Great article!
Unfortunately, "no good deed goes unpunished".
You've obviously hit a sensitive chord with dedicated dove hunters and others who appear to have a strange, emotional attachment to David Martosko and CCF. I would be interested to know what Rick Berman, a dedicated and well paid fast food, big [[pharmaceutical]] and tobacco shill and Wayne Pacelle have in common?
BTW, how is WP "destroying agriculture" as a vegan who promotes sustainability and works tirelessly against atrocious and cruel factory farms? Factory farms, GMO's and chemicals from customers like [[Tyson Foods]], [[Cargill]] and [[ Monsanto]], are exactly what HHS fights against. David Martosko gets his pants in a twist if animals are humanely euthanized, but he doesn't mind if his customers breed dogs to pour chemicals down their throats or otherwise torture them at places like [[Huntington Life Sciences]]. He is a hypocrite.
[[Puppy mills]] love CCF too! You can hardly find a dog breeding site that isn't quoting CCF or one of its other sites. Wouldn't it be nice if they could all go out of business and people could just adopt from shelters! I guess that's just another way that HSUS "exploits" animals, (going after abusive puppy mills and other for-profit animal enterprises).
I should hope HSUS is well funded, they have 10 million members. How many "members" does CCF have? If an advocacy organization has any business sense, they are now "corporate thugs", otherwise they are simply "extremists" and "terrorists". Animals need voices, particularly in this era of shameless corporate propaganda and shilling.
If he were a "corporate" thug, I think that David Martosko and Rick Berman would probably be inviting him out to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants (Wendys', McDonald's), not attacking him and HSUS for the last five years. They are both part of a disturbing, sociopathic culture where profits are everything and any kind of smear or propaganda is justifiable.
The following sources point to CCF as a lobbying group:
"Unless you follow politics closely, you wouldn't necessarily realize that a group with a name like the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has anything to do with the food industry. In fact ... <em>this group lobbies aggressively</em> against obesity-related public health campaigns -- such as the one directed at removing junk food from schools -- and is funded, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, primarily through donations from big food companies such as Coca-Cola, [[Cargill]], Tyson Foods, and Wendy's."
--Adam Voiland, <em>U.S. News and World Report</em>, [http://www.usnews.com/health/articles/2008/10/17/10-things-the-food-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-know.html?PageNr=2 Ten Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know], October 17, 2008
"The activities of the industry-sponsored group, Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), merit particular attention. With an annual budget exceeding $3 million, the CCF <em>lobbies aggressively</em> against obesity-related public health campaigns, legislation to regulate marketing of junk food to children, and scientists who advocate for healthier diets. The CCF boasts that “[our] strategy is to shoot the messenger . . . We’ve got to attack [activists’] credibility as spokespersons.”
--David Ludwig, Marion Nestle, [whattoeatbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/1808_002.pdf Can the Food Industry Play a Constructive. Role in the Obesity Epidemic?], <em>Journal of the American Medical Association,</em> JAMA. 2008;300(15):1808-1811
"CCF is an industry front group; its way of defending "consumers' rights" is to <em>lobby aggressively</em> for the interests of the industries that fund its public-relations campaigns."
--Deepak Gupta, [http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2007/11/colbert-exposes.html Stephen Colbert Exposes the "Center for Consumer Freedom"], Public Citizen, Consumer Law and Policy Blog, November 4, 2007
"Martosko himself is no part scientist. He was a music major in college and then an AM radio talk show producer before becoming chief researcher for the <em>Center for Consumer Freedom which is headquartered inside the lobbying offices of Richard Berman, a lobbyist for the restaurant and beverage industry</em>."
--Mark Matthews, ABC News/KGO San Francisco, [http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=4140447 Lobbyists Hide Behind Non-Profit Fronts], May 3, 2006
[Italicized emphasis added]
Anne Landman
What's your evidence for saying the CCF itself is a "lobbying group"? I'm looking at their tax returns, and I don't see any lobbying purpose there. They don't lobby. Do they? What's your proof?
As you suggested, I returned to HumaneWatch.org to view the video again and critically evaluate it for the presence or absence of cow manure, but the video had been removed from the site. I live in rural Colorado and can definitively say that the presence of snow on the ground does not prevent cows from excreting, even if they are in feed pens. Nor does the size of a pen have any bearing on whether they or not they choose to excrete in it.
Go, Cows.
Anne Landman
This piece erroneously stated that [[David Martosko]] is a lobbyist. He works for the [[Center for Consumer Freedom]] (CCF), which is a lobbying organization, and for [[Rick Berman]], who is a lobbyist, but we have no authoritative reference showing that Martosko himself is, in fact, a registered lobbyist.
This error has been corrected.
Anne Landman
Pages