I am not an admin, but I oppose permanent ban.
I feel that people are baiting Blackwood about as much as he's being an idiot (just look at replies to him in Recent Posts), and this isn't okay. That doesn't make them responsible for his behavior, but it still doesn't set a good pattern. Yes, he 'started it' each time, but this isn't grade school.
Many members of our community feel it's a better idea to ostracize or push someone hard until they do something worthy of a ban, rather than try to help them be less of a blithering idiot. Blackwood's treatment has fallen firmly into the former camp. I feel permabanning Blackwood at precisely this point will encourage this behavior.
This is mostly not about Blackwood, who is every bit as irritating as indicated here. It's about the community at large.
I say upgrade the ban to a week, tell him to reevaluate his behavior. If he freaks out, permaban him. If he comes back and still acts incredibly irritating, permaban him. This isn't letting him off. It's a perfectly reasonable course of action to take under the circumstances.
And by the way, keep in mind the number of useful members we have today who started off pretty stupid. This group includes multiple members of staff. Consider this before you decide to upgrade this ban to permanent without giving this user - or others like him - at least one second chance.
EDIT: From staff chat-
[15:26] TroyL RE: Blackwood- Give him a week.