More H$U$ Involvement in the USDA

Yesterday morning, this news item passed across my desk as I was drinking my morning coffee...

The USDA Wants Dog Breeder Accreditation  

I just about choked on my coffee and then I remembered...  "Hey! It's April 1....  It's April Fools Day! Surely this is a joke."

Sadly, it isn't a joke.

One would think that the USDA could find something else to whine about, right?  Well, they won't. They won't because the USDA & its APHIS section are populated by animal rights zealots, starting with the head, Tom Vilsack. His wife is a big supporter of HSUS. In addition, there's Sarah Conant, a HSUS litigator who went from her desk at HSUS right to a desk at APHIS, where she heads a newly formed "enforcement" division.

Sarah Conant

An obvious example of the HSUS-USDA connection can be found in the 2012 election. In Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, Steve King was challenged for his seat by Christie Vilsack, wife of Tom Vilsack, Obama’s Secretary of the Dept. of Agriculture. Campaign finance reports show that HSUS invested in Vilsack’s campaign to the tune of $500,000, almost their entire political war chest. Shortly thereafter, Vilsack began to obstruct efforts to resume horse processing, a key HSUS goal.

It doesn't stop there. Conant is the same individual who fined a Missiouri family $90,000 for selling bunnies.

You gotta ask yourself, should the USDA, which is charged with keeping our food supply safe, be hiring and working with HSUS people, who are committed to doing away with ALL animal use, including as food?

To me, that is beyond "conflict of interest".

This quote and other quotes in the article convinces me that H$U$ has its dirty fingers in this proposal,

Dr. Michael J. Blackwell, senior director of veterinary policy for the Humane Society of the United States, said the project could provide better oversight of the dog breeding industry, which he said has an unfortunate number of puppy mills with questionable-to-poor care standards.

“Given that we do still see quite a few puppy mills across the country, it is clear that there needs to be more attention given to ways of providing oversight, and an accreditation process would certainly be one way to do that,” he said.

Dr. Blackwell said it’s likely retailers would pressure breeders to participate in such a program, a result he hopes will come to pass.

“I think the public’s interests will probably drive that support for working only with accredited breeders,” he said.

When an AVMA article quotes an HSUS operative, it's pretty telling as to where this is coming from. And, it will be passed onto anyone who breeds. This will not be "voluntary" as they imply.

Tom Vilsack

Tom Vilsack needs to be removed as the head of the US Dept of Agriculture. He supports HSUS and its anti-animal ag views.  He has even stated that rural America is "Becoming less and less relevant.” Sec. Vilsack – December 2012 Farm Journal Sponsored Forum – Drovers

Secretary Vilsack has publicly stated his support for agreements and cooperation with a radical animal rights group, Humane Society of the US (HSUS) that is seeking to destroy American agriculture. 

“Now I know that there are not too many fans of the Humane Society in this room. But egg producers thought it was in their best interest to avoid fifty different referendums, fifty different sets of rules. So they sat down with folks and they reached common ground. After all, isn’t that what we’re asking our Congress to do? Isn’t that what we’re asking our political leaders to do? To sit down and make common cause? I think the egg producers have the right idea.” – Sec. Vilsack – Ag Wired Article

We need to ask questions and start DEMANDING answers.  

Why was a former HSUS employee hired by Secretary Vilsack to work at USDA?  

Why did HSUS spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to get the wife of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture elected to Congress?  

Why is the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture an advocate for an unholy marriage between American animal (food & companion) producers and a radical animal rights group seeking to attack farmers, attack pet breeders, alter our food choices, and restrict our freedoms?

Don't forget "Meatless Monday" at the USDA.

Recommended Reading

A & N Research - Giving You the FACTS!  - Specifically,  USDA APHIS Watch

The Calvary Group, Has HSUS Hijacked the USDA

Protect the Harvest - Should the USDA Be Working with the USDA

HSUS: Bad to the Bone...

I'm a member of the Pet-Law email list. I get many depressing e-mails by way of this list, emails that point out how much the animal rights activists are fighting anyone and everyone who makes a living working with animals; anyone & everyone who raises animals; and anyone & everyone who owns animals.  

Normally, I don't pass on ag related emails but this one is important as it shows how the animal rights zealots, such as Humane Society of the US (HSUS), Animal Protection New Mexico (APNM), and Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM USA), among others, impact our lives with their duplicity and lies.  How they use their minions in the mainstream media to distort & promote their agenda, which is to promote animals above all others, regardless of cost, and to destroy animal ownership.  These people lie when they say they are "for the animals".  After all, don't forget it was Wayne Pacelle who said with regard to domestic animals, "One generation and out..."

For instance, the article says distinguished professor but actually AR to the bone! Rather misleading!

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/01/usda-pulls-meat-inspectors-to-shut-nj-veal-slaughter-after-video-shows-inhumane-practices/

January 28, 2014

Slaughter Plant Closes After HSUS Video Prompts USDA Inspectors to Leave By Dan Flynn

A New Jersey company involved in the veal and lamb business for more than 65 years was forced to shut down last Friday when USDA inspectors left the building because of alleged inhumane practices going on inside.

At least two egregious violations of federal humane handling requirements documented on a video obtained by the Humane Society of the United States (HBUS) were enough for USDA to shut down the Catelli Brothers, Inc., veal slaughter plant in Shrewsbury, NJ.

In another in a series of undercover investigations, the HSUS video depicts unconscious but living calves, one disabled and being dragged and another one on a faulty “kill” line.

Catelli Brothers, headquartered in Collingswood, NJ, outside Philadelphia, is one of the largest veal and lamb producers in the country. After being provided with a video copy and a complaint from HSUS, USDA opted to suspend the company’s operations by removing all federal meat inspectors from the slaughterhouse.

HSUS praised USDA’s action in ......

Bernie Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, wrote after watching the video at HSUS’s request, that “of all the atrocity videos I have viewed, the current video of the slaughterhouse at Catelli Brothers must be ranked among the three worst.” He called for the plant to be “closed down immediately.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So who is Bernard Rollin?

Bernard E. Rollin is an American philosopher, currently professor of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University.[1]

Rollin specializes in animal rights and the philosophy of consciousness, and is the author of a number of influential books in the field, including Animal Rights and Human Morality (1981), The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Scientific Change (1988), Farm Animal Welfare (1995), and Science and Ethics (2006). He is also co-editor of the two-volume, The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research (1989 and 1995). He published his memoir in 2011, Putting the Horse Before Descartes.[1]

In response to the article, I posted the following comment.  Last I heard, it was awaiting approval from the moderator.  Let's see if it gets published.

"You neglect to give references or credentials for Bernard Rollin. 

Bernard E. Rollin is an American philosopher, currently professor of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University.  He specializes in animal rights and the philosophy of consciousness, and is the author of a number of influential books in the field, including Animal Rights and Human Morality (1981), The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Scientific Change (1988), Farm Animal Welfare (1995), and Science and Ethics (2006). He is also co-editor of the two-volume, The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research (1989 and 1995). He published his memoir in 2011, Putting the Horse Before Descartes. 

If you are going to present someone as "distinguished" and as a source, you really need to give the full story.  Mr. Rollin is NOT an unbiased source, as you would have some believe."

Something is really wrong in Denmark when a zealot organization, which has been linked to domestic terrorism, has such an impact in our lives.  How much impact?  Let's not forget, that under this current administration, the USDA (US Dept of Agriculture) is populated by HSUS shills in the guise of Sarah L. Conant and others.

The Dog Press has a good article up re: the power of HSUS and how much its tentacles have infiltrated everywhere.  I suggest y'all read it.

http://www.thedogpress.com/SideEffects/HSUS-Political-Power-Revealed-132.asp

It is long past time for us to take back our animal ownership rights and long past time to fight. 

Will you help me?  Will you stand by my side?