Texas Unites...

... in spinning our wheels for yet another year.

This three-day seminar is back, but even with cutesy marketing, it won't get us any closer to being a No-Kill state. Instead, it'll the same old same old, with a big emphasis on how to efficiently push paper, hassle rescuers you don't like, and be a better bureaucrat. Perfect for those hoping for a career in committee-sitting. And of course, the HSUS and Texas Humane Legislation Network will somehow "sponsor" something.

And if memory serves correctly, some Dallas Animal Services employees got to spend three days in Austin last year attending the 2010 Texas Unites conference. This is the same Dallas Animal Services that distinguished itself in so many ways during the rest of 2010.

Anyway, here are your choices. You can fork out $200 (not including accommodation at the Renaissance Hotel, that's $109 a night extra) and do Texas Unites for three days, or you can pay $19.95 and attend Nathan Winograd's Building A No-Kill Community seminar. True, Austin offers visitors a bit more than Houston, and the Renaissance is nice. Building a No-Kill Community will be held in the auditorium of a law school. No open bar or opportunities to schmooze with your fellow committee-sitters (sigh). But it all depends on your priorities, I guess.

Building A No-Kill Community is being held on a Saturday - this means we office drones can go without taking time off. (I'm already paid up.) If you're doing the entire Texas Unites, you'll need to take a day off. But at least you get to spend the weekend in Austin.

Texas Unites wins one award: the Incredibly Bad Taste distinction. One seminar subject - prosecuting animal control officers for animal cruelty - is literally called Animal Control Officers Gone Wild. Like there's anything funny or sexy about the subject.

Michael Vick's key to the city

Larry Powell's blog contains the entire statement made to the Dallas City Council by Richard Hunter. I thought Mr. Hunter did a particularly good job of describing how fucked up the situation was (and is).

Read it all here.

Now or Never: We're still just kidding about "Leave a Comment"

Last month I mentioned how difficult it was to leave a comment at the Now or Never for Dallas Animal Services blog. Seems you had to have a Wordpress account to do so.

Recently, this was changed so that Wordpress isn't needed - but you DO need to agree 100% with the blog and its authors, or your comment won't be published. Instead, you'll be moderated with a DELETE key.

You see, when I left a comment to a recent Now or Never blog entry, challenging the poster's statement that the HSUS is a moderate organization, the comment was never published. Perhaps this is due to the fact that some of the Now or
Never blog authors publicly sing the HSUS' praises.

(If you're wondering why I have major problems with the HSUS, check out their annual reports. You can download them at their Web site. It puzzles me how anyone with a brain could continue to support an organization that contributes so little to animal welfare, and so much to their in-house legal team, senior staphers, pension fund and lobbyists.)

So...if you aren't kissing Wayne Pacelle's well-polished ass, fugheddaboutit.

Humor lives at the "Now or Never" blog

While catching up on my reading, I found a rather mystifying posting at the "Now or Never" blog. (It's recently moved, and now lives here: http://noworneverdallas.wordpress.com/)

The posting is from February 2nd. I don't know the author, but he or she may have been smoking crack during this week's cabin fever-inducing Snowmageddon. For example, the posting states:

The HSUS has a reputation for being a moderate organization that prefers to operate well away from the radical fringe...

Anyone with basic research skills will discover that today's HSUS is no longer a "moderate organization". They started out as a hands-on organization that actually pitched in and helped local shelters until the early 1970s. But mission creep set in, and the AR fanatics began to get a toehold with the rise of John Hoyt.

Nowadays, the HSUS is pushing the "Rescued To Death" agenda just as hard as PETA, the ALF, and similar organizations. Hardly any of their funds go to local animal shelters - this is why their TV advertisements, which make it appear the HSUS are funding them when they aren't - enrage me. (Okay, about 50 cents of each $19.95 monthly contribution might go to a local shelter. Let's give Wayne Pacelle his due.)

On a lighter note, you can now leave a comment at the Now or Never blog without getting a Wordpress account first. But so far, the only comments that have passed moderation have been kudos - from the same few people.

When is the next Shelter Commission flea circus?

Since the City Secretary isn't interested in posting dates/times for the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting, I thought I'd ask blog readers. Someone ought to know, and hopefully we'll get some advance notice. Several people I know have missed attending these meetings as they're not given enough time to take the afternoon off work.

If you're thinking of addressing the Commission at the end of the meeting, good luck. The usual reception reminded me of this statement from Nathan Winograd:

"And it is the most divisive incivility to tell true animal lovers they can’t complain about it, that they can’t fight for the animals, that they should sit down and shut up and allow the killing to continue."

Downright catty

Someone recently sent me an amusing typo committed by one of the local Examiner.com reporters. I will be charitable here and not mention the reporter's name.

Dallas Animal Services employee Domanick Munoz was transformed into a girly-man.

Herewith an excerpt:

"Lt. Scott Walton, the interim director of Dallas Animal Services and Officer Dominique Munoz, the cruelty officer who pursued the cruelty case, will also be at this event to answer questions about cruelty cases and proper animal care."

It's about time for someone to begin whistling Monty Python's The Lumberjack Song.

"Domanick...I thought you were so rugged!"

Leave Comment. Nah, just kidding.

During the past few months I've been a regular visitor to the Dallas Animal Advocates blog. Even though most of it is kissing up to the usual suspects - members of the Animal Shelter Commission, the HSUS, etc - at least it occasionally seemed to want to see some change.

A few weeks ago, I tried to leave a comment. Not so fast - you have to have a Wordpress account. I couldn't be bothered.

A few days ago, I had some spare time at the airport, so I got a Wordpress account. And I left a comment.

I can only guess I was moderated out of existence, as my comment never appeared. And after scrolling back through the blog, I realized that there are NO comments. And you can't even try to comment on older entries; the comments have been turned off.

It's yet another example of the pompous attitudes held by Those Who Think They Know Better.