Mixed bag: Dogs, bugs, and politics

Helloooooo?

I haven't blogged here in EIGHT DAYS? I mean, my girlfriend came to visit me last weekend so, well, you know... not so much online. And then there was that big Tuesday deadline, and my SFGate.com column on drug-resistant staph infections in dogs that turned into a really big story, but it's Friday now and I have no idea how that happened.

*stares at calender willing it to move backwards*

Okay, enough of that. Allow me to catch you up.

One, my SFGate.com column on my dog Kyrie's struggle with MRSI, the canine version of human MRSA:

There's a new and growing threat to your pets' health, and while I wish I could tell you it's just another Internet rumor, it's all too real. I should know, because my dog is its latest poster child. I'm talking about something you might have thought only affected humans: drug-resistant staph infections.

We hear a lot about these types of infections in people these days, severe ones spread in hospitals and less severe ones spread in daycare centers, schools and gyms. Most human infections involve methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. In dogs and cats, the bacteria is slightly different — methicillin-resistant staphylococcus intermedius, or MRSI — but it's otherwise pretty much the same problem: some strains of a common bacteria found in and on most dogs, people and surfaces have evolved to resist the antibiotics we normally use to treat it.

My introduction to MRSI began three months ago, when I noticed my 9-year-old borzoi, Kyrie, had a small, quarter-sized red patch on her hip that seemed to hurt her terribly. I got her into the vet the next day, and she diagnosed a spider bite, shaved and cleaned the area, and put her on antibiotics, pain medication and a topical lidocaine spray to numb the wound. She predicted Kyrie would feel better in around 48 hours.

But Kyrie spent the night restless and whimpering despite the pain medication. And the next day, her coin-sized sore had become 8-by-8 inches of infected, oozing, red, raw skin. Unable to sleep while she was so uncomfortable, I spent a few hours on the Internet, where I learned two things. One, there are no venomous spiders in San Francisco, where we live, and two, most diagnosed spider bites are really something else entirely: drug resistant staph infections.

Full story here.

And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, the local NBC news folks were out here this morning, filming Kyrie and me for the evening news. They weren't sure if the segment would air at 5 pm or 6 PM, but if you're local, watch for us! Or it will probably be on their website, www.kntv.com.

I also blogged at AfterElton.com about politics... but don't tell them, they say they're not a political blog.

It seems only a bare handful of queer blogs and bloggers got credentialed for the Democratic National Convention in August.

One of them is Pam's House Blend, a widely respected political blog run by Pam Spaulding. Two others are also strong political blogs with queer bloggers or site owners, John Aravosis' AMERICABlog.com and ThoughtTheater.com. And the fourth is Andy Towle's Towleroad.com.

[....]

Four blogs? Out of more than 120?

It's not just that four out of 120 isn't close to the percentage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the United States, let alone the Democratic party, let alone the liberal blogosphere. 

It's that four years ago, our struggle for civil rights became the scapegoat for George Bush winning the 2004 election. A flood of anti-same-sex marriage ballot measures was blamed for driving conservative and religious right voter turnout to record highs. "God, guns, and gays" became the rallying cry of the right wing, and not only are we the "gays," we're a hefty hunk of the "God," too.

And this year again, not one of the three viable Democratic candidates dared to endorse marriage equality, betraying progressive ideals while acknowledging the conventional wisdom — no doubt true, however much I hate to say it — that no candidate can be elected President in this country if he or she supports same-sex marriage rights.

Given that big right wing flag that's planted like a stake through our hearts, given that yet again, our civil rights are a political lightning rod, given how we were told to shut up and be quiet four years ago, and four years before that, so as not to scare the "Reagan Democrats" away from us, given that more than a few folks are no doubt cursing California for recognizing marriage equality just in time to make it an election year time bomb yet again... we get four blog credentials?

I really think the Big Tent folks can do a hell of a lot better than that for us, considering how much fire — quite a bit of it "friendly" — we keep taking for them.

There's more, although actually, not too much more, here.

Now, go watch Kyrie and me on TV!

Comments

[Terry]

I hope Kyrie is feeling better soon, those photos look just awful. Great blog!

[Sandy Lurins]

Poor Kyrie! I am glad she's on the mend. I found the video on the station's web site, it's at http://video.nbc11.com/player/?id=255736 to link directly.

[Christie]

Sandy... actually, it's this:

http://video.nbc11.com/player/?id=255736#videoid=257628

[Red]

I missed you on the news!! Why didn't you call me??

About your AfterElton piece...if you ever get to interview Rachel, can I carry your laptop? Power chord? Coat? Spare shoes??

It's wrong how much I girlcrush on her.

[Christie]

DUDE, I DID call you! Check your cell phone voice mail, yo!

And Rachel is mine.

[Nish]

I'm so glad Kyrie is feeling better. I sent a link to the article to my Vet, this is such a rare infection that he was very interested.

You both looked great on the vid, it made me smile to see Kyrie strike a pose.

[KathyF]

Hey, they call it "mursa" there? It's always referred to as MRSA here. And I'm told it's everywhere in the environment. You cannot avoid it, but fortunately it rarely causes trouble.