dogged by colloquialisms

today in the new york times they use not one but two different colloquialisms that involve dogs. neither of which is flattering. "wag the dog" is used to imply that the bush administration is doing a little spin doctoring, distracting from turd blossom's problems by announcing his supreme court nominee who, in addition to being a stealth conservative, also has republican congressman helmet hair. the association of dogs with the ability to distract naked apes with shiny new things, or with that crappy movie, is not fair.

the other oft used phrase right now is "dog days" of summer--the days in which we lie around, miserable, because it's too damn hot to do anything else. while i will agree that i spend a great deal of time lying around it is not because i am miserable or too hot to do anything else. it's because i enjoy it. dogs should never be associated with misery.