Alec Baldwin... Idiot

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Sure enough, and a drug addiction place as well, but so far all the Overviews I've read seem to be set out to paint each and every one of them in a bad light.

 

For instance:

 

What comes to mind when you hear the words “humane society”? Likely your local animal shelter that takes in stray, neglected, and abused cats and dogs, promotes their adoption to new homes, and runs spay/neuter programs so that fewer unwanted animals will end up mistreated or euthanized.

 

That’s exactly what the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is banking on.

 

Really? I mean, considering they've had that name from the start and everything.

[MrRant 0]

Sure enough, and a drug addiction place as well, but so far all the Overviews I've read seem to be set out to paint each and every one of them in a bad light.

 

For instance:

 

What comes to mind when you hear the words “humane society”? Likely your local animal shelter that takes in stray, neglected, and abused cats and dogs, promotes their adoption to new homes, and runs spay/neuter programs so that fewer unwanted animals will end up mistreated or euthanized.

 

That’s exactly what the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is banking on.

 

Really? I mean, considering they've had that name from the start and everything.

Nice cherry picking. The FULL article:

 

Humane Society of the United States

 

"[T]he Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated with, nor is it a parent organization for, local humane societies, animal shelters, or animal care and control agencies … The HSUS does not operate or have direct control over any animal shelter."

— From a 2001 disclaimer issued by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

 

"The life of an ant and that of my child should be granted equal consideration."

— HSUS senior scholar Michael W. Fox

 

"The Humane Society should be worried about protecting animals from cruelty. It’s not doing that. The place is all about power and money."

— HSUS consultant and former HSUS Chief Investigator Robert Baker, in U.S. News & World Report (October 2, 1995)

 

"I’m not an admirer of HSUS. They’ve always been primarily a direct-mail operation, and what’s known in animal rights circles as a credit-grabber."

— HSUS co-founder Cleveland Amory

 

"My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture."

— HSUS grassroots coordinator John “J.P.” Goodwin

 

"We’ve started picketing outside the homes of the [department store] executives … Those executives do not deserve a break. They do not deserve to go home and rest."

— J.P. Goodwin describing his anti-fur strategy

 

"HSUS really needs to be called to task for its triple sided hypocrisy. When HSUS addresses scientists they say they support animal research as necessary. When HSUS addresses the public they say it is evil but sometimes necessary. When HSUS addresses its members and other animal rights groups, they say it is evil and unnecessary."

— Dr. Pat Cleveland of the University of California, San Diego

 

Background

What comes to mind when you hear the words “humane society”? Likely your local animal shelter that takes in stray, neglected, and abused cats and dogs, promotes their adoption to new homes, and runs spay/neuter programs so that fewer unwanted animals will end up mistreated or euthanized.

 

That’s exactly what the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is banking on. This intentional misdirection has made HSUS the richest animal-rights organization on earth. HSUS has over $85 million in assets. It raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every single state, with money to spare. But it is not affiliated with any local “humane societies,” nor does it operate a single animal shelter.

 

A True Multinational Corporation

 

HSUS is a multinational conglomerate with ten regional offices in the United States and a special Hollywood Office that promotes and monitors the media’s coverage of animal-rights issues. It includes a huge web of organizations, affiliates, and subsidiaries. Some are nonprofit, tax-exempt “charities,” while others are for-profit taxable corporations, which don’t divulge anything about their financial dealings.

 

This unusually complex structure means that HSUS can hide expenses where the public would never think to look. Accordingly, HSUS’s true global net worth is extremely difficult to measure. Money routinely goes back and forth between HSUS affiliates and, short of a full-scale IRS audit, is impossible to track.

 

One small example: HSUS buried $6.4 million in direct-mail costs in the 2000-2001 budget of something called the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust. This allowed HSUS to claim that it kept its fundraising costs deceptively low.

 

Some HSUS affiliates appear to be environmental organizations -- like EarthKind (USA) and EarthKind (International) -- rather than animal groups. HSUS locates others outside the United States, allowing the group to avoid scrutiny.

 

HSUS personnel control the board of the British-based World Society for the Protection of Animals, which sells animal-rights-related products and investment/executor services worldwide. HSUS controls the profits.

 

But this isn’t always a foolproof arrangement. In January 1997, HSUS was ordered by an Ontario court to repay more than $1 million it removed from the bank accounts of two Canadian charities it started, the Humane Society of Canada and Humane Society International.

 

The bigger HSUS picture includes all the incorporated organizations listed at the bottom of this article.

 

From Animal Welfare to Animal Rights

 

There is an enormous difference between animal “welfare” organizations, which work for the humane treatment of animals, and animal “rights” organizations, which work to completely end the use and ownership of animals. The former have been around for centuries; the latter emerged in the 1980s, with the rise of the radical animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

 

The Humane Society of the United States began as an animal-welfare organization. Originally called the National Humane Society, it was established in 1954 as a splinter group of the American Humane Association (AHA). Its founders wanted a slightly more radical group -- the AHA did not oppose either sport hunting or the use of pound animals for biomedical research.

 

It has benefited from the similarity of names with this more legitimate cousin ever since.

 

HSUS has a distinctly religious feel, founded as a “ministry” for animals by Coleman Burke, then president of the American Bible Society; Cleveland Amory, an author who went on to found the Fund for Animals; and Helen Jones, who had earlier left the AHA. Presbyterian minister John A. Hoyt was president from 1970 to 1996. Paul G. Irwin, a Methodist minister, joined HSUS in 1975 and now serves as President and CEO. Both attended Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, NY.

 

In 1980, HSUS officially began to change its focus from animal welfare to animal rights. A vote was taken at the national conference in San Francisco and it was formally resolved that the group would “pursue on all fronts … the clear articulation and establishment of the rights of all animals … within the full range of American life and culture.”

 

In Animal Rights and Human Obligations, the published proceedings of this conference, HSUS stated unequivocally that “there is no rational basis for maintaining a moral distinction between the treatment of humans and other animals.”

 

Then-president John Hoyt hinted in 1986 that the animal-rights movement might be a means to a larger end, telling Washingtonian magazine: “This new philosophy [animal rights] has served as a catalyst in the shaping of our own philosophies, policies, and goals.” John McArdle, the group’s Director of Laboratory Animal Welfare, frankly admitted in the same article that HSUS was “definitely shifting in the direction of animal rights faster than anyone would realize from our literature.”

 

The group completed its animal-rights transformation during the 1990s, changing its personnel in the process. HSUS assimilated dozens of staffers from PETA and other animal-rights groups, even employing John “J.P.” Goodwin, a former Animal Liberation Front member and spokesman with a lengthy arrest record and a history of promoting arson to accomplish animal liberation.

 

The change brought more money and media attention. Hoyt explained the shift in 1991, telling the National Journal, “PETA successfully stole the spotlight … Groups like ours that have plugged along with a larger staff, a larger constituency … have been ignored.” Hoyt agreed that PETA’s net effect within the animal-rights movement was to spur more moderate groups to take tougher stances in order to attract donations from the public. “Maybe.” Hoyt mused, “the time has come to say, ‘Since we haven’t been successful in getting half a loaf, let’s go for the whole thing.’”

 

The current goals of this misnamed “Humane Society” have nothing to do with animal shelters. The group took aim at the traditional morning meal of bacon and eggs with a tasteless “Breakfast of Cruelty” campaign. HSUS even wants to put an end to lifesaving biomedical research: as early as 1988 the group’s mailings demanded that the U.S. government “eliminate altogether the use of animals as research subjects.” HSUS has never budged from this extreme position.

 

Since its inception, the Humane Society of the Unites States has systematically tried to limit the choices of American consumers in dozens of areas. The organization is against any kind of dog breeding, conventional livestock and poultry farming, rodeos, circuses, horse racing, marine aquariums, and fur trapping. And that's just the beginning.

 

Domestic Deception

 

It takes millions of dollars to run campaigns against so many domestic targets, and HSUS consistently misleads Americans with its fundraising efforts by hinting that it’s a “humane society” in the more conventional sense of the term. For instance, a 2001 member recruitment mailing offered free t-shirts with cat and dog designs.

 

The fundraising letter, signed by Paul Irwin, calls those on the HSUS mailing list “true pet lovers,” referring to unspecified work on behalf of “dogs, puppies, cats, kittens.” Ironically, HSUS is on the forefront of the political movement to legally redefine “pets” as “companion animals,” and their “owners” as merely “guardians.”

 

Another recruitment mailing from that year includes “Thank You,” “Happy Birthday,” and “Get Well Soon” greeting cards featuring pets such as dogs, cats, and fish. The business reply envelope lists “7 Steps to a Happier Pet.”

 

A 2003 recruitment mailing also includes those “Steps,” as well as free address labels with pastel pictures of dogs and cats. The fundraising letter signed by Irwin details cruelties done to those animals. Part of the organization’s agenda does show, albeit subtly -- it substitutes the animal-rights term “companion animals” for “pets” numerous times in the mailing.

 

HSUS has even managed to get the U.S. government to help it raise funds (and its public profile). In 1995 the U.S. Postal Service mailed postcards to millions of homes for National Dog Bite Prevention Week. The mailer, which suggested ways dog owners could keep their pets from biting mail carriers, included the HSUS logo and address.

 

“Our mission is to encourage adoption in your neighborhood and throughout the country,” wrote Paul Irwin in another fundraising appeal. (Remember: HSUS doesn’t operate a single animal shelter). “Even though local shelters are trying their best to save lives, they are simply overwhelmed.” That last sentence, at least, is true. But don’t count on the multi-million-dollar conglomerate HSUS to do anything about it.

 

It didn’t in 1995, when the Washington (DC) Humane Society almost closed its animal shelter due to a budget shortfall. HSUS, which is also based in Washington, DC, ultimately withdrew an offer to build and operate a DC shelter, at its own expense, to serve as a national model.

 

In exchange for running the shelter, HSUS wanted three to five acres of city land and tax-exempt status for all its real estate holdings in the District of Columbia. The DC government offered a long-term lease, but that wasn’t good enough. HSUS refused to proceed unless it would “own absolutely” the land. The district declined, and what was to become the only HSUS-funded animal shelter never materialized.

 

HSUS doesn’t help local humane societies save dogs and cats, but it does fly in and out of communities, pouring in thousands of dollars to change their laws. “HSUS was the financial clout that rammed Initiative 713, the anti-trapping measure, down our throats,” reports Rich Landers of the Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review. “I pleaded [with Wayne Pacelle, HSUS’s government affairs VP] at least four times for examples of HSUS commitment in Washington [state] other than introducing costly anti-hunting and anti-wildlife management initiatives. He had no immediate answer but promised to send me the list of good things HSUS does in this state. That was six months ago, and I presume Pacelle is still searching.”

 

Like other national animal-rights groups, HSUS has learned that pouring huge sums of money into ballot initiative campaigns can give it results normal public relations and lobbying work never could. Along with other heavy hitters like the Fund for Animals and Farm Sanctuary, HSUS scored a big victory in Florida in 2002 when a ballot initiative passed that gave constitutional rights to pregnant pigs.

 

Florida farmers were banned from using “gestation crates,” usually necessary to keep sows healthy during pregnancy and to prevent them from accidentally rolling over and crushing their newborn piglets. After this amendment passed, raising pigs became economically unsustainable for at least two farmers, who were forced to slaughter their animals rather than comply with the costly new constitutional requirements. Today, there are virtually no pork farmers left in Florida.

 

Animal-rights leaders plan to extend their “pregnant pigs” win to other states, and in 2003 are organizing in California and New Jersey. HSUS has also started a four-year campaign in Iowa, misleadingly called “Care4Iowa,” whose stated goal is to promote the so-called “humane” methods of livestock production that universally result in greater costs for farmers and higher prices for consumers.

 

And HSUS won’t stop at initiatives aimed at livestock farmers and trappers. At the 1996 HSUS annual meeting, Wayne Pacelle announced that the ballot initiative would be used for all manner of legislation in the future, including “companion animal issues and laboratory animal issues.” Pacelle, a vegan, has personally been involved in at least 22 such campaigns, 17 of which HSUS scored as victories. These operations, he says, “pay dividends and serve as a training ground for activists.”

 

HSUS is also a part of the Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) coalition, a slick Washington-based PR campaign to end the “inappropriate” use of antibiotics in livestock animals. The coalition of mostly science-deprived environmental groups claims to worry deeply about antibiotic resistance in humans, without devoting any attention to the rampant overprescription of the drugs to humans.

 

Why doesn’t HSUS want animals to receive disease-preventing antibiotics? Most likely because raising livestock without antibiotics is much more difficult and costly, and the resulting meat, eggs, and dairy are considerably more expensive. The KAW coalition’s goals would give many Americans an economic incentive to lean toward vegetarianism, and HSUS would, of course, not object. KAW is currently working to introduce a bill in Congress that would completely phase out the majority of vital antibiotic use in farm animals.

 

School Activism 101

 

Despite an animal-rights agenda every bit as radical as PETA’s, the Humane Society of the United States has gained entry to countless segments of polite society. One of the more frightening consequences of this is the group’s relatively unfettered access to U.S. schools.

 

Through its National Association for Humane and Environmental Education, as well as a series of animal-rights-oriented publications, HSUS spreads its four-legs-good message to schoolchildren as young as five.

 

One package, titled People and Animals -- A Humane Education Guide, suggests films and books for teachers to present to their students. In these recommended teaching tools, sport hunters are called “selective exterminators” and “drunken slobs” who participate in a “blood sport” and a “war on wildlife” with “maniacal attitudes toward killing.” Another teachers’ guide contains anti-circus stories in which animals are repeatedly depicted as overworked and abused.

 

At the same time, HSUS hypocritically complains that it is inappropriate for the federal government to distribute educational materials about the use of animals in medical research laboratories, complaining: “These materials inappropriately target young people, who do not possess the cognitive ability to make meaningful decisions regarding highly controversial and complex issues.”

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Cherry picking?

 

That is, quotes aside, how the article fucking starts. The opening paragraph states that they try to lure you into believing they operate animal shelters.

 

Now, either they actually decided to intentionally confuse you like that from day one with bad intentions, or else the author is simply building a case on opinion to show fault. "Ah-HA! They gave themselves a vague name that makes you think they run an animal shelter! Ah-HA! This is how they get you to give money!"

[MrRant 0]

Read the article. The rest of the article BACKS UP the opening DESCRIPTIVE paragraph.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Kay then. Here's the backup for that claim:

 

It takes millions of dollars to run campaigns against so many domestic targets, and HSUS consistently misleads Americans with its fundraising efforts by hinting that it’s a “humane society” in the more conventional sense of the term. For instance, a 2001 member recruitment mailing offered free t-shirts with cat and dog designs.

 

The fundraising letter, signed by Paul Irwin, calls those on the HSUS mailing list “true pet lovers,” referring to unspecified work on behalf of “dogs, puppies, cats, kittens.” Ironically, HSUS is on the forefront of the political movement to legally redefine “pets” as “companion animals,” and their “owners” as merely “guardians.”

 

Another recruitment mailing from that year includes “Thank You,” “Happy Birthday,” and “Get Well Soon” greeting cards featuring pets such as dogs, cats, and fish. The business reply envelope lists “7 Steps to a Happier Pet.”

 

Well, damn, they put images of animals on their greeting card. That totally fooled me into thinking it was a shelter!

[MrRant 0]

Apparently you can't read that well.

 

The point is that they represent themselves as supporting/being an affiliate of local humane societies while doing NOTHING to support those shelters and their transformation into PETA Lite.

Edited December 24, 2003 by MrRant

[Guest MikeSC]

Reeve's "support" for the "cause" is purely self-interested and about as praiseworthy as Magic Johnson's interest in a cure for AIDS.

Or Nancy Reagan's interest in finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

 

 

Oh, TAG!

Nobody has called Nancy a hero for giving to causes she genuinely believed in before her life-changing problem.

-=Mike

...And she definitely has been far lower-profile than Chris

[Guest MikeSC]

I can not believe all the hate for Bill Maher.  Doesn't anybody know that he was just trying to be funny.  It is called politically incorrect humor.  I think Maher is a very funny man and share his views on many issues.  You shouldn't just label him as a left wing nut.  For those who do, I suggest you read his book When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden after reading it you will see he is a liberal who loves the United States and has many interesting ideas to improve it.

The hatred for Maher is that he --- IS NOT FUNNY. At all.

-=Mike

...He's an ass. He's not a comedian. He's Janeane Garofalo without the brea---wait a minute, has anybody seen them two together?

Edited December 23, 2003 by TheMikeSC

[Guest MikeSC]

Also.. Christopher Lee can rot in hell.

 

Spokesperson  - Christopher Lee -  Actor appearing most recently in the "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" trilogies ; Spokesperson for PETA's campaigns against the American Heart Association and the British Heart Foundation

PETA opposes the AHA?

 

Dear God.

-=Mike

[Guest MikeSC]

Apparently you can't read to well.

 

The point is that then represent themselves as supporting/being an affiliate of local humane societies while doing NOTHING to support those shelters and their transformation into PETA Lite.

I think we found somebody who is a blind supporter of the HSUS. No different than a PETA supporter.

-=Mike

[NoCalMike 0]

I happen to find Bill Mahr funny most of the time. If you don't find him funny then that is fine, but it is also just your opinion as is thinking he IS funny is just my opinion. However there is no reason to HATE him because you find him unfunny.

 

Also I'd say Mahr is more of a libertarian then a liberal.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

I happen to find Bill Mahr funny most of the time. If you don't find him funny then that is fine, but it is also just your opinion as is thinking he IS funny is just my opinion. However there is no reason to HATE him because you find him unfunny.

Can I hate him because he supports terrorism?

[Guest JMA]

I happen to find Bill Mahr funny most of the time.  If you don't find him funny then that is fine, but it is also just your opinion as is thinking he IS funny is just my opinion.  However there is no reason to HATE him because you find him unfunny.

Can I hate him because he supports terrorism?

Yes.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I happen to find Bill Mahr funny most of the time.  If you don't find him funny then that is fine, but it is also just your opinion as is thinking he IS funny is just my opinion.  However there is no reason to HATE him because you find him unfunny.

Can I hate him because he supports terrorism?

Yes.

By terrorism do you mean PETA or actual terrorism?

[Vyce 0]

As has been already established, PETA funds actual terrorist organizations.

 

Thus, if you support PETA, the terrorists win.

[2GOLD 0]

What pisses me off most is THESE asshole groups get most of the funds while the smaller groups that actually give a damn, get shafted.

 

And why is it every one of these groups seems to be led by people who are bug f*cking insane?!?!

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Hosting anti-meat activist Howard Lyman on "Politically Incorrect" last week, Bill Maher -- an animal-rights activist himself -- offered these remarks: "I have mentioned before on this show, when the subject of mad cow disease came up, that I do have a strong position on that. I'm for it." Echoing PETA's Ingrid Newkirk (who has said of hoof-and-mouth disease: "I openly hope it will come here") Maher continued: "I think it would be a good thing if a few cases came over here and people stopped eating meat... I think food is certainly as big a killer as the other big killer -- tobacco -- in America."

I'm sure he's getting a woody what with that case in Washington state...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I think we found somebody who is a blind supporter of the HSUS.

Never given them a dime. I had a relative that did, and I didn't have to do much homework to see that they weren't a shelter. I had little to no opinion of them before this thread, I just thought saying "If you're gullible, these people could convince you they're something that they're not!" does not an arguement make.

 

No different than a PETA supporter.

          -=Mike

 

Oh please. I'm pretty familiar with the animal groups as I'm from several generations of animal lovers that donate and received crap from these special interests (I don't, though I like my pets more than most people I know) and am thankful PETA wasn't a recipient. I have a special room for them in my own personal hell. The door is right next to the one marked "Bill O'Reilly."