Coco is quite the socializer these days, and she has a new friend, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named "Grendel." Grendel is so big that he makes Coco look like a little dog. Which is good for Coco, as she likes to have an opportunity for unlimited, no-holds-barred, canine roughhousing. Not fighting, just rough play. Coco will get along with almost any dog, but she always has to hold back with dogs her size or smaller, lest she hurt them.

Anyway, as Rhodesian Ridgebacks were bred to hunt lions, Grendel is the perfect playmate for Coco in her unleashed, uninhibited state.

I tried to take pictures, but because the dogs were never still and it was late in the day, they're blurry like this.

I tried to shoot some video, but I had trouble following them with the camera:

I really ought to be writing about politics, though. All over the country, there are elections coming up, which are being called the Deathly Midterms.

Like many libertarians, I worry about some of the candidates who claim the mantle of the Tea Party. My worries are twofold; on the one hand, I worry that they're not libertarians but social conservatives who might want to use the government in extra-constitutional manners, and I also worry that they might be too kooky to win.

I am not alone. More properly, I am not a lone nut.

Tunku Varadarajan has one of the most thoughtful analyses I have seen on this issue:

It's easy for a libertarian to wish for all-around Republican victories in the midterms. What's more delicate is supporting political aberrations like Angle, Paladino, and O'Donnell.

He reminded me that if you're a libertarian, you can end up feeling schizophrenic:

Do we back candidates like Carl Paladino and Christine O'Donnell--people we wouldn't ask home to dinner, except in a Dinner for Schmucks sense? Put another way: Is our thirst for a resounding defeat for the statist Democrats so great that some of us would be prepared to swallow a mouthful of "Paladonnell" rotgut along with the premier cru of a GOP victory in the House, the Senate, and elsewhere?

Personally, I would love to see Paladino and O'Donnell lose, since they've distracted attention from the small-government message by adding in their own social conservatism and cultural weirdness. Republican primary voters need to be reminded to be more grownup, and practical. But there are, of course, many libertarians who would tend to think that anything is better--yes, even Paladino and O'Donnell--than Democrats endorsed by public-employee unions.

My other libertarian wish this election is to see the mainstream media thoroughly miserable with the results. I've never been so appalled at the MSM as in reading their hysterically biased coverage of the Tea Party, and of libertarians like the Koch brothers. The MSM is so threatened by any challenge to its closed, statist mind-set that it is ever ready to demonize dissenters.

This time, with any luck, we'll all get to demonize the demonizers.

What should libertarians want from the 2010 elections?

Back to Coco. One of the reasons she is so normally inhibited is because I constantly worry about that awful pit bull stereotype. Sure, there have been horrifying incidents involving pit bulls (even though they're very few in proportion to the number of pit bulls), and for decades there has been a relentless campaign of MSM demonization of the breed. This causes people to freak out at the sight of a "pit bull" -- causing adrenaline levels to go up all around. So if I'm walking Coco and someone is walking a dog or a child and they start freaking out, then I start freaking out and Coco picks up on my freaking out and their freaking out, and it's a testament to her good nature that she doesn't freak out. All that demonization takes its toll on my nerves, and I would love to be able to strike back. But how? I can't unleash myself and go charging a dog that was bred to hunt lions. Fortunately, Coco can. And fortunately, her friend is as nutty as she is, so there's no problem. It takes a nut to charge a lion. And it takes a nut to charge a lion hunter. However, had a lion appeared on the scene yesterday (extremely unlikely, although possible), I suspect that Coco and Grendel would have quickly united around a new common goal.

There are plenty of nuts on the right who libertarians think are nuts, and plenty of libertarians who think those who think libertarians are nuts are nuts. And there are plenty more people on the left who think that not only are the former and the latter both nuts, but they are nuts who should be demonized.

Demonized nuts need to stick together. It's the old hang-together-or-hang-separately principle.

And while I don't know how much of a coincidence it is, there is actually a growing campaign to demonize Rhodesian Ridgebacks and target them for restrictions or bans.

Yes, Rhodesian Ridgebacks! I have to say it was a shock to learn about this, but I suppose that any dog which offers protection against invaders (which is also what Ridgebacks were bred for) will be targeted for elimination by those whose bureaucratic powers include the power to invade people's homes. (Large and powerful dogs are akin to weaponry, and we know how the ruling class feels about guns, weapons, and other forms of citizen self defense.)

For years I have complained about breed specific legislation, and I have warned people till I'm blue in the face that once the principle of banning dogs becomes a done deal with one breed, bans on other breed can quickly follow, as the demonizers need only to update their lists. Internationally, various laws have been enacted against the Rhodesian Ridgeback -- in the Bahamas, in Ireland, and in Bermuda. And in Canada, at least one group has already formed to fight proposed laws there:

You NEED to know that various jurisdictions in Canada have either enacted breed specific legislation (BSL) or are proposing enacting legislation that SPECIFICALLY names Rhodesian Ridgebacks as a restricted breed. More information about a recent case of BSL legislation in Newell County, Alberta will be posted in the future.

The Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Canada has formed a committee whose sole purpose is to fight BSL across Canada.

Once they have a list of nuts, more nuts will be added.

A Pitbull is a Ridgeback is a libertarian is a bible-clinging gun nut....