DBZgirl88

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Red 6][COLOR=Sienna] A terrorist is, by general definition, someone who deliberatly targets civilian targets with the goal of causing terror (Hence the name) and panic in the civilian population. The Isreali's aren't TRYING to kill civilians, they're trying to neutralize terrorists - if terrorists continue to hide amongst civilians than Isreal won't have much choice. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]No, they are puporsely terrorising the civilians to pressure the militants into releasing the kidnapped soldiers. Basically, their message is "give us back the soldeirs or we will destroy your country and your people". Israel is using terrorist tactics as much as Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel has the right to defend themselves and to try to get their soldeirs back. But they are using the wrong methods. [QUOTE=Red 6][COLOR=Sienna] The Isreali's have a right to defend themselves. If the terrorists continue to hide amongst innocent people, innocent people will die - and it's not the fault of Isreal. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]Ummmm.... yes it is their fault if they are knowingly killing these civilians. Alot of civilians that have no connection whatsoever to the militants are being killed. I still don't see why anyone would justify this. Honestly, put yourself in these people's shoes. I'm pretty sure none of you would appreciate being killed for some other people's crimes. [quote name='Red 6][COLOR=Sienna']The Hezbollah (And the Hamas etc) are perfectly willing to use their people as a shield, so you can't blame the Isreali's for obliging them.[/COLOR][/quote]Decent people don't give in to terrorists and "oblige' them by killing the human shields. There are other tactics they can use that won't result in killing innocents, if they would simply pause for a moment and think rationally. Perhaps, warning the innocent people of the attack? Perhaps luring the terrorists out with various techniques, cooperating with the civilians and having them direct them to the terrorists. The civilians are not going to cooperate and help the Israelis if they are willing to kill them.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE]Why is it that when Palestinians kill/kidnap innocent people, you say nothing, but when Isreal retaliates, you call them wrong and evil and 'terrorists'?[/QUOTE]I find it quite infuriating that everyone is ignoring the fact that I have, a countless number of times, condemed terrorist attacks from militant groups. I do not support them in any way, though sometimes I understand why some people resort to such extreme measures. I like the rest of you don't believe that militant groups should get away with terrorist attacks. We've accepted it as a fact, so there is no reason to discuss whether the militants are terrorists or not. But I also believe that it's hypocritical for anyone to call these groups the "terrorists" when Israel also kills innocet civilians, and and many more than the militants too. The militants, and the general population for the matter are called terrorists, while Israelis are not. I also blame the militant groups for provoking Israel, and causing it respond harshly, but that certainly does not mean that Israel is not responisble for its actions. [QUOTE]Lebanese and Palestinian civilians are unfortunately being caught in the crossfire here - but this is because they continue to allow radical militants to hide in their midst. Until that changes, they will continue being collateral damage when Hamas or Hezbollah decides it wants to start a little controversy by attacking Israel.[/QUOTE]There is absolutely no justification in killing innocent people. And would you please stop blaming the general population for "hiding" the terrorists? The terrorists have families you know, many of which do not support their terrorist activities, or don't even know about them. These terrorists, simply go home to their families, and their families are killed along with them because they happen to be in the same house. [QUOTE]And I can?t say that the civilians are all innocent as they don?t do anything to stop the militants in their group. Maybe they can?t do anything, but do they even try? [/QUOTE]Ummm.... who are the ones with the guns? That's right, the militants. I hardly expect unarmed civilians to approach these people. And there are those who do apporach them, tell them to stop but are beaten or even killed by the militants. It is true that some unarmed people support these militants and hide them, but that still doesn't justify the killing of innocent people. It makes no sense to say that just because some civilians help the militants, that means you can attack and kill any of them. There are children being killed there. Does that not matter to any of you? [QUOTE]And getting flattened is exactly what's happening to Hezbollah right now. Maybe those militants should learn something?[/QUOTE]As far as I can tell, it is only the civilians being 'flattened right now, while Hezbollah countinues to fire rockets into Israeli towns. Israel isn't really accomplishing anything. It isn't stopping the attacks from Hezbollah, and instead is killing innocents with their disporportionate attacks.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Whoa. The situation is really getting bad now. Now Hezbollah, a lebanese militant group has kidnapped another two soldiers. Israel has replied with extreme force and killed 55 people, the vast majority being civilians. It makes me so angry how they can get away with that. What Israel is doing is just plain terrorism. Don't get me wrong, Israel has the right to defend itself from any further attacks from militant groups, but why must civilians pay the price for what these militants do? Why must Israel bomb the airport, bridges, and people homes too? It's so sad.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]My brother and I were huge DragonballZ fans. When I was 13 I started searching the net for the best dragonball Z websites. A friend of my brother's gave him a list of good dragonball z websites, which included the theotaku dragonball site. So I payed a visit to it, and a couple years later submitted my fanart using the old primitve manner theotaku used for submissions: email. After a while, the Adam started posting in the news how theotaku.com was going through a big change, a major cool update. I remember he had a date set for the launch, but they kept getting delayed because of glitches that needed to be fixed. Finally, it wa launched, and I joined myotaku as soon as I could. After a few weeks, I decided to join otakuboards, because it seemed pretty cool too. Otakuboards is actually the first forum I joined.[/COLOR]

[color=#004a6f][quote name='Rapture Ruckus][color=crimson']And who determined their innocence, was it because they are women and children? Because they couldn't possibly carry a gun or a bomb and kill someone, could they? Sorry to rain on your parade, but the whole women and children thing, it just seems like a ploy to get international sypathy through the eyes of the seemingly innocent. It's re-treaded in every facet of society, from this conflict to television standards campaigners crying "won't someone please think of the children!!1!1!"[/color][/quote]It's kind of rare to have female suicide bobers and militants. A few women in the jails have been arrested because they were planning on making a bombing. But the rest of them are jailed for innapropriate reasons, such as campainging for palestinian rights, attending protests, or trying to stop soldiers from demoloshing their homes. Some women even gave birth to their babies there, and since they haven't been released, kept their babies with them to be able to nurse them. I know a story of one child that has been who spend his first three years in jail, and the Israelis decided he was old enough to leave his mother, so they sent him back to his family. I know it's best the child doesn't keep staying in the jail, but he is devestated from being seperated from his mother, and she really hasn't done anything wrong, so she should be released. She was just a human rights activist, and this is the truth, so don't give me any crap about how "she probably was an evil civilian bombing militant". The thing is there's also plenty of men that are jailed for innapropriate reasons, just like the women were, but the ratio of the innocent and guilty is obviouslt going to be different for the two genders. As for the children, most of them aren't too young, probably ten to twleve, but they get jailed for a long time for getting caught throwing rocks or breaking curfews, or the other reason I mentioned before for the adults. But they're still just kids. They shouldn't be locked up for months or years at a time. I know some of the older ones, the teenagers, may be involved with the militants, so it would make sense to lock them up. [quote name='Rapture Ruckus][color=crimson']Like Boba Fett said earlier, it makes no sense for the Israeli government to lock up innocents when it costs their government to do so, and it's totally pointless.[/color][/quote]It's a fact that some Israeli soldiers are complete jerks who intentionally hurt civilians and enjoy seeing them suffer. They only argument you have for Israelis huriting civilians on purpise is simply denying it, but it's true, it's completely true. You can't just cover it up and let them get away with it. I'm not saying all, or even the majoroty of Israelis are like this, but this really does happen. But some decent Israeli soldiers want to help put a stop to it.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Retribution][size=1]Chabi, whether the creation of Israel was fair or not is inconsequential to my point. My point is that Palestine attacked first -- the reason of the attack isn't really too important. If they were being "freedom fighters" to regain their "stolen" lands, that's great. But the fact is that Palestine is always the aggressor in these situations, and when Israel comes back with stronger weaponry and a better equipped military, Palestine complains and cries about how evil and mean Israel is. The 1967 war is the perfect example.[/size][/QUOTE]If someone is commiting injustices against you and your people, of course you're not going to sit back and take it. Sure palestinians start a lot of the fighting, but it's because of the constant injustices that occur. People continue to be abused and humiliated at military checkpoints. For example, some women are forced to give birth at a checkpint because they won't let them pass. The root of this entire problem is the Israeli occupation and their constant injustices against palestinians. If these don't stop, palestinians will continue to be angry and more and more militants will be bred from this anger. Anyway, Israel isn't 'evil and mean' because it has big weapons, but because of how it uses its power. Because they can, they destroy people's homes. Because they can, they jail innocents, because they can, they continue to rob more and more land from the palestinians. Because they can, they impose curfews at times, and anyone caught outside, or even near their windows, will be shot, no matter how young or innocent. There can't be peace if there is injustice. Therefore, palestinians will continue to fight to stop injustices occuring against them. If Israel simply treats palestinians like human beings, most of the fighting would stop, exept from those who refuse to accept israel's existance. But alot of people are okay if Israel simply returns to the 1967 borders, because any land taken after that time is illegaly occupied. Anyway, to Boba Fett, I guess if holding someone hostage and threatening to kill them counts as terrorism, then I guess it's terrorism. Okay.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Retribution][size=1]Chabi, Palestine is ultimately the aggressor in this situation. Israel was founded, and no one in the Middle East liked that, so they decided to attack Israel. It's been like that for a long, long time. Israel rarely attacks another country without prior provocation; after all, it's the other countries that have animosity towards Israel in the first place. Honestly, Israel has been desiring peace for quite a while. They conceeded their settlements to appease the Palestinians last summer, and they were talking of peace. And just when we think that the two will finally be harmonious (Arafat dying I mean), we're back to square one.[/size][/QUOTE]Retri, Israel has no reason to attack other countries. The only reason it attacks palestininians is because they are on what they call their land. Of course the arab countries didn't like it when Israel was founded. Thousands of palestinians lost their homes in 1948 (including my grandparents) who were from Ashkalon. Britain had control of the reigion during the mandate, so they resricted palestinian movement and sold land to jews. The palestinians couldn't stop that from happening. Then in 1948 Israel declares independence and starts kicking palestinians out. The arabs waged war with Israel, and lost, but that's no reason that Israeli has the right to exist. It was created through dishonest ways. I can't believe anyone should be okay with people invading other countries and stealing their land just because they won a war "fair and square". What if let's say, France decided to invade the U.S and make it their new land. Of course Americans would fight to the bitter end, and even if France won, they would continue to fight, just like what the palestinians are doing now. Just because you think the creatiion of Israel was legal and fair, doens't mean the arabs think so. The fact remains that palestinians were kicked out, and they have every right to try to get back their land. My grandparents have the right to the land that was stolen from them. And in 1967, again my grandparents had to flee to Jordan to escape the war, and lost yet another home. My mother was 5 at the time. So tell me, why shouldn't palestinians fight to get their homes back?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Retribution][size=1]I think that the Israeli response is in fact justified. A little over the top? Yes, but so was the Palestinian action. Chabi, you always seem to overlook the Palestinian's faults and focus on the Israeli ones. Please realize that [i]if the Palestinians hadn't gone across the border, killed two soldiers and kidnapped one, this wouldn't be happening.[/i] Granted, I also think that Israel is using this to take out anger on the Palestinians, and that's wrong too. [/size][/QUOTE]Oh, don't worry Retri, I never overlook palestinian's faults. I certainly believe that some of the things that palestinian militants do are outrageous (boming innocent civilians). And I also accept that there are plenty of kindhearted Israelis that do care about the injustices that happen against the palestininians. What angers me is the fact that some people are okay with palestinians being collectively punished for what a handful of militants do. Apparently eveyone thinks the whole population are terrorists because they voted for Hamas. But the thing is they voted for hamas not because of it's militant history, but because it can certainly do a better job of rebuilding palestine and providing services better than the corrupt Fatah party, in which a handful of "fat cats" were getting payed more than their fair share. Hamas has changed its ways about attacking civilians too. I don't see how attacking soldiers can be called terrorism. Isn't this war? The soldiers killed and kidnapped could well have killed a few palestinians each. And of course, all of you have ignored the fact that about a dozen palestinians were killed by israelis on the beach on june 20th. Apperently though, Israel thinks it can simply deny they did so and get away with it. Israel honestly gets away with almost every crime they commit against the palestinians, and this inevitably is going to spark hatred, anger, and irrational actions on the plaestinian's side. Talk didn't get the women and children freed form prisons, and the palestinians don't have sofisticated weapons either? So what else can they do? They're desperate. And Boba Fett, Israel jails palestinians for the stupidist little things (protests, trying to stop soldiers for demolishing their homes, etc) and keeps them their for a long time. I do agree that people from both sides commit crimes against the other, but I believe Israel should be a bit more responsible and set a better example since it is the much stronger side. Law and order can't be established on the palestinian side if everything there is always being destroyed. If Israel at least stops destroying what little the palestinians have, a sense of calm and organization can return to the region. If stability rerturns to the reqion, maybe a plasetinian forces can have an easier time in stopping militants from boming settlements, which seems like an ongoing problem that the population can't seem to control. The palestinian government isn't behind these bombings anymore.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I promised myself not to create yet another Israel/Palestine thread, but the recent happenings in the region have left me quite frustrated and angry. If you've been keeping up with the news, you will know that Palestinian militants manage to borrow across the border, and raided and Israeli military base. Killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping one, Cpl Gilad Shalit, age 19. There demands are simple: Release palestinian [B]women and children[/B]--[I]non-combattants[/I] from Israeli jails, or the soldier will be killed. Furthermore, a major factor that contributed to this raid was the fact that on June 20th, about a dozen civilians were killed on the beach by Israeli missiles. One girl lost her entire family. Israel refuses to negotiate with so-called 'terrorists' and instead to releasing the prisoners in exchange for the soldier, they have entered Gaza, where the soldier is known to be held hostage. The have cut off electricity and water in certain areas and destoyed a bridge, all in the attempt to prevent the militants from smuggling the soldier out of Gaza. Several people are under the impression that Israel is going to kill many civilians in the region, and I certainly hope not. I don't believe that they would dare to hurt civilians as of now, because militants would probably respond to that by killing the hostage soldier. They are however, launching rockets and missles and destroying alot of the infastructure of Gaza. And in addition, they are using one of their latest terrorising weapons against the palestinians: the sonic boom, when Israeli jet fighter flies low over the densely populated Gaza Strip, breaking the sound barrier. The massive sonic boom often breaks windows, shakes entire apartment buildings and terrifies the people of Gaza. It can cause misscarriages too. Anyway, what are your opinions of this matter? Is Israel's response justified, going a little overboard? Were the militants justified in holding the soldier hostange in exchange for innocent women and children held in Israeli jails? Should Israel release these prisoners? I personally think that they should release the prisoners. There's no reason to go to such extremes to save the soldier if the simple solution is agreeing to release innocents. Oh, and they better pay for all the dages to the infastructure too.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Narumei]Thanks for the help but now it says it has to be in the JGB piceles or something ......what do i do now? GRRRRRRR!!!! i hate computers!![/QUOTE]The picture can't be too big. It has to have the right dimensions. After you save it open it up in ms paint or another image editing program if you have one, and you can resize it there.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I think that thing I would classify as evil that I've done is torturing insects. When I was younger, much younger, like 8 or 9, I used to catch moths and I would rip off their wings, and when they fell down I would stomp on them. I look back at this and I really feel bad. The moths were small, and they weren't bugging me or anything. My bedroom in the past few years always has alot of lady bugs, they don't just appear in october, the ladybug month, they're there all the time, even in winter. Now these do get on my nerves, because they fly all over the place and crawl around my books while I'm studying. Once, I collected 5 or 6 and threw them in the toilet. I let them float there struggling to get out, some trying to get upright again, but unable to because their wings were soaked, others trying to climb up the side with no success. Finally, I felt a tinge of guilt, so I dipped a piece of paper in thir and let them crawl onto it, and then released them from the window. And then, this year, I tortured ladybugs again, but in a different way. Sometimes a ladybug would land on the heater, and so I would turn it on to see if ladubug would be bothered by the heat. It's hot, but its not like its boiling, so I knew the lady bug can get off before it gets hurt. I know this is so cruel, but it was funny watching the ladybug lift it's front legs, and then its back legs to avoid touching the heat, and then crawling frantically over to the wall to climb away. Stupid bug, it took it forever to figure out it could just fly off. I tghink I'm going to try to be nicer to bugs and only kill them when neccesary. And then there's cockroaches. I never feel guilty about killing cockroaches because they've infested out kitchen and they're just plain gross.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Why do so many people have neighbours who are spiteful for no reason at all? What kind of a jerk would purposely send his dog across the street to poop on someone's yard?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I personally haven?t had many problems with neighbours, there?s the occasional disagreement (neighbours or us being too noisy) from both sides but it usually gets solved and we apologize and move on. I live in a townhouse, so our neighbours are pretty much right beside us. They share our walls. And my house is sandwiched between our neighbours, while others are lucky to only share on wall. Anyway, we can hear our neighbours sometime through the walls, especially if they are arguing with each other or their dog is barking or whatever. Oh, by the way, I?ve had quite a few different neighbours, because most people only stay for a short time (I wonder if it?s because of us?), and move out. And we don?t notice our neighbours on the left side as much as our right, because our doors aren?t right beside each other, so I?ll just focus on my neighbours on the right. Our right-hand neighbours right now seem to be going through problems so we hear a lot of yelling, but we don?t complain because we?re pretty loud sometime too. We don?t talk to them much. I don?t even know their names! The neighbours who lived there before them, I knew better. They were okay I guess. But a bit before they moved, they got a dog. It was a golden retriever puppy (but he was huge!) and it was really cute. But my mom?s kind of scared of dogs so he was a bit of a problem. At first they kept him tied up in front, but he could easily walk onto our side of the lawn, so we couldn?t even avoid him if we wanted to. He was friendly at least. They moved him to the back after that, but since we?re right beside our neighbours, he could again, easily come into our yard and even climb up our back stairs. For some reason he preferred our yard over his owner?s and he specifically went into our yard to poop. We had to ask our neighbours several time to pick up after him, and they got annoyed with our nagging. And they kept him outside in the back by himself for a long, long time, and he would just bark and bark, which was annoying. And it was a weird bark too, so that made it even more annoying.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=KatanaViolet][SIZE=1]I think some people allready mentioned the issue with the American national anthem being sung in Spanish. But I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and they were talking about it, and I had a thought. I don't really see what the problem is with , at the least the [I]legal[/I] immigrants should have the right to do it. Canada has a English and French version of the national anthem: English: O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee There is also a second verse that most Canadians don't even know about: O Canada! Where pine and maple grow Great prairies swell and lordly rivers flow How beauteous that wonderland From sea to sea to see! Thou land of hope for all who toil Who stand on guard for thee! God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee! French (just the main verse): Ô Canada! Terre de nos aïeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux. Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, Il sait porter la croix. Ton histoire est une épopée, Des plus brillants exploits. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Apparently one of the versions of the French anthem is translated completely differently than the English one, just as the Spanish version of the US national anthem. But the way I see it, aren't French Canadians still Canadians, and Mexican Americans still Americans? I don't see what harm comes from them expressing their love for the country they call their home. One argument that I can point out though, is that if every immigrant sang the national anthem (especially in Canada and places in the US) in their native language, it'd sound like alot of jibberish![/SIZE][/QUOTE]Well, it is important to realize that Canada has two main languages. Although the majority of the population speaks english, french isn't just seen as a secondary language, it is just as important as the english. People speak english as well as french in parliamrent. Is spanish just a secondary language in the U.S, or would you say it is as important as french is in Canada. Anyway, I believe the french version of ther national anthem came first. As for the issue of immigration, I would have to agree with SunFallE.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I've never participated in a speling bee before, but I've never even heard of one happening where I live. There must have been some I've missed though. Anyway, I am a terrible speller, absolutely terrible. In grade four, we always had to redo the words we got wrong in our spelling test in separate tests. I remember it took me four tests to finally get "physical education" right. On O.B, I don't seem much of a bad speller, but I use spell check for words I don't know how to spell.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I used to feel quite pessimistic about our generation's future. I see people all the time who just don't care about the future, or contributing to their society, but then again a lot of us were like that when we were young. We're all human, and we all mature and enter adulthood, and eventually those who don't give a damn about the future will. I always used to feel that our generation was much too ignorant and stupid to preserve the knowledge humans have aquired over time, but I don't think so anymore. Being in university and seeing so many students exel in their studies and so many students going into fields that I used to think peopel in our generation will never consider (such as dentistry) gives me new hopes. Our generation is smart, and we are capable. Every generation will have its problems and our children will learn from any mistakes we make and they will progress, just as we will learn from the mistakes of the older generations and we will progress.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I don't see why people are arguing over the movies made about these events just because they were mentioned in the first post. Honestly who the hell cares about Ben Affleck's bad acting? Save that for the music and movies forum. The point is, war is terrible and results in loss of life and misery. And however much a movie is "a bloated piece of garbage", it still represents at least some of the reality of the terrors of war. These war movies serve to remind us of that terror people had to endure.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f][quote name='Amelia][FONT=Arial][B]I wish school was over.[/B'][/FONT][/quote]Congratulations Amelia, you get your wish. School is over. It's over for good, and its over for everybody. No more education for anyone any more. Forever. The whole world falls into the dark ages once more. My wish: I wish I had a kitten.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Interesting. I spend a lot of time on OB on the computer labs on campus. The are 4 labs I can go to, with around 40 computers each. It would be a problem of the person being banned kept on creating new accounts in public computers. Let's say I got banned from OB, and my I.P was banned when I was using one of the school computers. Would that affect other people who log into that computer and try to access OB? What would be done in the situation when siblings visit O.B? If one of them was banned and had his/her I.P banned too, what would you do to accomodate the other siblings?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I'm Palestinian, but I don't look arabic all, unless you count the large eyes. Some of you might have heard the Arabs and Jews are "cousins" because they are both descendants of Abraham. The things is "arabs" that are descendants of abraham aren't really pure arabic, because abraham was not arabic. Nowadays, it's really whether your mother tongue is arabic that determines whether you're an arab or not. So the only really pure arabs are those from yemen, while the other arabs have armenian ancestry as well. The upper arab countries like palesine, lebanon, syria, jordan, etc have a whiter population, so in addition to armenian ancestors, we also have a bit or greek and possibly jewish ancestry too. Anyway, I'm often mistaken for being jewish or greek. I have fairly white skin for an arab, though it's still darker than caucasian skin. I won't discuss my hair in detail since I wear the head scarf, but I will say, it looks nothing like arabic hair, and is probably the biggest reason people think I'm jewish. I remember once someone was so shocked when they found out I was arabic ("You're arabic?! I thought you were GREEK!!!!")[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I have a new painful experience! Yesterday, I got my very first bee sting (well, wasp sting actually). I was getting the mail and there was a wasp on the flyers. I didn't notice it until my hand closed on the flyers (and on the wasp). It stung me, and I dropped the mail. Ow! Ow! Ow!!!! Man, it hurt so much! I'm surprised, because the sting was more like a prick. The wasp never even lost its sting so I don't think it died. But the spot where it stung me felt like it was on fire! I went inside and told my mom, and she said I had to rub garlic on it or it would really swell. "An old remedy everyone in Jordan knows" she said. At first I didn't want to. "Can't I just run it under cold water?" I pleaded. I was sure the garlic would make the sting burn even more, but she insisted. She a clove of garlic in half and started rubbing it on the sting. It felt much, much better. Something in the garlic neutralizes the poison so that's why the burning feeling disappeared. Man, these old remedies really work![/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Panda, banning a breed does not neccessarily mean that existing dogs have to be put down. No one in my city is going around killing pitt bulls. Killing animals that have done nothing wrong is just plain cruel. By 'banning' I would mean not allowing burther breedng of certain breeds, and current owners have to get theirs muzzled when outside, and perhaps cumpulsory training. Of course, I am not suggesting that I agree with this, all I'm saying is that this is what I mean by 'banning'.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I'd like to add another point. A few years back, I read in the paper that a four year old boy was killed in his backyard when he was playing with his family's four rotweilers. They "ripped into him" (ouch!) as the article stated. These four dogs have never displayed any form of aggression before, and they were not badly trained or neglected. But their sudden vicious attack on the boy could be associated with their breed. So this apparently suggests, that despite how well an "at risk" breed is trained, there is still a risk of it attacking, becaue aggressiveness is in its nature. Panda, as a veteranarian, what would you say is indeed the cause of sudden vicious attacks? Is it because of natural aggressiveness or not?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]Well, it is obvious the main culprit of dog bites is bad training, and it is because of bad training that certain species have been singled out as dangerous. But should all pitt-bull owners have to deal with laws that are inforced because of what negligent owners do? It's not as though owners are under surveilance when they train their pets. And by the time a badly trained dog hurts someone, it's already too late, and only then does the negligent owner face the consequences. See what I'm getting at? So, should potentially dangerous breeds be banned altogether because of the risk that certain owners will not train them properly? Is this fair to everyone?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I'm not sure if this is an issue in other places, but dog bites have been a major concern in my city. Certain breeds such as pit bulls have been banned. People who already owned banned breeds may keep them if they are muzzled. Do you think banning certain breeds of dogs is a reasonable way to prevent dog bites? Not all pit bulls are vicious and dangerous, though the breed is quite powerful, and a natural gaurd dog too. Meanwhile other breeds not considered quite dangerous can be dangerous (killer chiuauas?). What do you think is the best and most reasonable way to prevent dog bites in our cities?[/COLOR]