by Frank Miniter - Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Leave it to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to find a way to highjack the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation news—newsjacking, as it’s called—and steer it toward the cafeteria. This isn’t as provocative as when they put nearly naked women painted as tigers in cages in Times Square and other places to protest zoos. Still, it is a creative way of getting ink for their anti-hunting, even anti-reality, animal rights extremist views.
PETA noted that the newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is required to serve on the court’s Cafeteria Committee. To help Kavanaugh with this not-so-glamorous task, PETA advised him to make the public cafeteria all vegan. PETA even offered to send him a copy of its vegan starter kit.
“PETA is asking Justice Kavanaugh to look out for the well-being of animals and his fellow justices by changing the cafeteria selections to healthy and humane animal-free meals,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, a person who isn’t just anti-hunting, but who actually has expressed the opinion that phasing out the human race would be a benefit to animals.
Still, as PETA pushes vegetables over meat, it conveniently avoids addressing the basic fact that farmers who raise broccoli, corn, cauliflower and any other vegetable still have to deal with insects and wildlife that eat their crops.
Farmers use hunters and other tools to control populations of geese, rabbits, deer and more to protect their crops. If these options were outlawed then farmers would have to get very zealous about installing deer fences, reducing nearby wildlife habitat to control wildlife populations, using poison to kill rodents and more so that they have crops left to harvest. If, however, Newkirk’s worldview was really put into effect, and all of those methods were deemed illegal, then humans really would be in trouble, as famine would surely result.
PETA seems willfully okay with looking the other way at the massive environmental impacts its ideology actually would have on flora and fauna if it got its way. It does this because it doesn’t want to honestly understand or take responsibility for the ecosystems in which we live. PETA doesn’t care about responsible solutions such as allowing hunters to manage the deer herd—a solution that both benefits deer (it keeps the herds healthy and well fed) and us (providing wholesome wild meat to eat).
“This may not strike you as the most important decision that you could make, but it would have a positive impact on both animals and human health,” Newkirk wrote in an Oct. 12 open letter to Kavanaugh.
Actually, it wouldn’t. This dishonest, utopian view unravels under even a basic scientific analysis. There are real reasons why state game departments use hunting as a conservation tool, in addition to controlling animal populations, including reducing predator-human conflicts. Also, quality meat when eaten in the right proportion (as with anything) isn’t just healthy, it is the basis of a healthy diet.
Again, if we take PETA’s worldview seriously, just imagine how much more land would have to be cleared and farmed to give people the nutrition they’d need to make up for giving up meat. Next, imagine how much those cleared grass and woodland would impact wildlife and native plants. Then realize that farmers would still have to kill wildlife that eats their crops.
As for the Supreme Court’s cafeteria, it does need Kavanaugh’s disciplined and research-based attention. I’ve eaten there and it reminded me of my New York public high school’s cafeteria. Many of the cafeterias on Capitol Hill, especially those in congressional buildings, are quite good. The Supreme Court’s cafeteria has limp salad, cheap burgers and sub-par sandwiches. Tripadvisor.com gives it 3.5 stars out of 5 and Yelp.com gives it 2.5 stars out of 5.
“We hoped this would be a memorable and tasty part of our visit to the Supreme Court. It was seriously bad. Eat here only if you are super hungry and can’t make it to another eatery,” said one reviewer.
“The cafe is in the basement of the building. It feels very much like the lunchroom of a semi-upscale prep school, but the food is like that of an underfunded elementary school. Tragic,” said another.
So Kavanaugh, do the research you’re known for and find out why the congressional buildings (Rayburn, Longworth and Cannon House Office buildings) have much better eateries. Maybe even add a good steak to the menu and invite Newkirk over for a taste. During lunch you can tell her that, like the law, environmental compassion requires honest and detailed analysis to ensure it is actually doing good, not harm.