Corporate Front Group Buys Attack On Humane Society During Oscar Broadcast

[Mr Dixon]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/02/27/432747/corporate-front-group-buys-attack-on-humane-society-during-oscar-broadcast/

The anti-Humane Society ad was paid for by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a corporate front group run by right-wing PR flack Rick Berman that is closely tied to the food industry. Berman’s Center accuses the Humane Society of engaging in “a slow but steady push to take away consumer choices by forcing meat, eggs, and dairy foods out of more Americans’ reach,” and he has a long history of similarly hyperbolic claims paid for by corporations looking to misrepresent the safety of their food products.
• Sweet Scam: Berman is behind a campaign called “Sweet Scam” which attempts to debunk “myths” such as “sugary sweeteners are bad for your teeth” or “significantly reducing sugar intake leads to healthy weight loss.”
• Trans-Fats: Another Berman campaign, whose website has since been pulled down, claimed that trans-fats have “may possess health benefits, including fighting some cancers, enhancing immunity, and counteracting artery clogging fats—the primary cause of cardiovascular disease.”
• The Steak Diet: Another Berman website touts how one can shed unwanted pounds by eating beef.
• Soft Drinks For Athletes: Berman also claims that high-sugar soft drinks “actually improved physical performance among elite athletes.”
• Fast Food Marathon: Berman also touts a marathon runner who proclaims “I love running and I love [fast-food]–might as well combine the two.”
• Global Warming Denial: And, of course, no right-wing anti-science campaign would be complete without some kind of attempt to deny global warming. Berman’s effort is an attack on former President-elect Al Gore’s statement that a high meat diet fosters global warming because meat requires forests to be cleared and more energy consumption to produce than other foods.
So the anti-Humane Society ad appears to be the latest in a long line of Berman’s attempts to pad the food industry’s bottom line at the expense of ordinary Americans’ health. Nevertheless, this particular attack is disturbing even by Berman’s standards. It’s one thing to advance arguments — even false arguments — intended to rebut the policy arguments of your opponents. It is another thing altogether, however, to attack a charity by targeting their donors. Berman’s latest effort is nothing less than an intimidation campaign designed to send a clear message to charities that if they work against a wealthy corporation’s interests, they will find themselves on the receiving end of a hit job led by deep pocketed industries capable of throwing away more than a million dollars on a single ad.

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[annabanana]

2. k&r (faced & tweeted too)... This outfit needs to be as well known as ALEC and the Koch Brothers.

They lie and lie and lie and twist the science.

Sigh.. Anyone else here old enough to remember the good old "truth in advertising" laws?

[onenote]

3. I remember truth in advertising laws

and I also remember that they never would have applied to this kind of ad.

[jsmirman]

7. Holy F, I'm sorry this is BS

They believe pet ownership is slavery and animals are better off dead

They love animals and the above is as patently untrue as the things Santorum said about the Dutch.

The HSUS offices can be a little distracting to work at because just about everyone there brings their pet dogs to work.

They have a different mission than shelters do, and I don't always agree with them, but they are a good organization that fights with every resource they have against crappy conditions for all animals throughout America and around the world.

The deal they've made with the egg producers concerned me, but the basic word I've gotten back from someone who knows much more than I do and is less of a pragmatist than I am is that it is still a good thing, overall.

HSUS is not designed to run or maintain shelters.

I volunteered for over a year at a shelter before going to law school and give until it hurts to shelters around the country, because my heart breaks over the plight of shelter pets.

HSUS certainly has a pragmatic view designed to help all animals in the future but also in the immediate present, and that's how they view things.

They do not have "beach front corporate offices" and although Wayne Pacelle makes a nice salary, I personally know high ranking HSUS staffers who believe me, live very humbly.

I thank you very much for doing the most wonderful thing which is volunteering at a shelter, but as to the rest of this, you're being victimized by a disinformation campaign. It's not ok to spread things that are so plainly untrue about the organization.

[hollysmom]

11. Read what they did with Katrina money in Louisiana

Then tell me it is not a scam, collect money with one set of plans and spend it with another.
Read how they brag about animals spayed - all 5K of them, yet they collect millions each year.
Sorry, spells scam to me.

[jsmirman]

12. This is starting to be suspicious

You have three posts and you said stuff in your first post here that were flat out untruths.

Here's what HSUS says about Katrina on their website:

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/08/five_years_after_katrina_082710.html

That link also has links to to further stories on HSUS' efforts in the Gulf.

[hollysmom]

16. If we read it on the internet, it must be true.

I was a member her a long time ago and had to leave this site because politics messed up my blood pressure, under doctors orders no politics. I have since forgotten my password and have different e-mail now, so i spent years lurking and reading some of my real life friends posts here, but I feel strongly enough in this political climate to renew my membership,. sorry if you don't believe me. can't do anything about that, sorry that you don't like what I write when I just rejoin. I guess I can be bullied away from arguing my view.

I am skeptical of many things and many people, such is life.

I do however believe Obama was born in Hawaii when he said, no birth certificate necessary, because it is just so very difficult to go back in time and post those birth announcements. In the same way, I have read for years in real time stories about PETA killing animals. Now like some people who support PETA, but I don't have to like the organization. HSUS = PETA 2.0 to me. You don't have to agree. So, enough said by me. I will stop now and go back to lurking as I have for so many years.

[BeHereNow]

17. I've been here a long time, and I seem to recall your blood pressure issue-

What was your user name back when?
I understand the blood pressure issue, BTW.
My doc says the same thing...LOL.

Right now, so you know, people are suspecting you of disrupting etc...over in the M&H forum.

So if you remember your old user name, it might help to verify
that you were a member in good standing at one point in DU history-
Just a thought!


BHN

[jsmirman]

5. And... here we have Rick Berman, corporate ratfucker

this is what a number of us were getting at in that other thread.

This is a bad, bad person.

[tsuki]

6. K&R. nt

[Snake Alchemist]

8. The same HSUS that wants to eliminate all reptile husbandry? Sorry, gets a big MEH from me. nt

[jsmirman]

9. I confess you've got me here

I have no idea what program or campaign you're talking about, but I'm guessing from your name this has some personal significance?

This is one area I don't know a damn thing about.

What are the particulars of your complaint?

[Snake Alchemist]

10. They don't try to hide it. HSUS is militantly against keeping reptiles and amphibians as pets.

They'll never get my support.

[sudopod]

13. A great and terrible loss.

Who will they have to be contrary at them all the time if not for you?

[Snake Alchemist]

14. Hopefully no one. Every rainstorm begins with a single drop. nt

[sudopod]

15. lol nt