Pit bulls and children do not mix
Posted
May 31, 2006 at
9:33 am by
Jessica
People own pit bulls to use as a weapon and if you’re part of the few that doesn’t own a pit bull to use a weapon, then know you’re amongst the majority of trash that does. Nobody thinks, “Gee, a pit bull would be a GREAT family dog.”
A pug is a great family dog, a pit bull is not.
In fact, why not just go out and get your family a bear or a tiger? And if you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where one of your neighbors owns one of these weapons of mass destruction, then do yourself a favor and move (your property value will quickly decline with pit bulls running around anyway) or get your village to sign an ordinance banning these animals.
Children deserve better.
From the website dogbitelaw.com, here are some stats on dogs that kill:
As stated above, there are two problems that have been reported as though there is only a single problem, namely there are canine homicides (i.e., dog bite related human fatalities) and the dog bite epidemic. The dogs responsible for the bulk of the homicides are pit bulls and Rottweilers:
“Studies indicate that pit bull-type dogs were involved in approximately a third of human DBRF (i.e., dog bite related fatalities) reported during the 12-year period from 1981 through1992, and Rottweilers were responsible for about half of human DBRF reported during the 4 years from 1993 through 1996….[T]he data indicate that Rottweilers and pit bull-type dogs accounted for 67% of human DBRF in the United States between 1997 and 1998. It is extremely unlikely that they accounted for anywhere near 60% of dogs in the United States during that same period and, thus, there appears to be a breed-specific problem with fatalities.” (Sacks JJ, Sinclair L, Gilchrist J, Golab GC, Lockwood R. Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998. JAVMA 2000;217:836-840.)
Other breeds were also responsible for homicides, but to a much lesser extent. A 1997 study of dog bite fatalities in the years 1979 through 1996 revealed that the following breeds had killed one or more persons: pit bulls, Rottweilers, German shepherds, huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Doberman pinschers, chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards and Akitas. (Dog Bite Related Fatalities,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 30, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 21, pp. 463 et. seq.)
Owners of such dogs should be aware that if their dogs attack a person, the attacks may be scrutinized by law enforcement. The reason is that irresponsible behavior with or toward a dog whose breed is known to bite has caused a rising and unacceptable injury and death toll, which authorities are determined to stem.
“Irresponsible behavior” is defined differently from place to place. In California, for example, it can be a felony for a person to possess a dog trained to fight, attack or kill that, because of the owner’s lack of ordinary care, bites two people or seriously injures one person. (See Felony prosecution of attack dog owners.)
In different parts of the United States at the current time, there are a number of parents who are on trial for manslaughter because their dogs have killed their children. In these cases, the prosecutors have taken the position that the parents behaved irresponsibly because they left their children in the company of dogs most likely to bite.
There is an 8 out of 10 chance that a biting dog is male. (Humane Society of the United States.)
And here is the tragic story, brought to us by WTHR-Indianapolis, that tells a true account of just one out of thousands of tragedies that involve a child mamed or killed by a vicious dog each year. As a society, we fight for safer streets, safer schools, safer immunizations, safer foods, environment, homes, cars and so on, we need to keep diligent and advocate for restrictions on those dogs that are most likely to kill a child. People cannot be trusted to keep your children safe from their dogs. If you think that the kind of person that chains up a pit bull or a rottweiler in their yard is of a certain level of sophistication who keeps innocent people in mind, then your are sorely mistaken.
Indianapolis - A toddler’s life is on the line after a pit bull attack. The victim’s family wants the owner held accountable.
It happened Friday afternoon in the 13-hundred block of South Belmont near Lambert Street on the city’s southwest side.
Police say the animal took control of the toddler and wouldn’t let go. His young victim’s blood was still on it’s snout while teams at Riley Hospital worked to save 2-year-old Amaia Hess.“She sustained serious injury to her face and it appears she may have been bitten on other parts of her body too. One of her eyes is missing at this point. The other eye is seriously injured,” said Sgt. Mathew Mount of the Indianapolis Police Department.
The little girl was in the stroller with her mother. A man opened his door and the dog, named Ozzie, ran out straight for the little girl.
“I seen the baby in the dogs mouth and the dog shaking the baby like a rag doll, just shaking, shaking, shaking,” said a witness.
Amay’s great uncle calls her a sweet loving child facing a long struggle.
“One eye was completely tore out but the pupils were good so they can do some reconstruction on that,” said the uncle. “The doctors said that there’s many many surgeries there to do.”
It’s the second pit bull biting at the house in a year.
Tags: dog-attacks, dogs, family-dogs, fighting-dogs, pets, pit-bull-terriers, pit-bulls, Social Issues Comments (999) |
Formula prohibition squelched, for now…
Posted
May 30, 2006 at
8:52 am by
Jessica
Last week, the subject of my weekly column was about the proposed policy to ban infant formula samples in Massachusetts hospitals (thereby making it the first state to implement such a ban). This raised serious concerns for me as special interest groups continue to try to legislate morality on both sides, however, this particular argument undoubtably comes from the left. America is in an ideological civil war between the advocation of socialism/communism and a the freedom in which this country was founded on.
Also last week, The Boston Globe reported that Mitt Romney had gained a victory over stopping the formula prohibition, for now…
In a victory for Governor Mitt Romney , the state’s public health commissioner announced yesterday that hospital maternity wards in Massachusetts can continue to hand out gift bags with samples of infant formula. Last winter, the Public Health Council had imposed a ban on the bags, but then, at Romney’s urging, it reversed its decision and ordered further study.
The five months of debate over gift bags with formula crystallized scientific and political issues regarding both breast-feeding and the Public Health Council, which governs the state Department of Public Health.
To public health specialists and powerful members of the Legislature, the episode demonstrates the perils of politics intruding into healthcare.
The battle in keeping your sacred right to make sensible parenting decisions that are best for your family are still on trial. The decision could easily be over-turned as Democrats step in to reorganize the Public Health Council of Mass. to make it more politically and special interest driven. This should concern breastfeeding advocates wanting to prohibit moms from receiving formula in hospitals. There is a very small step between formula prohibition and perhaps making something that they cherish, perhaps the lawful ability to breastfeed in public, and put that on trial with a panel of let’s say, formula manufacturers. What makes one acceptable parenting decision better than someone elses acceptable parenting decision?? Where are breastfeeding advocates telling me what I should or shouldn’t be doing with my breasts?? Why are they trying to create policy and legislature that forces their political beliefs on me??
Government is overstepping their bounds here and even though it may feel like a victory to moms that think everyone should breastfeed, they should be careful what they wish for.
Quite frankly, it makes me feel totally violated. Formula feeding moms need to start sticking up for themselves and making a stink over their rights too, otherwise you can lay down and allow extremists to make your decisions and treat you as if you are too stupid and ignorant to make good choices. It’s insulting and nobody should tolerate it.
Now the Massachusetts government overturned the Govenors authority to appoint people to the Public Health Council in efforts to try to create a political climate where the government can and will make parenting decisions for you. First we ban formula from hospitals, next it will be available by prescription only and then the women who truly need it will have to justify her actions in the court of zealotry and politcal scrutiny. If you disagree with the government, well then, you might just have to pay the price and be treated like the controlled peasant that you’re allowing yourself to be. Does this not concern anyone? Are we that lazy that we are just going to lie down and take it and conform to injustices just because we don’t have the will to fight back?
Thank goodness for people like Mitt Romney, otherwise this just might set a precedence that could lead this country down a slippery slope that further errodes democracy.
In April, Romney vetoed the proposal to change the composition of the Public Health Council, but the Legislature overrode him.
A Romney spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said yesterday that the governor still objects to the future changes in the council’s composition, but that the administration will leave further consideration of the issue to the next administration, which will be in place when the shift happens.
“Our view is that it is clearly unconstitutional in that it transfers the governor’s appointing authority over executive branch functions to unaccountable private organizations,” Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail message.
Health Care for All , which advocates equal access to medical services throughout the state, will have a seat at the council’s table next year.
Its executive director, John McDonough , who spent a dozen years in the Legislature, said that starting with the administration of William F. Weld , the Public Health Council has been increasingly subject to political pressures.
“The appointees seem to have been appointed more for connections and political favors and less for the experience and talent they bring to bear,” McDonough said.
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Memorial Day picture still makes me cry…
Posted
May 29, 2006 at
7:58 am by
Jessica
For you skeptics who don’t believe, snopes.com puts it all into perspective…
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. — John Stuart Mill
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Torturing adoptive child to death gets rewarded with suspended sentence
Posted
May 26, 2006 at
7:13 am by
Jessica
I’m going to start calling these suspended and light sentences, “rewards”. Even the Russians think we’re whacked, and this coming from a country where an astronomical amount of children are abandoned to orphanages.
If you’re not familiar with this story, an American woman and her husband adopted a Russian baby some years ago and then tortured the 2 year old with blunt trauma to the head and the abdomen. The toddler lived in pain and agony for one day after her adoptive mother attacked and murdered the toddler.
We are sending the wrong message to people that hurt, mame, torture and kill small children.
Suspended sentence? Are you kidding me???? Apparently, all it takes is admiting you’re an alcoholic and the moronic public deems it as an acceptable excuse.
For the murder of her 2-year-old adopted Russian daughter, Peggy Sue Hilt will serve 25 years in jail, under a sentence imposed yesterday by a Prince William County judge.
“I think your conduct, at its core, is inexplicable, completely inexplicable,” Circuit Court Judge William D. Hamblen said. “The child’s death was not the product of a single act, a single blow. Her injuries were the result of a course of conduct over an extended period of time.”
And only Hilt, he added, knows the extent of it.
Hilt, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March after telling police that she punched, kicked and choked Nina Hilt at their Wake Forest, N.C., home during a rage in July. The child died a day later in Prince William, where the family was visiting friends.
“I hurt Nina,” Hilt told authorities at the time. “I choked her, and I hit her and hit her.”
The Prince William case has affected other U.S. families hoping to adopt. Russian officials initially called for a moratorium on U.S. adoptions after the death of Nina, who was the 14th adopted Russian child killed in the United States. Several Russian journalists were at the courthouse yesterday.
“It took a long time to kill the child,” Ebert said, adding that it was “a horrible, horrible case.”
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Babies need complimentary accessories too
Posted
May 25, 2006 at
7:48 am by
Jessica
Baby Chic 101 turns parents on to the Fluerville highchair which makes a minimalist statement, combined with the high level of sophistication and maturity that every baby exudes in their infinite wisdom and interior design sense. It’s an accessory that’s bound to have other babies saying, “Well, la-dee-da!”
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