Dogged Blog

It never changes

I'm a fairly eloquent person. I've been known to change people's minds with my words. There are those who consider me pretty persuasive.

But every single time I try to write about how I feel as a lesbian American in a country full of people who have rights I'm denied, and who feel perfectly justified in pontificating about the wrongness of all the ways that I'm going about getting my rights, I lose my ability to articulate my beliefs in one gigantic explosion of FUCK YOU.

I don't know how to end this post.

Queer little wrap-up

Wow, right now both articles at the top of AfterElton.com are by me. I don't think that's ever happened before!

One is, of course, my Project Runway recap. It's a heartbreaking story of an injustice so vast, an offense to taste so great... well, you'll just have to read it.

The other is one of those political/entertainment hybrid articles my editor Michael Jensen keeps making me convincing me to write. I'm pretty proud of this one, and it got picked up by Gawker, too, which makes the gossipy bitch in me happy:

(Neil Patrick) Harris was yet another public figure who was "out in the community, but not in the press." In other words, gay fans knew, along with varying numbers of other people, but it hadn't been reported in the media, and mainstream America was perfectly free to ignore it if they wished. In fact, most of mainstream America isn't ignoring the existence of queer celebrities; thanks to close-mouthed celebrities and a complicit media, they really don't know.

That system works because these days many of the queer and famous don't come out – they inch out. And it's not hard to figure out why. They get to socialize in the gay community, be out to their immediate friends and family, and live with their same-sex partners without having to go through the media circus of an official come-out. But here's a question: What's in it for us?

Other than any thrill it might give us to get the joke when Anderson Cooper laughs that fellow CNN anchor Erica Hill's husband doesn't have anything to worry about from him, or when Jodie Foster thanks her "beautiful Cydney" at a Hollywood event, not much. That's because it's not inside jokes and white-lipped references to privacy that advance GLBT equality and civil rights; it's visibility.

And that doesn't mean visibility to each other, but mainstream visibility. There is nothing more strongly correlated with increased support of gay rights among straight people, from marriage to adoption to opposing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, than one simple thing: knowing someone who is gay.

Anderson Cooper (l), Jodie Foster & Cydney Bernard (r)

The bottom line is that coming out as gay – actually saying the words clearly, and for the record – is the single most powerful tool we have to achieve equality. "Inching out" might make gay celebrities' lives easier, and they have every right to do it if they want to. But as a community, we also have the right to examine the impact of that choice on us.

And it does have one. It perpetuates the one thing that has done more harm to gay rights than any other institution: the closet. Because even if a public figure is "out in the community," until they're also "out in the press" – until their coming out statement is on the pages of People magazine – mainstream America will continue on, blissfully unaware that their favorite actor, a powerful politician, or a respected business leader is queer.

Read the whole thing here.

The Clinton Conundrum

A number of my friends have asked me recently, in frank bewilderment, why I don't support Sen. Clinton. And in trying to figure out why they are surprised by that, I finally asked the magic question: Did you also support or like Bill Clinton?

Of the three I asked, all three said yes, and looked at me like I had two heads.

I don't know if this would hold true if I asked more of them, but if it does, it explains a great deal to me. Because I never voted for Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton has  always been representative of what I hate about the Democratic Party: How it panders to the middle, climbs happily into bed with whatever corporate interest waves a big check in its face, the whole favor/payback/buddy-buddy system of making deals, the Washington-centric view of America.

I felt protective of Bill Clinton during the whole impeachment thing, but it was more that the Republicans were dragging the nation into turmoil out of partisan loathing of the man, rather than that I liked him any more than before.

After Bush took the White House, I missed the hell out of Bill Clinton, and even felt fondness for him in the intervening years. That lasted until he hit the campaign trail for Sen. Clinton, when it took him about ten minutes to burn up any goodwill I had for him with his pugnacious attitude.

Of course, I  judge Sen. Clinton separately from her husband. I think she is head and shoulders above him, and while she doesn't appeal to me on a personal level and I would never get excited about her as a candidate, I don't think she'd be a bad president -- certainly better than the last two four six eight.

But it's irrelevant to me whether I "like" the president of the United States or not. I would say that either Obama or Clinton would allow me not to cringe in shame in front of the world everytime either one opened their mouth, and that's a good thing.

But just as I never voted for Bill Clinton, I'll only give my vote to Hillary Clinton if she is the nominee and my state is genuinely in play. But that's very usual for me; I have almost never voted for a major party candidate at all -- the last time was Mondale and Ferraro, until I voted for John Kerry in the last election, and even then, I only did that because Howard Dean asked his supporters to do so, and because I liked John Edwards. I'm not a major party, mainstream kind of voter. And the Democractic party has always been too conservative, pro-big-business for me.

I want to believe in change, because I don't like what we've had in my adult life. From the Reagan years to today, I feel betrayed by and ashamed of every president this country has had. By supporting Obama, I feel I'm making a huge vote for something else, something not within that framework. The fact that people respond to Obama matters more to this country than his presidency would, although there's the added bonus that he might actually do some of the things he wants to do. But even if he doesn't, the most important thing to me is not what happens to him, or to Washington, DC, but what happens to Americans, in our hearts and minds, in our daily lives.

I don't necessarily support Obama because I'm convinced he can effect the changes he wants to, although I think it's possible that he can. I support him because the groundswell of support for him, and its passionate nature, send a strong message that Americans can still be galvanized by hope, can still care about the political process, that something unexpected can still make us catch fire and fight for our country and our heritage as Americans.

Now, I suppose that fifteen of my friends who like Sen. Clinton will post or email telling me they hated Bill Clinton, and my whole theory will fall apart, but right now I'm thinking their surprise at my lack of support for her candidacy comes because they don't understand what I want from a presidential candidate, and for America. They are more mainstream Democrats, liberal but not at all independent/ornery in their politics, and as far as I can tell, they supported Bill Clinton.

And there's nothing wrong with that. This is their country and they should fight to make it be the nation they want it to be. But if they really understood my politics, and the candidates I've supported in the past, they'd never be surprised I'm not in Sen. Clinton's camp. It would be very odd if I were.

And how was Las Vegas? Exhausting but good.

Honeys I'm home.

I've already said my piece on Las Vegas as experienced by someone there on business rather than pleasure, which is that it sucks. Gambling in your face everywhere you turn, pre-fab indoor "streets," "village squares" and "neighborhoods" with an international orgy of restaurants -- some of them admittedly quite good, hello Rumjungle, but still -- you get to them without going outdoors, and the windows look out only on what is essentially a high-ceilinged, slot-machine-littered mall.

Or, if you're really lucky, you get a restaurant with a view of the resort's landscaping and swimming pools.

Day One was a bust because my flight was delayed and I got in too late to attend the scientific sessions that afternoon. I also had a murderous headache, and even with both Tylenol and aspirin, tossed and turned all night long. I woke up feeling worse than when I went to bed.

The hotel was an unalloyed pleasure though. It was the Marriot Courtyard South, part of a Marriott-owned cluster of non-gaming hotels (plus one Holiday Inn Express). I guess a lot of conventions use these hotels for their attendees like me who don't want to sleep in a casino, in both the English and Italian senses of the word, LOL.

I had a great impression of Marriotts in the past, from when Raven had her leg amputated. This didn't rise to those levels because I hadn't sunk to those levels, either. But the staff was uniformly helpful and friendly, from the front desk folks  to the waitress who gave me my morning coffee to the guy who drove me to the airport. The room was beautiful and quiet, the bathtub was big, the hotel had computers and printers in the lobby as well as free broadband in the rooms and free wifi in the public areas of the hotel. And, you know -- no slot machines or big animated signs telling me to go see Mamma Mia.

The conference was fantastic, of course -- well organized, full of interesting information, and most of the best minds in veterinary medicine under one roof.  I got to catch up with old friends, saw some people I'd only "met" online or over the phone, heard some fascinating scientific presentations, talked in the halls with a lot of vets, and realized Pet Connection's profile has exploded in the last year, since virtually everyone I spoke to knew who we were (a first for me, and apparently going on down at Global Pet Expo, where Gina was, as well).

I did a few interviews I'm very excited about, saw some advances in veterinary medicine that excited me a lot for their potential for improving quality of life in our pets, and was struck, not for the first time but possibly the most profoundly, with the commercialized nature of science in this country.

The drug companies were omnipresent -- banners and ads everywhere you turned, their logos on every single piece of swag and the bags in which it came, on our lanyards, on the programs. The rooms where the presentations were held were branded with their sponsors' logos, and virtually everyone who spoke had financial ties to industry, even though few of them disclosed those ties.

I'll save more thoughts on that for Pet Connection.

So, guess who was the first person to call me when I got home? My editor from AfterElton.com. He always dangles little bits of political content in the entertainment coverage, knowing I'm like a poor innocent fish about to get caught on his hook. If you're reading this, Michael, I love ya man. But don't think I don't know you're playing me.

I left today a little light so I could catch up and rest and take the dogs for a long, long walk, then I have to buckle down as I have one deadline on Friday and another on Monday. Remember this when you start thinking you'd like to be a writer when you retire.

Wherein I whine about Las Vegas

I hate Las Vegas. I seriously hate it.

I go to a lot of conferences and conventions, and while I'm not really thrilled that most of them could be anywhere -- I mean, a convention center is a convention center, a convention hotel is a convention hotel, from north to south or sea to shining sea -- there is something a bit relaxing about the predictability of most conference sites.

Except for Las Vegas.

There is not one moment in Las Vegas that you can forget you are in Las Vegas.

Now, if one is in New York City or Philadelphia or San Francisco, that's a good thing. To be reminded that one is in a world-class city full of interesting cultural and historical landmarks, beautiful architecture or natural settings, music, art, film, shopping... whatever... is a good thing. And yet, when I'm at conferences and in convention hotels in those places, rarely, if ever, does that happen. I may as well be in some small, anonymous airport oasis in the neon.

No, only in Las Vegas do the slot machines in the lady's rooms of restaurants ensure that not for one moment can you forget you're in the tackiest convention town on the planet.

I don't drink. I don't gamble. I don't enjoy being around people who are doing those things. I don't like Las  Vegas, as no doubt you've deduced, being smart folks with above-average reading and comprehension skills.

I do like veterinarians and veterinary medicine, so hopefully the fact that I'm going to Las Vegas for a veterinary conference  will balance out the fact that I hate... wait, it's coming.... Las Vegas.

Sigh. That is all.

Mother Jones: All Hillary's Base Are Belong to Barack

Most. Hysterical. Headline. Ever.

From Mother Jones' Magazine's email newsletter today: "All Hillary's Base Are Belong to  Barack." Snort.

In it, David Corn and Jonathan Stein contend that Hillary Clinton should be worried, "not because Barack Obama won the Potomac Primaries, but because of how he won them." Interesting. I'm not actually convinced and while I support Obama passionately, I still believe Sen. Clinton could pull this out. Only a fool would count her out now. Here's their thinking, though:

"It is so wonderful to be here." So declared Hillary Clinton in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday evening, as vote results being tallied in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia showed she was being clobbered by Barack Obama. But worse for Clinton was that she was losing another clump of post-Super Tuesday primaries by large margins (51 points in D.C., 29 points in Virginia, 23 points in Maryland) because her base voters were abandoning her. The message of the night: Clinton should be scared. And perhaps John McCain should be, too.  

Obama won the Potomac Primaries by eating into Clinton's core. In the Super Tuesday states, Obama won 43 percent of women. He took 55 percent in Maryland and 60 percent in Virginia. In the Super Tuesday states, Obama was supported by only 35 percent of voters over 65 years of age. In Maryland and Virginia, a touch more than 50 percent voted for him.

Within all the Democratic constituencies Clinton relies upon, Obama not only made gains, but won. He won among voters making less than $50,000 a year. He beat her among those with no college degrees. He won Latinos. He won Catholics. He won white men by a substantial margin. And Obama triumphed in every part of that state: urban, suburban and rural. Of the subdivided demographic groups, only white women stood with Clinton tonight. The rest of her base—at least in these states—collapsed.

Read the rest here.

Doggedly liberal. Deal.

I was amused to read the Pet Connection this morning and see Gina waxing political. She had a nice gloss of non-partisanship all over it, but yo, Gina, I'm so onto you. She's an Obama fangirl, just like me.

She linked to Terrierman, who is competing with me for leader of the Cranky Dog Bloggers for Obama political club. He's currently winning because, as usual, Chat Month is eating my soul, and I'm not free to blog as much as I'd like to. In fact, I just woke up from 13 hours of sleep, the first good night of sleep I've had in more than a week. I'm completely exhausted.

I'm tired of something else, in addition to, you know, sleep deprivation. And it ties in with what Gina was saying.

It's the assumption that people who believe in preserving heritage dog breeds, support the right of people to own, show, and breed dogs, and who want to hold government, including animal control, accountable for its actions on their behalf must also be Republicans.

I'm not. As you have probably previously noticed.

There's also something of an assumption that anyone who fights against mandatory spay/neuter laws will also support a whole host of other things, none of which I do... like the mass commercial breeding of dogs, selling puppies and kittens through third parties, whether brokers, websites, or pet stores, factory farming, or fur ranching.

I not only refuse to get in bed with the Hunte Corporation in order to preserve my right to own intact purebred dogs, but I think the argument that I have to do that is bullshit.

That's because just because I advocate for something, write persuasively about it, and believe it myself, does not mean I think it's a good idea to make it mandatory. I believe in people making up their own minds.

I also believe in speaking mine, and yes, I try to be persuasive when I do. That's my form of advocacy.

I will not sacrifice one right -- the right to speak freely about what I believe -- for another -- the right to preserve the Scottish Deerhound. In fact, with all due respect to my beloved breed, if it's a contest between the two, I'll pick the first.

I understand that some of the people I've stood with in opposition to mandatory spay/neuter laws believe they have to support the sale of puppies in pet stores in order to be "consistent," and in order to have the support of the pet industry for the cause. As I said to one of those people a few nights ago, I sat on the floor once with an Italian greyhound who had spent the 8 years of her life or so in a puppy producing facility. I would call it a puppy mill, even though it may well have been clean, USDA approved, and had its own little team of vets and vet techs supervising everything.

She didn't react when you petted her. She didn't see you when she looked at you. She didn't care about being cuddled or walked, didn't want a toy or even a treat. She wasn't curious, or interested, or aware.

When I looked in her eyes, she was dead.

And that's why I don't care how clean the mill was, and I don't care if a thousand studies say that puppies are just as healthy and loved if they come from a pet store as if they come from a home breeder. Because it's not about the puppies, it's about their mothers.

And their dead eyes.

I believe mandatory spay/neuter harms animals and the people who love them. I believe it's designed to impede pet ownership in furtherance of an anti-pet agenda, not to reduce the number of animals killed in shelters. That's why I fight it.

I believe that the way to change things is through free expression, speech, persuasion, and education, not legislation.

I believe that the only way to shut down puppy mills is to dry up the market, because there's no just way to legislate them out of business without trampling on people's freedoms, and in the end, harming the human/animal bond.

But I believe that as a liberal, and as a dog lover, and as the opponent of the mass commercial production of puppies, and someone who is against the sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores.

And I don't find any of those things a contradiction.

Is there a new strain of parvo?

I'm going crazy right now, with the hysteria on the blogs and lists about this "new strain of parvo," based on a January press release from Oklahoma State University.

The amount of bad information that's getting shot all over the Internets is scary, kids. So of course I blogged about this over on Pet Connection:

In all honesty, I’m not surprised the loaded language in the OSU press release scared people, with all the stuff about 600 puppies dying in one night and mentions of “vaccine failure” and dead adult dogs. And yet… if you really look at the various studies, what you see are the usual kinds of vaccine failure from maternal antibody interference. You see dogs who are not vaccinated at all. You see dogs who got sick so soon after being vaccinated that they were clearly incubating the disease already.

The researchers themselves say this — say there’s no evidence this strain has evolved out of the coverage from existing vaccines. The very fact that this strain is so widespread, and is being found all over the country, tells us this is just another strain of CPV that’s out there, of interest to virologists, yes, but its practical importance? Other than the fact that one of the common lab tests for parvo can miss it, not much.

So enough, already. Sure, one day we might have a strain of parvo that mutates beyond coverage by existing immunity. I’m glad that researchers are watching out for that. I certainly want labs to know when strains evolve beyond the ability of some of their tests to detect.

But all we’re doing with this hysterical “sky is falling” reaction, our insistence there’s a new strain of a deadly disease and our dogs aren’t protected against it, is spreading false information and scaring the crap out of people.

Check it out here. Please.

Someone in the government has been counting dead pets

Remember the pet food recall? I'm not likely to forget it, and neither will any of the thousands of pet owners whose dogs and cats were sickened or killed from eating pet food contaminated with industrial chemicals.

The FDA may never get around to counting how many dogs and cats died or were seriously affected by eating the contaminated foods, but another government agency at least got past the "14 confirmed deaths" crap.

In a press release proclaiming, “Thousands of pets suffered illness, death throughout the United States,” today the U.S. Department of Justice announced  that "(T)wo Chinese businesses and their top executives, along with a United States company and its owners, were indicted by a federal grand jury today, in separate but related cases, for their roles in manufacturing and importing a tainted ingredient used to make pet food, which resulted in the death and serious illness of countless pets in the United States last year."

Gina and I are blogging it over at PetConnection.com. Too bad I was up all night last night watching election returns... and now I have to watch this story and oh yeah, recap Project Runway, which amazingly I don't care much about at all right now.

Michelle Obama rules the universe

I watched this speech with my friend Red, who can attest that I cried like a baby three times. It is one of the most powerful political speeches I've ever heard. The video quality is terrible, but listen to her words. I've been searching all day for a transcript, and can't find one. So just listen.

I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

Now go check out this post, and vid clips of a completely different speech, over at Terrierman's fantastic blog. I've asked if he wants to form "Crazy Opinionated Dog Bloggers for Obama"... and I heard a rumor Gina Spadafori might join, too!