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Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Aug 10, 2006 | 12:00pm

In the Dog House Now

KA-BOOM: For those of you who regard train wrecks as a spectator sport, we currently have two such collisions unfolding before our very eyes. The first and more obvious crash involves the Santa Barbara News-Press, whose owner Wendy P. McCaw has proven yet again her willingness to cut off her head to spite her face. Citing disgust with McCaw’s poisonous management style, two more reporters walked off the job this past Friday, bringing the number of resigning editors and reporters to 13.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Aug 03, 2006 | 12:00pm

Viva el Perro!

ODDZ-n-ENDZ: In dire days such as these, I make a point to aim for the capillary. If I lunged for the jugular-and actually connected-chances are good I’d drown in the ensuing flood. That’s why I rejoice in the arrival of silly season, in which political campaign managers lob verbal scuds at each other’s candidates when few people are paying attention and even fewer care.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jul 27, 2006 | 12:00pm

Mad Dogz and Englishmen

TOO HOT FOR WOIDS: I know a lot of you are whining about it, but I for one am trying to enjoy our current heat wave. But then, I actually like the humidity-it makes me feel alive. Having been born in Washington, D.C., I grew up with it. Here, I find myself forced to skulk around the back of Laundromats to get my hit of hot wet air, soaking in the thick moisture emitted by the machines inside. Now, it’s everywhere.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Fri Jul 21, 2006 | 12:00pm

Angry Poodle: Shoes On The Other Foot

To steal a line from Mark Twain, the many, varied, and breathless accounts of our demise have been much exaggerated. By that, I am referring to reports that we received a “cease-and-desist” letter from News-Press owner Wendy P. McCaw‘s attorney David Millstein, promptly wet our pants, and then cravenly caved. Please! Give me a break. These are the facts.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jul 20, 2006 | 12:00pm

Dog in the Fog

READ AND WEEP: In a perverse way, I’d like to thank embattled News-Press owner Wendy P. McCaw and her bilious right-hand man Travis K. Armstrong for all the uproar now engulfing the News-Press and the whole town. The sad soap opera unfolding at the De la Guerra Plaza digs of Santa Barbara’s oldest paper has succeeded in diverting our attention-if only a little bit-from the gathering storm clouds of World War III now spreading from Lebanon and Israel. Even for the most defiantly chirpy among us, these are scary times indeed.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Fri Jul 14, 2006 | 4:00pm

Angry Poodle:The Poodle Barks Again

This year’s long, hot, crazy summer just got a lot hotter and crazier, and promises only to get hotter still. This Thursday morning, News-Press reporter Scott Hadly, a well-respected and well-liked eight-year veteran of the embattled newsroom, announced his resignation.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jul 13, 2006 | 9:44am

News-Press Timeline

A chronicle of the events which proceed the July 6, 2006 walkout of six senior News-Press editors and longtime columnist Barney Brantingham, and the fallout in the following week.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jul 06, 2006 | 12:00pm

X-Dogs: The Last Stand

GET ME REWRITE, GUT THE PRESS: Back when I was still a recovering Catholic, the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden used to infuriate me beyond belief. It seemed incredibly unfair that every human born since those two would come into the world indelibly stained with Original Sin just because Adam and Eve disobeyed the Almighty and ate the apple. Under this scenario, we’re all born with three strikes against us; we don’t even get a chance to screw up. But now that I am a fully recovered Catholic and these matters no longer get under my skin, I see the wisdom in such theological pessimism. Its basis – from which all else follows – is the infinite perversity of the human species. The original-sin scenario recognizes that even if we have within our grasp everything we need to be perfectly happy, we’ll mess it all up the very first chance we get.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jun 29, 2006 | 12:00pm

Angry Poodle: An Inconvenient Dog

SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM: Legendary baseball great Satchel Paige once warned, “Don’t look back. They may be gaining.” I’ve got news for Satchel: There ain’t no “maybe” about it. I can feel their fetid breath on the back of my neck, and it’s only getting warmer. This Tuesday, the U.S. Senate came within just one measly vote of celebrating the Fourth of July by torching the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. By that, I’m referring to the 66 U.S. Senators – including California’s ranking Dempublicrat Dianne Feinstein – who voted in favor of amending our Constitution to ban flag burning.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu Jun 22, 2006 | 12:00pm

Canine Couture

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Okay, so it wasn’t Godzilla vs. Mothra, Alien vs. Predator, or even the Mummy vs. the Wolf Man. But by Santa Barbara standards, it was easily the next best thing: John Davies vs. Marshall Rose. Or perhaps John Davies versus the world, which is probably how it seemed at 7:30 a.m. just a few Thursdays ago. What had been billed as a long-awaited PowerPoint wonk fest on how best to get downtown employees to bus, bike, walk, or carpool to work quickly degenerated into a verbal smackdown worthy of the World Wide Wrestling Federation‘s pre-fight theatrics.

Angry Poodle

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