Monday, January 21, 2008

IL Congresswoman thinks she should rule foreign countries

IL Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky thinks we need to pass laws concerning what people in foreign countries do with their own lawfully purchased property: Schakowsky co-sponsors bill to end U.S. horse slaughter abroad:
Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is one primary supporters of proposed federal legislation to ban the transport, sale, purchase or donation of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.

Fair enough, but, once something has crossed into another country, should not its own laws take precedence?
But Schakowsky and Whitfield say their legislation is necessary because domestic horses are being transported eventually to be slaughtered beyond the US border.
And, legislation in Washington, D.C. is going to stop them from this precisely how?


Does she think she can stop a foreign farmer from playing middle-man between US horse salesman and foreign slaughterhouse? It isn't too hard to fudge papers to indicate some convenient line like "Yeah, I bought them to be pets for the kids, but they were all too mean after all that travel, so I had them sent to somebody else." Problem solved, as far as the traders and knackers are concerned. "Now I'm in the market for some horses that aren't going to be bad for my kids. I'll keep buying and selling until I get it exactly right... six generations hence."

How to stop that with a little piece of well-meaning busy-bodyism from D.C.?

I'm not a big fan of slaughtering horses for meals -- I like horsies. I'd have a hard time swallowing a bite of Misty of Chincoteague rump roast. I have a friend who can't understand how I can happily nosh on dark chocolate or peel a lemon and eat it the way most folks eat oranges. Tastes differ. Cultures differ.

I'm pretty sure Schakowski is one of those Democrats who constantly stand against "imposing our morality" on others... where does that come in, legislating across borders and into lands where some perfectly decent people think this one meat is tasty enough to have for supper? It isn't exactly Soylent Green, after all.

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