Free Broken TV

One poster, is giving away a 27″ Sony Trinitron television, free.

The ad details the product, “Won’t turn on. May need power supply?”

This struck a chord with a rants-and-raves poster who said, “HA HA HA ….you think.”

Another rants-and-raves reader thought to correct the misguided giggler saying, “A TV has a ‘power supply’ inside it that takes the house current and changes it to a level the TV uses.”

The first poster clarified “I was just simply saying that it was funny the way it was wrote.”

Pitbulls and Leash Laws

It is apparent that the laws concerning pet conduct are hot topics in Fort Collins. Several posts this weekend specifically target Pit Bulls, love them or hate them, and the Leash law, as follows suit.

According Chapter 4 of the Fort Collins Municipal Code and Charter, the chapter concerning “Animals and Insects”,

“All pet animals, except birds, shall be kept under restraint. It shall be unlawful for the owner or keeper of any pet animal, except birds, to permit such animal to be at large in the City.”

That includes all service animals and domesticated pets, in front yards, at dog parks, on trails, anywhere within municipal limits.

And while some districts may ban particular breed, especially the reputably violent Pit Bull, Fort Collins does not.

However, as solid as these codes may seem, there is much debate surrounding them.

One firey conversation began with a post which claimed an unleashed encounter where the poster kicks a terrier in the defense of her infantile children breaking its neck.

“First I don’t care whether your dog is friendly or not. It’s supposed to be leashed. Second, friendly or not, you don’t have the right to allow your dog to run up to me, or my kids, much less bark and snap. In other words I don’t want ANY dog near me or my kids,” the post details. “Leash your mutts people or suffer the consequences….”

Responses include:

Disagree: This poster felt the woman should be locked up for her actions and felt her violence spoke to future violence on behalf of the woman.

>Disagree: “then whe your kids roam into some elses yard when they get big, and they will, they might seem a threat, so it would be ok to go and attack them and kill them, cause after all you would only be protecting your space cause of feeling threatened.”

Nuetral: This poser thinks the original post was fake as the subject is a hot bed of debate.

In a related thread concerning an unleashed dog encountering an owner with a leashed dog, Agree: “I am not going to strain myself holding my large dog back because you can’t control yours.”

Another thread began with a post detailing an encounter with the human sort who discriminated against her because of her dog’s breed, Pit bull.

“Some older woman kept glaring over at us, and just saying, “Get that dog out of here!” and she just kept doing that. But here she is with some min pins that did not behave all that well with other dogs and running freely, and she is yelling at the guy with a leashed pitt bull who was being a sweetheart to everyone that she met. She came from a bad start, but had a new beginning in life and was doing good and being a good girl.”

Responses were a bit more varied in this thread:

Agree: “why is it that so many people are against pit bulls as an entire breed? Not all pits are mean, it’s been proven a pure bred pit is not as likely to attack as a mixed breed is. But even then there’s more records of german shepards attacking people every year than pit bulls do. Just pit bulls are stronger so they can inflict more damage which is why it’s always in the media. Hell dalmations are vicious dogs too.”

Disagree: “I do agree with you that it depends that it is how the dog is raised as to how it’s going to act. Only thing is, and dog can turn at any point, no matter how it was raised and bite. And with the jaws that a pitt has it can do alot more damage then other dogs can do in a heart beat.”

Disagree, strongly: “All pit bulls should be destroyed…period. / They are breed genetically aggressive and can turn on a dime to attack any child or adult…seen it a hundred times!”

Riden razes Rants and Raves

It’s been a big week for Republican Vice President Candidate, Sarah Palin. The Alaskan Governor bound from the announcement of her position as running mate for Presidential nominee John McCain, to announcing her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy Monday, to becoming one of the most discussed “subject” on Rants and Raves in these 5 short days.

As the subject of at least 48 posts that name her explicitly. After Democratic nominee Barak Obama at 130 posts, and her running mate John McCain who has been the explicit subject of 116 posts.

As common as it is for candidates to be intensely scrutinized, for anything and everything, immediately following a VP announcement, her popularity may be at the heart of an American political complex: a combination of political criticism, family scandal, and the messy amalgamation the two make.

As the VP pick for the Republican party, a party which strongholds family values, Palin’s family scandal could not have come at a worst time aside the first week of November. Colorado’s newfound status as a swing state was no exception to the public backlash, as shown on Craigslist.org by those who still hold her as a great compliment to the considered moderate McCain, but also by those who feel the scandal speaks to her capacity for the job.

Posts tend to disapprove Palin for the scandal speaking to the heart of a major republican-democratic rift: abortion.

One postsaid, “Republicans are against abortion, yet don’t want the government to give you a dime to help raise that child if you fall on hard times. You’re on your own after the decision they will force you to make!”

Some posts even circulate rumors as to whether Palin’s youngest son, Trig, was hers or her daughter’s child.

Ignoring circulating rumors, Obama is condemning family attacks this election as he was quoted by CNN. “I think people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.”