Here's the deal... Pitbull's have a bad rep because some OWNER's have f-ed the breed's reputation because they trained them to be aggressive and some used them in dog fights. Lot's of dogs snap and attack people; often from abuse. But media focuses on Pitbulls because it gets all the ratings. Look at that boy who was attacked by some terrier/lab mix dog, the boy was then saved by his cat. No one is sensationalizing that breed of dog, screaming "All crossed lab/terriers must be banned and killed!" No! Of course not because then all mixed breeds would be gone. Stop and look at the whole picture of a dog bite story before you judge a whole breed based on an isolated incident. —Elephants are gray, not all gray things are elephants

I feel that there are much better places to spend our tax dollars than paintnig busses because a company wanted to change a name of their busses that barely work!!! We have DISGUSTING roads, nauseating traffic jams for seemingly no reason at all other than shitty drivers and stupid road placement. I would blame it on accidents as well however, 80% of the slow traffic from an accident is from the nosey mother fuckers driving by, who have to ostrich neck at the accident and drive 20 kph to catch every single detail! We should spend the money on 2 extra lanes on highways, WORKING busses and better schedules that are actually followed. NOT a stupid paint job. —Ugly restaurants have the best food

In the landscaping business you need to cut deals to people who agree to use your services every 2 - 3 weeks. You have to line up properties in certain areas to avoid driving all over the place to keep costs down. You dependably show up to take care of your client as agreed. You find the person who agreed to getting the lower rate already have their property serviced by somebody else... really is a piss off. Just scamming to get a deal the first time. —Not impressed with peoples ethics.

As you may know HMC is firmly entrenched in archaic rules for serving beer at concerts, which simply have no place in the modern world. For those that are not aware it is strictly prohibited to take your plastic cup of beer back to your seat with you. You have to drink it in the dangerously overcrowded concourse area.

Over the past few years I have had the good fortune to attend high end rock concerts in the following venues:

Royal Albert Hall, London 02, London Place des Arts, Montreal Bell Centre, Montreal Wang Citigroup Theatre, Boston Madison Square Garden, NYC

In all of these fine establishments, licqour is permitted to be brought back to the seacting area, where the drinkcan be enjoyed at a lleisurely respectable pace. I never once saw a case of excessive or inappropriate alcohol consumption.

But time and time again I see at the HMC 10,000 fans all clamoring to get a beer during intermission from the grossly inadequate number of sellers and then have to guzzle it in 30 seconds and run back to their seat to avoid missing the second act.

Now you can say well the reason for this is because its dark and it allowing beer in the stands enables uunderage drinking. But guess what? If kids want to drink at concerts they will surely find a way to do so. So that argument is old and tired and just does not wash.

So my question is when are we as a city going to make the bold leap into the 21st century and get up to speed with the rest of the civilized world?

Maybe since the BNS took over naming rights they can exert some influence there. One can only hope. —End the Binge drinking if you have the guts to make a real change

Every day on Lower Water Street there are one or more tow trucks parked on the left hand side of the street in the no stopping 4-6pm zone. The intent if I understand it correctly is to remove illegally parked cars from the left lane so that there are two clear driving lanes to enable traffic to get out of the area as efficiently as possible. But that's not what happens. Occasionally there is a vehicle which needs to be towed. Okay no problem with that. What actually happens is that the tow trucks are often the only vehicle parked in the lane presumably waiting for a car to arrive and park so they can tow it. But in doing so they are blocking the lane that they are supposed there to keep clear. This happens every day. Now I know we live in a seriously small minded backward city where where the interests of well connected contractors and businesses are put ahead of the average joe citizen. But is this not the height of ridiculous? —Tow me Blow me

Long time supporter of the Halifax Jazz Fest. This year I bought my $125 tent pass even before the line up was announced. Two of the six "paid" events were cancelled. Not the fault of the festival organizers but not my fault either. The person I spoke to at the office was both rude and unsympathetic.

I can honestly see if I came around a month later the refunds would have been disbursed, and I would have SOL. But they would not have even had time to compile any Friday PM responses yet and they drew the hard line with me on the other side of it.

I get that many festival workers are volunteers but truthfully that is new excuse for such shabby treatment.

I found out from a friend on Sunday July 20 that a $45 refund was offered to festival pass purchasers but you had to respond to a July 10 e-mail by Friday July 18. I checked to find the e-mail in my junk folder.

I immediately responded with the thinking that since it was not yet the next business day after the deadline, they would still be able and willing to honour the refund.

Monday I receive a very curt reply that I missed the Friday response date. Too bad. So sad. Hope to see you next year. —You won't see me there next year

I am the owner of two small-medium sized dogs, both very well socialized who love to play with dogs of all sizes. Recently, I have had encounters with a number of greyhound owners using the Cogswell park in the evenings, when other non-Greyhounds are present. This evening was the final straw. My two dogs were playing very well with 4-5 other dogs (of all varieties). Around the same time (7:30 pm), several greyhound owners arrived. While I recognize that this breed can’t be trusted with small animals. Rather than waiting outside the park or walking until a reasonable amount of time had past, in respect for their animal and the other animals using the park, these owners have recently begun entering the park whilst keeping their agitated dogs on leash and muzzled while other dogs have the freedom to run and play. If the greyhounds in question cannot be trusted off leash with dogs of all varieties, they should return at a time when they are the first to enter the park and practice the same etiquette that I give my fellow dog owners: “Is it okay to come in?”.

A quick internet search of “dog park etiquette” suggests that bringing an on-leash dog to an off-leash park whilst other dogs are present is unfair and unkind to the leashed dog. Additionally, this deprives the dog of the opportunity to gain the needed social skills to interact with dogs of all sizes. This also confuses the other dogs who are playing - all of whom would welcome the greyhounds to their game of chase or tussle. This weekend as my young dog approached one of the greyhounds, the owner pushed my dog away and proceeded to jerk his dogs collar - despite the fact that his dog had done nothing wrong and had only shown polite curiousity. I said - “Do not discipline my dog, he merely offered a friendly, submissive greeting and you scolded him for it and then scolded your dog, who clearly needs positive experiences!” Furthermore - if the dog is muzzled, why is it not permitted to smell another dog in a friendly manner? If the dog is muzzled, why is it straining at the end of its leash?

I recognize that your organization cautions new owners to practice the utmost caution around small animals. This should not include bringing them to a park for 45 minutes to stand on leash, depriving them of socialization while they whine eagerly to play with the other dogs. I can’t help but feel that I am being muscled out of the park, as this evening when I left with another couple and their St. Bernard, after about 45 minutes an owner said in a hushed tone “finally”.

I have shared the Cogswell park with dogs of all breeds and temperaments - including greyhounds. I have also seen greyhounds once driven by their instinct to chase be properly socialized (with caution) among smaller animals. Socialization is NOT holding your dog while it strains muzzled at the end of its leash for 45 minutes. I feel this is inhumane and I suspect that the other owners at the park this evening did as well. Socialization is NOT creating divides between the elite greyhound owners and other non-greyhound owners.

I urge you to adopt only to homes whose owners are aware of how to properly navigate these situations to provide dogs with enriching, positive experiences. I commend you on finding homes for dogs that may otherwise be euthanized - but the greyhound owners using the Cogswell street park need a serious lesson in proper socialization and general pet ownership etiquette. What happened to positive reinforcement? Is this part of your mandate?

In closing, I ask you - would you want to watch your friends play for 45 minutes while you strain on a rope to join them? If you had the intelligence of a dog, would you possibly be able to fathom the reason as to why you are on leash? Greyhounds do not understand why they are being kept on leash whilst other dogs play directly around them. For that reason, this is cruel and unkind. —Give peace a chance

WTC 1 in New York City (the new one) cost 3.9 billion to build. Our unbuilt new trade center is estimated to come in at 500 million. Is this screwy or what? —Bluenoser

We used to be friends. We have a lot of common interests. Everything from hobbies, to TV shows, to music...Yet, you won't talk to me anymore. What happened? Why won't you tell me what I did? I miss having friends like you in my life. —Too sad to be bitchy

In advance of the Pride Parade, it should be said, for those who have not figured this out yet, this is a parade celebrating the wonderful variation of nature that is adult sexuality. S-E-X-U-A-L-I-T-Y. In other words, there may be scantily clad adults participating in this event. If you want to bring your children to a parade please wait another week for the Natal Day Parade. Bringing your kids to an adult themed event then complaining about what they were exposed to is not the fault of the event. —Nom-de-Femme