Gail Collins, "Off to the Mayoral Races": Animal Protection? What About Human Protection?

No matter what else is happening in the world, Gail Collins loves a good animal story. You will recall how she made the matter of "dog on the car roof" central to her commentary during the 2012 US presidential campaign. Well, today Gail is back with another highly relevant animal story, which should put her in line for a Pulitzer.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Off to the Mayoral Races" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/opinion/collins-off-to-the-mayoral-races.html?_r=0), Gail writes of the New York mayoral election:

"And don’t discount the Central Park carriage horses. Animal rights advocates have long yearned to abolish the industry, and Quinn is the only major Democrat who disagrees. The horses are very well-protected by regulation — they have to have five weeks of out-of-town vacation a year. French workers do not have as good a holiday package as the Central Park carriage horses. However, they do have to walk through traffic, which makes many people uncomfortable.

The horses became a huge issue early in the campaign, when there was an entire mayoral forum devoted to the subject of animal protection."

I care deeply about animal rights and contribute every year to animal protection organizations.

But apparently unbeknownst to Gail, there is also this other current issue involving human rights, i.e. the murder on August 21 of nearly 1,500 civilians by the Assad regime using sarin gas. An opinion from Gail on the matter or on Obama's flaccid "red line"? Too controversial. She would rather tell us about Dante de Blasio's "spectacular Afro."

What, Gail doesn't deserve a Pulitzer for this masterpiece? Heck, if Obama merited the Nobel Peace Prize, Gail should be at the front of the Pulitzer list by several lengths.