Today’s Day by Day cartoon is pretty darn funny.

I missed this but apparently in August 2002, the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that four pit bulls were not vicious. The city’s attorney argued that pit bulls are genetically prone to viciousness, which is a ludicrous claim. The court rightfully ruled that there was no genetic evidence that one breed of dog was more dangerous than another.

There is no scientific way to determine what breed a dog is. Breed identification is based solely on appearance. I think I’ll start telling people that Politically Incorrect Dog is a Chihuahua.

Via HIAHB, comes this story of a dog being attacked by another dog. He wants to know what he can legally do to defend a dog. I think this varies by state. I know in East Tennessee that if a dog is on your property uninvited, you can pretty much shoot it. I don’t know if that’s the law, but it is common practice. If my pup was attacked by a large, unrestrained dog, I would kill the dog before allowing mine to die. Otherwise, I’d try to stop the fight then call animal control.

On dog fights:

First, try to avoid them. Don’t let your dog out of your yard unless he’s on a leash with you. If he is on a leash, learn the signs. Remember, some dog owners aren’t as responsible as you and will let their dogs run wild in neighborhoods. Dogs fight for dominance and territory (fighting over food is typically a dominance issue). If two dogs meet, the following can indicate a pending fight:

Hackles raised on one or both dogs (he’s scared) and may attack.

Snarling, growling, and barking.

Staring at each other.

Butt sniffing can lead to fights. A dog who is typically dominant doesn’t appreciate his butt being sniffed.

A dog licking the inside of another dog’s mouth. This is a dominance display in which one dog tries to get the other to spit up his food.

A dog on a leash or tied to something is more likely to fight. They feel restrained and will attack out of fear.

No matter what signs you learn, some times dogs will just attack each other without provocation. They’re that way.

Socialize your dog. Take him to the park, PetsMart, or anywhere he can meet dogs. Make sure you have him on a choke collar. When he approaches a dog and acts appropriately, praise him. If he attacks another dog or displays aggressive behavior, give him a correction by snapping his leash and tell him No!

Breaking up a fight:

Unless you fear a dog will die, it’s probably best not to get into the fray. You can get hurt if two big dogs are going at it. Dogs will rarely fight to the point they kill each other. It does happen though with poorly socialized dogs and rescue dogs that were rescued from dog fighting operations. Dog fighting rescue animals usually make fine pets, but don’t play well with other dogs. Avoid letting them come into contact with other dogs until you know they’re over this little problem (they may never get over it). Typically in a fight, one dog will submit pretty quickly (lays down, pees on himself) and it’s all over but the crying. But if you must break one up:

Your dog should be on a leash. Pull him away. If the other dog is unrestrained, stepping between them could be bad. If your dog is on a leash, and you pull him away and the other dog continues it’s attack, kick the attacking dog as hard as you can right in the jaw (or anywhere you can reach). If you have pepper spray, use it. If you run, the dog will chase. Stand your ground then walk calmly away.

Yelling loudly at both dogs can sometimes be effective but don’t count on it.

The easiest way to break a fight up is with a water hose. Spray them, they will quit. Of course, hoses aren’t always available.

Pick up a dog’s back legs and drag it back. This is only effective if you have someone who can grab each dog. If you pull one off, the other may continue to attack.

Hit the attacker with a stick or whatever is lying around.

When you get the fight stopped, separate the dogs immediately.

If you want to introduce your dog to another dog, it is best to do so on neutral ground. Take the dogs someplace where neither of them lives, there is no food, and there is plenty of space. By doing this, you’ve eliminated the territory issues and some dominance issues. This will avoid unnecessary dog fights.

One last thing, be smart. My dog looks intimidating, even though he is a sweetheart. But if he gets in a fight, he will be viewed as the bad guy because of his breed (American Bulldog). In this day of soccer mom nannyism, it doesn’t matter that the Golden Retriever started it. My dog is the bad guy because he looks a certain way. I am very cautious when I introduce Politically Incorrect Dog to any other dog. I don’t worry about his behavior, I worry about the other dogs’ behavior.

Damn Foreigner has moved. Make a note of it.

Publicola discusses handloading at the Shooters’ Carnival.

Chris, his attempt at belittling me aside, has more on campaign contributions. A very good read I have to say. It does prove my point that the highest dollar value contributions go to the Democrats:

What those numbers tell us is the political skew of a very slim top percentile — the very rich.

That would fit my (and most folks’) definition of the richest.

The exchange is confusing to follow, so I suggest you read this in this order:

For Tom
Fat Cats
Party of the Rich
Lies, Damn Lies and . . .

And this post you’re currently looking at.

And I wasn’t rebutting Chris’ post, I just think we disagree on what constitutes rich and richest.

By the way, he must be right because his chart is prettier than mine. Nice job.

Barry has the scoop on how awful it is.

His site is bloggered, head down to Walking in Darkness, Looking for the Light.

Denver has confiscatory breed specific legislation:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to own, possess, keep, exercise control over, maintain, harbor, transport, or sell within the city any pit bull.

(b) Definitions.

(1) An “owner,” for purposes of this chapter, is defined as any person who owns, possesses, keeps, exercises control over, maintains, harbors, transports or sells an animal.

(2) A “pit bull,” for purposes of this chapter, is defined as any dog that is an American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of any one (1) or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards established by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club for any of the above breeds. The A.K.C. and U.K.C. standards for the above breeds are on file in the office of the clerk and recorder, ex officio clerk of the City and County of Denver, at City Clerk Filing No. 89457.

Howard Margolius has had his dog taken and has subsequently relocated her:

Animal control took my dog away simply because of her looks and kept her in a cell for 4 days.

Cyan is sweet and loving and would only LICK you to death!

I have moved her out of the city otherwise they would of KILLED her! AND I cannot have my dog unless I too move.

Im looking to move only a few miles away where she is legal…yes only a few miles away.

And Cyan is a cutie!

Howard is advocating a petition against BSL in Denver.

I’ve addressed the problems with BSL before.

Go sign the petition and Howard, I wish you the best of luck!

Chris does some digging regarding my post on Democrats being the party of the rich. He compares presidential contributions greater than $200 and greater than $2,000. He rightly points out that the article has issues. But comparing contributions of $2,000 doesn’t indicate fat cats, unless his definition of a fat cat is different than mine.

So, via OpenSecrets, I compared the parties with Republican data and Democrat data as follows:

The top 20 contributors show that high dollar donors give $44,674,795 more to the Democrats. It takes the top five Republican donors to exceed the Democrat’s number one donor. It’s also ironic that the DNC makes the Democrat top 20 but the RNC doesn’t make the Republican top 20.

So, as I said before, they’re both the party of the rich. The Democrats are just the party of the richest.

Justin addresses the question of Hey Justin, where you be? What did you think about the “Total Recall” and Arnold?

His answer:

I will probably quit blogging about anything political per se because everyone has a fucking opinion and no amount of blogging will change it no matter what side of the fence they sit on politically.

Also, I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers that I regularly read slacking off in the frequency of their posts. Additionally, most blog readers are, well, other bloggers. I guess blogging is slowly losing its coolness.

Never fear gentle reader, your humble host here blogs to entertain himself. I still find it entertaining and will continue to do so.

Tom asked me to provide a link after my assertion that Democrats receive more large contributions from wealthy folks. Here goes:

A new study by the Center for Responsive Politics found that in the last election cycle, people who gave less than $200 to politicians or parties gave 64 percent of their money to Republicans. Just 35 percent went to Democrats. On the other hand, the Center found that people who gave $1 million or more gave 92 percent to Democrats — and a whopping eight percent to Republicans.

A link to gun ethics is posted at the Carnival.

Newsday:

For farmers in Uganda, AK-47 assault rifles are used instead of spears. In Somalia, weapons are so common that some children are named “Uzi” or “AK.” In countries such as Iraq, there is more than one gun per person.

These findings were included in a report released Thursday by Amnesty International, Oxfam and another group as they launched a campaign in more than 50 countries aimed at controlling what they call a dangerously unregulated global arms trade that routinely allows weapons to reach repressive governments, human rights abusers and criminals.

The report said the possession of increasingly lethal weapons is becoming an integral part of daily life in many parts of the world. It also said that the U.S.-led war on terror, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, has “fueled weapons proliferation rather than focusing political will on controlling arms.”

But here’s the scary part:

The “Control Arms” campaign — launched by the three groups at news conferences around the world Thursday — focuses on promoting a new international treaty covering arms transfers, as well as a number of regional and local measures designed to limit arms proliferation and misuse.

The groups began a petition drive aimed at gathering 1 million signatures supporting their draft international Arms Trade Treaty, which they hope to have adopted by the United Nations and its member countries by 2006.

Via Glenn, comes news of black leaders being angry over Ghettopoly:

Cheap Trick Avenue instead of Boardwalk? Hernando’s Chop Shop instead of Reading Railroad?

Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called “Ghettopoly” that has “playas” acting like pimps and game cards reading, “You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50.”

This I found funny too:

Shine displayed the game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, and squares labeled Smitty’s XXX Peep Show, Weinstein’s Gold and Platinum, and Tyron’s Gun Shop.

I’m sure the black leaders are upset at the non-black stereotypes listed above too.

Insty says he should link me more often. I agree. How ’bout it?

Oh, he just did. That guy, always one step ahead.

Seriously, I appreciate any links to me. And thanks to those who do.

Somehow, I left off Feces Flinging Monkey from my last blogroll update. Added and you should be reading.

My wife and I attend a Presbyterian church. I’m not particularly Presbyterian but at least they leave out all that gay bashing and drinking is evil nonsense that pollutes some local Baptist churches, which is why I like them. It turns out that the Presbyterian Church USA supports renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban.

I imagine my tithing will cease immediately and I’ll likely be converting. The wife is going to be a bit angry when I explain this one to her.

My soul or my principles? Blah, without principles, you have no soul.

Update: I was wrong.

I saw this at Lean Left and dismissed it as spoilsport, sore loser nonsense. Then I saw it at Jay and Jane’s and decided I’d comment. Here’s the quote:

So what’s next? The California recall is just the latest in a lengthening string of naked power grabs that reveal the cankered soul at the top of the Republican party these days. Even leaving aside Florida 2000, we’ve seen unprecedented mid-decade redistrictings in both Colorado and Texas; campaigns that compare Democrats directly to Osama bin Laden; an indecent and truly morally bereft performance following Paul Wellstone’s death; the end of the traditional blue slip rule for judicial nominees in the Senate — because control of both houses of Congress and the White House and most of the judiciary isn’t enough for them; and the Valerie Plame affair, a scandal that, I think, is truly an “At long last sir, have you no decency?” moment.

Politics is dirty pool. All the way around. Seems he’s just upset the Democrat dirty pool of various sex scandals didn’t work. Hell, we had 8 years of Clinton to get the American public apathetic towards sex scandals. After all, that’s what the Dem party line was for 8 years: It’s just a blowjob. Regardless of the fact that Clinton’s sex life was also about lying, perjury, sexual harassment, groping, and Clinton paying Jones $850K to go the Hell away. Democrats got their wish and sex scandals aren’t a big issue in politics and it’s bitten them square in the ass. Beautiful.

Republicans are the party of the rich? Yeah, I see all those poor, starving Democrat politicians scraping to get by. Democrats get most of their funding from large dollar value donors whereas Republicans get their money from many middle class voters and the wealthy. They’re both the party of the wealthy. So can we all please acknowledge that and drop the class warfare nonsense?

If the roles were reversed, I think Democrats would be saying nanny nanny boo boo. As it stands, they’re hearing nanny nanny boo boo and, after last November, it has a loud, dull ringing to it.

Eric addresses some issues with the recall. Particularly insightful is this:

Arnold Schwarzenegger was a fluke — for the simple reason that he was able to successfully bypass the tyrannical, yes evil, primary system. He could never have survived the primaries to become the Republican candidate — precisely because he is in touch with reality, and in touch with the thinking of the majority of Californians.

The KNS reports:

Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith said Wednesday the number of drive-by shootings has significantly decreased over the last eight years, and so has gun violence.

The chief said concerned citizens who called in to tell officers where the criminals were made the difference.

“I wish I could say my officers had a lot to do with it,” Keith said Wednesday. “The community had the most to do with it. They said enough was enough.”

Also, in 1996, Tennessee became a shall issue carry permit state. I think maybe this coupled with the 40 year low murder rate may indicate a pattern.

The Michigan State University Olin Health Center has this wonderful diagram instructing folks how to put condoms on . . . with their mouths.

Via Pat Gang.

Some newbies to the blogroll (you should be reading them too):

Rocket Jones
Classical Values
Indigo Insights
Robert Prather
Gut Rumbles

And by newbies, I don’t mean new to blogging just new to me.

Arnold, if you ever need advice on the state of California or want to grope another girl, call me.

-Porn star and California Gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey

From WBIR:

A judge dismissed charges against three people accused in the largest crack cocaine seizure in Hawkins County because an official arrived with the search warrant after investigators had entered a defendants’ house.

Sessions Court Judge David Brand ruled evidence in the search was illegal because of the delay.

The defendants — all from Michigan — were released from the Hawkins County Jail.

I’d like to see a counter suit against the police now. Sure, these drug dealers aren’t model citizens but the authorities should know (and act) better.

The Sierra Times writes:

Up until Sept. 26, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale was the primary official catching all the heat about parking passes for the city-county parking garage.

All public parking for the garage, located under the city-county building in Knoxville, TN, was suspended because of so-called “terrorist” threats.

The city, citing concern with elevated security threats, limited the city-county parking access to select city-county employees.

After threat levels were dropped, the city-county refused to reopen the parking garage to the public.

The official reasons for the closed parking blew higher than a terrorist bomb on Sept. 26. That’s the day Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchinson became the bad guy in the parking hot-seat.

The sex scandal aside, do they really think that Al Qaeda is going to target the City-County Building?

The sex scandal, however, does illustrate Sheriff Tim’s continued scandalous behavior.

Gallup says that 45% still think the media is too liberal.

Though it seems sad on the surface that it takes an action movie star to get a high voter turnout in the California recall, there could be one good result. I assume that Arnold has a fan base (movie fans, bodybuilding fans) that voted for him. The effect could be that people who have never really paid attention to politics or voted may now start paying attention and voting because one of their idols is now involved.

Anything that gets more people involved in America’s abysmal political scene can’t be all that bad.

Via the Comedian, comes this. MoveOn turned its sheeple loose on Bob McManus by having the same sheeple call him constantly and harass him. MacManus responds with:

Well, that cuts two ways.

“This is Noah Weiner of MoveOn.org,” he said – in a smug have you had enough yet? tone – into voicemail late Thursday. “Please give me a call at (718)832-6459 . . . ”

Get calling.

Jeff has the weekly check on the bias. It deals largely with the big story about the CDC’s heart being broken. The CDC said the study that indicates gun control doesn’t affect crime is inconclusive (i.e., give us more federal funds to study) which has to break their heart.

Mike has gotten to the bottom of the whole Hillary running for president thing that’s been running about.