Saturday, July 7, 2007

Unimpressed by the media! Read Mark Cuban's article

Interesting article by Mark Cuban, who made gazillions in the early dot.com days and owns the Dallas Mavericks (whatever they are - I assume a football team). Read Mark's article here. H/T to KC Dog Blog for the link.

It ties somewhat to my rant about global convergence impacting the media, and reader Selma's comments.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Well, well, Sarnia finally gets mobile

You may remember how an at-large pack of hounds trapped a woman in her house and savaged her cats and kittens. Well, Sarnia police have charged the hounds' owner, read about it here.

I don't like the "fail to take reasonable precautions" charge, think the charge should have been tougher. A snip from the Ontario Dog Owners' Liability Act says,

4. (1) A proceeding may be commenced in the Ontario Court of Justice against an owner of a dog if it is alleged that,

(a) the dog has bitten or attacked a person or domestic animal;

(b) the dog has behaved in a manner that poses a menace to the safety of persons or domestic animals; or

(c) the owner did not exercise reasonable precautions to prevent the dog from,

(i) biting or attacking a person or domestic animal, or

(ii) behaving in a manner that poses a menace to the safety of persons or domestic animals. 2005, c. 2, s. 1 (6).

I vote for charges under 4(1)(a) and (b), not just a lame charge under (c).

Is the lame charge so the guy gets to keep his dogs and not have a substantial fine slapped on him?

Throw the book at this guy. Let's see....euthanize the dogs, a lifetime prohibition on dog ownership, a $10K fine and 6 months in jail. And I hope the cats' owners sue this dog owner in civil court. Am I vindictive? You bet.

Contrary to the Fiberals' braying, irresponsible dog owners create problems for the majority responsible dog owners, and it ain't the "pit bulls" that are the problem, it's the irresponsible or criminal person who owns a dog of any breed or type. If irresponsible dog owners aren't appropriately punished, those of us who are responsible dog owners suffer.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Dis 'n dat for July 3rd

Bits and scraps that must be mentioned...

1. In an article about the tragic death of a toddler allowed to wander unsupervised up to a tethered dog, read it here, the Ottawa Citizen pulled a complete nonsequitur by sticking in a paragraph about the "pit bull" ban. The same article also says, "nobody has died since the implementation of the ban". I guess the man in southeastern Ontario and the children on western reserves who died from dog attacks were nobodies to the Citizen - popularly known as the Sh*tizen.

2. In another article about the toddler's sad, unnecessary and entirely preventable death, the Toronto Star referenced an animal rights publication as its source for "facts" in an article on July 3rd. Check out the last paragraph, read it here. What, the Star couldn't afford to get real facts? The Red Star must be really sinking into the sunset if it's reduced to quoting some obscure west coast AR publication.

3. I take it the good ole' boy network still operates in Sarnia. AC makes a big splash about grabbing a mother dog and her pups on the grounds that they're "pit bulls", but does nothing, nada, zilch about a hound pack that trapped a woman in her house and savaged her cats. I can just see all the toothless good ole' boys slapping each other on the back and swigging from jugs. Hear those banjoes play. IMHO, Sarnia sucks.

4. Environment MInister and Liberal MPP (I'm gagging) Laurel Broten is apparently scaling down her garage from two stories to one. I'm not impressed. It took media pressure and public outrage for her to behave reasonably; had she behaved honourably, the entire affair would not have occurred because she wouldn't have been so self-absorbed as to ignore the devaluation she was going to cause to elderly neighbours' properties and the hypocrisy endemic in an Environment Minister installing an auto lift in her two-storey garage for whichever of her four vehicles would be in there.

5. Anyone who allows their cat to roam unsupervised and doesn't spay/neuter should be forced to sit in a shelter cage and await death at the end of a needle. Vicious morons.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Vote for Jasmine! She's not a Fiberal!

Jasmine the Staffie has made it to the final round of Pet Idol! Now it's time to vote for her, to make her Canada's first Pet Idol!

Go to the Pet Idol site starting Tuesday, July 3 at 10:00 a.m. and vote daily for Jasmine!

I really, really, REALLY want to see a "banned breed" dog win this competition. I've put a reminder in my Outlook so I'll vote daily...hope you do, too!

Good letter slamming Broten

This letter writer, Jonathan Bancroft-Snell, hits most of the high points in nine sentences. Read it here.

ON remedy hearing on "pit bull" ban

Good commentary on Caveat and a excellent summation on chicobandido.

I hope, dearly and truly hope, that the judge sees that the Ontario Liberal breed-specific amendments to the Dog Owners' Liability Act are vague, shoddy, unjust and unfounded, and throws the whole thing to the curb with a hard kick. I don't know if Madam Justice can do that, but that is what I hope.

Pray, people, pray.