Cowtown Chronicles

This is a beat down. It’s running much more smoothly than the SD 10, but it is running long, and I haven’t eaten since 1:30.

Playing by the rules kinda screws you over, because you’re supposed to stay and participate for everything, which means you don’t get a chance to eat or rest, really.

People who leave the convention could have their delegate status revoked and an alternate elevated in their place, but they’re not being that strict. I’m just a habitual rules follower.

Yes, it’s still going on…

Buffalo Bros. Pizza, Wings, and Beer
3015 S. University Dr.
Fort Worth, TX 76109
6:30 PM on the LAST Thursday of each month

Go to http://drinkingliberally.org/locations.html#ftworth to sign up for monthly reminders!

So there’s this “artist” in Costa Rica who’s “art” installation consisted of a dog tied up in the corner of an art gallery, then left to die (supposedly) of starvation. As if that weren’t enough, he’s been invited to represent Costa Rica (in the celebration of art) at the Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American.

Seriously? That’s fucking art? What if I took some cow’s blood and jacked off in it, then pressed it between two sheets of plexiglass, would that be art? Uh-oh. It already is. Damn, I guess I’ll have to come up with something even more disgusting, although I think Senior Habacuc has already completely destroyed the boundaries on that one.

A little more digging casts some doubts on the actual outcome of the situation. The gallery owner says the dog was well-fed, but that’s a tough argument to make considering its apparent condition in the photos. The gallery owner also claims that the dog escaped in the night and was never seen again, and that it was only tied up for the 3 hours or so that the exhibit was open.

The “artist,” of course, refuses to confirm or deny what happened to the dog; relishing the attention and seeking to promote his message.

It’s pretty clear that he’ll go to any lengths to promote himself and his work. It’s up to civil society to make sure that we don’t let him benefit from this cruelty, and send the message that doing something heinous, even with the excuse of “it’s art!” is unacceptable and WILL be punished, if not by law enforcement, then by making sure that his other pieces are completely worthless on the art market and choking his source of income.

More importantly; Nicaragua has no animal cruelty laws on the books, so what he did to this dog (whether it resulted in the dog’s death or not) was perfectly legal there. And people wonder why Americans have the assumption that countries to the south are “backwards.” (I know that this is a gross stereotype. Please don’t bother emailing me or commenting to point it out.) In this case, the “artist” in question is from Costa Rica, which DOES have animal cruelty laws, so this act of torture would have been illegal in his home country.

Art nerds? Care to defend this one?

And also some complete losses of reason.

Once again I’ve given in and read the comments on a story at the S-T’s website. The story happens to be about how the increase in gas prices is affecting commuters around the city. Generally the people quoted in the piece are handling it like adults, taking responsibility for their actions and choosing to modify their behavior or downsize their vehicles. (Huh. Proof that the markets really do work!)

But the comments are where the REAL action is. Take this nutjob for example:

Conservation CANNOT solve the problem. Congress should stop taking money from the Environmentalists and pass legislation to unplug wells first and then allow drilling in Alaska and off California and New England and the building of refineries on fast track (minimal environmental restrictions). Most of all Americans need to get over this national guilt conplex over using Earth’s resources.

*
Posted by: Tired of the stupidity of the ignorant masses

Apparently it’s the ENVIRONMENTALIST lobby that’s been raking in all those massive profits on oil and funneling that money directly into the pockets of legislators. Damn! How could I have been so stupid?

I hope this isn’t a commonly held opinion in conservative circles, because it (obviously) couldn’t be more wrong. (It’s a “guilt conplex” that’s making us want to protect and conserve Earth’s resources? Apparently we’re all stupid because we don’t want to breathe poisoned air or drink poisoned water.)

I agree that conservation cannot solve the problem (although I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the root of “Conservative” is “conserve”), at least not alone. Conservation combined with exploration of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, etc. IS the answer. Clinging to dirty, destructive energy sources like coal and petroleum JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE CHEAP is a ridiculous position.

If someone said “I’ll give you this truck, but I have to take one of your legs in return,” would you make that deal? That’s essentially what we’re doing when we refuse to give up environmentally damaging things solely for convenience or frugality’s sake.

We’re poisoning ourselves slowly and causing untold damage to our ecosystems, but at least everyone has a car, right?

Watch it. Now. It’s only 10 minutes, and it clears up all of the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt you have about climate destabilization.

Thanks for linking to it, EcoGeek!

I was copied on this e-mail today from Suzette to the mayor, city council, and a WHOLE BUNCH of other people up and down the legislative chain of command.

Great job, Suzette! Fort Worth needs more people like you!

Mayor & City Council -

As promised, attached are pictures that were taken here in Cowtown about two weeks ago. Most were taken from District 5, a few were taken in the Como area. As I said previously, it is abusive and cruel to chain a dog. Dogs are social beings by nature, they need interaction with other living animals which includes humans. Most of all they NEED to be able to move, run and play. Dogs have much the same needs as humans - food, water, exercise, love and attention.

The State of Texas just passed a law that states you cannot chain a dog between the hours of 10pm - 6am. Who is going to be enforcing the law at those hours? The City of Austin and The City of Irving has recently passed a chain ban which states that one cannot tether a dog that is UNattended. Unattended being a key word and one that has flexibility when looking at the law. In other words, if someone gardening in their front yard tethers their dog beside them while they garden, that could be considered an ATTENDED tethered dog. However, in these pictures there was no one in site and most could not move more than 2-4 feet. Most look depressed and sad because they are being enslaved to a tether. They can’t move, a few couldn’t even stand up!! (blonde dog tied to yellow children’s play toy).

Please FREE these dogs from their enslavement. It is 2007. Now is the time. Just like it was time back in the day to ban bearbaiting. This is cruelty to dogs. I hope that Fort Worth will ban unattended tethered dogs and allow the enforcement thereof. Their is responsibilty to be accepted when one chooses to own a dog.

A couple of the pictures show dogs running the streets loose which will perpetuate the problem as pregnancy occurs - no pictures show the many dead dogs that were loose and running the streets - no pictures show the many starving and dehydrated dogs that are enslaved to a small pen or short tether hidden in the backyards of this City.

Your urgent attention and follow through with this matter is requested.

Most sincerely, Suzette Watkins

She attached the following pictures to give an idea of what life is like for these dogs who are neglected and often under fed and abused.

This dog is tied so tightly to the playset that it can’t even stand up. And if it can’t stand up, then it certainly can’t reach that (probably empty) bowl of water and food near it.

This sort of cruelty is happening in your backyard, people! In fact it’s happening in MY backyard. I’m going over there the next time there’s a major storm and that dog is left outside, or it’s below 50 degrees and still out there at night.

The Story of Stuff is a great web video that perfectly explains the process of how our STUFF gets made, and how our out-of-control obsession with STUFF is purely artificial and is destroying our lives, societies, and planet.

Please, make a little time (the video is 20 minutes, but doesn’t feel like it), watch the video, and poke around on the site for more information about how you can help.

The actual raid happened in April, and some of these folks are just now going to trial, but take a gander at this and tell me how you feel.

Let’s do a little political math now:

Your “typical” VFW member in Texas is probably middle class, a veteran or veteran’s wife, and pretty conservative. I’m purely assuming here, but I’ll go ahead and say it: I’ll bet over half of the membership and participants in that tournament vote Republican. Yet, by voting Republican, they’re voting for people who want to legislate their morals and shut down these poker tournaments. Tournaments which kept their VFW open, gave them something to do (in addition to raising funds for other charities, including the police department), and a community to participate in.

Fortunately for the folks in power, Republicans in Texas only want to legislate we common folk’s morals. It’s okay for the State to create, promote, and run a gambling operation (which has WAY worse odds than poker, BTW, as well as having a much worse effect on poor people), but they say gambling is immoral and a blight on our society when someone else profits.

Didn’t they used to burn hypocrites or something like that? It’s exactly this kind of hypocrisy that we’ll continue to get if we continue to allow religion of ANY KIND into our political sphere. Keep the church out of the government and the government out of the church, and everyone will be better off.

You may have noticed (and if you haven’t, please take a look) a new “advertiser” in the sidebar on the right. I’ve added a rotating list of pets available for adoption through our local pet rescue agencies. You’ll find the city pound, the Great Dane Angel Network, and the Humane Society of North Texas listed, with pictures of available pets rotating through.

If you already have a pet, please remember to have them spayed or neutered, and to give them an extra big hug and scratch on the head (if they like that sort of thing) for me.

Today is Buy Nothing Day, a day when people across the country have committed to buying nothing as a statement against the over-aggressive consumer culture that’s taken over in our country.

I’m participating (mostly because Jenna and I don’t like to give people more STUFF for gifts), are you?