Let Them Eat Cake — How The Workers’ Pie Keeps Shrinking When you divide the pie of national income between the share going to wages and the share going to profits, you find the workers’ share keeps shrinking and is the smallest it has been.... Read Full Article Does Britain Really Want To Be Belgium? <b>John Bolton</b>... Read Full Article In The West, A Fierce Battle Over Wolves Since gray wolves were taken off the Endangered Species list in three Western states, a fierce argument has unfolded over where animals and humans should exist.... Read Full Article The Goods: These Boots Are Made For Herding Justin Boots, based in Fort Worth, developed a special line of boots for working cowboys with inspiration from the feet of polar bears.... Read Full Article Disuse Of System Is Cited In Gaps In Soldiers? Care Medical mistakes and delays in care have been caused by some hospitals? reluctance to use a digital record system.... Read Full Article |
Humane Society Has Its Sights On Amazon.comMichael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is expected to plead guilty today to federal dog-fighting charges and face up to five years in prison, but the Humane Society of the United States has a bigger target: Amazon.com. The Humane Society filed suit against Amazon over sales of The Gamecock magazine. The online bookstore sells subscriptions to two cockfighting magazines, The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock, even though cockfighting has been declared illegal in all states (until Louisianas ban takes effect next summer, the activity remains legal in parts of the state). After trying in vain to persuade Amazon to stop selling the publications, the Humane Society filed a civil lawsuit in District of Columbia Superior Court asserting that the Web company violates animal cruelty laws and that the magazines, which run advertisements for blades that attach to birds legs, are effectively catalogs for illegal goods. But Amazon says the suit amounts to censorship. These materials are legal to sell, and we do not believe we should act as a censor because their message is objectionable to some people, said Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for Amazon, adding that her company sells subscriptions to more than 90,000 magazines. With our incredible selection of titles, were bound to sell something that someone will find objectionable. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, said his organization would never hinder free speech. We think that Amazon should have the right to sell magazines with pro-cockfighting editorial, but they cross the line when they advertise the sale of contraband. But in a February op-ed in The San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Pacelle wrote that Amazon was selling 27 books, monographs and magazines about cockfighting, and if your passion in life is watching tormented birds tear each other to pieces, in a bloody pit, then Amazon is the place to go. Mr. Pacelle said in a recent phone interview that he had been making a rhetorical point, but our narrow claim in the suit is that Amazon should not sell magazines that advertise contraband. Mark Pollot, a lawyer based in Boise, Idaho who represents Verna A. Dowd, publisher of The Feathered Warrior, said that while federal law prohibited promoting cockfighting or shipping birds or gear across state lines, the advertisements themselves were aboveboard. The Humane Society itself laments that because of loopholes, possessing cockfighting paraphernalia is legal in 39 states, while possessing fighting birds is legal in 17. The bottom line is as long as its legal someplace, youre not advertising an illegal activity, Mr. Pollot said. ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN Tag CloudExternal InformationAdditional InformationBanks pull the plug on buy-to-let landlords...Activist Hedge Fund Presses CSX for Change... GE Reports Second-Quarter Profit of $5.4 Billion... Drop in U.A.W. Rolls Reflects Automakers? Problems... Where Am I?News Main Page - Business - Humane Society Has Its Sights On Amazon.com |
i8news.com |