Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Will we see Senator Back and Abbott and Truss on the floor of the house asking Julia Gillard to ensure the truckies converging on Canberra from all over Australia do not claim 15 cents a litre for the fuel they use to get here, in some case a trip of 6000 kms. They claim the protest is among other things about waste of taxpayers' money. Well what about this waste of what will be tens of thousands of dollars. Farmers can claim 38 cents a litre and they will undoubtedly fill up from their on farm subsidised supplies before they leave, and once on the road they too can claim the 15 cnets a litre.

Now this rebate is supposed to be for legitimate business use. No other protest group has the capacity to claim tax payer subsidy for their protest, so let us hear Abbott and co on this one. Pigs might fly of course.

We calculated that at about $400 a truck from WA will cost the taxpayer about $400 in subsidised fuel claims.  So hundreds of trucks, well work it out.

As for Back's questioning the integrity of Lyn White and Animals Australia, well not one shred of credible evidence can he produce. Surprise surprise. I note his brother works for the live export trade.

It was only a matter of time until this debate turned to the issue of domestic ritual slaughter; specifically the kosher and halah slaughter  in Australia of permitted species of birds and mammals. There are some fair enough questions I suppose since the RSPCA has focussed now on the matter of "stunning".

I am no expert on kosher slaughter to put it at its slightest and I know nothing at all about halah beyond that  the Koran expressly ordains kosher killed meat as halah. And as we are talking about the deliberate killing of sentient animals usually raised for the purpose the subject is distasteful at the best of times. I still haven't seen the

 Indonesian footage in full. I guess I never will. I don't need to.

This I do know. There's a lot of information out there for those interested. The proponents of kosher slaughter claim that when it is done right it is the most humane method of killing animals. The emphasis here is on when it is done right. It must be done by a trained expert and with deep religious respect for the lives he alone is licensed on behalf of the community to take. 

I accept without question these guys are experts. They have been doing it for a long time.

It's certainly a bloody affair. That's the point of a kosher kill I guess. To cut the carefully positioned animal with a large carefully designed and very very sharp knife in exactly the right way as to stun the creature by evacuating as much blood as quickly as possible and especially from the brain. Think firehose.The drop in blood pressure to the brain is instantaneous and with it, its proponents claim, any sensation including pain. Unconsciousness and death follow in seconds.  

The rabbis are adamant about pre-stunning. It's not on and don't try to change their minds. It's not necessary they will tell you. Kosher killing comes with stunning.

The argument that kosher killing is more humane than conventional first world abbattoirs, at least in the US, is based on research on failure rates. This is the percentage of animals that require a second, third or even more stuns. This failure rate can be 5% or more even in well run slaughter houses. With kosher killling the failure rate is tiny. 

The thing about stunning is central. It is all to do with the condition of the animal presented for slaughter. The prohibition that catches stun guns ensures that an injured animal, especially one subjected to terrible cruelty, can never be accepted for kosher slaughter. Those poor creatures in Indonesia would never have been accepted  by a shochet in a thousand years. Probably much longer, literally.

Which brings me to my next point. How is stunning suddenly central to what happened in Indonesia, let alone here? From what I saw those animals were being tortured before they were killed and there are plenty of people who  will contend that the torture began long before that, if not actually on our fair shores. I did not see the footage of the actual killing but I have no doubt it was cruel too. It usually is in those circumstances. Stunnng alone is not going to solve the problem I saw.

The kosher slaughter laws are founded in a religious and ethical respect for the lives of animals and ultimately for life itself; the central principle of Judaism. They evolved at a time of unspeakable cruelty. The specific prohibitions give some inkling of the horror of this.  But if the RSPCA wants to pick a fight with the original animal welfare ethicists then maybe it's time to once again focus on conventional abbattoirs especially the treatment of animals prior to slaughter while in holding and transport.

Consider for a moment the modern factory mass production of meat. Animals are raw materials to be grown, transported and processed as efficently as possible. Many of these animals, especially pigs, are known to be highly intelligent. They all experience emotion especially bonding and fear.. Do you seriously regard the treatment of those animals leading up to their slaughter as humane? Quite apart from the 5% failure rate with the stun gun.

At least the kosher laws acknowledge that these are living creatures we are talking about and  their lives began with their birth.  Not just commodities.  Those who have a problem with these laws should perhaps consider becoming vegetarians. I have no doubt many have. Many Jews have including many rabbis.

I have no idea by the way what this has to do with the export livestock trade and the treatment of Australian raised animals in foreign markets. Sounds to me this is a quick fix.  Stunning always has been. "Not to worry little ones -- they don't feel any pain ... ". Bullshit. With respect. If they could talk that's exactly what they would say. Define "pain".  This is bullshit even for the 95% when they get the stun right. 

Certainly this is a diversion from the appalling issue one animal welfare body so spectacularly brought to the attention of the Australian public. Why another animal welfare body would seek to divert focus from that has got me beat. Perhaps you should ask them?  Perhaps you should think twice before following their lead on this?

Perhaps you should ask PETA about their experience? Just a suggestion. My understanding is it accepts kosher slaughter is 'humane". Not bad for a militant animal welfare body. It's probably more than I would say. 

I'm full of suggestions. OK one last one. Pick your issues. One at a time. If you want to talk about the killing of animals for food as a subject then fine. Because that's the argument the RSPCA is buying for itself.  Maybe arrange for that fine lady to smuggle a camera into a kosher killing facility here? As I understand it that's what PETA did.

The question for other animal welfare bodies, especially Animals Australia, is this a diversion you need from the matter you raised?

Certainly the RSPCA seems to think it does.

Anyway as it stands I will be cancelling my RSPCA diary and pen sets this Christmas. Looks like 2012 will be the first RSPCA-free year around here for more than a decade.

[Richard/Fiona -- thanks for that edit button .... I think ... Perhaps grown to a thread leader?]

So why am I not surprised at the report in the Herald this morning stating that all of the sorts of cruelty seen on the Four Corners footage had been known about by the industry?  It seems a report commissioned by the MLA and Livecorp set it all out early last year, but of course it was going on well before that.

So let me hear no more about Animals Australia not showing the footage to Ludwig before it went to air.

Of course they knew about all this. But they did not count on Animals Australia taking it into the lounges of all Australians, thus exposing the live export industry for what it is, a cruel and barbaric trade that is a stain on this country and will be until it is brougt to an end.

The industry has by its action managed to make animal rights and live exports in particular a grass roots issue. And that was the last thing it wanted.
So they wont get away with a policy of concealment ever again.

Heard a whisper that Gillard's email box is so overflowing that a decision to shut it down is imminent. So if you email her and it bounces back that is the reason.

But Mr Abbott's is still up and running so give him a serve as outlined in my previous post if you can take a few moments to do so. Thanks

Please everyone go to Animals Australia website and sign the Just one Second Survey.

It asks you to say how long it takes you to say that the slaughter method shown on 4 Corners and still being used on Australian cattle already over there is cruel, and then after submitting that to sign a letter demanding Gillard step in to stop those animals already in Indonesia from being slaughtered in that cruel way.

The Government has done nothing about those particular animals while being pressured to get the trade up and running again immediately.

And if you have time send quick email to letter to:

Tony.AbbottMP@aph.gov.au condemning him for demanding the trade resume while knowing those 100 000 animals are still being sent to meatworks that use the methods shown in that footage. How credible is his bleating about his Party being concerned for animal welfare when he is totally silent on that matter, just wants the trade to get going immediately.

Sock it to him onbehalf of those animals suffering as I write.

Thanks all of you who do take a few minutes to do that for those poor bloody cattle.  

Marilyn, here is an extract from the MLA's official website.

Your suggestion that cattle originally destined for live export from the north were now without feed and water and would soon be dropping like flies was nothing more than, to use an expression of yours about this whole issue, bs.

MLA. Check out their website but this is copied direct:

"However, the suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia will neither result in a rush of cattle into Australian processors, nor a surge of beef in coming weeks and months. Cattle placed on ships to Indonesia are typically Brahmans of light weight (less than 350kg lwt). These cattle will require much longer periods on feed to reach suitable slaughter weights for either the Australian, or more particularly, export markets.

Indeed, the very good season that has been experienced across much of northern Australia, especially western Queensland, will largely allow the additional cattle to be accommodated and gain weight. (My emphasis)

Cattle prices seasonally ease throughout May and June, as additional numbers enter the slaughter markets upon the completion of the wet season. In recent weeks, and in coming weeks, the main influence upon export cattle prices will continue to be sluggish demand in Japan and the US, along with the near record high A$.

So Marilyn, if you want me, or anyone here,  to take what you write here seriously, then you need to be sure of your facts, and stop just throwing out stuff that can be easily challenged.

When people operate that way, it leads me to question everything they say, to look closely and ask myself: Is that so? No matter what the issue, be it in regard to asylum seekers, animal welfare or anything else. Credibility lost is hard to regain, if not impossible.

Paul Walter, me vitriolic toward Marilyn?. No just totally bored, and irritated that whenever I raise the issue of animal welfare she comes in to deride and trivialize the issue with sprays that are not based on fact, but flow from her angst that people might concern themselves with such issues when she clearly belives they should direct their energies elsewhere. Kathy Farelly was right on this.

I have no doubt about her sincerety about the issues that concern her, but if she wants to engage on the one that concerns me here, then she should at least get her facts right before she sends in a spray. Really, that is mostly what she does, just breezes, in sprays a bit of angst, and tries to trivialize the concerns of animal welfare activists. The public furore over how those cattle were brutalised is to her just bs about nothing. And directs that comment to me, laced I sense with a high level of vitriol.

Now, my ire is not toward Marilyn. She has no interest in this subject. So if you will excuse me, both of you, I have to spend my time more fruitfully, which is to continue to use my pen to put as much pressure as I can on all those who played a role in covering up the flaws in this industry for so long, the MLA and Livecorp who take millions of dollars annually from producers.

As a farmer member of the MLA I am calling for an extraordinary general meeting to get some answers from it that its officials seem very reluctant to provide. I see the Beef Producers Association is also now seeking that and a class action is pending against it. But I am not interested in that. I just want this vile trade stopped for good..

And by the way, there are some 100000 cattle of ours in Indonesia awaiting god knows what fate. Those are my concern today. I see we are making some progress on that in that they may be directed now to the better works where stunning is in place.

Ordinary people in Indonesia will not starve if beef supplies are limited. Indonesia is a very fertile group of islands and traditionally seafood, fruit, vegetables and cereals are the primary dietary sources. Higher levels of beef consumption have come with increasing wealth amongst certain levels of society in Asian countries.  Poverty is what puts imported beef beyond the average Indonesian, not any lack of it. And the rich may just have to wear it.

I do happen to know a bit about living in a poor Muslim country, without refrigeration and without access to fresh beef. I did it for a year and survived very well on the diet outlined above. And that country was not rich in those other commodities. Even if beef had been available and I did have a fridge, I could not have afforded to buy it.

I have not now myself eaten meat of any kind for some 23 years. I survive very well.

But this is all a time waster for me here.

Any who are interested to help push for the ban on live exports might like to go this week to the Animals Australia website and look at the things you can do over the coming week to support those parliamentarians putting forward legislation to phase out the trade over the next three years. And send that link on to those on your email lists and facebook sites so they can spread the word.             

Thanks.

Tis a funny old world.

You know, if a human is born in Australia then it has a good chance of being a Christian, or having a Christian mentality, whereas if a human was born in Iran then it would probably be of Islamic mind set, it's a geographic thing - but being Christian or Islamic doesn't make a lot of difference to the individual human, life goes on regardless.

But for cows it's different. If a cow is born in Australia then there is a very good chance it's gunna get eaten (at a very young age), however, if a cow was born in India then it would be a bloody God and wander in freedom and in respect (for all of its life).

Therefore, on behalf of my bovine mates iWinnie would like to propose that all Australian citizens be treated in the same manner as Australian cows, and if Australian humans don't like it then I suggest they go to India, and moo a lot.

Once again find myself wedged between the two poles of MS and JH.

Jenny, Jenny, you ruined one of the best posts you've done with the closing vituperation toward Marilyn Shepherd. I know her well enough and she is as every bit as intelligent, sincere and open as as yourself, I'd feel, but concerns herself more with another aspect or face or form of suffering, the problems facing displaced people in a turbulent world.

I don't doubt your sincerity either, Jenny Hume.

Your post reeks of the frustration of being a long-haul industry insider aware of the worldly affairs of the industry, it reminds me of MS's frustrated and weary tone, commenting on dealing with the civil service and lay people on matters refugee.

The cattle lined up in limbo, the concerns of the industry at what seems a hiatus, economic uncertainty and the quite reasonable assumption that meat shortages can drive up the price of food for Indonesians on infinitely lower incomes than us, actually rings true to me, as to MS's comments.

Mercifully, Jenny saved her worst vitriol for the industry itself and it resembles the scepticism people showed concerning an industry's willingness to reform itself that occurred with the foreign student rorts scandal of a few years ago.

JH's diagnosis that the Gillard government is inexperienced, indecisive and prone to panicky reactions - see also their uncertainty with dealing with refugees - actually seems confirmed for Hume, in Shepherd's remarks.

To hear last night that trucks with cattle had been turned away at port in WA  had me out of bed this morning in expectation of some good news for a change.

And there it was. Gillard has finally stopped the cattle boats. Now wait and see if Mr Abbott aligns himself with the industr. If he does I see that as hitching his party to those pictures we saw on our screens last week. I hope he can live with that because hundrerds of thousands of Australians will not.

Then there are the 100 000 cattle already in Indonesia. That will be the focus for me today. Why should they just be considered as sacrificed and beyond our reach.  Not good enough that one single animal more be brutalised.

So thanks to GetUp and all those who were prepared to put their voice and money on the table on this issue. We need to keep up the pressure if we are to stop this vile trade for good. We could go into any other country where we send animals and see issues pertaining to animal welfare. I know, because AA has been in at least seven countries now.

Animals Australia is a national organization of around 40 animal welfare groups in Australia. It was orginally called the Australian and New Zealand Federation of Animals Societies. It was set up in Melbourne in I recall 1980. I was at its inaugural meeting and elected to join my group (Aninmal Liberation ACT) with it and other organizations.

My goal was to fight for better treatment of farm animals from farm to slaughter in Australia.  And the live export industry was firmly in our sights way back then. 

Opposition to our live export trade has been been taken up by iinternational groups that support our goals. And there are brave locals in many countries where there are no animal welfare laws working for change in their own countries. In countries where people are not safe.

One thing an English former animal experimenter turned animal welfare activist told me at the inaugrual meeting of  ANZFAS was:

Never stop writing letters. The pen has not lost its power.  

At my age there is not much more I can do than that.

So another day has dawned and the fight must go on.

Interesting, the story of St Martin De Porres. Years ago, on a certain twelve step program initially to deal with  a drinking problem, there used to be a gathering of like minded souls;  just up the hill from where I live is a big nineteeth century manse, a glorious bluestone thing and round the corner there is an annexe: De Porres House (Richard would know the place I talk of, just up the hill in North Adelaide proper).

You have me recalling some very good times indeed, but I always wondered who De Porres might be, by the look of him I thought another Jesuit, without bothering to find out more.

Looks like St Martin De Porres has had other ideas. His story was indeed worth the read, from the link - an unglamorous and ultimately substantial quiet acheiver whose values and example point us to our own (collective, modest, unstated) mission statement, for want of a better description, over quite some  time, at Webdiary. In short a good example for an online journal that purports to value the truth, community and humanity.

I didn't reply immediately to Jenny's last post. Marilyn has rewarded me for my patience, they will find a mutual subject they can finally agree upon: Julia Gillard (and Abbott, if im not wrong).

Marilyn and I had a chat last night after QandA, we are both suffering "humanity fatigue" after a nasty week where the dark realities that many like to avoid have manifested themselves, despite our best attempts to look the other way, as we do.

Right across the country at the moment there is a loud wail of "enough already" , as to the cruelties to man and beast alike depicted in our lurid media, perpetrated by crass opportunists.

But you suspect that, after a little bit of tinkering at the edges and much accompanying spin, neither human nor beast will be ultimately be much better off, even with the effluxion of time, something like business as usual , with a complacent accompanying yawn, from our betters.

As the owner of a cattle property I get emails from Meat and Livestock Australia. Their latest frantic effort to deal with this tells me that of another 100 abattoirs only 25 on inspection will be accredited. That suggests very strongly to me that the cruelty we saw in the 11 works Animals Australia reported on is not confined to those 11.

But why is that so surprising. I have been in a crush with 700 kg cattle during my years on the land, trying to get stuff down their necks in the days before decent head stalls.  They are enormously strong beasts these northern cattle, and to cut their thick throats with even a sharp knife would require they be fully restrained. So with stunning limited to only a few works, what we saw is how they restrain them, or more correctly, try to. The resulting cruelty is sickening.

The piss weak Gillard Government is still  letting cattle leave for Indonesia, knowing damned well only a few abatttoirs have pre stunning, so what we saw will still be going on as animals are wrestled to the ground. Tendons slashed, belted, kicked - the lot while this lot out here talk and talk about imrpovements, that have been 20 years in the making. And Gillard and her Governent do not have the political guts to intervene.  Hell for once she has the farmers on side, 90% of the public on side if the SMH poll is anything to go by; the unions on side and still she lets the boats go. 

Abbott must be laughing himself silly, if that were more possible than it already is. If I see that goon once more time bleating "big new tax" I think I will take and axe to the teev.

But the good news is 230 000 plus have signed the GetUp petition, and just on $326,000 has been raised for our ad campaign. Now you would think that would tell Gillard something, would you not?

Hell my crocus growing vicious little hound had more brains than her. Though maybe not. Maybe he was just like her. No respect for the hand that  fed him.

They claim the Malaysian illegal human trading deal will depend on human rights being respected while they are busy breaching human rights by punishing a random 800 people because the government keep breaking the law over refugees already here.

Under Australian law the High Court in the cases of NAGV and NAGW of 2005 deemed it illegal to deny the right of people to make a refugee claim because DIAC decided they could go to another country. The Court found that if that was legal then not one person would be able to claim asylum anywhere in the world. Under Article 32 of the refugee convention it is illegal to turn people away at our borders.

What Gillard is doing is breaking the law in a number of ways to pretend that the voluntary humanitarian program has legal status and seeking asylum does not except if you fly here.

25,000 asylum seekers have flown here since 2005. Half are not owed our protection under the refugee convention but we do not hear Gillard stand in front of the world and claim they have to be cherry picked to be sent to some other country - the law for asylum seekers is that they apply in signatory countries.

11,000 have sailed here, over 90% will be found to be owed protection but the government have broken the law by:

1. Jailing them all in arbitrary detention is spite of new rules saying they wouldn't.
2. Jailing them outside the law, something the full 7-0 members of the high court said was illegal.
3. Illegally suspending claims for Afghans and Sri Lankans by claiming in advance that their cases would be denied. Records now show that 99.7% of Afghans were then accepted last year and 88% of Sri Lankans.
4. 1300 accepted refugees were kept illegally detained while ASIO pretended they were doing security checks that were and are not legally required.
5. A couple of thousand children have been jailed indefinitely even though the law changed in 2005 to prevent them being jailed.

Rather than admit they had been breaking the law on a large scale and illegally treating innocent human beings, Gillard decides to make some appalling deal where 800 random people who ask for our help will be illegally exiled to a nation that whips, canes, tortures and cages people - Gillard is simply trying to avoid legal obligations and punish people who need help.

Now it seems that they have discovered that they can't by law deport children anywhere, they will discover that they can't deport anyone or make forced deals without permission.

Bowen prattles about people smuggling business models but he is into human trafficking, the other thing was made up on 7 May and the media are so thick they think it is real.

I exposed the smuggling lie on Webdiary nearly 10 years ago, much to Harry's disgust if I remember rightly.

Bowen says he will exile 800 random people so they have nothing to sell except who is selling what when it is the refugees who look for transport and not the other way around.

IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP PORTFOLIO

Senator Cash (L&CA 59) asked:

What accounts have been provided by IMAs regarding representations made to them by people smugglers regarding the likelihood of their obtaining permanent residency or citizenship in Australia?

Answer:

The Department does not specifically capture and collate data regarding representations made to irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) by people smugglers about the prospects of obtaining permanent residence or citizenship in Australia. However, based on the comments gathered from the entry interviews of 5209 IMAs in the 2009-10 financial year, 85 (or approximately 1.6%) IMAs claimed their people smuggler provided country information about Australia, such as:

• Australia would accept them as refugees;
• the person would be able to live in Australia permanently;
• Australia is a safe and humanitarian country, free of discrimination.

Of those 85 IMAs however, only six specifically claimed their people smuggler told them they would get residency or citizenship in Australia

Cattle are raised to be killed, they are raised to be killed here and elsewhere and they make a lot of money for a lot of people and feed a whole lot of other people. Once they are sold they are not ours and the trade is not illegal. The trade of humans is illegal.

Kathy has just sent me this link. This was a man who lived compassion to a its ultimate.

The people who bother me most are those who, even if they are wealthy, will not give a dime to any cause. I have a millionaire friend who boasts every time we meet about whether he got a freeby of some sort that day (even a coffee), how much money he made on the share market that week, how minimal the tax is he pays and surprise surprise: When I suggest on hearing all that that ChildFund is looking for more sponsors for children, he says No. He also refuses any suggeston he might like to make a donation to Animals Asia which is trying to rescue the Moon Bears in the bile farms. Oh well you can't win them all.

But I do have a bit of fun at his expense. I boasted back one day that we had sold some shares and made some capital gains, but added we would lose some of that in tax. He asked, "Oh, how much did you make?" I told him and he then asked how long had we had them. I said about eight years. He looked at me as if I was a fool and told me he made $60 000 in the past three months and that if we  had had  our shares in a super fund we would have minimised the tax.. I replied, "Oh but I don't mind paying a bit of tax. After all, if everyone paid no tax where would the country be?" That shut him up.  

Yes those are the people who bother me most.  And yes Paul Walter, animals can be cruel too. I have the marks on my arm to show it, rendered by a little dog I loved so much but whose attitude to me was somewhat ambivalent. Ian had a different view. He said he was just plain vicious.  I'll probably never know now. He is buried in the garden and each year his grave sprouts a host of golden crocus I planted over him.

Don't salute me. Salute Lyn White who had the guts to go and film those dreadful scenes in order to expose them. I could not have done that. I would have physically attacked that man whipping that beast with a chain and doing those other dreadful things to those cattle. The only escape my mind will ever have from those terrible scenes will be the day I too am pushing up crocus.

It's a repeat of a number of online conversations about that show that I've read over the last week.

My response elsewhere was, well, both people and animals cop it from (other) humans. The problem actually resides in human beings, whether or not this is a cultural or (and) natural process. Although animals can be wantonly cruel, too, as you notice with a cat with a mouse or wild dogs with livestock.

I don't understand the hostility toward Marilyn and I salute Jenny Hume for what I take to be a generous, responsible gesture and action.

 For the rest, read Michael Talbot.

Kathy, thanks, but it is OK. I understand Marilyn's ire. I think she just finds it a little difficult to accept what Gandhi said:

That a nation's progress can be measured by the way it treats its animals.

Gandhi saw that if a man (or woman) could turn a blind eye to  the ill treatment of an animal then that person was not likely going to be the sort of person who would be bothered to help a blind man across the street.

You are either compassionate in the face of suffering of living things, be they man or beast, or you are not. 

I think Marilyn finds it hard to believe that if one happens to care about how animals are treated, then one by definition is unconcerned about human suffering. 

Well, we all know that is a generalization that would not bear much scrutiny.

You will be pleased to see we have raised some $270 000 on GetUp so far for an advertising campaing, and have over 215 000 signatures on the petition. 

And for Marilyn's benefit, yes I gave a thousand dollars to the cause. And in the same week I also sent off a thousand dollar cheque for suppot of two impoverished children in Africa. All of which by the way was on the overdraft

But as a farmer I am used to dealing with cranky bank managers. And on that at least Marilyn, you and I are probably at one.

Michael, I agree with everything you say. 

Now I must go. I swore off blogging some two years ago. If anyone wishes you can give to the campaign on GetUp as well as sign the petition.

Thanks.

Now, why am I not surprised that you showed up to rain on Jenny's parade, so to speak?

Give it a rest. will ya. Jenny is very much concerned with the rights of human beings too. She's a good and caring person.

It pisses me off no end that, every time Jenny posts about cruelty to animals, you jump in and start bleating (pun intended) about human rights, as if Jenny does not give a toss. The two are not mutually exlusive, Marilyn.

Jenny, I agree it is that.

It is also another example of the strange desperation of the Australian oligarchy to ensure that Australia is nothing more than an exploitable source of raw commodities, nothing to be processed onshore, everything, animal, vegetable and mineral, to be exported as raw materials.  Australia to be a mine and nothing more, in all things.

If chilled raw meat cannot be sold to Indonesia or Irak or Saudi Arabia for reasons of price, the remedy is not to send them live cattle, but to black ban them in respect of any meat trade.

This trade was established in part on the argument that meat eaten in Muslim countries needed to slaughtered in those countries for religious reasons. The Indonesian example demonstrates that that is a fraudulent argument.

But we know also that a number of Muslim countries treat humans, that typically a Muslim country treats humans as the implicated Indonesian abattoirs treat cattle, as the Turks treat Armenians and Kurds, as the Iranians treat women and any lawyer who represents them, as the Pashtun treat Hazaras, as the Syrians treat little boys.

(Which incidentally is why [partly] I think singling out Gaddafi, murderous as he is, as justification for NATO's fomenting a civil war in Libya, with all the horrors that go with a civil war, was just as fraudulent and just as vicious as anything Gaddafi has done.  The death of Gaddafi is now urgent, because the ending of the civil war is urgent, but that is not to judge Gaddafi, and if there is a better future for Libya without him than the past that country enjoyed or suffered under him I will be very surprised.)

Mercifully, there are exceptions.  Sadly, they are exceptional.