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.

Updated with linky goodness...

Down on the farm subsidy

I have nothing against helping the family farmer. In fact, I'm a big fan of that. So, farm subsidies always sound like a good idea. Except...


These red-dot recipients are in Manhattan.

I believe Farm-boy and our friends might just have cause for complaint about the hoops they jump through each year for the minuscule help offered to our region, now...


HT: slublog at AoSHQ

Really good comment on US Farm Report

In my early rousing moments on Sundays, I have the tv tuned to the local station which carries the US Farm Report. This morning, the host had a thing or two to say about the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill.

He mentioned that he didn't know whether or not things like storage facilities for peanuts needed federal money or not, and that those sorts of decisions should be left to those who knew more than he... then he went on to say that farmers deserve help from the government as much as anybody else, "but not this way. Supporting our troops does not mean just putting a flag sticker on your combine."


I've never been so proud of my black-dirt-farming roots, I think, as this morning.