Your Three Missions for Today

You have three missions for today, should you choose to accept them:

1. Go to the amNY website, which published the article about the audit of the horses in New York City that wrote about yesterday. There’s an opportunity to vote on whether you think the horse carriages should be banned (in a box within the article, and yes I voted), and there’s an opportunity to comment (I did). I have no idea how powerful the site is, but I do know that Elizabeth Forel of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages wrote me and asked me to spread the word, and she’s about as on-top of this issue as one can get. You can also keep this issue alive at the New York Times blog (I’m going there next).
2. Go to Invisible Voices, where there is a very serious issue that needs your input in a kind, diplomatic way. Just to give you a heads up, a letter is posted from a wildlife biologist who has been involved in research on animals, some of whom have died during capture (from stress-induced injuries or illnesses). If you don’t want to enter the conversation that Ron, the writer of the letter has begun by nicely asking for our thoughts, at least read the response from Deb (Invisible Voices is her blog, and yes she takes all the beautiful photos and yes, she has agreed to allow me to use her photos in my pamphlet!). I’m happy to have you post anything you want here, but Ron sincerely wants to know what, if anything, you have against experimenting on animals. I commented, but Deb already did such a great job that I’m not sure I added anything of value.
3. Go to this article about a woman who used to be an animal rights activist and is now a welfarist. A conversation has already begun (and thanks to Kenneth at Animal Rights Malta, who is already involved in the discussion), and your kind, diplomatic input would be greatly appreciated, at least by me. There’s definitely some confusion in the mind of the writer, or perhaps in the way she articulates her beliefs. It’s difficult to say. I’ll probably write about her tomorrow as she raises an issue that is very important: what rights are we talking about when we say "animal rights." This is the first thing I tackle in my pamphlet, so it’s timely for me and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. But that’s tomorrow. For now, register your opinion about the rights activist-turned-welfarist. (Note: you have to register to reply, but it’s worth it.)

Thank you in advance for anything you are able to do to help ban carriage horses and to clarify your stand on the use of animals by writing kind, diplomatic comments.