The PAWS Bill PART II - Money, Microchips & Big Brother

Dogs Politics + Big Brother = Guess Who Came To Dinner?

Last week's Dog Politics post, "The PAWS Bill - Show Me The Money, Microchips & Political Power", was the most popular post ever here on this blog. Traffic spiked at close to 200 hits per hour on the blog as it zoomed around the globe and drew dog lovers from every conceivable country.

Connected to the Dog Politics Blog is My Dog Votes, and many people visit both sites.  Now the daily site traffic reports for My Dog Votes  tracks named servers, but not individual users.  For instance, the report shows how many visitors came from the AOL servers (aol.com) , or the Proctor & Gamble servers (pg.com) or the United States Department of Agriculture (usda.com). 

Last week's post drew significant traffic from new visitors to both sites. So aside from dog lovers - who else comes to MyDogVotes.com? 

Well, there are the usual visitors from various state &  municipal governments, insurance companies and law firms that find my musings so fascinating. But there were also some noteworthy new visitors.

Like the Army.  The Navy.  The Air Force.  Oh - and I wouldn't want to leave out the Defense Threat Reduction Agency - those are the guys that deal with Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Could there be that many dog lovers in the government?  Do they love my blog?  Or was there enough truth to my writings cause the United States government to send out a red alert?

Dog Politics Is So Popular!

Apparently there are those within government, military and defense circles that found my post worthy of a visit to MyDogVotes.com all with the same day.  So draw your own conclusions.........

Site traffic to MyDogVotes.com  last week included:

• www.army.mil/ - The Army
• www.af.mil - The Air Force
• www.navy.mil  - The Navy
• www.uscg.mil - The Coast Guard

I don't know that the Marines got the memo. But as a bonus..........

• www.dtra.mil/ - The Defense Threat Reduction Agency - Welcome to DTRALink. This is  the official web site of the  Defense Threat Reduction  Agency. Our mission is to  safeguard America and its allies  from Weapons of Mass  Destruction (chemical, biological,  radiological, nuclear, and high  explosives) by providing  capabilities to reduce, eliminate,  and counter the threat, and  mitigate its effects.

Well, howdy to you too! 

Home Sweet Homeland Security

Oh - then not to be missed - the defense contractors............

• www.aeatech.com - Homeland Security and Defense - AEA Technology has recently begun to transfer its security and remote handling expertise to the anti-terrorism arena to enhance the safety and security of troops and law enforcement. A few of our clients include:

  Remotec Northrop Grumman TAGS

• www.northropgrumman (Owned by Lockheed Martin)
• www.lmco.com - Lockheed Martin
• www.dminformation.com - D-M Information Systems, Inc. is a one-stop, full-spectrum litigation support service provider. We have supported law firms, corporate legal departments and government agencies nationwide since 1979.  D-M Wins GSA (General Services Administration) Contract. D-M has been awarded a GSA Schedule 36 contract (number GS-25F-0034R) qualifying D-M to serve Federal agencies in the areas of litigation support, document conversion, and training services.

Hmmmmmmm - could this government contractor be caching (storing) these pages?

Then came...........

• www.usbr.gov - The U.S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Reclamation
• www.water-programs.com
• www.nasa.gov

These agencies all have a vested interest in GIS Mapping- Global Information Systems Mapping and GPS - Global Positioning Systems (which you'll need if your tracking your assets via satellite).  Ooopps- so does everyone else.

Please Present Your Identification

Then came the Social Security Administration and the FDIC.  And the Department of The Treasury.  Don't they already have my social security number? Hhhhmmmm - I don't think I've bounced any checks lately.....

• www.ssa.gov
• www.fdic.gov
• www.treas.gov

Last but not least...............

• www.nih.gov

In writing about PAWS last week,  I posed a series of questions to readers. Questions that every dog owner, or pet owner - regardless if they breed or show - should ask themselves and their elected  representatives - about the PAWS bill.

Beyond The Beltway - Spin

Beyond the clever Beltway spin and the push to save us (and helpless puppies) from evildoers like puppy mills and unscrupulous foreign mass puppy importers, what  other factors in the mix?

The biggest question of all .....does the  PAWS amendment contain language that provides the precursor to mandatory microchipping in the United States?

Could PAWS be just the excuse for Digital Angel and the USDA to execute on a billion or even trillion dollar (adding in cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, etc. ) business plan that will line a lot of pockets and possibly strip away personal freedoms?

Digital Angel Has Been Very Busy

Of note -Digital Angel was selected by the Portuguese government last year as the supplier for Portugal's MANDATORY MICROCHIP program:

http://www.digitalangelcorp.com/about_pressreleases.asp?RELEASE_ID=141

Digital Angel is also a key player in the EU, where all dogs, cats and ferrets traveling into or between member countries to must be microchipped (MANDATORY MICROCHIPS) by 2008..........

Excerpts from the Digital Angel press release last year:

“The EU pet passport initiative has been driven by efforts over the past decade to prevent the spread of rabies throughout EU member states. Addressing an estimated 100 million population of companion dogs and cats in 30 countries in Europe, the EU regulations explicitly recognize the benefits of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip as the only positive, permanent and unalterable form of animal identification available.”

Kevin Nieuwsma, President of the Company’s RFID Division, added, “We believe that by taking this step, the EU has indicated the direction the rest of the world will eventually take in the area of safe and secure identification of companion animals, as well as livestock.”

http://www.digitalangelcorp.com/about_pressreleases.asp?RELEASE_ID=122

Are There Microchips In Rick's Backyard?

BTW - did I mention that  the headquarters for AIM Global - the international industry trade group for RFID technology  - is based in Senator Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania?

http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/

Is Tommy Thompson Backing The Winning Horse?

After all, leaving a top cabinet post for greener pastures as a member of the Board Of Directors for Applied Digital Technologies, parent company of Digital Angel,   after a 40 year career in public service could be risky, couldn't it?  According to a company press release through Business Wire:

"In his role as a member of the Board, Secretary Thompson is expected to help the Company accelerate adoption of the VeriChip for healthcare and security applications.    And....................

"Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of Applied Digital. "An important part of our strategy has been to attract key thought and opinion leaders, and Secretary Thompson has played an influential role in shaping this country's healthcare policies. We look forward to him assisting the Company to make the VeriChip an important part of the healthcare landscape." "

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Symbol=US:ADSX&Feed=BW&Date=20050707&ID=4947241

So with the war in Iraq and the Katrina/Rita disasters and the earthquake in South Asia, I feel flattered that the our government, the military and those defense contractors carved out time out of their very busy schedules to visit My Dog Votes and Dog Politics.com

That's mighty nice of them.

Comments

[Linda D. Witouski, owner of DogLegislation@yahoogroups.com]

I'm still paying off the first billion thank you's @12.50 a pop, and here you go with another one !! Very nicely done and congratulations on all of your new visitors !! Let's see if the list continues to grow !!

[Jade]

You dont have to be a "punk rocker" to question authority. Everybody should. Over legislation of animal use has gone from being a slippery slope to a landslide lately. Nothing is what it appears to be on the surface. PLEASE, keep up the good work. Knowledge is power!
Jade
Oklahoma Companion Animal Coalition

[Selma Mulvey]

Good for you! I'm delighted that you are getting so much publicity and that these groups have been visiting your site. No doubt they will be ready to protect your right to freedom of speech in case it is ever threatened. Maybe that's why they are checking in - to lend moral support.

It would be a lot less insulting if the goons in favour of mandatory microchipping would just 'fess up to their real motives instead of using 'security' as a smokescreen. What's wrong with being forthright?

Keep up the good work!

[Cherie Graves, Responsible Dog Owners of the Western States]

It seems that the government of the United States of America is in league with all of the governments around the world to microchip "everything that liveth, or creepeth upon the face of the earth."

Animals are the most ancient, and traditional of property owned by mankind. Animal husbandry is among the most ancient of traditional practices. We have well over thirty thousand years of archaeological evidence to prove this ownership, and use practice. Now here we are in the twenty-first century of the common era, and suddenly mankind is deemed to be no longer capable of animal ownership, and use without the direct interference, and intervention of government. Long before there was government, we human beings were learning, and practicing wise use, and proper care. We must do all in our power to preserve our ownership rights in our animals.

[Colby Homer owner of elist West Virginia PetLaw]

A good follow up piece. With all the government entities now reading your blog, perhaps this would be a good place to inform them if they havent heard, the aware animal owners of this country do not need Bills such as PAWS to maintain high standards, nor do we need to be tracked and regulated through the use of microchips. We have already heard the spin argument that tracking animals conforms with Homeland Security regulations.(And we arent buying it!) If you are worried about tracking a family canary, we have alot more problems in the US that we thought!
Colby Homer