Perhaps we should take them out to dinner and buy them gifts, too

Now that Louisiana is the last state to permit cockfighting, an activity our governor once called a "rich cultural tradition," Louisiana house speaker Joe R. Salter says he will finally vote for a ban on the activity, but only if the "industry" is given a few years to "adjust."

It's bad enough when, on those rare occasions a cruel factory farming procedure is shut down and the industry has to be given years to adjust. But in the case of cockfighting, do we really need to cater to the "industry"?

Last year, there were plenty of votes to ban cockfighting, but instead of placing the law in the judiciary committee where it belonged, it was given to the agricultural committee, where it was sure to die, which it did. This year, the governor, in the briefest of statements, has announced that she, too, supports the ban.

Poor state Nick Gautreaux. "It’s a way of life in our area," he explained with tears in his eyes. Cockfighting, according to Gautreaux, could "lead a young man away from a life of crime and degeneracy and toward a more productive existence." I'm not making this up. This idiot, an elected official in Louisiana, believes that intensive cruelty to animals can prevent crime.