HumaneWatch

Sacramento is (as one political writer recently quipped) "where good ideas go to die, and where bad ideas kill them slowly." It's also an iron-clad lobbying stronghold of the Humane Society of the United States.

On Saturday, the paper of record in California's capital published our op-ed about the politics of eggs in the Golden State. Here's a taste:

What's really at stake here is that word: "humane." HSUS seems to want a monopoly on it, even though other animal welfare-oriented groups – and plenty of scientists – disagree with its agenda. And that agenda is where the rubber meets the road: HSUS is run by vegans who don't believe anyone should eat eggs, regardless of how or where they were produced.

Most recently, HSUS has opposed attempts by California lawmakers to specifically define the standards mandated by Proposition 2. The very vague language that California voters approved in 2008 gives HSUS's enormous legal team enough wiggle room to hassle farmers who don't see things HSUS's way.

Of course, enriched chicken cages could be furnished with couches, Jacuzzis, treadmills and iPads, and activists who believe in "rights" for birds would still complain about them. HSUS is among them. And its vision of what's "humane" is outside the mainstream.

Click here to read the whole essay.

If you're wringing your hands today because you didn't attend the "Taking Action For Animals" conference put on by the Humane Society of the United States, take heart: You didn't miss much.

Several people who were at the Washington, DC event all weekend report that the whole thing was a big snooze-fest. We've uploaded a copy of the official program to the HumaneWatch Document Library, and one of those stalwart attendees is working on a first-person report for HumaneWatchers to read.

So stay tuned--we'll soon have our own post-game analysis to balance out the rose-colored PR emanating this morning from 2100 L Street in Washington.

HSUS staffers and their convention-goers are busily lobbying Congress today; so if you work on Capitol Hill, it might be a good day to print up a bunch of HumaneWatch ads and flyers. Just a suggestion.

Starting in the coming week, you'll see some new things around here.

It's been more than four months since I started blogging here every day, and the stats so far have exceeded expectations. HumaneWatch is closing in on its 1 millionth unique visitor. We're consistently out-drawing Wayne Pacelle's blog over at the Humane Society of the United States. And more than 118,000 of you have already become HumaneWatchers on Facebook. (Keep inviting all your Facebook friends!)

This project has filled a void and (clearly) struck a nerve. Pretty cool.

The process of making all this happen every day, though, has become almost a full-time job. And that's not so cool. So in the interest of sharing the burden, HumaneWatch is becoming a group blog of sorts.

UPDATE: The HSUS 2010 Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday, October 22 at the JW Marriott hotel (1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC). The meeting will begin at 8:30 am.

I'm not recommending that anyone else do this, but today someone who doesn't appreciate HumaneWatch very much made a $100 contribution to the Humane Society of the United States, and did so in my name. This means a few things.

First, HSUS's foremost public critic is now apparently (and involuntarily) one of its "11 million supporters and constituents"—which goes to show you how meaningless that statistic is.

But more importantly, as a paid-in-full "member," I'll be eligible to attend HSUS's Annual General Meeting in the fall. And I didn't have to compromise my principles by actually spending money for the privilege.

This ought to be interesting, at least if last year's meeting is any indication. I wasn't there, but I heard from someone who was present for all 14 minutes of it.

At the October 23, 2009 HSUS annual meeting in Washington, DC, a grand total of 18 (yes, eighteen) people out of those famous "11 millilon" showed up. (And at least half of them were HSUS Board Members and staffers.) The hotel conference room where the meeting was held is advertised as having a maximum capacity of 60.

HSUS members turn out to be an apathetic bunch overall, too. Less than 13,000 of them cast ballots to elect (or re-elect) members of HSUS's Board.

If any other accidental (or remorseful) HSUS "members" want to join me this year, perhaps HSUS will have to move the event to a room bigger than Wayne Pacelle's office. Time will tell.

Well... sort of. HumaneWatch is in South Dakota's Rapid City Journal this morning with an op-ed about the Humane Society of the United States, and how it diverts millions of dollars away from needy pet shelters all over America. Here's a taste:

You can see HSUS's money-your money, really-at work in statehouses, courtrooms, and voting booths. That's where the organization pushes for its radical concept of animal rights, including some of the same ideas that made the wing-nuts at PETA famous. HSUS is driven by the belief that animals deserve legal rights, including the right to not be eaten as food and the right to sue people in court.

So while the group does little for the dogs and cats in its TV ads, it works overtime in pursuit of goals that are out on the fringes ...

It makes more sense to give locally. Especially in these economic times, the animal shelters near you need every nickel they can get—including the local "humane societies" that share part of their names, but not any affiliation, with HSUS.

Click here to read the whole piece. And if you leave a comment, watch out for the HSUS sockpuppets.

Update: The Journal also published an editorial this morning, writing: "The Humane Society of the United States is cheating abused, neglected and abandoned animals out of the help they need with misleading ads that don't disclose the way donations actually are spent."

Image: Cafe Press

What's a sockpuppet, you ask? Well, let's say you don't like an article in The New York Times, so you go online to leave a disparaging comment where the article lives. Only you don't want anyone to know that it's you speaking. So you use a phony name, or the name of another specific person.

Now, let's make the example even worse: What if the original Times article was about you, or someone quoted in the article said something nasty about your character? By trying to hide your identity when you leave a comment, you're trying to influence everyone else's perception of how credible the article is by pretending to be a disinterested third party who's just offering a fair critique.

Now that is some serious sockpuppetry. And at least one Humane Society of the United States employee has been busy doing just that, on a popular blog written by a prominent veterinarian.

But here's a news flash for HSUS employees: Blogs keep logs. And those records include the IP address of everyone who stops by to leave an incendiary remark.