I’ve known several people who adopted “retired” greyhounds, and they told me they did it through an organization that took care of greyhounds that couldn’t race anymore and weren’t needed for breeding.
See my cite. These organizations have nothing to do with the owners and breeders, indeed, they exist as a response to the deplorable conditions that racing greyhounds undergo. They are *rescue *organizations. They *rescue *retired dogs from being killed. The greyhound industry could not give a rat’s ass what happens to a dog after it is no longer productive. It’s just a waste of space and feed at that point.
What? No they aren’t. They’re two totally different things. That’s an absolutely ridiculous assertion.
That and I would imagine that abusing greyhounds the way they do in the dog fighting industry, from a cold standpoint, would be counterproductive and stupid.
You WANT the dog to be in good condition, and have a good temperment. Not some uncontrollable beast.
Two *totally different *things? As in no overlap at all? Are you sure?
accept an excuse for; “Please excuse my dirty hands”
grant exemption or release to; “Please excuse me from this class”
serve as a reason or cause or justification of; “Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work”; “Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again”
**a defense of some offensive behavior **or some failure to keep a promise etc.; “he kept finding excuses to stay”; “every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job”; “his transparent self-justification was unacceptable”
**apologize: defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; **“rationalize the child’s seemingly crazy behavior”; “he rationalized his lack of success”
a note explaining an absence; “he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him”
ask for permission to be released from an engagement
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with; “excuse someone’s behavior”; “She condoned her husband’s occasional infidelities”
apology: a poor example; “it was an apology for a meal”; “a poor excuse for an automobile”
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Yes, I’m sure.
Good for you, man, good for you. 
[Hijack]The sister of one of my closest friends has two Greyhounds rescued from a nearby track. What surprised me about them are that in addition to being exceptionally sweet and affectionate dogs, they’re basically beany babies- they lay around the house most of the time and have no natural inclination to run. They’re actually, in spite of their size, good housedogs.
One of the warnings about them, though, is to keep tight grip when walking them as they will chase rabbits or squirrels and they run so fast that within 5-10 seconds they are out of the sound of your voice.
Trivia: Ancient Egyptians bred a dog very similar to the Greyhound for both hunting and racing, and they also attempted to domesticate cheetahs for the same reason.
No, not compared to electrocution and hanging. Compared to being a pet. Nobody, especially not me, is comparing dog racing to dog fighting. I am saying that racing greyhounds are not treated well, and are disposed of by owners if they don’t race well. If not adopted, they are killed.
I wonder, after now having seen some stories on the web about this, whether this was just a stunt to publicize Whoopi’s role as the “new Rosie” on the show? It wouldn’t surprise me at all that the show was essentially trolling using her as bait.
Boxers don’t fight to the death, nor get put down when they lose or get too old to fight.
Usually.
We champion people who have risen above their upbringing to excel, (rags to riches didn’t become a meme for naught) but if they turn out to not be all that we just say it’s because of cultural influences. Weren’t cultural influences what they were supposed to have risen above?
Actually, that was my first thought too. She wants to be noticed and this got her on the news. Looking at her credits I’m trying to figure out when she last had a big hit. She must have have the highest “forgettable schlock: unforgettable performances” ratio of any actors, which is a pity because at her best she’s great (far more talented than many actors with more hits), but I think controversy from a show like View might be her path back to good roles.
“Wake Up with Whoopi” is on one of my local radio stations. I listen to her every morning. When the Vick story broke, she was horrified and condemned dog fighting in no uncertain terms.
The brother of my best friend, who has lived in Blacksburg, VA, for more than a decade, has stated that if he wanted to see a dogfight, he could find one inside of an hour with a few phone calls. (NB: He doesn’t want to see a dogfight. He’d be more likely to try to kill the perpetrators.)
Right. Whoopi was trying to explain how someone like Vick could end up thinking dogfighting is OK. This doesn’t mean she excuses the behavior. It’s a bit of a logical leap.
So, the next time that someone inflicts a Traumatic Clitorectomy/Vulval-Vaginal Mutilation on his/her/its’ daughter(s), or perhaps murders her in an “honor killing”, we can simply defend it on the basis of some stupid “cultural mandate”?!
What’s funny is that after that “enlightened” exchange, they then lit into the BlondeTard who gave the “U.S. American Geography” speech. Somehow, I can’t see the BlondeTard at a dog fight, though perhaps Goldberg should have defended the BlondeTard’s ignorance as part of her decidedly “US Southern-America Pageant Culture.” Actually, one of the other hens did bring up the pageant bits as a sort of example of a screwy subculture (the one with the kiddie-pageant fetish).
Kettle, Pot: Pot, Kettle
To the other hens’ credit, the rest of the Hen Party called Goldberg on her bullshit, and to Goldberg’s credit, she isn’t a raging bully/bitch. But not one of the hens suggested that Goldberg would not have taken this tack if a white athlete had been nailed on an interstate felony charge involving dog-fighting.
Listen up, Goldberg, the reason that you’re not in slavery right now, or pregnant/barefoot with 18 kids(and dead well before menopause), is that the idea of discarding the bullshit aspects of “cultural traditions” progressively reduces the evils, both petty and major in societies as they evolve.
Duh.
Who gives a flying fuckity-fuck about the “cultural” aspect of this borderline illiterate thug who is fellated by society because he can run fast and throw an ellipsoidal projectile? He’s a violent, crude, stupid cretin with similarly-inclined friends, the human equivalent of the dogs that he and his friends “enjoy” as part of their “cultural heritage.” I guess his previous criminal and abusive behaviour can be defended as part of his “Thug Life Cultural Imperative.”
No, it isn’t, as I have demonstrated. An explanation of bad behavioris an excuse, by definition.
Consider this phrase. “Johnny is a thief because his parents taught him that stealing was OK.” Does this not* explain* his bad behavior?
Consider this phrase. “Don’t be hard on Johnny. He steals because his parents taught him to.” Does this not* excuse *his behavior? Is it your position that there is no intersection between the two phrases? That one is totally different from the other? Because that’s the assertion to which you responded “Right.”
And so with a throwaway phrase on a message board was born America’s most popular reality show yet- "Are you smarter than a Pit Bull?
I’m trying to fathom what cultures or subcultures might appropriately be called a “nook and cranny of society.” He grew up near Jamestown, Virginia.
Was Vick part of such a subculture when he was growing up?
Both of his parents worked. According to one of his more detailed internet biographies, Vick was “upbeat, polite and focused” as a child. There was no mention of his having been retained in any grades.
He was preseason All-American his senior year. Many colleges wanted to recruit him and he chose Virginia Tech so that he could be close to home. He still had a problem with homesickness and talked with his mom every night.
At the end of his freshman year he was third in the voting for the Heisman. At the end of his second year, he was the #1 pick in the NFL draft.
Because of his upbringing, he thought that it was good fun to personally torture and slaughter dogs. He never had a chance to know it was wrong.
Oh wait…
That’s not “Southern.” The flags are usually redneck. The hound dogs and pickup trucks are rural. Don’t make me go rolly-eyes on you. You are famous now. I live in Nashville and I rarely see a Confederate flag or a hound dog. One of my very girlie Doper friends has a pickup truck. I think the Howitzer is too big for a gun rack though!
I lived in Tennessee once! It’s lasted 64 years so far! I had never even known about dog-fighting until the NFL hero from a nook and cranny of society and the movie/TV star from New York and California brought it to my attention that it is part of my Southern culture. Being multi-millionaires is no excuse for ignorance.
Wouldn’t it be fun to tell Whoopi and Richard Parker what New York is all about?
I don’t think you understand her point, because slavery is a perfect example of its relevance. Imagine two separate Virginians: one owned slaves in 1807, another owns slaves in 2007 – are they equally condemnable? Of course not.