"Two Alberta teens accused of microwaving a cat to death pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a Camrose court." [...]
"The four Edmonton area teens, aged 13 to 15, allegedly broke into a Camrose home twice in December and, during the second break-in, cooked the cat to death in the microwave."
How long before these twisted little douchebags take things to the next level? I guess we'll find out in 5 or 10 years... mark my words, we'll be reading about at least one of these kids again. (And before anyone grabs the smelling salts and leaps for the fainting couch, this is nothing, not the same ballpark, the same league or even the same game, as a common medical procedure that starts with the letter "A", so don't even try.)
JUMPING THE GUN UPDATE: Dr. Dawg pointed out in the comments, and he's quite right, that these kids haven't been proven guilty yet, and until then they are, they must be presumed innocent. My apologies, animal cruelty stories make me go cross-eyed and lose my objectivity.
"Protesters from the Korea Association for Animal Protection participated in a demonstration near Seoul's city hall on Tuesday. The protest was held to oppose the Seoul Metropolitan Government's proposal that dogs be categorized as livestock to regulate the dog meat industry and strengthen public sanitation inspections. The categorization of livestock would allow for the mass breeding and butchering of dogs and serving of their meat in restaurants. The dogs' collars read (l. to r.) 'My name is Hosoo. I am your friend,' and, 'My name is Choonja. Please don't eat Choonja.'"
"Please don't eat Choonja"?!? Come on now, if that doesn't make you go "awwww" you've got a dried-up little raisin where your heart should be.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Mutt Romney
The GOP presidential candidates for 2008 are indeed a motley crew, half of them having some scandal or other in their past and the other half being just... insane for lack of a better word. Of the frontrunners, only Mitt Romney has so far been fairly untouched by negativepublicity... until last week, when the spectre of Animal Cruelty was discovered looming in Romney's past.
Back in 1983 the Romney family put their Irish Setter ("iSetter") in a cage which was then tied to the roof of the car and took off on a 12-hour Boston-to-Ontario road trip. Woohoo! Vacation! Everyone was happy but Seamus, who was in such gut-wrenching fear that he shat all over the roof of the car.
When I take my dog for a ride in the back of my pickup, I adjust my driving to accomodate her: keep the speed down, no 2-wheeled cornering, and especially no sudden stops or starts. Why? Because it's pretty easy to imagine what would happen if I slammed on the brakes at speed: whatever was in the back (and I do mean "was") would take off like a 747. You have to wonder why Romney couldn't anticipate something as obvious as the terror of hurtling through space in an open cage at 80mph -- for 12 hours straight! I'd shit myself dry, which poor Seamus apparently did.
"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."
If a guy can't empathize with his own dog enough to imagine (or care?) that a situation might be horrific for him, one has to question his judgment on issues like torture, which thanks to the Bush administration is now something Americans actually have to consider when analyzing candidates. It kind of lowers the bar on what one could assume Romney might consider acceptable interrogation techniques.
