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Senator Puts Hold on Popular Anti-Cockfighting Bill
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ShareMarch 28, 2007 2:05 PM
A Republican senator is holding up a popular bipartisan bill to crack down on cockfighting that was expected to pass easily in the Senate yesterday, drawing outrage from his congressional colleagues.
The hold, placed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., "testifies to the powers of these shadowy forces that allow this illegal and barbaric scandal to continue," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., one of the bill's co-sponsors in the House.
Earlier this week Republicans and Democrats in the House passed the bill by a landslide margin of 368 to 39 votes.
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
Coburn's office said he is blocking a Senate vote on the bill because the federal government has no reason to be involved in the issue, especially since most states have already passed laws banning cockfighting and dogfighting.
Lobbyists for the billion-dollar industry have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to resist anti-cockfighting legislation in recent years.
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Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, says Oklahoma has been a bastion for illegal cockfighting, and that Coburn has been swayed by its powerful lobbyists.
But Coburn's spokesman John Hart says the opposite is true. "Members of Congress often push bills through for public relations reasons. This legislation is solely designed to pander to special interest groups," said Hart.
He added that Coburn has been known to put holds on any bill that he feels adds bureaucracy and cost to the federal government.
March 28, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (24)
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Its like taking candy away from a child without any reason other than being plain ugly and a mean person! To fight chickens is a human’s right! FREEDOM. You don’t like it, go back to where you CAME from!!!
No one should go to jail for cockfighting!...the law is so contradictive if it allows the FBI to order USDA to slaughter the animals…what is the purpose of protecting the animals…KEEP THIS LONG ENJOYED SPORTS LEGAL…BRING BACK COCKFIGHTING TO SAVE ‘ENDANGERED SPECIES’. There is not any proven facts of Avian Flu that exists from this sport, and researcher are working on a cure in case some fool gets on a plane!!!
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2007/niaid-28.htm
Your law enforcement is too busy chasing chickens, they let a man travel with TB that is fatal! Let them chase real criminals and protect US from threaten issues beside a chicken fight or supporter.
Here is a person for human rights:
Senate Passes Cockfighting Bill 05.20.04
wav / mp3 (Sen. Frank Shurden says SB 835 will give Oklahomans another chance to vote on the cockfighting issue.)
Cockfighting has been around long before your existence and should remain a choice of the cockfighters who enjoy this sport, not those that don’t even attend--like YOU:
Posted by: Peach | Jun 1, 2007 12:06:09 PM
Back in 2004, when Coburn was first running for Senate, fiscal prudence wasn’t supposed to be his issue. In fact, the last thing anybody expected him to become was a voice of restraint in a body of excess. If anything, Coburn was the one known for his excesses, for making pronouncements so outrageous, so far from the mainstream, that at times he seemed like a cartoon of the fanatical right—declaring his own Senate race “the battle of good versus evil,” calling for “the death penalty for abortionists,” and suggesting that the country was under attack by a secret gay conspiracy that had “infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country.” Back in 2004, Tom Coburn was the last man anybody expected to rise above politics and try to lead us back to common sense.
Posted by: herbaljohn | Jun 20, 2007 9:31:15 AM
Wow, don't we have more important things for our federal government to do than protect chickens. How about terrorists, the economy, and civil liberties? Next thing the feds will be doing is investigating ball players using steroids. Nah, that's too far out.
Posted by: donford | Jan 9, 2008 10:13:50 PM
there is a diferent in dogs and chickens game cock are well taken care of do you ever eat chicken shame on you that is stupid to bother cock fighting if animal rights people didnt give you money you would have no opinion fight for something useful if you people in congress dodnt get paid off you wouldnt be so dumb
Posted by: john hargrove | Feb 15, 2008 6:43:57 AM
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