Comments on: A dog story that’s really about undocumented workers … and the Second Amendment

By: Serijna

Serijna — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:12:20 +0000

Gina,
Am so sorry, you have to be exposed to that type of posting/E mails.
I still have a hard time connecting gun ownership with the Pongo incident. A salvage yard with a couple of patrolling Dobermans might fit this remote association.
Also surprised that this site with their unbiased/objective blogs gets this type of ignorant hateful comments/Emails. Responsible loving pet owners(like most posters here) are generally a cut above.
However, the general media often biased reporting plays John Q Public like a fine violin and foster these type of comments IMO.
Sometimes I wonder, if reporters are graded by their superiors based on the amount of comments/hits their article receives. Hence the often not very objective articles, rather “the get your goat” type..
The racist association, illegal alien does not surprise me. Still think alien as opposed to immigrant is so funny. Always thought that an alien is something/someone from another planet/solar system ala “men in black”.
As an immigrant( legal from Western Europe) I had my own funny experience in this true story. First time I filled out a job application, it had this strange ” what race” question on it. Never saw that in Europe. I answered “human”. Did not get the job either LOL.

By: 2CatMom

2CatMom — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:13 +0000

I’m appalled that this has become a racial issue!

I guess that’s because there aren’t any white or black people that are afraid of dogs (except of course, my father, my best friend, her best friend…oh nevermind).

By: kb

kb — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:19:51 +0000

Gina,
Thank you for screening the comments. I don’t go back to sites that are filled with hate, accusations and profanity.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:44:50 +0000

“the gun=dog equation”. Haven’t we all met people who have a dog only “for protection” and make it clear that the dog has no intrinsic value as a sentient being or family companion, but only as a live burglar alarm? Some parts of the Congo coverage made it sound like that was part of what was going on, but hard to tell for sure, since, as you point out, I wasn’t there.

What is really scary to me are the, fortunately, very rare occasions that I have met someone who has purchased a “guard” dog trained to attack, who has no training themselves and turns the dog loose on their property at night. Talk about a having a loaded gun around. The liability alone….

Too bad, Gina, that you are having to waste time screening the blog comments, but it seems that it is, in fact, the anonymity of the net that enables some people to go off the deep end. It’s too bad you can’t punch a button to reverse the message and blow a few circuits in the sender’s computer. ;-)

By: Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski

Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:33:38 +0000

Gina, I agree.
I too am a gun toting liberal!
And (horrors!) I hunt.

One of the over all problems with internet based campaigns like this is that it is really tough to seperate the wheat from the chaff. ASSUMING that all of the allegations are true one would have to side with the dog but like you said, we were not there…

But that is also part of the problem. Neither were members of law enforcement or the insurance company.

I get emails from an old school chum now in AZ and about every third one is about how all those damned illegals are going to get all of our social security payment. Never mind that you cant get the payments unless you pay in in the first place and having more people paying in on the front end the fund’s solvency will be extended far into the future. And, the ones that are paying their FICA taxes are not the problem… Its the ones that aren’t. But never mind to him. Reality doesn’t matter when you have a red blanket like illegals at which to rant.

But I digress. Frankly I thought that story about the cop who shot the dog for “rough play” was much worse but I got jumped on for that. At some point you just have to have a little faith in the system that the right decission will be made although it might take the wisdom of Solomon to sort out.

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:19:52 +0000

Amen. What is it about the anonymity of the net that encourages people to let vitriol fly?

The comments about the Verizon/pet napping case over on the NY Post are simply horrid - just obscene.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:52:55 +0000

Wooo hooo, go Gina!

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:50:03 +0000

I’m not surprised, then, at the gun=dog equation. Somewhat frightening to think people equate their “pet” with a weapon. Pet and gun ownership require responsibility. Wonder how many owners could pass that test.

By: EmilyS

EmilyS — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:44:35 +0000

thumbs up Gina.
No one commenting knows what really happened… there’s always LOTS more to every story than appears in the press. It’s a shame this story has brought out so much hatred.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:34:43 +0000

The gun thing factors in (according to the four-letter commentors I’m moderating) because dog equals gun. You have a right (the argument goes) to shoot someone on your property, and your dog has a right (the argument goes) to bite someone on your property.

Not arguing the case either way, just sharing the info from the comments I’m not clearing until the posters in question can learn to make their argument without every other word being a profanity.