Can't believe huffypost is trying to the right thing here................

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Big-hearted people tend to have warm and truly fuzzy thoughts about the Humane Society of the United States.

This is, after all, the organization that operates shelters nationwide and saves hundreds of thousands of animals. This is the selfless organization that stands up for the voiceless and abused. Although there are countless alternatives, this is the charity you should be sending your money to if you care about pets. Right?

Wrong. This is a complete crock.

First of all, the Humane Society of the United States -- the HSUS -- has no connection whatsoever to your local Humane Society: the one that runs your local shelter. Second, even those local Humane Societies aren't generally all that humane: most operate high-kill shelters that routinely slaughter healthy dogs and cats. Third, although the HSUS does make a great show of standing up for abused animals -- and sometimes accomplishes good things, and sometimes very much the opposite -- there's nothing remotely selfless about this behavior. Why? Because, fourth, the HSUS just isn't all that charitable. Bear with me, and we'll hold a magnifying glass to their generosity, including their recent sorry report card from CharityWatch.

In fact, if you care about dogs, and cats, and bunnies -- as opposed to lobbyists -- it's your duty to toss a water balloon, mischievously, at this outfit. Preferably a water balloon the size of a small planet. One that initiates a tsunami, floats this pernicious organization out to sea -- safely, of course -- and strands them on a barren island, completely devoid of animal life, where they can do no harm.

Let's begin by addressing some popular misconceptions.

The Humane Society of the United States doesn't run any shelters. It has no veterinary clinics. That abused puppy whose photo they've published widely in an urgent bid for donations? That puppy was almost certainly rescued by someone else. It's certainly being cared for by someone else. And it won't see a penny of your donation. Okay, perhaps one penny out of every dollar. (Literally.)

But that doesn't stop the HSUS from working the cute puppy angle. Even though less than one percent of their budget goes to shelter animals, a full 85 percent of their fundraising propaganda features shelter animals. Cute ones.

The HSUS has a whole program aimed at kids. It also targets the people who influence kids: clever. I urge you to visit their web page, entitled "Resources for Parents & Educators." The first word at the top of the page is "DONATE," but that's perhaps a coincidence. Let your eyes wander down. Check out the not-very-random iconography. Let's see: a kid hugs a cute kitten in the banner. Another feeds a cute puppy next to the headline. A cartoony thumbnail advertises Kind News magazine: "Teach kids to be kind to animals with Kind News, our magazine for K-6 students."

"Kind" is an acronym for "Kids in Nature's Defense." That's sweet: They're hoping to seed a whole new generation of lobbyists. I assume this, because they're not much good at anything else. "Defense" -- for the HSUS -- is overwhelmingly a legal process.

Now, I have nothing against lobbyists in general. Or lawyers (since half of my DNA was supplied by one.) My issue is with lobbyists and lawyers who represent themselves as something else.

As a lobby, the HSUS have in fact done some good. They have made real strides in pushing anti-cruelty legislation (although this has been seriously undercut by their CEO's willingness to pal around with the most notorious animal abuser in the nation: see below.) Their efforts to prevent such activities as cockfighting are laudable. They've worked towards eliminating cruel farming practices. This is all work being done by other groups as well, who don't pay themselves HSUS-level salaries, but any contribution here is welcome.

On the other hand, much of what they do -- and much of what drives them -- is sickening.

Especially nauseating -- given how casually they lean on children's love of pets -- is that their CEO, Wayne Pacelle, has suggested that he would be happy to see pets wiped off the face of the earth: "We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding." Pacelle has admitted to this quotation, but -- always suave and reasonable -- he insists that he said this a long time ago, and that it has been taken out of context and distorted. He was referring to "rare livestock breeds." Funny that he doesn't address another comment made the same year: "In fact, I don't want to see another dog or cat born."

Rare livestock breeds indeed: the dog; the cat. Now, his thoughts on these matters, he insists, have become "more nuanced." Great. I don't want nuance when it comes to extinction. I want to see a complete repudiation of an utterly revolting proposition.

Keeping all of this in mind, let's enjoy some more Kind News, shall we?

More pictures: kids hugging dogs, touching foreheads with a bird, and -- yes -- a smiling educator holding a kittycat. She looks as if she's just taken one of their special "online courses." Or perhaps a "certificate program." All of which is naturally free of charge, because the HSUS has a budget of 131 million dollars, funded mostly through donations. Oh, it's not free? Over a thousand dollars for a 3-credit course? Yes, it appears they make money even from training people to indoctrinate kids. (For what it's worth, Harvard charges this much for an online course. Which is four credits. And Harvard.) Do these guys do anything out of charity?

Not much, according to the people who track such things. CharityWatch has given the HSUS a grade of 'D'. This means what a D generally means: unsatisfactory.

Now, you can find all sorts of easy-going charity evaluators, who give high marks to even the worst delinquents. Just as you can purchase a really swank degree from the right people, even if you were kicked out of high school for cheating. CharityWatch, on the other hand -- which is the name now used by the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) -- is famously rigorous: the most stringent and neutral of the watchdog groups.

What you get from CharityWatch is what you deserve. And a 'D' from these guys is utterly damning. The Mafia could probably manage better than a 'D.' I joke. Okay, I sort of joke. Jim Matthews at Outdoor News Service writes:

In a little-reported ruling by a judge in the District of Columbia earlier this month, the HSUS is going to court to face charges under RICO statutes on racketeering, obstruction of justice, malicious prosecution and other charges.
Those are, yes, the statutes designed to facilitate the prosecution of organized crime: "RICO" stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The federal suit was filed by Feld Entertainment. If they get an 'F' in court, then Matthews suggests we may finally see the end of them: "This future lawsuit could easily bankrupt HSUS and put it out of business."

So. A 'D' in Charity. We can only wonder about their marks for "Faith" and "Hope" -- but let's at least hope that your children get better grades than this. Even an A+ kid can be swayed, however, by photos of her peers snuggling mountains of cuteness. You can see why a good, Kind-hearted child would be moved to send in her allowance.

One friend of mine admitted to me: "I actually did

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/humane-society_b_1943902.html

Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.