Don't Eat Horses!

HORSE-EATING FOREIGNERS AIDED IN CONGRESS BY ONE TEXAS REPUBLICAN

By John Hanchette | Niagara Falls Reporter | 11.15.05

OLEAN -- Just before last weekend President George W. Bush signed without fanfare a $100 billion agricultural spending bill that contained many routine expenditures, but hid buried within a raging and painful controversy which can only grow in our American culture.

It is the incredibly widespread slaughter of horses for human consumption.

In the United States, we tend to look upon horses as unique creatures -- more as heroic companions than dumb draft animals or beasts of burden -- that helped us attain our 'manifest destiny' and national success.

The Pony Express. Mustangs. Cowboys. The Old West. Cattle drives. John Wayne. Faithful travelers. Willing conveyances. Friends of farmers and ranchers. Life savers, really. In some states, as recently as little more than a century ago, you could be hung for just stealing one.

When I explained to some of my college students that more than 65,000 horses are slaughtered each year in this supposedly humane nation of ours and shipped overseas so well-off Europeans and Japanese can eat them, the information produced disbelief. The students were offended and astounded, and a few driven to tears.

Mainly in France, Belgium and Japan -- but also in Holland, Italy, Switzerland and a few other countries that routinely look down their national noses at Americans as culturally crude barbarians -- diners who consider themselves sophisticated are paying the equivalent of $15 "

There's more in an email circulating around. If you would like a copy, contact Esther or Linda Harrison.

New Horse Channel on TV!

In case you haven't heard there is a new TV channel that launched last week called HorseTV. Please email your TV provider and request it. You can email to Dish on their web site and DirectTV on its web site.

Right To Ride Legislation

"Right To Ride Legislation AQHA ONLINE - The American Quarter Horse Association -- Legislative Alerts and Updates: 'Action AlertEncourage Your Congressmen to CoSponsor Right to Ride Legislation'Right to Ride' legislation has now been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This legislation is intended to preserve the access of horses and pack stock to public lands where there is a historical tradition of such use. These bills will help recreational horsemen in the battle against the closure of trails for equine use on public lands.Specifically, the legislation mandates that the lands should be managed by federal agencies 'to preserve and facilitate the continued use and access of pack and saddle stock animals on such lands where there is a historical tradition of such use.'

This legislation would apply to federal lands managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Legislation Representative George Radanovich (R-CA) introduced his bill, H.R. 586, in the House of Representatives on March 15 and Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced an identical bill in the Senate, S. 781, on April 14.

Co-Sponsors of the legislation are needed in both the House and Senate to assist in the passage of these bills."

You can read the bill here: