A dog's life for some ...

Some things are best left unsaid.

At a time when the conservative commentariat are slavering about the need for the poor to fork over seven bucks a GP visit to fund medical research, and yowling at the need for the young to live for six months without any assistance whatsoever, as punishment for their derelict ways, and those who lived through the age of entitlement now gnaw at the bone, and demand students to pay unseemly amounts of cash plus interest for an education, it was too much information to read the Bolter getting all sentimental over a dog.

Well actually a bit more than sentimental. Hundreds at first, then nearly $5,000 and then thousands more ...

Lucky dog, and you can read the rest of A dogged loyalty is for richer or poorer to understand that the Bolter really has no understanding what it's like to be poor, or to break open a can of dog food to get by in the lucky country.

It reminded the pond of the way Hitler had a favourite precious dog, Blondi. It didn't end well:

Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Heinrich Himmler's SS. To verify the capsules' potency, Hitler ordered Dr. Werner Haase to test them on his dog Blondi, and the dog died as a result. Hitler became completely inconsolable.

But the larger point applies, and it was part of the National Socialist devotion to animals and animal protection laws.

Remarkably, as soon as the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, they began to enact scores of animal protection laws, some of which are still operative in Germany. (See here for the 1933 legislation.) For example, in Nazi Germany, people who mistreated their pets could be sentenced to two years in jail. The Nazis banned the production of foie gras and docking the ears and tails of dogs without anesthesia, and they severely restricted invasive animal research. The Nazi Party established the first laws insuring that animal used in films were not mistreated and also mandated humane slaughter procedures for food animals and for the euthanasia of terminally ill pets. (The Nazis were particularly concerned with the suffering of lobsters in restaurants). In addition, the German government established nature preserves, a school curriculum for the humane treatment of animals, and they hosted one of the first international conferences on animal protection. (and a lot more at Psychology Today here)

It's a peculiarity and a contradiction, as explored in an article currently behind a paywall here.

Hard men can find all sorts of objects on which they can lavish a sentimental and emotional outpouring, without fear of contradiction or condemnation, but the safest of all are mute and pleading animals. (It used to be women before the uppity things decided they could live without that sort of suffocating sentimentality).

Naturally if you do a Greg Hunt you can find material on Hitler and vegetarianism here, and more on animal welfare here.

Now it's not for the pond to understand or reconcile these diverging strands. The one thing the pond has learned in life is never to stand between someone and their pet, even if the bloody thing just bit you.

After all, if you've got the money you can spend it on anything you like ... heck, you can even save taxpayers' money while playing Van Morrison:

If you haven't got the money, why then it's your duty to go to hell, or at least go fruit picking ...

But let's do a segue, because it was actually this piece in news.com.au that made the pond think of the Bolter:

Despite the pond's repeated demands that News Corp not mention climate science - ssssh - it turns out that there is one online area of the company that is willing to drag it into view, as you can read in Records melt across country as capitals experience weeks of unseasonably warm weather.

Worse, the heretics even dare to drag in an actual climate scientist:

Climate Change Research Centre research fellow Sarah Perkins said Sydney was experiencing its longest heatwave on record. 
People usually associate heatwaves with summer, but if you use the definition that a heatwave is about higher temperatures relative to the averages for that time of year, the warm spell Sydney is experiencing smashes previous records. 
Sydney has had nine days above the “extreme threshold” of average temperatures for May. The next longest heatwave was over four days in January of 1910. 
Dr Perkins said climate scientists were seeing more of these unseasonably warm spells. 
“From a climate science perspective, unfortunately, it’s no surprise,” she said. “I can understand why people are enjoying the warm weather — it’s lovely — but if I put my climate scientist hat on it’s a little bit scary. 
“It is pleasant, but we have to remember these types of extreme events have adverse impacts that aren’t really felt until three or four months down the track.” 
These include drier soil, which is damaging to crops, and higher fuel loads, which can add to bushfire risk.

It's shocking stuff.

No, that that the planet's fukt, that's not news, it's that any part of News Corp would dare to drag climate science into a weather report.

And worst of all, it's happened at a time when the world's leading climate scientist is clearly distracted by his dog.

Happily a Bolter comment drew together the righteous anger at bludgers and at greenies:

Greens are toxic - they are the ones who enjoy Australia’s prosperity due to hard working business people and yet they think all business people as enemies. Greens’ aim is: Let’s all be poor - then they will shut up. Labor is not much different from the Greens - they just hate business people too - unnecessary class war, just distribution of wealth rather than increase of wealth and creation of jobs - jobs that have created so far is just many government organisations, or government related/affiliated organisations - nothing to do with business, production ... etc ; except only to help the lazy marginalised people - it does not help them, either in the end - only spoil them and make their abilities eroded as time goes by. Just object for the objection purpose, no alternative policies at all. Please be honest and grow up.

Yes, never mind the incoherence, damn them and their indolent, spoiled ways. Next thing you know they'll be jibber jabbering about animal welfare.

And now news.com.au, prepare to experience the wrath of the world's leading climate scientist!

Happily Cathy Wilcox has proposed a solution, which might also fix the Bolter's dog (and more Wilcox here):