Day: September 6, 2004

Activist Pleads Not Guilty to Trespassing, Obstruction

New Jersey animal rights activist Angi Metler, 47, plead not guilty this month to charges of trespassing and obstructing a government function. Metler locked herself to a bear trap in August and police had to remove part of the cage to arrest her.

According to the New Jersey Herald, Metler and another activist with Bear Education and Resource Group visited a home that had recently been broken into by a bear. State wildlife officials had set up a trap outside the home in hopes the bear would return.

The New Jersey Herald reported that,

Words were apparently exchanged between [the homeowner] and the activists, and Metler’s solution was to jump into the cage to prevent the death of the bear, which would be killed if caught and positively identified as the problem animal.

Wildlife officials believe that one or two bears is responsible for numerous home break-ins in the area.

Source:

Caged BEAR activist ready to go to trial. Brendan Berls, New Jersey Herald, September 1, 2004.

Mark Steyn on Beslan Massacre and Muslim Terrorism

After noting the absurdity of the media’s insistence on calling those who murdered hundreds of children in Russia “militants” or even “rebels” rather than terrorists, Mark Steyn lays out what is most troubling about the upswing in acts of terror by Muslim terrorists,

The reality is that the IRA and ETA and the ANC and any number of secessionist and nationalist movements all the way back to the American revolutionaries could have seized schoolhouses and shot all the children.

But they didn’t. Because, if they had, there would have been widespread revulsion within the perpetrators’ own communities. To put it at its most tactful, that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

So the particular character of this “insurgency” does not derive from the requirements of “asymmetrical warfare” but from . . . well, let’s see, what was the word missing from those three analyses of the Beslan massacre? Here’s a clue: half the dead “Chechen separatists” were not Chechens at all, but Arabs. And yet, tastefully tiptoeing round the subject, The New York Times couldn’t bring itself to use the words Muslim or Islamist, for fear presumably of offending multicultural sensibilities.

Source:


Mark Steyn: No other word for it but slaughter. Mark Steyn, The Australian, September 6, 2004.

Living in the Land of the Lost

Much to the chagrin of my wife, my daughter and I marked Labor Day with a “Land of the Lost” marathon since it rained most of the day. My wife especially hates the theme song (MP3).

I had nightmares through most of the 1970s which involved being chased through underground caverns by Sleestaks and an entire other set of nightmares related to crossbows which were inspired by the weapons the lizard men chose to use. Nothing except the Howling ever approached the nightmare quotient that Land of the Lost did, at least for me.

One of the interesting things watching it now is just how many prominent sci-fi authors wrote scripts for the show. Watching the credits go by and seeing Ben Bova, Larry Niven, and others credited with writing episodes speaks to why it received such (relatively) high ratings for a Saturday morning kid’s show.

Season 1 is available on a 3 DVD set already, and Season 2 will be out later this month.

Humane USA Endorses John Kerry

Humane USA recently endorsed Democrat John Kerry for president in the upcoming U.S. election. According to its web site, Humane USA is a political action committee formed by leaders of animal rights groups including The Humane Society of the United States, The Fund for Animals, Farm Sanctuary, ASPCA, Doris Day Animal League, Animal Welfare Institute, The Ark Trust, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

In a press release announcing its endorsement, Humane USA said,

  • Kerry was the co-author with former Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) of the successful effort to halt an annual $2 million subsidy for the mink industry – terminating a taxpayer give-away to the corporate mink industry. Kerry and Smith shepherded this amendment through the Senate during debate on the Fiscal Year 1995 Agriculture Appropriations Act, and they have repelled subsequent efforts by legislators aligned with the mink industry to revive the taxpayer boondoggle.
  • Kerry has a notable record of co-sponsoring animal friendly legislation, including support of measures to combat cockfighting, bear baiting, canned hunts, puppy mills, the bear parts trade, the exotic pet trade, steel-jawed leghold traps, and the abuse of “downed” livestock.
  • Kerry has also exerted leadership in securing important funds for animal protection. In recent years, he and Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) co-authored letters sent to the leaders of the Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations to increase funding for existing animal protection laws, including the Animal Welfare Act and the Humane Slaughter Act. Thanks in part to KerryÂ’s leadership – and his collaboration with the powerful senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) – the Congress has provided more than $26 million in new funds for animal protection programs in recent years.

    • The President of the United States has a major impact on public policies that affect the lives of animals. The Animal Welfare Act, Humane Slaughter Act, Horse Protection Act, and a long list of other federal laws need proper enforcement if their original purposes are to be fulfilled. The president also shapes how Congress views new legislative proposals to protect animals from cruelty and abuse. We need John Kerry – not George W. Bush – in the White House.

Interestingly, as Humane USA points out, the Bush campaign’s web site also highlights the support Kerry has received from animal rights groups the Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals,

John Kerry has the highest rating on the Humane Scorecard sponsored jointly by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Fund for Animals. Both groups are firmly committed to ending hunting in this country.

  • HSUSÂ’ website says “sport hunting – the killing of wild animals as recreation – is fundamentally at odds with the values of a humane, just and caring society” (emphasis added). (www.hsus.org/ace/12035; viewed 7/5/04).
  • Heidi Prescott, the National Director of the Fund for Animals, said in a 1995 speech that the Fund for Animals is “unalterably opposed to the killing of animals for sport” (emphasis added). (Speech by Heidi Prescott to the 4th Annual Governors Symposium on North AmericaÂ’s Hunting Heritage, August 1995)

Sources:

Humane USA Endorses John Kerry for President. Press Release, Humane USA, Undated.

John Kerry on Hunting. Press Release, GeorgWBush.com, July 10, 2004.

Maryland Bear Hunt to Begin as Scheduled

Despite a 12-7 vote against Maryland’s proposed bear hunt by the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said the bear hunt would go forward as planned this October.

The Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee is charged with reviewing rules and decisions by stage agencies, and it voted 12-7 in late August to oppose the Maryland Department of Natural Resources plans to allow a bear hunt. The vote means that Gov. Ehrlich must personally approve the bear hunt, and a spokesman for the governor said the DNR would be allowed to proceed with the planned hunt.

Paul F. Schurick, spokesman for Gov. Ehrlich, told the Baltimore Sun,

The governor is going to allow DNR to move ahead with their plan. The governor asked the scientists at DNR for a recommendation, and the science has not changed.

Animal rights groups claimed the bear hunt was simply a quid pro quo reward to the National Rifle Association for its support of the governor. Humane Society of the United States president Wayne Pacelle told The Baltimore Sun,

This hunt amounts to a political payback by the governor to the NRA and other trophy-hunting advocacy groups who have supported him.

Paul Peditto, director of DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service, countered that the justification for the bear hunt was based on sound scientific management practice. Peditto noted that the DNR currently receives about 150 complaints a week about bear activity and told The Baltimore Sun,

We now average more than 30 bears who are hit and killed by cars in Western Maryland a year, often injuring drivers. To our mind, the time has come to stabilize our bear population so that people and bears can coexist.

Maryland’s bear hunt is scheduled for Oct. 25 through Oct. 30 with a limit of 30 bears to be killed. If 30 bears are not killed in October, an additional season from Dec. 6 to Dec. 11 is planned.

Source:

Governor says fall black bear hunt will go on. Tom Pelton, The Baltimore Sun, August 26, 2004.

Legislative panel hears arguments to halt bear hunt. Gretchen Parker, Associated Press, August 25, 2004.

Panel Votes Against Bear Hunt. David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post, August 26, 2004.