Thursday - July 06, 2006

Dances With Bulls

Guess what day today is? If you guessed July 6 then you are half-right! Today is the Day Of The Bulls! Every year we are treated to thousands of Spanish idjits running madly through the streets of Pamplona, Spain trying their best not to get GORED (a fate which America narrowly avoided in November of 2000).

In addition, every year we are treated to hundreds of fugly (and some not-so-ugly) PETA activists running nekkid through the streets of Pamplona protesting the “abuse” of the bulls. Tell that to the hombre lying on the ground with his pants ripped open and face all bloody, PETA.

In accordance with our time-honored tradition of bringing you all the idjits who are fit to be tied (nekkid and clothed) we present this year’s PETA/Pamplona Panty Party. You can read about the running of the bulls first then click on the “Continue Reading” button to see all the nekkid protesters at this year’s soiree in Spain. The PETA Party is hidden from the main page because, as usual, it is probably not safe for work. Comprende, hombre?

Pamplona, Spain - July 6, 2006 - The Annual Running Of The Bulls

The running of the bulls in Pamplona Spain was first made famous in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. Since then, tourists have flocked to the Basque town of Pamplona Spain every June to sing, dance, drink, and careen down the town’s cobbled streets with a herd of angry and confused bulls charging behind them during the running of the bulls Pamplona. The encierro—as the actual running of the bulls Pamplona is known—is only one part of the Festival of San Fermin. The non-stop celebration beings at midday on July 6 and continues around the clock until midnight on July 14. During the running of the bulls Pamplona goes completely wild.

In Pamplona Spain, the encierro begins each morning at eight, when six bulls are released from their corral near the Plaza Santo Domingo, and careen—sometimes wildly, sometimes like they’re out for a Sunday stroll—through the streets to the bullring. Running in front, beside, and sometimes below the beasts, are hundreds of locals and tourists wearing traditional white outfits with red bandanas.

To watch the running of the bulls Pamplona it’s essential to arrive at around 6 am. The best places to watch the Pamplona bull run is near the starting point around the Plaza Santo Domingo or the wall leading to the bullring. If you have the stamina and guts to participate in the running of the bulls Pamplona, remember that every year someone gets hurt or killed. So, after you’ve propped up your courage with a shot of Pacharan—the local moonshine—head to the starting point at Plaza Santo Domingo, where at a few minutes to eight the course is opened and you can take your preferred place along the route.

Two rockets are fired to signal that the Pamplona bull run has begun—and to signal your heart to start beating at twice its normal rate! The first rocket signals that the bullpen has been opened, the second means that all the bulls are running. As soon as the first rocket takes flight you can start running, but if you navigate the course at the head of the pack and arrive in the stadium well before the bulls, you will be met with a chorus of lusty boos from the spectators waiting in the stadium. If you wait until the second rocket you are more likely to get closer to the bulls. Just remember if you try to escape the course before the encierro is over you’ll be pushed right back into the streets.

Animal rights activists protest running of the bulls in Pamplona
_{(EITB - BASQUE NEWS) - 07/05/2006}

Animal rights activists _ some wearing just underwear or even less _ sprinted through Pamplona Wednesday to protest the running of the bulls, two days before this year’s edition of Spain’s most famous festival gets under way. The sponsor, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said more than 1,000 nude activists took part in the human run, now in its fifth year.

Some women ran topless or in panties and bras, and most of the men were in their underwear at least. One man was naked except for a makeshift loincloth. The run proceeded along part of the route that will see thrillseekers dash ahead of a pack of six fighting bulls and six meek steers starting Friday for eight days. The protesters shouted slogans against the running of the bulls and against bullfighting in general as they made their way to the gate of Pamplona’s bullring, where the procession ended.

The bulls that take part in the running are corraled at the bullring and killed in bullfights later in the day. “Bullfights are a cruel tradition that may have made sense two centuries ago. But these days they are only a display of cruelty that only denigrates us as human beings,” PETA’s Spain coordinator Francisco Vázquez Neira said in a statement.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/06/2006 at 02:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Stoopid-People •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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