\u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be satisfied with Silver Blaze,\u201d says the distinguished gentleman in the cigar lounge of San Francisco\u2019s exclusive Bohemian Club. \u201cThe horse has run well at both Golden Gate and Del Mar, and you\u2019re getting him at a bargain price.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTime will tell,\u201d smiles the buyer, handing over a handsome check.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than you know,\u201d replies the seller, flashing a badge. \u201cI\u2019m agent Watson, Municipal Animal Anti-Slavery Enforcement, and I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re under arrest for trafficking in animals in violation of San Francisco city ordinance … unless, of course, you can prove you intended to EAT Silver Blaze.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the scenario sounds insane, just turn elsewhere in your daily paper, these days.<\/p>\n
The initial idea, it appears, was to simply ban \u201cpuppy mills and kitten factories\u201d in the city of San Francisco. But this year\u2019s incarnation of the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal hopes to see the city\u2019s Board of Supervisors \u201cprotect\u201d from human ownership everything from Great Danes to goldfish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it flies, crawls, runs, swims or slithers, you would not be able to buy it in the city named for the patron saint of animals,\u201d reports the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n
Representatives of the $45-billion to $50-billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal \u201cby far the most radical ban we\u2019ve seen.\u201d Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, and end needless suffering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy fish? Why not fish?\u201d asks Philip Gerrie, a member of the city\u2019s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare and a co-author of the proposal. \u201cFrom Descartes on up, in the Western mind set, fish and other nonhuman animals don\u2019t have feelings, they don\u2019t have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them. If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently. \u00c9 Our culture sanctions this, treating them as commodities and expendable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually, America has led the way in banning gratuitous cruelty to animals. But we\u2019re way beyond that, here.<\/p>\n
The commission voted earlier this month to send a proposal to the Board of Supervisors recommending a ban on the sale of all pets in the city. Snake food was almost exempted from the proposal. After all, pythons have to eat, and they like their lunch alive. But at a heated meeting, Commissioner Pam Hemphill questioned how it could be humane to sell live animals to be fed to other live animals.<\/p>\n
Other than people, you understand.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s specifically legal in San Francisco to sell live animals for eventual human consumption, so — rather than offend Asian minorities who consider this a valuable part of their cultural heritage — the proposed ban would not stop markets from selling live fish, poultry, turtles or seafood for that purpose.<\/p>\n
Under the proposal, in San Francisco, you wouldn\u2019t be allowed to buy a dog or cat to keep as a pet — but you WOULD be allowed to buy one, so long as you could show you intended to eat it.<\/p>\n
Residents of the city, of course, merely consider that they\u2019re \u201cahead of the curve\u201d on such issues.<\/p>\n
In 2005, San Francisco voters banned the possession of handguns for private use. The measure also reportedly prohibited the manufacture, sale, or distribution of any type of firearms within the city limits — though I can\u2019t find any evidence city police officers ever turned in theirs. In 2008, the California Supreme Court decided the ban was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
But the San Franciscans had only just begun. In 2006, the U.S. Navy decommissioned the USS Iowa, one of the biggest battleships that ever sailed. It wanted to give the ship to San Francisco to use as a tourist attraction, but the board of supervisors voted against accepting it. USA Today reported: \u201cSupervisors who oppose the offer say they don\u2019t want a ship from a military in which openly gay men and women cannot serve. They also say they don\u2019t want it because they oppose the Iraq war, which city voters condemned in a 2004 ballot question.\u201d<\/p>\n
California banned smoking in most indoor public places in 1994, and in bars and nightclubs in 1998, but San Francisco has (of course) gone much further. The most recent extension of its citywide smoking ban, passed in March 2010, prohibits lighting up at ATMs, while waiting in line, and at outdoor cafes. The ban passed the board of supervisors unanimously; anti-smoking zealots hope to expand it even further.<\/p>\n
In November 2010, targeting McDonald\u2019s \u201cHappy Meals,\u201d the board of supervisors voted by a veto-proof margin to prohibit restaurants from giving out free toys with meals whose calories, fat, and sugar exceeded set levels. If a restaurant DOES want to give out a free toy with a meal, it must also come with fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n
Aww.<\/p>\n
And activists have gotten enough signatures on a proposed measure banning the practice of circumcision to place it on this fall\u2019s election ballot.<\/p>\n
Now THERE\u2019S a job I\u2019d like to see advertised: San Francisco Municipal Circumcision Inspector; LGBTQ and all others invited to apply.<\/p>\n
O brave new world, that has such people in it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be satisfied with Silver Blaze,\u201d says the distinguished gentleman in the cigar lounge of San Francisco\u2019s exclusive Bohemian Club. \u201cThe horse has run well at both Golden Gate and Del Mar, and you\u2019re getting him at a bargain price.\u201d \u201cTime will tell,\u201d smiles the buyer, handing over a handsome check. \u201cMore than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extreme-green","category-government-unions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-cW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}