Inside D.C.
HSUS and what’s ‘good for the country’
Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we accept this notion, then it’s time for some in the animal rights movement to find a good shrink. Why do urban, vegan, pleather-wearing folks believe that continually insulting agriculture, by condescending to and patronizing this country’s food producers, that one day we’ll shout “hallelujah” as the scales fall from our collective eyes and we’ll beg their forgiveness for our sins?
The evidence this week is word out of Nebraska from state agricultural producer groups that a new organization has been formed – “We Support Agriculture” – announced at press conferences in Omaha, Lincoln and at Corn Husker Days in Grand Island.
Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Pork, Nebraska Poultry and Nebraska Dairy each ponied up $5,000 to fund a coalition of folks ready to do battle with, among others, “extreme animal rights organizations,” those who seek to outlaw on-farm production practices. Also created is the “Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska,” a charitable public education foundation.
Enter Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS), quoted in the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star calling the effort a “charade” and paranoia run amok,” accusing Nebraska agriculture of refusing to address his personal definition of animal welfare “problems.” Ever since Gov. Dave Heineman told HSUS to go pound salt if it thought it could coerce the $15-billion state ag industry to negotiate with HSUS its future – Heineman’s widely quoted statement: “In Nebraska, no deal, no compromise” – Pacelle’s nose has been out of joint with our Corn Husker friends. And he lost his well-connected state lobbyist in the dust up.
In his September 14 blog, Pacelle rails against the unenlightened politicians of Nebraska, calling them “ill-informed and dishonest.” He says to the Omaha newspaper: “Responsible farmers and ranchers should be on the forefront of animal welfare, and they shouldn’t be positioning themselves as hostile to proper care…which is what Nebraska ag leaders have been doing.” He touts his success in “hammering out agreements” in California, Maine, Colorado, Michigan and Ohio, and the recent United Egg Producers/HSUS deal on enriched cage systems. The only “deals” in this list – not counting UEP which proposed to HSUS – are Michigan and Colorado; the others were either ballot initiatives or legislative initiatives financed by HSUS. And from what I recall, Ohio was a pretty much a loss for HSUS all around. I also think it’s safe to say, HSUS “deals” in Michigan and Colorado had less to do with agreement on improved hog and layer welfare and a lot to do with aggies who couldn’t afford to finance threatened or implied ballot initiative battles if they didn’t sign on the bottom line. I guess for HSUS, a win’s a win, no matter how you got it.
This is the hubris of HSUS, the sheer, unmitigated arrogance of an organization that believes – by dint of its budget and interlocking directorate of related groups – it can bully and insult farmers and ranchers into submission. Pacelle apparently believes – if his blog can be believed – that if Nebraska farmers and Gov. Heineman care about America, they’ll beat their swords back into plowshares, join Wayne in a group hug — and then do it his way.
Pacelle and his band of merry men and women apparently believe they are enlightened beyond the rest of us, privy to a higher plane of existence that precludes any contemplation they may be dead wrong about animal welfare, that good intentions often lead to bad outcomes. Let us not forget the HSUS “victory” to end USDA-inspection of horse slaughter, the outcome of which is over 100,000 neglected horses.
Back to Nebraska. “Silly, overwrought, dishonest behavior by governors or farm leaders won’t help our nation. It may win them short-term political points with the constituencies they want to curry favor with (sic), but it’s not good for the country,” writes Pacelle. This is good advice; now if you substitute “animal rights leaders” for “farm leaders”…
It’s easy for Pacelle to talk about “what’s good for the country” as he flacks his book, makes talk show appearances and earns a very nice living defining other folks’ problems.
I submit what’s truly good for this nation are men and women who work 24/7 to feed themselves and the rest of us – and who have the guts to tell HSUS and the others who don’t know what they’re talking about to go pound salt.
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I do not know where you drew your information regarding horse slaughter, but there have always been neglected horses, broken horses, diseased horses. This is not a new phenomena. What is new is the ban to slaughter for human consumption in this country, which presents 2 major new problems. While USDA guidelines stunk in the first place and were not implemented (cattle bolts only stun horses and they are fully aware of being vivisected-aka drawn & quartered as they bleed to death) and there is no way without extensive testing to know what medications these horses have injested which end up in the food chain with humans getting all the effects.
The 2 newest major problems are the lack of an extension of the ban on horse slaughter in the US to include ban on shipping across the borders, and the cyber crimes of scam artists fundraising online to ‘save’ the horses at killer auctions. Auction owners have made a practice of starving horses just to gain the pity of animal lovers and prey on their pocketbooks through donation. They make more money on the animal than if they ship it off. While no one seems to care what drugs may end up on European plates (the average domestic horse receives innoculations against 6-10 diseases 1-2x yearly for its entire life)-including poisons for parasite infestation every 6-8 weeks or daily doses within their feed. So now wild mustangs are in higher demand for slaughter since they do not receive these innoculations and they are supposed to be protected. Americans are waking up to the fact that USDA and BLM have an agenda that have much to do with dollar signs and little to do with protecting animals and humans. For associations to band together to protect the rights of those that refuse to follow appropriate care guidelines of their animals while in their care is a shameful mark of greed and avarice. They should all go suck a hot wrench and then pound sand. -
I for one, as a farmer myself, am disgusted and appalled at the tactics of these “animal rights” vermin. How dare they claim farmers don’t properly care for their animals, this is our life and livelihood. We put blood ,sweat and even tears into our farms and NOBODY takes better care of there livestock than the American farmer. I applaud the state of Nebraska for having the backbone to stand to these radical groups who would readily force every farmer in this country out of business if they could. May we all have the courage to stand against their lies and continue to produce affordable food for the world.
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Politics is a very complex “science” and I don’t know much about it. What I do know is that people battled against slavery until, even, “black people” were thought to have the right to be free: there even was a civil war over that opinion… yet many people still think we are not created equal…
What gives us the right to enslave animals, breed them for food and make them forget how to fend for themselves? How many human slaves died of hunger because slavery had destoyed their knowledge of how to survive? Agribusiness has no respect for the lives it abuses and makes fortunes over the health of the people who consume those meats filled with sadness and pain.
It might sound farfetched but the more animal byproducts are consumed, in a country, the more hospitals are built too and all the grain livestock eats to feed a few is starving the many. Think about it. -
You rock Steve! We will see how things work out for California when they start having food riots.
I noticed that Wayne left Missouri out of his list of successes. I guess that he does not consider the Prop B initiative a win when Govornor Nixon negotiated the “Missouri Solution” to keep from completely destroying the state’s commercial dog industry. HSUS is still attacking to force their interpretation on the Department of Agriculture and is marrying it with “Your Vote Counts” for next year.
Always remember, HSUS is not about animal welfare, it is about destroying all animal industry.
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Amen!! HSUS and their ilk are bullies, plain and simple. If you don’t play their way, they either go into holier than thou attack mode or simply put up millions of their supporters dollars to wage a public war against you. Bullying and blackmail any way you slice it. I am so proud of Nebraska and so thankful we have one state whose animal husbandry groups are willing to stand together and face the school year bully. The more effective they are at remaining unified, the faster HSUS will be exposed for what they really are and what their true agenda is. There is a HUGE education effort that needs to happen to get people to truly understand that Wayne’s version of “animal welfare and protection” has absolutely nothing to do with animal care and EVERYTHING to do with power, money and control and foisting their radical version of how humans ought to be relating to animals. I hope everyone supports Nebraska agriculture in their efforts.
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Sorry Wayno, that statement about “Responsible farmers and ranchers should be at the forefront of animal welfare . . .” They ARE at the forefront and have been for a lot more years than you’ve been on the scene. We, farmers and ranchers, know that the only purpose of H$U$ is to gouge money from the unsuspecting public with commercials featuring pathetic looking puppies and kittens, and a lot of lies. If you really want to help animals, put your considerable pile of money where your mouth is and leave the livestock industry to do what it does best – feed people.
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Animal Rights freaks won’t be happy until we are buying all of our food from China. Scary thought.
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“yet many people still think we are not created equal…
What gives us the right to enslave animals, breed them for food and make them forget how to fend for themselves? How many human slaves died of hunger because slavery had destoyed their knowledge of how to survive? Agribusiness has no respect for the lives it abuses and makes fortunes over the health of the people who consume those meats filled with sadness and pain.”You equate animals as humans. By doing so you diminish the intrinsic beauty of the dog (cat, cow, horse, etc). You lose that connection to nature, and the natural cycle of life. Things are born, they live and then they die.
Can you realistic believe that you can make an animal understand that because we shelter them, feed them, protect them from predators and parasites that they are slaves because we eat some of them?
Guess what, they get eaten in the wild too. After a shorter more brutal life.
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Jennifer, we all know you work for HSUS on these blogs…..stuff it!
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GO BIG RED ! for all you brain washed HSUS and PETA bippies, your mothers should have slapped you the 1st time you refused to consume animal products ! what the h-ll do you think God put animals on earth for? for us to sit and look at them while they multiply by the millions/billions and just run earth? ok fine, but what are you stupid little vegans going to eat as the animals consume all the crops and gardens, if you get your way, the animals on earth will be untouchable and destroy/eat every bit of vegetation on earth.they gotta eat too ! i’m just waiting for the day when Wayne P. hands you all a cup of funny tasting kool aid to drink. if you are smart, you will find yourselves another GURU.
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