Friday, June 11, 2010

March 9, 2005

Why are you reading this?   

This is our favorite Friday Hound Blogging written on a Wednesday that didn't feature a skinny dog. Actually it's the only  FHB written on a Wednesday needle noseless. Come to think of it, it's not really an FHB if it's written on a Wednesday is it? And since the whole point of FHB is, you know, the H's and all, well, we guess it's nothing more than just another desultory episode in a long line of episodes marking our undistinguished passage from birth through old age to death. Happy Friday! Presented for your consideration: Sometimes You Act Like A Nut, Sometimes You Don't.
Regular visitors to the halls of Ironicus Maximus (Hi mom!) will recall that each Friday we feature rescued racing greyhounds looking for permanent homes due to the fact that they are no longer profit centers for the human overlords who suck their meager existence from the speed and endurance of the world's oldest breed of dog.

Last Friday we mentioned that in a desperate effort to keep from having to go out and get real jobs, the overlords were trying to pass a law that would allow slots to be placed at greyhound tracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in Florida.

Well, the votes have been counted and it looks like the good people of Miami-Dade county said get a job, while the folks over in Broward county said it's OK with us if you leech off the dogs, then dump them, as long as we can sit in air conditioning and lose our pension money.

The greyhound track that is about to receive the benefits of the yea vote is Hollywood Greyhound Track--yes that Hollywood (soon to be renamed Hallendale. Motto: We Need Your Money). As a service to the greyhound betting public in Broward county--at least those who can read--we offer a little tour of the establishment you are about to waste your savings on:

Long ago, the Hollywood track was a magnet for glitterati. Damon Runyon presented the raceway's first trophy 70 years ago. For decades, this place lured the likes of actor William Holden and sex bomb Jayne Mansfield. In its prime, it drew a half-million people each season, and even ten years ago, it was pulling down $65 million in live wagering a season. Attendance, however, collapsed during the 1990s. It now attracts fewer than 100,000 a year and took in a paltry $11.8 million last season.

Hmm...From 500,00 bettors to less than 100,000 in ten years. Well, you can only look at Jane Mansfield so many times without makeup, and isn't Damon Runyon one of the guys on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy? But let's move on:

The Hollywood track has drawn the scrutiny of federal prosecutors. A half dozen people were sentenced for a tax evasion scheme at the track that patrons and tellers contend took millions of dollars from federal coffers. Some tellers testified that illegal shortcuts are a way of life when it comes to betting the dogs at Hollywood.

Illegal shortcuts a way of life? We're shocked we tell you shocked! Let's ask one of the track regulars how this could be:

Warren G. Miller was a familiar sight at the Hollywood Greyhound Track through most of the 1990s. Toting a plastic bag filled with odds and ends, the Jheri-curled middle-ager shuffled around the betting parlor looking like a homeless man. With his top front teeth missing, he had a drooling problem and wiped his lips frequently with a handkerchief. Even so, Miller stood out from the down-and-out gamblers for only one thing: He was a key player in a scheme to bilk the IRS out of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. Federal Judge Jose Gonzalez sentenced Miller to 18 months in prison and ordered him to pay the IRS $442,000 in restitution. The judge also meted out jail time, fines, and probation to a half dozen tellers for their part in the so-called ten-percenting scheme. The case reveals a deeply entrenched culture of fraud and greed at the track.

Oops. Guess we asked the wrong fellow. Our bad. But he looked so knowledgeable, so professional. Well, there was the whole teeth thing, and the speaking in tongues, but we thought it was just some kind of good luck ritual. Not that luck has anything to do with betting on dogs. It's a science you know. Most of the patrons have spent years in apprenticeships and intensive study. Let's meet some of them:

Roberto is a twig of a man with dark, rheumy eyes, caterpillar eyebrows, and a droopy face ripped from a Dali canvas. The few teeth remaining in his top gum are jagged and slightly skewed. His thick Italian accent makes him a bit difficult to understand. Despite myopia that borders on blindness, his mind is a handicapping machine. He asked that his last name not be used.

Roberto is a retired Nuclear Physicist who once worked on the Manhattan Project. Or so he says between swigs of his forty. Here's a friend of his:

Mike, a hulking Bulgarian with missing teeth who declined to give his last name. Mike has been betting the dogs for 23 years and at one time even owned greyhounds. He sits close to the TVs and mingles little during the 14-race live meets. "He's going to take a shot in the mouth one day, in the face," Mike says.

Sports was always about the camaraderie, the playful banter amongst the participants, the assault and batteries. Oh look, there's Stefo:

Stefo moved to Miami in the late 1950s and was introduced to dog racing when he took a job as a driver for a wealthy European who had a penchant for the dogs. He had a series of petty run-ins with the law -- excess parking tickets, expired license plates, some bounced checks -- and usually gravitated to the seamy side of life. In the 1960s, he recruited actresses for the makers of hard-core stag films.

Ah, sports and entertainment coming together under one roof. What synergy! It's like MGM merged with Nike, right Larry:

At 83 years old, Larry rarely misses a day or evening of racing. Today, like most days, he wears brown polyester pants, a baby-blue zippered coat, a plaid cotton shirt, and a "Hollywood Greyhound Track" hat. His yellowed white socks droop around his ankles. Everything he's wearing is overdue for laundering by a month or so.

Well, Larry's the bohemian type, which just goes to show greyhound racing has something for everyone, and a future so bright, those associated with it have to wear sunglasses, right Mr. Berg?

Howard Berg, once an announcer at various South Florida tracks and now a director of marketing at the Hollywood facility, recalls million-dollar nights and crowds of 10,000. Still, Berg is hopeful. He points out that children have been allowed at the track since the 1988-89 season, thanks to the Florida Legislature. "There's the future, to expose them to racing," Berg declares.

Let it not be said the Florida Legislature isn't one of the most forward looking in the country. What other legislative body, charged with the well being of the people who put them in office would have the foresight to see that letting children watch animals be exploited wouldn't be good for the economy. And they can learn about chemistry too:

Hollywood had one of the state's most egregious cases of dog doping. During a frenzied week in January 2003, four dogs trained by Kenneth Purdy took first place in their races. Winners are routinely tested, and the analyses turned up cocaine derivatives in the dogs' urine.

And recycling:

Down here, they used to take the dogs to the Everglades and gut them so there'd be enough blood that the gators would get 'em," contends Michelle Weaver, who with her husband operates Friends of Greyhounds in Sunrise.

So there you have it good people of Broward country, the 18% that turned out to vote, but particularly 82% who decided they'd rather make the early bird special at Denny's. The next time an overlord takes a load of dogs on a one way trip to the Everglades, I'm sure he'll be thankful that you chose the Grand Slam instead of the ballot.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Governor Riley of Alabama!
Governor Crist of Florida!
You are both being harmed in Tourism with all the cruelty and corruption of BP.
What say you now about Greyhound Racetracks?
These are the same types of attitudes and mentalities and violence as in Greyhound Racing. Destruction is destruction.
And sadism the same.

Anonymous said...

Your tourism influence is way low and your states have no more excuses.
Ban these companies, organizations and businesses that rape you and your reputations.
All the Gulf States need help.
Greyhound Racing?
Please.

Anonymous said...

There is a reason why corruption breeds corruption and wildlife is being destroyed, particularly in USA.
On Bill Maher this a.m. I watched as Maher stated that the 74th richest man in the WORLD , a Dan Duncan, an oil tycoon from Houston, systematically blew awy literally tons of wildlife be it cheetahs, polar bears, you name it. And, after destroying all this wildlife for nearly seventy years, paid absolutley NOTHING in estate taxes....the 74th RICHEST MAN in the WORLD!
You know why?
George Bush.
What does it say when the 74th richest man in the World pays nothing for all the desecration on Earth?
To me, it says Exxon, BP and Greyhound Executions.

Anonymous said...

According to Oliver Stone, George Bush said :
"WAR IS GOOD FOR AMERICA".
This was said to a leader in Mexico.
And we wonder how we got to where we are today?

Anonymous said...

Why don't you do a story on how many greyhounds were killed at Naples Ft Myers? There were around 50 in a six month period and another 28 or so injured from racing in that same time frame. Those are just the dogs killed right at the track not the ones that got hauled somewhere else. Call grey 2 k and ask them. Naples went through around 1800 to 2000 dogs in a 11 month period. Why isnt someone writing about that? They have flagler in Miami also, someone should do some checking there. They took some of Naples kennels that were the worst offenders of this over there.

Anonymous said...

There are 58,000 Louisiana workers in the oil business afraid to lose their jobs.
Interesting perspective because, in actuality, there are more than 6 billion people around the Globe afraid of these kind of "industries".
Frying and polluting our Planet is NOT an option and the very fact there was never ANY idea on how to deal with this catastrophe proves not only incompetence but criminality.
Foundations never properly checked.
No plan of action after more than 55 days leaking thousands if not millions of barrels of oil per day, covering and suffocating our marine life with no possible hope for a "cap" by mid-July?
As Anderson Cooper did say:
"How can you possibly make it right?"

Anonymous said...

All these poverty states in the South make me ill.
They refuse to educate their people correctly and then they , through corruption, do contracts contaminating the rest of our cleaner, smarter states.
British Petroleum is the filthiest of all companies and of course, they have an open invitiation to our beautiful shores.
(no reguilations)
This is the worst oil disaster in US history and they picked the most fragile of waters to destroy us.

Anonymous said...

Why would we think England could care less what happens to our wildlife?
They have ravaged their own with incessant "hunts" and the Queen and all her useless aristocracy LIVE for it!
This cruelty is also portrayed with her husband's (the DUKE) wish to design a "Greyhound Collar"!
All for the kill!
Do make it classy but do force "the Dog" to maim through violent training.
It's all in "the game", my dears.
The British don't give a damn and all their Greyhound Racing typifies it.

Anonymous said...

Do we forget Princess Diana and how she abhored the sadistic "hunt"?
What is to be said of a country that is lead by such isolationism and such snobbery?
Besides being anti-animal, looking at British Petroleum it just must be in their blood.

Anonymous said...

This same flagrant abuse of people and anuimals and eco-system, etc is found in the GOP!
It doesn't matter if it is Exxon, BP or Greyhound Racing.
It IS all "a game" and being beyond the 55th day of inaction really does prove it.

Anonymous said...

These contracts were written with little care and provisions and least of all, responsibilities.
Because, when people just want power;
just want money;
just want "for them", people and animals and the environment do suffer, and often endlessly.
Like the Carneys;
like the Guccciones;
like the Marena Riggins; their songs go marching on.
But they sing to their own tune.
BP whining that they want their lives back?
Well guess what? So do all the Pelicans, Crab, Fish and Shells!
It is this kind of "mentality" that cares not for the Planet. It is this kind of "heart" totally untouched.
There is also a reason why Greyhound Racing is still found in the South and in England. It's called:
"Mad and Brutal". But most of all, merely driven by "Hate".

Anonymous said...

Charlie Crist, a Republican "renewed" gets it.
Marco Rubio does not!
Thrill seekers, be they in for the "rush" of fame or cash are not the types to represent people, or animals, or the environment.
"Sadistic games" such as offshore drilling is full of a mind that has lost control. And this is exactly what hapapened to our Greyhound breed.
The Mafia took it over.
Only a hundred years later do we finally understand what it truly "is" and finally, reject it.

Anonymous said...

Marco Rubio?
He was raised in a Casino in Nevada!
What do you expect?
He is pushing for connections of all the wrong sort and you can be sure he is a friend to all the Gucciones and Pizzis!
He lays it out loud and clear.
Waxing his hairy fat back?
FOR WHOM?

Anonymous said...

The malady has always been there in the form of "Christian Right". It purposely gave the "warm and fuzzies" while you shot Greyhounds in the head or blew away a foreign country.
Torturing animals, like people is merely an escalation when it reaches catastrophic proportions, worldwide.
When will Republicans, and British Petroleum, get that?

Anonymous said...

Only a Republican can say:
"I hope Big Government doesn't turn this into something bad."
Wasn't that David Vitter who said that?
One more "whore" from "the Right".

Anonymous said...

When George Bush said:
"War is good for America" I bet he had no idea we would go after him!
Think again, George.
It won't come at you with a pitch of a dirty old shoe.
It will come with the pitch of "Kansas King".

Anonymous said...

Wanna hear the latest?
BP does NOT want volunteers or workers to use respirators as it "looks bad"!
Despite the fact people are passing out, have head aches, dizziness and vomit "Do Not Wear a Mask"!
Guess what?
It is the exact same scenario as Valdez in 1989 with Exxon. All these same symptoms are happening all over again. And those volunteers more than 20 years ago still feel the debilitating effects and have had their lives destroyed financially and physically.
Wouldn't it be "loverly" to have FROST/NIXON do a FROST/BP?
Then maybe he could do a follow up with a FROST/GPA.
"Humanity to Dogs".

Anonymous said...

Have you heard the latest?
Kevin Costner just sold 32 "clean machines" to BP!
Can you imagine?
An actor from HOLLYWOOD is trying to save the Gulf!
AGAIN!

Anonymous said...

Save time.
Save money.
Zero regard for safety.
These are the words of the survivors of the latest blast that killed 11.
If they complained. they would be "removed".
Sounds EXACTLY like greyhound Racing to me.

Anonymous said...

April 15th there was a quote by some BP official saying basically ..."who cares? It's done. End of story."
David Frost?
A dare you.

Anonymous said...

By saving ten million dollars doing negligent "work" after negligent "work', it really does smell of the same senseless cruelty of Greyhound racing.

Anonymous said...

Thirteen million migratory birds will be affected by this catastrophic oil disaster, alone!
Like dogs, just a dime a dozen,

Anonymous said...

In 2005 the Texas City explosion took 15 lives.
In 2010, 11 more.
Penny- pinching to make
"Lord John Brown" 11 million dollars and one of the highest paid CEO's in Britain also made more than 300 willful safety violations to "man" and "beast" and "globe".
And the Queen "knighted" that?

Anonymous said...

One thousand birds have been impacted by this destruction.
And when the Audobon Society had 17,000 members sign up to try and help ,they were all turned away.
As the British say:
"Brilliant"!

Anonymous said...

Tony Hayward was brought in after "Lord John brown" to follow his "fix it when it breaks" attitude. Putting profit ahead of safety is EXACTLY Greyhound Racing!

Anonymous said...

The Queen has "knighted" a murderer who has, like Massey Fergusen, intentionally killed.
"Long live the Queen!"
David Frost....where are you now?

Anonymous said...

The actual Chairman of BP is Carl Svanberg who has been at BP for less than a year?
BP calls him the "gentle conqueror".
Is that like another "Bloody Sunday"?

Anonymous said...

Well, let's hope British Petroleum doesn't take 38 years to fix "the guilt"!

Anonymous said...

Never forget who the real sacrificial lambs have been.
There are 15,700 species in the Gulf and 29 types of marine mammals, including Gulf Walruses.
They are all desperate to survive, ...mangroves, plankton , algae included.
Every species is at risk.
It will take decades to restore the delicate balance from this gluttonous spill which is 13 times the size of Exxon's!
More than 60,000 barrels a day spewing into our fragile waters; 2.5 million gallons of crude!
You tell me why BP officials are not in jail!
It is all planned, indeed calculated ,for sheer cold profits with no regard ,whatsoever , for human, animal and environmental life.

Anonymous said...

Holland and Norway were among the 17 nations offering assistance and real experience for this BP disaster.
However, due to the Jones Act, they were all denied access and turned away.
Hopefully, when Kansas King exposes these same types of corruptions and cruelties ,these same countries with a conscience will be there for our tortured Greyhound Dogs.
This is the World we need, pushing a loving and peaceful existence.
Waging "War" on the envirnoment is pure suicide.

Anonymous said...

Wolf Blitzer stated that 90% of the safety documentation for BP's ATLANTIS rig is missing!
This is one of the most technical of them all and it has been missing since 2008!
A whistle blower "let the cat out of the bag" for fear that this rig, 122 miles off the Louisiana coast, will be next.
And BP hires Carl-henric Svanberg with no oil experience in the industry? Beacuse he is a "mild-mannered" Swede? Well, that mild mannered Swede just fucked our wetlands.
He and all BP officials need "Jailmony".

Anonymous said...

Michele Bachmann has stated that:
"BP shouldn't be chumps".
And Haley Barbour "embraces her"?
Isn't it nice to have Republicans' intelligence on America's side?

Anonymous said...

Increddibly, the makers of "DAWN" detergent are sending ten thousand bottles to the Gulf to help clean the birds!
It is the very best of cleansers, three bottles per pelican, getting the job done right.
Even this was known for one year!
Did BP even offer that?
Being "clean" is obviously not their aganda.

Anonymous said...

You know how BP's engineers called their wells?
"Crazy Wells".
"Nightmare Wells."
Same secrets like in Greyhound Racing.
No-one talks unless they get caught.

Anonymous said...

We got a pretty clear picture of BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.
he called all the victims effected by this disaster:
"small people".
And hayward called the catastrophe "modest".
They both sound like Greyhound enthusiasts.
The whirligig is their rig while the blood pours jet black.
And all the contaminations from the GOP criminals and raping corporations, provide our bankrupt ride into hell.
20 billion dollars ?
That's a pretty cheap ticket for killing the Earth.

Anonymous said...

Waxman stated to Tony Hayward that there were 30,000 pages retrieved from emails and documents, etc and that within all of them, Hayward paid no attention at all to the lack of safety.
In fact, the absolute opposite when he said to The Guardian that "caution is killing us".
Like greyhound advocates, and West Virginia mines, Corporations rule "Big Business" today.
They just "do what they fuckin' can".

Anonymous said...

texas GOP JOE BARTON pulled out his nasty "NRA Guns" as usual, and "apologized" for the Obama "Shakedown of 20 Billion".
Oh Honey...we do "get that".
"Just you wait and see".

Anonymous said...

Poor "Gunny Barton".
Like all GOP, he hates to be held accountable.
You know why?
That's how they built Texas.

Anonymous said...

Once again, just like in the profound greed and cruelty of Greyhound Racing, BP's lack of concscience plays the main role.
Kansas King...come quick.

Anonymous said...

Charlie melancon, Louisiana democrat, has said Louisiana is now the "darkest and gloomiest hole".
In the same breath he said Jpe Barton from Texas is probably going to go work for BP.
let's get Charlie Meloncan in Kansas King.
He can definitely write his own stuff!

Anonymous said...

BP has ties to Iran?
SURPRISE!
Iran has 800 million dollars worth of shareholders.
Maybe they all helped with the lies.

Anonymous said...

Hey!
Tony Hayward is friends with Joe Barton.
Is friends with George Bush.
Is bro' to Jeb Boy!
You all know that they call that?
"Dark Men".

Anonymous said...

Here it comes!

The Methane is starting to cause "Dead Zones".
And, Ridley Sea Turtles are attracted to all the oil within the weeds and they are literally, "eating it".
(Florida Manatees are next.)
We sure hope BP's eating that 20 Billion.
We can always "nuke" BP since they think it is ok to do it to sealife.

Anonymous said...

Texan Joe Barton is an oil and gas man.
He got $100,000 of donations pumped into him.
Somethin' like Sarah Palin with her new titty job.
These two are
"Blowin' In the Wind".

Anonymous said...

Judge Lynn Hughes?
BP wants this guy to hear their lawsuits?
Hughes loans these oil companies his OWN land and he gets paid by these same companies!
Judge Hughes, one more Texan, thinks it's ok, too!
He did it in 1989.
He did NOT disclose it then.
This Judge is in bed with Barton and Hayward and Svenberg but he just really loves fucking American people best.
You Texans are so corrupt your Judges put on robes and flaunt it!
And your criminals even ask for them by name!

Anonymous said...

Is it any wonder Bush and Cheney are not imprisoned!
When you have Judges like Texan LYNN HUGHES, there is never a punishment for killing intentionally and through hard core greed.
This Houston Judge kept industries rolling because he, himself, is into oil and profits.
And , like in Greyhound Racetracks and Greyhound Gambling, cares not a penny for the suffering of the "forgotten dog".
Totally fake.
Incredibly deceitful.
This JUDGE LYNN HUGHES from HOUSTON TEXAS, along with so many others in "law" should have nothing less than "Jailmony".

Anonymous said...

Did you know because of "the law" all businesses can deduct "their losses" at tax time?
Oh yeah.
So what this means is BP can deduct $20- 100 billion because they fucked our oceans and they "get help" doing it!
But JUDGE LYNN HUGHES, OIL LAND CZAR, ADORES that "kind of rule".
As someone said, Texans go all the way and don't use a "condom".
Gotta love these
"Christian Rights".

Anonymous said...

There are 11,000 BP stations in America.
Sadly, if you boycott them it has no effect on BP at all. Perhaps its image but what we must do, as in Greyhound Racing, is change "the laws" and those corrupting them.
We MUST enforce regulations.
And finally get rid of coal and oil.
The suffering, the lack of respect for environment, the absolute insensitivity to wildlife and people portrays mobsters out of control.
It is all criminal.
It is all organized crime.
And people powering it must be jailed.
I and millions agree.
"JAILAMONY".