The Average Man

Thursday, October 11, 2007

I DON'T LIKE GUNS, BUT...

So, I was enjoying my morning coffee the other day, when one of my right wing co-workers sent me this link about an incident in Colorado. He then smugly said something to this effect:

See what your liberal friends are doing.

Basically, the article is about a guy who shot a mountain lion because it had the man's dog in its mouth. The story then goes on to say that some wildlife advocates are irate. One such crazy wildlife advocate named Wendy (hmmm) was quoted as saying the following:

I think the state should throw the book at him.

My co-worker, of course, thought that I would come to the defense of the mountain lion. But I'm a dog owner, and I have no problem saying that I would do anything to protect my animal. Thus, it was with much pleasure that I shot back:

Good for him. I would have done the same thing. See, all us liberals don't think alike.

Case closed, right? Well, no ... later that day I had lunch with a couple left leaning buddies of mine, and we discussed the issue. But to my dismay and horror, they both -- without so much as blinking -- said that they would probably have obeyed the law and let the mountain lion drag off Rover.

What!? I almost fell off my chair and spit out my sandwich. So, I had to spend the next hour explaining to them what dogs have given to us over the years, that (even in nature) you protect your own, that some laws are worth breaking, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, they eventually conceded that the mountain lion should go, but I suspect they were just trying to shut me up.

To me, this was an easy call. But it seems that maybe I'm in the minority. So, who should survive ... Rover or the mountain lion?

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9 Comments:

At 8:32 AM, Blogger Vigilante said...

Trekker, it seems like I'm having this conversation five times a day: I'll give you the outline:

It's the difference between Progressives and Liberals. Liberals are universally tolerant, open-minded, accepting, etc. Progressives are reality based, but strategic thinking, ever-mindful of priorities. Progressives love mountain lions (I do) but not with Fido in its mouth. (I would have shot the mother-freaking cat without a thought.)

I could go on with this theme, but I'm going to have to say more on this subject in 90 minutes or so, so why bother you about it?

 
At 11:44 AM, Blogger M.C. Confrontation said...

you gotta take down the cat.

that was an easy one, and i dont think theres anything partisan about it. if you own a dog, chances are you love that dog, and you'd take out a bald eagle if he was going to swoop down and take little foo-foo up in its talons.

 
At 2:00 PM, Blogger Trekking Left said...

Count so far ...

Mountain Lion: 2
Rover: 3

Although, to be fair, my buddy at work just clarified that he would probably have shot the mountain lion on instinct but thinks the law should remain that pets don't count as "self defense" in this situation.

 
At 2:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would have probably aimed at the cat and hit the dog by mistake. My aim isn't what it used to be.

 
At 5:51 PM, Blogger Trekking Left said...

New count ...

Mountain Lion: 2
Rover: 3
Bald Eagle: 0
Aiming for lion but hitting dog: hmmm, we'll call that 1 for Rover

New twist on the debate: Should the law be changed so that shooting an endangered animal is okay if you are protecting your pet and it is on your property?

 
At 7:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Should the law be changed so that shooting an endangered animal is okay if you are protecting your pet and it is on your property?

We don't need no steenking laws. If it were me, and I had a dog I cared about, and I managed to actually kill the cat, I can tell you what would happen next. Said cat would get buried quickly, deeply, and without fanfare. Cat? What cat?

 
At 9:34 AM, Blogger M.C. Confrontation said...

Played golf at the River course on Saturday morning, and a freaking bald eagle swooped down over our heads and flew around on some updrafts around us for awhile. It was unmistakably a bald eagle, with about a four foot wingspan. I never saw anything like it.

 
At 3:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

mcconfrontation, did it look like [this]?

 
At 7:17 AM, Blogger M.C. Confrontation said...

Nope. It had an all dark body with a white head and white tail. He swooped down pretty close to us, maybe 40 feet away, before heading back up onto the drafts. This bird was HUGE, the biggest I've ever seen.

 

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