Barbara J. Andrews © TheDogPress  09|01|09 - First, let’s be clear on one thing.  I am not a Republican, Democrat, Independent, not even a Libertarian.  I would be just as happy to live off the land instead of the government. 

My paternal grandfathers were forced from freedom to forts and government handouts.  Those who resisted were hunted down and butchered like the bison that once sustained them.  Leaders like Geronimo and Chief Joseph ransomed themselves to the federal government to protect their people.  Chief Osceola was captured under a flag of truce in 1837 and imprisoned.  Chief Tecumseh was betrayed and murdered. Women and children were slaughtered in the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 despite Black Kettle’s white flag.  The long list of atrocities committed by our infant government supersedes the Crusades, holocaust and slavery.

I am not partisan.  I have never voted.  I support no political party.  I am a dog breeder and journalist.  It is my job to cover President Obama’s choice of Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar and what that means to you.  Every other dog publication is ducking this issue.  Even Dog News has avoided comment on Cass Sunstein’s appointment although as a weekly, they’ve had ample time to cover it.

Sunstein’s radical statements [1] regarding an animal’s “right” to sue its owner in court are well known so we’ll cover some things you may not know about this man.  I will hasten to do so before The Dog Press is sued [2] by Sunstein, who many perceive as the second most powerful man in the country because he will “regulate” everything and “inform” no one but the President. 

You will read this a good thing if you are a left wing democrat, a warning if you are a right wing republican, or as “it serves you right” by my ancestors.  If you are a purebred pet owner or show breeder, you will shiver.

In the opinion of the informed, Cass Sunstein is a radical animal rights advocate who, in a 2002 legal paper, said there should be “extensive regulation of the use of animals.”  In 2004, he co-authored a book entitled Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions in which he asks “Should animals have legal rights?” Promoted as having an “all-star cast of contributors to explore the legal and political issues that underlie the campaign for animal rights and the opposition to it” the book is supported by far-left legal scholars, many of whom are also avowed animal rightists.

Sunstein addresses “ethical questions about ownership, protection against unjustified suffering, and the ability of animals to make their own choices free from human control.”  This book occupies only a niche in the shelf of writings by Cass Sunstein in which he shows little regard for commerce, economic ramifications, or the Constitution when it comes to regulating animal ownership and use. 

Cass Sunstein’s animal rights agenda is not a passing fad.  In 2007 he gave a keynote speech at Harvard University entitled “Facing Animals” in which he delivered the following quotes: “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”   He argued for entirely “eliminating current practices such as … meat eating", and then further decried “greyhound racing, cosmetic testing, and meat eating.”  Then in closing, Sunstein hammered home his point, that treatment of livestock and other animals is “a form of unconscionable barbarity not the same as, but in many ways, morally akin to slavery and mass extermination of human beings.”

Positions unchanged, the Harvard Law Professor and long-time friend of President Obama (dating back to their days at Un. Of Chicago) is now the Regulatory Czar, an unelected position over which voters, congress and senate have no control. [3]  Very few opposed Sunstein’s appointment other than a Texas Senator who put a temporary hold on Sunstein due to his troubling record, “specifically the fact that he wants to establish legal 'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals to file lawsuits in American courts,"

Dog owners and hunters are not the only Americans he offends although pinning a label on Sunstein is difficult due to his duplicitous writings and plethora of books.  During his confirmation hearings, Chief Justice Roberts was asked if he had read any of Cass Sunstein’s books.  He replied "I didn't have a chance to read Professor Sunstein's book...He writes a different one every week. It's hard to keep up with him."

Indeed it is.  Following the Supreme Court decision in 2008 reaffirming our Constitutional Right [4] to keep and bear arms, writing for the Boston Globe, Sunstein said the Constitutional guarantee is unclear.  ii You decide.  Arguing against the Second Amendment, Sunstein scoffs at Justice Antonio Scalia’s overriding opinion which finds that an individual has the “right to possess guns for traditionally lawful purposes, including hunting and self-defense.”  The Supreme Court’s affirmation must have been hard for Cass Sunstein to accept.  [5] Constitutionalists worry that he is just biding his time until he finds a “work around” to the law of this great land.

And for those of us who appreciate the internet, there’s the First Amendment, the right to free speech.  In support of the defeated but cleverly named “Fairness Doctrine”, Sunstein says “A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government” in his book, Republic.com 2.0 (Princeton University Press, 2007), p.137.

Sunstein’s views on censorship are well known.  [6]  He has been widely quoted with statements such as "We hardly need to imagine a world, however, in which people and institutions are being harmed by the rapid spread of damaging falsehoods via the Internet,  We live in that world” and he then speculates “What might be done to reduce the harm?" 

The President’s appointment of Mark Lloyd as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “Cyber Czar” is the answer to his problem.  If you are a fan of talk radio or FOXnews (which has trumped all other prime time news networks), you already know about the Cyber Czar Mark Lloyd and that the new “Diversity” bill supports his 2006 book Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America.  In his book and in the new Diversity bill, Lloyd says private broadcasters should pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs!  Those funds are earmarked for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which is hardly “public” as it is supported by the federal government, i.e. your tax dollars) but the point is that the Diversity and Localism Bill will bankrupt all radio and TV stations if allowed to pass.  No business can afford to double their costs.  The intent is clear.  No need to fight the First Amendment, the Czars can just circumvent it.

Just think.  No means of communication with which to fight HSUS, PETA, and other rabid animal rightists.  A clear field for Cass Sunstein.  What a plan!  You gotta hand it to our government.  Everyone has been sidetracked with Health Care but now we know about Regulatory and Information Czar Cass Sunstein, aided and abetted by the Cyber Czar.

Maybe you better print this out to share with friends.  We may not be here a year from now but what the heck, by then we won’t have any purebred dogs or cats to defend.  You read it here first.  Hopefully other dog magazines will also inform you.  If I’ve missed a definitive connection between Cass Sunstein and HSUS or PETA, please send information to Editor@TheDogPress.com  Oh, and hug your dogs before you read the references below.

Barbara J. Andrews, Editor

[1] “.. animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf."

[2]  Sunstein’s controversial book Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech is noteworthy because he sees the source of the problem as the First Amendment! KTAR radio reported “Cass Sunstein is seeking unparalleled powers over journalists in total violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Sunstein has announced that he will soon be in the process of imposing limits on free speech…”  Freedom’s Phoenix sums it up thusly “Sunstein's book is an unmistakable guide for the methodology necessary to exterminate any further governmental dissent by imposing both online and web site censorship. In his book, Sustein announces his intent to have his office hold internet journalists, broadcasters and web hosting services accountable for the remarks of participants…” Sunstein, an acclaimed “cost analysis expert”, well understands that by tying up blogs and chats in court, any dissenting website will be effectively erased.

[3] The Wall Street Journal said “The post wields outsize power. It oversees regulations throughout the government, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Obama aides have said the job will be crucial as the new administration overhauls financial-services regulations, attempts to pass universal health care and tries to forge a new approach to controlling emissions of greenhouse gases.”

[4]  British and Loyalist efforts to disarm the colonial (Patriot) militia in the early phases of the American Revolution resulted in the Patriot colonists protesting by citing the Declaration of Rights, their own militia laws and common law rights to self-defense. Source -  Wikipedia Second Amendment

[5] President Obama’s quotes on gun control, his voting record as IL Senator, etc.

[6] In July 2009 the New York Post said this “Advance copies of Sunstein’s new book, On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done, have gone out to reviewers ahead of its September publication date, but considering the prominence with which Sunstein is about to be endowed, his worrying views are fair game now. Sunstein is President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.”

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Editorials/09091-Sunstein-Animal-Rights-Czar_bj.asp

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