CANDIDATES INGORE THE DOGS
At Their Peril

In "Bridging the Dog Food/Hot Dog Gap," by Lou Sessinger at PhillyBurbs.com, a catch-all site for several Philadelphia-area newspapers, we read:

The Main Line Animal Rescue in Wayne is trying to find homes for 40 beagle-mix dogs it acquired last July.

The dogs -- all 40 of them -- were living in a house in Voorhees, N.J. [...]

Does a person who keeps 40 dogs . . . really think he or she is providing a loving home for them?

These 40 dogs in question were in horrible shape, the president of the animal shelter said in a news account. [...] He called it the worst case of animal abuse he'd ever seen.

Americans love their pets. It's estimated that there are 60 million pet dogs in this country, and U.S. consumers spent $12.5 billion on dog food in 2003.

Interestingly, Americans that same year spent only $1.8 billion on hot dogs purchased in supermarkets, far less than they spent on dog food.

Well, maybe that's not so interesting. But it's interesting to me. It says something about us as a people. I'm not sure what, but the fact that a nation spends almost 10 times as much money on dog food as it does on hot dogs must mean something.

But you don't hear the presidential candidates talking about that. No, they just keep rattling on about terrorism and health care and the economy. [...]

And what about the morons who keep 40 dogs at home? What would Bush and Kerry do about them? [...]

[D]ogs are nice. They really are man's best friends. Well, maybe not everybody's best friend, but they're at least our good friends. And people shouldn't be mean to them, even if they're well-intentioned loonies for whom one or two canine friends just aren't enough.

Good question, one for which there unfortunately is no readily available answer. No matter. I know which candidate I'd prefer to spend time with: Sen. John F. Kerry.

~ Mildred