Written for High Plains Journal April 2009

When it all goes South

I don’t care what her legs look like with the wind blowing her skimpy dress all around, she isn’t singing the country music of this nation. Three years ago I attempted to share with everyone who would listen the news that Carrie Underwood is not country and should be rejected at every turn by the country music industry. Today she has proven that those of us that were upset with her three years ago were absolutely correct. Tapping into her rock side, she recently recorded Motley Crue’s bittersweet ballad “Home Sweet Home” as the theme song for people booted off of the reality TV show American Idol. Oh, wait! Not only has she tapped into her real roots, she is also donating proceeds from the sale of the single to the anti-animal agriculture group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

In the past two weeks, CBS and the American Country Music Association have been conducting an online poll for country fans to vote for their choice of Entertainer of the year. HSUS was apparently organizing what they thought could be a quiet, underground campaign to get votes for Underwood. It is obvious that with a designation like Entertainer of the Year and their additional fundraising efforts, the two plan to work together even more in the near future.

Enter a real country star: Craig Henkel of Bayard, NE. Craig called me last week and he was completely upset that a local store in Scottsbluff, NE had a poster of Underwood hanging up to promote some beverage. Craig did the right thing and sent the owner of the Mercantile an email stating what he had discovered and briefly described how HSUS was working to end to abolish animal agriculture and end hunting. Let me share with you the most important part of Craig’s email.
Owen, you're shooting yourself in the foot by letting Ms. Underwood's face be shown in your stores. If she and her friends get their way, you (and I) will be out of business.

I object to this advertising, and ask that you remove it. I will not be back in any "The Mercantile" outlet, nor 21st Century Equipment until I am confident that you have come to your senses. These groups are wacko and are run by wackos.
This email is not intended to make anyone mad, just to inform.
Within 24 hours of sending the email, the owner of the store thanked him for bringing this information to his attention and assured him that all Underwood references would be removed. Craig Henkel could have ignored the poster and said “Man, she sure is pretty” but instead he understood how she is working day in and day out to chase animal agriculture out of business and she needs to be stopped. Beauty, in this case, is only skin deep!

Another fellow Nebraskan that on the front lines in attempting to motivate the agricultural community to become more aware of what HSUS is really up to is the current President of Nebraska Soybean Association Debbie Borg who is a farmer from Allen, NE. Debbie even went out of her to way to sit down with the Governor one-on-one to ensure he truly understands that HSUS is a wolf wearing wool in the sheep pen.
Debbie has experienced a certain level of frustration because even though some of us have understood the mission of groups like HSUS for years, some IN agriculture prefer to keep their heads in the farrowing crate instead of coming outside and looking around to see what is really going on.

I will once again state my plan for winning the war against HSUS. First of all, if you think those words are too harsh then you are the one I am talking about that is filled with ignorance. Animal agriculture is not about sustaining our lifestyle on farms and ranches. It is about providing the essentials of life for mankind. Human life cannot continue if we are not allowed to continue to convert natural resources into human consumeable products.

The future of mankind is up to us. We must respond and become vigilant by bringing awareness to all of the players and letting be known the true agendas of the people and organizations involved. The entertainment world is just like American Idol - we choose who stays to sing and who goes home. We need to vote Carrie Underwood off and her send-off theme song could be any one of these great Alabama tunes: “Why lady why” “Take a little trip” or “When it all goes south.” Regardless of the exit song you prefer, we need to send her and her big bank account, her vegan agenda and her skimpy little skirts a packing.