From today’s Seattle Times:
A man suspected of shooting his 4-year-old Rottweiler and abandoning it to die off a Forest Service road near North Bend has turned himself in.
[…] Intentionally shooting a dog and leaving it to suffer is a Class C felony, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Curiously, the Times fails to name the identity of the dog shooter, which just struck me as an odd editorial decision. I mean, what kind of an asshole would shoot a dog?
Oh. Yeah.
Because he hasn’t been charged yet.
So The Seattle Times will shoot the dog if we don’t repeal the estate tax and let heirs collect millions of dollars of unearned income tax-free while working stiffs pay through the nose, making our regressive tax system even more regressive. So what? All dogs should be shot!*
* Heh — just kidding! Ann Coulter joke. Just send ’em to concentration camps instead.
@1 So what? Dick Cheney hasn’t been charged yet, either, but the newspapers publish his name.
Troll @1,
He turned himself in. No ethical obligation to protect his identity.
That said, this news item was obviously just an excuse for me to remind folks that Frank Blethen once shot a dog. Any idiot could see that. (Or maybe not?)
@4
Any idiot could see that.
Troll is not your average idiot.
Have you noticed how rightwing anti-tax crusaders are only against taxes on the rich? You never see these people stick up for the working stiffs. They want our tax system to become even more unfair and regressive than it already is — if that’s even possible.
@5 Yes, even when compared to average idiots, which let’s face it is a pretty low bar, Troll isn’t smarter than your average dead dog.
This thread is gonna be mucho fun! It’s off to a great start!
Newspapers have a policy of not naming a suspect until they’ve been charged. And you can save yourself the effort of digging up examples where they’ve named suspects before they’ve been charged. The rule in journalism is you only name them after they’ve been charged. You learn that in journalism 101.
I don’t remember the details of Frank Blethen whacking the dog. Could someone refresh my recollection? Did he shoot the dog in the newsroom and tell his employees a staffer would be next? Or did he whack the neighbor’s dog in retaliation for the dog whacking his cat? Did the dog whack his cat because the cat ate the neighbor’s canary? Who started this gang war, anyway? And what was the ultimate body count?
@9 So now an idiot who never reads newspapers is going to lecture us on editorial practices?
Well, the Bush Depression and Craigslist accomplished what the Times’ editorial page couldn’t: When Frank kicks the bucket, his kids will pay no estate tax. The Blethen family fortune has gone from $459,000,000 ($900 million x 51%) to $0.*
* Based on the McClatchey Company’s valuation of its 49% stake in the Times at $0. The math works like this: $0 x .49 divided by .51 = the current value of Blethen-held stock.
Like I said, this thread is off to a great start, and we’re gonna have a ton of fun with it. It beats blogging about North Korea’s latest saber-rattling, anyway.
A Modest Proposal
I suggest that the ST perform the following experiment:
STOP PUBLISHING for one week.
There are two possible results, both good for ST.
1. Folks notice the event, good publicity and you sell more ads.
2. No one notices, including your advertisers. Not publishing for a week would save you 2% of your overall costs as well!
Action Items:
In either case the Times could go to one week a month without publication! The cost savings would be huge.
@4 Yeah, I got it.
How do you shoot a dog point blank and not have it die instaneously?
Never mind, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know the answer to that.
Judge Rules Convicted Terrorist Can Sue Bush Lawyer For Torture
The Associated Press reports:
“SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A convicted terrorist can sue a former Bush administration lawyer for drafting the legal theories that led to his alleged torture, ruled a federal judge, who said he was trying to balance a clash between the requirements of war and the defense of personal freedoms.”
(Quoted under fair use.)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....uit14.html
So, who is this bleeding-heart, terrorist-coddling, judge?
According to Wikipedia, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco worked in the criminal division of the Department of Justice and was an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland during the Nixon and Ford administrations, then was in private practice for 24 years, before being appointed to the federal bench by George W. Bush in 2002.
“It perplexes me that we are still, as a country, and really, globally, denying that there is something going on. I don’t have the background in the natural sciences to tell you it’s one thing or the other. I can just say that over the last 10 years it’s clear to me … something’s changing. There’s no doubt in my mind.” — Willapa Bay oyster farmer Brian Sheldon, quoted in The Seattle Times
The Times’ lede today is a story about how oyster larvae are dying up and down the entire Pacific Coast — for 5th straight year. Scientists suspect acidification of ocean water caused by carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the culprit. The problem is broader than decimation of the Pacific oyster-growing industry; it suggests that “shifts in ocean chemistry associated with carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuels may be impairing sea life faster and more dramatically than expected.”
If so, the impact will be much broader than the shellfish industry. Shellfish larvae are part of the food chain that sustains young salmon, pollock, and herring. Indeed, the oyster crisis could signal the beginning of a collapse of the entire Pacific Ocean food chain.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....rs14m.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Maybe global-warming denial should be a crime, just like Holocaust denial is in Canada and most European countries. Hey, just kidding! We have free speech in this country, except when Republicans are in office.
@16 Jerk the trigger and miss all the vital organs, like one of my neighbors did when he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide a few years ago. You’re supposed to gently squeeze the trigger so the gun barrel doesn’t move off the aiming point.
Hemingway knew how to do it. He put both barrels of a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun in his mouth and tripped both triggers simultaneously. With this method, there is no chance of failure. But, good God, what a mess he left for his wife to clean up. (Yes, she was in the house at the time.)
The house has become somewhat of a cause celebre in recent years. Sun Valley is a fancy resort town now, and expensive subdivisions have been built around it. The Hemingway house, which is currently owned by a historic preservation trust (and is not open for public tours), is nothing much. It’s a small, nondescript, aging tract home with 1960s decor that would be a prime target for redevelopment in almost any 21st century suburban neighborhood. Most of the upscale neighbors want it gone, because they consider it a blight and eyesore, and feel it drags down property values; pitted against them are a legion of Hemingway fans who want the writer’s last (but probably not most famous, and certainly not grandest) home preserved. In fact, most of the Hemingway properties are pretty dilapidated now, including the one in Cuba (which is probably the best known), except for Hemingway’s birthplace in Chicago which seems to be in pretty good condition. The Oak Park house, by the way, might make a good subject for a Bird’s Eye contest.
http://www.virtualbirdseye.com.....-eye-view/
The Seattle Times reports today that Stan Lippmann, a rightwing candidate for King County executive, was disbarred last year for financial misconduct.
This website http://www.meetup.com/stanforcounty-org/ details who Lippmann’s supporters are (26 Ron Paul fans), his campaign slogan (“Impeach Geithner”), and his platform:
Pay county debts with gold and silver coin;
Establish a county mint;
Encourage county residents to transact business in silver coin;
Market Seattle City Light equity; and
Stop mandatory vaccinations.
Makes you wonder what’s wrong with his 26 supporters, doesn’t it?
Roger Rabbit has posted 66% of the comments in this thread. Where are the trolls?
FedEx Lies In Anti-Union “Bailout” Ads
When Big Bidness flings around the phrase “government bailout,” watch out! And brace yourself for some anti-labor TV ads by FedEx that are full of lies.
According to Business Week, “Because FedEx was originally founded as an airline, FedEx Express workers are currently subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA), a law passed in 1926 to prevent disruptions to national air and train traffic. Though many FedEx Express workers don’t have a direct relationship with the operation or maintenance of [FedEx’s] air fleet, they are still covered by the RLA. That law carries a difficult path to unionization” that requires a national vote and doesn’t allow local organizing.
An amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which passed the House and is pending in the Senate, by Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) would put FedEx ground drivers under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act, same as UPS workers.
FedEx has responded by calling the amendment a “bailout” of UPS, even though no federal money is involved. Business Week described FedEx’s propaganda campaign, dubbed “Brown Bailout”:
“On Brownbailout.com, the FedEx campaign’s Web site, a man in front of a whiteboard describes ‘getting a government bailout’ in a manner similar to UPS’ ‘Brown’ marketing campaign. After stating that UPS is struggling to compete with FedEx … the man says, ‘So what do you do? Well, you could try to improve your own business … well, that’s hard work. Instead, how about slipping a few words into an important government bill that gets you a bailout?’ He uses his marker to turn the S in UPS into a dollar sign. ‘We’re doing it right now, but shhh … don’t tell anybody.'”
That’s just plain lying.
And it shows Big Business will do literally anything to defeat worker struggles for decent pay, working conditions, and the right to organize.
And FedEx’s explanation of their lying? Here’s what their spokesman said: “This effectively bails UPS out because they entered a bad labor agreement. They want Congress to fix a labor agreement they can’t afford.”
Give me a fucking break. That’s not a “government bailout.” FedEx hopes a gullible public will believe taxpayer money is being organize FedEx drivers into a union. That’s a fucking lie. Sheesh.
Whenever you hear Big Bidness talking about “government bailouts” be very, very skeptical about believing their representations, because it’s likely that what they’re saying is a blatant misrepresentation.
There’s a risk that Washington’s senators might vote against this pro-labor amendment because FedEx is holding Boeing plane orders hostage for its defeat. FedEx’s CEO has repeatedly said in recent speeches that the company’s orders for Boeing 777 cargo planes are contingent on the bill’s defeat. What’s he going to do if it passes, buy planes from Airbus? What an un-American piece of shit.
I’ll bet it won’t surprise you — it doesn’t surprise me — that FedEx’s anti-worker and anti-American CEO was a college buddy of George W. Bush.
@16
While I’m a non-gun guy these days, I’ve done plenty of shooting and hunting. It’s just bizarre to me that you could:
A) miss a point blank or near point blank shot
B) having missed the shot and wounded your dog not take a second shot and finish the dog off
C) do all this somewhere where there could be 12 people around to call the cops on you.
I hope they don’t plea-bargain the charges down to a misdemeanor, this guy should be nowhere near a firearm.
Michael @ 26: That’s what I was wondering about. Was the guy concerned about that a second bullet to put an end to the suffering was going to cost too much?
I’ve spent a lot of my life around people who farm, and I understand that to them the life of an animal is an economic factor, and sometimes you put an animal to death when it gets to be too much trouble or expense (yeah, I know PETA would have a heart attack over that comment). But to shoot it once, only wound it, and not bother to shoot it again, leaving it to suffer for hours or to be torn apart alive by coyotes or other animals? That’s just cold, and I don’t know anybody who would do that.
I don’t hunt (I target shoot instead). But I have a lot of friends who hunt, and everyone knows that you don’t take a shot unless you are sure it will immediatly drop the target, killing it in short order so it doesn’t suffer needlessly. If for some reason a hunter does manage to only wound a deer and it goes running away, you have to run after it until you catch it so you can put it out of it’s misery – which can be pretty hard to do (ever try to outrun a deer in forest terrain? It’s hard to do, but if you miss, that’s what you have to do).
As for Roger’s story about missing at close range – I knew a guy once who’s life got off track. He lost his job in the 1980’s rescession. Lost his home to foreclosure. His wife left him, saying she was too young to spend the rest of her life with a “loser”. So he got drunk one night and put a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Missed. Took out all the teeth on one side of his mouth, though, and some of his jaw. Of course, now he had more problems – lots of medical bills, no insurance, had to file bankruptcy. He admitted it was a pretty stupid thing to do. Last time I saw him he was doing okay, though – good job, new wife, a home, kids. He’s glad he missed.