: [Snipped discussion aboutthe FCC]

: Personally, I have always wondered about the origin of Mickey
: Mouse, his dog Pluto, his canine friend Goofy, and all of
: the rest of those characters created by Walt Disney. Who
: was he?

: And how is it that a talking Mouse can "own" one dog
: and be friends with another? What does that really mean?
: And what is this crap about Bugs Bunny being gay?

: Herein lies a mystery worthy of Rumor Mill News and its best
: Agents. Do cartoons hold the secrets necessary to trip the

: wires which will engaged the spiritual machinery of a new
: Renaissance? Does Betty Boop have a message for us all,
: here in the waning weeks and hours of the 20th Century?

: And what is Pluto, a Planet or a Disney Dog?

Yes, the two approaches to dogs exemplified by Pluto and Goofy have puzzled me too. But since the Disney animals mostly act quite human, it makes sense for them to adopt most human characterisitics, including the owning of pets. So the anthropomorphic nature of Disney animals breaks down when it comes to Pluto, who as a pet is not human-like. It would be even wierder if Goofy, the dog, had a pet dog of his own, which I guess is why he doesn't. Pluto the dog was undoubtedly named for Pluto the planet, which had recently been discovered when the dog was introduced. While we could speculate about the "soulless" pet having a name associated with death and the afterlife, that probably wasn't the intention.

As for Bugs Bunny being "gay", where did you hear that? I never did. But your mention of Betty Boop is interesting because, believe it or not, the character of Betty Boop originally was a dog! At least that is what I have heard. In many cartoons she has a dog whose role is somewhere between being her pet and being her friend.