February 1, 2010
10 Debated Acts of Animal Cruelty
via Listverse by jfrater on 1/31/10
Animal rights are widely known and accepted in western culture but despite this there are topics and events which happen every year that often cause much debate and controversy on the public and media forums. From high profile support from celebrities, outspoken models from the fashion world and animal campaigners, animal rights is an issue that has sparked outrage and even government debate. This is a list of 10 widely discussed topics of animal use that some support openly, while others refuse to accept them under any circumstances.
10
Fur Trade
Worldwide it’s estimated that 40-50 million animals are killed every year for their fur, including raccoon dogs, rabbits, foxes, mink, and chinchillas. The fur trade has gathered much protest from campaigners for the inhumane way the animals are reared and killed, often in cages where they suffer from numerous physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of caging conditions and then killed methods that preserve the pelt, such as gassing, neck-breaking and anal electrocution.
Recently China has come under attack from extremist campaigners such as PETA and media over the cruel photos and videos of dogs and cats being kept in awful conditions and then bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, strangled with wire nooses, and even skinned alive so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets. Fur from China is often mislabeled as that from another species and sold throughout the world so it is difficult to know for certain where the fur you are buying came from.
9
Animal Testing
Some people will say animal testing is necessary in the furthering of medical treatment for humans but the other side of this argument is that animal testing is completely unacceptable and treatment for humans should be only be tested on humans.
It is estimated that 50 to 100 million vertebrate animals worldwide are used annually in animal testing. Although much larger numbers of invertebrates are used and the use of flies and worms as model organisms is very important, experiments on invertebrates are largely unregulated and not included in statistics. Most animals are euthanized after being used in an experiment.
Most research is carried out within universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry.
Supporters of the practice, such as the British Royal Society, argue that virtually every medical achievement in the 20th century relied on the use of animals in some way, with the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences arguing that even sophisticated computers are unable to model interactions between molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, and the environment, making animal research necessary in many areas. Despite this some scientists and animal rights organizations, such as PETA and BUAV, question the legitimacy of it, arguing that it is cruel, poorly regulated and that medical progress is being held back by misleading animal models among other reasons. Regulation on animal testing varies within various countries.
8
Dolphin and Whale Slaughter
Every year, hundreds or even thousands of dolphin and small whale are rounded up and forced into a small hidden cove in Taiji where they are slaughtered in the worlds largest scale kill of its kind, lasting up to six months. Once trapped inside the cove the animals are killed by having their throats slashed or by being speared. Media images of the event often show the usual blue waters of the cove blood red and some even go further to show the animals sounding in distress. Animal campaigners have challenged the Japanese government to change its laws but whale meat and counterfeit dolphin meat sold as whale meat help to keep this horrific event continuing while the Japanese governments response has been using pest control as an explanation.
7
Seal Clubbing
Seal hunting has drawn growing media attention due to the disturbing images of seals and their pups being clubbed to death. The main sealing states are Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway and Russia although it is Canada that has gathered the most controversy with celebrities such as Paul McCartney and former wife, Heather Mills speaking out against it. In Canada 2006, 325,000 harp seals, as well as 10,000 hooded seals and 10,400 grey seals were killed. An additional 10,000 animals were allocated for hunting by Aboriginal peoples. Canadian law forbids the killing of pup seals until they have began molting at 12-15 days.
While the steal trade is an extremely controversial issue, many livelihoods depend on the seal trade. The total Canadian seal product exports were valued at $18 million (CAD) in 2006. Of this, $5.4 million went to the EU, although in 2007, Belgium became the first EU state to ban seal products. In 2009 the EU parliament successfully voted to ban the import of seal products. Denmark, Romania and Austria abstained form the law passed by the EU council on July 27, 2009.
6
Animals in Medicine
High numbers of animals are used each year worldwide for their use in medicine. China is probably the most notable for its use of endangered tiger.
Animals used in traditional medicine are tigers, leopards, sharks, saiga antelope, elephants, rhinoceros, pangolins, tortoises, seahorses, musk deer, as well as 7 of the 8 species of bear. The Asiatic Black Bear (more commonly known as the Moon Bear) are kept in captivity on Bear Bile Farms to enable the regular extraction of their bile acid.
Tiger bones, skin, fat, whiskers, tail, penises and gall bladders among other parts are believed to cure ailments, keep black magic at bay and possess aphrodisiac properties. It is estimated that there are approximately 5,000 wild tigers left, only 5% of the population number that were alive in the 1900s. About 75 percent are in India while less than 50 are believed to be found in China’s forests. The United States is home to some 10,000 captive tigers, owned by zoos, sanctuaries and private individuals.
Just paying the bills...
5
Animals as Food
It is estimated that worldwide, 140 billion animals are killed for human consumption ever year. The UK, which has a projected 2009 population of 61,126,832, consumed an amazing 2.5 billion animals every year alone.
Official figures show that UK abattoirs slaughter 900 million poultry, and 30 million cattle, sheep and pigs every year. These figures do not include imported meat; the UK is probably a net importer so it is likely that they consume close to 1 billion farm animals a year. Tonnage figures from the Marine Fisheries Agency together with estimates for average weight of fish suggest that, in addition, about 1,500 million sea fish and 80 million farmed salmon are consumed.
It’s easy to see why vegetarians and vegans are prominent campaigners for animal rights. Animals on factory farms have no legal protection from cruelty that could be illegal if it were inflicted on dogs or cats, including neglect, mutilations, genetic manipulation, drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transport through all weather extremes and gruesome and violent slaughter for human consumption.
4
Animals in Sport
There are many types of sport in which animals are used for; hunting being the most recognized and debated. One of the most recently debated has been fox hunting in the United Kingdom which was outlawed in 2004 against large protests and backlash from hunters who wished for the sport to continue using live foxes. Over 250 million animals are killed each year by hunting in the US alone and this does not include the millions of animal figures that are not maintained by state wildlife agencies.
Animals in sport also include Bullfighting which is still practiced under Spanish and Portuguese traditions. Cockfighting is now illegal but legal fights still take place around the world including cow fighting and camel wrestling.
Horse and dog racing are also very popular around the world, attracting many people for legal gambling but even this has attracted debate. Thousands of greyhounds die each year from racing injuries or exhaustion and over 800 racehorses die each year from fatal injuries on US racetracks alone.
3
Pedigree Breeding
Pedigree breeding of dogs has attracted a lot of attention in the past few years and many think it is cruel and unfair to the welfare of the animal because of the effects on the lifespan of the animal. In 2008 the BBC dropped the dog show Crufts over concerns about breeding practices leaving dogs with debilitating conditions and inherited genetic disease such as a prize-winning Cavalier King Charles suffering from syringomyelia which meant that its skull was too small for its brain and also pugs suffering epilepsy.
It is not known how many dogs worldwide suffer the genetic effects of extreme pedigree breeding but the debilitating effect is well known. Because of the lack of genetic variation, birth defects and inherited diseases in breeds such as deafness in Dalmatians, heart disease in Boxer dogs and hip dysplasia (abnormal hip joint development) in German Shepherd dogs has become extremely common.
2
Zoos
Although most zoos are of a high standard nowadays and many are even encouraging breeding programs for endangered species, it is still argued that animals should not be kept in captivity but encouraged back into their native environment.
There are an estimated 5 million animals in zoos worldwide and a report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals showed that only 1,200 out of the 10,000 zoos worldwide are registered for captive breeding and wildlife conservation and that only 2 percent of the world’s threatened or endangered species are registered in breeding programs.
In some Chinese zoos, live killing is encouraged where people can feed wild animals. In the Badaltearing Safari Park, visitors can throw live goats into the lions’ enclosure and watch them being eaten, or can purchase live chickens tied to bamboo rods to dangle into lion pens. Visitors can drive through the lion’s compound on buses with specially designed chutes leading into the enclosure into which they can push live chickens. In the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in southeast China, live cows and pigs are thrown to tigers to amuse visitors.
1
Animals in film
The use of animals by filmmakers has often received criticism for allegedly harmful, and sometimes lethal, treatment of animals during production although laws on animal rights are now stricter.
One of the most infamous examples of animal cruelty in film was Michael Cimino’s legendary flop Heaven’s Gate, in which numerous animals were killed and brutalized during production. Cimino allegedly killed chickens and bled horses from the neck to gather samples of their blood to smear on actors for Heaven’s Gate, and also allegedly had a horse blown up with dynamite while shooting a battle sequence, the shot of which made it into the film. After the release of the film Reds, the star and director of the picture, Warren Beatty apologized for his Spanish film crew’s use of tripwires on horses while filming a battle scene, when Beatty wasn’t present. Tripwires were used against horses when Rambo III and The Thirteenth Warrior were being filmed. An ox was sliced nearly in half during production of Apocalypse Now, while a donkey was bled to death for dramatic effect for the film Manderlay, in a scene later cut from the film.
Although there are now laws covering animal use in filmmaking in America and Europe, other eastern countries such as South Korea have been criticized for the use of animals such as in the film, The Isle, in which a real frog is skinned alive while fish are mutilated.
If You've Been Blown Up, Call This Firm Now
via Lowering the Bar by Kevin on 1/31/10
Here's another quality personal-injury-lawyer ad. If you've been trying to come up with good marketing ideas for your firm and have been wondering how many explosions you could get into a 30-second TV spot, the answer is "at least eleven":
Injured by a reckless stunt-car driver? Hurt in a zeppelin accident? Call Berger and Green today.
Link: Boing Boing
Michael Moore To Receive Taxpayer Subsidy He Criticized In 2008
via NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias by Noel Sheppard on 1/31/10
Michael Moore's schlockumentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" has been approved for a taxpayer-funded subsidy he once criticized.
According to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan Michigan-based think tank, Moore's 2009 film is set to receive an undisclosed amount of money from the Michigan Film Office.
Yet Moore, who ironically advises the state-run Office, told a forum in July 2008 that he was opposed to such subsidies (video of MCPP's findings on this matter embedded below the fold along with highlights from its January 28 press release):
"While we don't blame Mr. Moore and his production team for taking what is offered, it's striking that a movie focused on the inequities of granting taxpayer dollars to private enterprise would apply for and receive taxpayer-funded incentives," said Michael LaFaive, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center. "Government should not be bailing out or subsidizing Wall Street banks or main street filmmakers. As Moore knows, this marriage between government and business - in the name of creating and saving jobs - can facilitate every sort of mischief."
At a forum in July 2008, Moore seemed critical of the program, which provides filmmakers with refundable tax credits worth as much as 42 percent of expenditures for movies made in the state.
"These are large multinational corporations - Viacom, GE, Rupert Murdoch - that own these studios," said Moore at the Traverse City event. "Why do they need our money, from Michigan, from our taxpayers, when we're already broke here? I mean, they play one state against another, and so they get all this free cash when they're making billions already in profits. What's the thinking behind that?"
So, as Moore was making a film about evil capitalists taking money from regular folk, he was actually applying for a taxpayer subsidy from a state with huge fiscal problems and staggeringly high unemployment:
"Given the state's precarious fiscal status, should struggling families and businesses continue subsidizing filmmakers?" asked LaFaive. "How can a state with the nation's worst unemployment rate justify special tax favors to millionaire filmmakers?"
I guess this is just another example of the liberal mantra "Do As I Say, Not As I Do!"
I Has A Flag
via Celebrity Odor by admin on 2/1/10
Yeah he might not be the president anymore but who says the name calling, the jokes and the fun has to stop once his 8 years are over.
Obama Says ‘We Have Made Historic Strides … To Cut Wasteful Spending’ While ...
via CNSNews.com Headlines on 2/1/10
In his budget message, President Obama said, "Already, we have made historic strides … to cut wasteful spending" while presenting a budget proposal that for the second year in a row would fix federal spending at a percentage of GDP that is higher than at any time in the past 65 years. 
Israel: Oops, We Did Shell U.N.'s Gaza Compound With White Phosphorus!
via Crooks and Liars by Susie Madrak on 2/1/10
Israel now admits reprimanding two top army officers for ordering the Jan. 15 attack on the UN compound in Gaza last year that used white phosphorus shells. (Apparently their strategy is, if they admit to one use, we can all pretend they weren't using it everywhere else in Gaza.)
Last year, the official explanation was that the shells were merely meant to provide cover for ground operation:
The admission is contained in the Israeli response to the UN's Goldstone report, which concluded both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.
Both officers have retained their ranks, according to reports.
The Israeli army denies breaking the rules of engagement over the use of white phosphorus.
During the 22-day conflict last year, media pictures showed incendiary shells raining down on a UN compound.
The officers were named in Israeli media reports as Gaza Division Commander Brig Gen Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col Ilan Malka.
"Several artillery shells were fired in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas," the Israeli response to the Goldstone report says.
The officers were charged with "exceeding their authority" in ordering the use of the weapons in the attack.
An Israeli Defence Force spokesman said that the reprimand would be noted on their records and would be considered if they apply for promotion in future.
Brig Gen Eisenberg is still in command of Israel's Gaza division, and Col Malka has been moved to the West Bank under the same rank, according to the Reuters news agency.
In March 2009, Human Rights Watch released a report calling their use of white phosphorus "indescriminate" and "evidence of war crimes":
The 71-page report, "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," provides witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza. Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school. The report also presents ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government.
Militaries use white phosphorus primarily to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It can also be used as an incendiary weapon.
"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."
The report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorus use that Human Rights Watch says must have required the approval of senior military officers.
"For the needless civilian deaths caused by white phosphorus, senior commanders should be held to account," Abrahams said.
And by God, senior commanders are being held to account! Why, it's going into their personnel file! You don't get much more serious than that.
Mythical Temple Found in Peru
via 2leep.com latest links on 2/1/10
Mythical Temple Found in Peru A thousand-year-old temple complex (including a tomb with human sacrifice victims, shown in a digital illustration) has been found under the windswept dunes of northwestern Peru.
more...
Diving with 11ft crocodile - Uhm..hell no.
via 2leep.com latest links on 2/1/10
Diving with 11ft crocodile A diver displays nerves of steel as he swims alongside an 11ft, 1,000lb crocodile.
more...
Obama's New Budget Includes $1.9 Trillion In Tax Hikes
Obama's New Budget Includes $1.9 Trillion In Tax Hikes
Folks who demand budget discipline should be careful what they wish for.
According analysis from Bloomberg, Barack Obama's new budget calls for $1.9 trillion in new taxes, and it's going to come down super-heavy on the rich.
The budget released today would reinstate 10-year-old income tax rates of 36 percent and 39.6 percent for single Americans earning more than $200,000 and joint filers who make more than $250,000 as part of a broad $1.9 trillion tax increase proposal. It proposes to eliminate preferences for oil and gas companies, life-insurance products, executives of investment partnerships and U.S.-based companies that operate overseas.
“The administration proposes to restore balance to the tax code by providing tax cuts to working families, returning to the pre-2001 ordinary income tax rates for families making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year, closing loopholes, and eliminating subsidies to special interests,” the budget says.
Almost since the very beginning of his Presidency, there have been fears that Obama would seek to repeal the Bush tax cuts, and now he's doing exactly that.While taxing "the rich" isn't a bad move politically -- especially with the populist streaking running through American politics -- the problem is that this will end up raising taxes on a lot of small businesses, whose taxes are taken out via the personal income of their owners. That's the part that detractors will say, and with legitimacy, will harm the economy.
Three new pieces of artwork from our peculiar friend Dr. Franken!
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