It's about a federal crime.

There are so many race and class implications in dog fighting that I cannot and don't want to EVEN get into it, but a few points:

1) Michael Vick apparently had a dog breeding license. I'm sure he got it intending to raise Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and his thuggish friends decided to raise fighting dogs instead without his knowledge. Please.

2) These dogs aren't pets, and for the most part can never be pets. It's not like your favorite fightin' dog cuddles at night with your 4-year-old. They are selectively bred and raised for enhanced aggression against other dogs.

3) To the person who raised the straw man about pets being euthanized at shelters--go to any reasonably urban impoundment facility (NOT no-kill shelters, which usually pull the most adoptable dogs from city pounds) or watch 5 minutes of "Animal Cops" and see how many of the dogs are pit bulls or pit bull mixes. If we can figure out a way to get rid of the status that a certain element of society finds in having a "pit bull", I'll bet we cut down on the number of shelter dogs that have be euthanized by 50% or more. What do you think is going to happen to the dogs at Vick's place (notice I didn't say "Vick's dogs", because I think that should be proven first) once the trial is over and they are no longer "evidence" even if Vick is exonerated? They can never be family pets, and it's VERY hard to manage a dog-aggressive dog in any situation. They're just going to add to the statistics of dogs euthanized each year. At least their deaths will be relatively peaceful and painless.

4) Unfortunately, other bull breeds that are not generally raised as fighting dogs get tarred with the "pit bull" brush, even though they have been selectively bred and socialized for generations to NOT be aggressive. They are included in breed-specific legislation and many insurance companies either WON'T insure your home or require that you pay more (sometimes a lot more) for your insurance. When stuff like this happens, it just stigmatizes EVERYONE who has those particular breeds, no matter their race, class, or culture. I saw a gorgeous American Staffordshire Terrier (essentially the pit bull's upmarket cousin) run an Agility course so beautifully this past weekend and beat all the Border Collies. It's the other side of that fighting drive, and it shows you can breed out the aggression WITHOUT breeding out the drive. But if I saw that dog, and the same young woman who ran him, walking down an urban street I would have made immediate assumptions about the two of them that they obviously would not have deserved.

Allowing the father to bring suit to force a women to abort a fetus he doesn't want. Fair's fair, right? If a woman needs approval of the father to have an abortion, she should also need his approval to carry it to term.

Yeah, THAT will go over well...

The Sony Vaio LS. DAMN those things are gorgeous, and they have TV tuners too! And you can get them at Costco for $1,500-ish.

I saw it. It was boooorrrriiinggggg...

Although as other people are saying, not as bad as the author. I don't "get" north-south-east-west, although I can figure it out if I have a map (I've HAD to get good at figuring out maps in order to survive). TERRIBLE at judging distances (15 feet away, what does THAT mean?) and used to have to pick up a utensil to figure out which hand was left and which was right. I finally decided that if a direction "feels" like the right one, it's definitely wrong and I should turn around instantly.

I've never related it this way before, but I run Agility with my dogs and this may explain some problems I have. If I keep my eye on the next obstacle, I'm fine--but if I have to do a front cross (turning toward the dog and away from the next obstacle) I'm as likely as not to send my dog over the wrong next obstacle--which is why I handle a lot using rear crosses. That can be slower and less efficient, but it does allow me to navigate more correctly.

Hmmm...

I was thinking the same thing. I was living in tiny Bowling Green, OH at that time (1990ish), and the grocery stores there sold their own branded canvas bags for your groceries (I think I still have a couple).

I lived in the Chicago area for years, and just moved back to Columbus,OH. Interestingly, there seems to be a lot more eco-consciousness here than there--most of the big groceries here have canvas grocery bags on sale, something I never saw in Illinois, although there was an effort to recycle the plastic bags.

Warehouse stores (Costco, Sam's Club) don't have bags, BTW. If you want to bag anything you have to bring your own. They'll give you cardboard display boxes if you ask, or look like you really need them, but otherwise you're on your own. Most people just take their stuff out in the cart and put it in the car loose.

What you'd name a dog. That INCLUDES Cody and Brandy (much better suited for Golden Retrievers than children)

My faves are Nathaniel Gay (Hi, I'm Nat Gay!) and Hazeljean Cheeseman. Also I knew a guy at a previous job named "Woody Wang"--for some reason he was ALWAYS getting paged at the very large company I worked at!

And you could legitimately be in a situation where you would get more spam than I do--but I have a Yahoo account that I've had for nearly 3 years, and I NEVER get any spam. Ever.

So *17,000* spam e-mails? That doesn't recommend Gmail to me!