Yeah, they taste like meat.
Posted on 07/31/2007 2:10:12 PM PDT by neverdem
Washington (CNSNews.com) - A woman with short hair and glasses stands on a chair in a small meeting room on the first floor of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. She's reading off the names of states and senators, directing dozens of people to meetings starting at 11 AM.
When she's through, most people listening leave to start their lobbying efforts. The rest converge on a table of food provided by the natural and organic grocery store Whole Foods.
Monday was the last day of the annual Taking Action for Animals Conference. After a weekend featuring speakers and group gatherings, this day is designated for lobbying.
"It's a very pragmatic and mainstream effort to encourage change in society to protect animals," said Nancy Perry, vice president of governmental affairs for the animal protection group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
Conference attendees lobbied on behalf of four bills in particular: The House Agricultural Appropriations Bill, a provision of which would attempt to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption; the Pet Safety and Protection Act, which would restrict the sourcing of dogs and cats used in laboratory research; the Dog and Cat Fur Prohibition Act, which would require all fur products to be labeled with the source of its fur; and the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act, which would stop the government from buying products derived from animals kept in inhumane conditions.
The HSUS has come under fire from conservative and industry groups as a "radical" animal rights organization, but Perry said the group's legislative agenda demonstrates its moderate credentials.
"These are just not radical ideas, they're mainstream ideas," she said. "It speaks volumes about where we are as an organization."
Perry and most of the groups represented at the conference went out of their way to distance themselves from extremist animal liberation groups that have resorted to violence to promote their cause.
Carole Baskin, director of two animal protection organizations, said extremists are making it more difficult for those wanting to help animals to work within the system.
"It is a challenge because when you have one bad person, you tend to all get painted with the same brush," she said. "That's like saying every Christian is a member of the KKK."
But National Animal Interest Alliance Director Patti Strand said the weekend's gathering in Washington is a prime example of a radical animal rights agenda. Strand's group is an animal welfare organization that works with industry groups and stands against what it considers extremism on both sides of the animal rights debate.
Strand said she considers the HSUS to be extremist.
"They wear business suits. They're articulate. They're fairly well-educated. They avoid the sort of in-your-face protests," said Strand. "So they're able to move the thinking, public opinion incrementally in the direction of radical change in some cases."
David Martosko, director of research at the food industry funded Center for Consumer Freedom, was even less flattering to those attending the conference.
"They're entitled to lobby just like everybody else" he said. "But we trust our elected representatives to recognize the tinfoil hat brigade when they see it."
Martosko said the legislative agenda being pushed by the HSUS is anything but mainstream. He considers there to be little difference between the controversial People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the HSUS as far as their end goals.
"When they use the word 'humane,' that's code for vegetarianism," said Martosko. "They're not lobbying against dog fighting up there. They're lobbying to do away with hog agriculture and to outlaw veal and foie gras ."
For their part, the conference attendees see public opinion shifting their way. Christopher Heyde of the animal welfare group the Society for Animal Protective Legislation said the conference and lobbying day are examples of the animal welfare movement's power.
"We've got 10 million supporters but our physical presence isn't as strong," said Heyde. "[This conference] helps make us a realistic political force."
See Earlier Stories:
Animal Rights Activists Have 'No Choice' but Violence, Spokesman Says (July 19, 2007)
Environmental Extremists Likely to Attack, Says NIE (July 19, 2007)
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This would have a much greater impact on the lives of animals if they were to target the largest perpetrator of the items they cite. Of course, if they were to do so, they may just get run over by a tank...
I’ve got lots of horses, and I love and respect the animal for what it is. I wouldn’t eat one unless that was all I had. Nonetheless, restricting horses from slaughter for people to consume is flatout stupid. There are a lot of horses that, for various reasons, are worthless except as food animals. Restricitng that will simply depress the horse market as it gets flooded with worthless horses, and will guarantee the release of many horses into the woods in rural areas to survive as best they can.
Unless these faux do gooders agree to take in, and keep all of the horses that otherwise would go to slaughter, the bill should die.
By the way, O thought that this bill had passed a couple of months ago.
Darnit, stole my post!
It is simply good husbandry to care for the animals in your charge in the most humane manner consistent with their particular natures. You would romp in your yard with a dog, but not, perhaps with a gorilla or a tiger.
Some animals, by their very nature, must be kept restrained while in captivity. Others may be released to a controlled environment, but still not in proximity with human beings, because they cannot help what they are.
Gratuitous application of violence to a beast is outside the definition we have for ourselves as human beings. There are situations where the creature is in such serious straits, that the direct taking of its life by the least brutal means possible is justified. If the creature is to be slaughtered for food purposes, then that should be by the most merciful means available - quick and with a minimum of agony on the part of the animal.
Likewise in the care and feeding of the creature. If the beast is uncomfortable, or in filthy conditions, or is not being fed or watered adequately, then obviously the person tending that beast is remiss in his (or her) duties. Remember that a domesticated animal is almost TOTALLY dependent on the good judgment of the person in charge of their general welfare, and abuse of that trust is clearly subject to reproach from other human beings. That this sort of crime would be concealed, makes it no less of a crime.
Yeah, they taste like meat.
This is bull$hit. HSUS is not radical as compared to PETA and eco terrorists.
I am in favor of some things they are for and some of them I am not.
And the guy is just wrong that “humane” is code word for vegetarianism. It may be with some people, but not anyone I know of working or volunteering in the animal shelters I volunteer at. When we go out to eat, we’re eating burgers and chicken. Even the guys who lead animal resuce groups I know eat meat. Humane and vegetarianism are never mentioned in the same sentence with the people I know in these organizations.
Excellent pic. Who knew, Manson was a vegetarian!
“If the beast is uncomfortable, or in filthy conditions, or is not being fed or watered adequately”....
You gotta watch how you say things like this. They’d nail you because the way they make veal violates two of your conditions here - uncomfortably small pens, often in less than clean conditions. Any animal in a large factory farm setting has a chance of being in smaller, uncomfortable spaces. those terms are more subjective and broad. gives people wiggle room to use your own words against you.
http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136
HSUS is big, rich, and powerful, a “humane society” in name only. And while most local animal shelters are under-funded and unsung, HSUS has accumulated $113 million in assets and built a recognizable brand by capitalizing on the confusion its very name provokes. This misdirection results in an irony of which most animal lovers are unaware: HSUS raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every single state, with money to spare, yet it doesn’t operate a single one anywhere.
Instead, HSUS spends millions on programs that seek to economically cripple meat and dairy producers; eliminate the use of animals in biomedical research labs; phase out pet breeding, zoos, and circus animal acts; and demonize hunters as crazed lunatics. HSUS spends $2 million each year on travel expenses alone, just keeping its multi-national agenda going.
They are in the same vein as PETA. They are an animal rights group, not an animal welfare group. The difference is huge and important to note.
susie
OK People listen up. You’re right about the misdirection of HSUS. But I was indirectly involved in the rescue of about 20 dogs from a puppy mill. These dogs were filthy, matted and malnourished. They had sway backs from carrying so many litters. A couple had end stage heartworm and a couple had mammary cancer. These dogs are hard to socialize because they get no contact and they have chronic foot problems from walking on wire their whole lives.
I DON’T CARE how many kooks might be part of this, at least they are trying to do something. GET ON BOARD. I know of workers in animal control in small towns who are desperate for assistance. Places where they euthanize more than 90% of the animals because even if they could adopt them ar put them in foster homes they have no funds to vet them.
Cut the funny and help. That purposed bill in California is no joke. They euthanize over 500,000 animals every year. And this doesn’t even address all the horses that were let loose and are starving.
"Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA, aptly explains in his book Guns, Freedom and Terrorism that 'PETA has quietly succeeded in achieving a bloodless internal takeover of HSUS.'"
HSUS is not affiliated with your local Humane Society.
Would you PLEASE, PLEASE put me on your ping lists? I keep coming across articles you post, completely by accident, and want to read more.
Pretty Please?
I will read up on the links you provided and do a little digging on my own. Thanks for the info.
Okay, ya’ll help me lean on neverdem to put me on his/her ping list. This freeper posts some threads I can’t miss.
A must read ping.
http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/curric.htm
(snip...more at link)
HSUS
The Humane Society of the US with its 1.5 million members calls itself the nation’s largest animal protection organization. Few people know that the HSUS animal protection philosophy is not animal welfare but an animal rights philosophy that says it is morally wrong for humans to use or kill animals and that they have been guided by that philosophy since 1980.2
Furthermore, HSUS has set as its goal the abolition of animals in laboratory research and education.3,4,5 In recent years, HSUS elected to call themselves ‘animal protectionists’ to disassociate their group from the bad press that the Animal Liberation Front and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have brought to the animal rights movement. HSUS shares the same animal rights philosophy and goal of abolishing the use of animals in laboratory research as militant animal rights groups, but they differ in tactics and timetable for reaching that goal. Their tactic is to slowly but progressively wean society away from using animals.
In order to avoid the extremist label HSUS has deliberately sought to project a ‘moderate’ image and hide the animal rights message under animal protectionism and the guise of humane and environmental education. Many of the HSUS projects are laudable and could be described as animal welfare. They work very hard to keep that image. Corporate donations and the respect of the education community are dependant on that image. However, their hidden agenda is to get people to give animals the same respect they give humans. What better method to accomplish a change in societal values than by incorporating it into a nationwide elementary school curriculum on humane and environmental education?
NAHEE
Is HSUS a Trojan Horse being covertly carried into the citadel of elementary education?6
HSUS has endeavored to establish itself as The Authority in humane and environmental education. Indeed, the organization has won several awards for KIND News; has had the Adopt-a-Teacher program placed in the 1992 Environmental Success Index; and had a field representatives appointed to the prestigious National Environmental Education Advisory Council of the Environmental Protection Agency.
To help establish this reputation, HSUS created the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education, a separate youth education division. NAHEE had a 1992 budget of $940,000 and 14 full-time staff , an increase of 31 percent over the 1991 budget. The goals for NAHEE were articulated in the 1992 HSUS annual report: “ ... NAHEE strives to ensure that humane attitudes become a viable part of mainstream education and environmental perspectives. ... NAHEE continues to monitor and evaluate new children’s books, children’s magazines, and newspapers as well as all major elementary and secondary teaching magazines and newspapers to encourage the promotion of humane values in publications other than our own.”7
Indeed, NAHEE has been successful in influencing other publications as evidenced by a series of three grossly misleading articles biased against using animals in medical research which appeared in the nine-million circulation Weekly Reader and its companion for middle schools Current Science.6 NAHEE’s influence even extends beyond the USA as they have sent their educational materials to 13 foreign countries.
It is clear that HSUS has been acknowledged as The Authority and is being warmly welcomed through the educational gates of Troy by unsuspecting teachers and administrators who thought they weregetting ‘humane and environmental education’ but ended up with those elements mixed with a subtle animal rights message that says it is wrong for humans to kill, capture, or use animals for any reason. It is a message that elevates respect for animals to the same plane as respect for humans. This is a brilliant tactic as respect and consideration for animals is a hallmark of animal welfare. HSUS has reduced the difference between animal rights and animal welfare to the degree of respect and consideration given animals, thus blurring the difference between the two.
KIND News, KIND Teacher
NAHEE’s primary effort is directed at publishing and distributing a classroom newspaper covering laudable humane and environmental themes laced with a heavy dose of respect for animals, endangered species, and an emphasis on not harming animals.
Kids In Nature’s Defense (KIND News) is published at three reading levels for children in grades one through six and is read by more than 600,000 children in 20,000 classrooms nationwide. KIND News does not cover controversial animal rights issues. However, the accompanying teachers’ guide (KIND Teacher) brings up animal rights issues without identifying them as such. KIND Teacher indoctrinates children by having the teacher lead discussions on the use of animals in dissection, the use of wild animals in laboratory research, the use of animals in product safety testing, the keeping of wild animals in zoos and circuses, the capture and sale of wild birds, hunting, trapping, and rodeos.8 KIND Teacher also promotes the students to form KIND Clubs and engage in club projects. The nature of the project and the agenda is determined by the club and club president. Given the HSUS emotional and strongly–held position on these issues, can we expect a balanced presentation?
HSUS Student Action Guide
The HSUS Student Action Guide, NAHEE’s newspaper for middle and secondary students, is more direct as it openly seeks to promote activism by forming Earth-Animal Protection Clubs. These clubs target a number of animal rights issues, including laboratory animal research, product safety testing, dissection, animals in science fairs, zoos, animals in entertainment, hunting, trapping, and dolphin-safe tuna. The students are referred to HSUS to obtain specific misleading materials on these issues as well as animal research and so-called alternatives to animal research.
California’s environmental education
Given this background, I was concerned when I learned through the 1992 HSUS annual report that “Materials published by NAHEE such as ‘Sharing Sam’ and lessons from KIND Teacher had been incorporated into A Child’s Place in the Environment, California’s new environmental education curriculum guide. The guide promises to have a substantial impact since one out of nine children in the US attends schools in California. In addition, the guide will inevitably serve as a model nationwide.”
NAHEE and animal rights in California’s school curriculum
In 1993, I obtained a late stage draft of the first grade edition of the guide Respecting Living Things from the California Board of Education. Fortunately, the guide had not been finalized and was still in draft form. I was surprised to find that three out of the nine guide reviewers were affiliated with NAHEE and one NAHEE field representative was on the guide committee.
The guide had a pronounced animal rights bias as half the recommended resources at the end of several units were animal rights books such as The Animal Rights Handbook: 67 Ways to Save the Animals by Anna Sequoia and Animal Rights International, The Animals’ Agenda, and Going Green, A Kid’s Handbook to Saving the Planet. These resources contained grossly misleading and dishonest presentations of how animals are used by humans and in some cases gory pictures of animals that are totally inappropriate for first graders. Furthermore, more than half the resources listed as “organizations concerned with humane treatment of animals” turned out to be animal rights organizations such as HSUS, NAHEE, the Fund for Animals, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Animal Protection Institute of America. The guide also suggested additional names of humane organizations listed in the book 67 Ways to Save the Animals. There were 77 organizations listed in the book and all 77 were identified by the author as ‘animal rights organizations.’
Respect = sacred reverence for animals
A common theme that ran through the unit on Respecting Living Things was that animals were anthropomorphized and respected to the point that they were elevated to the same plane as humans. Animals were held in such reverence that they were equal to humans. Another theme that was repeated many times was that out of respect for animals, they should not be captured and taken into the classroom for study. The theme “Look, Learn, and Leave Alone” was inviolate. It was even stressed in the teacher preparation section not to capture animals (including insects) for classroom study.
The source of these themes is hard to determine. Were they placed there by the guide’s author? How much influence did NAHEE have on the author or this curriculum? It is interesting to note that Are You A Good Kind Lion, the one poem that NAHEE contributed, contained a line that is the heart of the animal rights message: “Don’t hurt the animals for any reason.” Would that message tell first graders that it is morally wrong to eat animals?
Balance
Working with the California Biomedical Research Association, we took our concerns to the California State Board of Education. We were successful in deleting all the animal rights organizations and books as resources prior to the guide’s publication in 1994. We were also successful in deleting the NAHEE poem “Are You A Good Kind Lion.” Furthermore, the prohibition against capturing animals for classroom examination was replaced with a discussion on the proper methods of capturing and caring for animals.
Although our partial success was heartening, this episode graphically illustrates how close animal rights activists came to having their philosophy accepted as part of the nation’s largest and most influential humane and environmental education curricula. The educational community needs to be alerted to the hidden agenda of “animal protection” organizations. Local humane societies, APHE, and animal rights in schools.
Another source of concern is the local humane societies that have been hijacked and taken over by animal rights activists. They have also developed educational curricula with animal rights propaganda and have been taking it into the schools for many years.
The Association of Professional Humane Educators (formerly known as the Western Humane and Environmental Educators’ Association), a group that is often affiliated with HSUS and NAHEE, is comprised of education officials from at least 21 western humane societies and SPCAs, most of them located in California.
APHE provides a framework for these educators to network and share classroom material on animal rights along with humane and environmental themes. For example, on March 15-16, 1994, APHE (then known as WHEEA) held its annual meeting in San Diego, California. The keynote speaker was Kim Sturla of the Fund for Animals, a national animal rights organization. Two HSUS representatives were in attendance to promote KIND News and Adopt-a-Teacher programs.
The Packrat, the APHE Newsletter, is a bulletin board for animal rights educational material from a large number of animal rights groups such as the American Anti-Vivisection Society, Animals’ Agenda, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Rights Information Service, Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, Fund for Animals, HSUS, Last Chance for Animals, NAHEE, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PeTA Teachers Network, Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the United Coalition of Iditarod Animal Rights Volunteers.
Most humane societies have one or more education officers who go to schools and teach children about proper pet care, humane treatment of animals, endangered species, and environmentalism. Because most teachers perceive the local humane society to be an animal welfare organization, they are welcomed by the schools. APHE members take advantage of this relationship to introduce an animal rights message along with their regular presentations. For example, the Peninsula Humane Society of San Mateo, California, publishes an informative unit on endangered species. However, at the end of the unit, they urge students to read animal rights books, join animal rights organizations, write politicians about animal rights issues, sign petitions about animal rights issues, boycott specific companies that do product safety testing on animals, and boycott products made from animal skins, fur, or other parts. They also provide grossly misleading information on animal research.
Animal rights and New Age religion
If the Catholic Church had set out to indoctrinate public school children with a new moral system imbedded in a humane and environmental curriculum, there would have been a huge outcry and controversy. A religious cult is indoctrinating public school children, but there is little outcry or controversy because the religious overtones and the value system have been masked. The religion is called New Age; the value system is animal rights.
Thomas Berry, an ‘ecotheologian’ and the ‘spiritual guide’ for the HSUS Center for Respect of Life and the Environment, was one of several of the speakers at the HSUS 1992 annual meeting who focused on New Age themes of total reverence and respect for animals and the environment because the spirit of God was in the whole universe equally.
Although totally open about the spiritual and religious aspects of their movement in the annual meeting, HSUS is careful not to present its KIND News as part of a religious movement. In his book What Are They Trying to Do to Us? The Truth about the Animal Rights Movement and the New Age, Bernard Palmer illustrated that the animal rights movement takes on the fundamental tenets of the New Age religion. Furthermore, Rod and Patti Strand make a similar observation about the religious nature of animal rights in their book The Hijacking of the Humane Movement. Both books make the case that the energy that propels the movement is the faithful volunteers spreading the gospel of respect and sacred reverence for animals.
What can you do? Get involved!
* Give a copy of this article to your friends.
* See if your school subscribes to KIND News and check your school’s curriculum on humane and environmental education.
* Find out if local humane societies are invited to give presentations and if these presentations contain animal rights propaganda.
* Ask to see the material and teachers guides.
* Alert your child’s teachers, administrators, and school board about animal rights messages hidden in humane and environmental curriculum.
* Volunteer at your local school.
* If animals rights is discussed, make sure that a balanced discussion of the issue is presented.
* Check the school library for books presenting both viewpoints.
* Encourage your professional society, institution, or employer to support education programs that present the use of animals by society in a balanced manner. (The Massachusetts Society for Medical Research has produced such a program entitled People and Animals: United for Health Teaching Curriculum. Contact MSMR at www.msmr.org, msmr@att.net, or (978) 251-1556 (phone) or (978) 251-7683 (fax).
For More Information
* “Targeting children shouldn’t be tolerated” by Denny Bannister
* Where do values about animals lie for fourth graders? by Phil Clifford
References
1. Morrison, Adrian R.; Biomedical Research and the Animal Rights Movement: A Contrast in Values, The American Biology Teacher, Volume 55, No. 4, P 204-208, 1993.
2. HSUS A Discussion ... Rights for Animals, HSUS pamphlet 1990.
3. Stephens, Martin L.; Alternatives to Current Uses of Animals in Research, Safety Testing, and Education: A Layman’s Guide. Published by HSUS, 1986.
4. Hoyt, John A.; Animals: It’s Their World Too, report of the president 1990, HSUS annual meeting, October 27, 1990.
5. Welborn, Robert F.; The Potential for the Institutional Animal Committee, HSUS News, Spring 1992.
6. Cleveland, Patrick H.; CFAAR/San Diego Special Report, December 9, 1992.
7. HSUS Annual Report, 1992
8. KIND Teacher, page 51 and 53, September 1991.
post 20
bump
Send him some mail ?
Well, the HSUS raises about $200 million annually, and PETA, and dozens of other AR organizations raise millions. Local shelters depend on local donations.
Why aren’t these mega organizations helping local shelters financially (they don’t)? Giving some token money for spay/neuter/shelter/food? That’s the point here.
Why are 90 percent of these animals euthanized in local shelters when all these very wealthy organizations (the ones that raise money to address these problems)spend their money on outrageous salaries, and lobbying fees to end animal research (the majority of which is on mice), agricultural businesses, and a host of other things that are contrary to what is best for animals and humans?
THAT’S the point — why are people who sending money to these organizations when they could send the same check to the LOCAL shelter, which actually is on the front lines, saving animals from suffering.
Pretty Please?
Thanks for the compliment. I started with a health & science list. I also have a NY list and one for what I believe are noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. I don't ping for all the articles I post except the health & science and NY stories. The folks on either of the first two lists do get pinged for those noteworthy articles on politics, foreign and military affairs.
I have smaller lists for microbiology and stem cell stories that health & science folks also get. I have small lists for neighboring states of NY. I post a lot using the keyword banglist, but I don't necessarily ping folks for them unless there's something unusual about them.
Let me know your interests. Health & science has the most bases covered, so for now I'll add you to that. Adios
Thanks for replying.
And thanks for adding me to the health and science lists. That covers a lot of things I am interested in.
I have read several of your threads lately that are must read topics for me, so I am sure I will, from this day forward, get even LESS work done because I’ll be hanging out on FR learning. But that is why I love this forum.
My housework and yardwork suffers, but I am so grateful to have the knowledge I gain from other freepers.
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