i love the south

Recently, a "major cockfighting ring" was busted in Del Rio, in Cocke County, a few Tennessee counties east of where I live.

The FBI really came down hard on these folks in this tiny community, who have apparently been engaged in the activity for generations. It's been big news here.

Today, the Knoxville News Sentinel ran pro and con cockfighting editorials on the Sunday op-ed page.

I am not making this up.

You can read them RIGHT HERE

As I said over at SKB's blog, I'm not going to "defend" cockfighting, but I do think anyone who eats the chicken, beef or pork they buy at the local grocery or Ruby Tuesday doesn't have much moral leverage in arguing against the activity, given that the animals we eat every day are raised and slaughtered on unbelievably inhumane, cruel factory farming operations.

And of course, at least half of the detergents and moisturizers and shampoos we use every day are tested on poor little bunnies.

So for folks to get all worked up over cockfighting on a Saturday night in Del Rio, Tennessee seems a bit absurd to me.

I can't imagine how many tens of thousands of dollars were spent by local, state and federal law enforcement on busting up and prosecuting these folks. I'll bet that money could have been used quite profitably to buy shoes or food or housing or medical insurance for the families in that really, really poor area of Appalachia instead of hauling them down to Knoxville to face cockfighting charges.

Back to the Sunday paper...