The Chronicle informs us of yet another child attacked by a pit bull (fortunately, unlike the other recently publicized attack, this child lived):

A 6-year-old Houston boy spent three hours in surgery Sunday after being bitten in the face by a pit bull, his father said today.

“They stopped counting (stitches) at about 200,” Brandon Palomo said, referring to repairs surgeons did on the face of his son, Logan Palomo, between noon and about 3 p.m. Sunday.

Knowing that this will infuriate the pit bull owners, is it time to ask the question: Should possession of these animals be banned?

What harm would come to society if these dogs no longer existed? Is there some organism on the food chain (other than 6 year old boys) which would propagate to unhealthy proportions without the culling skills of pit bulls?

I am not swayed by pit bull owners who say these dogs are just like other dogs, but are discriminated against. The problem with this argument is that it is false. Even the simplest of research reveals that studies consistently find that a single breed of dog is responsible for more attacks than any other. Guess what that breed is?

Studies show that pit bulls are the breed most responsible for incidents of dog bites, committing between 30% and 50% of all dog attacks. The studies also show that they commit twice to four times the attacks of the next most vicious dog breed. (Anecdotally, I spoke to a police officer who told me that, during his career, well over 90% of dog attacks he personally responded to involved pit bulls.)

So it is not just adverse publicity that makes it seem like pit bulls are more dangerous - it is the facts that show this to be true.

Neither am I impressed by the argument that pit bulls can be great pets, but they require more training, socialization and human interaction than most dogs. That is actually an argument in favor of getting rid of them. If they can’t be relied upon not to kill you without undergoing special training and treatment, why in the world would they be allowed to roam free?

With respect, pit bull owners are not the folks who should decide the fate of this breed. Dog owners, like parents, are protective of their “children.” They say, and truly believe, that there is nothing wrong with their animals, that it is the victim’s fault, or that it is a conspiracy by pit bull haters to paint their animals in a bad light. In fact, a government study suggested that pit bull owners frequently don’t tell the truth when asked about the history of their dogs. They often deny or minimize prior incidents which could be harbingers of future tragedies. In fact, the study suggests that neighbors and acquaintances are far better sources of accurate information about the dog’s behavior than the owners themselves.

On the other hand, some owners of pits involved in attacks can claim, with no evidence to the contrary, that their animals were always loving, gentle creatures who never before exhibited dangerous tendencies. If this is true, isn’t it all the more reason to ban or restrict this breed? After all, if the animal is so unpredictable and volatile that it could attack “out of the blue,” do we really want it chasing frisbees at the back yard barbeque?

A country neighbor of mine is a pit bull owner who trains his dogs to hunt and kill wild hogs. That pit has also been known to kill neighborhood pets. But my neighbor tells me the dog would never hurt a human. That’s what most pit bull owners say - including owners of dogs who attack people. (Though we are friendly, my neighbor is aware that his pits are subject to summary execution if found on my property.)

Rightly or wrongly, many countries and local governments have enacted legislation prohibiting the possession of these dogs. The UK banned the animals in 1991, under something called the Dangerous Dogs Act. Norway long ago banned most pit variants; France has restrictions on who can own them and requires them to be neutered. Harlem, Bronx and Yonkers, NY, instituted bans within the last year. Denver banned the dogs in 2005, as did Queens, NY. Bans have been proposed in the last year in such diverse places as New York City, Tupelo, MS and Richland, Washington.

Based on my personal experience and research on the issue, I have no qualms about any governing jurisdiction considering a ban on these animals in the interest of public safety. This is not because they occasionally bite people - every breed of dog has done this - but because they have proven to be the most dangerous, far and away ahead of any other type of dog. And, the wounds left from such an attack are more severe than those left by most dogs. (This is not just a matter of personal freedom. A man’s rights to do as he please end when his activities endanger others.)

So, you pit bull owners about to blow a gasket, your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to tell the rest of us: (1) Why you own a pit bull despite objective evidence showing them to be far more dangerous than other breeds of dog; (2) Why you could not do without a pit bull just fine; (3) Why you oppose a ban or severe restrictions on ownership of this breed of dog. As an alternative to a ban, would you support civil and criminal liability as to owners of pit bulls who injure others?

FOX News reporting that Bush is about to commute Libby’s prison sentence “within minutes.”

Thank God.

I’ll be honest–the idea of Scooter Libby doing a minute in prison was about to break it with me and this administration. (Yes, I know a lot of you already left the reservation.)

Don your helmets kids… the nutroots is about to explode in unparalleled rage.

UPDATED– Yes, I know about Sandy Berger, and Ramos and Compean, and this isn’t a full pardon, etc. I’m not saying I like every aspect of the decision, just that Libby doing a minute in prison would have been an injustice, and Bush has allowed him to avoid that. For that I’m grateful. Short of subsequently bombing Iran’s nuclear program, I’m not certain I could have fully forgiven anything less.

Did you hear the one about the Aggie biological weapons laboratory?

No, seriously:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suspended Texas A&M University’s federal research on some infectious diseases after two cases in which the school failed to report researchers’ exposure to bioweapons agents.

In a memo sent Saturday, the CDC questioned whether Texas A&M meets safety standards and has an appropriate security plan. It also said federal officials will visit the campus this month to review records and interview key researchers.

Three researchers tested positive for exposure to the weapons agent Q fever in April 2006, two months after another researcher fell ill from contact with the another agent, Brucella, according to documents obtained by an Austin-based bioweapons watchdog group.

University officials waited one year to report the Brucella case to the Centers for Disease Control. The Q fever case still has not been reported. Federal law requires quick reporting of incidents.

Yikes. Get it together, Aggies!

Here we go again. Another Muslim woman refuses to obey the law.

A Muslim woman seeking to contest a speeding ticket in this Georgia city says she was denied access to a municipal courtroom last week for wearing a traditional Islamic head scarf.

Aniisa Karim, 20, said she was told Tuesday that she would not be permitted to enter the courtroom wearing her scarf.

Karim said an officer told her the denial was due to “homeland security reasons.”

Yeah, right, I’m sure that’s what you were told. More like, “Ma’m, please remove the head covering in this American court of law. This is Georgia, where the official religion is NASCAR. See that big guy over there in the corner? We just made him remove his Dale Earnhardt collector’s signature cap. And he didn’t protest.”

So, what’s a good Muslim to do when confronted with such an injustice? What else? Call in the terrorist support group CAIR.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based group, said neither Baker’s office nor the Valdosta city attorney had responded to his group as of Sunday afternoon.

No response is the best response in this case. Ridiculous.

As you all know, Michael Moore’s latest screed is entitled “Sicko” and concerns the American healthcare system. Essentially, Moore ends up presenting anecdote after anecdote about Americans who have suffered either by not having insurance, or by having their claims denied by their insurer. Then he goes off to Canada, France, Britain and Cuba, and presents their healthcare systems as perfection incarnate.

Accordingly, you might have expected all the Canadian reviewers to praise “Sicko,” as most American critics have. However, there is at least one voice of dissention at the Toronto Star’s Peter Howell:

Sicko is . . . completely lacking in journalistic rigour, presenting only the negatives of for-profit U.S. health care and only the positives of the government-run Canadian, British, French and Cuban Medicare programs. As always, Moore makes unsupported assertions and uses out-of-context edits. The film is not a documentary, if that term is to mean anything more than unvarnished propaganda.

Moore’s many apologists, including journalists who should know better, give him a free pass under the “greater good” argument. Who cares if he’s careless about the details or ruthless about his accusations? He’s got a good heart! And he’s funny!

Exactly. He continues:

As violins wail on the soundtrack and Moore’s hushed voice drips sympathy, we gape in horror at travesties of corporate medicine. A bankrupt Denver couple, drained of their life savings by hospital bills, is forced to move into a daughter’s home. A car-accident victim, having been knocked unconscious, is refused compensation for an ambulance because she thoughtlessly neglected to get advance approval for the ride. A man with a severed finger chooses to lose the digit rather than pay the $60,000 it would cost to have it sewn back on.

These and many other sad and shocking stories are contrasted with scenes of the enlightened Utopias in other countries, where Medicare is “free” – if you ignore the fact, as Moore does, that high taxes and long wait times pay for that “free” care.

He once again presents Canadians as the cheery hobbits of North America, who live happily in the shire and look with fear upon the dark place below. Moore manages to find Canadians, including members of his extended family, who wait mere minutes for hospital treatments and surgeries, with no costs and few cares.

These would presumably be the same jolly Canucks he presented in Bowling for Columbine who don’t lock their front doors because there are no gun nuts north of the 49th parallel.

Moore goes golfing with an affluent Canadian who speaks movingly about Medicare and its founder Tommy Douglas. When a disingenuous Moore asks why wealthier taxpayers should pay for their poorer fellow citizens to be healthy, the golfer replies, “Somebody has to look after them.” The man then reveals himself to be a Conservative voter. Uncork the champagne in Ottawa!

No doubt Mr. Howell is himself a supporter of socialized medicine, but Canadians are painfully aware of the problems of their own system (after all, it is theoretically a single-tier system, but the fact is that American hospitals form a second tier for the Canadian wealthy). Moore’s portrayal of Canadian healthcare having low wait times is silly; high wait times for simple tests such as MRI scans are well-documented.

In short, Sicko is a deceptive piece of agitprop being praised by liberals who agree with Moore. They willfully overlook its flaws, which are difficult not to acknowledge, because Moore is (apparently) entertaining. At least a few critics have spoken out, but they are a very small minority.

One final note: Howell gave Sicko two-and-a-half stars, which is considered “thumbs down” on the Siskel & Ebert scale. However, RottenTomatoes.com rates this as a “positive” review in its compilation. Go figure.

Terrible news.

A Spring teen who survived a brutal beating with a pipe last year apparently jumped to his death from a Cozumel-bound cruise ship on Sunday.

An 18-year-old was observed by “a bunch of people” jumping over the railing of the upper deck of Carnival Cruise Lines’ Ecstasy around 7:35 a.m. Sunday, said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers.

Carnival Cruise Lines officials would not confirm his identity, but Rick Dovalina, head of LULAC in Houston, said Sunday night that he learned through the family’s attorney, Carlos Leon, that 18-year-old David Ritcheson has died.

Ritcheson’s death comes less than three months after he testified before Congress about how two teens nearly killed him on April 23, 2006 by repeatedly kicking a patio umbrella stand into his rectum while shouting “white power!”

In an April interview, Ritcheson said he was still struggling with being identified as the victim of the pipe attack. A skinhead named David Tuck, 19, was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the attack. Keith Turner, 18, received a 90-year sentence.

“I shouldn’t care what people think,” David Ritcheson said earlier this year. “But it’s like everyone knows I’m ‘the kid.’ I don’t want to be a standout because of what happened.”

As far as I’m concerned, a murder victim has died from internal injuries 14 months after being attacked.

May David Ritcheson find peace in the arms of a loving God; condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Your eyes do not deceive you; Hamous has joined our merry band of highly-paid and widely respected front-page bloggers.

All Hail the Hambone!

As Al Gore prepares to save the world on July 7, 2007 (7-7-7. Clever, huh?) with his Live Earth concerts, I thought I’d take a look at his mission:

Live Earth will use the global reach of music to engage people on a mass scale to combat our climate crisis.

HIstorically, musical events such as this have been total failures at their stated goals. They probably wouldn’t even happen except that they make a lot of money for record companies. The list of noble causes seems to be endless. Here are a few of the bigger ones:

George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 was the first such event. It raised a whopping $243,000 which was given to UNICEF, and you know how good the UN is at getting money to where it’s really needed. Bangladesh is still as squalid as it was in 1971.

Then there was LIve Aid in 1985, a series of concerts that were billed as helping famine relief in Ethiopia. Most critics agree that the bulk of money raised ended up in the hands of corrupt governments.

Also in 1985, Harry Belafonte, Kenny Rogers, Michael Jackson, and Lionel Richie recorded the song “We Are The World” to benefit USA for Africa. Once again, critics say, most of the money went directly to the governments (often dictators) of the countries, and not the starving masses.

And who could forget Musicians for Free-Range Chickens

What makes Mr. Gore think this event will be any different? Despite what the Global Warmers say, there is no scientific consensus (and the list of skeptics grows daily) that a problem even exists. This is just another event for self-loathing liberals, opportunistic politicians, and narcissistic musicians to feel good about themselves without actually doing anything substantive.

So if you’re feeling guilty about that gas guzzler in your garage just jump on over to Gore’s place and take the Live Earth Pledge. You’ll feel much better; engaged, so to speak:

I PLEDGE:

1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;

2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become “carbon neutral;”

3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;

4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;

5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;

6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,

7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

I’ll refrain from listing the numerous ironies between Gore’s Seven Deadly Pledges and his real-life actions.

Edd Hendee’s Eyes on the Border’s continued success is being noticed again by the news media, in this case the El Paso Times.

Since December, Lopez and two other pilots have been flying an airplane that Eyes on the Border raised money to buy for sheriffs along the Texas-Mexico border.

Lopez and the sheriffs he works with say the plane provides a bird’s-eye view of vast counties, where much of the rugged terrain is unreachable by land vehicle.

“There’s not a whole lot you can see from the pavement,” Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo said.

Which is exactly what Edd noticed during his frequent fact-finding visits to the Texas-U.S. border. And why, being the solutions oriented individual he is, he set out to do something about it.

Houston radio talk-show host Edd Hendee started Eyes on the Border last year. The organization raised more than $100,000 to buy an airplane for sheriffs in Culberson, Hudspeth, Presidio and Jeff Davis counties.

Hendee’s group pays for the aerial operations, but Hendee has said the sheriffs call the shots.

That’s right. A private citizen listened to the needs of local officials and set out to do something about it. And succeeded. What do the local sheriff’s think?

Looking down on the black-brown jagged peaks and arroyos of the Quitman Mountains, Sheriff Carrillo said that before the aerial patrols, about 80 percent of his 3,800-square-mile county was not patrolled.

The area has few roads, he said, and the desert mountains were impassable before the department bought all-terrain vehicles last year.

“We’re probably one of the poorest counties,” Carrillo said. “I think aerial operations were probably not at the top of the priority list.”

From the air, Carrillo can see tiny trails snaking through the mountains, left by immigrants undeterred by death, which could easily find them there.

Now, he said, he can position his deputies to intercept backpackers loaded down with drugs and coyotes guiding would-be workers.

Obviously they are very appreciative of this extra tool that they can use to deter crime. As usual, you have a naysayer here and there.

Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said civilians and sheriffs are not trained or legally authorized to do the work of Border Patrol.

Sheriff’s not trained or authorized to stop drug smuggling? That’s quite a stretch there, Mr. Garcia. You might want to go talk to a few sheriffs about that.

Good work Edd and all of the untrained citizens that donated to the Eyes on the Border!

 

(click pic for story)

——————–

Job Wanted–Prepress production operator seeking day shift position with opportunity to eventually advance into supervisory role. Candidate has over seventeen years experience in the printing industry working in diverse fields from newspaper to high-end clients including Pepsi, Mary Kay Cosmetics, R. J. Reynolds, Donruss Sports Trading Cards, etc.

Applicant has a B.A. in Communication Arts and has a wide range of experiences from graphic design and ad building to preflight and prepress service. Project experience is also widely diverse including packaging, multi-page layout and trading cards. Interested parties should contact candidate with resume request via email at “cchd AT houston DOT rr DOT com”.

——————–

Get paid to tell us what you think– Register to participate in one of our focus groups; earn money telling us what you think about politics, your community and consumer goods. Click here to learn more and sign-up!

——————–

——————–

Dawn Wolf Design– LST’s full-service graphic designer of choice. Talented, professional, competitively priced; a generous LST volunteer, we could not recommend her more highly. | 713-984-9200 | website

——————–