Obsidian Wings

No, this wasn't planned

by liberal japonicus

Though one might think so, given that the first open thread was sports and the second was pets. I was up early to get stuff done and saw wonkie's comment in the open thread, where she talked about a Lab who apparently had been abandoned and said this

He was obviously a former pet who desperately wanted pet status again.

which reminded me of this Malcolm Gladwell piece. Sometimes, Gladwell overreaches, and I think he may a bit in this piece, but wonkie's comment made me think of this:

The most damaged, scarred, and belligerent of Michael Vick’s dogs—the hardest cases—were sent to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, on a thirty-seven-hundred-acre spread in the canyons of southern Utah.

...

What happens at Best Friends represents, by any measure, an extravagant gesture. These are dogs that will never live a normal life. But the kind of crime embodied by dogfighting is so morally repellent that it demands an extravagant gesture in response. In a fighting dog, the quality that is prized above all others is the willingness to persevere, even in the face of injury and pain. A dog that will not do that is labelled a “cur,” and abandoned. A dog that keeps charging at its opponent is said to possess “gameness,” and game dogs are revered.

In one way or another, plenty of organizations select for gameness. The Marine Corps does so, and so does medicine, when it puts young doctors through the exhausting rigors of residency. But those who select for gameness have a responsibility not to abuse that trust: if you have men in your charge who would jump off a cliff for you, you cannot march them to the edge of the cliff—and dogfighting fails this test. Gameness, Carl Semencic argues, in “The World of Fighting Dogs” (1984), is no more than a dog’s “desire to please an owner at any expense to itself.” The owners, Semencic goes on,

understand this desire to please on the part of the dog and capitalize on it. At any organized pit fight in which two dogs are really going at each other wholeheartedly, one can observe the owner of each dog changing his position at pit-side in order to be in sight of his dog at all times. The owner knows that seeing his master rooting him on will make a dog work all the harder to please its master.

This is why Michael Vick’s dogs weren’t euthanized. The betrayal of loyalty requires an act of social reparation. (emphasis mine)

I know we have a few NFL fans here, so there might be some pushback against the notion that football has anything to do with such a heinous phenomenon as dog-fighting. Gladwell is a big football fan as well, and so I also direct y'all to where Gladwell answers questions from the readers. 

(I'd also note that Gladwell gives a glowing recommendation to Bill Simmons book about the NBA, a book that seems to have its own problems. But that is a whole nother topic.)

For another view of NFL injuries, this article is worth reading. 

Dr. Science mentioned the phenomenon of people coming into a conversation about marriage equality with complaints about the social construction of marriage, which often seem at cross purposes. I'm not pointing any fingers right now, I have done this in other topics, wading into a conversation where I feel like I have a logically unassailable position, and pressing it to the point that it raises hackles. There's an obvious danger of that here as well. This might be viewed as the perfect opportunity to discuss the immorality of pampering pets while there are people in the world who are much worse off. Which is why I move this to the front page, because I don't think that this sort of thought should be embedded in an open thread devoted to pet stories. Anyone is welcome to argue for the 'we'd be better off without pets (at least until we cure world hunger') line, but I'd just suggest that this might not be the place to do it, but no one is going to stop you.

Winning Wisconsin, Pigs & Hippies Together: This is OUR HOUSE!

by Gary Farber

Don't tell me we can't win this.  Wisconsin Police Have Joined Protest Inside State Capitol.

From inside the Wisconsin State Capitol, Ryan Harvey reports:

“Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside.”

Ryan reported on his Facebook page earlier today [Friday, Feb. 25 -gf]],:

“Police have just announced to the crowds inside the occupied State Capitol of Wisconsin: ‘We have been ordered by the legislature to kick you all out at 4:00 today. But we know what’s right from wrong. We will not be kicking anyone out, in fact, we will be sleeping here with you!’

Ryan Harvey's video from Friday:

 

 My quotes:

[...] This is not a budget issue! This is a CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE!  [...] Mr. Walker!  [...] We know pretty well now who you work for!  [applause] Let me tell you who WE work for! [points to self and police emblem]  We work for all of these people!  [applause] We are not here, Mr. Walker, to do your bidding!  We are here to do their bidding!  [...]  Mr. Walker, this not your House!  This is all of our House!  [camera pans 360°]

I want to give this officer a big fat kiss on the mouth.

Pictures from Ryan Harvey, February 25, Occupied Capitol Building, Madison, WI:

Going to the dogs open thread

by liberal japonicus

Hoisted from the comments (from bedtimeforbonzo longtime friend of the kitty)

...after almost three years following the untimely deaths of my beloved CoCo and Bowser -- we are again (since August) a two-dog household. Joining the indestructibe Hamilton, our loud and proud 16-year-old Beagle, is Cody, who was supposed to be my dream Black Lab. Finally getting the OK from my wife to become a two-dog family again, I had been following the website pawsforlife.org -- a wonderful rescue in Chesapeake City, Md., run, amazingly, by just four dedicated souls -- and found Tank. Just one visit and I knew he was the one. Friendly and 5 -- I no longer have the time or patience for a pup -- Tank, being a Lab, had plenty of energy and appeared simply majestic to me. So when my wife and son joined me a few days later to bring him home, I was as happy as I had been in a long time. Except my wife totally -- and, I mean, totally -- freaked at the sight of this gigantic, drooling, in her eyes, domestic wrecking ball. Would her reaction had been different if I had fallen for a smaller Lab? Don't know. Perhaps I should have realized he was named Tank for a reason. Anyway, I knew if we took Tank home, he and I would be spending most of our remaining days in the doghouse. So I figured we go home empty. Then Olga says, "Why not this one, Honey?" All along, this smallish (to me) white bundle of fur had been sitting on her lap, overdosing on the attention -- Cody, a Pappilion mix (the French dog named so for his huge butterfly-like ears), had been allowed to roam freely, uncaged, because of his size and all-around easy nature. I took one look at that precious little dog and imagined him adorning Paris Hilton's side, not wrestling with me in the backyard. Then I looked closer and saw how happy my wife and son looked -- not to mention 2-year-old Cody -- and realized this was going to be my big Black Lab. And now, of course, I am Cody's favorite and I simply adore him. He's a charmer, a lover, and the most comedic canine I have ever had. Wednesdays are our favorite -- when we are home alone a great deal and free to nap as we please. He's even sparked renewed life into the 112-year-old Hamilton, who, I think, might live forever. While I still need to take Wellubutrin and Effexor, Cody -- or any dog, to my mind -- is the perfect complement to help get me through those dreaded blue periods. And sometimes things do work out for the best. A few days after taking Cody home, feeling guilty and still thinking of that big Black Lab, I sent the lady who runs Paws For Life a pack of tennis ball for Tank. Soon after, the big Black Lab was adopted. Pictures on the website showed him on what looked to be a small farm where he was happily diving into a small lake.

As regular readers know, I tend to be a bit exuberent in drawing lessons from examples, but I have to think that the pack of tennis balls btb sent was what got that black lab adopted. I'm sure it can't be proven, but in my experience, small acts can have an outsize effects. And a special bonus lesson, I love the line "[I] realized [this French poodle] was going to be my big Black Lab". Good things happen when we bust up the categories we have in our mind, even though someone calling a small french poodle a big black labrador might be assailed as a violation of logic.

I mentioned the Blogospheric Users Relations Pact (BURP for short), and us having pet threads is a clear violation of that, as this is pretty clearly Balloon Juice territory. However in an attempt to avoid a blogospheric conflagration, I include a link to Balloon Juice's CafePress site and note that all profits from sales go to Charlie's Angels Animal Rescue, Brevard, North Carolina

The New Republican Congressional Revolutionary Volunteers Of America

by Gary Farber

Congressman stops short of calling for Obama assassination. Georgia Congressman Paul Broun's Tuesday night’s town hall meeting:

The first question of the night (confirmed by Broun’s office) was “when is someone going to shoot Obama?”

Broun’s response, Athens Banner-Herald (Georgia):

The thing is, I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We’re going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we’ll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. He then segued into Republicans’ budget proposal.

Today: Loughner indictment expected by March 9, trial in Sept.:

Dylan Smith, TucsonSentinel.com

Prosecutors said they will indict Jared Lee Loughner on more federal charges by March 9, a court order said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said in the order that he expects a trial to begin before Sept. 20. Loughner, 22, is the alleged gunman in the Jan. 8 shooting that authorities call an assassination attempt on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

[...] Six were killed and 13 wounded in the attack on a constituent meet-and-greet at a Northwest Side grocery store. Giffords remains in a Houston rehab facility, recovering from her wounds.

Georgia Congressman Paul Broun had best not hold town meetings on Obsidian Wings. Posting Rules:

[...] Calls for the assassination of any person will be subject to immediate banning. Exceptions are made for legitimate military targets in time of war, being put to death after being convicted of a capital crime, etc. -- basically, the things that make a killing not 'assassination' to begin with. As before, this is not a prohibition on criticism, vituperation, and all those other good things; just a recognition that there's all the difference in the world between passionately disagreeing with someone and calling for that person's death.

We would ban someone from here for such a statement. But Republican Georgia Congressman Paul Broun lets it pass without a word and:

[...] Broun’s press secretary, Jessica Morris, confirmed that the question was indeed, who is going to shoot Obama? “Obviously, the question was inappropriate, so Congressman Broun moved on,” she said.

We wouldn't just move on, if we noticed that here.

But it's okay if you're merely a Republican Congressional Representative.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

In June, Greg Sargent wrote: Sharron Angle floated possibility of armed insurrection:

Here's another one that could be tough for Sharron Angle to explain away: In an interview in January, Angle appeared to float the possibility of armed insurrection if "this Congress keeps going the way it is."

I'm not kidding. In an interview she gave to a right-wing talk show host, Angle approvingly quoted Thomas Jefferson saying it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years -- and said that if Congress keeps it up, people may find themselves resorting to "Second Amendment remedies."

What's more, the talk show host she spoke to tells me he doesn't have any doubt that she was floating the possibility of armed insurrection as a valid response if Congress continues along its current course.

Asked by the host, Lars Larson of Portland, Oregon, where she stands on Second Amendment issues, Angle replied:

You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.

I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.

Larson says Angle was floating the possibility of armed insurrection if Congress keeps it up under Reid et al.

Indefensible

by Doctor Science

Yesterday President Obama ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. In honor of the occasion, I decided to read the copy of What Is Marriage? by Robert George (and two male grad students) I'd downloaded when I saw various people talking about it as a serious, intellectual defense of the DOMA position. Robert George is a Princeton politics full professor who is supposed to bring the big guns in conservative thought, a guy who can argue for natural law like a latter-day Aquinas. Or so they tell me.

Now I've read it, and if this is the best they've got, no wonder the Traditional Marriage people are in trouble. No wonder the defense in the trial against California's Proposition 8 was unable to field a single witness the Judge found "expert". This paper is, technically speaking, bunk.

Newton's Third Law #4, the continuing story, with update

by fiddler

(Previous Newton's Third Law posts are here, here and here.)

Benjamin Spock de Vries says he is not Commander X, one of the 'leaders' of Anonymous whom Aaron Barr of HBGary supposedly found online. Apparently, Barr wrote several memos in which he connected Commander X's identity to de Vries, all of which are included among the memos leaked by Anonymous. This mistaken identification led to an oddly amusing exchange, when Barr contacted him during the attack on HBGary by Anonymous:

Scott Walker Reports To The Boss, David Koch

by Gary Farber

Don't believe how it works?  Then listen for yourself.

Let's go with Adam Weinstein's take:

Is that really Scott Walker? [Update: Yep.] A New York-based alt-news editor says he got through to the embattled Wisconsin governor on the phone Tuesday by posing as right-wing financier David Koch...then had a far-ranging 20-minute conversation about the collective bargaining protests. According to the audio, Walker told him:

• That statehouse GOPers were plotting to hold Democratic senators' pay until they returned to vote on the controversial union-busting bill.

• That Walker was looking to nail Dems on ethics violations if they took meals or lodging from union supporters.

• That he'd take "Koch" up on this offer: "[O]nce you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."

Now check it out yourself:

 

The rest:

The Wisconsin Waltz

by Gary Farber

As flames of revolution spread across the Mideast, the fight against anti-union bills is spreading across the American Midwest.

David Dayen, aka dday, points out that Ohio, Indiana See Protests Against Anti-Union Bills:

Wisconsin remains the main battleground for the broader assault on worker’s rights. But elsewhere in the Big Ten states and across the country, these battles have moved forward. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is pushing pretty much the exact same bill as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Known as SB 5, the bill would strip collective bargaining rights from Ohio public employees. SB 5 is a piece of legislation, so Kasich isn’t trying to implement this under the cover of a budget bill. However, he has said that if he doesn’t get what he wants out of SB 5, he will put those items into the next budget bill. Alternatively, this could go to the ballot. So SB 5 won’t be the last showdown. The Governor, aping Scott Walker, claims this is a fiscal issue, but nobody can explain how much money SB 5 would save.

Many Ohio Republican legislators are already looking askance at SB 5. With pressure rising from state editorial boards and organized labor, the State Senate may not have the votes to get this thing out of committee.

You Say al-Gaddafi, They Say al-Qaḏḏāfī, Let's Colonel The Whole Thing Off

By Gary Farber

Libya appears to be in full revolt.  Residents say troops defect in Libya's Benghazi:

Members of a Libyan army unit told Benghazi residents on Sunday they had defected and "liberated" Libya's second city from troops supporting veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, two residents said.

Habib al-Obaidi, who heads the intensive care unit at the main Al-Jalae hospital, and lawyer Mohamed al-Mana, told Reuters members of the "Thunderbolt" squad had arrived at the hospital with soldiers wounded in clashes with Gaddafi's personal guard.

"They are now saying that they have overpowered the Praetorian Guard and that they have joined the people's revolt," al-Mana said by telephone. It was not possible to independently verify the report.

Obaidi said the bodies of 50 people killed on Sunday had arrived at the hospital in the late afternoon. Most had died from bullet wounds.

Because You Can't Spell "Wisconsin" Without "W"

by Eric Martin

Ezra Klein offers an insightful summary of recent events in Wisconsin, including the fiscal decisions that gave impetus to the sizable protests taking place in that state over the past few days.

The short version is that Governor Scott Walker turned a projected budget surplus into a deficit by passing a series of tax cuts, as well as an unfunded health care bill (sound familiar?).  Klein provides the details:

The Badger State was actually in pretty good shape. It was supposed to end this budget cycle with about $120 million in the bank. Instead, it's facing a deficit. Why? I'll let the state's official fiscal scorekeeper explain (pdf):

More than half of the lower estimate ($117.2 million) is due to the impact of Special Session Senate Bill 2 (health savings accounts), Assembly Bill 3 (tax deductions/credits for relocated businesses), and Assembly Bill 7 (tax exclusion for new employees).

In English: The governor called a special session of the legislature and signed two business tax breaks and a conservative health-care policy experiment that lowers overall tax revenues (among other things). The new legislation was not offset, and it turned a surplus into a deficit. As Brian Beutler writes, "public workers are being asked to pick up the tab for this agenda."

Then, like any good Norquistian, Walker proceeded to use the budget crisis he created by tax cuts and unfunded programs to make structural changes and assail the constituencies of political foes:

But even that's not the full story here. Public employees aren't being asked to make a one-time payment into the state's coffers. Rather, Walker is proposing to sharply curtail their right to bargain collectively. A cyclical downturn that isn't their fault, plus an unexpected reversal in Wisconsin's budget picture that wasn't their doing, is being used to permanently end their ability to sit across the table from their employer and negotiate what their health insurance should look like.

That's how you keep a crisis from going to waste: You take a complicated problem that requires the apparent need for bold action and use it to achieve a longtime ideological objective...And note that not all public-employee unions are covered by Walker's proposal: the more conservative public-safety unions -- notably police and firefighters, many of whom endorsed Walker -- are exempt. [...]

If all Walker was doing was reforming public employee benefits, I'd have little problem with it. There's too much deferred compensation in public employee packages, and though the blame for that structure lies partially with the government officials and state residents who wanted to pay later for services now, it's true that situations change and unsustainable commitments require reforms. But that's not what Walker is doing. He's attacking the right to bargain collectively -- which is to say, he's attacking the very foundation of labor unions, and of worker power -- and using an economic crisis unions didn't cause, and a budget reversal that Walker himself helped create, to justify it.

The sleight of hand and misdirection are reminscent of many of the "solutions" being proferred in response to the inexplicably sudden attention that the deficit and debt are being shown in Washington.

Like Ezra, I'm of the opinion that certain pension features for public employees are in need of a tweak (especially in New York, where annual pension amounts can be gamed due to the piling on of overtime in the final year of employment, and then using that year's compensation level as the basis for the pension amount).  In addition, there are arguments to be made (not that I agree) that public sector unions are anachronistic and no longer serve a useful purpose.  However, Governor Walker is not making those arguments. At least, in the latter case, not without false pretenses.