Hail to thee oh Great One – Protector of the People, Defender of the Dogs:

I’m probably one of your earliest listeners – from when you first started the evening show on WABC back in ’03 (or ’02?), and I have been listening and learning ever since. I have tried to call you a few times, but never was able to get through. Be that as it may, I myself am a dog lover and the proud owner of Strudel, my mini-schnauzer. I have always loved dogs and I actually divorced my ex wife partly because she didn’t want to get a dog. I got rid of her and got a dog, and have never regretted the exchange!

I got Strudel as the result of the 9/11 attacks. On 9/11 I was living and working in close proximity to the WTC, and subsequent to the attacks I moved to NJ for several months while my place was cleaned out, etc. I was very shaken by the attacks (not the first time I have been near an attack, having resided in Israel for close to 20 years and through several wars) and was nervous about coming back to the City alone. So, although I wasn’t allowed to have a dog in the apartment, I managed to get permission to have a dog, based on my fragile mental condition after the attacks. So in January of ’02 I moved back to my downtown place and immediately bought Strudel, who was a tiny puppy of two months. Strudel has given me love, solace, companionship and protection ever since. I like to tell my friends ‘Every night I get a better greeting from Strudel than I got in my 22 years of marriage’.

But I am not writing about Strudel, I am writing about Congo (sp) the dog sentenced to death because he did what is right and natural for every dog, large or small – he protected his masters. And, when you began the story of Kongo, I thought that you would make the connection that I immediately made in my mind, and that I always make in my mind when I hear stories like this: these cases are very similar to the cases of homeowners and storeowners who are prosecuted for using firearms to protect themselves and their families, and it is the same power hungry, nanny state mentality that gives rise to it all: the Statists want to deny ordinary people the right to defend themselves, their family and their property within their own private domains – they want to deny us the most basic human right: To establish a safe home and hearth. A home that cannot be penetrated and destroyed at will by them and the barbarian hordes that they send upon us in wave after wave from all corners of the globe.

As such, it is only fitting and proper that you Oh Great One, should take up the mantle of ‘Defender of the Dogs’, just as you have for these many years been the true Protector of the People.

Please Oh Great One, use your powers to save the life of Congo and so many other loyal dogs that share his bitter fate.

Thank you,

Mikey and Strudel