US Presidential Elections - Mitt Romney

Dog On A Car says, "it's a lifestyle."

If you like Michael Vick and Judi Giuliani, I'm sure you'll be crazy for the anal-retentive schedule master, Mitt Romney! Granted, Mitt's not as bad as the other two, but I'm just a little worried about his decision making process. Even Chris Wallace from FOX News asks, "What were you thinking?"

Anyway, more dog tails from the presidential trail.


Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation

The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest.

Journeys of a shared life

Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.

Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it.

As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus 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.

And it offered his sons a rare unplanned stop.

Mitt Romney puts his dog on car roof



Disclaimer: I do not belong to P.E.T.A. I would never join P.E.T.A.

I'm just a dog lover. Oh, and BTW, I have been feeding the feral cats in my yard, leftover dog food, since the recent loss of Vagabondblogger Doggie.

US Presidential Elections - Judith Giuliani

If you like Michael Vick....then you'll Loooove Judith Giuliani!

If you're a dog (or any pet) owner like I am (actually was, and will be again) sit down, because, this might upset you. Everyone knows (or at least figures) that Judi Giuliani is a "gold digger," but puppy killer?

For the complete story of Judith Giuliani go to Vanity Fair:

"If you had told me back when we were in high school that one day Judi would move to New York and marry a presidential candidate, I wouldn't have been in the least surprised," says Gemma Matteo, a former classmate of Judi's, now a special-education teacher in Hazleton. In an era of blue jeans and rebellion, Judi was a fresh-faced, meticulously groomed enigma—quiet, self-possessed, biding her time. "Very prim and proper, not a hair out of place," according to Holly Ciotola, another former classmate. "She was always in a dark blazer, white collared shirt, and dark skirt."

In 1974 she graduated from St. Luke's School of Nursing, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As a registered nurse, young Judi spent only a few months at Sacred Heart Hospital, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She would never care for patients after that. She had other plans. At 19 she married Jeffrey Ross, a U.S. Surgical salesman six years her senior.

In short order both Rosses were working in Charlotte, North Carolina, for U.S. Surgical (now part of Tyco Healthcare), which eventually grew into a billion-dollar enterprise marketing surgical staplers. Judi was excellent at her work, and earned $40,000 a year by the late 70s. But problems arose when animal-rights groups began investigating the way the company sold its products—problems recently pointed out by the New York press. U.S. Surgical used dogs in demonstrations to doctors and hospitals as part of its marketing plan.

"Every salesperson at U.S. Surgical was trained for six weeks with dogs at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, and that was really brutal," explains a former employee. "They spent days and days with dogs, taking out the spleen or stomach or the lobe of a lung. Then if the dog started moaning or fidgeted, whoever was closest would push more sedative into him from the syringe. It was horrible. Then the dog would be killed with potassium chloride."

After training, the salespeople marketed the staplers to doctors, and, once again, in many cases large dogs were used, as they had organs comparable in size to those possessed by humans. "After the stapling, sometimes they'd put a big clamp above and below the staple lines of the dog, and fill [the area] with lots of fluid," the ex-employee says. "It would fill up like a balloon, and the salesperson would say to the doctor, 'See—it doesn't leak!' That's how they marketed and sold the product." (Some years ago, former C.E.O. Leon Hirsch defended the company's practice of using dogs, claiming that there was no proper substitute.)

WABC radio host Ron Kuby, a lawyer and severe Giuliani critic, marvels at the campaign's sublime lack of preparation for the storm of fury that greeted the dog issue, in April. "Think of all the hacks and politicos who sit down and they say to Judi, 'O.K., we've gone through your background, husbands, etc.,'" he muses. "'Is there any other thing in your background, some crazy little thing, that might catch someone's attention?' It's at that point you should raise your hand and say, 'Oh, you mean when I was killing puppies?'"

But for some reason the campaign entered the ring gloveless. "I wouldn't dignify it with a comment" was Giuliani's reply when asked about the use of dogs.

The puppies are not amused.

Weekly News Roundup - Pyramids and Censorship

PYRAMIDS

Pyramids of Giza in peril. Apparently Discovery Channel's favorite Egyptologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, does not like camel shit. I'm surprised anyone noticed it with all the garbage blowing around. He does have an excellent point, although it would probably put some of these fellows out of business, or at the least, make a huge dent in their profits. Unfortunately, camel shit isn't the only thing damaging the pyramids. At least it's biodegradable, whereas plastic bags full of garbage, are not.


Saqqara










Giza
















CENSORSHIP

In Azerbaijan, two journalists jailed for defaming president’s uncle.

"With seven journalists now in prison, Azerbaijan is the leading jailer of journalists in the region."

Egypt arrests opposition leaders: regarding the arrest of three Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Alexandria, in anticipation of upcoming elections.

From The Grapeshisha Blog an article and link about the U.A.E. and other countries internet filtering for content.



Two weeks ago Sir John Browne stepped down as C.E.O. of BP, after an expose was printed about his relationship with a "call-boy" (as opposed to "call-girl".) Hubris, lies and the gay affair that brought down BP boss. Sir John was able to stop the piece from being printed earlier this year, but after having lied to the court, it was determined he didn't deserve the right to a legal censor of the damning confession by his ex-lover.

Now an article has appeared and suddenly disappeared about BP's bargaining practices in Azerbaijan, during the early days of its liberation from the U.S.S.R.

"We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win." - From Syriana.

D-Notice and Prison Planet.com duplicate articles on a piece taken off the Daily Mail news website titled, Hookers, spies, cases full of dollars...how BP spent £45m to win 'Wild East' oil rights. Thanks to Carpetblogger and copydude for the original posts and links.

Working on cleaning up their images, American presidential candidates have literally been deleting pieces of their pasts.
For ’08 Résumés, Don’t Ask Them to Fill in Blanks

By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: May 17, 2007
The current crop of presidential candidates has taken to eliminating whole chapters of their histories.