.U.S. Senate & House Pass Atrocious Puppy Mill Defense Bill
The U.S. House and Senate both voted that Puppy Mills are so unassailable that it is criminal for a person to even promote the fact they aren’t. So I’d like to say loud and clear that Puppy Mills are awful unethical medieval places that should be made illegal immediately. If that opinion violates the awfully named “Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act” then come and get us at 555 De Haro St. #350, SF, CA.
Puppy Mills are unethical facilities that literally factory farm puppies for pet stores, overnight shippers and auctions. I’ll spare you the heart-wrenching photos. But know that females are bred until their organs literally slip out and animals live in squalid cage conditions. Sick ones are tossed out and the ones that live are sold to unknowing families. Puppy Mills sad awful awful dirty little secret that anyone that cares about dogs knows all about.
So I guess no one in the U.S. Senate House of Representative cares about dogs, the First Amendment or the right of peaceful conscientious citizens. Joy, over at the Dogster Dog Blog has been on it and now are we.
Here’s what the Farm Sanctuary has to say:
The misleadingly-named “Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,�? HR 4239 and S 3880 (formerly S 1926), seeks to clamp down on animal rights activities by using a broad brush to paint activists as “terrorists�? simply because they oppose institutionalized animal cruelty.
The Senate passed the bill September, 30th 2006 and a quickie move to a voice vote on Monday of this week led to a passage in the House. The only thing keeping this from being a law is language reconciliation between the two versions. Please tell you incoming representatives to reverse this vote.
From Joy. You will be a criminal terrorist if:
The industries that presented this bill are greedy unethical animal exploiters and the legislators who passed this without thinking are reprehensible. Why in our country would we ever deny a citizen to peacefully speak out against a practice they don’t agree with brings fear to my heart.
Get active: www.stopaeta.org and www.noaeta.org. Tell George Bush to veto this bill. Tell your incoming Congresspeople to right this wrong.
I don’t know enough about this to really opine, but surely this proposed law is unconstitutional. Why pass it if the courts are just going to overturn it? This seems like an obnoxious waste of taxpayer money if you ask me.
Roger that! Puppy mills are hideous, repulsive, criminal enterprises which should be banned. I wonder if the imbeciles in the house will pass a resolution forbidding the 1st amendment altogether.
As far as breeding is concerned, I believe only licensed and professional breeders with impeccable credentials should be allowed to breed Animals. That means backyard breeders who make a grand or two a year with their Dogs should be banned also. That would eliminate, or at least greatly reduce many of the hundreds of thousands of poor Animals who are killed each year!
I agree that AETA is less-than-crystal-clear about “legal” activity. But since this legislation that was approved on the fast track by both Houses and will be signed into law, we will have to watch our Ps and Qs from now on.
Maybe we can just put duct tape on our mouths and walk by the businesses without placards or leaflets.
Is this the new face of animal supporters?
Doesn’t anyone READ anymore? Yeah, it’s not going to make it easier to get rid of puppy mills, but the current laws on the books already protected them. I pulled up the ACTUAL TEXT of the bill on GovTrack and it has this in it:
“(e) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.–Nothing in this section shall be construed–
“(1) to prohibit any expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) protected from legal prohibition by the First Amendment to the Constitution;
“(2) to create new remedies for interference with activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution, regardless of the point of view expressed, or to limit any existing legal remedies for such interference; or
“(3) to provide exclusive criminal penalties or civil remedies with respect to the conduct prohibited by this action, or to preempt State or local laws that may provide such penalties or remedies.”.
I HATE puppy mills, but I also HATE alarmists who EDIT the truth for their own purposes, and don’t have the GUTS to give the WHOLE truth to the public and let them weigh the pros & cons for themselves! I’m an American, I’m NOT STUPID, and I’m sick of ALL sides treating me like I AM!!
I read the text of the bill this morning and some of the sites opposing it.
The sites opposing it seem to be all hung up on the words “profit loss” when those words aren’t in the bill. It says it’s illegal to cause “property loss”. 2 different things. It’s always illegal to cause property loss, but I’m assuming (not having researched all of the Federal Code) that it’s not a federal crime.
So, most of the critics are just wrong. I don’t like the bill, but I’m with Patch’s Mom - read it before you opine on it. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. There are too many special interests slanting things their way.
I don’t like the bill because I believe the federal government is stepping into something they have no business in, and I think the use of the word terrorist is ridiculous.
I also don’t like PETA - there I said it! In my opinion they’re more concerned about themselves than any animal.