by R.T. Fitch ~ in my most outraged opinion
Horse Haters Converged on D.C. to Plot “Final Solution” for Wild Horses and Burros
Did you watch it? Did you see it? Did you love it? With the exception of Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, the witnesses who testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources, yesterday, read like the guest list of horse haters and eaters who formerly flocked to the now deceased Sue Wallis’ horse eating conventions. The BLM, Welfare Cattle interests, outspoken horse slaughter proponents, gads, my heart bled for poor Ginger sitting in a room full of so much filth and corruption. I am certain that she immediately showered after testifying in an effort to get all of that horse-hating funk off.
What a line-up:
- Steve Ellis, BLM, right…like you are going to get some real pro-wild equine testimony there.
- Dr. JJ Goicoechea, DVM, the current president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and spoke on behalf of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association, the Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “GO COWS”
- Callie Hendrickson, Executive Director, White River & Douglas Creek Conservation Districts Chairwoman, American Farm Bureau Federation Federal Lands Issue Advisory Committee and outspoken Horse Slaughter proponent. “Pass me another slab of Filly Steak would ya Billy Bob”.
- And Chairman of the committee, Tom McClintock, is a known wild horse and burro hater and his statements in this meeting make him GUILTY of violation of Title 18 (18 U.S.C. § 1001). Making false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) is the common name for the United States federal crime laid out in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, in “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the federal government of the United States, even by mere denial 18 U.S. Code § 1519 – Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations. Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.) US Code. “Can ya Dig IT?”
The only witness who spoke to facts and our sensibilities was Ginger;
“Overgrazing and overpopulation are overgeneralized in nonscientific claims by the BLM to justify removals of horses and donkeys from our public lands,” Ginger told the committee, “Wild Horses and Burros occupy only 11% of public lands where private cattle (welfare cows) outnumber them 47 to 1.”
Go Ginger, but did anybody hear that, anyone? I sincerely doubt it.
Over and over and over again our government agencies and representatives dance with our sensibilities’ and trample on our rights with the wild ones paying the price.
If you have the stomach for it, watch the video but it is as clear as the big fat nose on the front of my face that the goal is to send them all off to slaughter, for the sake of special interests, and then the feds and their bedfellows can pick another species to ride into extinction. If it were up to me, I would pick politicians; their eradication could only be a boom to the environment, society and the overall health of planet earth.
But that ain’t gonna happen. So saddle up and fight the good fight, we aren’t going to let the wild ones down, not on my watch, never.
Click “HERE” to view Friends of Wild Horses Protest at the idiot hearing
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Just what is it going to take to save our wild horses? and the rest of wildlife? there will be nothing left except cattle and dung over our lands, land which was supposed to be protected. Greed……………..lust for money.
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Basically shutting down their cash flow, which will lead to their political irrelevance. The welfare ranching and agribusiness lobby survive thanks to the subsidies they receive, both direct and indirect, such as trade barriers, and that fence off foreign competence. Eliminate their subsidies and priviledges, then allow free trade so that they have to compete with other producers, particularly those from abroad, under fair conditions for all, instead of today’s cartel. This would cause a drop in prices that would drive most of these yahoos out of the market in a few decades.
This is what a real economist would tell you and what text book say. Now you have to find a government willing to do that.
And do not get confused: Lack of government regulation is not free trade. The horse slaughter fanboys love to say they love free trade, but they are actually protecting their medieval fiefdom priviledges, while transferring costs to the rest of society. The definition of that is corporativism.
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Arlene (and others) I think it is time now to lobby HARD AND FAST to get wild horse and burro management removed from BLM oversight and into the hands of an entity formed exclusively to manage them in accordance with both the letter and intent of the 1971 law.
It’s beyond clear the BLM views wild horses and burros as invasive pests who are better off dead (all at endlessly increasing taxpayer expense) and they have much larger interests to pander to.
There is no permanent requirement the BLM or USFS be responsible for wild horse and burro care, and neither wanted that charge when it was made. I propose the entire wild horse and burro management program budget, data, and authority be assigned to a new entity which contains a voting citizen component and in which all views are given equal weight in making decisions. Further, in all remaining designated legal Horse Areas and Horse Management Areas, all livestock permits be permanently extinguished and the holders given their due of $2.11 per AUM for the remaining terms of their permits only. These represent only a fraction of the fraction of livestock grazing which contributes to our national food security anyway.
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I read this the other day and it sure fits here:
What if politicians(and BLM) wore uniforms like NASCAR drivers – which identifies all their corporate sponsors?
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Yes Geri! EVERY public servant should be forced to wear one.
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Geri, good sentiment but it is already true BLM employees often remove decals etc. from their trucks and cover them on their uniforms due to death threats from the public. The folks on the ground are not the ones making the laws but are in the crosshairs every day, often in remote locations, so they would never willingly do as you suggest here.
It would be more effective if we could accurately identify positions on these matters taken by our elected officials, who seem incapable of providing them though they are the ones with the legal authority to change our system.
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I wonder what will happen if HRC of the $3500 handbag gets elected. I would hope for a candidate who is less frivolous and more in touch with reality.
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From a serious analytical, European (so as to avoid contamination) grade standpoint, even if HRC may be basically for rent, she is the lesser of evils for wild horses and environment.
Here in Europe we see the rest of candidates, save for Sen. Sanders (which is precisely the more European-minded) as crackpots which really are out of touch with reality. And this analysis is shared across all the political spectrum: from real left to conservative.
Besides that, Sanders and HRC are the only ones that publicly stated their opposition to horse slaughter, as far as I know.
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You’re correct, only Bernie and Hillary have made their position known. Also, Bernie is a cosponsor of the current legislation Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act S1214/HR1942, and Hillary has cosponsored bills in previous sessions of congress.
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Sen. Barbara Mikulski from MD also cosponsored Safe Act, but she’s retiring this year. Really sad to see her go…
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Listening to this rigged hearing literally has made me sick. After all these years since Wild Horse Annie started the fight to save our wild horses it looks like we are back where she started. This hearing was like a kangaroo court. Only one witness for our wild horses, Ginger, was allowed. How corrupt !
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It was all I could do to stifle my sobs while watching this horrible, pathetic ploy to make a case to murder our wild horses and burros. It was appalling. Where in the world did they come up with the number of 67k wild horses on the range? Another one of their ridiculous algorithms developed in favor of welfare ranchers? If I learned one thing after watching this kangaroo-court hearing is that we need to close our borders to horse slaughter transport IMMEDIATELY. All hands on deck, we have got to make it illegal to slaughter US horses, before it’s too late.
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How do we get them to listen to the will of the people? We the people do not have the $$ to even get them to pay attention to us. And the result is our wild horses and burros suffer at the so called ‘management’ of the BLM. And the spaying of mares is outright cruel and inhumane. This must be stopped. Surely there must be a few in Congress who have compassion for the wild ones.
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There is a legal term for how the BLM operates. It is “Regulatory Capture”. This is a big deal, and there are a thousand examples of this problem such as the BLM being full of welfare sheep and cattlemen. Regulatory capture is a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture occurs when special interests co-opt policymakers or political bodies — regulatory agencies, in particular — to further their own ends. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure; it creates an opening for firms to behave in ways injurious to the public (e.g., producing negative externalities). The agencies are called “captured agencies”.
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Right on!
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An accurate reaction video of every advocate who watched the hearing yesterday:
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A real dog and pony show.. Ginger is outnumbered and where the he’ll do they get 67000 from? There are no spays being done to domestic horses in the barn out in the yard. They are always done in a hospital ( sterile) environment and with a 67 or 68% mortality rate I’d say that that is not the answer. And did you notice the reaction to the vets recommendation that they have kept corralled so they could be monitored. It was like duh, what for? Of course that vet shut down because it would put the kabosh on that option. Gelding can be done without a hospital but never a spay. Why would there be so much emphasis on how much the cloud foundation gave to the blm? That was neither here nor there. We all know it was just a dog and pony show that was too far spewed to the right wing monkeys ask in favor of eliminating ask the wild horses and donkeys in this country. Something else that Ginger didn’t mention was the fact of the horses being removed and cattle driven in to replace them pin the hmas. How bout those Bundys……betcha they still haven’t paid a God damned dime..
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via Ryan Schultz
Phone calls work, emails work, but they can be deleted and ignored with no real record of the nuisance they need to create…. A fax is powerful for two reasons. One it creates a physical document that costs money and two in large volume it locks up office machines. Both of these factors are hard to ignore if they are all stating the same sentiment. As you go about your day today, while sipping your coffee before you get out the door, please take a second to write a polite paragraph. Below is a link to a few free email to fax websites that can be used from your computer and some also accept phone documents as well.”
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/send-email-fax-machine/
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This is actually a very good and clever idea. But free sites have a very limited throughput since they are usuall trial services from telecom aggregators.
Few people realize that internal modem cards (yup, those old PCI 56kbps modems that are plugged to the motherboard) can send faxes as well (basically a fax is a bulky modem attached to a photocopier) and Windows already has an assistant to send faxes directly from MS Word documents (the driver usually comes as well with fax software). And, taking into account we are in the era of mobility and flat rates, calling a landline across states has basically cost zero. You only have to plug in the modem, configure the driver and send the stuff directly from Word. No paper needed, no nothing. And it would be relatively easy to automatize the job so the OS can do it by itself, for an entire list of numbers.
Going a step further, it would actually be extremely wise if any of the good funded organzations could simply hire a telecoms aggregator (I’m think Telcordia or Syniverse) to handle industrial loads of fax calls, then create a front-end website where people could write in text to send faxes to their elected officials and a webservice to feed the aggregator with the text provided in the front-end. Basically creating a tool for people to fax officials, where they could simply put in / paste the text they want to send, select a number of target numbers and then simply press “send”, then the webservice will call the aggregator that will in turn call physically each one of those fax numbers. It could be entirely automated in ten seconds flat to basically call each official one time after another until they choke (which would be quite easy btw). This exists with SMS and can be done with faxes as well.
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WHAT deals are being made with our Public Lands?
WHICH members of Congress are involved?
WHERE does your Congressman stand and
WHO does he or she represent?
…and WHY are the FEW remaining FEDERALLY PROTECTED Wild Horses & Burros being targeted in such a malicious manner..WHY?
Last week, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., gave a speech in support of passing the Trade Promotion Authority, aka “Fast Track Authority,
http://www.industryweek.com/ideaxchange/would-trans-pacific-partnership-really-be-free-trade
List of 218 members of Congress who voted for Trans-Pacific Partnership fast track authority (Rep Tom McClintock Is on that list)
http://www.whatthefolly.com/2015/06/18/list-of-218-members-of-congress-who-voted-for-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-fast-track-authority/
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), An Oppressive US-Led Free Trade Agreement, A Corporate Power-Tool of the 1%
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-an-oppressive-us-led-free-trade-agreement-a-corporate-power-tool-of-the-1/5329497
Six hundred US corporate advisors have negotiated and had input into the TPP, and the proposed draft text has not been made available to the public, the press or policymakers. The level of secrecy surrounding the agreements is unparalleled – paramilitary teams scatter outside the premise of each round of discussions while helicopters loom overhead – media outlets impose a near-total blackout of reportage on the subject and US Senator Ron Wyden, the Chair of the Congressional
Committee with jurisdiction over TPP, was denied access to the negotiation texts. “The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PhaRMA, Comcast and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement,” said Wyden, in a floor statement to Congress.
US standards for property rights protection would be swept away in favor of international property rights standards, as interpreted by TPP’s unelected international tribunals,
giving investors principal control over PUBLIC LAND and RESOURCES
“that are not for the exclusive or predominant use and benefit of the government.”
Facts About the Trans Pacific Partners Agreement
http://www.rosieontheright.com/the-terrible-truth-about-the-trans-pacific-partners-agreement/
Obamatrade would surrender control of 544 million acres of public land – a quarter of the entire U.S. land area -to international authorities
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I know this sounds really weird and that I’m gonna take a lot of flak but, paradoxically, it is the welfare ranching lobby who is benefiting the most from trade barriers that keep their product prices up, and hence their profits and political power.
This is no joke, nor is political propaganda. It is pure economical theory, right off the book. Right now you guys have a cartel fueled with tax money capturing government regulators to maintain the status quo forever. You need to realize of that fact.
I did read a leaked draft on some TTIP (I know it is a different treaty than TPP)sections pertaining to agricultural regulations and it was more like unifying inspection standards, documentation and requirements to make them fully equivalent to EU standards. Local laws of each individual country would still apply but regulations that might be interpreted as protectionist (a trade barrier, something that tips the balance in favor of one countries’ producers) would be subjected to arbitration. But no really such a thing like giving away public lands (that has been already happening though for years way before TPP was being discussed and for reasons entirely different).
I concede though that that might have other unintended consequences, most relevantly for jobs, so I do understand everybody’s concerns. I’m also wary of TTIP for the effects it may have in EU countries’ economies.
It should be noted as well that NAFTA is in essence the same and, for example, all state horse slaughter bans survived legal challenges based on that. So did the funding ban.
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Well, my stomach certainly does not feel so great now! Frankly the most enjoyable part of this & the ONLY enjoyable part was watching the BLM guy get dragged across the coals. The gal from Wyoming with her “lovely peaceful euthanize” story? They all came in the door knowing exactly what the end result would be. Was there anyone that didn’t come from a “long line of ranchers”? The (to quote Wyoming person) emotional – unbridled passion of the gal that got thrown out by the police probably did herself & her organization more harm – because there was no way any horse advocate was going to get anywhere. Ginger being asked how much money the Cloud Foundation puts into the wild horse species! And not being allowed to even tell the name of the scientist that says the horse is a native species. Talk about a setup!
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Let them know what you think. They need to hear from the Public
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
https://naturalresources.house.gov/contact/
Phone: (202) 225-2761
Fax: (202) 225-5929
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The Subcommittee on Federal Lands consists of 24 Members, 15 Republicans and 9 Democrats
http://naturalresources.house.gov/federallands/
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Here’s what I send to my Congressman LaHood from IL. I don’t expect much since he’s trying to go more right wing that his Dad was.
As a horse owner and someone who has been following this subject for decades, I am disgusted by even the notion of “gutting” mares out on the range to die (out of sight of any monitors). This is a complicated surgery even when done in a sterile equine hospital by a qualified veterinarian and his team, let alone out on the range by a butcher vet (who has evidently already killed some mares with his Mengele experiments) Common sense says you wouldn’t spay your dog out in your backyard and just leave her there to fend for herself, so what idiot would think this would work for a horse?? No one with a functioning brain cell (unless your real intent is for the animal to die).
And Wow, this committee is a virtual “Who’s Who” of anti-environment and anti- The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. Which side of evil are you going to come down on?
Cynthia Lummis (cohort and co-conspirator of “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis ) of Wyoming
Rob Bishop (in the cabal of Bundy-ite Koch-sucking Mormons Ken Ivory and “Scabbers” Chaffetz to basically steal public land for their developer buddies for money) of Utah
Cresent Hardy (I’ll not for a single thing that helps the environment – a zero from the LCV) of Nevada
Don Young (gas/oil bag) of Alaska
Tom McClintock (Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros. (Jul 2009) of California
GT Thompson (Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros – 0 rating on humane issues) of Pennsylvania
Ryan Zinke (The Montana Stock Growers Association thanks Congressman Zinke – No need to go on) of Montana
Doug LaMalfa (even voted against not selling ivory, so if he won’t save elephants, horses don’t have a prayer) of California
Louis Gohmert ( “If I only had a brain”-no explanation needed) of Texas
Bruce Westerman (votes to sell ivory, allow pollution, and against Endangered Species) of Arkansas
Dan Newhouse (rinse and repeat Bruce Westerman) of Washington
Jody Hice (I vote against EVERYTHING animal, mineral, or vegetable) of Georgia
Tom MacArthur (Holy Batman, I got a whole 6% on the environment, guess I’ll have to slow down so people won’t think I have a heart) of New Jersey
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Where there is Greed there is always Evil and it’s the dollar that drives these people, they don’t see a living breathing being they only see something in their way of making more money and gaining more power. I started a petetion month’s ago to Boycott the very people who are behind all of this and that’s the Cattlemen who want the land, no one can get to all involved but if it’s greed that drives them then cut of the head of the Snake and see what happens, American Consumers put money in the very pockets of those trying to kill off all the Wild Horses and Burros, so if we stop the money train why would they need more land, if we don’t eat their Beef for say a two week period it will costs them millions, no fast food beef, nothing made from Cattle should be consumed, this is a message that we can stop lining the pockets of those who wish all our beloved Wild Horses and Burro’s gone, we are large part of the problem, most beef is not exported it’s consumed right here in the U.S. and we do have a way of cutting off the money supply but why for the life of me people don’t see the simplicity of a Boycott, you don’t have to go on a March, loose work or school and no one can tell me they can’t go without eating beef for lets say two weeks to save what we love, if we can get their attention by hurting what they love the most we can have some control but you can get 1 millionn to like a half naked girl so why can’t we get the millions of people who want to save our Wild Horses and Burros agree to a 2 week Boycott and see the effect, I personally could give up eating beef forever if it means saving the lives of the Wild Horses. We are huge contributers to this issue and we are going to have to come together to solve it, would I love a MILLION SAVE OUR WILD HORSES MARCH on Washington to send our message of course but the Logistics are a nightmare for most people, but to simply stop eating meat is a way sending a huge message, am I crazy to see we line the pockets of those who pay of Politicians and other Government Agencies to get what they want, we are paying for the extention of what we love and nobody can see the power we have and are not using it. It’s mind boggling to me that if it’s money driven greed that will kill off our Horses then lets quit giving them the money to do it.
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Yes yes and more yes, Belinda.
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After watching the videos of horse slaughter & reading about downed dairy cattle being dragged into slaughter houses – beef stopped appealing to me. I’m no vegetarian, but I haven’t bought beef in probably two years. The thought that just because cattle & sheep & others are raised for food – slaughter isn’t the same as for a horse just doesn’t ring true. I still eat chicken & turkey & fish & if I go to my son’s house I do eat beef there, but at the least I haven’t spent a dime on it for some time and wont. If people actually did as Belinda suggests? Maybe it would open a few eyes.
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Belinda, your passion is admirable but the truth is beef raised on public lands for a part of their lives (usually just a few months their first year) represent only a very small part of the American beef industry. Targeting all beef producers who don’t graze animals on public lands (who are by far the majority in our country) isn’t logical or fair, nor would it be effective.
People who possess grazing permits were awarded them by the BLM or USFS under certain conditions, and there is no property right transferred, nor was any ever intended. These permits can be rescinded, revoked, abolished or modified at any time by our government, who rarely do so. While I agree our public rangelands are in trouble and non-native livestock don’t belong there, it is not they who make the laws, only take advantage of what is available to them.
Realistic change can only happen from the top down, and the only way to achieve that is from massive grassroots pressure ON THE TOP as Wild Horse Annie showed us is achievable.
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I see your talking about meat producers and the BLM the very people who want to eradicate Wild Horses and Burros of their legally awared land and no matter how they obtained their permits to graze their Cattle or for the length of time it still comes down to the Cattleman wanting more of the Public lands set aside by law for our Wild Horses and Burros and the BLM has not done the job of Protection and Management in many years, so wether it be by lobbyist hired by others to pass new laws allowing more land to be taken from the Wild Horses and Burros or they have a straight line to those at the BLM or Government people who make the decisions to recend or pass Laws it still comes back to greed and at the cost of the lives of our Wild Horses and Burros. I didn’t say having a Boycott is fair, running Horses until their dead isn’t fair, foals dying, horses dying during these so called round ups, that’s not fair but where does it end, they have no limits to their cruelty to get what they want and you want advocates to fight fair, that has been tried for years and years and each time the laws trying to protect the Wild Horses and Burros’ land are put to vote they loose, it never happens, do you really believe they are being fair, what actions can you tell me where the BLM has done more good than harm, how many have died during round ups, sold to Kill Buyers and you want us to continue to put our faith in their hands or the Cattle Assoc. or any others who want to destroy our Wild Horses and Burros, you are Naive if you belive this fight will be won to save these Horses is by being fair. If we are the ones financing those who want the land for their Cattle then it has to be us that stops pouring money into their hands, they don’t go by the laws that were put in place to protect what we love so if we have to blanket all beef producers to stop the slaughtering and suffering of the Wild Horses and Burros then it needs to be done. You can’t believe that these people play by the rules they serve one purpose and tha’ts greed, if they understood what is owed to the wild horses and Burros for the debt’s we owe their ancestors for the advancment of our Country they would not let greed guide their decisions. I have no Gray areas in this matter, the BLM has failed many times in theri duties of Protection and Mgmt, when you allow a known Kill Buyer to take 1600 or more Protected wild Horses knowing they will be slaughtered you have broken moral laws and the laws set aside to protect the very animals the Agency was set up to protect. We have to take whatever steps are necessary to stop the eradication of our Wild Horses, those we are fighting do not stay within the law, they bribe, they lie, they falsify documentation to justify more killings so don’t talk to me about it’s not fair, there is nothing fair about the killing of one of our Countries greatest treasures. They understand money and power, if we can stop providing the money they can’t buy the Power, if we don’t do this, they will find a way to kill off every Wild Horse and Burro on their own land. How much suffering and death is needed to satisfy those who want more and more, I feel for them there is no limit. Our technology has evolved but our humanity has devolved, the time for change is now.
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THIS is why America’s Wild Horses & Burros are disappearing
America’s Wild Horses Call to Action featuring Raoul Trujillo.
This powerful 90 second call to actin public service announcement will propel the views to contact their elected officials in Washington D.C.
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Its a good public service announcement – should be shown every day all day!
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What can the public do to stand up for and protect horses and burros ?
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Dr. J., this being an election year, hold your area candidate’s feet to the fire and force them to take a position, then vote according to what you hear, or don’t hear, from them. Congress and/or the President can step up any time to solve this problem, but won’t unless they find it prudent for their own interests to do so.
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What about the 1971 law? What about on range management. I know PZP isn’t popular, but the Pryors are trying a newer range plan. Since the horses are so well known it’s easier to document who’s who.
We’re talking Native PZP (the one year version), with specific goals in mind.
Slaughter? Really? Callie needs to breed and raise her own horses for slaughter. Disgusting practice. Dr. G…should’ve been disqualified from the start because of his conflict of interest. And apparently the House leader is a horse hater.
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Indeed. The chair of this subcommittee is a horse hater; that’s why this hearing was set to begin with.
It is not about what the law says or about sound management strategies, science or compromise. It is about making a purely political statement:
– That they hate the federal government trying to put some order and control on what they do to pad their pockets.
– That they hate the rest of society that feels it is unfair they receive priviledges and subsidies, particularly those animal loving, horse hugging urbanites that make up for 99% of the US economy and population.
– Despite that hate, the federal government (and hence taxpayers across the nation) should be paying for and mantaining their priviledges, for they’re entitled to them.
– That nobody should interfer or oversight what they do to rake in cash, no matter how dirty or pernicious it may be.
– That animal lovers are basically abherrations that should have no voice.
And several other ones I’ll save you the hassle to read. The common factor is that they want zero regulations on their activities to keep the corporativist structures that provide them power and cash in the form of externalities transferred to the rest of society.
In essence, it was not a hearing but a political hoe down for right wing bigots.
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being railroaded…they’re backing up the trailers as they spoke…incredibly one sided…
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If your expecting enough of those in a position of power to stand up against the Cattleman then all our Wild Horses and Burro’s wil be dead before that happens, it’s a Good Ole Boy mentality where all want in on a piece of the pie and in this case it’s the lands legally left for our Wild Horses and Burros, if we can’t get to the Politicitans then we have to go another way. This issue gets coverage only when a big News story hits like a Kill Buyers trailer overturns and kills some Horses on their way to Slaughter or a Horse is left to die on a main road and they have to Euthanize it, then there’s a huge outcry for Justice, this attention only last if were lucky for a week then forgotten and the Flesh Peddlers keep right on taking our Horses to Slaughter so unless we can keep this issue in the forefront of the Public’s attention we won’t have enough support to stop those who want to kill all Wild Horses and Burro’s, we have become a world filled with amazing technology with abilities to reach Millions of people but we must stop lining the pockets of those who want the land for their Cattle and I’m no genious but I know anything driven by Greed means we can begin to stop the flow of money, if they loose millions they can’t buy off the politicans, their only good ole boys as long as there is something in it for them, we need to shame our local and state politicians if they are in on wanting to kill off the Wild Horse population by writing and faxing and posting on every known media outlet we can reach and spread the news of what’s happening and keep it alive in the minds of Voters that to a Politican is death when the Public believes they want our Horses dead for the sake of a Dollar, we have the technology but not enough is being done by us all not just the well known groups that protest but all of us all the time and FOR THE PEOPLE TO KNOW IF WE STOP EATING MEAT THE POWER CAN BEGIN TO CHANGE TO OUR SIDE. If a solution is simple that doesn’t mean it won’t work, we have so much power and yet we are not using it to stop the killings, we keep giving the Cattleman our money to use against us in this fight to save our Wild Horses and Burro’s. If every oranization and individuals spread the word to stop eating beef, then we have a chance to change the direction of who has the Power, to not Elect those who are for Horse Slaughter and to hit the Cattlemen who want the lands and will pay anyone do anything to achieve this, so we either start using this technology and come together are we will loose this battle.
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Belinda, I agree with you that this would be one way to stop the welfare ranchers. I wish everybody would watch, “Cowspiracy”. Cattle suffer and also cause untold environmental damage. Horses are symbiotic to ecosystems.
BTW I have not eaten meat in 32 years and have a pet hen who supplies eggs.
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Barbara, I’m with you! Cowspiracy sure would educate many people – if only they watched it. My daughter in law has hens – so I get supplied the good old-fashioned way too. Watching that video turned my stomach! It was shameful.
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There isn’t really a need to stop eating beef (even if likely in the future people will eat less and less). It would just suffice to enter a factor of free trade and remove the subsidies and privileges that allow the welfare ranching lobby to subsist, as I explained before.
Let foreign meat products in; the fierce competence will cause a sharp drop in prices that will render the activity unprofitable and eventually most producers will abandon the business. But this will take many years, maybe two or three generations.
Agriculture and all primary sector activities have low added value; they are inherently unprofitable in developed countries and can only survive thanks to government subsidies and trade barriers. This is no secret and all economists are aware of that fact. People will abandon agricultural jobs if they see there is no money or nearly no money to obtain from them.
I know it is not easy to assimilate but perhaps that’s the only way to go.
.
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Daniel, it looks as though foreign meat is already being imported to the U.S.
USDA has decided that consumers don’t need to be informed.
Is it possible that ranchers in the U.S. are looking to export to foreign markets?
House Votes to Repeal Country-of-Origin Labeling for Meat
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/house-votes-to-repeal-country-of-origin-labeling-for-meat/#.V2441nn2Z9A
By Lydia Zuraw | June 11, 2015
The House of Representatives has voted to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef, pork, and chicken.
Texas Republican Rep. Michael Conaway’s Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act of 2015 passed late Wednesday night by a 300-131 vote.
Conaway introduced the bill on May 18 – the same day the World Trade Organization rejected a U.S. appeal of its decision that COOL unfairly discriminates against meat imports and gives the advantage to domestic meat products.
Two days later, the House Agriculture Committee passed the bill by 38-6.
COOL, which went into effect for meat in 2013, require that packaging indicate the country, or countries, where animals were born, raised and slaughtered.
Supporters of repeal don’t want the U.S. subjected to the $3.6 billion in potential retaliatory tariffs sought by Canada and Mexico. They also argue that the rule has already burdened the U.S. meat industry
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Yes it does Louie. And it is also exported as well. In fact, US exports more beef to Mexico than what it imports from it.
COOL can be understood as a trade barrier, but it is more like a giveaway to the big meat distributors rather than the producers. It does however really impact Canadian and Mexican producers. But the are far more dangerous indirect trade barriers, in the form of subsidies and public fund giveaways and grants, such as grazing rights well below market value. Those are the ones we really need to be more concerned about.
In any case, my previous comments need to be put into context. They are just theory, based on very simplified models of reality (sort of “assume a round cow in the vacuum” thing). In practice, it would be extremely difficult to apply that and it will have far more reaching consequences. And those impacted by such economical policies will fight back and will become even more radical than they are now.
This idea was first developed as way to solve extreme poverty in third world countries. They would produce agricultural products at way lower prices than in the developed countries and, assuming all public subsidies, giveaways and trade barriers (both indirect and direct) are removed in developed countries, they will displace producers there since they would not be able to compete in that price range.
In reality, no government will allow this since agriculture is regarded as a strategic sector, even if it is becoming more and more evident it really isn’t. For example, it is no secret that in EU countries, the government used to pay for certain crops that have no viable markets and are later destroyed to prevent a fall of prices. The idea behind is to prevent an exodus from rural communities to urban, industrial areas, using tax money in the form of subsidies for that.
Likewise, even if TPP or TTIP do not really contain any public land giveaway provisions, it doesn’t mean that economical and commercial opportunities fostered by such treaties actually promote an increased use of public land by extractive industries like cattle production, promoting deregulation in order to advance the agendas of welfare ranchers, oil and mining, putting wild horses and other wildlife further in jeopardy.
It should be also pointed out that the use of subsidies it is not, by itself, a bad thing.The problem comes when those subsidies become simply a money transfer to special interests that live off them, and which in turn provide no valuable return (benefit) to the rest of society, instead passing the buck of their externalities and production costs to the rest of nation, and to add insult to injury, demand more. That’s when a subsidy ends up becoming a privilege, and that’s what all these horse-hating guys are all about and why they are so irritating.
But, at any rate, the core underlying idea in my comment remains valid. Remove the subsidies they receive and their bottom line will be hit. Impose strict enforcement of land use, waste management and meat inspection regulations, which by the way will only result in a benefit for the rest of society. That will cause a rise in production costs that will eventually render the business less and less profitable, causing an exit of producers from that business sector towards other ones with more added value and more profitable. Provide no generational shift.
While some may content this sounds evil, it really isn’t. It is the natural evolution from low added value activities to more sophisticated, higher value ones. Agriculture will always remain, but it will have to evolve towards other models focused on efficiency and automation, instead of relying on techniques from three centuries ago and tax-payer-funded transfer rents from the rest of the society.
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Daniel, there’s something that I just recently discovered by listening to a discussion on trade agreements. Years ago American consumers stopped buying tuna because dolphins were getting caught and killed in the tuna nets. They worked hard to get dolphin protections in place. Under one of those international trade agreements, the commercial fishing industry got its way and the marine mammals lost.
Mexico sued the U.S. and won.
This is a 77 page document, so I will only put the first paragraph. The document gives much of the legalities, and shows how giant corporations work the system.
U.S./MEXICO TUNA EMBARGO DISPUTE
http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1421&context=mjil
The failure of the GATT to provide for valid environmental protection
measures was illustrated when Mexico challenged the U.S.
Marine Mammal Protection Act.” The MMPA was enacted by the
U.S. Congress to prevent serious injury or incidental killing of marine
mammals in the course of commercial fishing, especially in the Eastern
Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP). 2 The ETP was of special concern to
Congress because dolphins and tuna inhabit the same areas in these
waters.33 Knowing this, commercial fishermen in the ETP intentionally
encircled the dolphins with purse-seine nets in order to catch the tuna
swimming underneath.34 Prior to the passage of the MMPA, these fishing
techniques resulted in the death of an estimated 250,000 dolphins
per year.35
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Thank you. Wasn’t aware of this particular example. Now I see where the real danger may come from. I still don’t think they will dare something as big as repealing the WFHBA or the inspections funding ban, at least not right now, but the danger is present.
As I said in another post, I really don’t support these treaties. I just wanted to show the theoretical example that causing a price drop and eliminating subsidies may result in most welfare ranchers leaving the business.
The idea was that, if we can’t rely on Congress on doing its job, maybe we should find ways to drive these yahoos out of business.
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Daniel, one of the main objections to international treaties is that they usurp the laws of sovereign nations. Could it be possible that TTP could be used to nullify the ban on Horse slaughter in the U.S.?
BLM has been stockpiling our WH&B for a very long time. That is how many of us came to know about this travesty. The first I heard of it was in 2009 when BLM was threatening to euthanize all WH&B in holding facilities because “they couldn’t afford to take care of them”.
“They” almost succeeded in getting those Horse slaughter plants back up and running. Could it be that because that didn’t happen, there needs to be another route to eliminate WH&B altogether. I sure looks as though that is the end goal.
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It really depends on the actual language of the treaty, which is largely unknown, but I honestly don’t think so. Here is why:
– The draft I read about TTIP concerning agricultural regulations had a very vague provision that protects local laws of sovereign territories if they do not provide a trade advantage to any party.
– All slaughter bans, both state and the federal funding one, survived court challenges alleging they were unconstitutional because it violated NAFTA (which is similar to TTIP) and the constitutions’ foreign commerce clause. Precedent has been now established and it is unlikely to be reversed. To put it simply, once that it has been ruled that the slaughter bans do not conflict with international treaties that decision cannot be reversed. And international treaties are not above laws of a sovereign nation, but actually we can say they are kind of paired with federal laws.
– For the ban to be repealed based on TTIP and arbitration, there would be to have a valid commercial claim that US laws unfairly prevent foreign horsemeat companies from actually selling (not killing horses to produce meat, but actually selling the meat, shrink wrapped, in the meat counter, at Target’s and Kroger’s) their products in the US, while allowing US-owned companies to do so.
For example; in the GATT tuna dispute, the US imposed an embargo on tuna light meat imports susceptible of containing yellowfin from Mexico, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Panama and Ecuador, unless the importer could produce evidence that no yellowfin tuna were harvested using purse seine fishing techniques. This was seen as an unfair commercial advantage to the US fishing industry, which could prove that no purse seine rigs were used. The core of the question was that perceived advantage, even if it merely results from third countries unwilling to invest money to achieve certain environmental, technological and qualitative standards set by developed countries.
Since the slaughter bans do not provide any advantage to local horsemeat industry, because there isn’t any and because no horse meat is eaten in the US, there is not a valid commercial claim. Moreover, the ban applies equally to all, be it foreign, US or extraterrestrial . Thus it cannot be contested in WTO / treaty commercial grounds, nor argued to be unconstitutional.
Also, save for the four states that banned horse slaughter / horse meat sales, nothing legally prevents the foreign horsemeat industry from selling their stuff in the US (in fact some 100 tons make their way from Canada each month), so they have no case at all. Another question is that nobody in his right mind will buy it anyways.
– The foreign horsemeat industry is less powerful than what we tend to think, compared to big agribusiness. For example, all the horsemeat exported by Mexico in 2014 was worth 51.5 million USD. This may seem a lot of money but in international trade terms is trifle. I don’t think they have the leverage to bring a case to the WTO nor that their come countries, namely Belgium (a well developed country that doesn’t depend on this industry) will care to further their agenda beyond sloppy inspections at the BIPs to let in a certain level of meat from Mexico.
– And finally, the number of wild horses is so small that it couldn’t simply feed the Mexican or Canadian horsemeat industry for longer than a couple months. The foreign horsemeat industry doesn’t care where the horses come from nor stands to gain anything from killing wild horses vs domestic ones. Their business is the import and distribution of finished product to retail for a good price, it is not even the killing, which is now externalized to locals. They tend to own as few assets as possible and invest zero in facilities if they can (and in case any pro-slaughter plant is lurking here, no, they won’t spend a dime in the US even if they could set up shop right now, when they can get the same product for a fraction in Mexico).
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Re: Oversight Committee
I know there are many definitions for the word “oversight” (I looked it up) but as far as what I heard in the committee meeting they spoke lies about the overpopulation and wild horse and burro and public grazing issues so here is my take on the “oversight” meeting.
The committee FAILED to use scientifically supportable and credible facts.
The committee OMITTED the true cause of public lands degradation which is private/corporate welfare livestock owners mooching off the American people.
The committee made MISTAKE after MISTAKE in their presentations of the issues.
The committee NEGLECTED to provide any independent scientific and non-political data about the truth of the wild horses and burros on their legal lands.
The committee used serious CARELESS in acquiring their information and obviously got what they speak as truths from only BLM who uses false and politically influenced data for their propaganda which was what they spewed to the public.
The committee used FAULTY data and Included major ERRORS in their presentation of the issues.
The committee DISREGARDED the scientifically credible and valid and available truth … in favor of lies, lies, and more lies.
The meeting was a perfect example of absolute political corruption. Sad but true.
Please excuse me for repeating myself but this explains to a tee, BLM in general and also this committee. There is a legal term for how the BLM operates. It is “Regulatory Capture”. Regulatory capture is a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture occurs when special interests co-opt policymakers or political bodies to further their own ends. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure; it creates an opening for firms to behave in ways injurious to the public. The agencies are called “captured agencies”.
OVERSIGHT noun: failure, omission, mistakes, neglect, carelessness, fault, error, default, dereliction, disregard, error, fault, overlook
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Daniel, I have been paying a great deal more attention to trade agreements than I had in the past. The fact that they are negotiated in secret is something that truly concerns me. The other thing that caught my attention regarding TTP is the fact that it would put a great deal of our Public Lands under international law or tribunals.
I think it’s about more than meat exports and imports. Our Public Lands are rich in Natural Resources. Gas, oil and mineral extractions have often been the reason behind many of the Wild Horse & Burro removals. I’m not giving the anti-Wild Horse ranchers any slack here, but there are other equally guilty parties involved. There does appear to have been a very concentrated “push” to get WH&B out of the way and it seems as though that started escalating in 2008/2009. That’s just speculation on my part, but it sure does set my warning bell to ringing. Right now, it’s as though BLM and the Forest Service have been given a deadline. We’re even seeing it in the National Park Service. Those of us who have read and commented in so many Environmental Assessments are seeing a very disturbing pattern.
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Yes, I know they are negotiated in secret and part of the content is only known for partial drafts leaked by whistleblowers.
While I can only speak for the draft concerning agricultural production regulations I read, I honestly do not think the actual language has a direct, explicit mandate to put any portion of public lands under control of international trade law.
However, I do agree wholeheartedly that certain laws passed to protect environment by creating what is regarded as “cumbersome regulations” by industry, such as NEPA, mandatory EAs and the like, would be instead subjected to arbitration, which are those international courts that are frequently mentioned, if they interfere with the ability of a party to sell their products in the US or to carry out commercial activities in the US. I agree as well that special interests like the agribusiness lobby will use the loopholes created by these treaties to their own advantage, even if there is no foreign trade component involved. This is where the real danger for wild horses is or where the horsemeat industry may try to force the pipeline to stay open.
It is also true that both treaties will lead to massive offshoring of jobs to developing countries where salaries and labor rights are lower, resulting in increased poverty for working-class European and American citizens, all while corporate interests pad their pockets big time with the reduction of production costs and funnel their profits to Caribbean tax havens. That’s the actual goal of those treaties.
I do not support either treaty by any means at all, they will only bring misery to working class people, but we need to understand clearly what we are facing and what they do and what don’t in order to help horses.
Corporate interests already control public lands and do what they want with them, with the government letting do, more or less, what they see fit, either to avoid controversy with the hyper-conservative elements that dominate public land policy or out of pure collusion with some of those interests. In this regard, and as far as the Interior Department is concerned, the current administration has been continuist with the policies of the W. Bush one. An explanation for this is that, no matter who is picked for Interior, the agency will be always dominated by the same elements, working from the inside to advance the agenda of welfare ranching, mining and other corporate interests. A proof of this is the Stewart Amendment that was originally slipped by DOI in the budget request draft passed on to the White House (it was cleaned and didn’t show up in the draft posted in the house committee website, so the amendment was later inserted back by Stewart during the markup session).
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This article is about NC, but could be anywhere that a CAFO exists.
Interactive map shows how 6,500 factory farms put North Carolinian at risk.
http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/22/north-carolina-cafos
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Many thanks for your comments on actions to take, Louie C. It may help to even call several times.
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Barbara, you are ever so welcome and glad to see you back.
Daniel, I think you’re right on so many points regarding the TTP. My comments on the TTP are posted more as a warning/alert. We all need to be aware and informed, because it would have so much impact on everything and everyone.
I heard a very good quote from someone who had been within the D.C. circle and knew how things worked…and still work. He said this:
There is no conspiracy…these people all think alike”
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And unfortunately they all think they are “right”.
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“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do – the seduction of it – but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best. … Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a-hold, be a citizen – not a subject.”
― Edward Abbey
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After reading so much of the laws and interpretation of them I feel as if I’m not talking about the same issues. The need to save our Wild Horses and Burros is a not just a political issue it’s a Moral issue of what we as Americans hold sacred, we have destroyed so many things environmentally and called it progress and it hasn’t, the technology that allows us to have this discussion although needed it also has turned us into a virtual Country. When Martin Luther King change the world he didn’t have this technology but what he had was determination and the drive to stop the degredation of people based soley on the color of their skin and he did all that without any of this technology so explain to me how we can now reach millions of people about the destruction of our lands, the killing and suffering of our Horses and many others for profit and yet it continues, we don’t have generations to wait and see, I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know of the Wild ones. To speak about the issue will not change the problem, it will take action, every major change in this country came at a cost but it advanced our humanity but what is happening now to the Wild Horses is unacceptable to me as an American, what is sacred, what will be the next target to destroy for profit or gain. I can read all the written laws and what can and can’t be done but given enough time they will kill all the wild Horses for their land and is it to advance our Society by soaking the land with the Blood of Horses who rightfully belong there, how does that advance our humanity, do we do nothing until there’s nothing we can do or do we start using our power. I’ve emailed, faxed and called dozens of times Politicians who could bring about change and all I receive is their aware of the issues and are looking into them, B.S. not one call returned or letter received about THE ISSUES, so we who want to save what we love have to start the change. How proud of a nation can we be if we don’t hold living beings lives as something sacred not to be destroyed for profit. There are so many groups and sites about this issue, why can’t there be one site with all available legitimate information for those aware or unaware of what’s happening to go and see what our own Government is trying to do, you can go crazy trying to decipher hundreds of sites of information, why can’t we all who want to save these Horses come together and use every technology we have to show Americans what is happening using proven and truthful information. I’m not into talking about trades and imports and exports I only want the killing and suffering of these animals to stop and that will not happen without us coming together and start fighting harder and finding better ways to put pressure on anyone who will stands against saving them.
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Belinda, your frustration is understandable. When the discussion leads to trades and imports, that is because they have such an impact on the decisions made at the D. C. level.
It is always a matter of “follow the money”.
Horse slaughter and Wild Horse & Burro removals from Public Lands go hand-in-hand. They are twin demons.
It is important to know the cause and who stands to gain.
There is excellent and truthful information (including radio shows) on this website and you can access all of it through the monthly archives on the right-hand side.
I think what we all need are a list of talking points that can either be put in writing or addressed on the phone. Phone calls are important.
Perhaps we can come up with something that everyone can use.
For starters, we all agree on these points (this is open to input and suggestions)
Each point can be backed up with data and facts that you can find on this website in the many reports that have been published. You will also find links to other good resources here:
There is NO overpopulation of Wild Horses or Burros. Where is the proof?
There is NO validation that they are the cause of range degradation. Where is the proof?
Since 1971, over one half of the original herds have been zeroed out & over 26 Million original acres have been removed from Wild Horse & Burro use by the BLM.
(PUBLIC COMMENTS TO NATIONAL WHB ADVISORY BOARD, APRIL 13, 2016,
BY CARLA BOWERS)
They belong back on the range and in their Legal Herd Management Areas
The only management needed is ON THE RANGE MANAGEMENT that follows the mandates of the Wild Horse & Burro Act, That is still law of the land.
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Exactly, we are so spread out trying to find out info. as quicksly as we can so we can respond but some postings are out dated our just not true so theres a waste of time and manuevering to find what is the truth. We don’t blast to the White House phones we’ve done email blast and still more who need to get involved. I post out on celebraties who love Horses but are not vocal enough and they have a major platform in which to send out the message of what is going, do they not know that 5 minutes during each performance they say we need everyones help save Wild Horses what an amazing statement to thousands at one time. I’ve emailed posted on every site to anyone who I believe love Horses based on statements made and nothing, they would be able to educate hundreds of thousands of people, yes I know when you go to a Concert you just want to have fun but if it’s something this important wait until the end of the Concert, do podcasts where those in the media speak up and out about what is happening here, for once make it about something important and not about fashion, who’s with who how much people have, those in the scheme of life mean nothing to me. The saddest thing I can imagine is that I won’t be able to take my Grandchildren to see the Wild Herds and their children will miss an important part of America’s History. I have 3 Mustangs here at my Rescue and I love them beyond and back I have others but these that ran free and had that stolen from them makes me want to give them more and as much as I love them if I could I would let them back where they belong, running free and living as God had intended.
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Belinda, put that in your letter. You might be surprised how much it will help.
Influence Without Money: Making your Voice Count
The Power of One: How Best to Use It
Perhaps 90 percent of our citizens live and die without ever taking pen in hand and expressing a single opinion to the person who represents them in Congress–a person whose vote may decide what price they will pay for the acts of government, either in dollars or in human lives,” wrote the late Rep. Morns Udall (D-Ariz.)in a letter to constituents.
Although no barometer exists to measure the political pressure each letter exerts, politicians say that each person who rakes the one and effort to write a thoughtful, coherent letter represents from three to eight additional constituents
In a classic example of how powerful letter-writing can be, Carrell tells of a California legislator who sponsored a damaging river bill.
“After he received 20 or so letters from constituents about the bill, he told me he was surprised to find ‘any of you people in my district,'” Carrell said. He seemed particularly unnerved when he realized that many of these ‘environmentalist’ constituents were people of some note in his district, such as PTA members and a well-known physician. He changed his vote on the bill, at some cost to his relationship with its author.”
Of all the methods, the phone call is the quickest and easiest, and politician. count it as a close second to the letter. Sen. Nancy Kassenbaum’s (R-Kan.) of fire reports that they receive anywhere from 10 calls a minute on days when there is a vote, to two or three calls per day when there is no legislative activity.
To ensure that your call is being registered, ask for a reply. “Always keep them accountable,” said Ettleson. “If you write or call, ask for a written response.”
Calls are tallied and reported to legislators just like letters. The White House, which receives between 2,000 and 2,500 calls a day, routes these numbers to the president daily. Often, if a comment is particularly striking, it’s written down and passed on to the president,” said the White House comments line director.
Gauging the overall effectiveness of calls is difficult. But the more calls on an issue, the greater the impact. “If’ 20 calls come into the district of fire in a day on the same issue, this information is quickly relayed to the legislator,” said Ettleson.
http://vault.sierraclub.org/planet/199510/power.asp
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Here is what I sent my representative LaHood of Illinois. I don’t expect much as he is trying to veer more right of his Dad, Ray LaHood.
As a horse owner and someone who has been following this subject for decades, I am disgusted by even the notion of “gutting” mares out on the range to die (out of sight of any monitors). This is a complicated surgery even when done in a sterile equine hospital by a qualified veterinarian and his team, let alone out on the range by a butcher vet (who has evidently already killed some mares with his Mengele experiments) Common sense says you wouldn’t spay your dog out in your backyard and just leave her there to fend for herself, so what idiot would think this would work for a horse?? No one with a functioning brain cell (unless your real intent is for the animal to die).
And Wow, this committee is a virtual “Who’s Who” of anti-environment and anti- The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. Which side of evil are you going to come down on?
Cynthia Lummis (cohort and co-conspirator of “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis ) of Wyoming
Rob Bishop (in the cabal of Bundy-ite Koch-sucking Mormons Ken Ivory and “Scabbers” Chaffetz to basically steal public land for their developer buddies for money) of Utah
Cresent Hardy (I’ll not for for a single thing that helps the environment – a zero from the LCV) of Nevada
Don Young (gas/oil bag) of Alaska
Tom McClintock (Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros. (Jul 2009) of California
GT Thompson (Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros – 0 rating on humane issues) of Pennsylvania
Ryan Zinke (The Montana Stock Growers Association thanks Congressman Zinke – No need to go on) of Montana
Doug LaMalfa (even voted against not selling ivory, so if he won’t save elephants, horses don’t have a prayer) of California
Louis Gohmert ( “If I only had a brain”-no explanation needed) of Texas
Bruce Westerman (votes to sell ivory, allow pollution, and against Endangered Species) of Arkansas
Dan Newhouse (rinse and repeat Bruce Westerman) of Washington
Jody Hice (I vote against EVERYTHING animal, mineral, or vegetable) of Georgia
Tom MacArthur (Holy Batman, I got a whole 6% on the environment, guess I’ll have to slow down so people won’t think I have a heart) of New Jersey
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Waa Waa … they cry and cry about the cost of the Wild Horse and Burro Program that is completely mis-managed by them to start with but they never mention the cost to tax-payers to graze non-native private/corporate domestic livestock on OUR public lands.
“The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported the federal government spends at least $144 million each year managing private livestock grazing on federal public lands, but collects only $21 million in grazing fees—for a net LOSS of at least $123 million per year.”
Click to access factsheet_Grazing_Fiscal_Costs(3).pdf
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That’s only a pretext. 80 million or 150 are a drop in the bucket. Compare that with the 4 billion thrown down the window in the F35 program.
The core idea of the meeting was to kill horses to make an ideological statement.
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Commentary: public lands ranching is driving sage grouse extinct
http://m.elkodaily.com/news/opinion/commentary/commentary-public-lands-ranching-is-driving-sage-grouse-extinct/article_1550f73b-b5a9-5437-ac08-ce03ae1707a4.html
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Federal lands ranching: a half century of decline
https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.10/federal-lands-grazing
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Someone sent me this and we ALL need to tell them about their oversight committee meeting and you may wish to include some of the below thoughts.
PUBLIC comment allowed for 10 Business days after the Natural Resources meeting, The deadline is July 7, 2016.
EMAIL: the Clerk: aniela.butler@mail.house.gov
June 30, 2016
Natural Resources Committee
Attn: Tom McClintock
EMAIL the Clerk: aniela.butler@mail.house.gov
It is clearly visible that last week’s Natural Resources committee meeting led by Tom McClintock, was a clear example of regulatory capture of an agency – the Bureau of Land Management. The information provided to the committee was not scientifically supported and not credible – especially the populations of the public’s wild horses and wild burros both on the range and in the holding facilities. The proposed and recent wild horse captures and removals and sterilization procedures are completely politically and monetarily motivated decisions. This is not in keeping with the law or the wishes of the American people who own the land and who own the wild horses and wild burros – it is completely biased and favored toward special “favored” interest groups. This in itself is illegal and often called “Regulatory Capture”.
Regulatory capture is a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure; it creates an opening for firms to behave in ways injurious to the public (e.g., producing negative externalities). The agencies are called “captured agencies”.
For the past 40 plus years the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and associates have been chipping away at these legal wild horse and wild burro lands and obviously the recovery and reinstatement of wild horses and wild burros would be unfavorable to any financial stakeholders, i.e. livestock permittees, mining and energy corporations, large lobbying trophy hunting “clubs” and many more. But let’s face it … the only persons that have worked for 40 plus years for the extinction of wild horses and burros are those with a financial interest. This has been and continues to be unacceptable, illegal and the American citizens including me are disgusted at the “sell-out” of our lands and resources by the agency that is responsible to protect them … the Bureau of Land Management.
I require each of the committee members and speakers admit to the public their political and financial connections to the agencies and private/corporate benefactors of the destruction of the wild horses and wild burros and the selling leasing of our public lands and resources – i.e. admit their connection to regulatory capture.
Sincerely,
Receipt Requested
Response Requested
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Response letter from Representative Tom McClintock who is absolutely a LARGE part of the problem – i.e. no knowledge of the true facts AND clearly a member of the corrupt Regulatory Capture “club”.
Thank you for writing regarding wild horses on federal lands.
In 1971, Congress tasked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service with protecting the wild horses and burros on federal lands and made these agencies responsible for determining and maintaining appropriate herd sizes. The present national herd size is well above the sustainable target set by BLM.
The growing number of wild horses and burros presents significant environmental and budgetary concerns. From fiscal year (FY) 2000 to FY 2014 , the total appropriation for wild horse and burro management almost quadrupled from $20 million to $77 million . The President has requested an additional $2 .8 million this year. This growth in spending is unsustainable, especially in light of our $492 billion dollar budget deficit (which amounts to nearly $1,561 in new debt this year for every man, woman, and child in our country).
I will continue working with my colleagues on all options to address this issue, including streamlining the adoption process, making more efficient use of federal land, increasing use of birth control and other common-sense solutions. We must not make the same mistake with wild horses that we are making with our forests: Under-management and overpopulation are the surest ways to environmental degradation.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please don’t hesitate to contact me again regarding any issue that concerns you or your family. Also, please visit my website at http://www.mcclintock.house.gov for additional information.
Sincerely,
Tom
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I will fight for horses wild or tame, for the rest of my life. These cattlemen r disgusting! The cattle r the ones messing up the enviornment with their production of methane gas! Horses helped settle this country. Where would we be without the horse. And they r used in so many positive ways. Most of all for pleasure. And they respond to us as companions. We need to protect these beautiful animals not slaughter them or eat them! Make the cattlemen corral their cattle and start feeding them. And get som livestock protection dogs instead of shooting wolves. The majority of Americans want the wild horses and the wolves!!
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All life’s matter
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