Posted on 11/29/2011 4:55:10 PM PST by SJackson
Horse slaughter plants are legal again in the United States. Restrictions on horse meat processing for human consumption have been lifted.
In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives and the United States Senate approved the Conference Committee report on spending bill H2112, which among other things, funds the United States Department of Agriculture. On November 18th, as the country was celebrating Thanksgiving, President Obama signed a law, allowing Americans to kill and eat horses. Essentially, one turkey was pardoned in the presence of worldwide media while in the shadows, buried under pages of fiscal regulation, millions of horses were sentenced to death.
Horse slaughter has been prohibited in the United States as funding for inspections of horses in transit and at slaughter houses was non-existent. This worked because the horse meat cannot be sold for human consumption without such inspections. The House version of the bill retained the de-funding language and the Senate version did not. The conference committee charged with reconciling the two opted to not include it. The result is that it is now legal to slaughter horses for humans to eat.
Notwithstanding that 70% of Americans oppose horse slaughter, that President Obama made a campaign promise to permanently ban horse slaughter and exports of horses for human consumption (horses can be sent to Mexico and Canada), that documentation of animal cruelty, slaughterhouse stench, fluid runoff and negative community impact exists, it is taxpayers that will bear the costs!
Wyoming state representative Sue Wallis and her pro-slaughter group estimate that between 120,000 and 200,000 horses will be killed for human consumption per year and that Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri, are considering opening slaughter plants.
During these trying times, is the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that Americans need to eat horses?
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Hard to find a reason to say no.
Yes, I agree. This seems to repeal a bad law, which seemed to be based on the belief that horses live forever and don't need food. Since it is a necessary function, it might as well create American jobs.
Horses and Cows eat grass and have a hoof. Why not? Horsemeat is lean and these are of unwanted horses, not Secretariat.
BTW, on the intelligence scale, how do cows and horses compare? How about dogs and horses, or Dolphins and horses? ...
You see, measuring just intelligence level is a trap. Emotions and loyalty/imprinting instincts are factors not counted, yet they are what make horses such loyal beasts and dogs such loyal companions. As a grown up, I wouldn't want to eat a horse or a dog. I have too much love for them to do that.
The Revolutionary militias in NJ, NY, and Eastern PA were eating dogs during the revolutionary war during thew 2 brutal winters they traversed and camped here.
What can be more American?
But don’t even think about drinking unpasturized milk...
I suppose I would have too, though I wouldn’t buy dog at the grocery. Our generations have C and K rats, MCIs and MREs, dog isn’t necessary. But your point about protein is well made, it’s a matter of necessity, and social mores. No matter how hungry, I doubt eating Patton’s Willy or Ikes scotty, name forgotten by me, would have been a safe option.
One of the funniest scenes from one of the funniest movies!
Did you notice he was using a hoof cleaning tool for a table
knife?
To a Republican party with a brain in its head in an economy that is collapsing, this is pure headline gold.
And speaking of dogs; given how many are similarly; in trouble; i.e. put down; etc ET Al issues.
Will dogs, in fact; be next? Cats? Where do we stop with this?
Horsemeat was and still is a delicacy in Europe. Most horsemeat is imported from the USA and is more expensive than other meats.
Some years ago we were given an elderly horse that had been, in its day, a high dollar, high trained animal. Its owner had been injured and was not able to care for the animals so it was put out to pasture with the rest. Due to its age, it was unable to compete and lost a lot of weight.
We had her looking pretty good and one day I walk out to check her only to find her dead.
I would have gladly loaded it and taken to the packing plant if that were an option.
Since the slaughter houses were no longer around, I had 2 options, spend several hundred dollars for an animal disposal company to remove and bury it or drag it to the back of the property and led nature dispose of it.
I guess nature ate well for a few days.
Headline is misleading, it’s in Congress. Should Obama sign it, perhaps, but it will be bi partison. Headline shouldn’t have mentioned Obama, imo.
“...Did you notice he was using a hoof cleaning tool for a table knife?...”
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HA!
I’ll have to look for that next time I watch it.
Maybe we draw the line at bikers, at least helmetless bikers.
Donate their organs, maybe skin, but the real protein, muscle mass, goes unused.
I'm open to these things, but I'd stop at dogs and cats, horses, not a fan so I'd leave that up to horse owners, but the line to be drawn is a collective line, probably best by the states rather than the Feds. Not that I think any states would endorse eating bikers.
For those of you who remember, horse meat was also packed by the USDA back in the 1960's and the poor and aged received the meat for free.
Well, give credit where credit is due: a deregulatory measure coming from the Obama administration! No longer will the nanny-state tell us we can’t eat horse meat. Now we’ll be able to try all those French, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean and Mongolian dishes that call for horse meat without traveling to distant parts of the world. Well, unless the nanny-staters in your particular state get in the way: evidently some states have state laws forbidding the sale, or perhaps even the consumption, of horse meat.
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