22 January 2007 - Vol. # 14
Lobbying NYC City Council ***
Congress ***
AETA ***
Horse
Slaughter Bill
LOBBING THE NYC COUNCIL
on a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages
The
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages has begun lobbying the City
Council to ask for support on a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in
NYC. We have had an excellent response so far.
We are looking for people who are interested in joining us in
meetings with their Council Members. The meetings are generally late
in the day - 4-5:00 PM - since most of us work at other jobs. If you
are interested, please contact us at the e-mail address below. Let
us know your council member - or if you do not not know - please
provide your street address and zip code and we will find out. We
will get back to you.
Your presence as a constituent is most important in these
meetings - so please do not be concerned with how well you know the
issue. A few of us who are very familiar with the issue will lead
the meeting. This will be a very interesting and educational
experience.
MOVEON.ORG
CAMPAIGN
contact your Representatives in Congress
Moveon.org is planning to sit down with members of Congress in
the next few weeks to ask that they take bold leadership on a
variety of issues including the Iraq war, health care and the energy
crisis. Preserving our democracy is also a crucial issue that
needs attention. This is an excellent way to get our message out
about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) by going through
Moveon.org - in addition to contacting your representative directly.
This is an opportunity to educate members of Moveon about the
slippery slope posed by the passage of AETA.
Please contact
Moveon.org and add your name to a petition asking congress to
pass the "100 hours agenda". Ask them to repeal the law outright or
nullify the unconstitutional provisions. The
Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
is excessively broad and vague and brands animal activists as
"terrorists." It will have a chilling effect on activism by
endangering free speech and assembly since activists will not be
clear on what is accepted forms of protest.
ANIMAL ENTERPRISE
TERRORISM ACT
contact your Representative and Senators
Recently,
I joined a few colleagues in DC to lobby our representatives in
Congress about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which is now
law. We visited the offices of Congressman Rangel, Weiner, Nadler,
Maloney, Kucinich and Conyers, and Senators Schumer and Clinton.
Many of the legislative aides with whom we met were very
knowledgeable about our position and agreed with us. We asked them
to revisit this act and either repeal it or amend it. Please
continue to check the web site of the
Equal Justice Alliance for updates.
Please
contact your representatives in Congress. Use the
arguments on the web
site of the Equal Justice Alliance. Keep this issue alive by
contacting your representatives periodically and asking them for
updates.
AMERICAN HORSE
SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT
excellent news - but please take action
Two
Texas slaughterhouses responsible for half the 100,000 horses
killed in the U.S. annually for overseas consumption may face
criminal charges if they don't shut down, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals decided. This is excellent news since two of the three
horse slaughter houses in the US are in Texas and if they are shut
down, only the Belgian owned Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois
will remain.
Last week, U.S. Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Ed Whitfield
(R-KY), John Spratt (D-SC), and Nick Rahall (D-WV), and U.S.
Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and John Ensign (R-NV) introduced H.R.
503/S. 311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This
legislation would ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and stop the
export of horses for slaughter across our borders. Please
contact your
two Senators and congressman and ask them to support this bill.
| Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth
Forel - Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc. for the
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages |
