[thegreatbeast]

You ever watch Cribs? It's a show about nouveau riche pop culture icons who spend their fortunes on opulent & ostentatious new digs thinking that the gravy train will last forever and that they'll never have to sweat the $20,000 per month mortgage payments. Well, if you do, you'll notice that a number of the Snoop Doggs and sports heroes showing off their fenced off kennels. In those kennels you'll invariably see their collection of pit bulls.
Those dogs are not lying on the couches in the McMansions. The pit bulls aren't romping with the kids. No, the pit bulls are a sort of status symbol of the owner's wealth and machismo. These are the same people who travel in the same milieu as Michael Vick. They are not Nature's Gentlemen.
My point is that there are a lot of stupid people and there are a lot of cruel people populating this world. What people like these are doing keeping dogs is beyond human ken but we haven't managed to outlaw them from doing so. Stupid, cruel masters breeding & training for aggression will create some monsters but that is no reason to condemn a breed. The fine collection of pit bull horror stories you've collected is anecdotal and only represents a small percentage of the breed, probably no greater than the percentage of the population in our prisons.
I'd also point out that every editor in the country is cognizant that these pit bull maulings are popular currency and move them to the news wires as soon as they hit their desks.
My only point is that we should look at the owner in order to explain the behavior of the dog at the beginning of any investigation into an incident.

[zipper]

Stupid, cruel masters breeding & training for aggression will create some monsters but that is no reason to condemn a breed.

I don't have to. The evidence speaks for itself. Note that all these stories are just from the last few days!

The fine collection of pit bull horror stories you've collected is anecdotal and only represents a small percentage of the breed, probably no greater than the percentage of the population in our prisons.

And I don't want people that need to be locked up out roaming the streets either.

My only point is that we should look at the owner in order to explain the behavior of the dog at the beginning of any investigation into an incident.

You need to examine these "anecdotes" more closely. These are not stories of rich athlete thugs with 20,000 dollar mortgages whose fighting dogs escaped from their pens. They are average people, often with children, who might as well have entrusted their lives to wild tigers or wolves in their homes -- the results would have been similar.

[Kenny Bunk]

I see no reason why this fine breed should not be permitted to share cells with their owners. Your harsh and prejudicial remarks ignore the fact that these fine dogs give their owners hours of pleasure during those brief periods when they are not PI (Presently Incarcerated) or whiling away those halcyon hours waithing for methamphetamine precursors to arrive from Mexico.

What are a child or two, or the odd mail carrier compared to this obvious and widespread social benefit?