The title says it all really. The country sensation took her rightful place alongside country’s biggest stars this week in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Emmylou, for this well-deserved honor, and thanks again for everything that you do for animals.

Update: Click here to read PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s Op-Ed in The Virginian Pilot about why PETA brought Vick into the office.

Contrary to recent news reports, there is absolutely no agreement with Michael Vick to appear in a PETA public service announcement. However, we are in discussion with his representatives to do a PSA that would take the issue of dogfighting head on, dogfighter to dogfighter. But it would be under the strictest of guidelines. The script we discussed was:

“Look at me. I have lost everything—my career, my income, respect, friends. I’ve hurt my family, and I am an object of scorn. My life is ruined. I have gone from being a star to the gutter, and now I’m going to jail. Don’t be a loser like me. If you fight dogs, stop. And if you don’t, don’t start.”

If Vick were to do this, we would be very pleased. Short of that, it’s not happening. But what do you think? Should Michael Vick do a PSA directed at potential dogfighters to send the message that if you fight dogs, you will lose everything?

Sportinglife/Creative Commons

This week, one of my favorite sports events of the year is taking place: Wimbledon, the grand-daddy of professional tennis tournaments. I love it for several reasons: it takes place in England (I am British after all), they play on grass, which is the absolute height of civility if you ask me, and this year marks the first year that the prize money for women and men is equal, which is pretty cool. The main reason I’m so into Wimbledon this year, however, is that they are offering a live webcast, so I can keep up with the action (read: watch Amelie Mauresmo) while I slave away over this blog.

So now that you know that I love Wimbledon—and Amelie Mauresmo—more than is healthy for any man, I guess you know what I’ll be doing this weekend. And one of the high points for me is always the fact that John McEnroe is the commentator. The guy had an amazing career as a player and now brings perfect balance and a nice edge to his coverage of the genteel sport of tennis. It’s just plain fun to listen to the man.

IMGSpeakers/Creative Commons

And in case you haven’t seen it, McEnroe starred in this amazing spay/neuter PSA for us. I think he’s perfect in it.

So yeah, don’t call me on Sunday afternoon. I’ll be watching my girl Amelie kick ass and listening to McEnroe talk about it.

A little while back, I wrote about the worldwide competition that the Young Guns ad agency held for people in the advertising industry to make a new PETA PSA. The official winner of that contest was "Your Parents Do It: Don't Block It Out", a brilliant idea put together by the BBDO Agency in Montréal. But over the past few weeks, we've been tallying up votes from our "People's Choice" portion of the contest, and the winner has just been announced. I like that they picked a chicken for this one, because these birds (who aren't even protected by the same inadequate anti-cruelty laws that apply to other farmed animals) have pretty much the roughest deal of any animal on the planet. The ad really speaks volumes, in a darkly humorous sort of way. Check it out—and, if you haven't already, you can see all the runners-up here.