[US Patriot]

Commentary on 'A Murder Before Homecoming', which aired on American Justice this week.

A&E aired the story A Murder Before Homecoming on American Justice this week. The good 'ole boys in Texas have got to be the meanest, most ignorant men alive. I'm certain District Attorney Tim Cole was congratulated all-around for his convictions in this case. Did any of these men's mothers have children who lived?

I could never be accused of being a liberal or someone who's soft on crime but one certainly has to seriously question the logic of putting children in prison for life. Children, yes, I'm calling them exactly what they are. I mean come on people.

American Justice made a big deal out of victim's age -- she was only 16-years-old -- was a phrase repeated often. It took over half-an-hour to locate the ages of the boys involved in the murder. Well it's tragic that a girl so young could be viciously gunned down. It made me sick when I was finally able to verify my suspicions. Two of the boys, the ones who did not pull the trigger, they were both only 17-years-old. One-year older than the girl, who was out drinking and partying, in the middle of the night, without her parent's permission!

Did she deserve to die for being irresponsible? No. Do the boys deserve life in prison for watching someone else shoot an innocent girl in cold blood, then dumping the body and keeping silent? Well let's see...

• By law, the boys must attend school, until they are 18-years-old.
• By law, these boys can't be treated medically, without their parent's permission.
• By law, the boys can't buy or consume alcohol.
• By law, they can't smoke cigarettes.
• By law, the boys can't drive without a license and their parent's permission.
• By law, they can't work without a work permit from their school.

It is a well-known fact that girls mature at a younger age than boys do. All their lives they have been treated like children. The law prevents children from making important decisions for themselves, some - like drinking - until they are 21-years-old.

Anyone who has ever had children can tell you how long it can take for some children to grow up. Most children – especially boys, don't really begin to mature until they are around 30 years-old.

Back in the 1800s & early 1900s, children were getting married at the tender of age of 12 or 13. There is a reason the laws have been changed. These two boys should be housed in a youth facility and given intense counseling, to help them cope with what they have been through. I can't begin to image just how much a life of prison will change these children and how impossible it will be for them to adjust to society, when they are released to return to their communities at the age of 50, having never lived on the outside.

The lawmakers have decided to pick and choose when they believe a child becomes an adult. It is unfair to them to be held accountable for a terrible mistake, when they weren't old enough to cope with the situation they were in. For most accounts the older boy probably belongs in prison, he still wasn't old enough to drink but presumably he could vote and make most other decisions for himself. Randy and Josh should be given the help they need, not thrown away like yesterday's garbage.

If you agree – especially if you live in Texas, call your legislator, write a letter, and express your outrage. I don't know any of the parties involved, but I do know what it's like to be young, to do something stupid and to be forced to live with the consequences of those actions.

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Frontier Buffalo Ranch

Testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture and Livestock

Texas HB 461, Committee Substitute, relating to prohibiting mandatory participation in an animal identification system.

My name is Judith McGeary, and I am the Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. FARFA supports the committee substitute of HB 461. We strongly believe that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) should not be a mandatory program in Texas, nor should anyone be coerced into it.

The proponents of NAIS have provided only general claims that NAIS is necessary for animal health. They have provided no scientific studies supporting the design of NAIS, particularly their claims that the program requires 100% participation to be effective for disease control.

Supporters of NAIS argue that small facilities are as susceptible to disease as are large facilities, but this is wholly unsupported by scientific evidence or practical experience. Basic epidemiological principles establish that disease is most likely to occur, spread rapidly, and mutate to higher pathogenic forms in high-density populations.

Small, low-density operations, while not immune to disease, pose a lower risk. The level of risk also varies based on the different species of animals and different diseases. Horses, chickens, pigs, goats, llamas, bison, and elk each pose different issues than do cattle. An effective disease control program would not simply treat all "livestock animals" and all diseases the same.

Neither the USDA nor the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) has done a cost analysis, but it is clear that the costs will far exceed the $2-3 per animal that is frequently quoted.

That estimate addresses only the basic tag, not the labor costs to the animal owners, the costs of establishing and maintaining databases, the cost of the equipment for scanning the tags, nor the ongoing costs of reporting. Estimates of costs of similar programs in other countries range from $37 per animal to $69 per animal. These are just averages – depending on the number of animals and the number of movements that need to be reported, costs for some individuals will be even higher. Texas has approximately 14 million cattle, 1 million sheep, 1 million goats, and 1 million horses. NAIS could cost Texas animal owners, consumers, and taxpayers hundreds of millions, or even over a billion, dollars.

Frontier Buffalo Ranch

Costs are not merely monetary. The plans for NAIS have not addressed individuals' concerns over the government intrusion into their privacy and the burden on property rights. Never before in the history of our country has a person had to report to the state and federal government simply because he or she owns animals. The later stages of the program would require people to report a long list of events to a government-accessible database. Animals do not move themselves, so such reporting translates into reporting the owners' movements and activities.

What will we get in return for these costs? On a practical level, there will almost certainly be significant technological problems. The Australian version of NAIS, for cattle, has suffered from repeated problems with the databases, including 11 million phantom cattle.

An Australian cattleman told FARFA that, in the year since their electronic tracking program was implemented, he has never gotten completely correct information from the database. He has had animals listed in the database that were not his; he has been unable to find animals that he owns that should have been in the database; and the factual information about the animals has frequently been incorrect. Australia has approximately 27 million cattle, compared with the approximately 100 million cattle in the US and the 14 million cattle in Texas alone. Moreover, NAIS would include dozens of other species as well.

Frontier Buffalo Ranch

If the Australian databases have had such significant problems, what can we expect from NAIS if it is implemented here?

We already have mechanisms for tracking animals. The government should be able to show clear benefits to be gained before proposing a new, expensive and intrusive program.

Some of the proponents of NAIS have argued that USDA will implement NAIS if the states don't do it. But USDA has stated that NAIS is, and will remain, voluntary at the federal level. Moreover, even if USDA were to change its mind, it lacks statutory authority to mandate NAIS. There have been multiple bills introduced in Congress to provide such authority, but none have passed. These repeated failures to adopt legislation indicate that Congress may never actually do so.

And should NAIS ever be made mandatory at any level, it will most likely be challenged in the courts on multiple constitutional grounds. There is a growing public outcry against NAIS across the country, making it less and less likely that national action will ever be taken. Ten other states have proposed bills that would limit NAIS to a voluntary program or abolish it completely. There is no reason for Texas to make decisions based on what the federal government might possibly due in the future – we need to make decisions about what is best for Texas.

Looking at the specific provisions of the Committee substitute of HB 461, FARFA supports the provisions for full disclosure, the right to withdraw, and the non-discrimination clause. These provisions are critical to creating a truly voluntary program. Participation based on false information, lack of informed consent, and an inability to withdraw from the program is not voluntary. Similarly, for those who have been told that they must register or else they cannot participate in 4-H, sell at a local sales barn, or do other animal-related activities, the program is not truly voluntary.

There are many more cost-effective and less intrusive means to address livestock diseases. I urge you to vote in favor of HB 461, and allow Texans to choose to spend their money and their time on measures that will truly improve animal health.

Judith McGeary
Executive Director, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
8308 Sassman Road
Austin, TX 78747

This article was originally posted to Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance on February 27, 2007. Reposted here with permission.

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Labels: animals, farm, NAIS, Texas