At the Teacup Café...

... it's a coffee tea house, that is, a completely open thread.

At the Sleeping Poodle Café...

... relax!

(It's a silent movie. Silent movies are on trend this year.)

At the Poodle Café...

... we're having a delightful time!





ADDED: These photos are all by Meade.

Poppy, the puppy!

"Cheer up, everyone! Meet our 'Poppy.'"

Says one of our very favorite commenters, Irene.

Click on the "poodle" tag to find earlier appearances of Irene's poodles.

"We Will NOT Roll Over!"

We went down to State Street yesterday, and not much was going on, so we stopped into Fair Trade for some coffee and coffee cake. When we stepped back onto the street...



... we collided with a small protest march that had some interesting characters in it. A photographer standing on the sidewalk got a "This is what democracy looks like" cheer going. Look for the accordion girl — standing behind the trumpeter with the blue beard — at 0:40. A very skinny man in white with a white mask on the back of his head appears at 0:50. He's got style of walk-dancing all his own. At 1:00, you see normal life on the street, lolling about with pizza and observing the parade... as if it's a Madison tourist attraction... and it kinda is.

At 1:45, you get a good look at the pedi-bar. At 2:00, the march heads toward the Capitol, and we join a rally in progress. A woman is talking about the plan to restructure the University of Wisconsin. She's very opposed to the plan. Because of Halliburton. Halliburton is evil. You can tell because if you Google "Halliburton," the stuff that comes up on the first page is really awful. At 3:08, you can see Meade's entrancing smile. 3:55: "Halliburton serves contaminated water to troops." 4:23: "Do not let Wisconsin become Karl Rove's laboratory for PLUTOCRACY."

At 4:23, a man in a "Walker's a stealer not a Packer" T-shirt walks up to me and takes my photograph. At 4:53, we see the next speaker, Secretary of State Doug La Follette, and he speaks very clearly, explaining why Michael Moore was right and we are not broke. The problem is we have some very rich people who should be paying a lot more taxes. At 6:07, the Stealer-not-a-Packer guy makes a big show of taking Meade's picture.

At 7:33, we see the marchers as they come around to the State Street side of the square. There's no relationship between the marchers and the rally. Both are making noise. It's cacophony. At 7:58, there's a woman with a "We are a Gentle Angry People" sign.

At 8:11, we encounter a man with a flag depicting an angry badger and the slogan "Nemo Visconsinia Impune Lacessit," which he tells me means "No one screws with Wisconsin and gets away with it."

At 9:35, we see the Ragin' Grannies waiting for their turn on the stage. At 10:04, we hear La Follette pleading for support as Governor Walker and others threaten to reduce or abolish the office of Secretary of State.

10:34-10:40: The Stealer-not-a-Packer guy gives me the finger.

11:52: The Ragin' Grannies take the stage and sing "We Shall Not Be Moved," with lines like "We'll keep this rally rolling/We shall not be moved/Although we could be bowling/We shall all be moved."

13:43: Meade asks me if I've seen enough, and as we walk away we see a poodle. The poodle is wearing a sign that says "We Will NOT Roll Over!"

Poodles!

The top 10 American dogs vs. the top 10 New York City dogs.

American:

Labrador Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, German Shepherd Dog, Golden Retriever, Beagle, Boxer, Dachshund, Bulldog, Poodle and Shi Tzu.

New York City:

Labrador Retriever, Poodle, Dachshund, French Bulldog, Yorkshire Terrier, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Havanese, Shi Tzu (tied for eighth) and the Bulldog.

See the way NYC shuns the German shepherd and the beagle. See the greater appreciation for the poodle in NYC? Should I get a poodle? Should Barack Obama get a poodle? Do these lists help answer those questions?

And by the way, are the names of dog breeds supposed to be capitalized? I see the reason to capitalize French and Yorkshire and King Charles, but why are we capitalizing "Poodle"?

"Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own 'clinically depressed' pet dog."

The insane, vicious dog that attacked the 76-year-old ex-Prez was a Maltese poodle. What makes a dog "clinically depressed" as opposed to just an asshole? A fluffy little asshole?

***

This is not that dog.



This is an utterly charming, calm, sweet-tempered, all-poodle poodle.

Does Obama have a pet? Does McCain have a pet?

Reading about Rush Limbaugh and his besotted fondness for his kitty cat, I realized we don't hear anything about the presidential candidates' pets. Usually, you hear about the pets... Socks this, Barney that. King Timahoe.

But I don't remember seeing any pet stories this time around. Do these men not have pets? Is this a new trend? Men without pets?

It turns out that Barack Obama, in fact, has no pets. McCain?

He’s got the usual dogs—four of them actually: two Yorkshire terriers, Lucy and Desi; an English springer spaniel, Sam; and a mutt, Coco—and a black-and-white cat named Oreo. But he also reportedly owns two turtles (Cuff and Link), three parakeets, and thirteen saltwater fish. And in the past he’s had guinea pigs, snakes, and “an iguana that Jack walked on a leash,” according to Vogue, plus a ferret. The ferret recently died of cancer, and though McCain called it “a very cute animal,” he also told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren in a joint interview with his wife that, “Rather than alienate the pro-pet constituency, I will remain silent about the loss of our ferret,” implying that perhaps Cindy was the impetus behind that acquisition. Indeed, Cindy seems to be more of an animal person than John. “She loves animals, just not always ones that I appreciate,” he told Vogue. It was Cindy who went out and bought the two terriers as she coped with their daughter Meghan's graduating college and leaving home. But McCain has proven his devotion to his pets: About five years ago, as the New York Times’ Caucus blog reported, Coco the mutt began choking (on either a treat or a piece of meat—memories differ), and McCain attempted a sort of doggie Heimlich. When that failed, McCain stuck two of his fingers down the dog’s throat and cleared the blockage, saving the dog.

***

Requisite ferret link. ("This excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness.")

ADDED: What President had dogs named Sweet Lips, Scentwell, Vulcan, Drunkard, Taster, Tipler, and Tipsy? What President had, for pets, 2 tiger cubs? What President gave his dog the absurdly uncreative name Fido?

AND: Apparently, Obama promised he'd get his daughters a dog after the campaign is over, and the American Kennel Club ran a poll that determined that the breed he should get is.... poodle.

ALSO: I think poodle -- a large ("standard") poodle -- is a great dog choice, and it's probably what I would get. But I cannot picture an American male politician with a poodle. It doesn't have the right connotations... and not just because we associate it with a foreign country. (Bush has Scotties.) Mainstream Americans think bad thoughts about poodles, and the President has better things to do than to retrain our poodle-thoughts. Also, with poodles, you have to pick black or white. Obama can't do that! He could get 2, black and white, but that would seem as though he were trying too hard for symbolism. Yes, I know there are red poodles. Still... Maybe an American male politician could get a nice red labradoodle.

But wait. It's a dog for his daughters. I think those little girls should -- after all this -- get whatever dog or dogs they want. If they want to walk around holding little chihuahuas, they should do it. Or do they have their own image consultants, building their political careers, determining the precise dog that will say what's best to say?

So, I've been thinking of getting a dog...

Because, among other things, a dog can help you get more exercise. And thinking about what kind of dog to get, I'd been focusing on poodles. Don't you think you could exercise with poodles?



ADDED: Some info on the video. The artist, Nagi Noda died last month, at the age of 35.

"It ran sideways, like a crab, and all that."

Virginia Heffernan loves the Ricky Gervais podcast, but she struggles to convey why Karl Pilkington is so funny. Finally, she sort of gives up and transcribes a long thing:

"When me gran died, right, she had this rubbish dog, right? And that's all we got left. It's like this little poodle. It was rubbish, right. It's called Fluffy. And like me gran looked after it in a way like it was a human. Do you know what I mean. It had a little coat on when it went out, and all that. Anyway, so she died, we got left it, and me dad's like, 'bloody hell.' Before you know it, it only took about a month; it was a wreck. Because we weren't sort of bathing it the way she bathed it. If it wanted to go out, we took it out. It got covered in oil. It used to go under the car and everything. It went from looking like this fluffy, you know, poodle to just being a bit of a wreck. It got hit by a car. It ran sideways, like a crab, and all that. So it went from being overtreated to just being treated like a dog."

Still, if you're not hearing Karl's voice, are you getting why that is hysterical?

Fending off rabid attack poodles.

I really appreciate these two comments from Wombat Rampant. First:

I don't think I'll be dropping by the OSM portal much because I think Steven den Beste and Ann Althouse are correct in their criticisms of the business model and the way Simon and Johnson have handled things, i.e. poorly.

And second:

Ann Althouse is getting shot up from the right and the left these days, which unfortunately seems to be the fate of moderates in these polarized times. The Pajamas Media/OSM/Pajamas Media folks seem to have gone into hypersensitive rabid attack poodle mode ever since Professor A criticized them for things they themselves are trying to fix now; the latest blowup seems to be over her fairly mild criticism (if you can even call it that) of PM's Thanksgiving Parade liveblogging and related tightening of comment policing on the Professor's blog.

As for the yahoos at Daily Kos, sounds like the same hypocrisy on a different day as they defend their right to be as racist and sexist as they wanna be, because it's all just funny masks they wear in the comment section as a big inside joke. Ann exposes the stupidity of that argument, and ruminates that the Democrats went a long way towards killing off honest feminism in the Clinton years. All that's left are the "bitches" now, if you'll forgive my use of GULAG thieves' slang.

Thanks. A while back, instead of the quotes you now see in my banner, I had a description that began "Politics and the aversion to politics." I really am blogging as someone with a distaste for politics, someone who is put off by hot partisan passion. Most people who don't like partisan politics and who find themselves close to the political center aren't going to want to deal with the usual ugliness of the blogosphere. Why do I? I have my reasons.

Day 3 of the Republican Convention.

Here I go again. As before, I'll keep all my commentary in one post and use numbered paragraphs to indicate the updates.



1. A Baptist choir sings a terrific version of the National Anthem (even if they did quite clearly sing "Whore the land of the free..."). The Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios, wearing beautiful vestments, gives a beautiful invocation. Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle gives some introductory remarks. She's wearing a lei, and Chris complains about it. I defend it as an emblem of her state. Chris rejects the defense: "Would the governor of Wisconsin wear a big cheesehead hat?"



2. Senator Rick Santorum: a boo is heard in the room here in Madison. He has a smug, wise-guy attitude, and I don't think I'm saying that solely because I disagree with his attitude about gay rights. "The torch of marriage is dying out." Do we want the federal government to pay for marriage counseling? Even if it is religious? That's a hard question. He has a good line: "[Kerry] says he is concerned about the separation of church and state. Senator Kerry should worry more about the separation of children from their fathers."



3. Wisconsin, for some reason, and I don't object, is recognized to make a motion to proclaim Dick Cheney the VP candidate by acclaimation. "And the motion is agreed to." A little "Cheney" chant breaks out.



4. I caught up to the live feed and I needed to let TiVo get back out in front of me to re-enable fast-forwarding, so I went upstairs to fold laundry, and I put on the upstairs TV--the TiVo-less Sony Wega (where the colors are always so comparatively crisp)--and I caught a little of Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, and Jeff Greenfield on CNN. And what were they punditizing about? It was practically word-for-word taken from this Instapundit post, from way back this morning, about manipulating the Iowa markets!



5. Representative Paul Ryan from Wisconsin. You can tell he's from Wisconsin because he clearly pronounces Wisconsin "Wi - SCON - sin," not, as I say even after 20 years here, "Wis - CON - sin." [ADDED: They're really playing up to Wisconsin tonight, aren't they? It must be something in the polls.]



6. I think it's a good sign that there is so much amateurish material. The party really isn't that slick. So much bad music! The faux interviews with community leaders. That lame comic segment with Barney the dog (who at one point had a debate with a white French poodle puppet dog named Fifi Kerry). I think 20 years from now the political convention will be a seamlessly acted entertainment extravaganza that everyone will watch and enjoy. But right now, we still live in the real world, because everything's a little bit pathetically ragged.



7. The tribute to Reagan. Beautiful. Many beautiful images. Reagan's voice: "We got America to stand tall again."



8. Is there some rule that every woman has to wear a light blue suit?



9. Finally, Zell Miller. It seems silly to say that and an indication of how much filler we've had to put up with tonight. I like Zell Miller and think he's a good speaker. He's speaking quickly for some reason. "My family is more important than my party." Only Bush is good enough for his family, he asserts. Then he reels back to the story of his life: he's a little boy, FDR is President, there's an "overriding public danger." He brings up Wendell Wilkie, with whom he clearly identifies. He's making a plea to overcome partisanship in a time of danger. He condemns the Democrats of today for putting their partisan politics above the nation's security. His voice trembles with anger as he says: "Nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling America's troops occupiers rather than liberators! Tell that to the one half of Europe that was free because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers!" Similarly, Eisenhower and Reagan. The soldier, not the protester, has given us our freedom. Don't dare to think of being President if you don't think of our soldiers as liberators! But the leaders of the Democratic party see America as the problem! They blame America. They believed in Carter's pacifism. "And no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry!" Miller is unleashed. His opposition to his own party erupts here tonight. Kerry voted against so many arms programs, so what would he mean to be Commander in Chief of? "Spitballs?" Kerry would wait for the UN to approve of military action: "Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending." He would "outsource our national security." His opposition to Kerry slams down heavily. John Kerry would give terrorists "a yes/no/maybe bowl of mush." Bush would clamp down hard and not let go! He admires that Bush believes God "is not indifferent to America." He's like an old-fashioned preacher. He speaks with straight conviction, with almost a defiant sneer on his face. It's very effective!



10. Lynn Cheney introduces her husband, who, as a teenager in Casper, Wyoming, did not, like the other kids, cruise back and forth between root beer stands. He did not do the twist. She knew he was the guy for her. Imagine Dick Cheney as the love of your life! That's the way it is for them. Who are we to question love? Now, here he is. The grinding, grim flatness of Dick Cheney is just what it is to be Dick Cheney. He is what he is. It doesn't play to the big hall terribly well, especially not after the great revivalist Miller, but what did you expect? Perhaps even less. He lays it out. And you can take it or leave it. He's not doing the twist. He's Dick Cheney.



11. "A Senator can be wrong for twenty years without consequence to the nation, but a President always casts the deciding vote." Cheney is warming up as he lays into John Kerry. He's amusing himself. He chuckles: "Senator Kerry's liveliest disagreement is with himself. ... Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual. America sees two Kerrys." A man in the audience is seen rhythmically waving two flip-flops.