Our starting point has to be bringing our occupation in Iraq to a close and to stabilize Iraq.
No. Our starting point in Iraq has to be stabilizing the country, and then bringing our occupation to a close.
Technorati tags:
Our starting point has to be bringing our occupation in Iraq to a close and to stabilize Iraq.
Hojatoleslam Mohammad Ali Rahmani, the representative of Supreme Leader in Iran’s police force, called on Friday for a quick release of a British woman sailor as a “goodwill” gesture which would show Iran’s respect to women.
This is all animal rights activism. It has nothing to do with the claims that horsemeat is unfit for consumption or any claim of barbarism. Horses are animals that some people like to eat. So are cows, pigs, and chickens. Yes, horses are cute and friendly and all that. I grew up around them and I love horses too. But the fact remains, they are animals. They can be sold or given for slaughter at the owners wishes just as a cow or pig.
Colleen O'Keefe, the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Division manager of Food Safety and Animal Protection, said she could not be certain where the horses that won a reprieve this week would end up. But they likely would be trucked to other slaughterhouses in Canada now that court rulings have indefinitely shut down the last three horse slaughterhouses in the United States, she said.
If would-be rescuers still want to help other horses, they should contact horse shelters that operate just like rescue organizations serving dogs and cats, O'Keefe suggested. "There are plenty of horses in Illinois that need homes."
The Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock was one organization that scrambled Thursday to line up 100 stalls offered by area horse-lovers. However, the five-barn facility has about 30 horses already awaiting adoption, many of them victims of abuse or neglect.
"That market's (horse meat) basically gone," said Shelby County Animal Shelter Director Monica Robinson. "They're not going to make back what they need to, to cover the cost of feeding those animals and the expense of hauling them."
Robinson said the overpopulation of horses has become a problem statewide. Horse retirement homes are full, leaving no place to go for some of the animals.
The local shelter is seeking a home for one horse that was recently picked up on an abuse case. She added that Boone County has spent the past year searching for a rescue group to take in two elderly horses.
Along with overpopulation, horse prices have taken a nosedive in recent years. Statewide, stories have surfaced of packed auction houses, as well as ballooning numbers of horses either starving or being set into the wild.
Cape Wind Associates has touted its project as a safe, clean way to create renewable energy, a safer environment and new jobs.
But opponents fear the environmental and economic effects on Cape Cod's tourist and fishing industries. They warn the turbines would pose navigational and radar hazards. They also say the turbines could hurt the views of some multimillion-dollar oceanfront homes.
Ian Bowles, the state's secretary of energy and environmental affairs, approved the environmental report in a ruling announced Friday. He said it "adequately and properly complies" with state environmental laws.
Cape Wind Associates have produced computer simulations to counter criticism that the project will be an eyesore on the pristine Cape Cod coast.
Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with thousands of horses no one wants. Some of them are perfectly healthy, but many of them starving, broken-down nags. Other parts of the country are overwhelmed, too.
The reason: growing opposition in the U.S. to the slaughter of horses for human consumption overseas.
It is legal in all states for owners to shoot their unwanted horses, and some Web sites offer instructions on doing it with little pain. But some horse owners do not have the stomach for that.
At the same time, it can cost as much as $150 for a veterinarian to put a horse down. And disposing of the carcass can be costly, too. Some counties in Kentucky, relying on a mix of private and public funding, will pick up and dispose of a dead horse for a nominal fee.