www.TheWillaWoman.com

Now you get mad?!

2010-03-30T12:53:00.002-04:00

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate
energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the president ignored the clear and timely warning that terrorists were going to hijack planes and fly them into the WTCs.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when the weapons inspectors, who said there were no WMDs, were ignored.

You didn't get mad when hundreds of thousands of people died in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark (under the Bush/Cheney administration).

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans...oh hell no.

Side note: I assume now if you're against the new "socialist" health care bill, that, to prove your point that you are against "socialism", you will be returning all your Social Security checks or SSI Disability checks whence they came from.

New Rule

2010-03-02T14:07:00.003-05:00

If you ask if you can pet a Service Dog, and the handler says "no, he's working", then...

DON'T:

start making kissy noises
talk in a high sing-song voice to the dog
squat down and talk to the dog
whistle at the dog like he's a ranch dog wrangling sheep

Oy.

Here Doggie!

2010-02-11T00:40:00.003-05:00

While shopping at Sprouts today, I had a guy in the next checkout lane actually whistle at Frankie.

WHAT?!

He whistled to him like he was calling the hounds back from the barn.

Then he went to reach for him.

I actually placed my hand on this guys chest and said: "He's not a ranch dog, you shouldn't be distracting him, he's working."

Mr. Cowboy didn't even apologize... but he got schooled!

Oy.

Old dog

2009-08-03T12:31:00.000-04:00

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.
I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour.

This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar:
'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep.

Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Dog honoured for tackling burglar

2009-04-19T12:57:00.001-04:00

Toby the Labrador
Toby suffered a punctured lung as he fought off the intruder

A Labrador who fought to protect its owners from a knife-wielding burglar has been honoured for his bravery.

Toby was stabbed four times in the chest and legs by the intruder but still managed to chase him out.

The Morton family, from Barnoldswick in Lancashire, had been staying at Leconfield Barracks in East Yorkshire.

They awoke to find their pet in a pool of blood. But the eight-month-old survived and has been awarded by the animal charity, PDSA.

The armed burglar, who attacked Toby with three knives taken from the kitchen, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for the offence.

Toby suffered a punctured lung in the attack, in June 2007, as he fought to stop the offender going upstairs to the sleeping family.

After succeeding in chasing the offender out of the building Toby then woke his owner, Jonathan Morton, by barking.

Had it not been for Toby's determined barking and lunging at the intruder, Mr Morton would not have been aware of the threat to his family.

Mr Morton and his wife Samantha praised their pet's actions.

He said: "Toby is our hero. I dread to think what could have happened if he had not intervened that night."

The Labrador has been presented with the PDSA Certificate for Animal Bravery by the charity's senior deputy chairman Chris Heaps.

He said: "Had it not been for Toby's determined barking and lunging at the intruder, Mr Morton would not have been aware of the threat to his family.

"Toby is indeed a worthy recipient of the PDSA Certificate for Animal Bravery."

Smartest Dogs: Moscow Stray Dogs

2009-04-08T22:41:00.000-04:00

Russian scientists say that Moscow stray dogs became much smarter. The four legged oldest human’s friends demonstrate real smartness such as riding the Moscow metro every morning to get from their suburban places of living to the fat regions of Moscow center. Once they arrive to the downtown they demonstrate different new, previously unseen for the dog skills. Those skills can include “the hunt for shawarma” for example, the popular among Muscovites eastern cuisine dish. This hunt scene can be seen as this:

Regular Moscow busy street with some small food kiosks. A middle-aged man buys himself a piece of hot fast food and walks aside chewing it without a rush. Then just in a second he jumps up frightened - some doggy has sneaked up on him and barked out loudly. His tasty snack falls out from his hands down to the ground and the dog gets it. Just ten minutes later, on the same place, the teen youngster loses his dinner in exactly the same manner. The modern Russian dogs are on their urban hunt.

“This method of ambushing people from their back is widely exercised by Moscow dogs”, saying A. Poiarkov, working in Ecology and Evolution Institute of Moscow. “The main point here is to define who would drop the food scared and who won’t, but the dogs are great psychologists they can do it better than us”.

Moscow ecologists think that dogs started acquiring this habits in 1990s, when the Soviet union collapsed and Moscow has fell into the hands of new class of Russian capitalists. They understood the true value of the downtown realty underestimated by previous Communist owners and became removing all the industrial complexes Moscow had in its centre to its outskirts. Those places were used by homeless dogs as a shelter often, so the dogs had to move together with their houses, so they had to learn how to travel Moscow subway - first to get to the centre in the morning then back home in the evening, just as us people.

“Sometimes dogs are doing mistakes adapting in metro, but they are studying.”

The commercial revolution of Moscow made their usual feeding places like trash bins out of direct reach, so they had to get to know new ways of getting their piece of food. That’s how appeared those “Shawarma hunts”. Sometimes though they use more gentle methods. Young girl sits on the bench to eat her hot dog - a big cute looking dog appears from the surrounding bushes and puts her head on her knees. The girl can’t help herself sharing the hotdog with a dog.

Among some more amazing skill those Moscow dogs are the ability not to miss their stop while going on the subway train. Biologists say dogs have very nice sense of time which helps them not to miss their destination. Another skill they have is to cross the road on the green traffic light. “They don’t react on color, but on the picture they see on the traffic light”, Moscow scientist tells. Also they choose often the last or the first metro car - those are less crowded usually.

It’s funny but the ecologists studying Moscow stray dogs also tell the dogs don’t miss a chance to get some play while on their travel in the subway. They are fond of jumping in the train just seconds before the doors shut closed risking their tails be jammed. “They do it for fun, just they have enough food”, they conclude.

continued below…

“Traveling first class, compared to this human”

“Practice makes perfect, true.”

“Just a regular member of busy day underground stream”

“Waiting for the right train”

The castaway dog who swam SIX miles through shark-infested waters, then survived FOUR months on a desert island

2009-04-07T00:40:00.003-04:00

When Jan Griffith's beloved dog, Sophie Tucker fell overboard from her family's yacht she feared her pet had drowned.

But Sophie Tucker, a grey and black cattle dog, wasn't going to give up that easily.

The determined pet swam six miles through ferocious shark-infested seas to an island, where she survived for more than four months by hunting wild goats for food.
Sophie

Sophie Tucker fell overboard in rough seas and swam through shark infested waters to safety

The extraordinary story of the castaway hound emerged today when Miss Griffith was reunited with her beloved pet.

'I thought I'd never see her again, but she's proved to be a dog who can really look after herself,' said Miss Griffith.

Sophie Tucker, named after the American vaudeville comedian, fell overboard from the family's yacht when they ran into bad weather off the Queensland coastal town of Mackay.

Miss Griffith and her friends searched the area, putting their own lives at risk in the rough seas, but there was no sign of Sophie Tucker.

Unknown to them, the dog swam towards remote St Bees Island, a quiet volcanic strip of land fringed with reefs.

Sophie Tucker swam six miles to reach St. Bees Island

On land there are rainforests and dense grasslands where koalas and wild goats live.

A handful of people living on the island reported seeing a dog running around, but assumed it was a feral animal.

When the bodies of several young goats were found, locals contacted wildlife rangers and word of a dog on the island reached the ears of Miss Griffith and her family.

'We wondered whether it could be Sophie Tucker but thought 'No way'.

'She would have had to have swum through five miles of sea to get there and then work out how to survive.

'It just couldn't be her, we decided, but when we were told the dog had been caught and they were bringing it to the mainland we thought we should have a look.'

They waited at the marina as the rangers' boat came in - and there in the cage was a grey and black dog.
Queensland coast

Sophie survived on an island off the Queensland coast inhabited by wild goats. File picture

'We called her name and she went crazy - whimpering and banging on the cage, so they let her out and she ran over to us and almost knocked us over with excitement,' Miss Griffiths said.

'She's settled in well back at home now. I think she's appreciating the air conditioning.'

Locals said it was astonishing that Sophie Tucker had not been attacked by sharks.

Even though she was lost inside the Great Barrier Reef, which tends to keep sharks away from the coast, tiger sharks and hammerheads do swim through the coral - and dogs are at particular risk.

'The smell of a wet dog is irresistible to a shark,' said a fisherman.

'You don't often hear of dogs surviving if they decide to go for a bit of a swim. Even a big fish will have a go at their legs.

'So for this dog to swim for five miles or so, and then swim a bit between islands, is incredible. She's a very lucky animal.'

Dogs (not chimps) most like humans

2009-03-31T01:04:00.001-04:00

Man's best friend serves as model for understanding human social behavior

Chimpanzees share many of our genes, but dogs have lived with us for so long and undergone so much domestication that they are now serving as a model for understanding human social behavior, according to a new paper.

Cooperation, attachment to people, understanding human verbal and non-verbal communications, and the ability to imitate are just a handful of the social behaviors we share with dogs. They might even think like us at times too, according to the paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Advances in the Study of Behavior.

While there is no evidence to support that dogs and humans co-evolved their laundry list of shared behaviors over the past 10,000 to 20,000 years, the researchers believe adapting to the same living conditions during this period may have resulted in the similarities.

Lead author Jozsef Topal explained to Discovery News "that shared environment has led to the emergence of functionally shared behavioral features in dogs and humans and, in some cases, functionally analogous underlying cognitive skills."

Topal, who is based at the Institute for Psychology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is one of the world's leading canine researchers. He and his team argue that dogs should serve as the "new chimpanzees" in comparative studies designed to shed light on human uniqueness.

"In my view, pet dogs can be regarded in many respects as 'preverbal infants in canine's clothing,'" he said, adding that many dog-owner relationships mirror human parental bonds with children.

In one of many recent studies conducted by the team, Topal and his colleagues taught both a 16-month-old human child and mature dogs to repeat multiple demonstrated actions on verbal command — "Do it!," shouted in Hungarian.

The actions included turning around in circles, vocalizing, jumping up, jumping over a horizontal rod, putting an object into a container, carrying an object to the owner or parent, and pushing a rod to the floor.

The dogs "performed surprisingly well and at a comparable level to the 16-month-old child," Topal said.

Multiple studies mentioned by the authors also support that dogs exhibit all three primary types of social behavior that humans evolved when they split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago. The first is "sociality," or organization into groups where members are loyal to each other and display reduced aggression.

The second is synchronization, where following shared social rules and even taking on each others emotions helps to strengthen group unity. The researchers, for example, say that, "when approached by an unfamiliar person showing definite signs of friendliness and threat in succession, dogs show rapid changes of emotional and behavioral response in accordance with the human's attitude."

The third is "constructive activity," where individuals within a group cooperate and communicate with each other to achieve goals. Dogs can also distinguish rational from irrational human communications, Topal said.

The scientists additionally believe dogs are good models for human social behavior because studies can compare and contrast domesticated dogs with wolves, and then with humans.

Marc Hauser, a professor and director of the Cognitive Evolution Lab at Harvard University, fully agrees that dogs offer a good model for understanding human behavior.

"The dog has come into its own as a great new model for understanding the mind in general, and the evolution of the human mind in particular," Hauser told Discovery News. "Not only have we lived with dogs for thousands of years, but because of this relationship, we have acted as an agent of selection to modify aspects of their behavior and minds."

"Now, perhaps for the first time, students of animal behavior, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, philosophy and veterinary medicine will unite to provide deeper insights into the evolution of dogs and the evolution of humans," he added. "I for one am very excited about this opportunity, which is why we have followed the lead of other labs, and started our own dog lab!"

And remember that "God" spelled backwards is "dog".

2009-03-23T18:40:00.004-04:00

"This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the U.S. Postal Service. "

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month.

The day after she died, my four-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will You please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with You in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that You let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.

I hope You will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when You see her, You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith.

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith, and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it, then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven.

That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office.

A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet.
I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith'. The handwriting was unfamiliar.

Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers titled 'When a Pet Dies'. Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope.

On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith, along with the following note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with Me just like it stays in your heart.

Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter, and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to Me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God

Paraplegic Man Suffers Spider Bite, Walks Again

2009-03-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

Brown Recluse Spider

He has been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years. Now a paraplegic man is walking again, and his doctors call it a miracle. CBS13 went to Manteca to find out how a spider bite helped get him back on his feet.

"I closed my eyes and then I was spinning like a flying saucer," explains David Blancarte.

A motorcycle accident almost killed David 21 years ago. At the time he might have wished he was dead.

"I asked my doctor, 'Sir what happened? I can't feel my legs'," said David.

Ever since, David's been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months.

"I'm here for a spider bite. I didn't know I would end up walking," says David.

A nurse noticed David's leg spasm and ran a test on him.

"When they zapped my legs, I felt the current, I was like 'whoa' and I yelled," he says.

He felt the current and the rush of a renewed sense of hope.

"She says,'your nerves are alive. They're just asleep'," explained David.

Five days later David was walking.

"I was walking on the bar back and forth," he said.

Now David is out of the hospital and on his feet and walking.

David basks in his glory and gives a ray of hope to other hoping to walk again. The 48-year-old former boxer and dancer is taking it in stride, knowing his best days are still ahead.

David's dream is to see his 14-year-old twin daughters grow up and get married so he can walk them down the aisle and have that first dance.

I just heard the most profound statement on TV (regarding a woman who is in an abusive relationship):

2009-03-12T17:43:00.002-04:00

You believe you don’t deserve to be in a relationship with somebody who will treat you with dignity and respect...

You believe you don’t deserve to be in a relationship with somebody who will treat you with honesty and integrity...

You believe you don’t deserve to be in a relationship with somebody who will protect rather than attack you...

and you don't believe you're entitled to peace instead of chaos and turmoil...

so you settle...

Guide dogs trained to handle plane emergencies

2009-03-12T12:59:00.002-04:00

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Guide dogs for the blind go everywhere with their human partners, but when their destination is a plane ride away, it's not always so easy.

Gilligan, a 10-month-old Labrador retriever, calmly sits aboard the Boeing 767 fuselage.

To make the skies a little friendlier, and safer, a pack of guide dogs in training gathered at a United Airlines training facility to take a simulated flight -- a flight with a surprise ending.

"The main purpose was to get our dogs used to boarding and deplaning and to getting into a seat and curling up into the space allowed for them," says Danny Henderson, who volunteers raising puppies to become guide dogs for the blind.

Henderson volunteers with Have Paws Will Travel, the group that organized the trip to the Denver training facility.

At her side is Gilligan, a 10-month-old yellow Labrador retriever puppy. Henderson takes Gilligan everywhere with her: shopping, sporting events, even to church. All the while she is preparing the pup to work as a guide dog by exposing him to all of the experiences a guide dog will have.

If Gilligan does well, he will be matched with a blind partner and the pair will go through four to five months of more extensive training on the California campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit that supplies blind people with guide dogs free of charge.

Inside the United Airlines facility sits a real fuselage from a Boeing 767 jet. About 20 dogs and their handlers file in, the dogs nestling under the seats. Gilligan is curious at first but quickly loses interest in his new environment and rests his head on the floor with a sigh.

A few aisles up sits Annette Bossert and her year-old dog Ludlow. He nervously looks from side to side between Bossert's legs, not too sure what's going on.

"He's what we call a 'soft dog' in that he is very sensitive to certain environments," says Bossert. "He might react a little bit more than some dogs, showing a little bit of fear, a little bit of anxiety."

If a dog is too easily spooked it might be "career changed," and instead of moving on to work with a blind person they will be adopted, often by the volunteer handler.

The doors of the fuselage close and the familiar rumble of an airplane taxiing begins. The dogs stay in place, seemingly disinterested in the mock flight.

And then out go the lights! Watch the dogs in action aboard the plane »

"Brace! Brace!" shouts a flight attendant. The plane is crash landing. The alarm blares, the cabin jolts from side to side.

"Get out! Leave everything!"

Everyone must evacuate the plane as quickly as possible, dogs included. One by one, the dogs lead their handlers to safety. Amazingly, not a single dog panics, or even barks.

"I noticed a lot of the dogs probably did better than the people. They were very relaxed, business as usual," says Danny Henderson with a laugh while Gilligan stands obediently at her side. "He's been doing great. He's a very smart dog, he's learned very quickly. I think he'll do great."

And how did Ludlow, the sensitive "soft dog," do?

"He did great," says Bossert. "This is awesome. I may not have a chance to fly with him so for him to just see the cabin environment and know he has to go into a confined space and be calm is good for him."

According to Guide Dogs for the Blind, about 10,000 blind people in the United States use guide dogs, and many of them are frequent fliers.

"The first time they fly they are like: 'This is a little odd,' " says Aerial Gilbert, who is blind and flies with her German shepherd Splash several times a month. She thinks the training will help the pups become better guide dogs.

"Things they learn as a puppy are no big deal. It's harder when they get older."

At the helm of the mock 767 is Capt. Robert Mackay. He's in charge of training for United Airlines and still flies regularly. He watches the exercise carefully. He says the odds of a plane crash with a guide dog and human partner on board are rare, but preparing for the unexpected is the name of the game.

"Having dogs on board the airplane and blind people on the airplane represent a special challenge for us," he says. "This is all about the 'what if,' risk management, being ready in the unlikely event that this would occur."

Ok folks, time for a boycott!!! Miley Cyrus in a handicapped spot... oy

2009-03-10T00:55:00.001-04:00

Police dog remembered

2009-03-07T19:03:00.000-05:00

More than 50 law enforcement officers pay respects to Ringo

A grieving Jesse Ray Jordan, who became acquainted with K-9 Ringo at Anderson County High, is comforted by his father, Spartacus Jordan, during Friday's memorial service for the police dog.

Ringo, the Anderson County Sheriff's Department K-9, died of kidney failure Feb. 20.

Sherri Prewitt, with Samuel Franklin Florist, places a wreath atop the cruiser where K-9 Ringo

CLINTON - During an elaborate memorial, Ringo the police dog received a final send-off Friday befitting canine aristocracy.

A motorcade of 30 police cruisers rolled slowly beneath a giant American flag stretched between fire department ladder trucks.

A floral arrangement spelling out the dog's name was put across the windshield of the cruiser in which the Belgian Malinois traveled with his human partner, Anderson County Deputy Rick Coley.

Taps played softly outside the Clinton Community Center, where more than 100 people gathered to pay their respects.

Among the mourners: some 50 law enforcement officers - Clinton police, Anderson, Scott and Campbell County deputies, state troopers and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers.

A multimedia slide show with pictures of Ringo in action, training and posing with his master or just cavorting, was flashed on the center's Great Room wall.

Poster-sized photos of Ringo and awards he had won flanked the urn holding Ringo's cremated remains.

More than one griever dabbed tears with tissues or fingers as Rio Diamond's song "I Believe'' played.

Ringo, described as fun-loving and hard-working, died Feb. 20 of kidney failure.

The highly trained police dog was 10 years old.

Ringo worked from 2001 to 2008 with the Clinton Police Department and finished his career with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department.

"He worked up until his last days," Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.

"Ringo was second to none in his abilities to find illegal drugs or seek out a wanted felon."

To law enforcement officers, Ringo was one of them.

"The way we feel about it, they (police dogs) are no different from an officer," said Matt Forsyth, the department's K-9 unit supervisor and trainer. "They're one of our partners and another officer."

Speaker after speaker paid tribute to the centuries-old bond between people and dogs and the selfless dedication and bravery of working K-9s.

"These are not junkyard dogs," veterinarian Will Roberts said. "These animals communicate with their handlers in a manner allowing fine, precise control of behaviors in a variety of circumstances."

Without Ringo, Roberts said, Deputy Coley's job "will be tougher. His back will be less well-covered. His negotiations with criminals missing an important bark."

High-lar-ious!

2009-02-28T21:04:00.001-05:00

A Worthwhile Cause

2009-02-17T18:05:00.001-05:00

CLICK HERE to read up on and donate to a very worthwhile cause!

"Save-A-Vet nfp Inc is an organization dedicated to the caring and well-being of all military and law enforcement working animals. Help us take care of "THE OTHER FORGOTTEN SOLDIER""

WFT?????

2009-02-17T00:45:00.002-05:00

When police park at HQ, regular rules do not apply

(Boston.com)
Illegal parking in a handicapped spot is no trifling matter. Boston issues 11,000 tickets a year, each of which carries a $120 fine and often a $93 towing charge. And it is not uncommon for passersby to loudly rebuke able-bodied drivers who use parking spots reserved for the disabled.

But violators who use the 11 handicapped-designated spaces in front of Boston Police headquarters are immune from any sanction at all - or even a sidelong glance from the scores of police officers who enter and leave the building every day, according to Globe observations over the past two months.

One repeat scofflaw: the driver of a Toyota Corolla registered to Irene Landry, the city's supervisor of Parking Enforcement, who oversees the 194 parking enforcement officers who write 1.3 million tickets a year.

When a Globe reporter called Landry's office on Feb. 10 to ask about the Toyota, Landry was stunned. "I will investigate," she said. "Trust me when I tell you that."

Within five minutes of that call, her son Anthony, a police dispatcher, and three other police officials hastened out of Police Headquarters in shirtsleeves, got into their illegally parked cars, and drove away.

Most often, all prohibited parking areas around police headquarters on Tremont Street are a penalty-free zone - scores of unmarked detective cars, police evidence vans, and personal vehicles of patrol officers and sergeants are ensconced for hours at a time in spots earmarked for the disabled, and at fire hydrants, crosswalks, day-care drop-off, and MBTA bus stops - virtually all of them marked "tow zone."

And then there are those who park where there is no signed prohibition - on sidewalks. Or those who double-park.

Globe correspondents who kept watch at headquarters never saw a ticket written, much less a tow truck, despite a stern order in August 2007 from a senior commander who ordered that illegally parked cars be ticketed hourly.

"As a law enforcement agency with the responsibility to enforce parking regulations for the general public, visible and blatant violations of parking restrictions in the vicinity of Boston Police Headquarters are unacceptable," read the directive from Deputy Superintendent John F. Daley.

Eighteen months later, nothing much has changed. The only ticket books seen by the Globe over the six weeks' observation were those that officers left on the dashboards of their cars - a time-honored signal to fellow officers. Others left uniform shirts hanging in back windows.

Last Wednesday, the day after police officials learned of the Globe's interest, a handful of tickets were tucked under the windshield wipers of some of the illegally parked vehicles - though those cars sat all day in tow zones. One, a 2003 black Lincoln Town Car registered to patrolman David M. Fitzgerald, had a police ticket book on the dashboard just under the real ticket.

On Wednesday and again on Thursday, two days after police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll called such behavior unacceptable, several cars were illegally parked in handicapped-designated spots, without tickets.

What Driscoll called unacceptable, Myra Berloff, director of the Massachusetts Office on Disability, characterized as "a flagrant abuse of the law." All motorists, Berloff said in an interview, should be aware that people who illegally use handicapped-designated spots are making life more difficult for those with disabilities. For police officers to use such spaces, she said, is outrageous.

As the 2007 police directive suggests, what the Police Department has is a chronic condition, perceived parking immunity, for which there may be no cure. Many police officers will park where they choose at headquarters and around some of the department's district stations, with little risk that their colleagues will treat them like ordinary motorists.

If a single phone call from Irene Landry can frighten four scofflaws into instant compliance, why not have her traffic enforcement officers, who are known for taking guff from no one, write tickets around Police Headquarters?

Not possible, said Thomas J. Tinlin, the city's Transportation Commissioner and Landry's boss. Under longstanding policy, he said, police officers are responsible for enforcing parking rules outside their own buildings. And, Tinlin asserted, the creation of that policy was unrelated to concerns that ticketing police officers would lead to friction between the two departments.

"It would be redundant and inefficient for our parking enforcement officers to write tickets at Police Headquarters when they have a building full of people who can write tickets as well," said Tinlin.

An estimated 600 employees work at police headquarters, a 12-year-old building constructed a stone's throw from the Ruggles MBTA Station, but with a parking lot that accommodates only 104 vehicles. Initial plans to construct a parking garage were abandoned as too costly, Driscoll said.

The blocklong curbside along Tremont Street has spaces for fewer than 40 vehicles, all of them subject to various parking restrictions and signs designating them as tow zones.

Some cars, like Landry's, were regular offenders. Another frequent user of handicapped spots, David McClelland, an Emergency Medical Services dispatcher who works at Police Headquarters, acknowledged in a call he returned to a reporter that he has never been ticketed there, and said he took the risk because there is so little parking in the area.

Although the Globe saw no tickets at all during the six weeks' observation, Driscoll said officers at headquarters wrote about 200 tickets last year in front of the building and on a side street, Prentiss Street, with many of those written for department-issued unmarked cars.

Driscoll acknowledged, however, that tickets issued to city-owned vehicles are dismissed.

"This is a consistent and complicated issue, and we're doing our best," Driscoll said. "There's always room for improvement."

On Friday afternoon, after interviewing Driscoll, a Globe reporter counted six cars illegally parked in handicapped-designated spots in front of headquarters.

'Dancing chair' for disabled

2009-02-16T18:12:00.001-05:00

See Video here

Disabled man: Dog barred from eatery

2009-02-07T15:47:00.000-05:00

Thomas Brent Mowrey and his service dog, Lady, were denied service at a Baton Rouge Waffle

A disabled man who uses a dog for assistance was denied service at a Baton Rouge restaurant last month and said ignorance of federal disability rights law was probably the reason.

Thomas Brent Mowrey, a former Arizona resident who has lived with his wife in an RV in Baton Rouge for two months now, said he was denied service Jan. 26 at the Waffle House on Siegen Lane near Interstate 10.

Mowrey said a cook and the restaurant’s manager both said he had to leave because he had a dog with him.

Mowrey, who said he is deaf in his left ear, uses a service dog to assist him.

Mowrey provided documentation showing his dog, Lady, is certified as a service dog.

Staff members at the Waffle House, however, told Mowrey that state health laws prohibit dogs from going inside restaurants, he said.

“My dog has been on airplanes, inside Wal-Mart, CC’s (Community Coffee) and I’ve never had a problem,” Mowrey said Tuesday.

Frank Miller, owner and operator of Miller Properties Inc., owns the Waffle House where the incident happened as well as 25 other Waffle Houses in southwest Louisiana.

Miller confirmed the incident occurred, said it shouldn’t have and emphasized his company has “apologized profusely” to Mowrey.

“We handled it wrong,” Miller said. “We asked him what we could do and he said he just wanted compensation.”

Miller, who said he has not had a complaint like this in his 35 years in business, said he has implemented some training for his staff members about the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mowrey said Miller is lying and said no one with Miller Properties Inc. apologized to him. Mowrey said he did not ask for money.

“This is not about money. I don’t want their money or need their money. It’s about justice,” Mowrey said.

According to ADA materials, most service animals are dogs and are not legally required to wear special equipment or tags. Under the law, businesses cannot require proof or certification of the service dog’s training.

Mowrey said he did show the Waffle House employees his dog’s certification after he called the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office to file a complaint.

The ADA ensures that people with disabilities can go into taxis, buses, trains, stores, restaurants, schools, parks and other public places with their trained service animals.

The federal law trumps state and local health codes that prohibit animals from certain establishments.

Jolie Adams, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Hospitals, said there is a clause in the state’s sanitary code that addresses service animals and the code closely mirrors the federal law.

Although the department does not keep records of complaints from the disabled about service denial in restaurants, Adams said the issue rarely comes up.

Adams said every Louisiana restaurant is issued a copy of the state sanitary code.

“People need to be better informed about the ADA law,” Mowrey said.

Although he has not filed a civil lawsuit, Mowrey said, he has sent written complaints to the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and the state Attorney General’s Office.

Mowrey received a Jan. 28 letter from the state Attorney General’s Office saying officials there will send the complaint to the company and “ask the company to review the problem and respond.”

Chesapeake student, school mourn death of service dog

2009-02-03T00:24:00.000-05:00

Entering their freshman year at Oscar Smith High School, Adam and Wessley Amick did most everything together.

If Adam dropped a pencil, Wessley picked it up for him.

Whenever Adam's wheelchair moved through the crowded school hallways, Wessley always lumbered right behind him keeping an eye out.

And when a class got rowdy, Wessley stood up to get between Adam and the noise.

Adam, 17, has moderate cerebral palsy. Wessley served as Adam's service dog, accompanying the boy through middle school and nearly four years at Oscar Smith High.

Wessley died Jan. 21.

He had lymphoma.

The flat-coated retriever left behind a young man who is much more independent than when the two first met.

"Wessley helped Adam gain his confidence," said Terry Langdon, the guidance secretary at Oscar Smith. "Adam and Wessley weren't just a dog and a boy. It was just amazing the bond that these two had."

The bond began when Adam was 10. He and his parents, Kevin and Tammi, went to Fort Knox, Ky., to find a service dog from a now-defunct program called AIM HI, or Animals in the Military Helping Individuals. Adam first had his eye on a golden retriever, his mother said, but a 2-year-old dog named Wessley kept his eye on Adam. "Apparently, Wessley was the right one for me," Adam said.

'We were almost like twins'

Wessley started with Adam in fifth grade at Truitt Intermediate School, and then moved on with him to Greenbrier Middle School. Administrators weren't sure what to make of the situation. "A dog in school? I was thinking of all kinds of problems," said former Greenbrier Middle School principal Rick West, who is now a city councilman.

It didn't take long for West and others to change their minds. Wessley wore a red vest with the words, "Do Not Pet - Working Dog" written in bold white letters. At Oscar Smith, school officials have seen the dog pick up water bottles and books, as well as open doors for Adam.

The trust went much farther than that. Adam said Wessley seemed to know when he was having a tough day at school. The dog would cheer him up by putting his whole face in Adam's hands. It was like Adam and Wessley were telepathic, the boy said. "We were almost like twins," Adam said. "We could read other's minds."

Wessley was the perfect companion as Adam adjusted to high school. Adam, his family, and Oscar Smith faculty all say that Wessley helped the boy come into his own during these last four years. "Adam was already very different. He doesn't blend," said his mother, Tammi. "Wessley really broke the ice. A lot of kids think it's pretty cool to take your dog to school."

Often, because of a teacher's warm reaction to the dog, it helped Adam feel more comfortable in his classes. At the mall, Adam joked that Wessley was his babe magnet. At Oscar Smith football games, Adam and Wessley sat near the end zone, where the players could talk to them on the way out to the field.

Many of Oscar Smith's 2,300 students had come to know Adam and Wessley. Weighing about 85 pounds, the dog looked like a black bear moving among the students, Langdon said. Wessley stayed after school with Adam to help with homecoming decorations. On Fridays before home games, Adam put blue- and gold-colored gel in Wessley's hair. "Wessley was very much a part of this school," Langdon said.

Adam feels that he and Wessley played a role in educating the community about the rights of disabled residents. When Adam went to get his driver's license at the DMV office on Greenbrier Parkway, a guard wouldn't allow him in with Wessley. The Amicks called the police.

Adam also had to advocate for his right to enter the Saudi Arabian embassy with the service dog in 2006. More recently, Wessley was with Adam in Richmond as the boy lobbied to have October designated as Disability History and Awareness month in Virginia.

'He always wanted to work'

Students noticed when Wessley stopped coming to school with Adam for much of senior year. Wessley seemed to be slowing down. The noise at pep rallies and the lunchroom started to be too much, and the dog would sit under Langdon's desk when he couldn't tolerate it.

Kevin and Tammi Amick also thought it might be a good idea to separate the dog and boy, because Adam was headed to Virginia Wesleyan College. Wessley, who was 9 years old, probably wouldn't go with him, they thought.

Adam also didn't need Wessley as much; he could pick up his own pencils. He had also started physical therapy in October to begin walking. His goal was to be able to walk across the stage for graduation, a crutch on one side and Wessley on the other.

Wessley's demeanor began to change as he saw less of Adam last year, family members say. Tammi Amick noticed Wessley seemed to have some anxiety when he couldn't put on the red vest and leave in the morning with Adam.

"He always wanted to work," she said. "The vest made him feel extra special."

Wessley made his last visit to Oscar Smith near Christmas break with Adam's mother. As they tried to leave the school, Wessley ran down the hall and into one of Adam's old classes looking for him. The dog had to be dragged away from the school before Adam returned.

"The minute Adam came around the corner, no one else existed," Langdon said. "He was this dog's whole world."

The Amicks found out Wessley had lymphoma on Jan. 12. As word spread Wessley was sick, students and faculty quickly raised more than $1,200 to pay for his chemotherapy.

The dog's first chemo session was Jan. 16. In the final days, Adam told Langdon he thanked the dog for his service. "He's done everything he's supposed to for me," Adam told Langdon. "It's my turn to take care of him now."

Wessley lost his appetite before the treatment began. When the dog refused to drink from his bowl one day, Adam took the bowl to his own face. Wessley followed.

On Jan. 20, he collapsed on the back porch. He was given two blood transfusions, but it was too late.

As Wessley was being put to sleep, he never lost sight of the boy who was his life for seven years.

Police sniffer dog dies of nose cancer after sniffing cocaine

2009-02-03T00:08:00.001-05:00

A police drugs sniffer dog has died of a rare nose cancer after years sniffing cocaine during his work.

Springer spaniel Max, aged nine, may have caught the disease because of the effect of cocaine and other drugs he was taught to detect.

Police Inspector Anne Higgins, the dog's owner, fears the training may have led to the disease which led to him being put down last week.

Max worked as a drugs dog with the Avon and Somerset police but lived with Insp Higgins, who is based at Tiverton police station in Devon.

She said: "It is ironic the wonderful organ that made him successful in his work has been his demise.

"It may or may not have been connected with what he used to do. Up until a couple of weeks ago he seemed fine and was doing well but it was an aggressive tumour.

"It was very hard to have him put down but we had to do it.

"I took him to the police station which he usually loved and was his favourite place but he did not show any reaction to being there and we knew he was not right.

"He was a fighter until the end and always very dignified. He has had a good life and a successful one as a police dog. Just think of all the bad people he managed to put away."

Max retired from police work last year after arthritis in his back legs led to him being fitted with a trolley so he could still run around.

Inspector Higgins said the cancer caused an infection in his front legs which threatened to leave him completely immobile.

Kate Fairclough, the dog's vet, his work may have caused his death from nasal cancer, which is rare in dogs.

She said: "Sniffing drugs may well have been a factor. I certainly cannot rule it out.

"Nose cancer in dogs is not at all common. It represents only one or two per cent of all cancers.

"It is difficult to know what caused it as there are so many different factors involved. Environmental factors can plat a part.

"He had done so well since 2006 when it was thought he would have to be put down so he had an extra three years of life.

"It is always hard to do and he was such a lovely dog."

This is awesome!

2009-01-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Final Message From the White House

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Parrot mimics owner's voice to boss around her other pets

2009-01-17T20:58:00.001-05:00

A parrot that learned to mimic his owner's voice is using the skill to issue orders to her other pets.

BArney the African Grey Parrot: Parrot mimics owner's voice to boss around her other pets
Margaret Sullivan: 'Barney's a really bossy parrot. He even chats back at me and swears when I'm talking sometimes ? he's so cheeky'

Barney, an African Grey Parrot, calls Margaret Sullivan's three dogs – Harry, Tilly and Bluey – by name.

The bird, 10, squawks out orders like "come here" and even offers praise to his favourites such as "good dog".

Mrs Sullivan, 65, who lives in Tredworth, Gloucestershire, with partner Ken Kersey, 62, admitted that Barney has a "very high opinion of himself".

She said: "Barney's a really bossy parrot. He even chats back at me and swears when I'm talking sometimes – he's so cheeky.

"He's always tried to learn how to speak in my voice but he has got better and better at it ever since I bought him.

"Barney's got a really high opinion of himself and he certainly likes to think he's my favourite out of the pets. He's not – but I would never tell him that."

Mr and Mrs Sullivan own three dogs, Alsatian-Collie cross Harry, 12, Cairn terrier Tilly, three, and her son Bluey, eight-months.

Mrs Sullivan, a grandmother-of-seven, bought Barney as a young parrot in 1998 and he has been perfecting her voice and accent ever since.

His favourite games is calling out to a cat named Shadow. He then praises him when he does as he is told and sits on top of Barney's cage.

Mr Sullivan said: "He always says 'come here', 'come on' and 'good dog' to the pets and gives out orders to all the animals in Margaret's voice.

"It's uncanny. He mimics her perfectly and when the dogs come over to the cage as if they are following his orders.

"The animals all think he's Margaret when he speaks. He loves ordering them around and commanding them – it's very surprising. He's not frightened or scared of them at all."

Service-dog fiasco stirs family to act

2009-01-12T23:58:00.002-05:00

A teen who felt cheated after fundraising to help his brother starts a charity.
By Felisa Cardona
The Denver PostImage via Wikipedia

Mark Rinkel, 13, of Aurora started Red Alert Dogs for Diabetics to train canines such as Lucy, the puppy he is holding, to be service dogs. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post )

By selling his secret recipe of regular and sugar-free lemonade, 13-year-old Mark Rinkel raised enough money to get a service dog to help his little brother Jason cope with Type 1 diabetes.

But Mark says the dog he worked so hard to get did not detect serious changes in his brother's blood sugar, as was promised, and the dog also bit Jason's hand when he tried to pet him.

"It turned out to be a scam," said the boys' mother, Marisa Rinkel. "After he bit my son, we gave him back."

The story of Mark's lemonade stand was featured in summer 2007 on ABC's "Good Morning America" and CNN, helping him raise $17,000, more than the $6,000 needed to buy a service dog that was supposed to be trained to detect when his 11-year-old brother's
blood sugar was dangerously low or high.

Jason has hypoglycemic unawareness, which means he may not know that his blood sugar is out of control until he gets violently ill.

Mark, who lives in Aurora, obtained the dog named Jedi from Heaven Scent Paws, a company based in Missouri, and donated the leftover money to the company so other families with diabetic children could get their own service dogs.

Now the Missouri attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Heaven Scent Paws after receiving 28 complaints from consumers, including one from Mark Rinkel, who say they were scammed.

David G. Bandre, an attorney for Heaven Scent Paws, said the Rinkels' allegations are false and that Jedi has been a successful service dog with the family he lives with now.

"A core group of about 10 families who are unhappy with Heaven Scent Paws never followed through on their contractual relationship with the company, including the follow-up care and training at home," Bandre said. "These are people who expected to get home with the dog who alerted 100 percent of the time right away, and frankly, that defies logic after a one-week class in Missouri."

The dogs are supposed to respond by barking or making some kind of commotion when they smell the child's blood-glucose level dropping or rising — which puts the diabetic at risk for seizures and blackouts. The dogs can sometimes detect a rise or fall in blood sugar before a monitor can, Marisa Rinkel said.

The Rinkels took Jedi to seven experts who told them he was an ineffective service dog and that he was prone to bite people when scared.

Although the Rinkels returned Jedi, Mark won't get his money and donation back. Bandre says the family benefited from the company's training and materials while they were in Missouri.

"I suppose if the Circuit Court of Cole County (in Missouri) directs them to give it back, but absent that, no," Bandre said of the money.

The lawsuit filed by the attorney general says Heaven Scent Paws took thousands of dollars from consumers who purchased dogs that did not perform as promised and refused to return customers' money.

It also says Heaven Scent Paws misrepresented that its trained dogs could alert diabetics for low and high blood sugar when some of the dogs could not.

A hearing to set a trial date is scheduled Jan. 22.

Meanwhile, Mark's story of raising thousands to help his brother won him a $5,000 award from Prudential that required him to give the money to the charity he was working with.

Mark did not want to turn the prize over to Heaven Scent Paws and decided to start his own service-dog charity.

Mark named his charity Red Alert Dogs for Diabetics to raise money for other families who can't afford to purchase a scent-trained service dog.

The Rinkels eventually got Jason another dog from a different service-dog provider. The dog is a fox red British labrador they named Red.

Red starts to pace, wildly wags his tail and begins to bark when he detects that Jason's blood sugar is out of control.

"Red has saved Jason's life at least three times," his mother said.

Mark also is training a puppy named Lucy to detect the glucose scent so she can work for another diabetic child.

He hopes Lucy and the family she goes to can be used in a scientific study so that a device to detect changes in blood sugar through a person's breath can be developed.

Dr. H. Peter Chase, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has expressed interest in helping Mark with the research, but they need to raise $30,000 in grant money to do the work.

"I want to figure out what the dogs are smelling and work with the scientific community," Mark said. "It would change the lives of thousands of people."

Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com

Excellent article: "Broken Government: Social Security Disability Backlogs"

2009-01-12T17:21:00.001-05:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife The number of backlogged disability claims at the Social Security Administration (SSA) more than doubled over the past decade, with those pending at the hearing level reaching 760,800 as of October 2008, according to an agency spokesman. The spike in applicants from an aging baby boomer generation, staff cuts, and management problems all contributed to a cumbersome operation; individual cases took an average of more than 500 days to process in 2007. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of people pursuing disability claims have been forced to wait as long as three years, with some going into bankruptcy, losing their homes, or even dying while waiting for a result. As far back as 2001, the chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board acknowledged that “unless there’s fundamental change, we will soon see disruptions of service. The Social Security agency lacks the ability to handle existing workloads, and those workloads are bound to increase in the next decade.” The situation continued to deteriorate, despite continuous warnings and recommendations for improvement from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), especially in regard to issues with the SSA’s electronic claims processing system. A lack of funding compounded the problem; Congress appropriated an average of $150 million less for the agency than the Bush administration requested between fiscal years 2001 and 2007, while giving the agency a heavier workload. In an attempt to reform the system, the agency introduced its so-called Disability Service Improvement in 2006, but the GAO found that poor management, rushed rollout, and short staffing ultimately stunted the initiative, resulting in additional costs. Finally, in May 2007, Michael Astrue, the Social Security commissioner, appealed to Congress for additional funding to refine the disability program’s electronic systems and hire more judges to hear cases.

Follow-up:
Congress appropriated $150 million more to SSA than President Bush requested for fiscal year 2008. As a result, the agency was able to hire 190 new disability judges, open the National Hearing Center, eliminate more than 135,000 cases from its backlog, and implement a streamlined disability determination process.. The backlog total grew by 14,000 cases in FY 2008, but that was far less than the recent average growth of 70,000 cases a year. Additional money remains critical for continued success. As Commissioner Astrue pointed out in October 2008, “Many things we need to do, such as increase support staff and add new hearing offices, will not happen if Congress fails to pass an adequate appropriations bill by March.”

Original article

Woman repeatedly slashed after confronting gang 'as young as 13' who stabbed her dog to death

2009-01-07T18:09:00.001-05:00

Killed: The gang stabbed the woman's Yorkshire Terrier to death before turning on her

A disabled woman was slashed repeatedly with a knife after confronting a gang who had stabbed her dog to death in her garden.

The mother-of-three, who has not been named, discovered the mutilated body of her Yorkshire terrier Willow lying in a pool of blood outside her door.

Seconds later she was confronted by four men who threatened her, forced her back into the house, in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, and then attacked her with a knife.

The 38-year-old suffered 'numerous' cuts to her body and had to be treated in hospital.

Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of carrying out the assault, which took place at around 2pm on Sunday.

The woman, who has a disability which means she is unable to walk without crutches, is now staying at a relative's home with her three children, a girl aged 14 and boys 10 and nine.

Police said she was still deeply shocked by the attack.

Detective Inspector Rob Hill, from Merseyside Police, said: 'This was a particularly vicious attack that resulted in a woman being both physically and verbally assaulted.

'We are trying to establish the motive for the attack and speaking to as many people as possible in the area to catch the offenders.

'I would urge anyone with information regarding the incident or the offenders to come forward.

'We are acting on every bit of information we're getting, no matter how small.
"We will not rest until we find those responsible for this incident.'

No items were taken from the property.

Crime Scene Investigators have been to the scene and police have carried out house-to-house enquiries along with high-visibility patrols.

Mr Hill also said CCTV footage was being examined.

Merseyside Police is liaising with the RSPCA as a result of Willow's death and a post-mortem on the dog is due to take place.

It is believed he died after being slashed across the torso.

The 13-year-old was arrested today on suspicion of assault and causing cruelty to animals.

He remains in custody for questioning. An 18-year-old man, who was arrested on the same charges yesterday, has been bailed pending further enquiries.

Dog lovers enjoy!

2008-12-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

For a Va. Neighborhood's Dogs, Santa Arrives on a Mail Truck

2008-12-25T16:15:00.003-05:00

Mail carrier Scott Arnold stops by Larry Fleck's home in McLean and pets Fleck's dog, Carmen Ohio II. Arnold brings all the dogs along his route presents each year.

Mail carrier Scott Arnold stops by Larry Fleck's home in McLean and pets Fleck's dog, Carmen Ohio II. Arnold brings all the dogs along his route presents each year.

In addition to bringing the dogs along his route presents, mail carrier Scott Arnold gives owners of dogs that have died letters written in the voice of their departed pets, from the comforts of an imaginary place he calls North Pole Kennels.
In addition to bringing the dogs along his route presents, mail carrier Scott Arnold gives owners of dogs that have died letters written in the voice of their departed pets, from the comforts of an imaginary place he calls North Pole Kennels.

In the troubled and toothy history of canine-mail carrier relations, the northwest corner of Zip code 22101 is something of an anomaly. There, dogs do not erupt in an angry frenzy at delivery time, nor to do they savage the mail when it comes through the slot. Some are known to leap up and down in celebration when postman Scott Arnold arrives each day; others simply throw their heads back and howl.

But it is during the holidays that the humans along Arnold's route through McLean especially look forward to seeing him. That is when Arnold, a 27-year U.S. Postal Service veteran, transforms into a kind of dog-themed St. Nick, powered not by reindeer but by the force of a curious tradition he calls Santa Paws (he couldn't resist).

Each year, rain, snow or shine, Arnold delivers more than 100 doggy stockings along his route, writing each pooch's name in careful lettering across the cuff. He packs them with rawhide candy canes, dog cookies and rock-hard biscuits, along with an ornament, different each year, that features a photo of the dog taken with Arnold's 35mm film camera.

"They are like family to me," said Arnold, 54, a warm, bespectacled man with rough hands, a bushy moustache and a jolly physique worthy of Santa. By family, of course, he means the people and the dogs.

For 17 years, he has worked the same delivery circuit through the mansions and modest brick ramblers of 22101, becoming a daily presence in the lives of his customers. It is a long stint for a postal route, far longer than the life span of most dogs. And so, over time, Arnold has seen new puppies arrive, watched them grow up and grow old, until the day they no longer rush out to greet him.

That is the other purpose of Santa Paws, a shared sadness for the short lives of dogs, at a time of year their absence grows sharper. Because Arnold can no longer deliver a stocking when a dog dies, he writes the owner a letter, in the dog's voice, from the comforts of an imaginary place he calls North Pole Kennels. That is where dogs "retire" to work for Santa Paws when they are gone, where the treats are unlimited and the furniture is indestructible.

"If you feel the need to get another dog, please do! I won't be offended!" read the letter received by Martita Marx and Gerald Wein this year, their first without their chocolate Lab, Mozart. It was signed "Fleas Navidog!! MOZART."

"It's not just the ball or the doggy bone," Marx said. "He knows what pets mean to you, and he's able to capture that in how he touches you."

Her Christmas tree had 10 years of Mozart-themed ornaments of Arnold's creation, each photo showing him a little further along. The last, framed inside a plastic snowman, captured the 13-year-old just before he died, his muzzle white, his eyes clouded with age.

"Everything is so impersonal now. You go to the grocery store and you don't know anyone," Marx said. "And here's someone who knows our names, who knows who we are."

Marx has other photos from the Santa Paws package over the years, showing the neighborhood dogs' stockings lined up in long red-and-green columns of quirky names: Elwood, Snuggles, Zorro, Bandit, Bella, Moo-Moo, Warf, Butters.

"It's a weird situation," said Arnold, a Herndon resident who grew up in Falls Church. "Sometimes I know the dog's name before I know the owner's name."

Each Christmas stocking Arnold delivers also comes with a Santa Paws newsletter, stuffed with the comings and goings of the neighborhood's hounds. Written in Santa Paws's unmistakable style -- heavy on exclamation marks and puns like "Happy Howlidays" and "Fleasons Greetings" -- the letters welcome new dogs to the neighborhood, salute those whose owners have moved away and mark the passing of the dogs that have died.

Last year, residents along Arnold's route got an additional letter, with instructions not to open it until Dec. 26. It contained the news that Arnold's 13-year-old sheltie, Cody, faithful wearer of reindeer antlers and the reluctant subject of many Santa-dog costume photos, had moved on to North Pole Kennels. Arnold called him "the star of the Christmas sock" and told the neighborhood he was devastated.

Larry Fleck, who lives a few doors down from Marx and Wein, said Arnold understands what it's like to lose a companion. "We've had five dogs, and Scott has known three," said Fleck, owner of Carmen Ohio II, a 125-pound Newfoundland who resembles a black bear. Fleck, 70, has named two dogs Carmen Ohio, after the song of his alma mater, Ohio State University.

"My wife made his wife a scarf for Christmas," Fleck said. "He's a member of our family."

Arnold and his wife, Cindy, now have two 1-year-old shelties, Milo and Mischa. Arnold said he has always had dogs but, other than keeping a beer can collection, has never been much of a hobbyist. He makes the stockings and ornaments on the weekends while watching Redskins games.

Only one dog has bitten him in his career, back in the late 1980s (no stitches), and it was about that time Arnold began using an old postal carrier's trick to ingratiate himself with the other dogs on his route. A few Milk-Bones went a long way toward self-preservation, he found (he has since curbed the practice, per Postal Service rules). He made friends with dogs big and small, and as he'd deliver parcels during the holidays, he found himself turning to his new friends and saying, "And what are you getting for Christmas?"

So he began making stockings for them.

Until this week, the Postal Service was unaware of the existence of Santa Paws, and the agency said Arnold's activities are done on his time, without official approval.

Despite an ever-growing crush of holiday parcels, Arnold said Santa Paws will live on, even though this year he had to deliver holiday stockings at 5 a.m.

"I treat my job like a little country store," said Arnold, who also wears a Santa suit on Christmas Eve to pose for photos with kids. The dogs, and the people, he said, "make my day so much better. A lot of people think that's corny. But that's the way I think it should be."

This will warm your heart for the holiday season

2008-12-24T15:41:00.001-05:00

Woman buried in snow for 3 days found alive

(CNN) -- No one expected to find Donna Molnar alive.

Ace, who found Molnar buried alive in 3 feet of snow, will soon be enjoying a T-bone steak as a reward.

Searchers had combed the brutal backcountry of rural Ontario for the housewife from the city of Hamilton, who had left her home three days earlier in the middle of a blizzard to grocery shop.

Alongside his search-and-rescue dog Ace, Ray Lau on Monday tramped through the thick, ice-covered brush of a farmer's field, not far from where Molnar's van had been found a day earlier.

He kept thinking: Negative-20 winds? This is a search for a body.

"Then, oh, all of a sudden, Ace bolted off," said Lau. "He stooped and looked down at the snow and just barked, barked, barked."

Lau rushed to his Dutch shepherd's side.

"There she was, there was Donna, her face was almost totally covered except for one eye staring back at me!" he said. "That was, 'Wow!' There was a thousand thoughts going through my head. It was over the top."

With one ungloved hand near her neck, Molnar, 55, mumbled and tried to scream as Lau yelled to other rescuers. Dressed in a leather coat, sweater, slacks and winter boots, Molnar was carefully extracted from a 3-foot-deep mound of snow that had apparently helped to insulate her.

Then, rescuers got their second shock.

"She was lucid, and said, 'Wow. I've been here a long time!' and then she apologized and said, 'I just wanted to take a walk, I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble,' " said Staff Sgt. Mark Cox of the Hamilton Police Department, one of the leaders in the hunt. "And we're all thinking this is incredible, this is really something."

"I've been doing search and rescue for seven years, and this is the wildest case I've had in finding someone alive," he said.

She was rushed to a hospital and immediately sedated to begin the agonizing steps of hypothermia treatment.

"I think the snow must have worked to trap her body heat, and that's what really saved her," Cox said. "This really speaks to what's possible."

David Molnar is calling his wife's survival his "Christmas miracle."

He wasn't able to speak with her immediately after she was taken to the hospital. But while she was under sedation, he leaned over her and whispered in her ear, "Welcome back, I love you."

"My wife, you know, doesn't pump iron. She is strong physically and spiritually," he said. "When people say to me how do I explain how she survived, I said I believe God reached down and cradled her until the rescuers could find her, because there's no rational explanation."

In addition to hypothermia, Donna Molnar is being treated for severe frostbite, and her recovery will take months.

But his wife's condition was upgraded Wednesday from critical to serious. "That may not sound like a great thing to everyone, but to us, that is the best news we could possibly get on Christmas Eve," David Molnar said.

As for Ace, he's still awaiting his reward: a T-bone steak. It's the least that can be done for a dog who, in his own way, paid it forward.

"A while ago, Ace was rescued from a home where he didn't belong, and now he got to rescue someone. I can't describe the magnitude of that, what that means to me," Lau said.

"He's definitely getting his steak. I'm grocery shopping right now."

Crip fail...

2008-12-23T16:40:00.002-05:00

Seeing-eye cat

2008-12-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims

2008-12-15T19:06:00.001-05:00

Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims

A blind man has been turned away from a fashionable Indian restaurant because his guide dog offended Muslim staff.

Alun Elder-Brown was barred from bringing his guide dog, Finn, into Kirthon Restaurant

Alun Elder-Brown, a recruitment executive, said he was left feeling "like a piece of dirt" after being barred from bringing the animal into Kirthon Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on religious grounds.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association said the decision was illegal under the Disability Discrimination Act and Mr Elder-Brown, 51, is now considering suing the establishment in The Pantiles.

It follows a series of successful prosecutions of Muslim taxi drivers who refused to carry guide dogs in their cars because they considered them unclean on religious grounds.

Mr Elder-Brown was taking his girlfriend out to celebrate her birthday with her five year-old daughter last week when he was told he would have to leave his dog, Finn, tied up outside.

He showed a card issued by the Institute of Environmental Health Officers certifying he and his dog were allowed into any premises but an argument ensued and the owners threatened to call the police if he did not leave.

"It was humiliating and degrading, especially as there were a lot of people around me," he said.

"I was made to feel like a piece of dirt. They told me I couldn't come in because it was against their religious beliefs to have a dog in the restaurant.

"They then said I could leave Finn tied up outside. I stayed calm but when they threatened to call police I left."

He added: "It was horrible. It put a dampener on the whole celebration."

Under the Disability Discrimination Act it is illegal to refuse to serve a disabled person of give them a diminished level of service because of their disability.

Chris Dyson of Guide Dogs for the Blind said: "We are extremely concerned and disappointed that Alun was refused access to this restaurant.

"We very much hope that this restaurant will reconsider its decision and get in touch with the charity so that we can give them a better understanding of their requirements under the law and explain the important role that the guide dog plays for Alun."

The restaurant's owner, Amenur Abdussamad, was not immediately available for comment.

But Shamin Ahmed, a partner in the restaurant, said that he had written to Guide Dogs for the Blind to apologise for the incident.

He said that although the owners of the venue are Muslim, he insisted religion was not a factor in the decision to refuse Mr Elder-Brown.

“We were worried about the hygiene, that is what happened, it was a mistake,” he said.

“I have had a letter from Guide Dogs for the Blind, I have sent a reply apologising about that.... we found out afterwards that guide dogs are allowed, I didn’t know that.”

Not just your kids: Dogs can think ‘no fair’ too

2008-12-09T00:59:00.005-05:00

Canines, like people and monkeys, seem to have a sense of fairness

The dog on the left has not received food for giving the paw in the last trials and observing that the partner (right) did receive food, the subject is refusing to give the paw and avoids looking at the experimenter.

WASHINGTON - No fair!

What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of something. Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way.

Ask them to do a trick and they'll give it a try. For a reward, sausage say, they'll happily keep at it.

But if one dog gets no reward, and then sees another get sausage for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again.

Indeed, he may even turn away and refuse to look at you.

Dogs, like people and monkeys, seem to have a sense of fairness.

"Animals react to inequity," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, Austria, who lead a team of researchers testing animals at the school's Clever Dog Lab. "To avoid stress, we should try to avoid treating them differently."

Similar responses have been seen in monkeys.

Range said she wasn't surprised at the dogs reaction, since wolves are known to cooperate with one another and appear to be sensitive to each other. Modern dogs are descended from wolves.

Next, she said, will be experiments to test how dogs and wolves work together. "Among other questions, we will investigate how differences in emotions influence cooperative abilities," she said via e-mail.

In the reward experiments reported in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Range and colleagues experimented with dogs that understood the command "paw," to place their paw in the hand of a researcher. It's the same game as teaching a dog to "shake hands."

Those that refused at the start — and one border collie that insisted on trying to herd other dogs — were removed. That left 29 dogs to be tested in varying pairs.

The dogs sat side-by-side with an experimenter in front of them. In front of the experimenter was a divided food bowl with pieces of sausage on one side and brown bread on the other.

The dogs were asked to shake hands and each could see what reward the other received.

When one dog got a reward and the other didn't, the unrewarded animal stopped playing.

When both got a reward all was well.

One thing that did surprise the researchers was that — unlike primates — the dogs didn't seem to care whether the reward was sausage or bread.

Possibly, they suggested, the presence of a reward was so important it obscured any preference. Other possibilities, they said, are that daily training with their owners overrides a preference, or that the social condition of working next to a partner increased their motivation regardless of which reward they got.

And the dogs never rejected the food, something that primates had done when they thought the reward was unfair.

The dogs, the researchers said, "were not willing to pay a cost by rejecting unfair offers."

Clive Wynne, an associate professor in the psychology department of the University of Florida, isn't so sure the experiment measures the animals reaction to fairness.

"What it means is individuals are responding negatively to being treated less well," he said in a telephone interview.

But the researchers didn't do a control test that had been done in monkey studies, Wynne said, in which a preferred reward was visible but not given to anyone.

In that case the monkeys went on strike because they could see the better reward but got something lesser.

In dogs, he noted, the quality of reward didn't seem to matter, so the test only worked when they got no reward at all, he said.

However, Wynne added, there is "no doubt in my mind that dogs are very, very sensitive to what people are doing and are very smart."

If you bought a puppy at a pet store, you should know better!

2008-11-21T14:21:00.001-05:00

Investigation ties pet chain to puppy mills
Many Petland store dogs bred in poor conditions, Humane Society finds

After an eight-month investigation, the Humane Society of the United States accused Petland, the national pet store chain, of selling dogs bred under appalling conditions at puppy mills around the country.

The animal protection group made the charges at a news conference in Washington Thursday. The investigation involved 21 Petland stores and dozens of breeders and brokers. The Petland stores are being supplied by large-scale puppy mills, although customers are routinely informed that the dogs come only from good breeders, the Humane Society said.

"They are buying from puppy mills where these dogs are not treated like pets," Michael Markarian, an executive vice president with the Humane Society, told a news conference. "They're treated like a cash crop, where mother dogs live in wire cages, sometimes stacked on top of each other in filthy, dirty, cramped conditions, where they receive little socialization or human interaction or exercise."

Dogs from puppy mills are sold at Petland stores for as much as $3,500 each, according to the Humane Society.

Investigators reviewed interstate import records of an additional 322 breeders, U.S. Department of Agriculture reports and more than 17,000 individual puppies linked to Petland stores, according to a release on the group's Web site.

Filthy cages, inadequate care
Among the poor conditions cited, investigators found puppies in commercial breeders "living in filthy cages reeking of urine, with inadequate care and socialization," according to the release. The Humane Society says dogs at the mills were found in cages with wire flooring so large that the puppies' paws and even the paws of the mother dogs would fall through.

The group said pet stores should not be buying puppies from "abusive puppy mills" and "should not be lying to consumers" about where they get their puppies.

A call to Petland corporate offices in Chillicothe, Ohio, was not immediately returned. In a statement, Petland said the company does not support substandard breeding facilities and provides each store with guidelines on humane care of animals.

A statement on the company's Web site noted that "Petland stores are independently operated by qualified franchisees. Each is responsible for choosing healthy pets offered to Petland customers. Petland, Inc. provides each Petland store with humane care guidelines to assist in this important task."

Individual Petland stores previously have been targeted by animal rights activists for reselling puppies supplied by commercial breeders.

Large commercial breeders are legal and regulated by the USDA, but enforcement of humane conditions is a low priority, according to a recent report on msnbc.com.

The Humane Society investigation comes as legislators recently have stepped up moves to crack down on the lucrative puppy mill industry. In October, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed a bill imposing stricter standards on commercial kennels, including regular veterinary exams, larger cages and exercise areas. At least three other states have issued laws this year placing restrictions on commercial breeders

Cannabis 'could stop dementia in its tracks'

2008-11-20T18:15:00.000-05:00

Cannabis may help keep Alzheimer's disease at bay.

In experiments, a marijuana-based medicine triggered the formation of new brain cells and cut inflammation linked to dementia.

The researchers say that using the information to create a pill suitable for people could help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's.

A medicine based on cannabis (right) could help to delay the onset of Alzheimer's.

The incurable disease affects 400,000 Britons, with around 500 new cases diagnosed every day as people live longer.

For some sufferers, drugs can delay the progress of devastating symptoms such as memory loss and the erosion of ability to do everyday things such as washing.

However, there they do not work for everyone and, with the number of patients forecast to double in a generation, there is a desperate need for new treatments.

The US researchers studied the properties of a man-made drug based on THC, the chemical behind the 'high' of cannabis.

When elderly rats were given the drug for three weeks, it improved their memory, making it easier for them to find their way round a water maze, the Society for Neuroscience's annual conference heard yesterday (WEDS).

Researcher Dr Yannick Marchalant said; 'Old rats are not very good at that task. When we gave them the drug, it made them a little better at that task.'

Other experiments showed that the drug acts on parts of the brain involved in memory, appetite, pain and mood.

The Ohio State University experiments also showed that the drug cut inflammation in the brain and may trigger the production of new neurons or brain cells.

Researcher Professor Gary Wenk said: 'When we're young, we produce neurons and our memory works fine.

'When we age, the process slows down, so we have a decrease in new cell formation through normal ageing.

'You need these cells to come back and help form new memories and we found that this THC-like agent can influence the creation of these cells.'

Although the drug used was not suitable for use in people, the results could aid the creation of new medicines for Alzheimer's.

It is likely such a drug would be taken to prevent the disease, rather than treat it.

Asked if those with a family history of Alzheimer's should smoke cannabis to prevent them developing the disease, Dr Wenk said: 'We're not saying that but it might actually work.

'What we are saying its that it appears that a safe, legal substance that mimics the important properties of marijuana can work on the brain to prevent memory impairments in ageing. So that's really hopeful.'

Dr Marchalant added: 'We hope a compound can be found that can target both inflammation and neurogenesis, which would be the most efficient way to produce the best effects.'

The medicinal properties of cannabis have already been harnessed to treat multiple sclerosis.

Sativex, a cannabis-based drug, has been shown to ease the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, including pain, spasms, shaking, depression and anxiety.

The Alzheimer's Society cautioned against using cannabis itself to stave off dementia.

Professor Clive Ballard, the charity's director of research, said: 'There are encouraging findings from studies with animals suggesting that some cannabis derivatives may help protect nerve cells in the brain.

'We therefore look forward to robust clinical trials into potential benefits of non-psychoactive components of cannabis.

'It is important for people to note that these treatments are not same as recreational cannabis use which can be potentially harmful.'

Ahhh yes, it has begun

2008-11-19T16:55:00.004-05:00

Texas grand jury indicts Cheney, Gonzales of crime

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons.

Read full article

Inappropriate

2008-11-18T15:41:00.001-05:00

Ask yourself...

2008-11-17T15:09:00.013-05:00

If you voted for McCain/Palin because you were concerned about Obama's "associations":

Obama - Bill Ayers (anti-war activist), Wiki: "In 1973, the federal government requested the dismissal of the charges against the couple in the interest of national security following accusations of government misconduct..."
Obama - Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Wiki: "[Obama] expressed outrage and shock at a press conference on April 29 [2008]..."
Obama - Tony Rezko
Obama - muslim (he's actually a christian)
Obama - ACORN

... were you equally concerned about McCain/Palin's "associations"?

Palin - Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) convicted felon
Palin - Todd Palin, member of the Alaskan Independence Party
Palin - Bishop Thomas Muthee, believes in witches and witchcraft
Palin - Sarah Palin, "...abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten..."
McCain - Pastor John Hagee
McCain - Phil Gramm, McCain advisor
McCain - Charles H. Keating, Jr. and the Keating Five
McCain - George W. Bush (war crimes) (with whom McCain agreed with 90% of the time)

If you were concerned about Obama's "lack of experience", were you equally concerned about Palin's "lack of experience"?

With all that, I have one last question:

When Obama gave his speech in Chicago after winning the election, were you moved? Did you get goose-bumps? Do you fully realize the implications of America having elected it's first black president?

If not, then perhaps these aren't the right questions.

Perhaps the right question to ask is...

Are you a racist?

Sweet

2008-11-14T00:17:00.002-05:00

Veterans' groups sue for faster disability rulings

2008-11-10T23:37:00.001-05:00

(CNN) -- Two veterans' organizations Monday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to accelerate decisions on disability claims for retired military personnel.

The plaintiffs say the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs takes an average of six months to rule on a typical claim.

The lawsuit, filed by the Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeks to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an initial ruling on every veteran's claim for disability benefits within 90 days and to resolve appeals within 180 days.

The veterans' groups also are seeking interim benefits for veterans whose claim rulings take longer than those time periods.

"The failure to expedite veterans' compensation claims creates, at best, the impression that the nation does not respect its veterans," John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said in a written statement. "America's veterans deserve more, and the VA's failure to fulfill its responsibilities brings dishonor to our nation and can only make the call of military service more challenging."

According to the veterans' groups, an initial decision on a typical benefits claim takes an average of six months. Appeals of initial rulings take, on average, over four years, according to the groups.

"We have not yet seen this lawsuit, and the Department of Justice handles litigation issues in the U.S. District Court for the VA, so we can't really comment," said Lisette Mondello, assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs for the department.

"Regarding the press accounts today, we would note that the VA has made considerable improvements in claims adjudication and continues to do so. It is a key priority for the VA."

The issue of veterans' benefits was highlighted in the recently concluded presidential campaign. President-elect Barack Obama promised, among other things, to increase veterans' benefits to keep pace with rising costs.

In June, President Bush signed a $162 billion war funding bill that contained a new "G.I. Bill" expanding education benefits for veterans who have served since the September 11 attacks.

A Big Yay To This News

2008-11-09T22:35:00.002-05:00

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team

President Bush denied California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. The president-elect says he will overturn that decision.

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.
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A spokeswoman said yesterday that no plans for regulatory changes had been finalized. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "Any decisions would need to be discussed with his Cabinet nominees, none of whom have been selected yet."

Still, the preelection transition team, comprising mainly lawyers, has positioned the incoming president to move fast on high-priority items without waiting for Congress.

Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's.

Bush's August 2001 decision pleased religious conservatives who have moral objections to the use of cells from days-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.

But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.

The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.

"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."

While Obama said at a news conference last week that his top priority would be to stimulate the economy and create jobs, his advisers say that focus will not delay key shifts in social and regulatory policies, including some -- such as the embrace of new environmental safeguards -- that Obama has said will have long-term, beneficial impacts on the economy.

The president-elect has said, for example, that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said in January.

California had sought permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to require that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles be cut by 30 percent between 2009 and 2016, effectively mandating that cars achieve a fuel economy standard of at least 36 miles per gallon within eight years. Seventeen other states had promised to adopt California's rules, representing in total 45 percent of the nation's automobile market. Environmentalists cheered the California initiative because it would stoke innovation that would potentially benefit the entire country.

"An early move by the Obama administration to sign the California waiver would signal the seriousness of intent to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and build a future for the domestic auto market," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Before the election, Obama told others that he favors declaring that carbon dioxide emissions are endangering human welfare, following an EPA task force recommendation last December that Bush and his aides shunned in order to protect the utility and auto industries.

Robert Sussman, who was the EPA's deputy administrator during the Clinton administration and is now overseeing EPA transition planning for Obama, wrote a paper last spring strongly recommending such a finding. Others in the campaign have depicted it as an issue on which Obama is keen to show that politics must not interfere with scientific advice.

Some related reforms embraced by Obama's transition advisers would alter procedures for decision-making on climate issues. A book titled "Change for America," being published next week by the Center for American Progress, an influential liberal think tank, will recommend, for example, that Obama rapidly create a National Energy Council to coordinate all policymaking related to global climate change.

The center's influence with Obama is substantial: It was created by former Clinton White House official John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of the transition effort, and much of its staff has been swept into planning for Obama's first 100 days in office.

The National Energy Council would be a counterpart to the White House National Economic Council that Clinton created in a 1993 executive order.

"It would make sure all the oars are rowing in the right direction" and ensure that climate change policy "gets lots of attention inside the White House," said Daniel J. Weiss, a former Sierra Club official and senior fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The center's new book will also urge Obama to sign an executive order requiring that greenhouse gas emissions be considered whenever the federal government examines the environmental impact of its actions under the existing National Environmental Policy Act. Several key members of Obama's transition team have already embraced the idea.

Other early Obama initiatives may address the need for improved food and drug regulation and chart a new course for immigration enforcement, some Obama advisers say. But they add that only a portion of his early efforts will be aimed at undoing Bush initiatives.

Despite enormous pent-up Democratic frustration, Obama and his team realize they must strike a balance between undoing Bush actions and setting their own course, said Winnie Stachelberg, the center's senior vice president for external affairs.

"It took eight years to get into this mess, and it will take a long time to get out of it," she said. "The next administration needs to look ahead. This transition team and the incoming administration gets that in a big way."

A Fine Line Between Appropriate and Inappropriate Licking

2008-11-08T17:38:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama: We Want a Shelter Dog...a Mutt Like Me!

2008-11-07T22:30:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama let the dogs out Friday on his family's future presidential pooch.

At his first press conference since the election, he announced the family would prefer to adopt because, "a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.

"With respect to the dog, this is a major issue," he joked. "I think it's generated more interest on our Web site than just about anything."

Check out photos from Obama's First Family Album.

Before picking out the dog that Obama promised to his daughters during his Tuesday night speech, he says they're still sorting out a few issues.

"We have two criteria that have to be reconciled," he said. "One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic.

"On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household," he said.

Study clears cannabis of schizophrenia rap

2008-11-06T22:03:00.001-05:00

No greater risk than general non-tokers

Regular readers will recall the confused mess that is this government’s cannabis policy. There has been a drop in cannabis consumption since it was downgraded from Class B to C, but nevertheless they want to put it back up to Class B again. Yes, we know all about the argument that what you ingest is entirely your business, it being your body and all that but morals are always trumped by politics.

In the comments section to our last piece the general consensus was that the policy was driven either by a craven servility to the Murdoch press or, as a daring alternative, a bending to Daily Mail woo woo. The general consensus however was that it was Puritanism, that awful fear that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying themselves and that this situation cannot be allowed to continue. We’re arguing over whose Puritanism, not whether.

There was one vaguely respectable argument that could be put forward on the prohibitionist’s side, that of cannabis induced schizophrenia. This has been increasing even as the general incidence of schizophrenia has been stable (or even falling, depending upon who you ask). That the rise was on the order of 500 people a year means it’s not a very important point, not when compared to 3 million regular tokers, but there are still those who will buy the argument that people should be stopped from harming themselves, even if the risks are very low.

There is certainly a correlation, but we should still want to know about causation before we take any further action. For it is possible, and it is a view advanced by some (like myself last time), that those who are about to become schizophrenic dose themselves on cannabis as they are known to on alcohol and any other substance that comes to hand to still the voices. Or perhaps there’s a milder version, that cannabis induced psychosis isn’t in fact cannabis induced at all, but is simply coincidental: that it’s an early marker of schizophrenia rather than something brought on by cannabis itself.

When we try to test this we also want to be very careful indeed about our sample groups. We really don’t want to be making the mistake that the World Health Organisation has been making with HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa. Testing pregnant women to give you the incidence of a sexually transmitted disease in the general population really ain't all that clever: you’re testing the one group of the population where you have actual proof that they’ve been partaking in unprotected sex. It might be useful to get an idea of scale, but it's just not going to be all that accurate.

Fortunately, all of this is just what some scientists have done (sadly, the full paper is not online for free access). We know that there is a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia (more accurately to three different conditions that we'll, for convenience sake, group together here). If we’re lucky we can also find a decent data set which we have indeed got, some 2.25 million Danes born between 1955 and 1990, and we know both their own treatments for either cannabis induced psychosis or for those varied schizophrenic type diseases. We can also track their familial relationships and see which of them did or didn’t suffer in these manners. Excellent, we can now try to test our correlation. Do people who have had cannabis induced psychotic episodes then go on to develop schizophrenia at a higher rate than their genetic predisposition (as evidenced by their familial incidence of schizophrenia) would lead us to believe they would?

Well, looking at the 609 who had treatment for such pot induced freakouts and those 6,476 who were treated for the full blown nastiness, well, umm, no. Formally:

In terms of estimated rate ratios, persons who develop cannabis-induced psychosis are as predisposed to schizophrenia spectrum disorder and other psychiatric disorders as those who develop schizophrenia spectrum disorder without a history of cannabis-induced psychosis.

So at this point we can say that, no, that bad trip on some heavy shit does not lead on to schizophrenia. There’s no difference in incidence.

But the paper’s authors go much further:

Altogether, these findings, in addition to those of previous studies, indicate that cannabis-induced psychosis may not be a valid diagnosis but an early marker of schizophrenia.

That is, that the very idea of that bad trip is itself wrong. The disease is already there, simply wrongly diagnosed as being cannabis induced. And finally we get:

Rather, the degree of hereditary predisposition in individuals who receive treatment of cannabis-induced psychosis closely mirrors that in those who develop schizophrenia with no history of cannabis induced psychosis. The results agree with those of other studies that show that cannabis predominantly causes psychotic symptoms in those persons who are predisposed to develop psychosis or show signs of psychosis in the absence of cannabis use.

This goes a great deal further than my or anyone else’s original supposition, that pot consumption might cause problems only for those who are already predisposed to mental health problems. If it were simply this then we could deal with legalised pot simply by placing warnings upon it, as we do with nuts and nut allergies (umm, 'nut' possibly isn’t le mot juste there). But this finding goes further. There seems to be no evidence that cannabis consumption increases the incidence of these mental diseases at all. Incidence is the same for those who have had the "cannabis induced" version as it is in the general population, adjusting for the risks we perceive from the incidence of such problems in their immediate families. That there’s actually nothing to do with cannabis at all, that it just so happens that some who are becoming schizophrenic, something which is often marked by short episodes before it fully takes grip, happen to have been puffing 'erb when such episodes hit.

Thus there really is no logical leg for the government to stand upon in its reclassification of cannabis: there's not in fact one reason against the legalisation of the damn stuff and the increase in liberty and freedom that would result.

So, anyone think this is going to make any difference? No, thought not myself. OK, back to basics then, could the Murdochists and the Mailites let us know who is really to blame for the idiocy which is current drugs policy?

The politics of compassion have overcome the politics of fear.

2008-11-06T18:17:00.001-05:00

Tonight, Michigan became the thirteenth state to legalize the physician supervised possession and use of cannabis. According to early returns, more than 60 percent of Michigan voters decided in favor of Proposal 1, which establishes a state-regulated system regarding the use and cultivation of medical marijuana by qualified patients.

Voters endorsed the measure despite a high profile, deceptive, and despicable ad campaign by Prop. 1 opponents — who falsely claimed that the initiative would allow for the open sale of marijuana “in every neighborhood, just blocks from schools.” (In fact, Proposal 1 does not even allow for the creation of licensed cannabis dispensaries.)

Michigan’s new law goes into effect on December 4th, at which time nearly one-quarter of the US population will live in a state that authorizes the legal use of medical cannabis.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, some 65 percent of voters (and virtually every town) decided “yes” on Question 2, which reduces minor marijuana possession to a fine-only offense. Like in Michigan, voters rejected a high-profile, deceptive ad campaign by the measure’s opponents, who argued that it would increase adolescent drug abuse, permit large-scale marijuana trafficking, endanger workplace safety, and sharply increase traffic fatalities.

Question 2 is expected to become law in 30 days — making Massachusetts the thirteenth state to decriminalize the personal possession and use of cannabis. (Note: Under state law, politicians have the option of amending the new law.)

NORML celebrates both victories and recognizes that neither would have been possible without the grassroots efforts of Michigan and Massachusetts state activists — who laid the groundwork for both campaigns by successfully passing a series of similar, municipal initiatives over the past several years.

Wednesday Morning Update:

Victories in four pro-marijuana law reform measures in local elections were announced overnight:

Citizens in Fayetteville, Arkansas voted in favor of initiative question #16, which instructs city police to make the enforcement of minor marijuana offenses a low priority. The initiative passed with nearly 66 percent support.

Not too surprisingly the citizens of Berkeley, California voted again to affirm an initiative that ‘eliminate limits on the amount of medical marijuana patient or dispensary can possess’. Measure JJ passed with 61 percent support.

Hawaii County also passed a lowest police priority marijuana initiative.

Also, the Massachusetts PPQ results regarding medical marijuana, which readily passed as expected, are online here.

Unfortunately for reformers the Drug Policy Alliance-sponsored Prop. 5, which sought progressive criminal justice law reforms for non-violent offenders (and would have changed the legal status of a minor marijuana citation from a criminal to civil offense) did not prevail at the polls, losing with 40 percent support.

Once again, voters have rejected the Bush doctrine on drugs. They’ve rejected the lies put forward by drug warriors and law enforcement, and demonstrated — overwhelmingly — that truth, compassion, and first-hand experience are more persuasive than the deception and scare tactics of those who would take away our freedoms and confine us in cages.

In short, it is the cannabis community, not the Drug Czar, that is shaping America’s marijuana policy, and tonight we go to bed knowing that millions of Americans will wake up tomorrow with a better, brighter, and more tolerant future than they had today.

My favorite part...

2008-11-05T14:20:00.001-05:00

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled -

Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."

Sigh...

2008-11-05T00:26:00.000-05:00

... of relief...

Robot service dogs are on the way

2008-10-31T00:04:00.000-05:00

Georgia Tech professor Charlie Kemp was never much of a dog person until his wife brought home an energetic goldendoodle named Daisy about a year and a half ago.

Since then, the robotics researcher's work has literally gone to the dogs.

Inside Kemp's Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, he and co-workers are developing a robot dog they say could someday perform the same functions as the service dogs that are vital to many physically disabled people.

At a skinny 5 feet 7 inches, with wheels instead of paws, their robodog named El-E (pronounced "Ellie") doesn't look anything like a real dog.

But El-E can open doors and cabinets, fetch dropped objects and do other service dog functions -- all without ever needing to eat or relieve itself.

Ultimately, Kemp and co-researchers plan to train El-E to do things not even highly skilled service dogs can do, such as dial a cellphone for help or relay information about its companion's condition to a doctor.

"A lot of people have looked at robot dogs for entertainment and companionship," Kemp said. "But we said, 'Hey, what about looking at this in terms of physical assistance?' "

Missing Fla. dog shows up 1,000 miles away in Ill.

2008-10-30T23:58:00.000-05:00

RACINE, Wis. (AP) -- A Maltese dog named Max is headed home to Florida after he was spotted in Chicago - 1,000 miles from where he vanished. Richard Gonzalez had reported a pet theft after Max disappeared several months ago from his daughter's yard in Brandon, Fla. Gonzalez says he thought that Max would never get far. But the pooch was identified in Chicago by an implanted microchip.

Gonzalez contacted the Northcentral Maltese Rescue to retrieve Max. Rescue director Mary Palmer had the dog taken to Racine, Wis., and he will be flown Saturday to Florida.

Gonzalez says he has no idea how his dog got so far away. He says he was so thrilled about the find that he almost asked Palmer to put Max on the phone.

---

Information from: The Journal Times, http://www.journaltimes.com

Dogs can read emotion in human faces

2008-10-30T23:30:00.002-05:00

Dogs are the only animals that can read emotion in faces much like humans, cementing their position as man's best friend, claim scientists.

Dogs have a sense of right and wrong

Dogs 'may be able to read their owner's minds'

Dogs display aspects of human intelligence

Research findings suggest that, like an understanding best friend, they can see at a glance if we are happy, sad, pleased or angry.

When humans look at a new face their eyes tend to wander left, falling on the right hand side of the person's face first.

This "left gaze bias" only occurs when we encounter faces and does not apply any other time, such as when inspecting animals or inanimate objects.

A possible reason for the tendency is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotional state.

Researchers at the University of Lincoln have now shown that pet dogs also exhibit "left gaze bias", but only when looking at human faces. No other animal has been known to display this behaviour before.

A team led by Dr Kun Guo showed 17 dogs images of human, dog and monkey faces as well as inanimate objects.

Film of the dogs' eye and head movement revealed a strong left gaze bias when the animals were presented with human faces. But this did not occur when they were shown other images, including those of dogs.

"Guo suggests that over thousands of generations of association with humans, dogs may have evolved the left gaze bias as a way to gauge our emotions," New Scientist magazine reported.

"Recent studies show that the right side of our faces can express emotions more accurately and more intensely than the left, including anger. If true, then it makes sense for dogs - and humans - to inspect the right hand side of a face first."

Surprisingly, when the dogs in the study were shown an upside-down human face, they still looked left. In contrast, humans lose their left gaze bias altogether when shown an inverted face.

This may be because the right side of a dog's brain, which processes information from the left visual field, is better adapted to interpreting human facial emotion than the left side, the scientists believe.

Pound puppy becomes narcotics dog in Florida

2008-10-29T00:14:00.002-05:00

When his chief told him there was no money for a new narcotics dog, Polk County Sheriff's Deputy John Maney went to the pound, adopted and trained a dog himself.

Maney, who has previously worked as a handler for five canines, turned down several dogs. He focused on ones that showed alertness, lack of fear and an eagerness to learn. He adopted an eleven-month-old black lab mix in March and named him Rezadu.

They trained in abandoned phosphate mine property and open fields for 12 weeks, detecting illegal narcotics.

Rezadu did so well that he was nationally certified in August.

Dogs Rule

2008-10-27T16:04:00.002-05:00

This puppy may be able to take on this kitty now, but in two years, this cat will dominate!

Oh no they di'ent

2008-10-26T23:31:00.004-05:00

Service dog turned away from local hotel

Indianapolis - A woman says a local hotel told her that her service dog in training is not welcome to stay there.

Colin Zinn says she's been staying at InTown Suites at 86th and Michigan while her house is being renovated. Zinn also helps train service dogs and a new dog, Lady, has just arrived from Oregon.

"This dog could allow somebody to work when they might not be able to work, or be in public where they might not be able to be in public, or function in a way that they normally would not be able to function," said Zinn.

But Lady's training is at a stand-still. Zinn said she went to the hotel manager to tell him Lady would be staying with her. She says she was told Lady was not welcome.

"He said upper management says no service dogs in training are allowed. No pets. And I explained it was not a pet, this is a service dog in training and he still said no," said Zinn.

"I never expected there to be a problem with anybody. Anywhere," Zinn added.

An attorney for Paws and Think, the non-profit that brought Lady here, called InTown's corporate office.

"I was told no problem with the dog and then they changed course," explained Scott Preston with Ice Miller LLP.

Preston explained under Indiana Law, service and guide dogs are allowed in public places. The law also applies to dogs in training.

"The law is very clear that says someone who is training an assistance dog has to be given the same accommodations as someone with a disability that has an assistance dog," said Preston.

Preston says he tried to get a straight answer from InTown's corporate offices, but so far, no one has returned his calls. Zinn says she and Lady could go somewhere else says that's not the point and says she shouldn't have to.

"What's happening is dead wrong," she said.

Dog risks life for kittens

2008-10-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

A dog has risked its life to protect four kittens trapped in a house fire in Melbourne, Australia.

Firefighters found Leo guarding the kittens which were in a cardboard box in one of the bedrooms.

When the fire broke out inside the house, the family of four plus their other dog managed to escape.

However Leo paid the price for his bravery. He succumbed to the smoke and heat.

Firefighters rushed the dog to safety and revived the unconscious Leo with a heart massage and oxygen.

Link to video

Bad dog!

2008-10-26T16:43:00.000-05:00

13 Golf Balls Found Inside Dog

Owner Chris Morrison had been taking five-year-old black labrador Oscar, round the Pitreavie golf course in Dunfermline for few months.

He took Oscar to the vet after he heard a rattling sound coming from his pet’s stomach. After oversight they discovered 13 balls - each weighing 45 grams - lodged in his stomach.

Mr Morrison, a planning administrator, said one of the balls had been in his stomach so long that it had turned black and was decomposing.

He said: “He finds golf balls like truffles. We’re not sure how long exactly this happened over, but it must have been a fair period - several months at least.

“I felt his stomach and heard them rattling around.

“He normally brings a few home, but I had no idea he had eaten so many.

“The vet hadn’t seen anything like it, it was bizarre.

“He is a black lab so he is a fair size, but to swallow 13 is quite amazing.”

The balls were removed two weeks ago in a successful hour-long operation.
Oscar is now on the road to making a full recovery on a special post-operation diet of watered-down food. He also has to wear a muzzle while out and about. Mr Morrison added:

“He does get a bit frustrated now and again.”

Bob Hesketh, 40, principal vet at Vetrica in Rosyth, said he had never seen anything like it.

He said: “It was like a magic trick. I opened him up and felt what I thought was two or three golf balls.”

“But they just kept coming until we had a bag full.”

“I think they must have been in there for several months, one was all black and the shell was swollen.”

No barking

2008-10-26T00:44:00.001-04:00

Calif. woman allegedly abducts dog over barking

HEMET, Calif. (AP) -- An officer at a San Diego County correctional facility who had complained about the barking of her neighbor's dog was arrested after being accused of stealing the animal and abandoning it some 15 miles away.

Diane M. Brown, 42, was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of stolen property, Hemet police Sgt. Kevin Caskey said. She was booked Thursday and released on $5,000 bond.

Brown had filed multiple noise complaints about Spike - a white Maltese - who lives next door to her Hemet home, Riverside County Animal Services officials said.

On Monday, Spike went missing, but Brown was spotted unloading the dog from the trunk of her car outside a water district building in the town of Beaumont, Animal Services Sgt. Lesley Huennekens said. A surveillance camera captured Brown when she returned to the scene to remove to dog's collar.

Two water district employees took Spike to a veterinarian, who located the dog's owners by scanning a tracking chip embedded under the animal's skin. The dog was unharmed.

San Diego County sheriff's officials said Brown was a corrections officer in the city of Vista, but they were unaware of the arrest.

There was no answer at Brown's house Thursday when a reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise visited seeking comment.

---

Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com

Pissed off?

2008-10-26T00:40:00.002-04:00

Police: Man urinates on dog after owner spurns sex

MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) -- A 36-year-old man took revenge on his roommate after she refused to have sex with him by allegedly urinating on her dog, police said. Police said the man was arrested early Thursday morning on tentative charges of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct related to domestic violence.

According to police reports, the man was drunk when he argued with the woman. After she resisted his advances the man went to the basement where he urinated on her dog and the floor.

Police said the argument continued, and when the woman's sister stood up in defense the man pushed her into a wall. He then allegedly stormed from the home and punched out a window.

It's official, Sarah Palin is an idiot

2008-10-25T22:44:00.001-04:00

Sarah Palin: Ignorant and anti-science

Posted on: October 24, 2008 10:17 PM, by PZ Myers

This is too much. Sarah Palin gave a policy speech today in which she claimed that she wanted more support for children with disabilities, more tools to test for disorders, and while also decrying the expense of scientific research.

Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You've heard about some of these pet projects they really don't make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.

I am appalled.

This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important.

This is where the Republican party has ended up: supporting an ignorant buffoon who believes in the End Times and speaking in tongues while deriding some of the best and most successful strategies for scientific research. In this next election, we've got to choose between the 21^st century rationalism and Dark Age inanity. It ought to be an easy choice.

Wow, good work!

2008-10-25T21:46:00.001-04:00

Wassup 2008

Good god, this is all I need!

2008-10-25T17:50:00.000-04:00

Even BETTER than a shaker can!

2008-10-24T00:53:00.000-04:00

I don't have MS, but this is GREAT news

2008-10-23T16:50:00.002-04:00

Leukaemia drug can halt, reverse MS

Thu Oct 23, 5:26 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – Researchers at the University of Cambridge said Thursday they have found that a drug originally developed to treat leukaemia can halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis (MS).

In trials, alemtuzumab reduced the number of attacks in sufferers and also helped them recover lost functions, apparently allowing damaged brain tissue to repair so that individuals were less disabled than at the start of the study.

"The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprecedented," said Dr Alasdair Coles, a lecturer at Cambridge university's department of clinical neurosciences, who coordinated many aspects of the study.

"We are witnessing a drug which, if given early enough, might effectively stop the advancement of the disease and also restore lost function by promoting repair of the damaged brain tissue."

The MS Society, Britain's largest support charity for those affected by the condition, said it was "delighted" at the trial's results, which must be followed up with more research before the drug can be licensed.

"This is the first drug that has shown the potential to halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of MS and this news will rightly bring hope to people living with the condition day in, day out," said head of research Lee Dunster.

MS is an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people worldwide, including almost 100,000 in Britain and 400,000 in the United States.

It is caused by the body's immune system attacking nerve fibres in the central nervous system, and can lead to loss of sight and mobility, depression, fatigue and cognitive problems. There is no cure, and few effective treatments.

In the trial, 334 patients diagnosed with early-stage relapsing-remitting MS who had not previously been treated were given alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a, one of the most effective licensed therapies for similar MS cases.

After three years, alemtuzumab was found to reduce the number of attacks the patients suffered by 74 percent over the other treatment, and reduce the risk of sustained accumulation of disability by 71 percent over interferon beta-1a.

Many individuals who took alemtuzumab also recovered some of their lost functions, becoming less disabled by the end, while the disabilities of the other patients worsened, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said.

Alastair Compston, professor of neurology and head of the clinical neurosciences department at Cambridge, said alemtuzumab was the "most promising" experimental drug for the treatment of MS.

He expressed hope that further trials "will confirm that it can both stabilise and allow some recovery of what had previously been assumed to be irreversible disabilities".

Alemtuzumab was developed in Cambridge and has been licensed for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Whaaaaat?

2008-10-20T18:24:00.001-04:00

Me and Bobby Pearce

2008-10-15T15:58:00.003-04:00

Well folks, it's time to simmer down. Without going into any detail so as to retain Bobby's well-deserved privacy, suffice it to say that the saga ends here.

Over the last week or so, I've been "talking" (internet-wise) to Bobby. I now know the entire story behind Fake Service Dog Gate and it is completely a non-issue that was borne from an off-hand conversation Bobby had with Rosie O'Donnell. It was that conversation that elicited Rosie's comment on HSN.

Bobby did NOT try to sneak his dog onto a flight (recent or otherwise) by lying that it was a Service Dog.

Bobby has NEVER claimed his dog was a Service Dog.

Not only did Bobby explain the whole story, he provided me with definitive proof: the receipt he received after purchasing an extra airline seat for his dog.

So it all needs to stop.

I do fault myself for going off the deep-end with this story. I realize now that I was being overly sensitive due to my own personal experiences with coming into contact with "fake service dogs".

So, everyone, let's take a deep breath.

If you've posted a negative article on this topic, please feel free to link it to this article. And if you've posted private personal contact info for Bobby or his representatives, please take it down. If you've contacted Bobby or his representatives in a negative way, please consider taking the time to apologize.

I did.

Brain signals revive paralyzed muscles in monkeys

2008-10-15T12:57:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Monkeys taught to play a computer game were able to overcome wrist paralysis with an experimental device that might lead to new treatments for patients with stroke and spinal cord injury.

Remarkably, the monkeys regained use of paralyzed muscles by learning to control the activity of just a single brain cell.

The result is "an important step forward," said Dawn Taylor of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who studies the concept of using brain signals to overcome paralysis. She wasn't involved in the new work.

The device monitored the activity of a brain cell and used that as a cue to stimulate wrist muscles electrically. Researchers found it could even use brain cells that normally had nothing to do with wrist movement, said study co-author Chet Moritz.

So a large untapped pool of brain cells may be available for letting paralyzed people do things like grasping a coffee cup or brushing teeth, Moritz said. But he stressed the approach is years, if not decades, away from use in people.

Moritz and his colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle report the results in a paper published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.

Taylor, who also works with the Cleveland VA Medical Center, said the study illustrates the potential of the approach and the flexibility of brain cells.

Lee Miller, a researcher at Northwestern University who has done similar work, said any demonstration of a device using brain signals to make paralyzed limbs move is "an important new development."

Miller used the pattern of activity in about 100 brain cells to predict the kind of wrist movement a monkey wanted to make. Moritz said focusing on the output of an individual brain cell instead may turn out to work better for overcoming paralysis.

The research is an example of what scientists call functional electrical stimulation, or FES, which involves stimulating muscles by applying electrical current. Partially paralyzed people use FES devices now to let them stand, walk, use their arms and hands, and do other things. But they control those devices by flicking a switch, moving joints or tensing a muscle - even, say, the muscle that enables them to wiggle an ear.

Taylor said using brain signals instead could be a particularly good strategy for people paralyzed from the neck down who have few available muscles that they can control.

In the monkey study, scientists tested two pigtail macaques at different times. Each had a hand placed on a flat surface. The animals learned that by using their wrists to press downward with their palms or upward with the backs of their hands, they could make a computer cursor reach a target on a screen. Then researchers temporarily paralyzed their wrists with an anesthetic.

Scientists had put a probe in the animals' brains that monitored how often a single brain cell was firing electrical signals. Once the wrists were paralyzed, that firing rate was converted into an electrical stimulation that went to the wrist muscles.

Different firing rates made the hand press downward or upward, or relax. The monkeys quickly learned to use the brain cells to control their wrist muscles and continue playing the computer game.

In people, more complex movements would require monitoring many brain cells at once to activate multiple muscles, Moritz said. Researchers would rely on the brain to learn how to coordinate all these signals to produce a useful motion, he said. After all, that's what the brain does when a person learns to swing a tennis racket effectively, he said.

"There's a long ways to go, and there's no way to say with confidence that it will work," Moritz said.

It's also possible that a single brain cell could stimulate a group of muscles, if its signals are relayed to particular sites in the spinal cord, researchers said.

Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh, who has used brain signals to enable monkeys to control robot arms, said he considered the new work a modest advance, noting hurdles that remain.

---

On the Net:

Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature

Palin's payin' up now

2008-10-15T00:55:00.004-04:00

(click to enlarge)

So that's how it works!

2008-10-09T15:06:00.000-04:00

Giving us crips a bad name

2008-10-07T18:16:00.001-04:00

"Drug-smuggling grandmother jailed

A grandmother who smuggled cocaine worth £1m in her mobility vehicle has been jailed for 13 years.

Ambrozine Heron, 77, and her daughter Paulette Chambers, 49, both of Smethwick, West Midlands, were arrested at the port of Dover in March.

The court heard 16kg (35lb) of cocaine was found hidden in Heron's specially-adapted Nissan Pathfinder.

Heron was found guilty at Canterbury Crown Court while Chambers admitted her role and was jailed for 14 years.

The court heard Heron, who has a range of illnesses including diabetes, asthma and hypertension, was a "willing participant" in the smuggling operation.

'Visiting relatives'

Sentencing her, Judge Adele Williams said: "I have no doubt that your role in the car was to add some respectability to the journey in respect of your age and your ill-health."

But she added: "The vehicle in which you were travelling was the mobility vehicle which you, Ambrozine Heron, were entitled to.

"You Heron, in all the evidence before me, were a willing participant in this importation."

The court heard they had made the same or similar journey to France 14 times in the six months leading up to their arrest.

Prosecutor Quentin Hunt said Chambers had told customs officers after her arrest she was visiting relatives in France.

He added: "In fact they had gone to Amsterdam, or near Amsterdam, and it was clear that that was where the drugs were collected from.

"Customs officers were scrupulous in their inquiries and discovered that these defendants had made some 14 trips across the Channel, dating back from October the year before.

"For the majority of the trips they had been going through France, through Belgium, and into Holland, and returning the next day or soon after."

The court also heard that financial checks on the pair found that £90,000 in cash had been put in Chambers' bank account since their first trip.

People Claiming Their Dogs are Service Dogs to Take them in Public Beware

2008-10-03T19:00:00.000-04:00

Great article from blog "Service Dogs: A Way of Life"

Everyday in the service dog community there are discussions of what to do about people who do not have disabilities passing their pets off as Service Dogs.

Furthermore, just because a person happens to have a dog, does not automatically make the animal a service dog [See my previous post What is a Service Dog].

The combination of the presence of a disability, the fact that a dog can be trained to mitigate the effects of that disability, and the facts the animal has been individually trained to performs tasks that mitigate that disability are the key elements to defining whether or not a person and animal comprise a working service dog and are protected under the ADA.

People buying service dog gear and passing off themselves and their pets as service animals are not only possibly committing federal fraud, they may also be breaking state and local laws.

The definition of fraud according to Free Dictionary.com is :

fraud n. the intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of his/her/its money, property or a legal right. A party who has lost something due to fraud is entitled to file a lawsuit for damages against the party acting fraudulently, and the damages may include punitive damages as a punishment or public example due to the malicious nature of the fraud. Quite often there are several persons involved in a scheme to commit fraud and each and all may be liable for the total damages. Inherent in fraud is an unjust advantage over another which injures that person or entity. It includes failing to point out a known mistake in a contract or other writing (such as a deed), or not revealing a fact which he/she has a duty to communicate, such as a survey which shows there are only 10 acres of land being purchased and not 20 as originally understood. Constructive fraud can be proved by a showing of breach of legal duty (like using the trust funds held for another in an investment in one's own business) without direct proof of fraud or fraudulent intent. Extrinsic fraud occurs when deceit is employed to keep someone from exercising a right, such as a fair trial, by hiding evidence or misleading the opposing party in a lawsuit. (See: constructive fraud, extrinsic fraud, intrinsic fraud, fraud in the inducement, fraudulent conveyance) damages). For further reading on fraud see Fraud.

A person claiming their dog is a services dog may also be guilty of Impersonation which is defined as the "The crime of pretending to be another individual in order to deceive others and gain some advantage."

According to a an article in the San Diego Metro News pretending your dog is a service dog when it is not is punishable by up to six month in jail and a $1,000 fine. Dog Bite Law further defines this California statute.

Many people think they are doing no harm by allowing others to believe their pet is a service dog, au contraire, my dear readers. By actively claiming you are a person with a disability when you are not (this is in fact what these people are doing)you:
Belittle the daily difficulties people with disabilities live with
Confuse the public and business community as to the purpose of a service dog.
Trample on a business owner's right to know that the dogs coming in are well trained,healthy, safe and necessary to their valued customers.
Endanger people with disabilities with true service dogs, because while you may love your Fido the standard of health care for a service dog are much more stringent than for pets. If a Service dog gets sick, infested with fleas, or any number of common dog maladies, the service dog is less able to work.
Weaken the standards for dogs in public opening the doors for people with dogs who may be extremely fearful or aggressive and are prone to behaviors which endanger us all.
Force people with real health problems such as severe allergies to share space with animals who are not groomed and bathed regularly to keep allergens to a minimum.
So before you go out and buy (0r make) that vest, collar, or backpack. Think about the repercussions both legally and ethically. Business owners and their employees may ask three questions according to the DOJ Business Brief:
1. Are you a person with a disability? (though they may not enquire as to the exact nature of the disability)
2. Is that a service animal?
3. What tasks has the animal been trained to perform?
Even if an animal is a legitimate service dog it may be denied access if (1) the animal is out of control and the animal's owner does not take effective action to control it (for example, a dog that barks repeatedly during a movie) or (2) the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others.

The most common reasons people pass their pets/dogs off as service animals are:
To gain access to a public place or service that does not normally allow pets (i.e. a store, restaurant, bus, train, plane)
To avoid paying the fees often associated with owning a pet or bring one with you (i.e. licence fees, transport fees, hotel pet fees)
To access services offered to those with service animals (i.e. reduced vet/groomer fees)
Because they can
Service dogs are not a perk of having a disability nor are they the latest fashion accessory. They are one of the many tools people with disabilities use to perform the everyday tasks of life just like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, medications, hearing aids, white canes and more.

THE most important part of last night's VP debate

2008-10-03T15:41:00.002-04:00

Original source

There was a moment in last night’s debate that sent a cold shiver down my spine. That moment was when moderator Gwen Ifill asked Sarah Palin whether she agreed with Dick Cheney’s rather extraordinary claim that the Vice President’s office is outside of the Executive Branch (truthfully, Cheney argued that it was outside the Legislative branch too, apparently occupying some nebulous and untouchable fourth branch of government). Wouldn’t you know? That pitbull with lipstick agrees with Cheney.

Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president’s agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.

The mind shudders at the thought. Thankfully, Joe Biden knew exactly how to respond to someone who admires the least popular Vice President in American history (and if you were watching the debates on CNN, you’d know that those dial pollsters loved his response too):

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. [..] The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

See, Palin, that’s real straight talk.

Florida Man Punches Shark To Save His Terrier

2008-10-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

How much do you love your pet? Enough to leap into the ocean and fight a shark to save it?

Yeah, us neither. But one Florida Keys man does, and he proved it by punching a shark in the face when it tried to eat his wittle bitty doggie, Jake. The rat terrier got into trouble during his daily swim off a pier, when a 5 foot long shark lunged and caught him in its teeth. His owner, carpenter Greg LeNoir, chose the “I’m a durn fool” option and leapt into the ocean on top of the shark.

”I clenched my fists and dove straight in with all my strength, like a battering ram,” LeNoir, 53, said Sunday, reliving the frightening ordeal. “I hit the back of the shark’s neck. It was like hitting concrete.”

We can’t help but be sort of stunned by that choice. Maybe we just saw Jaws too many times but sharks are definitely on our top 10 “do not f*ck with” list, right up there with killer bees and our older sister. LeNoir explains his reacton:

”The shark put almost all of Jake in his mouth, except for his head and three of his legs. We have no children. Jake became our child. When I saw the shark engulf him, I thought, `This can’t be the end.’ ”

Jake enjoying a swim in happier days:

Against all likelihood, both Greg and his dog Jake made it to shore alive after Greg punched the shark (we guess it swam away? Pussy.) The terrier did have to get surgery for the giant bite mark the shark left on him, which extended around his chest, back and legs, but he is reported to be healing well. So that officially makes it OK now to laugh at how he looks in his tiny doggy leg cast and I.V. (but you might still go to hell…)

Greg and his friend/pet/surrogate child, Jake:

Service dog not getting respect she deserves

2008-09-30T17:41:00.002-04:00

Kayla Pollock has type one diabetes and relies on her service dog, Dakota. Ms Pollock says she has had problems with people not accepting her great dane as a service dog. Violating the care animal laws could result in a heavy fine.

Violating care animal law could cost you high fines

For a life-saving hero, Dakota doesn’t always get the respect she deserves.

The year-old great Dane is a service dog for Keswick resident Kayla Pollock.

While most people are familiar with seeing eye dogs for the visually handicapped, few know that there are other dogs just as important for the health of their owners, Dakota being a notable example.

Ms Pollock, 22, has type one diabetes, which requires her to take four to six insulin shots per day.

“I often have severe low blood sugars that can be life threatening,” she said. “To make matters worse, I live alone.”

Dakota comes for Dogs for Diabetics in Dakota, Neb. — hence, her name — an organization that specializes in training dogs to recognize symptoms dangerous to people with diabetes.

Among her skills is the ability to detect when Ms Pollock’s blood sugar level drops because she can detect a scent humans can’t.

It happened soon after she got Dakota.

“She was whining at me and I thought she had to go outside. I took her out and she didn’t do anything. She kept whining and put her paw on me. I ignored her.”

Soon after, “I just dropped”.

Fortunately, Ms Pollock was at her sister’s home at the time and there were people around who could give her insulin.

Living alone, this ability is literally a matter of life and death.

Dakota can smell the pheremones given off signaling danger even from another room.

“That’s pretty important when I’m asleep and perhaps going into a coma,” she said.

She soon learned to detect that Dakota gave off a different whine signaling low blood sugar from the one she gives when she want to go out outside.

Dakota’s talents don’t end there.

She is trained to pick items up and is also being trained to press the button on the phone for 911.

“She then barks once into the phone, to the operator knows what the situation is,” Ms Pollock said.

Why not a smaller, easier-to-handle dog?

“Well one reason I went for a great Dane is they are big and strong enough and can be trained to pull a wheelchair in case I need an amputation,” she said, explaining loss of the legs is one of the possible results of having diabetes.

Many people are ignorant of the law and don’t recognize Dakota as being a care dog similar to a seeing-eye dog.

“That’s my issue and why I want to get that message out there,” Ms Pollock said. “Many people think I’m disregarding their rules banning dogs from being in their stores. My dog is clearly marked as a service dog and yet almost daily I’m asked to leave local businesses or refused entry.”

That is against the law.

The Human Rights Act is quite specific about the rights of service dogs and their owners to have full access to any public facility, including restaurants, bars, shopping malls, taxis, buses and grocery stores.

Penalty for refusing entry or service is a fine of up to $5,000.

The law also recognizes people who may want to pass off their dog as a service dog.

That also carries a fine of up to $500.

One restaurant in Newmarket almost ended up being slapped with a fine.

“I went in and the server said, ‘You can’t bring your dog in here’. I explained the law to her, but she continued to tell me I couldn’t come in. Some of the other patrons were getting involved and offered to help, but I was quite embarrassed. She said ,‘Lady, you’re just being difficult’. I told her I’d call the police.”

The manager intervened and apologized profusely.

It has also happened in grocery stores and taxies in Newmarket and Georgina.

“The exception is Paul’s Taxi in Georgina. He’s completely fine with it,” she said.

Ms Pollock hopes for more public awareness of service dogs.

“I hope publicity will help people understand that dogs are being used for much more than aiding the blind,” she said.

“They are used for the deaf, for alerting medical emergencies before they happen and even for people with severe psychiatric disabilities. Clearly guide dog and service dog etiquette is not understood.”

Also not understood is that when out in public on the leash, service dogs should not be touched or petted.

“This is a distraction. They are working. My life depends on Dakota being able to perform her job.”

After a recent hard day’s work, Dakota was reclining on the couch, blissfully ignoring several other inhabitants in Ms Pollock’s home.

“I take in traumatized or abused exotic birds,” she explains, fondly caressing the head of her Quaker parrot Luke, who lives there along with her silver crested cocatoo Mango and green wing macaw Sidney.

As a certified avian specialist and animal behaviour consultant, Ms Pollock understands the needs of animals.

She just hopes you will understand the need for people such as her to have their service dogs without being abused in public.

New Kensington Girl’s Service Dog Shot Point-Blank; Leg Shattered

2008-09-30T17:37:00.002-04:00

Video

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. -- The service dog to a 5-year-old girl with cerebral palsy was shot point-blank in an alley behind the house. The gunshot shattered the dog’s hind leg.

Pumba was the best friend and lively motivator of Kathleen Micholas, 5, but is now forced to hobble around on three legs.

The organization Animal Protectors of New Kensington came to the rescue to provide cash for veterinarian bills for a temporary cast for the dog’s shattered leg. However, an expensive operation costing thousands of dollars will likely be necessary in order to save Pumba’s leg.

Animal Protectors is asking people to donations for Pumba’s operation.

Police said they have no suspects in the shooting.

Wheelchair repair costs get pushed around

2008-09-30T17:35:00.001-04:00

One day after Grace Ligon received her brand new, $24,000 custom-made wheelchair in March, it began breaking down.

The 10-year-old was in school when one of the armrests fell off. A janitor reattached it with duct tape.

When she got home, the foot plates came loose. And the headrest.

For weeks, the manufacturer, Permobil, and the business that sold the wheelchair, Apria Healthcare, made small fixes, but the chair continued to break down.

By early July the wheelchair was in such bad shape, Grace, who has cerebral palsy, could no longer use it.

Her mother, Kathy Becker, called Apria and was told the company could no longer help. On July 1, Apria had sold its Burr Ridge wheelchair store to a company called Rehab Tech. The Apria representative said the broken chair was now Rehab Tech's responsibility.

Becker called Rehab Tech and was told no, no, no—Apria had sold her the wheelchair, so Apria should fix it.

After Becker pressed the issue, Rehab Tech picked up the wheelchair and agreed to make the repairs. But neither Rehab Tech nor Apria would pay for the needed parts, so Grace's chair sat untouched in Rehab Tech's store for almost two months.

When Rehab Tech returned the chair in early September, after some repairs were made, the foot plates were not screwed on and the seating system was the incorrect size for Grace.

Becker didn't let Grace use the chair because she thought it was unsafe. The seating system did not properly fit, the foot plate fell off again and the headrest was not properly adjusted. So the glitzy new wheelchair, paid for by insurance, sat dormant in the family's foyer, while Grace relied on a clunky backup chair.

Incensed, Becker e-mailed What's Your Problem?

"My point to all of these guys is we shouldn't be suffering while they sort out their red tape," Becker said. "People with disabilities shouldn't have to go through this much stress."

The Problem Solver called Apria and Rehab Tech two weeks ago. Within hours, a repairman from Rehab Tech showed up at Grace's house in Western Springs and made a round of repairs to get the wheelchair up and running.

Mike Maggiore, branch manager for Rehab Tech's Burr Ridge location, said his company purchased Apria's assets, but not its liabilities. Still, Rehab Tech would do everything it could for Grace and other former Apria clients with similar troubles, he said.

"Everything that we've replaced and everything we're doing for her we're doing free of charge," Maggiore said.

Lisa Getson, spokeswoman for Lake Forest, Calif.-based Apria, said that after the Problem Solver called her, she called Rehab Tech about Grace and asked them to help.

"From the details that we received, it does appear the chair had been problematic since the delivery," Getson said. She apologized for any "confusion" the sale of Apria's Burr Ridge office had caused.

Maggiore said there are others in Grace's situation.

In fact, the Problem Solver received an unrelated e-mail requesting help from Beth Follenweider, whose father purchased two wheelchairs from Apria's Burr Ridge store, both of which needed repairs.

Like Grace, Jack Follenweider, 66, was having trouble getting either Apria or Rehab Tech to fix the chairs.

The Problem Solver told Maggiore about Follenweider's situation and he agreed to repair those chairs too.

As for Grace, she's zipping around in her newly fixed chair. After two sessions with the repairman, the chair is about 90 percent done, her mother said. "I think over the next week or so they will have her chair completely resolved," Becker said.

Grace said she was at her wit's end without the chair.

"I was so mad at these people I wanted to yell," she said.

Not anymore.

"I was excited to get it [back] because my old chair was too little for me and I wasn't comfortable in it anymore."

Man dives in to save dog from shark in Fla. attack

2008-09-30T16:59:00.002-04:00

ISLAMORADA, Fla. (AP) -- A dog is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark. Greg LeNoir said he took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for a daily swim at a marina Friday.

The five-foot shark suddenly surfaced and grabbed nearly the entire dog in its mouth.

LeNoir said he yelled, then balled up his fists and dove headfirst into the water. He hit the shark in the back and the creature finally let go of the dog.

Man and dog made it safely back to shore. The dog suffered bite wounds but was not critically injured.

Must have been real clean glass before removing it!

2008-09-29T17:57:00.001-04:00

Train crash site may be last search for service dog

2008-09-28T20:52:00.002-04:00

Manny was waiting up for Abby when she got home a little after 3 a.m. last Saturday from the Chatsworth train crash scene.

"Where you been?" he sniffed.

The two search dogs had worked together after 9-11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the La Conchita mudslides.

They were tight. Manny was hurt that Abby was on the job without him.

"He sniffed her up, like he was asking: `Where were you? What were you doing without me? Tell me what happened,"' handler Ron Weckbacher said.

Manny was Weckbacher's search partner for 10 years, until the dog retired at age 11 a couple of years ago. The Thousand Oaks resident got him from the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation in Ojai, which provides search dogs for fire departments and a few civilian handlers, including Weckbacher.

Manny was one of the best. But trying to find victims still alive in the rubble of a disaster is strenuous, dangerous work. It's a young dog's job.

"I knew at La Conchita that it was time," Weckbacher said. "Manny would do whatever I asked of him, but I was afraid he'd get into a spot where he couldn't dig himself out.

"I wouldn't let that happen. I gave Manny a hug after Conchita and told him that was it. He had done his service.

"He's home living life large now."

Next month, Abby will be living life large with Manny. She's turning 11. It's time for her to retire. She's done her service.

Weckbacher took her in two years ago when Debra Tosch, director of the nonprofit search-dog foundation, got too busy with administrative duties to put in the training time needed to keep Abby sharp and ready.

"We'd worked at 9-11 and Katrina together," Tosch said about Weckbacher. "I didn't want anyone but Ron to work with Abby. Those dogs are like our children."

A couple of times a month, Weckbacher still drops Abby off at Tosch's home for a few days. Joint custody, she laughs.

After Chatsworth, Weckbacher knew it was time for Abby, too.

He could see it a couple of hours into her extensive search for survivors through the twisted wreckage of three Metrolink cars late Friday night.

The firefighters had done all they could. Now, if the search dogs didn't find any survivors, they weren't there.

"Abby's very agile, but I could tell she was stretched to her limits picking through all that glass and twisted metal," Weckbacher said.

"One of the cars was propped up at a 45-degree angle, and it was slippery inside with fuel and blood. She fell through a hole and dropped about eight feet to the tracks.

"She wasn't hurt, but I could tell she was getting tired. They (search and cadaver dogs) know what's going on. It's stressful work."

Fourteen search dogs and handlers from the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation were sent to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Ike hit last weekend to aid in search and rescue efforts.

It didn't surprise Weckbacher, a financial adviser, that Manny was waiting up for Abby, wondering where she'd been.

"They're all high-drive dogs and want to work," he said. "When I go out with Abby, Manny always beats us to the front door, like he's telling me, 'Hey, I want to go with you guys.' "

But Manny already has done his service at some of the country's biggest disasters, and now Abby has completed hers.

Next month, they'll both be living life large.

For more information on the foundation, which needs volunteers to find more high-energy Labrador and golden retrievers to serve as disaster search dogs, log on to www.searchdogfoundation.org, or call (888) 459-4376.

How old is your dog?

2008-09-28T15:11:00.002-04:00

Need I say more?

2008-09-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

Naahh, this says it all.

Simple

2008-09-27T20:20:00.002-04:00

OMG, this is SO sweet!!!

2008-09-26T15:57:00.002-04:00

(click to enlarge... SWEET!)

Rosie O'Donnell "service dog" controversy

2008-09-26T00:48:00.002-04:00

Starting around 8:44, Rosie mentions that her friend, Bobby, tells the airlines that his pet dog is his "service dog" so he can have it fly with him in the cabin.

I wrote and asked her to PLEASE inform people not to follow his lead. I love Rosie, but this is such a bad example of someone misusing the system to get their pet dog on a plane.

Imagine if her friend's dog, not being trained as an actual Service Dog, were to interfere with an actual Service Dog on it's flight.

A bad experience with a pet dog passed off as a Service Dog could ruin it for those of us who REALLY NEED THEM and who struggled for so long for access rights.

For non-disabled folks with dogs, instead of lying, please follow these guidelines (from Airfare WatchDog):

In order to bring your dog into the main cabin, the kennel must be able to fit in the area under the seat in front of you. The maximum dimensions for the kennel is 17 inches x 12 inches x 8 inches, but keep in mind that it varies, depending on the plane you’ll be on, as some aircraft have smaller areas under the seat in front of you. The maximum weight allowed for the dog is 20 pounds on most airlines. Some airlines, such as Frontier and Southwest, do not allow pets in the main cabin, unless it’s a fully trained service animal.

You can check-in your dog in the cargo area, but the kennel has to meet the following requirements: kennels with wheels, wire kennels, collapsible kennels are not allowed; kennels must have a leak proof bottom with absorbent material; there must be a one-inch spacer bar around the kennel; the door must be lockable and secure; your dog must have enough room in the kennel to stand, lie down and turn around; at least three sides of ventilation; correct labeling (live animal and directional up arrows); and must include water/feed dishes (two dishes or divided dish).

The rates vary to bring your pet along vary, depending on the airline. Delta Air Lines and Jet Blue charge $50 one-way to bring a pet into the main cabin, whereas, United Airlines charges $80 one-way. To check-in your pet into the cargo hold, it’s $75 one-way for Delta, $100 or $200 one-way (depending on kennel size) for United, and $100 one-way for Frontier. Southwest doesn’t allow pets in their cargo hold.

Also keep in mind, depending on when you’re traveling, that most airlines have an embargo on pets in the cargo area during the summer, with varying dates depending on airline. For example, Delta’s embargo is between May 15 and September 15, and United is between June 1 and September 30. Personally, I’d never check an animal that I love in the cargo hold. If there’s a depressurization in the hold or the heating malfunctions the animal would be a goner.

Your dog has to be at least eight weeks old and have the required health documentation from your veterinarian. Some states may require a health certificate for your pet, and you can find out more information about that from your veterinarian or the US Department of Agriculture at (800) 545-8732 or www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/pettravel.html.

And be sure to notify the airline at time of making a reservation (or as early as possible), that you plan on bringing your dog with your, whether you plan on bringing your dog into the main cabin or check it into the cargo hold, because there are space limitations.

Me thinks it's time for PADLOCKS! And HIDE the freakin' keys!

2008-09-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

Help from the ears of a dog

2008-09-17T16:25:00.001-04:00

Service animal being trained to help deaf woman

Candice Benavides and her new hearing dog Cookie participate in team training at Texas Hearing & Service Dogs' training center in Dripping Springs Sept. 9. After five days of training, Cookie and Candice will undergo 13 weeks of in-home training.

ALICE -- Single mom Candice Marie Benavides' biggest fear has been that her 4-year-old might need her at night and she won't know it. Born deaf and unable to wear her hearing aids to bed, the 24-year-old has had her daughter, Leana, sleep with her.

But now Benavides can rely on better hearing than any human ears.

On Sept. 8 after a more than three-year wait, Benavides began bonding with Cookie, an 18-month-old mixed-terrier being trained as a hearing and service dog. The final day of weeklong training in Austin was cancelled because of Hurricane Ike-related problems. But Tuesday, a trainer brought Cookie to Benavides to settle into her new home.

"I love her already," Benavides said. "And having her here will help me feel more independent and confident about myself," the nursing home business office coordinator said. "Now I will be able to know that when I go to bed at night, or when I'm out somewhere, there will be no unheard sounds or voices."

Cookie is one of more than 500 dogs trained in the past 20 years at the Texas Hearing & Service Dogs facility in Dripping Springs to help people with hearing loss and physical disabilities.

The companionship and unconditional love benefits of the dogs are beyond the technicalities they learn, said Sheri Soltes, founder and director of the non-profit program. "It's technology you can hug."

Each dog goes through a $17,500 year-long training, which includes three months of weekly in-home and in-public training with an instructor.

The cost of the dogs, which includes veterinary, food and training bills, is covered by donations and sponsorships. The dog is free to recipients.

All of the dogs come from animal shelters, Soltes said, and Cookie is from Citizens for Animal Protection shelter in Houston.

The dog has learned to respond to Benavides' name.

"People can call me from behind and I don't hear them," she said. "Cookie will touch my hand with her nose and lead me to anyone who calls me."

Cookie comes with an orange vest with a hearing dog identification badge detailing the Texas statute for Americans with Disabilities Act allowing service canines in public places.

Cookie has been trained to stay on a mat in public places and to sit at doorways until Benavides makes eye contact and gives her permission to enter. The waiting list is long, Soltes said, but once dog and human are matched, the training takes a few weeks.

"We use positive reinforcement training, rewards and treats for accomplishment," she said. "If (the animal makes) a mistake, there is no punishment or force at all for any reason.

"The result is always a win-win situation. Candy and Cookie -- just like the sweets -- are a perfect match."

Contact Mike Baird at 886-3774 or bairdm@caller.com

Accessibility in other countries needs some work...

2008-09-16T22:23:00.002-04:00

ADAPT Challenges HUD, Democrats, McCain on Disability/Housing Economic Crisis

2008-09-16T17:54:00.002-04:00

ADAPT wasted no time challenging Policymakers on the housing crisis for persons with disabilities with low incomes. After setting up a tent city at HUD headquarters, ADAPT sent 100 activists to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) offices in Washington, D.C., and another hundred to a Sen. John McCain campaign office in Arlington, VA. ADAPT presented a platform for affordable, accessible housing.

"The DNC was cordial, and accepted our housing platform, and invitation to visit 'DUH City,' which is HUD spelled backwards," said Barb Toomer, Utah ADAPT. HUD told us they had no authority to make decisions. We have to wait for the administrative appointees to make any decisions. Sen. John McCain's campaign staff not only refused to even look at our housing platform, they had eleven of us arrested."

ADAPT's housing platform points to America's growing crisis in the availability of affordable, accessible integrated housing. Many people with disabilities live on benefits that are a full 25% below the poverty level and less than the national average rent for a studio/efficiency apartment.

"The federal government is sending stimulus payments to middle class workers, and providing economic relief for the mortgage crisis, and maybe even the banks," said Dawn Russell, Denver ADAPT. "What about us who live on fixed incomes? If we can't afford housing, we'll end up on the street or forced into institutions. What are the federal government, Congress, and the presidential candidates going to do to help us with our housing crisis?"

ADAPT is asking for:

* 5000 new housing vouchers per year for 10 years, targeted to people
transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions;
* Twice as much funding for the construction of new housing stock that is
affordable, accessible and integrated;
* Policies and procedures to track the vouchers to assure targeting to
people with disabilities when the original user becomes ineligible;
* People with disabilities who reside in institutional settings to be
recognized as "homeless."

ADAPT's DUH City will remain in operation twenty four hours a day until Thursday, September 18. The DUH City Times will be delivered daily to every member of Congress, and there will be daily DUH TV coverage on YouTube. Background information, real stories of real people and photos can all be accessed at http://www.duhcity.org.

Contacts: Randy Alexander (901)359-4982 Marsha Katz (406)544-9504
SOURCE ADAPT

http://www.adapt.org

And cigarettes are legal why?

2008-09-15T18:04:00.001-04:00

Problem Solved!

2008-09-15T16:54:00.001-04:00

Some people just don't get it

2008-09-15T16:41:00.002-04:00

Dog Calls 911 After Owner Collapses

2008-09-15T14:32:00.001-04:00

Video here

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A dog specially trained to call 911 when his owner suffers seizures grabbed the phone and whimpered for help when the dispatcher answered Wednesday morning, police said.

Chris Trott, a veteran police operator, said she heard a cry from Buddy, who she later discovered was an 18-month-old German shepherd.

Buddy's owner, Joe Stalnaker, was suffering one of his more severe seizures, said Sgt. Mark Clark of the Scottsdale Police Department.

Ten years ago, Stalnaker said he was in a military accident that severely injured part of his brain, leaving him prone to potentially fatal seizures.

He got Buddy when the dog was 8 weeks old through the help of Paws With a Cause, an assistance animal adoption service.

Stalnaker said he trained the animal to recognize when he is having a seizure and respond by grabbing the phone and bringing it to him.

"He doesn't actually sit there and dial 911, but whenever he picks up the phone, one of his teeth inevitably hits the number, and if it's held down for more than three seconds, it dials the police department," Stalnaker said.

When Buddy hears the operator, he puts the phone down and whimpers as if he is in distress. The 911 system matches the call to the address and dispatches emergency help, Clark said.

Trott stayed on the phone with Buddy until she could hear paramedics arrive, less than three minutes after the dog had placed the call, Clark said.

Buddy rode in the ambulance with Stalnaker to the hospital, and both man and dog were back home two days later, feeling much better.

2008 Summer Paralympic Games

2008-09-12T16:47:00.002-04:00

Inspiring!
See photos here

Uhhhm, FEED your damn dog!

2008-09-11T16:37:00.003-04:00

Miniature dachshund gnawed off owner's toe while she slept

An American woman says her beloved miniature dachshund gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep.

Linda Floyd said her beloved Roscoe has since been put down because of safety concerns.

The 56-year-old says she has no feeling in her toes because of nerve damage from diabetes. She discovered the toe missing after waking from a nap.

A vet said that because the toe had been bandaged due to an ingrowing nail, it may have somehow attracted the dog.

Uhhhm, FEED your damn dog!

2008-09-11T16:37:00.001-04:00

Miniature dachshund gnawed off owner's toe while she slept

An American woman says her beloved miniature dachshund gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep.

Man claims Burger King violates disabilities act

2008-09-11T00:35:00.001-04:00

"I like the charbroiled flavor," he says, "just like anybody else."

But the Pittsburg man, a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms and upper body, claims fast food giant Burger King makes it a chore to get it his way, from rolling his wheelchair through the drive-thru lane at the Pleasant Hill restaurant, to narrowly steering it between bushes and garbage bins along the entryway, to struggling with heavy doors he can't open.

"I'm dead in the water," he said Wednesday as he sat outside the Burger King on Contra Costa Boulevard, flailing his arms for attention. "I'd like to go in and get something to eat, but I can't."

On Wednesday, Castaneda, 45, made his complaints a federal case as the lead plaintiff in what disability lawyers hope to make a large class action claiming the fast food giant violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and state disability laws. The lawsuit targets 90 restaurants in California that lawyers say Burger King leases or subleases to franchises. But its aim is wider, to the 500 or so Burger King restaurants throughout California, since many of them follow the same design to create that uniform orange-and-yellow experience.

In an e-mail, Burger King spokeswoman Denise Wilson declined to discuss the lawsuit, writing "We do not comment on impending litigation."

The lawsuit claims the restaurant chain offers a wide menu of barriers for those using wheelchairs or scooters: inaccessible parking lots;
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entry and restroom doors too heavy for many disabled people; inaccessible dining and condiment areas. It follows an investigation by disability groups into access at Burger King and failed attempts to work out the issues with the Florida-based company, said Linda Kilb, a lawyer with Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, in Berkeley.

"It's sort of a systemic problem of barriers across all the things a patron would want to do independently," said Kilb. "You shouldn't have to wait for somebody to open the door. The law says you should be able to open it yourself."

The complaint asks the court to order Burger King to correct the problems and pay damages that could add up to $5,000 per violation. In 1997 the company settled a similar lawsuit, agreeing to survey its restaurants and remedy ADA violations. Kilb said the settlement makes it "absolutely crystal clear that Burger King had opportunity upon opportunity to know about these problems and to address them."

Castaneda, a state rehabilitation counselor, said he fractured two vertebrae in a diving accident 17 years ago. He never filed a lawsuit before, he said, but eats at Burger King two or three times a month and grew frustrated at the obstacles.

"He has a clear entitlement to go to any business that's open in California. He likes this one. He doesn't like the access," said Kilb. "We're confident he's not alone."

Aerobic Exercise For The Wheelchair-bound

2008-09-10T18:02:00.002-04:00

University of Texas at Austin alumnus, Chris Stanford (MSEE '91), and Electrical & Computer Engineering undergraduates are working on making exercise fun for wheelchair users. For the last year, Stanford has been partnering with engineering seniors to test his idea for a virtual reality treadmill for the disabled.

"Not many people realize," says Stanford who has been confined to a wheelchair since 1988, "the special health risks faced by wheelchair users. Everything is more difficult, including eating right and getting enough exercise. Because of this, the incidence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is several times the rate of the general population."

Stanford's solution, called TrekEase, approximates an arcade driving game. Users back a manual wheelchair into a frame, engage the flywheel for resistance, and start the driving software.

"When Chris approached me last year about using [TrekEase] as one of our senior design projects," says UT-ECE professor Jon Valvano "I was enthusiastic. It's an interesting engineering challenge. He came in with a mechanical system that had already been vetted for safety. The students added software and sensors that make the experience interactive."

Users can control speed and direction. A new group of students is continuing the project this semester. They plan to enhance the existing design so the system detects tilt making flight simulation possible and to work on the packaging so it will be affordable and easily reproducible.

"There is no way I could've done this by myself. I don't have the skill set," says Stanford." The students are amazing. They step up to every challenge."

Now that's training!

2008-09-09T20:16:00.002-04:00

We have a weekly lawn service that comes on Tuesdays. Usually they arrive while I'm still sleeping. No, the grinding lawnmowers and weedwackers don't wake me up!

But sometimes they come in the early morning when I'm waking up in front of the TV.

For some reason the dogs don't bark when they come early, but the bark like maniacs when they come and I'm up.

Instead of listening to the barking for the next 15 minutes while they mow, I would usually "kennel up" both dogs in our guest bathroom.

Recently I started just staying on the couch and yelling "Kennel Up!".

Both dogs will run to the guest bathroom AND STAY THERE until I say OK to release them.

I never have to move. Sweet.

Yeah, I'm a dog trainer.

Dog teaches Mich. teens new trick: responsibility

2008-09-09T16:44:00.001-04:00

GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Although they're teenagers, Tucker and Tori Price received a dose of what it's like to be a parent and to have responsibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The brother and sister are from Livingston County's Genoa Township, about 40 miles west-northwest of Detroit. They helped raise a working dog for Paws With a Cause, a nonprofit group that trains and supplies assistance dogs for people with disabilities.

In September 2007, they received a 13-pound yellow Labrador puppy named Austin and raised and trained him into a gentle, somewhat well-behaved 80-pound dog.

Tori Price, a Brighton High School sophomore, placed a dog treat on her leg with Austin lying down only inches from her. He stared at the treat but did not move an inch toward it until she said OK at which pointed he gobbled it up.

Of course, the family had a few behavior problems with the dog. Austin chewed off some of the drywall in the laundry room, but what dog hasn't?

Working dogs must be completely at ease around people, so the two teenagers and their parents, Bonnie and Glenn, took him everywhere. When they went to a sports team practice or a game, Austin came along. He even attended a volleyball tournament in Wisconsin.

If the Prices went out to eat, Austin was right there. They had no problems, and in fact, most people embraced Austin.

"People know him all over town," said Tori Price, 16.

She suggested the family take in a working dog after learning about them while attending Maltby Middle School. For several years, Maltby students have raised more than $15,000 each school year and donated it to help train Paws dogs.

The school hosts several program to educate students about these dogs and how they help people live normal lives. The dogs do amazing things for their owners, including picking things off the floor, bringing them a telephone and even helping them get dressed.

The dogs assist people with hearing disabilities, people who use wheelchairs, and people who have mobility impairments and other ailments. This particular program hits a personal note because Maltby school counselor Dian Kolis, who has Parkinson's disease, uses a Paws working dog named Ivan at the school.

Kolis, who has been with the district since 1986, had to quit working for several years when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's and had trouble keeping her balance. She returned to the school in 2006 after several Oakland County schools raised enough money to get her a service dog.

The teenagers trained the dog through repetition and took him to training classes.

"I didn't expect that it was going to be this tough," Tori Price said.

Both of them said the time commitment was the most challenging part, and sometimes they took shifts caring for Austin.

Sometimes they had to sacrifice activities they might do with their friends because they couldn't leave Austin alone. Tucker used to come home at lunch to play with Austin. He also liked taking Austin to a friend's home where there was a football field room to run.

"We met a lot of good people," Tori Price said. She said people would stop them and tell inspiring stories about how these dogs had changed their lives.

The sad part came Aug. 19, when the family had to turn Austin over to the Paws organization for final training.

Tori Price said it helps to know that Austin will be doing something good for someone. She hopes to meet Austin's owner someday.

Bonnie Price said she's proud of her children.

"It's a big commitment, and they really embraced it," she said.

The family's dog days aren't over. They are planning to purchase a black Lab puppy as a family pet, and put their dog-training skills to use.

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Information from: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, http://www.dailypressandargus.com

Kathy Griffin, I love her!

2008-09-08T18:21:00.001-04:00

Service Dog Helps Paralyzed Teacher In The Classroom

2008-09-08T01:09:00.001-04:00

Darin Peets' companion dog, Robis, carries a bottle of glue to students as Peets teaches kindergarten at Del Dayo school in Sacramento, Calf. (RANDALL BENTON / MCT / September 2, 2008)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Darin Peets' service dog, Robis, can pick up his keys for him. He can turn out the lights and he can pull Peets' wheelchair across the playground at Del Dayo Elementary School.

But what can he do for the kindergartners in Peets' class at the Carmichael, Calif., school?

"Can he bring me the glue?" asked 6-year-old Adam Gerdel.

Following a few commands from Peets, Robis delivered a plastic bottle of white glue to the table where Adam sits.

"It's a little slimy," said Peets. "But Robis did it."

Peets, 47, is a new kindergarten teacher at Del Dayo Elementary school. He's also a quadriplegic.

He uses lessons learned during his three decades of limited physical mobility to teach his young charges to try hard. And then ask for help.

"Kindergartners want you to cut and paste for them," said Peets. "I can't do it for them. But I will be there for them, encouraging them to try. They are learning quickly to try first."

In his early teaching career, he also taught fifth-graders. For those kids, his disability taught a tolerance lesson.

"They see that Mr. Peets is an OK guy and he's in a chair so maybe others who are different are OK," he said. "They learned that just because somebody is different it doesn't mean you avoid them. Maybe you will learn something if you befriend them."

All of his students, he said, learn the power of persistence. Peets writes on a white board with the motion of his arm and shoulder, a marker lodged between his fingers.

"I tell them I had to find out what worked for me," he said. "It's not perfect. But I tell them, now I can teach writing to them. So they must keep trying to find out what works for them."

Peets became paralyzed on July 2, 1978, when he was 17 years old.

On a family outing to a Stanislaus County, Calif., reservoir, he dove from a tree into shallow water. The varsity football player and student body president-elect broke his neck.

Face down in a watery, surreal stillness, he could see his hand floating at his side. But he could not move it. He could not feel it.

His mother ran into the water, turning over her athletic son and saving him from drowning.

A glass-half-full type of guy, he considers himself lucky. It could have been worse, Peets said.

He holds a teaching degree from Sacramento State and drives himself to work.

Kindergarten teachers are relied upon not only to teach the alphabet but to act out scenes in picture books or help kids up when they scuff a knee.

Peets can't do that sort of thing, but he has help from Mary Kehoe, an instructional aide. And Robis, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever, pitches in.

Peets has worked for more than two decades in the San Juan Unified School District. He taught fourth and fifth grade at Cottage Elementary and fifth grade and kindergarten at Gold River Elementary.

For the past several years, he worked in technology services for the district. He returned to the classroom this year because he missed the interaction with other teachers and the children.

"These kids are a lot of fun," he said of kindergartners. "Kindergartners see the world in a different way. They are little sponges, soaking up everything. To watch them grow so quickly is amazing. Teach them something and they apply it the next day."

The other day he taught some students how to politely ask to enter into a game with others. Some know manners when they come to kindergarten, and other don't.

The next day, manners were in vogue.

Del Dayo Principal Thomas Harp said Peets has a reputation as a fine classroom teacher with compassion and rigorous, well-developed lessons.

"And added to that, he brings a different perspective to our kids who struggle because of his day-to-day physical struggle," said Harp.

Chad Coy's 5-year-old daughter Falicity is in Peets' class.

"It's great to have someone to help her understand the needs of someone in a wheelchair," Coy said. "He's achieved everything he has tried in his life. He's definitely a positive role model."

Falicity said Mr. Peets teaches her lots of stuff. She thinks he's cool.

Asked if there is anything different about Mr. Peets, she gets a quizzical look on her face and says no.

Peets, who is married and has two children, paraphrases a line from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" to explain his path in life after his accident: "Get busy living or get busy dying."

He thinks that is true in many parts of life: "You either do the best you can with what you have or get busy dying and say woe is me," he said.

Everyone should practice safe sex

2008-09-07T23:43:00.002-04:00

Man in wheelchair robs Texas 7-Eleven of condoms

A robber rolled into a Dallas convenience store came armed with a bat and a knife. He left with a lot of condoms and an energy drink.

Dallas police Cpl. Kevin Janse said Friday that a man in a wheelchair entered a Dallas 7-Eleven Wednesday afternoon, rolled straight toward the cash register and beat it with a baseball bat until it opened.

But he didn't grab any cash. Instead, police say he stole 10 boxes of condoms and an energy drink before making his getaway Wednesday afternoon.

Janse says the suspect may have been homeless and was likely intoxicated at the time of the robbery.