Going On Offense To Protect Working Animals

Imagine having your livelihood banned by a small group of lawmakers because your legal business doesn’t align with their ideology or, perhaps, they just don’t like what you do. 

The businesses getting banned, outright, legislatively, at the local municipal level might surprise you. Businesses such horse-drawn carriages, pony rides, elephant rides, educational zoos, and exotic animal exhibits at fairs and circuses. All legal businesses, heavily licensed, regulated, and inspected. 

For the past eight years, our team at The Cavalry Group has had a front row seat to the animal rights-driven onslaught of 67 exotic animal exhibiting bans and transport bans at the local level in 28 states, negatively impacting those who exhibit at fairs, circuses, and educational venues.

In addition, 14 horse carriage bans have passed at the local city council level throughout the United States in recent years. 

Why, you ask? 

Look no further than the animal rights movement.  "Animal rights," not to be confused with animal welfare, is a political agenda chipping away incrementally by altering Americans’ views about animal ownership and animal use through media, through our schools, through legislation and even through litigation. Their goal is to end animal use in every possible capacity.

The animal rights movement is an ideology that has gradually gained a foothold in universities and government throughout the past 50 years.  What was once a radical, ragtag group of extremists is now a multi-million-dollar coalition of organizations that raise money under the guise of running pet shelters and ultimately, spend that money on the promotion of increased regulation on animal ownership and animal enterprise.  

Namely, these organizations are the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Direct Action Everywhere (DXE), and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to name just a few.   There are hundreds of off shoot organizations with animal-friendly names that exist with the same motive and mission. 

The most insidious way in which the animal rights strategy has taken form has been in the subversive way these organizations pressure, infiltrate, and influence government. Hence, the way in which local legislators in city and county councils have been persuaded to ban, outright, these legal businesses utilizing working animals. 

The animal rights extremists have found that it is easier to promote their agenda to inexperienced legislators at the local city council or county council levels, persuading these lawmakers with false information and propaganda. 

It is because of this onslaught that The Cavalry Group worked with Missouri State Representative, Bryan Spencer to create legislation with the intent to slow down the animal rights steam roller at the local level. Accordingly, the Working Animal Protection Act was written and introduced and is moving through several states in the 2019 legislative session. 

If passed, Missouri HB559 would amend the Missouri state agriculture statute, Section A. Chapter 262, prohibiting an outright ban by any political subdivision at the 

any LEGAL business utilizing working animals in education, transportation, exhibition, and entertainment. This legislation DOES NOT take away local control. It simply states that these legal businesses utilizing working animals cannot be banned, outright or have regulations imposed that would lead to a ban. 

On Monday, April 8, 2019, Missouri HB559, the Working Animal Protection Act, is going to be voted on in the Missouri House of Representatives. We look forward to seeing it pass the full House in Missouri and move on to the Senate (SB416)!  

The Working Animal Protection Act is an effort to go on offense to protect animal enterprise across America -- to protect legal businesses, but also to protect our American way of life and heritage by keeping animals in our lives!

Stay up to date on the progress of the Working Animal Protection Act in Missouri and other states by going to www.workinganimalprotectionact.com 

Please help us by supporting our efforts and donate below!

Mindy Patterson

President

The Cavalry Group

Missouri: VOTE YES ON RIGHT TO FARM, Amendment 1

There has been quite a frenzy of propaganda and misinformation coming forth about Missouri's Right To Farm,  Amendment One. Those who oppose it have been putting out  misinformation intended to confuse conscientious Missouri voters without the merit of FACTS to challenge the legislation. Meanwhile, there are those who have fallen prey to the environmental and animal rights activists’ terminology which does nothing but perpetuate false claims and fear mongering about agriculture, while providing NO FACTS to back their claims.

The radical animal rights and environmental activist organizations have made their ideology no secret, and DAILY they express their intentions to weaken American agriculture. It’s not a stretch to figure out what they intend to accomplish with their policies when one realizes the truth behind the veil of their exploitation. Missouri farmers and ranchers continue to be in the crosshairs of these radicals.

It's easy math: Animal rights groups, especially the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), have used the ballot measure process to incrementally increase onerous and burdensome regulations on animal agriculture. Since 1990, HSUS has betrayed voters in fourteen states by passing ballot initiatives imposing onerous, unreasonable, and costly regulations negatively impacting the pet, animal agriculture, hunting, and fishing trades while using the deceptive and emotional propaganda to fool the voters into passing their measures. HSUS continues to mislead well-intentioned Americans with their slick, high-dollar media campaigns to buy votes, even hoodwink elected representatives, into believing that their mission is to increase welfare standards for animals. 

Missouri has already seen the negative impact of an HSUS-driven ballot initiative.  In 2010, "The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act", also known as Proposition B passed by a narrow margin.  The passing of this measure, despite the heroic efforts by our state legislature to remove the unconstitutional elements, resulted in HSUS' intended consequences of a death blow to licensed, legitimate dog breeders and small business across the state of Missouri.  75% of state licensees got out of the business of dog breeding to avoid the onerous and costly changes now required in the Canine Cruelty Prevention Act.    

When will Americans finally wake up to the fact that these so-called "animal cruelty prevention" laws do NOTHING to stop unscrupulous operators.

This strategy follows a pattern established by HSUS to incrementally regulate farmers, ranchers, and the pet industry out of business resulting in HSUS' goal of fewer farms, fewer farmers, higher food prices, and the growing concern of a domestic food shortage.  

Accordingly, as a protection to those who grow and raise our food in Missouri, Amendment One protects against legislation or ballot initiatives seeking to harm Missouri agriculture.

If one really understands that the animal rights movement is dangerous (as this Truth Farmer article claims)  then STOP using the HSUS’ terminology ‘Factory Farm’ to describe those who grow and raise our food! Yes, that even includes production agriculture. By using that term, it is a perpetuation of the false claims and images that the animal rights and environmental radicals are putting forth to promote their anti-private property and so-called "sustainability" and green agenda.

The Chinn family farm, one of the largest upstanding pork producers in Missouri, is considered a “factory farm” in the eyes of HSUS and environmental activists. Please read this blog by a family farmer who has been smeared by the radical animal rights and environmental groups and have labeled her family farm a “factory farm.”   Link

The U.S. feeds the world. A pretty miraculous feat considering that less than 2% of our U.S. population comprises our total populace of farmers and ranchers today. And they have the ability to do so because of innovation and modern technology including genetically modified organisms (GMOs). My friend, a life-long rancher explains it beautifully in her blog here:  Link

This link provides 600 peer reviewed studies about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), none of which have produced any evidence whatsoever of health issues in humans or animals from eating foods made from grains grown from GMO seeds, or that they are any less safe than any other food available. This provides proof that GMOs are safer since they are the most tested foods in the world.  

You will NEVER find a farmer on the Fortune 500 list, and the very reason farms are getting larger and implementing more modern husbandry methods is VERY simple: the price you get for animal based products, minus the cost of producing the end product, is shrinking every year, especially with all the onerous regulatory changes which gives farmers three options: 1.) Exit the business. (Which is what the activists want.) 2.) Become larger and expect to make income from adding more animals by adding up petty profits to make a larger one. 3) Market to get higher prices and/or reduce cost of production by whatever method available, including medical related products.

Do your research before you vilify our food system and before the activists hoodwink American consumers into fundamentally transforming American agriculture out of existence. 

Thanks to our farmers and ranchers, we are blessed to live in a country with an affordable, safe, and abundant food supply with consumer choices beyond measure!  

Protect our precious Missouri farmers and ranchers from the harmful intentions of the radical activists seeking to fundamentally transform American agriculture out of existence! 

VOTE YES on Missouri's Right To Farm - Amendment One on August 5th, 2014.

Mindy Patterson
President
The Cavalry Group 

HSUS FLEES MISSOURI

For Immediate Release March 26, 2012 HSUS FLEES MISSOURI WITH TAIL BETWEEN LEGS  Radical Animal Rights Group Shifts Focus to National PUPS Bill  The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) funded front group, “Your Vote Counts” announced this week that they are suspending their campaign to destroy the Missouri Constitution through an amendment which would prevent the alteration of any piece of legislation passed by ballot proposition. Mindy Patterson, Campaign Director for The Alliance for Truth which led the fight to oppose "Your Vote Counts" in addition to the HSUS sponsored 2010 Proposition B, released the following statement today: "Today is a great day for Missouri and our Constitution. We must, however, remain vigilant against future attempts by the radical Humane Society of the United States to use their deceptive lobbying tactics to destroy law-abiding animal enterprises. As we celebrate, we must remember that HSUS will now shift its focus to their dangerous piece of federal legislation, the Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act (PUPS). Having been thwarted in their effort to fool Missourians, HSUS is moving on to destroy the dog breeding industry nationwide. American families who enjoy the ability to purchase pure-bred dogs should stand up and say “NO” to the HSUS agenda of making dog breeding a prohibitively expensive enterprise.” For more information, contact:   Phil Christofanelli, 217-971-3754, pchristofanelli@gmail.com

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE MONEY BEHIND 'YOUR VOTE COUNTS' by Mindy Patterson

Be careful what you wish for!  That’s my warning to the proponents of the Your Vote Counts ballot initiative currently gathering signatures for the Missouri 2012 November ballot.

It may seem like a great idea on the surface, but if the Your Vote Counts measure passes it will amend our Missouri constitution and require a three-fourths vote from both the House and Senate in our Missouri legislature to make changes or repeal ANY ballot initiative. A task that is virtually impossible. So what does that mean, you ask?  It means that ANY ballot initiative that is passed by the voters becomes LAW. There’s a name for that, and it’s called direct democracy.

Direct democracy is a failed model of government. Our Founding Fathers understood why direct democracy, or majority rule, results in anarchy which is the reason they created America’s representative republic form of government ruled by law (the Constitution) which  protects the rights of the individual against the actions of the majority. Direct democracy is a tyranny of the elite. Thomas Jefferson described it best when he said, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%.”

The state of California now has direct democracy.  And it’s no secret in California that the ballot initiative process has become a tool for the wealthy special interests. Voters are passing ballot initiatives that are unfunded mandates on the state, which have contributed greatly toward bankrupting the once great golden state.  In California, ANY ballot initiative that is passed by the voters becomes law, bypassing the legislature and forfeiting the checks and balances of floor debate, committee hearings, and deliberation by legislators who take an oath to uphold both the U.S. and state constitution.  

I dread to think what might happen to Missouri if Your Vote Counts were to pass. Ballot initiatives that could force such issues into law concerning right to life, taxes, health care, utilities, environmental issues, private property, agriculture, food sources, gun right, gun bans just to name a few! All it takes is for a ballot initiative to obtain financial backing of wealthy special interests who are able to control the media message and influence the voters to get their measure passed by a vote of the unknowing, media-influenced voter into law. Direct democracy in action. 

Your Vote Counts is largely funded by the wealthy animal rights group, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Here in Missouri and in seventeen other states, HSUS has exploited the ballot initiative process with their big money allowing them to saturate the voters with commercials and dominate the airwaves with their emotional message and propaganda to essentially buy their vote.

To date the Your Vote Counts campaign has raised $345,644.00 of which only 1.5% has come from MIssouri residents. We must not allow out-of-state big money, special interests to hijack Missouri’s form of government and buy our laws.

Our state sovereignty is not for sale!  Missouri, wake up and smell the money!


Mindy Patterson is the president and co-founder of The Cavalry Group and the campaign manager for The Alliance For Truth campaign to defeat Your Vote Counts.

Governor Nixon, Sign SB113.

It states clearly in the Missouri Constitution, Article 1 Bill of Rights,

Section 2. That all constitutional government is intended to promote the general welfare of the people; that all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry;

As Americans we live in a Republic, not a democracy. This means that it is up to our Missouri legislators to protect the individual rights and freedoms of its citizens.  Thankfully, our Missouri legislators are doing just that as they see clearly that Wayne Pacelle and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are is using Proposition B to forward its radical animal rights agenda on our Missouri citizens.

Mr. Pacelle and the Humane Society of the United States continue to use emotion, misinformation and millions of out-of-state dollars to pressure our Missouri lawmakers. If it was really about the care and welfare of animals, why didn't HSUS spend their $4.2 million in campaign funds to help fund and enforce the Missouri Animal Care Facilities Act already in place?

Prop. B which won by only 60,000 votes and lost in 103 out of 114 counties, does nothing to stop animal abuse or punish the law breakers contrary to how it is portrayed.

Senate Bill113 is an excellent bill which actually provides Missouri with what Missourians viewed as the intent of the ballot language for Prop. B. 

·      SB113 defines terms for the provision of food, water, shelter, vet care and exercise and makes those provisions enforceable with penalties for non-compliance.  

·      SB113 punishes the law breakers, not the law abiding.

·      SB113 funds increased enforcement, and goes after the unlicensed breeders. Prop. B is an unfunded mandate with NO provisions for legal enforcement.

·      SB113 also eliminates the 50 dog limit, and makes it clear that the law refers to dogs and not to the broader category of domesticated animals, thereby protecting Missouri agriculture.

The Missouri economy cannot afford the crushing blow that Proposition B would impose on our state's economy as it would force thousands of legitimate dog breeders out of business, and create a devastating domino effect on other Missouri businesses statewide. Accordingly, it is up to our legislators to uphold the Missouri constitution and protect their constituents’ “right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry.”

Proponents of Prop. B have tried to bully Missouri legislators, our Governor, and those who oppose it by using strong arm tactics which have even included death threats. We must support and give kudos to our Missouri legislators who have given thoughtful consideration what is best for all Missourians instead of crumbling under the pressure of mob rule. 


Let's hope Governor Nixon signs SB113.


by Mindy Patterson