TOM VILSAK SECRETARY AGAIN
by NetPlaces Network Staff
New President Joe Biden appoints Tom Vilsack, a politician known to dog owners and NetPlaces subscribers as a non-pet owner, to run the Dept. Of Agriculture.
What does this have to do with
dogs? One of our staff asked that question, noting that former President Trump
owned no animals. He lived on the 58th floor of Trump Tower. Does animal
ownership reflect a person’s lifestyle preferences or is it the other way
around?
The politics of pet
ownership motivated us to do some research on Tom Vilsack. He was born in
Pittsburg in 1950. After 30 years of Republican rule, in 1998 Democrat Tom
Vilsack was elected as Governor of Iowa and served for 2 terms. Psychology
Today reports Idaho and Iowa as the most dog-loving states “…with 58% of
households owning a dog compared to New Hampshire where only 24% of families
have a dog.” Iowa is known for ranching and farming so Mr. Vilsack must know
something about agriculture.
According to a Newsweek
poll, 51% of Republican politicians own a dog and only 38% of Democrats said
they owned a dog. The Clintons were politically astute so Hillary was
photographed walking her dog… Bush father and son Presidents were both dog
owners.
TheDogPlace.org covered
White House Dogs {Ref #1}, including Barack Obama who quickly acquired a dog
but that sadly, they didn’t seem to like each other...
In 2008 Vilsack made an
unsuccessful bid for the White House and then endorsed Senator Hillary
Clinton. So it was that Tom Vilsack, as the national co-chair for Clinton's
presidential campaign, was later sworn in as Secretary of U.S. Agriculture.
In 2009 Vilsack banned the
slaughter of downer cows for human consumption, something anyone who eats
beef would applaud.
In 2013 “USDA secretary Tom Vilsack hired
Sarah L. Conant {Ref #2}, the HSUS lawyer, as director of (APHIS)
Animal Plant Health Inspection Service enforcement.” This unhealthy
collusion between the United States government and the ‘Humane Society Of
The United States’ did not escape the notice of Congress as was pointed out
in TheDogPress.com.
In 2016 President Obama
appointed Vilsack to address the problem of heroin and opiates in rural
communities. Tom Vilsack was also among Hillary Clinton's top picks as a
running mate for her 2016 presidential bid.
In January 2017, after many
delays, Vilsack approved the USDA rule against “soring” Tennessee Walking
Horses with chains or caustic chemicals to make them lift their front legs
higher. Shortly after, Vilsack stepped down as Agriculture Secretary and
became President of the U.S. Dairy Council. He was out of the news until
2019 when it was noted that he did NOT run for Senate.
In 2020,
then-President-elect Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Tom Vilsack
to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture for his incoming Biden
administration. Vilsak is seen as a “left wing liberal” and has been
portrayed as an ‘animal rights whacko’ but does he deserve those labels? It
depends on when and where you look for answers.
Tom Vilsak was widely
criticized the USDA Secretary of Agriculture due to his alleged ties with
Monsanto Corporation. He earned the nickname “Mr. Monsanto” due to his
connections and support of that food giant and he caught even more flack
from dairy farmers when Monsanto and Bayer merged.
Federal $$$ to farmers are
predicted to exceed $45 billion in 2021, higher than any farm subsidies of
previous years. Is it because we are importing more food than ever before?
Can we bring food from China cheaper than we can grow it in America? And do
we simply disregard the safety risk?
The Food Safety Center
The other issue permeating
the internet is an observation by the Center For Food Safety which notes
"While serving as Secretary under President Obama, Mr. Vilsack supported
chemically-dependent industrial agriculture that resulted in millions more
pounds of pesticides released into the environment, contaminating our water
and soils and harming human health and wildlife.”
The Food Safety Center also
noted “Vilsack supported the expansion of pesticide-promoting, genetically
engineered crops, and was not a strong supporter of organic agriculture."
So, the question is does
Tom Vilsak care about animals? Does he own a dog or any other pet? His
favorability score in that connection is weak-to-non-existent. He may know
agriculture but he’s a dunce when it comes to animals and we could find no
record of him as a pet owner.
In fact he “weakened
protections for pets by reclassifying dogs as “farm products”” thereby
gaining no favor with dog owners!
As the Biden presidency
moves forward, it will be interesting to see if there is any effect on
“animal rights” and whether there is any move to bring more food production
back to United States. Have we been asleep while the one thing everyone
requires every day has been turned over to a potential adversary?
Reference Information: {#1}
White House Dogs ~ {#2}
Who Is APHIS Director Sara Conant?
Copyright © NetPlaces Network 21S02
http://www.thedogplace.org/Legislation/Tom-Vilsack-Ag-Secretary-Again-b21A02.asp
