ohmidog!

Editors note: Before shouting, screaming, crying or firing off an angry email or comment — as many have done – please read this entire post.

Examiner.com is reporting what it’s calling a “national outrage” — that Michael Vick has gotten a dog.

” …the latest cosmic injustice in the up-and-down saga of Michael Vick takes the cake … Judge Herman Wilton, who presided over Vick’s 2007 trial, has rescinded his order that Vick never again be permitted to own a dog. Vick is now the proud owner of a Beagle named HutHut.”

“The judge’s reasoning, if it can be called that, is (1) that Vick has been thrilling football fans with his play, (2) that he has won over the hearts and minds of the people of Philadelphia, and (3) that his young daughters really wanted a dog.”

The source for the Examiner report? The Weekly World News. The same people, or at least the latest incarnation of the publication, that brought us Bat Boy, Elvis sightings and predictions of an apocalypse at least every month.

Apparently, the Weekly World News and its playful reputation are fading from public memory — at least enough that a blogger for Examiner.com saw this report and took it at face value.

Even with such clearly doctored photos as this one, many people bought it — judging from the comments both on the Weekly World News piece and the Examiner’s. (The Examiner piece has since been taken offline.)

This proves three things. One, there is no limit to how gullible some people are. Two, legitimate newspapers had their place (bring them back). Three, this Internet thing, all this cutting and pasting and regurgitating what other people have said — at least when the original source is not one to be trusted, when the facts are not checked – is giving truth a beating.

In its paper version, on the grocery store checkout line, it was always clear to most people that the Weekly World News was a purveyor of hoaxes, sometimes mean spirited, sometime delightful.

I once went to its Florida offices to do a story on the collection of characters that put it out, in a backroom of the National Enquirer. They were a fun and creative group — from the grizzled editor to the artist who came up with Bat Boy, and insisted of course, like a professional wrestler, that the monster was real.

On the Internet, though, which is the only place where a semblance of it still exists, the Weekly World News pops up in searches just like any other publication, with no indication that it’s dispatches are meant in fun — and a slogan that even reads “The World’s Only Reliable News.”

The Weekly World News report quotes  William Tacatoo (no such person), president of the Humane Society of the Pennsylvania (no such organization), as saying he has been around Vick a good deal over the last two years and feels confident Vick would be a great pet owner: “He loves dogs, he really does.”

It quotes West Virginia Judge Herman Wilton (no such judge) as saying he lifted the order banning Vick from owning dogs in the interest of the quarterback’s daughters:  ”Ah, come on, we can’t deny the girls a dog.”

It reports that, as soon as the  judge announced his decision, “Vick immediately went out and bought a cute, little beagle.”

Vick, though he has expressed a desire to have a dog, doesn’t have one.

The world is not coming to an end next week.

Elvis is still dead.

Bat Boy, though? I’m still not sure he’s not real.

(Photos: Weekly World News)

A cat named Ugly is drawing stares at an Exeter, New Hampshire vet’s office, where clients say they can’t take their eyes off his striking appearance.

The cat — whose full name is Ugly Bat Boy — is bald some in places, has flowing fur in others, and he passes most of his time spread out on a warm computer.

The cat was part of a litter of four with a sister that looked just like him. That kitten died at only a few weeks old, but that was long enough for the veterinarian, a Dr. Bassett (appropriately enough), to become enamored with Bat Boy.

“The owner knew that I liked the way the sister looked, and I came in from lunch one day and this cat was sitting in a cage, and the owner said Dr. Bassett liked this cat, so that’s it,” Bassett said.

People come in and take pictures of him on their cell phones,” said veterinary employee Christie Hartnett. “The impression from clients that come in is he’s not real because he just sits so still, and when he does move, he scares them, but they think he’s mesmerizing,” Hartnett said.

The office staff was getting so many questions about the cat that they put up a couple of fliers saying he’s about 8 years old and perfectly normal in every way — just ugly.

Ugly Bat Boy, I presume is named after the creature created, er … discovered by the Weekly World News — that Florida publication that was doing fake news long before it was cool, keeping us apprised of the latest sightings of Elvis, aliens, Bigfoot and more. I had the pleasure of visiting and doing a story about about its wacky staff before it went out of business, a reprint of which is still online.

It’s good to see Bat Boy’s name living on in a hideous cat. (Actually, I can see the cat’s inner beauty, just as I saw the seriously misunderstood Bat Boy’s.)

As for Bat Boy, the cat, he has the run of the vet’s office in New Hampshire, and all the attention he can handle, according to a TV news report. “He likes it here,” Bassett said. “He’s comfortable. He likes the people petting him.”

Of course, anything this “ugly” deserves a video. So here it is.