There's Too Much at Stake. You MUST Vote on November 2nd.

Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, you know that despite this being a mid-term election - typically an election people pay less attention to - it's more important than ever to get out and vote. Of course, the reasons for this go way beyond animal and environmental issues, but it's interesting that the candidates we can count on for decency and responsibility on these issues are often the same ones we can count on to regulate corporations to protect our health and our finances, to make taxation fair for the greatest number people, and to help maintain the separation of church and state, so that no one group's beliefs dictate life for everyone else. The LOHV remains a non-partisan organization, so these statements are not in support of any particular party - rather, we support fairness and decency, and look for these values in all candidates, regardless of party. We trust that you do, too, or you wouldn't be reading this blog.

With regard to animals, we've seen the existing Dog Law - which was supposed to vastly improve conditions for dogs in puppy mills - be attacked by the very stewards appointed to protect the dogs and enforce the law. We've seen those whose allegiances lie with the large commercial breeders blatantly ignore the needs of the dogs and support wire flooring and other back-tracking on what the law was intended to accomplish.

What does this have to do with the upcoming election? Well, the next Governor will have the chance to appoint 3 new people to the Canine Health Board (including the board chair), which determines the scope and enforcement of the Dog Law. If Tom Corbett wins, we can expect the appointments to be pro-breeder, and anti-dog. If Dan Onorato wins, we can expect appointments that are sympathetic to the dogs and not beholden to the breeders. Onorato also supports protecting the environment from factory farms and gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. He's simply the better choice if you care about animals and the environment.

Joe Sestak, who's running for US Senate, has an impressive animal policy, and has received a 100% score from the Humane Society as well as from the LOHV. Our two organizations don't always agree on legislation and strategy, but we're in total lockstep on Sestak. Please give him your vote.

We're also supporting a series of PA House and Senate candidates, and hope you'll take our list into the voting booth with you - click here to obtain a printable PDF. You can also visit our Elections page for links to the individual candidates' sites.

SO... On November 2nd, 2010 - please VOTE. Take a co-worker, neighbor, friend, or family member with you. Take several. If someone needs a ride, take them. If someone's on the fence about who to vote for, talk to them. Don't preach, just give them the facts. The facts speak for themselves.

Don't Look Away

Last night, the Academy Award for Best Documentary went to The Cove, a film about the Japanese practice of luring dolphins into a particular cove and slaughtering all but the females with no scars, which they then enslave for humans' entertainment. During the slaughter, the dolphins suffer unimaginably -- they gasp for breath, struggle against their savage attackers, and the cove's water runs crimson. It may be one of the worst things you've ever seen. But please don't look away. You must look - and not wince and turn your head - if only out of respect for the thousands of dolphins that these horrible, bloodthirsty people have killed. In honor of their lives, so selfishly and cruelly taken, give them the moments of your life that it takes to watch the story and learn what you can do to write its ending.

http://www.thecovemovie.com/WatchTheTrailer.htm

Another thing to think about. Not that it matters, because EVERY living thing deserves respect and to live without pain and fear, but scientists have recently stated that dolphins should be designated "non-human persons" - they're that bright and that complex, emotionally, psychologically, socially, etc... Yet the Japanese slaughter them like they're nothing - nothing but toys for entertainment and flesh to be consumed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece

Please contact the Obama administration and demand that they enter into NO agreements of any kind with the Japanese (see link below for news from Greenpeace that the White House is considering a deal that would weaken the moratorium on commercial whaling, something else the Japanese continue to do). The Japanese must be pressured and shamed for their continued slaughter of dolphins - and whales. It's genocide.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/activists-call-on-president