Ben Stein literally cant get *anything* right.

I'm not sure whether we can ascribe this to stupidity or not.

As they say "sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice"...

I'm confused. I thought that PETA was the activist political organization with the crazy free-the-monkey actions that damage scientists, monkeys, and my poor conflicted mind, and the Humane Society ran no-kill shelters. I accept that I'm wrong on Humane Society (still think I'm right on PETA), but if that's the case, then what the heck do they do? They're a nonprofit, so they can't just be rolling naked in money for the fun of it, right?

HAHAHA HSUS got you too, David :P

HSUS is NOT the same thing as local no-kill shelters, like "The Humane Society of Dallas/OKC/Portland/etc". HSUS capitalizes on peoples natural associations for $$$. HSUS OPERATES NO SHELTERS.

Search my blog for 'HSUS' or 'humane' for more posts of mine on this-- And dont feel bad, they got me too :)

I wonder, can Ben do anything for a genuinely good cause? What's he going to for an encore? Make an add with Jenny McCarthy bashing vaccines?

Being "fiscal conservatives" for lack of a better phrase, any tax increases are anathema (metaphorically speaking) to my husband and me. Yet a ballot measure has already been signed and sealed by both of us, and will be shortly delivered to the local ballot box, to increase our property taxes to support our local animal shelter/control services.

Abbie, thank you for spending a lot of your free time (and probably money) for exposing "big charity" in the animal world. If it hadn't been for your informative blog articles, I'd be completely ignorant about the positive aspects of the pit bull breed of canine. They are beautiful animals and any inherent aggressive tendencies they may possess is exacerbated because of the far more inherent viciousness of another species, that choose to breed aggression for personal amusement.

P.S. Abbie, a sure channel changer is the recent profusion of "Save Teh Puppy" ads on Discovery, History, Science channel networks. Apparently they took a cue from the profitable "Save Teh Children" that garnered an "F" from the AIP

So what does the HSUS do?

Cain:
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm?oid=136

"So what does the HSUS do?"

HSUS, pronounced like the spanish Jesus ("hay-soos") saves people from their money, just like jesus did....

Hmm. Two minutes and forty-three seconds on Ben Stein. Can I bring myself to watch it? For one, those are 2:43 that I'll never get back. More importantly, it's Ben Stein. Even if he were speaking brilliantly about some issue I agreed with him on, I'd still have to endure hearing his voice.

Abbie, thanks for listening to Ben Stein so that we don't have to!

@Joshua Zelinsky:

What's he going to for an encore? Make an add with Jenny McCarthy bashing vaccines?

No, but I bet Bill Maher would. I swear we need to design a test that allows us to find the mechanism by which fame replaces common sense.

Paul Lundgren @10

"I swear we need to design a test that allows us to find the mechanism by which fame replaces common sense."

....Or one which detects attention whores at birth so they can be placed on an island like Typhoid Mary. They can live out their days interrupting each other and loudly confabulating their dire illnesses, divine origins and the injustice to the rest of us at being denied their wonderfulness.

Sterilization will be, of course, mandatory.

Thanks, Prometheus, that's what I've been saying.

Well ... to be fair, I didn't want to be famist, so I advocate randomised sterilisation to curb the population growth. Biggest problem is that it's hard to hit the girls, since it's a non-trivial operation. Guess I'll just have to neuter a larger amounts of boys or summat.

Remember, spay or neuter your neighbours!

"Ben Stein, you are quite possibly one of the dumbest people on Planet Earth."

Oh, he left the state of "quite possibly" a LONG time ago.

Ben Stein, asswipe, bad actor, bad investor, bad researcher, and now bad charity supporter. What Stein is GOOD at is lining his pockets. I suspect he cares not one whit what he's saying or how it affects anything.

He's answering the phone for comcast in my area. If I am calling comcast, you can be sure I'm in pissed already and in no mood to hear his voice saying anything. He was on a talking head show the other day spouting about how a public option for healthcare was anathema to freedom. What a turd.

"http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm?oid=136"

You do realize that activistcash is just a corporate shill PR site, right?

That's not to say they're wrong about HSUS, but they also oppose unions, regulation, etc.

They certainly aren't very transparent themselves.

Ben Stein was selected as keynote speaker by the American Society of Engineers to which I belong. BUMMER! I'm thinking of quitting ASCE because of this. What do you think?

Chas, not being a huge fan of many societies I would probably be rather willing to quit. But I would make sure it was clear why, or I might just send a letter making it clear why I thought the choice was terrible.

Is there any reason they would pick him to talk as a keynote speaker? Did they give any reason? Why not an interesting engineer?

So Ben Stein was wrong. Once.

So Ben Stein was wrong. Once again.

Fixed that for ya, Willy Wally.

Ben Stein, his initials tell his story.

I remember a while back reading a thing about the HSUS on this blag. I was like, Humane Society r not good guys? Wut???

How annoying that crap organizations have names very similar to good organizations.

Subsequently I discovered that many organizations with "autism" or "physicians" or "responsibility" or "concerned" or "human rights" in their name are also total crap.

Then I learned you should never give money to people who ring you up to ask. Most of the money raised this way goes to the telemarketing fund raising company. Little actually reaches the people need it.

The few loosers out there always screw things up for the rest of us.

Kind of like how nations with "Democratic" in their names are anything but.

I didn't realise you were on GraphJam.

What do you expect from people who chose Michael Vick as a spokesman?

without looking for any financial records on this....

Who really thinks Stein is doing this for some charitable "Save teh puppez" reason?

This is all about getting paid. Just like the credit nonsense.

He's stupid on many things, but on this he's just a fucking asshole.

So Ben Stein was wrong. Once.

hahahaha

Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that Willy

I work at the HSUS and Iâd like to address the issues raised with the puppy mill video. The HSUS works closely with animal care and control agencies on puppy mill cases, and the starting point for our participation is often a call from a local group requesting assistance. Many puppy mill raids involve hundreds of dogs and longstanding neglect; these are understandably daunting situations for individual organizations to tackle alone. This year the HSUS has been involved in sixteen puppy mill investigations; in thirteen of these cases, the defendants have been charged or are expected to be charged.

It is true that the HSUS does not operate animal shelters (although we oversee a number of animal sanctuaries like the Black Beauty Ranch in Texas), nor do we act as a parent organization to the thousands of shelters across the country. It makes little sense for us to duplicate the good work of local organizations that shelter homeless and abused animals. Our organization was founded to take on issues that are national in scope ranging from puppy mills and dogfighting to canned hunts and factory farming.

Accountability and fiscal responsibility are definitely important when evaluating nonprofits, and weâre proud to have received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. You can view our annual reports at our website, www.humanesociety.org.

If you want to support local services for animals in need, you should absolutely contribute to your communityâs animal shelter. If youâre concerned about animal protection issues beyond the scope of these critical direct-care agencies, then consider groups like the HSUS. I suspect most people have sympathies in both camps, which makes sense because this type of work is complementary, not mutually exclusive.

Hillary,

Lobbyist organizations can be important. What many of us take exception to is the fact that the "Humane Society of the US" misleads people into giving money, thinking that they're giving "directly to the animals" or to their local humane societies.

I hate to disagree with my friend Abbie, especially since I almost always agree with her take on things, but here I do. The HS in Oklahoma does lobby hard against animal cruelty, having played a major role in defeating cock fighting, bans on pit bulls, dog fighting, agri-business mistreatment of animals, etc. However, they do more than lobbying and are involved with law enforcement agencies in raids on puppy mills, dog fighting, and other rescue efforts. Through coalitions with appropriate animal shelters they place rescued animals. Recently, they helped rescue 100+ border collies from a farm near Ada that had been allowed to roam on a farm. Through their coalition with shelters they placed the animals around the country, including 50 that went to a school for training as aid dogs. They do NOT advocate killing pit bulls. Indeed they share ERV's concerns. One pit bull seized in a raid in Oklahoma was euthanized by ANOTHER agency after it was determined the dog could not be rehabilitated. In fact, the head of the Oklahoma group is personally rehabing a pit bull seized from a dog fighting operation.

Much of the bad publicity for HSUS comes from the consortium of rural groups that try to protect things like cock and dog fighting, together with some elements of agri-business that do not want controls over feed lots and slaughter methods. These groups try to place HSUS in the category of PETA (a most despicable organization) and denigrate HSUS with falsehoods. This has especially been true in Oklahoma. The state group has also arranged free clinics for neutering dogs and cats, vaccinations, etc. Those who condemn HS should research all of the facts, but the use of Stein in the ad was a BIG mistake, although the ad was made before Stein was dropped from the New York Times.

titmouse (#21)

Then I learned you should never give money to people who ring you up to ask.

True story. A few weeks ago, I got a call from some organization (I don't even remember what) and the chick's like, "We're calling to thank all the people who donated last year..." and I'm like, "But I've never donated to your organization." She's like, "I know that, but we're calling everyone to say thanks for donating, and..." and, certain someone's not hearing someone else, I'm like, "Right, but I HAVEN'T EVER DONATED." Cue round three. This time I just tell her I'm not interested in giving them money and she hangs up. I mean, who the fuck thought that was a good way to drum up new donations?!

Ben Stein isn't being stupid. He's being immoral, or maybe amoral. As has been said before, he's good at getting paid. He'll put his face and name on anything and for anyone that'll pay him. For whatever reasons, he is considered something of a pundit and almost a public intellectual. I agree: That last one is completely ridiculous. But he has the status. He can use it to get paid, and he knows it.

Abbie, I just want to thank you for the recent information about the HSUS. All new information to me.

@Brian - Ben Stein received no compensation for appearing in our video PSA on puppy mills.

HSUS (and Wayne Pacelle) are a bunch of animal rights extremists who are best buddies with PETA and don't even like pets. I could give you a litany of sleazy things they've done politically. Let's just say that among zookeepers they're personae non grata.

They don't contribute to animal shelters at all; their use of the name "humane society" is a point of considerable irritation to local shelters, from whom they basically usurped the name and are busy stealing donations. The national group in the U.S. who actually work with local humane societies is the American Humane Association.

The American Humane Association and local animal shelters do great work. Let me say again, the HSUS is not a parent organization that oversees or is affiliated with local shelters (nor, for that matter, is the AHA or the ASPCA), and anyone can visit our website or read our materials to understand the type and scope of our work. I don't think most of the American public would consider campaigns to end animal fighting or to remove dogs from puppy mills the work of "animal rights extremists". We also tackle institutionalized forms of animal cruelty such as factory farming. The term "humane" is one that can and should be applied to our treatment of all animals, not just dogs and cats.

Actually, Hillary, HSUS is not in any way affiliated with the AHA or ASPCA at all. They're just scamming people by piggybacking on the name. They're liars and crooks. Their very NAME is a lie! Why do you defend known frauds, Hillary?

You are correct: the HSUS, the AHA, and the ASPCA are independent of one another. All three national organizations do work that is complemenary to, but not directly affiliated with, local humane societies, spca's and shelters.