To Matt:

You're right - I generalized when I said all puppies in pet stores comes from puppy mills but I'll not budge from the fact that no REPUTABLE breeder would ever consign a litter of puppies to a pet store. A reputable breeder has their puppies' welfare uppermost in their mind. They screen potential buyers to be sure they'll provide the puppy a good, loving home and adequate medical care and will usually insist that the buyer sign a contract agreeing, among other things, to spay or neuter the pup. A reputable breeder will most probably also stipulate in their contract that if things don't work out with one of their dogs that it must be returned to them (rather than dumped in a pounded or sold to another buyer) for a full or partial refund. IMHO, anyone who would rely on a pet store to sell their litters of puppies is a lot more interested in the money than in the welfare of their puppies. (And any pet store that takes a consignment of puppies under the age of 8 weeks is totally irresponsible.) About the only thing that separates these "backyard breeders" from puppy mills is that the mother of those puppies probably has a better life than the poor dogs in puppy mills who spend their lives in miserable conditions and are then "put down" when they're past breeding age. (And you'd be surprised how many people buy puppies "on impulse" and pet stores that sell puppies are feeding on that impulse -- pure breed rescue programs like the one I'm involved in are full of dogs that were purchased on impulse from backyard breeders and pet stores. And what do these owners do when their puppy is no longer a cute little bundle of fur, but a 60 or 70 pound dog that's out of control because they didn't bother doing any socialization and obedience training? They realize that they really didn't want a dog after all and when that chilling day comes the main thing they're interested in is getting the dog out of their house. Sadly, many of these impulse buyers then either dump their dog in a pound or shelter or run an ad in the paper, or, if the dog's lucky, they contact a rescue group who'll see to the dog's medical needs, place it in a foster home for evaluation so that it can be matched with the right new home and family, and then do regular follow-ups to be sure that things are going well for the people and the dog .) I applaud your pet store's policy that frequent repeat sellers are told that they can only sell one litter every 6 months but, cynic that I am when it comes to this subject, what's to stop them from just going to another pet store that's also willing to take litters "on consignment"?.

So poor King George waltzed out of his cocoon long enough to get skewered by Stephen Colbert and now he's mad as hell. I guess we should all be glad that he (presumably) doesn't visit Salon from time to time because the top of his head would probably be missing. (I wonder if we'd all then know what we've always suspected, that there's nothing inside that head of his.)

You gotta believe that an angry George Bush is probably much, much worse than good ol' implacable, mulish George Bush ... the usual "no protest" zones around his public appearances will no doubt be expanded, guest speakers at these appearances will be rigorously screened ahead of time, he'll dig in his heels even more than usual on each and every one of his policies that have so angered Colbert and the rest of us, and he's now concluding that a major "diversion" will be the only way to repudiate Colbert and his plummetting poll numbers. (Can anyone say "Iran"?)

I'm a resident of Ohio and I haven't heard one person speaking out about the fact that the person responsible for overseeing elections here in Ohio (Bush-backing Secretary of State and chief elections official Ken Blackwell) also happens to be running for governor this year. There isn't a doubt in my mind (and in many other minds) that Ken Blackwell was behind most if not all of the voting problems in the Democratic precincts, bogus results and many other well-publicized "irregularities" in Ohio's 2004 elections. Yesterday Blackwell won comfortably over Ohio's attorney general, a man endorsed by nearly every major Ohio newspaper. I'm sure Blackwell will "manage" to win in November too since he'll be overseeing that election as well. What the hell ever happened to the concept of "conflict of interest"? (And if I were the man Blackwell beat out yesterday, Ohio attorney general Jim Petro, I'd be taking a close look at all of the stories already surfacing about voting irregularities that happened yesterday!)

Maybe Bush thought about it and decided there have been zero "best moments" in his presidency. Or maybe he's just a puppet whose strings are being pulled by others so he automatically thinks outside of the presidency when asked to come up with a best moment. Either way, let's face it, this is the first completely honest thing he's said in the last 5-1/2 years (unless, of course, the fish really only weighed about 2 pounds).

Wait'll a couple of good-sized hurricanes hit and FEMA does as little for Florida as it did for Louisiana and Mississipi last year. The people of Florida will then collectively give Governor Jeb a Scalia-like gesture which Jeb, in turn, will pass on to his brother George. If there's any justice the name "Bush" is going to be political poison for decades to come. (Sorry, Jeb, but if you had any presidential aspirations you can thank George for completely ruining them. Better yet, maybe you should thank your mother for raising such a dumb cold-hearted greedy twit.)