Friday Hound Blogging

Frequent reader(s) of this blog know the true gift of experience is disillusionment...er...we mean know that when it comes to monitoring the overlords' attempts to avoid actually working for a living our reach is worldwide.  OK, Google's reach is worldwide. We merely type in "soulless wastes of protoplasm" while sipping an adult beverage and listening to John Prine tell us to blow up our tee vee and Viola! the intertoobz spew forth story after story about the cruel and barbaric exploitation of innocent living creatures for profit...uh...we mean greyhound racing.

One in particular caught our eye this week concerning an attempt by the rubes to maintain their ability to lose the rent money two dollars at a time in spite of the fact that the track where they did that had succumbed long ago, a victim of economic realities and the growth of community mental health facilities. To our credit we must say that the crack investigative reporting team here at IM Central has been on this story from the very beginning because we know timely reporting and insightful analysis are what you, our readers have come to expect from this blog. Actually, now that we think about it, if you're reading this blog, timely reporting and insightful analysis is probably the last thing you expect, but we don't have a fart joke handy, so on with our story:


It's understood businessman Bob Morton has repeated a £9 million bid to London and Quadrant (L&Q) to buy Walthamstow Stadium, and reintroduce greyhound racing at the famous East London venue. "The track has been closed since 2008, so we figure that's enough time for people to forget what a losing proposition greyhound racing is, and what a deleterious effect it has on the local neighborhood," said a spokesperson for Morton.

The offer follows months of wrangling and uncertainty over the future of the site after L&Q bought the site for a reported £18million. When asked how they could expect L&Q to accept an offer that was half of what they originally paid for the property, Iain Duncan Smith - MP  for Chingford and Woodford Green said, "Do you know what a greyhound track does to property values? They're lucky we aren't making them pay us to take the thing back."

L&Q wants to build around 300 new homes on the site, a modern leisure centre, children’s nursery, allotments and new jobs to meet the needs of local people. Bob Morton wants to reintroduce greyhound racing and provide affordable housing. He has also offered to work with L&Q on providing a mix of affordable housing with a greyhound racing track. When asked how he was going to reopen the track and provide affordable house on land that previously just held the track, Morton replied that "trailers don't take up much room."

Morton also pledged full support to the borough with millions of pounds of private investment creating 1,500 jobs and a sustainable night-time economy." When asked what he meant by "night-time economy," he replied, "Well, you know, hookers and drug dealers and such. The normal jobs created as a result of having a track in the neighborhood."

Yeah, well, we're not quite sure that's what the folks living in the area had in mind by economic development. What do you think Jack?

Jack is very friendly and outgoing. He is playful, but calms quickly and is very gentle with people. He is a bit skittish around strange new sounds. He loves to be around people. He follows his foster family all around the house. He will lean against you for attention. He loves to play with toys and he will fetch. He will pounce on the toy like a cat would. He is a big boy who doesn’t seem to understand his own size. He is a Second Chance at Life Dog from the Coldwater Prison Program.  Jack would do well in a working family home with well-mannered children, 12 and up. He would do best as the only dog in the home. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.

And if you 'd like to know more about the good work the Second Chance for Life program is doing for the dogs, and the prisoners, go here.