Saturday, November 21, 2009
Kathrine Breeden
Monday, November 16, 2009
Jinky, Dog of a Hollywood Wife, is Actually Bobby Fischer's Furry Child
I'm really worried that my dad is not my dad. The New York Times, see below, is saying that my real dad was Bobby Fischer, the famous chess champion. If the New York Times is correct, and they usually are pretty good about fact checking, then my dad, Kevin Rooney, the comedy writer, is not my real dad.
Fight Over Fischer’s Estate Is Taking Shape in Iceland
Bobby Fischer died in January 2008, but his long, strange story is not over.
This month, Miyoko Watai, the head of the Japanese Chess Association, who had long said she was Fischer’s wife, had that claim certified by Iceland’s highest court, according to the Web site Chessbase.com. That would make her the heir to Fischer’s estate.
But a few days later, Marilyn Young of the Philippines said in a statement, also published on Chessbase, that she had filed a claim in Iceland that her 8-year-old daughter, Jinky, was Fischer’s child. Among documents provided by Young were pictures of her, Fischer and Jinky together and at least two postcards to Jinky signed “Daddy” that she said were from Fischer. If Young’s claim is upheld, the statement said, her daughter would be entitled to two-thirds of Fischer’s estate under Icelandic law.
The claims must be settled in Iceland because Fischer was a citizen of that country when he died, and he reportedly left no will. He had emigrated to Iceland in 2005 after renouncing his United States citizenship.
Fischer’s estate could be substantial. He received $3.65 million in 1992 for winning a match with his old rival Boris Spassky, and sponsors paid for many of his living expenses.
Chess League Playoffs
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Texas Invents New and Improved Animal Rights Movement
Texas Invents New and Improved Animal Rights Movement
Carole Davis, Pamela Birch and Carole Sax in happier times.
A schism has divided the animal rights movement over a controversial and buxom AR leader in Texas. Followers of the New Texas "Christian Hunting Animals to Save Them From Starvation" (CHATSTFS) have decided to unfriend millions of animal rights activists from their Facebook pages, causing the massive site to malfunction for three hours on Thursday.
Pamela Bertsch, the founder and President of Christian Hunting Animals To Save Them From Starvation, is not your typical animal rights activist--in fact, she is so unique, she has created a reformation to give the aging and ailing animal protection movement a buck shot in the arm. "That 'ol fashioned animal rights movement just doesn't suit our Texas style of barbecues, leather boots and fun bow hunting parties," said Ms. Berstch, throwing up her gorgeous long legs in Tazmanian bat skin boots on the coffee table at her home office in Dallas. "These weirdos in Los Angeles think that they run the animal rights movement and, well, they haven't learned the Texas way of helping animals yet and I'm gonna git er done."
Ms. Bertsch, a self proclaimed anti-puppy mill demonstrator and elephant savior, finds that adherence to the antiquated rules of the classic Animal Rights movement is just too restrictive and too small for her personal Texas-style animal protection movement. News of her breaking rank with the established organizations like The Humane Society of the United States has been rumored to be a major blow to the millions of members who count on her enormous financial support and guidance on important issues like hunting, rodeos, animal testing, hog baiting, quail fighting, peacock cross-dressing, elephant toe dancing, ant farm entertainment centers and the very important program of re-homing stray urban lemur colonies in the Dallas area where she lives and shops.
The philosophical skirmish started on Wednesday, when Ms. Bertsch posted a series of pro-hunting studies funded and published by a well-known mink conservation furrier in Fort Worth with ties to Blackwater and Glen Beck. Further investigation revealed that Glen Beck has donated several million dollars to Ms. Bertsch's foundation, leading animal rights activists in N.Y. and Washington to retaliate by unfriending her permanently on Facebook. One Washington activist, JP Goodwin, attempted to negotiate the secession of the group from the established AR community, fearing that the argument might further divide activists who are, as Ms. Bertsch exclaims, "going to hell and those who are going to heaven."
The hundreds of millions of dollars at stake could mean that monies that were to be spent on fighting Japanese whale rave parties and Canadian seal club dancers might instead be allocated to a non-Jewish pro-bow-hunting coalition of Texan libertarian anti-abortionist and anti public option health care for migrant deer loyalists.
"My husband is a hunter and he gave me a brand new elk head for my birthday this year," said Ms. Bertsch. I get a nice, rare head every year. We've mounted it over our bed and when we pray together, the Elk seems to look down on us and pray to Jesus with us. We're so happy for him to be on our bedroom wall over the bed because if it wasn't for my honey-pie, he would have starved to death. It's a good thing he was killed by being shot. It's the Christian way."
Ms. Bertsch had aroused some jealousy from Jewish Animal Rights activists and the remaining two Muslim Animal rights activists when she proclaimed that the only way to go to heaven was to accept Jesus as their personal savior or they would be going to hell, where there are no animals at all. She told a very distraught Los Ageles animal advocate Carole Davis that she was "in a vortex of satanic forces because of her inappropriate affiliation with her Orthodox Jewish Cairn Terrier."
Carole Davis, the West Coast Director of the Orange County Stray Mice Society, has retreated into talks with the heads of the International Termite Protection Organization and the 45 million-member Bunnies Against Iranian Nuclear Proliferation Society (BAINPS) to discuss how to deal with the loss of such an important member of the CA animal rights movement.
"I'll never get over this," said Carole Davis, shaking her head. "When she unfriended me on Facebook, I thought the world had fallen down. I keep singing the same song over and over. 'How am I supposed to live without you?' by Michael Bolton. Somehow, we must pick up the pieces and continue this movement. The animals depend on us. It's a shame we can't work together."
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Shooting of Animal Rights Protesters at Aquarium & Pet Center in Santa Monica
News Type: Event — Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:26 PM PDT
Anti-puppy mill protesters were shot at with an air rifle at Aquarium & Pet Center in Santa Monica on Saturday, October 10th. The Santa Monica Police are treating this case as an assault with a deadly weapon, a felony.
"BB guns can be extremely dangerous and can kill if the bullets hit a vital area of the body" said Santa Monica Police Sergent Lewis.
There is a $5000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Approximately thirty-five activists were holding a peaceful anti-puppy mill demonstration when violence erupted. Three animal welfare advocates were hit, including West Hollywood community organizer Ed Buck and animal welfare advocate Elizabeth Johanson. There were minor injuries. Police arrived on the scene within minutes and retrieved several two millimeter brass bullets on the sidewalk where the protesters were shot.
This group of activists, who are members of several large animal welfare organizations, have been protesting stores in Los Angeles for two years. The Aquarium & Pet Center is supplied by commercial breeding facilities in the Midwest and also uses a local breeder in Southern California that houses its dogs in substandard conditions.
Dogs in commercial breeding operations are sometimes called puppy mills, or puppy farms. Though they are often licensed by the USDA, they are considered inhumane by the animal protection movement. The minimum standards of care for USDA licensed facilities typically allow only enough room for a dog to stand up and turn around. The dogs are kept in cages for their entire breeding lives and are often exposed to the elements. Most dogs suffering in commercial breeding operations do not get veterinary care or socialization. They are often sick, injured, diseased and have malformations.
The violence at Aquarium & Pet Center occurred during a highly charged atmosphere in the state of California. Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed The Responsible Breeder Act (AB 241), a bill designed to limit the number of dogs in commercial breeding facilities to fifty. The pet breeding industry lobbied against it, claiming that a limit on an arbitrary number of dogs did not address animal cruelty issues.
Animal protection advocates were disappointed in the Governor's veto, claiming that limiting the number of dogs in inhumane breeding factories would limit the number of dogs abused. The bill would have also allowed for inspections and better transparency for commercial breeders who typically mistreat their "breeding stock" and routinely under-report the number of dogs they are using. Many breeders sell directly to the public using Websites and under-report their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service.
After the shooting at Aquarium & Pet Center, an employee of the store was seen laughing at the animal welfare activists.
On Monday, a volunteer in Pennsylvania called the store, posing as a buyer and asked the owner what he planned to do about the protesters, to which he replied, "I'll shoot them all."
The verbal threat was immediately reported to the police, who have added this information to the investigation. Mr. Lee, the owner of Aquarium & Pet Center, was visited by police detectives on Thursday. He denied making the threats. He also denied having anything to do with the shooting.
Activists Ed Buck, Elizabeth Johanson and Catherine Eure
"When the animal abusers realize that they have lost the debate, they turn to their guns," said activist Ed buck, who was hit in the groin with a brass slug. "There is nothing more powerful than people standing in the face of danger to speak the truth. Bullets will never silence the truth."
"Any danger we face is obscene as we are participating in an anti slavery movement," said Elizabeth Johanson, one of the activists shot on Saturday. "The torment that these thousands of animals withstand in these concentration camp settings is very real and is life long. I'm out there because I would not want to live like that."
"This is un-American, " said Carole Raphaelle Davis, the West Coast Director of the Companion Animal Protection Society. "We were boycotting a known puppy mill dealer and they decided to use violence against us for speaking the truth. We have a right to speak out against the cruel practices of the pet trade industry. It's called the first amendment. The public, which is routinely defrauded by pet stores, deserves to know what's really going on so that they can make better choices when bringing a companion animal into their lives. When consumers learn the ugly truth behind the pretty storefront, they run the other way."
"Furthermore," said Ms. Davis, "we ask that consumers give the $1000 or more that they would have spent on buying an animal in a pet store and give that money to a family in need. We are experiencing the worst economic crisis of our time and there are families who need to put food on the table. Give the money to the truly needy instead and save an animal's life at your local shelter. There are five million pets killed in our nation's shelter system every year because there are not enough homes for them. This costs taxpayers $2 billion per year to house and euthanize all these unwanted animals. It makes sense, fiscally and morally, to adopt from a shelter. And for breed snobs, 25% of the dogs in the shelter system are purebred, adoptable dogs. "
Since the shooting, an anti-animal welfare email circulated on a breeder meet-up Internet group. The e-mail states that the animal welfare advocates protesting Aqaurium & Pet Center might have staged the shooting in order to gain publicity. There is no evidence to support that and the investigation is on-going.
Part of the e-mail is posted below:
"They whine like little babies about BBs being shot at them. I think it's funny. Shooting BBs at them isn't an attack. It's a little bit dangerous and someone can lose an eye, but it's ridicule. The tiniest little thing gets thrown their way and they need clean pants.I've been over the reasons before why we're being beaten by a bunch of pants-wetters."
"I hope the police find the shooters so they can speak for themselves on their motivation," said Judie Mancuso, President of Social compassion in Legislation. "In a nutshell, I think the pet trade is fearful of the animal welfare community as we expose the way they treat their animals and the underground economy that goes along with the underground breeding. Once exposed the general public is on our side."
The protesters are planning to return this weekend to educate shoppers about puppy mills.