Bob Barker donates $1 million to try and stop PA pigeon shoots, Haitians still starving in the streets

For those unaware, this has been something of an issue in PA, mostly with the PETA set, and of course some squishy suburbanites and liberals.  PA is the last state to legally allow pigeon shoots.  Some of you might remember the ending of the pigeon shoot in Hegins, PA in the 90's, which saw some publicity.  Anyway, the PETA set and HSUS (who are really the people you need to watch out for) have been driving hard for a ban for a while in PA. 

There have been a couple of proposals, but they've thus far all languished in committee.  The NRA has been opposed to the ban, because most of the bills have been written in ways that would probably make life difficult for birdhunters, particularly upland and waterfowlers who use dogs when they hunt.  Naturally most of the PETA/HSUS set don't care, as they want hunting banned anyway.  PA of course is pretty much in a perpetual contest with Texas to be the huntin'est state in the union, there's a strong hunting and gun culture here, so the bill is seeing some resistance.

So we now have Bob Barker dropping $1 million into a group that's been actively pushing for a ban.  The good news is he didn't give it to HSUS, which is a proven capable organization.  The bad news is politicians are whores and cowards, and a million dollars can still buy votes, and can buy ad space and be used to stir up a shitstorm, and pigeon shoots aren't exactly the most PC thing in the world.

I'm inclined to defend the PA pigeon shoots.  For starters, the anti-Nanny instinct kicks in, I hate, hate being told by my "betters" what to do, I hate being told you can't do this.  My first reaction is almost always fuck you, yes I can.  Seriously, every time I see the PETA set screeching for a ban on the shoots my first instinct is to buy a nice double, break some clays and then sign up for the next pigeon shoot out of pure spite, just like my first thought is, why yes, a double bacon cheeseburger would be tasty right now, every time I hear the PETA set cry about eating meat.

I also don't like politicians getting into the habit of banning everyfuckingthing that comes down the pike that people don't care for, the last thing I want is a million little Nanny Mike Bloombergs running around banning every one of life's pleasures.  There's also a good bit of cultural elitism involved in the push for a ban, most of the published pictures and video are of white trash types from poorly run venues doing these shoots, not the respectable looking hunters in the old days.

Are the pigeon shoots a blood sport?  Yes, but properly run, there's no reason it can't be done with as much consideration for the pigeon's welfare as hunting, and most people aren't opposed to hunting.  I know I'll probably take some flak for defending this activity, which I can live with. 

That said, if the PETA set start spamming or screeching, I'm locking comments, I don't need to read the squealing and threats from PETArds.

H/T

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:19 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 554 words, total size 4 kb.