Congress
is back in session, well, for a month. Then it’s on another break to
get ready for the fall election. Experts agree that this month will
concentrate more on politics than legislation that affects the American
people. Neither side wishes to examine the immigration debate for fear
of losing votes, but they do wish to battle each other for position in
the polls. For example, Democrats wish to publicly and officially
denounce Sec. Donald Rumsfeld. This is clearly a political move to find
out which Republicans will vote against this bill. Then the Democrats
wish to try to use that to their advantage in the election. They
believe the vast majority of Americans hate Rumsfeld and they wish him
to leave, those who back Rummy will not get re-elected or at least as
many votes. Well, unfortunately their idea to put this to a vote in a
spending bill will get bashed at point of order. It does not pertain to
the legislation before them.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on
Tuesday said Democrats were drafting a nonbinding resolution "that
would express a loss of confidence in the Bush administration's Iraq
policy, including a loss of confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld."
You
can see how your tax dollars are being used by Democrats. They are
wasting so much time trying to get a vote that will never occur,
instead of covering more important issues and working with the
Republicans to fight the war on terror. Politics, Politics, Politics. I
can’t even give them a E for effort because they obviously don’t
understand how the floor of the Senate operates.
One bill that
they WILL get to vote on, probably on Thursday, which gains more and
more interest of people, once they find out about it, is House Bill 503
which is to ban the slaughtering of horses for consumption and/or
export. Some Democrats feel this one is a waste of time. Strange, what
do they eat for dinner?
House Bill 503 would also increase funding
for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service from $500,000
to $5 million, and permit APHIS to stop horses being transported so
they may be inspected.
'Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Murfreesboro) late
last week said the bill is ill-conceived and is being forced to a floor
vote as a political favor by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to
help bolster the legislative record of the bill's sponsor, Rep. John E.
Sweeney (R-N.Y.) who's in a hard race for re-election.'
Ah yes,
re-election. I find it humorous that for some reason Rep Gordon thinks
a horse is like a cow. Does he eat horse meat? Opponents to this
measure make quality argument for their side. Why should we slaughter
horses and send the meat to France for their consumption. Can’t France
slaughter their own horses? No, they need to come here and take our
horses from us. Since we do not eat horse meat in the United States,
the practice is pointless, but technically legal. There are 3 slaughter
houses in the U.S., one in Illinois and 2 in Texas that do this. They
export the meat overseas as they are foreign-owned companies. I suppose
getting into the cattle business would be too hard for them.
A
release from Sweeney's office says that in 2003, more than 49,000
horses were slaughtered in the U.S. by two foreign-owned
slaughterhouses in Texas. New York, California, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut, Vermont and Virginia have horse slaughter laws.
What
we must realize is that a horse is not like a cow or a pig. You can
compare it to a dog if you will. It is a great pet to have (expensive,
yes) but a great animal. Horses are beautiful animals and I would never
wish to see them slaughtered in any way. This, the American public
overwhelmingly agrees on. There are humane ways to take care of the
sick or badly injured horses. We see this with animals (pets) all of
the time. What we don’t see is the slaughter of 20,000 dogs each year.
And remember it certain parts of the world they do consume dog meat. If
states are passing laws forbidding the practice, then the federal
government should pass a law forbidding the practice and the transport
of the horses / horse meat over state and international borders. This
may be a small issue to some, but it deserves to be voted on and passed.
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