It being spring in San Diego, it is incredibly beautiful outside today. Not a cloud in the sky beautiful. If I had to pick out an area for improvement I’d say that maybe the temperature is just a tad too warm (had to use the A/C to get the steering wheel to a touchable temperature). So what am I doing (well, after doing laps in an outdoor pool at 7:00 a.m.)? Attending meetings and playing phone tag, the sport-de-jour. Feh!

While really enjoying my Monday morning, relaxing from a good swim and prepping for a client meeting, I’m still amused by the blatant self-interest in the reporting of some ‘professional’ media outlets. Since Howling Point exists only in virtual space we can easily exclude the real world as needed. As a general rule, that exclusion has been including the war. Media lapses and blatant conflicts of interest have always been fair game though. Giggling at the fact that while NBC and MSNBC both fired Peter Arnett for his actions, both immediately started hyping the termination as a news story worthy of coverage. I don’t see anyone else reporting it as news. Others, such as CNN, are now reporting on the (MS)NBC action. What about the old marketing adage that all publicity is good publicity? Could (MS)NBC really be that ambitious in its quest for ratings that it would sacrifice one of its own reporters’ careers for ratings? Is this the professional version of Blogwhoring?

Dog walked. Laps swum. E-mails answered responded to. Letters sent. Faxes sent. Registration for Alumni tent at Crew Classic sent. Groceries bought. Truck headlight fixed. Ready for the weekend.

Domestic terror runs rampant in San Francisco. Great essay at Murdering Mouth.

Seems a bit crowded in here this morning. Special welcome to all our visitors by way of the law.com reprint of Robert J. Ambrogli’s article Lawyers as Pundits, by Way of the Web. Please keep in mind this is my personal site; for a more professional image (or at least fewer references to water sports and the dog) please visit my work site, or the California Beach Law Resource, a side project of mine that includes a blog covering legal issues surrounding beach access and use in California.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in Lawrence v. Texas, 02-102, today. The issue is basically whether Texas and three other states can regulate what they call “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.” (Nine additional states ban what Texas’s brief called “the offense once known as ‘buggery’ regardless of sexual orientation.)
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I suppose it’s a sign that I’m spending too much time in lawyer mode, but these interrogatories are looking pretty good ’bout now.

Ten months have passed since Pongo was mauled by a Rottweiler here in San Diego, and while he certainly still has some scars, both physically and mentally, stumbling on an article like this reminds me I’ve still got a few too. Certainly physically, although my left hand has been through so much it can be tough to attribute individual scars to specific incidents, but mentally as well.

Statements like this just bring back too many memories and make me cringe all over again:

…I saw the man and woman coming down the slope toward us, with two pit bulls off leash and a third on leash.

Manny and I started to walk away, but we didn’t move fast enough. The woman said, “It’s okay, it’s okay” as her female pit bull came running up to Manny.

Then there’s the outright arrogance of bits like this:

I called her the next evening, and she said she was willing to “contribute to the cause” and pay half of Manny’s bills. She figured that we bore half the responsibility. She did most of the talking, trying to establish her version of what had happened. She seemed to think that Manny had started it.

But this actually brings back some good memories:

My doctor turned in a dog-bite form to the Department of Public Health, I filed a police report and Lt. Michael Scott at Animal Care and Control is also working on this case.

For all the pain of our incident, San Diego County’s Department of Animal Control, and particularly the people of the Dangerous Dog Task Force, did an amazing job. Like Dave’s doctor, my doctor also filed the dog-bite report. His office faxed it in while I was there being treated on the Saturday after the attack. The difference was, or maybe (hopefully) this was just something that was edited out of the news report, our Animal Control came to my apartment the next day, on Sunday, to take my statement and photographically document the injuries. The Rottweiler was taken from its owner that same day and quarentined pending the outcome of the investigation.

I really hope this victim sticks with it and San Francisco Animal Control steps up and follows the lead of their San Diego counterparts.

Some dog owners are just stupid and especially with our history, hearing some half-wit yell ‘he’s friendly’ as his (or her) dog runs across the park obviously out-of-control doesn’t set my mind at ease but rather puts me on alert that the owner is just a naive fool. It also makes me reconsider purchasing a tazer.

Please go check out Michael’s new Dogpoet site. The writing stays wonderful, the new design is outstanding (a Jockohomo design), and Louie is still one of Pongo’s favorite dogs with a blogging guardian.

Trying to have a normal weekend for the first time in godknowshowlong. Had breakfast with some friends, then went for a walk on the beach in Pacific Beach and shopped for a new house plant (the bamboo shown as the current 1000 Words pic). I was looking for a plant that neither Pongo or I could kill and would add a little green to the home office. I need tough house plants. I’ll admit that Pongo’s only lived this long because he can get obnoxious if I forget to feed him; since plants generally don’t wimper, they need strength in other ways to survive long at Casa. As for the normal weekend bit, I’ll admit to checking voicemail once, but I’m not doing it again. Must…get…sunshine.