AFF Sentinel Vol.6#14

Dog Fighting Not Okay, Fighting Farmers Is Okay?

Imagine driving down the road and suddenly Pope Benedict XVI comes on the radio endorsing the American Satanic Worship Society. Had it not been for nerves of steel, I would have driven off the road when I thought I heard Rush Limbaugh plugging the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS). My wife and I looked at each other ... did we really hear that? What was the punch line?

Unfortunately, no punch line was forthcoming. The current King of Reason had fallen for a pitch from that slick-tongued prophet of darkness himself, Wayne Pacelle. Because, you see, Slick Tongue only talks about his compassion for animals, about HSUS fighting animal cruelty. He mentions legislation that "HSUS," has "passed," purportedly to rescue animals from evil farmers.

If someone as astute as Rush can fall for Slick Tongue's shtick, what chance do doe-eyed coeds and Aunt Blabby and the third graders of the world? Slick Tongue only mentions the animal cruelty examples he finds. Let's face it. They happen. The world is not perfect.

But he doesn't mention how they take the worst behavior they can find in any industry and then claim nearly everyone in the industry is just that bad.

He doesn't mention HSUS' ranks of lawyers busy finding ways to overhaul American food production. He doesn't mention the horses neglected and starving in countrysides and deserts because of his lawyers' and lobbyists' handiwork. He doesn't mention how they edit tapes and news releases to cast people in a bad light or suggest wrongdoing that never happened.

Most of all, he doesn't mention the letter on his website urging vegetarianism as a lifestyle. He doesn't hand out 3" X 5" cards with vegetarian recipes from their vegetarian cookbook.

Because that would reveal what HSUS really is, its long-term goal, what its millions and lawyers are really all about - making this the Vegetarian States of America.

I have listened to thousands of hours of Rush. I know he really is the lovable little fuzz ball he claims.

I also know he believes in core values, in standing up for your principles, in basing positions on those principles and on facts. I also know he claims 99+percent accuracy on the statements he makes on his show.

I don't know if his monitoring and fact-checking outfit includes public service announcements (PSA) in those figures. I don't recall him doing many PSAs, period. He does his own big annual leukemia curathon. But what a person or organization stands for is important in his thinking. And while opposing dog fighting is one campaign we can't argue with HSUS in general, most of what HSUS does we oppose.

I can't believe Rush heard the full story about HSUS before he had anything to do with that outfit. And this was before HSUS used the misnamed "swine" flu outbreak to attempt indicting "factory farming" for incubating the virus. I can't believe Rush has a copy of Pacelle's "Decisions We Make" letter espousing the vegetarian lifestyle on his wall at the EIB studio.

Come to think of it, if I almost drove off the road, imagine what the guys at Allen Brothers did. What's a meat guy look like after a simultaneous stroke/heart attack/conniption fit/head on collision with a tree? Rush raves about Allen Brothers steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs. He even taunted President Obama he'd feed him $100 a pound Allen Brothers wagyu beef if Obama came to Florida to debate. I don't think there are any recipes for Allen Brothers quality beef, pork or lamb in HSUS' "Guide to Vegetarian Eating."

But Pacelle's methods are not humorous. He uses lawyers, lobbyists and legislation to force restrictions down the throats of farmers and ranchers or convinces voters to impose them on scientifically based, animal-health-proven, results-proven animal husbandry. And he uses the same tactics on voters that he likely used on Rush. He humanizes animals, playing on our civilized society's penchant for replacing human companions with animals, for making animals "part of the family," and encouraging people to assume animals want just what we do, that they have the same sensibilities and desires.

That's why animals invented couches to lay on and televisions to watch, isn't it? Why they invented science-based, computer balanced feed rations; medicines to cure animal diseases; vaccines to prevent them; chemicals to kill parasites, right? That's why animals invented customized shelters, automatic water systems and places to nurture the herding instinct natural to many animals.

Oh, they didn't? What does that tell you?

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