an inch long and could have dampened the puppy’s enthusiasm for retrieving considerably had the bird put up a fight. Well, considering that the puppy is the very determined The Big D, likely not. That boy is unstoppable.

All the puppies McKenzie and I raised here last spring are doing well, and their families check in regularly. This morning I got a picture of Jack The Zipper, known here as Mr. Yellow, or Zippy the Pinhead because of his distinctive cowlick down the middle of his nose. Always had a real soft spot for this boy, because I thought I was going to lose him a few days after he was born and rushed him to the veterinary hospital on Easter Sunday, where the ER doc patted me on the head, told me the puppy was fine, just fine, and sent me home.

Once a worrier, always a worrier. Here’s Jack, now a healthy 9-month-old Murgatroyd. I’ll soon be off to pick up his sister, then it’s back to the pain meds and heating pad.

.

.

What does matter is the fate of other dogs and cats in shelters not just in New York, but everywhere. Because I firmly believe that no shelter or animal control agency should kill any pet if a qualified rescue group or shelter is willing to take him.

That’s been the law here in California for nearly 12 years now, and amazingly, all the horrific things predicted by opponents of that law when it was first proposed have not come to pass. Nor have we reached nirvanah; there are places where the law is ignored or only spottily applied, and there aren’t always rescue safety nets for all the shelter dogs and cats who run out of time in the state’s shelters.

But the law exists, and it’s often used to prevent the kinds of abuses that are so sadly common in other parts of the country. From my column today:

I support Oreo’s Law, and this is why: All over New York, indeed, all over the United States, there are shelters right now killing dogs and cats who could be saved if only they’d let qualified local rescue groups and foster volunteers take animals out of their facilities.

That’s true in Toledo, Ohio, where animal control warden Tom Skeldon was recently forced to resign over his unwillingness to let even puppies go to another humane society or rescue group, and insisted on killing them instead.

It’s true in Dallas, N.C., where rescuers begged and pleaded fruitlessly to be allowed to take sick dogs for veterinary care and potential adoption, instead of seeing them killed in the animal control facility’s antiquated gas chamber.

It’s true in Rochester, N.Y., where Kellner told me that qualified rescue groups are prevented from taking pit bulls out of the city shelter, because the agency doesn’t allow pit bulls, not even puppies, to leave its facility alive.

It’s true in a thousand places, where volunteers keep silent about abuses out of fear of being prevented from transferring animals to rescue groups or even providing basic care to animals.

Oreo’s Law is not for Oreo, and it’s not aimed at the ASPCA. It’s for the animals in every shelter and animal control facility in New York state.

I interview New York State Assembly Member Micah Kellner, the co-author of Oreo’s Law. We discuss his proposed amendments to the law, intended to address some of the concerns of its opponents. We also talked about why he feels the law will help New York’s animals and its shelters, and what kind of support it’s getting (here’s a hint: it’s massive).

The full story is here.

Photo: New York State Assembly Member Micah Kellner and his dog, Nina.

On behalf of the American Kennel Club, our 5,000 clubs nationwide, and the millions of responsible dog owners we represent, we are writing to ask you to withdraw Michael Vick as the Philadelphia Eagles’ recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.

We understand that his teammates selected Mr. Vick for this honor, but in doing so they are demonstrating a lack of understanding about the nature of both animal and child abuse, and are trivializing Mr. Vick’s heinous actions. Michael Vick horrified the world, and especially those of us who devote our lives to promoting the health and welfare of dogs, with his engagement in dog fighting. In addition to the bloody fighting contests, reports indicate that many dogs were electrocuted, drowned or hung for underperformance.

A man who has been convicted of these atrocities should not be held up as a role model of sportsmanship and courage. Further, Ed Block, the award’s namesake, dedicated his life to ending the vicious cycle of pain and despair suffered by children at the hands of their abusers. It is unconscionable that a man who tortured and abused helpless animals be honored by an organization dedicated to ending abuse.

Please take a stand against ALL forms of abuse by selecting another player to represent the Philadelphia Eagles at the 32nd Annual Ed Block Courage Awards.

No comment from me today, other than: Bravo, AKC.

Photo: One of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation, courtesy of Bad Rap.

Last night, Maria Tchijov, Outreach and Communications Coordinator at Change.org, emailed me and asked for help in getting signatures on a petition to Sam Lamantia, the CEO of the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation:

Dear Mr. Lamantia,

Recently the Philadelphia Eagles have elected Michael Vick as their recipient for this year’s Courage Award. Given Mr. Vick’s crimes and felony conviction, we do not believe he is worthy of this honor. For several years, in addition to promoting dogfighting, Vick himself tortured, abused, and murdered innocent dogs for his own profit and apparent enjoyment. This is not courage. This is inhumanity, immorality, and sheer brutality and does not warrant giving Vick this or any other reward.

Many of us have protested Vick’s reinstatement to the NFL. There has been strong media and PR influence in trying to diminish his past actions and erase the public’s memory of his sadistic behavior. We encourage you to stand up for the rights of animals everywhere and the memory of the dogs who endured Vick’s cruelty. Please do the right thing and deny Michael Vick the Courage Award.

They’ve already got around 6000 signatures — but I think we can do better than that. Sign here.

And because I know this will be a concern to many of the readers here, yes, this petition is housed in the “animal rights” section of Change.org. This is a very active community with participants with a wide variety of views, from those nearly all of us would support to those many of us wouldn’t.

Please don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Surely on this we can all agree: Michael Vick should not receive this award.