Vick and Dogfighting: HSUS Media Machine Won't Quit HSUS makes shit up, then serves it to the public HSUS must have called in a few favors in order to convince USA Today to run a "news" item that was syndicated across the country. The Fight to Save Urban Youth is an animal extremist wet dream. HSUS wants to save "urban youths"? Let's just take a look at that concept. Shall we? Humane racism: Urban youths are the usual victims dogfighting villains Drug dealers. Criminals. Gang members. Status symbol seekers. Translation? Young black men. Or maybe young Hispanic men, depending on where you live. Not people from the 'burbs. Definitely not the lily-white constituents of the HSUS. Play it again, Wayne Pacelle. Ya gotta give HSUS major snaps for staying on message, though. HSUS' long history of trashinng the reputations of non-white, non-middle class dog owners and targeting them for discrimination goes way back. Consider HSUS's manipulation of events in Louisville, Kentucky. In June 2006, when HSUS Regional Coordinator Pam Rogers wrote to the Metro Louisville City Council to recommend breed specific legislation and the mandatory surgical sterilization of "pit bulls" she attempted to justify stripping people of their dogs by commenting: [pit bulls] are also the dogs of choice for drug dealers, gang members, and anyone else who is looking for a dog to be a status symbol. That's pretty much what HSUS spokesperson Tio Hardiman had to say in the USA today article: Kids get drawn in at an early age, says Hardiman, motivated by the "glamorization" of dogfighting by rap and hip-hop music and by neighborhood values that prize machismo. Its almost exactly what New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. will regurgitate every chance he gets. And make no mistake, Vallone bases his political career on getting "pit bulls" -- and their delinquent non-white owners -- the hell out of New York City. Vallone doesn't know much about "pit bulls" and he cares even less. But scape-goating young people of color? Oooh, baby.

Backdoor racism plays really well in some parts of New York, and the beauty of it all is that "urban youths" are already pariahs. Pit bull owners in general are easy pickings. But poor, black, young pit bull owners? They're defenseless. Color and money. Status symbols okay for kings of Spain, not okay for "urban youths" Hardiman and HSUS make a big fuss about dogs as "status symbols." As if those sly inner city youths held a monopoly on using dogs as status symbols, or for penis enhancement. Which is it? Does HSUS have a problem with status symbols. . .or skin color? Profiling "urban youths" based on fake statistics. Fake information. Fake news.

Every single one of the "experts" USA Today quoted in their article traces back to HSUS and its acolytes. HSUS controls the conversation. HSUS controls the "news". The USA Today article's primary source, HSUS client Tio Hardiman, invented the number of poor black and Hispanic kids involved in dogfighting -- There are at least 100,000 young kids fighting their dogs under the radar in America," estimates Chicago-based anti-violence advocate Tio Hardiman, who built his estimate on conversations with young dogfighters and authorities. . . Hardiman's analysis is based principally on "data" supplied by gangbanging, drug-dealing criminal black kids, apparently.

Count on Hardiman's wild guess, repeated over and over in follow up news coverage, to become another fake fact in the animal extremist repertoire. Fake facts lead to an artificial crisis According to HSUS and USA Today, dogfighting is all around us. . . .large numbers of youngsters are conducting street dogfights "in almost every urban inner city," and the numbers are growing . . .

Yikes! The threat is everywhere. HSUS Dogfight Czar John Goodwin startled New Yorkers with "news" that New York is the "dogfighting capital of the country." Gee. Who knew?

Not the ASPCA, which is headquartered in New York City and is charged with the enforcement of anti-dogfighting laws there.

Organized dog fighting in New York City does not appear to be prevalent, and the ASPCA rarely sees arrests for such activity. . .Currently, there are no reliable statistics . . . This is an underground, illegal activity so it is almost impossible to get accurate information about its prevalence.

Throw dinner at the wall. Go after what sticks.

This is a media war. Facts don't matter. HSUS isn't worried about the inconsistencies. It isn't worried about the truth.

HSUS sure as hell isn't worried about the well-being of "pit bulls" or "urban youths."

Any advancement in HSUS' ability to seize and kill dogs is a good thing, as far as they're concerned. Michael Vick had enough money to cover the expense of "rehabilitation" and even perpetual confinement rescue, if necessary, for his dogs.

Inner city youths don't. Their dogs will suffer and die by the hands of the impounding agencies that "saved" them.

And that's what the goal is here. One generation and out.

Pit bulls belonging to "inner city youths" first. The rest will follow.

Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide -- UPDATE! Barbara Haywood, author of The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide, will talk about what pit bull owners must do to protect themselves and save their dog's life on Bully Domain's "Keeping It 100". The interview will be broadcast on Tuesday, September 30, at 9:55 p. m. Eastern time. Visit the Keeping It 100 website for further information. Tune in! If you haven't read the e-book yet, you can purchase it online using the links below. Just click on the image of the book's front cover -- its easy! _____________________________________________________________ Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide: Strong medicine. Dog owners need it. Make no mistake, they ARE coming to take your dog. Breed specific laws are on the rise. In smalltown USA and in cities like New York and Chicago, pit bull owners and their dogs are marginalized, stereotyped and discriminated against. When legislators fail to deliver an outright ban, they can always try to get in through the backdoor with "humane" breed specific mandatory spay neuter laws, or anti-tethering ordinances aimed at the owners of pit bulls. It all comes down to the same thing: dead dogs, and grieving families. Media war, with pit bull owners in the trenches The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide presents the author's clear-headed analysis of a key fact: this is a media war. Justice, facts, humanity, the U. S. Constitution, and all the other niceties of daily life in a democracy mean next to nothing when pit bull hysteria hits. The proponents of breed specific laws have millions -- millions -- of dollars to invest in PR campaigns. And guess what? They spend their money well. Ever wonder how Gavin Newsom (then mayor of San Francisco and prime architect of San Fran's surgical sterilization requirement for "pit bulls"), CNN anchor Paula Zahn, and NYC Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. all sound just like HSUS president Wayne Pacelle when it comes to "pit bulls"? Read The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide for the explanation to this phenomenon and many more. Pit bull owners don't deserve civil rights Warrantless search and seizure. Due process violations. No equal protection under the law. Barbara Haywood lays it out for her readers in black and white: pit bull owners have been so successfully marginalized as drug-dealing, gang-banging, dog-fighting thugs that its easy to strip us of our civil rights. We're the lowest hanging fruit. Its like taking candy from babies for whackjobs like Denver's Kory Nelson. Anybody who shoots a pit bull running loose is justified -- Cory Nelson, Denver city attorney, San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, June 27, 2005 And get ready, owners of other dog breeds. You're next. Unkindest cut of all: animal protection groups are in it up to their eyeballs The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide answers this question for its readers: Which animal rights organization supports breed specific legislation? a. PETA b. HSUS c. ASPCA d. Best Friends e. all of the above Protect yourself. Save your dog's life. Because no one else will. The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide not only tells the story of how we got rammed between a rock and a hard place. The book gives us the tools to get ourselves out again. (More about the Survival Guide tools in Part II of this review. ) The book is a practical, step-by-step "how-to" guide that no pit bull owner should be without. Because its not your imagination. They ARE coming to take your dog.

Ethnic Cleansing for Pit Bulls DNA-based breed identi-kits 99 44/100% pure what? HSUS and AKC partner up on DNA profiling. Does it get any worse? Sonia Dias' suit against the City of Denver -- hyped as the long-awaited animal protectionist salvation of "pit bulls" from one of the most brutal animal control policies in the country -- shows its true colors. Purity of blood, Humane Society of the United States-style In its sly amicus brief in support of Dias, the Humane Society of the United States, an animal extremist organization which condones, endorses and lobbies for breed specific legislation, bases itself on the subjective nature of breed standards and their unsuitability for identifying dogs impacted by breed specific restrictions.

This is not a new argument. Dog lovers have been arguing--for a long, long time, both in and out of court--that breed standards adopted by registries such as the American Kennel Club and the United Kennel Club were never intended for such a purpose and are unconstitutionally vague.

Someone spent some time at the library and on PubMed's website, it seems. . .

Blood. The newest arbiter of race breed

HSUS' amicus asserts that "researchers concluded 'microsatellite' DNA testing enables researchers "to assign 99% of dogs to the correct breed." But HSUS lies.

In the one cited study that yielded a 99% result, researchers used DNA from a mere 414 dogs representing only 85 of the 152 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club.

The American Kennel Club doesn't recognize the American Pit Bull Terrier. In fact, the AKC doesn't recognize a long list of breeds, including the Catahoula (the state dog of Louisiana), the Cane Corso (the breed owned by Pete Georgoutsos, one of Blue Dog State's biggest heros), the Dogo Argentino (often misidentified as a "pit bull"), and depending on how you slice and dice it, something like 250 other breeds.

Would those dogs all be labelled mutts, using HSUS's suggested methodology? Because it could really matter. An exemption from mandatory spay-neuter requirements so that you can breed your line of mutts just ain't happening.

Whose DNA is it, anyway?

When the AKC solicited DNA samples from its constituents, ostensibly to screen for genetically-linked canine illnesses. . .did everyone sign a release like this one ?

I hereby relinquish all rights to, and ownership of, the DNA sample.

Not much wiggle room, is there? If you don't own your dog's DNA, what do you own? Huh?

The AKC/UC-Davis Database: Money in the bank

With all the whining Ron Menaker's been doing about revenues, and hints about making changes. . .did Ron already cut a deal?

PETCO is already marketing "Canine Heritage" DNA ID tests at $119.99 each.

MMI Genomics, the manufacturer of the kits, is a long-time AKC partner.

The company has offered genetic parentage testing for purebreds through the AKC since 1998. The service compares a given dog's genes to the genes of its parents to verify paternity.

The kennel club has also built a genetics database including information from hundreds of thousands of purebred dogs. This database allows for DNA comparison to clients' animals for a match, said kennel club spokeswoman Daisy Okas.

Did all those dog owners that donated canine DNA, thinking the DNA was going to be used for medical research . . .get ripped off? Did they mistakenly contribute to the destruction of dog breeding as we know it?

Not pure enough. Savvy the AmStaff fails his DNA test. No puppies for Savvy. "Science" says he's a mongrel.

Open up. In the name of the law.

If HSUS -- and the AKC -- get their way and municipalities discard pedigrees in favor of DNA swabs. . .will every short-haired dog owner in the country have to submit the dog to a DNA test? At $119.99 each?

Will the test rely on an AKC-owned database?

Will thousands and thousands of dogs be relegated to mutt status and surgically sterilized ?

One generation and out. That's always the goal when it comes to HSUS.