Said an owner of a pit bull during a rally to protest Maryland’s recent court decision on pit bulls.

In case you hadn’t heard, a recent court opinion holds all pit bulls and pit bull crossbreeds are “inherently dangerous.”  One blog explains:

The majority decision singles out pit bulls and declares them all dangerous. It implies that owners of them, and the landlords who rent to those owners, should ignorantly assume, as the judges did, that they are lethal and unpredictable beasts. And it makes suing their owners much easier.

Under previous case law, a victim intending to file a lawsuit after a dog attack had to prove that a dog’s owner, or landlord, knew it had a history of being dangerous. Now, under this new precedent, they can merely show that the owner knew their dog was all or part pit bull. That would be sufficient basis for a claim.

In other words, it’s no longer necessary to prove that a particular pit bull is dangerous, only that it’s a pit bull, or part of it is.   [via ohmidog.com]

It is not so easy figure out what is and is not a pit bull.  Lots of different dogs look like pit bulls, but not all of them are truly pit bulls.

So, this decision makes it hard for dog owners, landlords and shelters to figure out what they should do.  And since the change in the law was made by the Court and not the legislature, there won’t be any regulations issued alongside it to help clarify the situation.

What are the real world repercussions of the pit bull ruling? Insurance will be more expensive, landlords will start to ban pit bulls and possibly all dogs to avoid costly insurance and future liability, pit bull owners will have a difficult time finding housing and will start dumping their dogs at shelters, no one will want to adopt the abandoned pit bulls, and dogs — who have done nothing wrong — will be put down for no reason.

Photo credit:  MKD

The Seattle Times reports--

A wildlife advocacy group sued the U.S. Forest Service Wednesday for the release of documents on how the agency plans to keep a disease that has already killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada from spreading to the Northern Rocky Mountains. The Center For Biological Diversity wants an explanation of why the federal agency has taken no action to keep white-nose syndrome out of the Forest Service’s northern region, which includes Montana, Idaho and parts of Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The group wants the federal agency to account for why it has taken no action to prevent the disease from spreading to the Northern Rockies:

Caves and old mines have already been closed in parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota – including the Black Hills National Forest – to keep the disease from reaching those places. But nothing has been shut down in the Northern Rockies.

Some fear that if the disease is not stopped it will result in the extinction of the little brown bat, which used to be the most common bat in North America.  According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “[i] five years, white-nose syndrome, or the fungus suspected to cause it, has spread from upstate New York to 19 states and four Canadian provinces. It kills 70 percent to 100 percent of affected bat populations. Six bat species are affected thus far . . . .Biologists now estimate that more than 1 million bats have died from the disease and fear that eventually all 25 hibernating bat species in North America could be affected.”

In 2011, the Center for Biological Diversity sued to challenge the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to open up caves in Colorado despite warnings that this could further spread the disease and put more bat populations at risk to infection.

Bonus Video:  The Birthday Party — Release the Bats

ICP spraying Faygo into the crowd at their 2011 Halloween show.

Well,  it wasn’t really a tramp.  It was a trampoline that someone fell into at an Insane Clown Posse concert.  And now, that someone is suing ICP for an amount greater than $75,000 in damages.

When I was younger, I went to tons of live shows.  If I had ever injured myself on something used by my favorite artist, that injury would be a prized possession, not grounds for a lawsuit.

For example, one of my friends always talks about how he was almost killed by a lightning  strike at a Free Tibet concert.  He didn’t sue.  He just talks about his near-death experience relentlessly.  That is how fans handled their misfortune back in the day.

If your drinking Faygo, painting your face and jumping up on a stage with seventy-five others to throw soda bottles into the crowd for something called “Faygo Armageddon,” you are assuming the risk.

A copy of the complaint is at this link.

For an interesting read on what ICP’s “Gathering” is like click here.

Source:  Overlawyered

Photo Credit:  Jjjennnnn

The clip is an excerpt of Mr. Lydon’s (née Rotten) appearance on the long-running fake court show Judge Judy.  When Judge Judy asks Johnny Rotten to “be respectful,” I immediately thought of the Grundy incident.  I hoped for a sharp and profain response, not polite compliance.   There are moments where it looks like Mr. Lydon is going to lose it, but he does not.

All the exchanges between John and Judy are bizarre.  Not to mention the fact, that Judge Judy claims to only listen to Lawrence Welk and some big band whose name she cannot remember.  That has to be a lie, right?  She is essentially saying she has not heard a single song or any popular music for the last half century.  There has to be some story there.  What is she trying to cover up?

For those unfamiliar, here is the Grundy incident, instigated by none other than Siouxsie Sioux–

Amphipods. They can cut you up.

Apparently, the tiniest of insects can mess up a crime scene.

Science Daily reports that a forensic scientist is now tracking the damage that insects cause to corpses.  This research will be used by crime scene investigators in future investigations to help determine whether injuries found on a corpse were inflicted by a human or an insect.

Very often, says Dr. Vanin, tiny creatures can cause lesions to a dead body which closely resemble injuries left by a human assailant. For example, ants which clamber over a corpse’s face can deposit marks which mimic the effects of a punch.

Dr. Vanin’s most recent discovery was found on the body of a man that drowned.  The autopsy found small abrasions on the upper eyelids, which Dr. Vanin concluded to have been caused by amphipods — eyeless crustaceans.*  Now, whenever a corpse is recovered from fresh water, investigators will have data to help explain unusual markings on the body.

In all fairness to insects, they can also help solve crimes too.  The type and stage of insect found on or near a corpse can reveal a lot about the time of death:

 The first to arrive are the necrophagous species, drawn by the strong scent of decomposition. Blow flies can invade a corpse within minutes of death, and flesh flies follow close behind. Soon after come the dermestid beetles, the same beetles used by taxidermists to clean skulls of their flesh. More flies gather, including house flies. Predatory and parasitic insects arrive to feed on the maggots and beetle larvae. Eventually, as the corpse dries, hide beetles and clothes moths find the remains.  (source)

I guess that this discovery make it a little easier to eliminate the impossible, so that whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

*I understand that crustaceans are not insects, but Science Daily didn’t bother to make the distinction, so I’m not going to either.

Equally important, Argentina’s law also gives people the right to change their legal gender without changing their bodies.

‘”This law is saying that we’re not going to require you to live as a man or a woman, or to change your anatomy in some way. They’re saying that what you say you are is what you are. And that’s extraordinary,‘” notes Katrina Karkazis, a Stanford University bioethicist.

Argentina, by the way, legalized gay marriage two years ago.

Completely unrelated, but somewhat on topic, the lead singer of punk group Against Me!, Tom Gabel, announced this week that he will begin life living as a woman, Laura Jane Grace.  You can read the Rolling Stone excerpt at this link.

Tiny top hat to Amy W.

Good news folks.

According to the band’s website,  CXS and Dancing Ferret Discs have settled their dispute.

Even better news.

Their new album is expected out in August.

Best news yet.

They may be touring the states in the fall.

Forensics reveal that the dolphins had a heroin substitute, buprenorphine, in their urine, and that this caused their death by interfering with their ability to surface for air.  It is unclear how the dolphins came in contact with the substance.  Some speculate that ravers dumped it in the pool.

According to MSNBC, the owner of the facility denies that the rave had anything to do with the deaths, stating that the dolphins didn’t die until weeks later.

I don’t claim to have any particular insight or connection with this case, but this story doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  The bigger issue seems to be the way dolphins are treated and used by humans in general.

PETA calls dolphin tanks “chlorinated prisons.”

Right now, the U.S. Navy is using dolphins to hunt for mines in the Persian Gulf.

And, you are probably familiar with the fact the Japanese continue to hunt dolphins.  This practice was documented in the Cove.

On a lighter note, the Oatmeal’s book 5 very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth is pretty great.

Disclaimer — This image is intended only for illustrative purposes; it does not create any type of consent on the part of the author.

I was under the impression that when someone was on life support, the family of the individual controlled the decision as to when to “pull the plug.”

But according to Courthouse News that issue is being litigated in California — “A man whose wife is on life support claims in state court that because she is an organ donor, a medical company said it had the right to remove her from life support and then harvest her organs.”

Gloria Woods is the woman on life support.  Apparently, motor vehicle records indicate that she had wanted to be an organ donor.  Sierra Donor Services, a harvesting company, contacted Ms. Woods’ husband to ask when it could retrieve her organs.  When he responded that his wife was still alive, Sierra Donor Services insisted that it had the right to make the decision to pull her off of life support, not him.

The facts get worse.  According to Ms. Woods’ family, Ms. Woods changed her mind about allowing her organs to be harvested prior to her car accident, and her family has documents that say as much.

Ms. Woods’ family now seeks relief from a court to stop the hospital from taking her off of life support.

Because of the sheer horror of these facts, it is likely that this case will get national media attention.

It sounds like this case will turn on permission — whether the medical company has the right to harvest Ms. Woods’ organs in light of her changing her mind.  But another issue, one that I find very interesting, is who gets to decide when you are dead enough to harvest your organs, i.e. the hospital, the harvester, or your family.

If you have the means, I highly recommend buying one of her paintings or drawings.  You can get a good deal on a print at Company.

Or if you are like me, you can start your collection by buying her craft pieces that are available on Etsy.  Luckily, Ms. Wilson has restocked her Etsy shop just in time for Mother’s day.

I’m eyeing these coasters:

I have already acquired one of these guys: