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Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the soi-disant Cordoba Initiative, has gotten all the attention he deserves for his astonishingly insensitive attempt to build a 13-story mosque and community center at the site of Ground Zero. Rauf has largely escaped attention for his efforts to build a sawed-off version of the same on the grounds of the venerable and historically Christian Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. Although the resistance to Rauf at Chautauqua has not made the news, it is deeply felt, and it is coming from both Christians and Jews. As shall be seen, the forced feeding...

If you don’t subscribe to the dead-tree edition of The New York Times, you may have missed our full-page ad today asking readers, “Shouldn’t the ‘Humane Society’ do better?” Considering that less than half of one-percent of money spent by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in 2008 went to hands-on pet shelters, lots of people think there’s room for improvement. If you didn’t get the ad, here’s a copy to view, (pdf):It appears we’ve hit close to home at HSUS headquarters. CEO Wayne Pacelle has dialed up his usual issue-dodging response and attacked us for supposedly...

Multi-Million Dollar Animal Rights Group Accused Of Corruption; Lawsuit Available At HumaneWatch Washington - In a landmark RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuit certain to have far-reaching implications for the animal rights movement, Feld Entertainment and the Ringling Brothers circus sued the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), its lawyers, and several other animal rights groups last week. The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) unearthed the lawsuit in federal court records today. CCF is making the lawsuit available online at its newest website, www.HumaneWatch.org "America's farmers, ranchers, hunters, fishermen, research scientists, fashion designers, and restaurateurs have...

When it rains, it pours for overzealous New York City food nannies. The city announced today that it has a new front in its war on food: salt. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is asking food manufacturers and restaurants to voluntarily reduce the sodium content of foods, with the goal of slashing salt intake by 25 percent over 5 years. (If the city’s past regulatory heavy-handedness is any indication, though, it means “voluntary� in the Tony Soprano sense of the word.) As we’re telling the media today, people should take NYC’s salt proposition with a grain of...

There are only two things certain in life, as the saying goes, and a byproduct of one of them requires nonprofit organizations to file paperwork with the IRS. So now that the deceptively named “Humane Society� of the United States (HSUS) has submitted its "Form 990" for 2008, we thought it was time to take a close look. The tax filing itself is a bit more detailed than ones in the past, thanks to some new IRS rules. And more detail equals a clearer picture of exactly what HSUS is doing -- and what it's not doing -- with...

The so-called “Humane Society” of the United States (HSUS) has once again proven why its name – which conjures up images of saving helpless pets – isn’t deserved. A new Baltimore Sun investigation reveals that the 19 horses HSUS and Baltimore city officials confiscated last month from "A-rabbers" (street peddlers who sell produce in urban neighborhoods) have been penned up in unsanitary conditions and mostly forgotten about. Can someone tell us what's so “humane” about that?On November 10, Baltimore Health Department officials – with HSUS spurring them on – seized 19 healthy horses owned by these streetcart operators from their...

Think activists are taking a holiday break? While a reprieve from culinary scaremongering and guilt-trips might make a nice present for all of us, trial lawyers and self-anointed obesity warriors are always looking for ways to make our Christmas holiday season not so jolly. Consider the ridiculous past antics of anti-fat fanatic MeMe Roth, who has attacked St. Nick’s rotund form (along with ice cream toppings and Girl Scout cookies). Then there are the Grinch-like trial lawyers like John "Sue the Bastards" Banzhaf who are eager to file lawsuits against restaurants, school boards, and even parents because they hope big...

Lactose-intolerant Policy Is Sour On Milk, Cheese, Yogurt Washington, D.C.— The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) expressed puzzlement and disbelief today after learning that the popular website Facebook has banned the promotion of dairy products. Facebook’s guidelines state that no promotions are permitted if the “objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, dairy, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline.” An additional policy also prohibits awarding promotional prizes that include dairy products. “It’s dumbfounding, and just plain dumb,” said CCF Research Director David Martosko. “Why would anyone lump milk with cigarettes and prescription painkillers? Does Facebook believe...

Christian Children's Fund is changing its name to ChildFund International. The board of directors of the worldwide relief organization voted this week on the change as part of a new strategy. The new name aims to reflect the charity's worldwide reach and its affiliation with the ChildFund Alliance, a coalition that includes 11 other international organizations that help children living in poverty. Chief executive Anne Lyman Goddard said Friday that the name change, which takes effect July 1, will standardize the ChildFund name globally among groups that work to connect donors to programs that help children. "Now working under different...

Researchers at MIT and Columbia University believe the answer to the so-called obesity “epidemic� lies in getting Americans to eat more regional food. So they’re outlining different “foodsheds� that we should all be relying on for our needs—especially if we live in a U.S. city. Will it work? Can we afford it? Let’s take a look.The PhysOrg news service spells out the proposal: Each metropolitan area, the researchers say, should obtain most of its nutrition from its own “foodshed,� a term akin to “watershed� meaning the area that naturally supplies its kitchens … [T]hese local efforts should form a...

An advocacy group that once lobbied for mandatory nutrition labels for groceries has set it sights on restaurant chains and is asking the federal government to require large chains to offer calorie, fat and sodium information on menus. The Center for Science in the Public Interest on Monday criticized several food chains for promoting what the group calls "x-treme eating" with dishes that include more calories and fat than most people should eat in one day. The government recommends that the average American consume around 2,000 calories per day, with less than 10 percent of the calories coming from saturated...

Making the rounds at yesterday's Ad Club meeting was Andrew J. McKeon, a former investment-banking consultant who is now a true believer in the inconvenient truth of global warming. In November, McKeon launched the nonprofit Climate Change Foundation--the name is supposed to be taken literally on two levels--and is looking for support from the ad community and marketers. The idea is to help make Americans aware of the seriousness of global warming and to raise money for the cause. "My goal is to approach companies like Starbucks and the Gap--companies that want to have a good position on this issue...

Schwarzenegger Squashes Religious Freedom Thomasson: “Arnold Schwarzenegger has two faces. He speaks at churches and says he believes in religious freedom and family values, yet he’s stabbing pro-family Californians in the back.” Sacramento, California – Campaign for Children and Families is shocked and dismayed that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed SB 1441 (Kuehl). Today’s disastrous action by Schwarzenegger means Christian and other faith-based colleges in California will be forced to promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality if they accept students with Cal Grants. “People of conscience are appalled that Arnold Schwarzenegger has trampled religious freedom to satisfy hyperactive sexual activists,”...

CNSNews.com) - Americans are accustomed to the tactics of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but the group's in-your-face advocacy is increasingly calculated to offend, provoke and otherwise show contempt for America's religious faithful, according to a new report released by the Center for Consumer Freedom

Sometimes we get the feeling that there's a secret competition between food cops to one-up each other for the most absurd way to attack our food choices. We recently told you about an Illinois physician who argued in a Chicago Tribune op-ed that the government should "mandate that, effective immediately, all portions of food served in restaurants and fast-food places be cut by one-half to two-thirds." Now, to fight the flab, another academic has proposed a harebrained economic plan. Adding to the chorus of professors trying to argue away personal responsibility, the University of California Davis' J. Paul Leigh wrote...

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has announced the winners of its 4th annual Tarnished Halo Awards. CCF awards these prizes to America's most notorious animal-rights zealots, environmental scaremongers, celebrity busybodies, self-anointed public interest advocates, trial lawyers, and other food & beverage activists who claim to know what's best for you. The Reverend Rooster Category Awarded to Al Sharpton, the publicity-seeking preacher, for joining PETA to crow at KFC restaurants and attempting to instigate a boycott from the African American community. It's odd that Sharpton would stand side-by-side with PETA, which advocates a complete end to chicken consumption. When the...

An anti-discrimination proposal before the Alameda County (Calif.) Board of Supervisors would allow men to go into women's bathrooms, a conservative group is warning. The Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a pro-family group, is urging concerned citizens to attend Tuesday morning's hearing, where the five supervisors are scheduled to vote on a resolution that says that transsexuals "shall have full and equal enjoyment of....dressing and bathroom facilities, consistent with the person's gender identity." CCF calls the resolution an invasion of privacy and an effort to "punish people who disagree with transsexuality, or sex change operations, or men wearing women's...

Consumer Group Protests Ingrid Newkirk's Washington Book-Signing, Blames PETA for Bankrolling "Unkind" Arsonists WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Dressed as eco-terrorists, carrying a comically large gasoline can and matches, and holding a banner depicting an arson fire under the words "PETA's Kind Choice," representatives from the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) will gather to protest the Washington book- signing appearance of Ingrid Newkirk. Newkirk, the president and co-founder of the radical group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is promoting a new animal-rights book misleadingly titled "Making Kind Choices." Date: Monday, January 24 Time: 6:00 pm Place: Borders Bookstore...

"This may be the most important letter I've ever written," declares People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) president Ingrid Newkirk in a September 27 fundraising letter. "I can honestly say that, in the almost 25 years that PETA has been in existence, I've never -- never, ever! - witnessed a more organized, well-funded, multi-industry attack on animal rights and PETA than the one we're under right now. It is getting stronger every day ? We are number one on their hit list, and they are out for PETA's blood." For once, we agree with Newkirk. And we're thrilled...

The Center for Consumer Freedom warns in our latest ad -- featuring the actor who played the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld -- that if calorie cops have their way, you could be forced into the Salad Line! While this fictional food cop measures each customer's weight to determine what, if anything, restaurant-goers can enjoy, there is actually a real-world food "Czarina" taking away treats from Texas schoolchildren. She's just one of the food fascists who think you're too dumb to make your own choices. If these diet scolds have their way, we may all soon be told (as the star...

Washington, DC -- Attention parents and teachers! The food police have added whole and two-percent milk to the list of "poor nutritional quality" beverages in their crosshairs, recommending that they be removed from American's schools. This and other ridiculous assertions are contained in a report being circulated by the self-described "food police" at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The draft report, rumored to be released this month, bears the name of CSPI's activist coalition, the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA). NANA is part of an anti-soda crusade which advocates taxing sodas and restricting their...

Marci Hansen, "youth marketing manager" at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), recently complained to the Lowell Sun in Massachusetts that when it comes to her group's efforts to mold children into anti-meat militants, "Parents are tough." They're especially tough when, as Hansen concedes, parents see PETA's animal-rights creed as "a stage, or a way to rebel." And when your job is to go behind parents' backs to reach their kids, that job is tougher still. In our latest advertisement -- running in the back-to-school section of the latest Newsweek -- we ask parents: "What is PETA teaching...

Same-sex marriages opposed in rally at Pershing Square By Chris T. Nguyen Associated Press About 200 people opposing same-sex marriages held a rally in Los Angeles on Tuesday, urging state lawmakers to vote against a proposed bill that would allow gay unions in "The message we want to send is this -- yesterday in Massachusetts same-sex marriages began. However, in California same-sex marriage ends today," said Luis Galdamez, spokesman for the Campaign for California Families. "And we need to take it to the politicians. ... What we want is marriage between one man and one woman." Protesters shouted "no homosexual...

Anti-fat police are ready to bust heads "Public Health Is Everybody's Business," read the button a chirping woman pushed into my hand at November's annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco. A day later I discovered firsthand that public health is everybody's business but mine. I was "escorted" out of the meeting for the crime of documenting what America's food fascists have planned for our plates. A man in a "Howard Dean" cap, who refused to identify himself, made a fuss when he discovered that an operative from the Center for Consumer Freedom had infiltrated the...

Beginning last night, millions of Fox News Channel viewers learned that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is linked with domestic terrorism. Two new television ads produced by the Center for Consumer Freedom expose PETA for funding, condoning, and supporting arson and other forms of violence. One of our new 30-second commercials features a young woman who talks about teaching her children to love and respect animals. But she denounces PETA's support of violence as extreme and unacceptable. The second spot begins by exposing PETA's opposition to all medical research using animals, including efforts to find cures for...

(CNSNews.com) - A consumer advocacy group has launched a series of anti-PETA ads, "to give the publicity hounds at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals the sort of attention they don't actually want." The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) said the two TV ads feature a "darker side of PETA that will likely shock many of the group's supporters." CCF, a frequent critic of PETA, describes itself as a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices. One of the two 30-second ads has a young woman talking...

UN's Annan blasts U.S. over lack of security in Iraq Second Canadian dies from injuries sustained in Tuesday's bomb attack   Steven Edwards and Adrian Humphreys CanWest News Service Thursday, August 21, 2003 CREDIT: Manish Swarup, Associated Press   U.S. soldiers take a break against the tire of their vehicle after all-night efforts to rescue trapped victims at the site of Tuesday's United Nations' headquarters bombing.   ADVERTISEMENT UNITED NATIONS -- As a second Canadian aid worker -- a woman who was an outspoken advocate for the welfare of children in war zones -- died from injuries sustained in Tuesday's bomb...

<p>An envelope containing a white, granular substance was delivered yesterday to the Media General building at 333 E. Franklin St.</p> <p>The employee who opened it was taken to Medical College of Virginia hospitals for observation. She had broken out in some type of rash, Richmond police said.</p>