Urgent alert for outdoorsmen: Tell Microsoft to stop funding HSUS

I was just recently forwarded this disturbing article that claims that Microsoft will be making donations to the Humane Society of The United States (HSUS) through a pilot program involving Windows Live Messenger. HSUS is perhaps the most dangerous of the AR organizations because they are exceptionally wealthy and because they cloak a lot of their more radical ideas behind mostly benign animal welfare language. Unlike PeTA, whom most of the population recognizes as crackpots and idiots, HSUS is taken seriously because of their welfarist language and rather deceptive name. If you are a hunter or angler ( or if you simply dislike the radical AR agenda), please write or call Microsoft (contact info is in the article) and let them know your disapproval for their support of this freedom-stealing organization. Let them know that you will not be purchasing their products until they either withdraw support for HSUS, or, at the very least, to be balanced and offer an option in the same donation program for people to donate to pro-sportsmen charities such as Ducks Unlimited, Hunt of a Lifetime, or a similar organization. Remind them that HSUS is a radical animal rights organization, not a mainstream, moderate animal welfare organization, and that they have no ties to animal shelters, rescues, or local humane societies . Remind them that HSUS is a wealthy political lobbyist group that does very little in terms of actual, real, hands-on help for animals. Remind them that HSUS has a radical agenda that seeks an end to all hunting, fishing and scientifically-based wildlife management, promotes unnecessary, regressive restrictions on scientific and medical research using animals, and seeks a vegan society. Be respectful and dignified in your writing or call, but also be blunt and forceful enough so that they understand your displeasure. Being angry, swearing, etc. in your communication will only make matters worse. As the article points out, several companies have already severed their ties to HSUS because of pressure from sportsmen. We do have financial clout in that most of us have disposable income that we can decide to spend, or not spend, on their products, and it can make them listen and help make a difference. A good way to start right now, if you have not done so already, is to stop using Microsoft's Internet Explorer and download the open-source Mozilla Firefox. It is faster, more secure, better looking, and generally superior to Microsoft's product in every way. Looks like it's time to either go to Linux or get a Mac.

One thing in this article that needs correction: bear hunting has not been banned in Colorado. What was banned was the SPRING bear season, as well as baiting bears. Bears may still be hunted in the fall. Indeed, since the spring hunting ban went into effect, Colorado's bear harvest has actually increased because the Division of Wildlife simply moved the bear season to coincide with the fall general deer and elk seasons. What was once a kind of specialty hunting that attracted only a few hunters, now gets a lot more attention from the general hunting population. People will purchase a bear tag along with their deer or elk tag in hopes that they will simply stumble across a bear, which certainly can happen. The result: bigger bear harvest, increased revenue for conservation and habitat acquisition, and egg on the face of a national animal rights industry lobbyist group that chose to interfere with our local politics and had it backfire on them.