You correctly note that several American presidents engaged in cockfighting, and some would argue that most presidential campaigns continue to come down to arguments about who has the most powerful cock (though some would argue that there is little evidence that the current occupant posesses a cock, much less would have any idea to do with one.)

Indeed, this practice was once such a part of the American fabric that the nickname for the athletic teams at the University of South Carolina still have the nickname the Gamecocks. This leads to the otherwise inexplicable popularity of that particular educational institution at other colleges and universities throughout the country, where coutless frat boys walk around wearing baseball caps with “Cocks” on the front.

Properly, the women’s teams ought to be called the “Gamehens,” but instead have taken the curious moniker “Lady Gamecocks.” My Spanish is a little rusty, but I believe that if this were to be translated into Aramis Ramierez’s native language, the result would be something like “women who play games with cocks,” which most men would agree would describe most of the women they have ever dated.

But I digress. As someone pointed out above, while this practice is cruel and barbaric, it is probably less so than the practice of factory farming chickens. Those poor birds spend their lives in the dark in sheds full of chicken droppings, (allegedly the most foul smelling substance on earth) being force fed before being electrocuted, plucked, gutted, and packaged. Right now, I am cooking up a very nice pot of chicken soup. My thanks to the poor cock who gave his life for it. The unfortunate creature likely went limp without having a chance to put up much of a fight.

I made an offhand comment about it on the message boards but if Americans want to get enraged about the treatment of animals, they should look at their industrial meat complex. Hypocrites.