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 A comparison of
Freedom Today vs...
Another year
has gone by and once again we reflect on issues of Freedom.
This year we’re bombarded by political messages which, when you
think about it, are too much about the candidates’
qualifications and too little about the freedom guaranteed us
under the Constitution.
Our freedom to
participate in a healthy, wholesome sport is challenged in state
after state but we refuse to think about that as long as we
still have the freedom to chase after ribbons.
So my message
for this 4th of July is about more than a long
weekend holiday that enables tus to make four shows instead of
two. I decided to compare previous Independence Day editorials
with what has changed and what hasn’t.
July 2005
“(TheDogPress) … strives to promote and preserve the sport. It
will not duck the tough issues in order to serve the media
master …the sport is in trouble and that means dogs are in
trouble.” And putting my foot where it usually is, “lawsuits be
damned, we will continue to present newsworthy items even if
they challenge the establishment. As regards AKC, be assured we
have no wish to bite the hand that feeds us but neither should
we cringe in fear of that hand! We need leadership that is for
dogs, not for profit and we desperately need a unified front to
protect the rights of dog owners. Thinking ‘it won’t affect me’
is like planning a litter of foxhounds and ordering your hunt
outfit from England!’”
I also
observed “…registries are not yet working together on the
biggest problems which threaten dog owners. People still think
PETA is wonderful and the “humane society” is like grandma’s
apple pie!” That hasn’t changed.
And this: What
is behind AKC’s current story of Chinese imports brought in to
satisfy the demand for purebred dogs? AKC keeps implying that
show breeders are not able to meet demand, therefore it is okay
for puppy mills to exist! Is the China story meant to convince
us AKC is working to make it more difficult for importers (see
accompanying article) even though it challenges logic? Lana
Tsan, President of the China Kennel club is on our Science and
Advisory Board. She visits every nook and cranny of China,
reaching out to and educating dog owners. She says there is NO
such shipping and despite AKC’s claim of “overwhelming growth”
there has been negligible increase in sales to the states. So
ask yourself - why does ACK want us to swallow the line that
puppy mills can’t supply enough dogs for the American
people? This may be but the tip of the iceberg and we’ll stay on
this story.”
That
particular editorial ended with “the sound of Freedom is like a
worry-gnat buzzing ‘round your ear. You swat the air and hope
the annoyance goes away. It won’t.” And it hasn’t.
We still have
the same competition from puppy mills only now its worse even
though the Delegates stood against AKC’s proposed deal with
Petland. Today most are betting that the proposed “listing” of
mutts for competition in AKC performance events will lead to
further degradation of AKC’s Bylaws which stress “purebred” dogs
in AKC events. Is this a way around the Petland fiasco? Who
knows?
Most Americans
have had just about enough of China even if their pets weren’t
poisoned or their children made sick by imports and even if they
don’t know how China has our stock market in a strangle hold.
In spite of all that, AKC did a deal with them. How does a
global registry with a country still in the dark ages of
pedigree and genetics help dedicated breeders in America?
We still have
the onslaught of AA legislation and we have to wonder why AKC
doesn’t tell the legislators that there is no “overpopulation
problem”? That in fact, shelters were importing dogs from the
Islands and Asian countries in order to fill public demand?
Maybe we are setting up a pipeline direct to China. Might as
well, they are monopolizing the OPEC oil market and preparing to
drill off the coast of Miami Beach while Congress diverts our
attention to arguments about ANWAR.
Sooo, in the
last few years, we have rolled over on “High Volume Breeders”
and now we don’t even wonder about AKC’s current deal with China
on the “Global Registry.”
One year we broke the story on the Boulton Case which hinged
on that pesky free speech thing. The editorial was rather
upbeat, ending with “We are the people who elect Delegates who
represent us to the governing body. That is why we celebrate our
Declaration Of Independence.
For those who find the seat getting hard, the fireworks too
long delayed and thunder rumbling in the distance, remember
where you live. When you celebrate next week, let it be about ‘Liberty
and justice for all.’
So as the
politicians like to say, are we better off today? Well, let’s
look at that. We’re afraid to have our addresses in the
catalogs. We dare not speak out against our governing body.
We’re afraid to admit we are “breeders” because PETA and HSUS
have made that a dirty word in the American language and AKC
hasn’t helped “US” with an equal amount of marketing in a
market-driven world.
We have
Delegates who might as well live in China because they are too
busy dodging tanks (see editorial To Stop A Tank) to
represent those who elected them.
We have judges
who know a good dog when they see one but are too politically
aligned to award one not owned or backed by the correctly
connected. Other judges who have exercised their right to free
speech are charged with violating an all-encompassing code of
something called “sportsmanship.”
And who
knows? That could turn into a story demanding Freedom Of The
Press.
Barbara J.
Andrews
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Freedom Today - July 2008 Editorial
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