We found a different path today and as I was sniffing around on the ground, I came upon this whole line of dead worms in the gutter along the blacktop. Apparently, at some point, there was a lot of water in the gutter and life was good. But, then the heat of the day came along and dried up the water. The worms died because they could not see change around them and did not move quickly enough to get back underground where it was moist.

Today, our spider has built another web. Today, I did not swipe it away.

It is moving day for my office and I am doing my best to help out. All of those little specks of white are tiny styrofoam balls from the boxes that the new desks were packed in.

Somebody save me

Every morning as we step out of the front door to go on our walk, I glance at the mailbox to the left and a spider will have built a web during the night. Sometimes there will be breakfast in it, sometimes not.

Every morning, I take the newspapers and swipe the web away.

Not sure what keeps the spider from building a web day after day after day. Is it because the feeding ground next to our mailbox is so plentiful that the cost of having to build a new web every night is an insignificant one? Is the spider just a “never give up, never surrender” type of spider? Is the spider just plain stupid that he just doesn’t know when he is hearing the word “no?” Does the spider just have no place else to go?

The web was there today. It will be there tomorrow.

I read the Wall Street Journal. I have since I was a young puppy when I got my first job at Dog Pound, Inc. While my peers always flipped to the Money sections, checked the stock quotes, etc., the first section I read was MarketPlace. This is where all the “life” bits happened which drove the other parts of the paper, like stock prices, financial markets, etc. Its a bit of wisdom that most dogs get later in life when they figured out that “managing stocks and portfolios” is really wagging the dog.

Anyway, almost the entire WSJ today was gloom and doom about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the collapse of Steve & Barry’s, the feds seizing IndyMac, how to sell your home in a down market, consumer confidence at an all-time low. But, on the very last page, I ran into an article by George Anders titled “Buy Now, Don’t Regret it Later.” What a remarkable bit of wisdom!

It is a few hundred words and worth the time to read, but it all boils down to “take time out to pee on that bush, linger over the smelly thing, say hi to the neighbor dog…” Pay attention to the non-money things in your life as that is what will make it richer. Read the opinions, essays and Marketplace FIRST.. then, when you have time, read the gloom and doom on the financial pages.

The photo was shamelessly lifted from wsj.com and is credited to Michael Witte. If he complains about it being here, we’ll take it off…. but, I hope he doesn’t

Bongo sent me this photo. Reminds me of the song Watermelon Wine by Tom T. Hall.

I was reading the Englewood Independent yesterday and a sidebar article caught my eye. Northmont has hired a new superintendent, Douglas Lantz, formerly the superintendent from Franklin City Schools. Great! New blood, fresh leadership, a focus on building the human infrastructure of tomorrow…

But, then I get to Linda Blum’s quote. For the people who have since lined their recyle bins with the paper, here it is:

“[Lantz's] experience as an athlete and a coach have taught him much about teamwork and the important components of an organized structure.”

What?? Where is the educational excellence? Where is the leadership skills that will infuse a new level of academic excellence into our kids that will better prepare them for leadership in the changing world? Where is the challenge of producing thought leadership in our students to better equip them to adapt to the dynamic world around them? Where? Where?

Perhaps it is best if we look at Mr. Lantz’s performance as measured by the State of Ohio Report Card System (yeah, I know.. but that is an entirely different blog.)

Northmont’s Report Card | Franklin City Schools Report Card

Well, I can do the analysis, but you all can probably do it better. Bottom line, we are bringing in a superintendent whose highest score was 92.8, Effective to manage a school district that has already achieved a score of 102, Excellent. Hmmm..

I think what Mr. Lantz has really learned from his being an athlete and a coach is that if you hang around long enough on the bench and show up every day for practice, the coach will eventually play you, whether you are good enough for the job or not.

I’m a dog who can read, write and think. Perhaps I should have applied for the job. As an athletic dog, I can probably out-run Lantz as well

I now know that Ohio is a serious, serious battleground state for the US Presidential election. On Saturday, the WSJ ran an opinion piece entitled “The Self-Inflicted Economic Death of Ohio” in which Finn outlines all of the ways Ohioans have sabotaged their state’s economy. His thesis appears to be along the lines of: Ohio has not invested in its human capital infrastructure and what is being left are old men with no skills, education or prospects. And as this population ages, they demand more services from their government and therefore government is the only industry that is expanding. The implication is the population is getting dumber and dumber, “clinging more to guns and God.”

In today’s Washington Post, Findlay, Ohio (not ironically known as the Flag City) got an assault with an article that claims rumors about Obama are running rampant.

Here in Findlay, a Rust Belt town of 40,000, false rumors about Obama have built enough word-of-mouth credibility to harden into an alternative biography. Born on the Internet, the rumors now meander freely across the flatlands of northwest Ohio — through bars and baseball fields, retirement homes and restaurants.

All to the delight of the GOP, to be sure. McCain probably does not even need to campaign in Ohio as he can just let the dumb people spread rumors about his opponent and rely on the even dumber people to believe them.

In the end, the fate of Ohio will come down to race. And there are enough conservative while folk here in Ohio who will simply not vote for a black man. We’re too dumb to know that black folk can be smarter than white folk. After all, we can point to over 300,000 web pages that cite scientific evidence. (We can’t graduate from college, read an entire book cover to cover, but we can Google!) It may not be what this country needs or wants to talk about, but visit any bar, any hardware store, any Little League game, any soccer parent sideline and you’ll hear it. And it is deafening.

Stick around, kids, it will be getting interesting in the “Heart of it all” as this election revs up!

PHOTO (Shamelessly stolen from the Post): In Findlay, Ohio, Jim Peterman, 74, keeps hearing that Barack Obama is Muslim, or was born in Africa, or is hostile to the flag, and he’s no longer sure what to believe. “It’s hard to ignore what you hear when everybody you know is saying it,” he says. (By J.d. Pooley For The Washington Post)

Bongo lives in Støvring, Denmark and thinks that his city is the 11th best place to live, not Copenhagen. So, maybe we re-number the list a bit… 11, Støvring, 11.5, Copenhagen.

Here’s Bongo “enjoying” living (and sleeping!) in Støvring.

I stumbled upon the Mercer Consulting report posted on www.businessweek.com yesterday and found a series of photos from the most livable cities in the world. Number 1 was Zurich and they had a photo of the boats, 2 was Vienna with a lit Christmas scene…. and number 11 was Copenhagen. The best scene they had of the city? Two dogs greeting each other in the street!

I love Copenhagen! Not because it made a “best” list or that the city buildings are rock solid and impervious to dog spray or that they have Tivoli Gardens. But because they love dogs and are not afraid to show it!

Friday, June 20 is “Bring your dog to work” day

Rufus is wishing every dog a happy “Bring your dog to work day.” It is nice to see how the other half lives when we’re sleeping alone on the coach at home!

A couple days ago, we took a walk downtown and I really enjoyed myself. I love new places, new smells, new dogs. As I walk along, I look back to see if my owner is still with me, to make sure that he wants to go straight, take a left, stop and look at a building for a while. Sometimes, I come back, nuzzle his hand and keep walking.

Lately, I’ve noticed I started doing that on our regular paths as well. I’d look back to make sure I was going the right way. I’d not linger on smelling grounds because I am unsure if it is ok to do. I was not sure which turn he wanted to take.

I should know where to go, but I’m lost, even on familiar walks. It all seems so familiar, yet different and no longer mine.

What I want is to go to sleep at the end of each day, knowing that I made the world just a little bit better for being me. Sometimes that takes a bit of watering, some fertilizer, a soft nuzzle, a goofy grin, the “walk dance” or a bit of pouting on rainy days. And sometimes that takes a good, strong bark at someone you love so they get off their ass and do for themselves.

Please remember that I am a dog and I can only be the dog I am. I can’t change my coat, I can’t walk upright on two legs and I can’t talk, no matter how much you wanting me to do these things proves I care.

I grew up in the great state of Minnesota. All of my views of the world, especially the ones about gender relationships, power balance, worth, etc. were shaped by my litter and the other dogs around me. For those of you not quite up on your Minnesota demographics and political history, the state was settled mostly by Scandinavians and Germans. Anyone knowing anything about these two cultures know that they have figured out the balance of power between the sexes a very long time ago. Bottom line; different parts, but equal in intelligence, decision-making ability and neither is subservient to the other. For that alone, Minnesota may be known as the most liberal state in the Union (next to California, of course, but they are all nuts!)

My litter consisted of me, my older sister, two younger sisters and a brother. My mom was in charge of us kids and she was always carrying around this big wooden spoon. When she got mad, she would start spewing out this string of French curses and her dentures starting flapping out of her mouth. If you weren’t already running, you were a dead dog. (She was French and took that quite seriously.. in fact, I think the only reason the French did not do so well during WWII was because they wouldn’t let their women fight. To date, the only thing that is scary to me than a French women with a wooden spoon is the thought of a French woman with a gun. But, I digress.)

The short order of that story was if you, as a male member of the litter had any thoughts whatsoever of being “better than” the females you were surrounded by, you were put in your place faster than a prison yard bitch. But, in a kind, non violent — though estrogen-charged — way.

I am amazed to this day with women who allow themselves to be “owned” by men, but am more in awe of the men who appear to like owning women. I’m not quite sure why a man would want to dominate and suppress one of the most creative, intelligent, strong-willed, resilient and beautiful beings God has created. I am not sure why men would rather not let them unfurl and touch those around them, making the world a better place one day at a time.

Can you own a dog? Probably, but why would you want to? And what do you do with it when the life has been crushed from its soul.

Today, I spent the afternoon curled up alone in my office, working on stuff. Sometimes the phone rang and I answered it, but mostly I did the small things that I used to do when it was just me.

I miss me.

Sometimes, something is just way too funny not to mention. Do you think the copy editors writing the headlines at the Washington Post just did not drink enough Plain Joe Coffee before showing up for work today??

I thought that Clinton “did not have sexual relations with that woman…” Hillary, not Monica. So, why is there a pull-out opportunity?

And just in case the Post actually reads their headlines and some religious group doesn’t think it is uproariously funny like we dogs do, we took a screen shot. Enjoy. (Click on the photo for the full size)

Dog walking with Rufus, Grep, Molly, and Bingo is so much fun because I get to pet all the dogs. I did the dog oath, the dog handshake, and they where good. I get to play with the dogs and take pictures.

I rode my bike to start. I like walking better. We walked to Mambos’s for pizza. I liked going down the big hill. I walked then ran, and walked again. Mr. Gerard helped me down the hill.

Mambos has the best pizza. I fed the doggies thier pizza, bread, and parfiats. Hugged some doggies. All of the dogs are my favorite, I love them so much. I like it when Mr. Gerard says that’s lightning from the airplaines. I asked him “Why did you call the lightening from the airplanes.” I can’t remember what he said. I miss the puppies. I love you all the puppies. I will see you again.

I loved eating ice cream and feeding the dogs parfaits.

I really liked it when Mr. Ken played shadows with me. I smelled Grep’s butt playing shadow. You have to look at the shadows and see what you do and talk about it. I also liked it when the shadows were riding Grep. Greps butt smells bad.

The graveyard was fun. I got to see the dogs pee on the rocks. I got to learn that the dogs do not pee on the grave stones but on the grass is ok.

Next time I plan on bringing out stickers. I hope everyone likes my pictures. Next dog walk I will take video. We need dog walking t-shirts.

Here are my photos from the walk.

There is a lot of talk about Scott McClellan’s new book. Comments from it range of “now, we know the truth” to “he is bitter” to … oh, who really cares. Just everyone shut up already. If you want, buy and read the book, if not, just quit talking like you know anything.

Here is the canine take on what really happened in the White House and is best illustrated by the fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes, written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837, 171 years ago! Amazing we knew so much about humanity back then and still we don’t pay attention. Kids, stay in school, crack a book!

For anyone under 40ish, here is the synopsis from Wikipedia,

An emperor who cares too much about clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they tell him, is invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his position. The Emperor cannot see the (non-existent) cloth, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing stupid; his ministers do the same. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they dress him in mime. The Emperor then goes on a procession through the capital show off his new “clothes”. During the course of the procession, a small child cries out, “But he has nothing on!” The crowd realizes the child is telling the truth and begins laughing. The Emperor, however, holds his head high and continues the procession.

But, this is a fairy tale, so the emperor had to be the laughing stock. But, here is what would have happened if this were a true story.

Royal guards would burst out of the royal procession and beat the kid to death in a bloody attack, in full public view. Then, they would have arrested the kid’s family, beating them the entire way to the dungeon, where they would have been tortured and held without a lawyer indefinitely. Do you think the crowd would keep laughing? Do you think the crowd would turn on the royal guards and administer mob justice? Probably not. They would have kept their heads down, waved like they meant it and worked on trying to get out of the parade and go home as quickly as possible.

A lot of royal guards burst out of the royal procession after 9/11. And the crowd did not stop them and did not speak up. The few who did were beaten back like a bratty little kid. And deep in their hearts, the crowd knew this was wrong, yet kept silent because they didn’t want to get beaten and they didn’t want to get hauled off. (Bill O’Reilly, if you are reading this, this is a METAPHOR for what happened, not a literal representation. You use a lot of big words at the end of your show to describe how folks should write you. Can you say metaphor?)

For the people who are saying “If Scott felt this way, he should have spoken up sooner, not write a book later.” Hmmm…. 171 years ago, Andersen knew this. I think what Scott did was kept his head down, waved and tried to figure out how to get home as quickly as possible. Then, when he was safe, he cried out “The emperor is wearing no clothes.” But, the royal guards came after him anyway. And probably will for a very long time.

Please read, then speak. In that order. Start here.

Hey Annalisa from Michigan!

Hope your pooch’s ear is ok. Looking forward to hosting your team at the 2008 adidas Warrior Soccer Classic! We’ll stand in the back of the room, tipping back and getting “sshhhh’ed” at the ref meeting.

Can’t wait!!

As I was lifting my leg to bless the Englewood Independent lying on my doorstep this morning, the front page article caught my eye. So, I bent down to read it before soaking it. The main headline read “Memorial Day: Remembering those who preserve freedom.”

It was a good article about Air Force Capt. Bob Everdeen from Clayton who served in Afghanistan. However, the headline just kept sticking in my head. I am not anti-military, though you may view the following as such. But, if you leave a comment about me being anti-military, you just have not read this post nor have you thought about anything in it. Fair warning.

The military does NOT preserve freedoms. It protects the citizens from military threats, both foreign and domestic which are casually ASSUMED and “marketed” by our leaders (and reflected by journalists, shame on you) to be launched to take away our “freedoms.” In reality, our freedoms are being taken by our own government, who seek to control the citizenry through fear, intimidation, abuse of power and any other tool it can contrive to keep power. For example, Osama bin Laden did not want to take away our freedoms by striking the towers and the Pentagon; he just wanted to strike America where she hurts the most, in the wallet. He doesn’t care about our “freedoms,” but he does care about killing Americans, crippling our economy and forcing America out of the Middle East. Big difference. Yet, the actions were marketed by the current administration as an attack to “take away our freedoms.”

Read the Patriot Act, take a look at the laws that allow wire-tapping, racketeering, eminent domain, declaring a US citizen an unlawful combatant and see how they are being perverted and applied to US citizens. All of these things should scare the average citizen, not just us dogs. It is all of these things that the military is “preserving” for its citizens? Hmmm….

Freedom is preserved by Americans by NOT allowing our government to overstep any authority it derives from its CITIZENS. This starts at the local level in school boards, at city government council meetings, county tax offices, etc. Leash laws, for example. Why? To take away my freedom to sniff on a tree, to pee on a bush — purchased with tax dollars, planted by a city worker on city property, to dally over a smelly bird carcass, to be in the city park behind the Englewood government center palace stretched out in a full run with the wind in my ears?

Freedom is also preserved by skilled diplomats who talk with other government leaders. More good comes from mutual respect and patience than by any military action any government can impose on another. It is just a matter of time — 1 year, 100 years, 1,000 years — before the oppressed rises up and crushes the oppressor. But, mutual respect and patience builds a common goal that preserves freedoms for both parties for 1 year, 100 years, 1,000 years.

Get involved, find a voice, preserve your own freedoms. Make this country a strong America that only the really stupid would ever think of invading. When every citizen has the passion to defend his/her freedoms from any enemy, foreign and domestic, perhaps we will feel less like relying on a military force to “preserve our freedoms” and take on the role for ourselves. And, perhaps our government leaders will think twice before “defending” our freedoms through laws that serve to limit the activities of its citizens for their own protection.