GRAY DAVIS UPDATE

Justice Prevails! Tom sent along word that a judge threw out the lawsuit contending the signature-gathering for Davis' recall attempt was illegitimate. That means the ballot is still a go, however a serious "alternative" to Davis has yet to emerge.

I still don't believe Schwarzenegger is going to do it. He's still tight-lipped and nothing direct is being said. Or maybe that's simply his reaction to catching his wife sharpen her chin again..

So if he's the Terminator, does that make her the Predator?!

ROUSING SPEECH BY TONY BLAIR

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair made an outstanding, important speech yesterday to a Joint Session of Congress. There's plenty of commentary about it that you can read at Andrew Sullivan.com. But I'd encourage you to:

Read It or

Watch/Listen to It

The bottom line is that this man is probably more liberal than half of the Democrats in that chamber, but instead of perpetrating the shallow, bitter opposition to EVERYTHING Bush does like modern Democrats, he forcefully justifies military intervention in Iraq for liberal reasons and still differs with Bush on the environment, monetary and time commitment to nation building and several other issues. He bluntly, though appropriately, states his differences in this speech.

It's truly a shame he's British because he'd be one heck of a Democrat. Mind you, I wouldn't exactly want him to prevail in a national election, but his ability to articulate alternate vision and leadership is SORELY lacking in the modern Democrats and as a result, Republicans aren't being properly challenged for the betterment of national policy.

DOG POISONING PLOT THICKENS

A purely local interest story, but it's now getting more interesting. Portland's Laurelhurst Park has recently been the site of 16 dog poisonings. 8 have died, 8 are now sick and their prognosis isn't likely good. Until now, the story was just a bizarre case of some nutjob poisoning dogs out of spite or sheer cruelty. A sad enough story, but this report from Yahoo News makes it slightly more interesting...

It seems the poisonings are politically motivated supposedly in an effort by some cruel vigilante who wants to see Portland's dog leash laws be enforced. You see, Portland has been in the middle of a dog-leash controversy. The City has dog leash laws on its books, but they've been relaxed about enforcing them because, well, you know, it's cool to be casual about the law and everything else, in Portland. That means that any park you go to in Portland, you're liable to come across all sorts of dogs irresponsibly set free to roam around and do whatever, whereever on whatever.

Dog owners in Portland are the most self-centered, law-flaunting bunch of nitwits I've had the misfortune to encounter... wait a minute, that describes a lot of people around here in general.. It's bad enough that they let their dogs crap wherever without cleaning up. No, it goes further into pretty disgusting hypocrisy. Specifically, most of the morons letting their dogs run free are the ones that are loathe to allow one tree be harvested or one salmon be caught in the name of environmentalism and animal rights. But then they let their dogs run free and what impact does that have? Here are the first obvious three that come to mind...

They attack other dogs on (or off) leashes, violating the right of the leashed dog and its owner.
They threaten children or adults who may be frightened of dogs and are within their rights to demand safety in public parks.
They scare off, chase, or attack any wild animals left in the more wild public park spaces.

This is particularly true for Portland's Forest Park, which is the largest single park inside a city limits in the U.S. It's a big, undeveloped forest full of hiking and walking trails and that's it. But you know what? You can walk and hike and ride all you want through there and you'll NEVER find a squirrel or any other animal that a wandering dog would threaten. Nothing. Wandering dogs have taken the wild out of the park.

I in no way condone what that dog-poisoning sicko has done. It's cruel and tragic and he should have the book thrown at him (or her) when they catch the person. But if irresponsible dog owners and other hypocrites want the Portland Police to not strictly enforce the leash law, why should the Police be asked to enforce animal cruelty laws?

Maybe owners of dead or sick dogs who ran free flaunting the law, meant to protect pet AND human, should consider that question.