Slashdot Mirror
Iowa Rejects Video Privacy Protection For Cows
Hugh Pickens writes "The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that an effort to outlaw the undercover recording of animal abuse in livestock operations appears to have stalled in Iowa after previously failing in Minnesota, Florida and New York, with the pushback coming from citizens and activists complaining that the proposals were aimed at protecting an industry that doesn't exhibit enough concern for farm animal welfare. A bill introduced earlier this year to criminalize the actions of activists who make unauthorized hidden videos of animal abuse appeared to be headed for approval in the Iowa Legislature, with proposed penalties including fines of up to $7,500 and up to five years in prison. 'I feel it is wrong to absolutely lie to get a job to try to defame the employer,' says Iowa representative Annette Sweeney, a farmer and Republican legislator who sponsored the bill. But District Attorney James R. Horton, who filed animal cruelty charges against employees and the owner of a large-scale calf-raising farm, says he probably 'wouldn't have a case' if not for covert video provided by an animal protection group, and that 'we wouldn't have anything' in terms of evidence against the suspects in the beating deaths of dairy calves at E6 Cattle Co."
If the company is adhering to the rules of the law, they wouldn't have to worry about being defamed by people who lied to be hired and then made covert video tapes.
What about THAT side of the argument, Annette Sweeney, farmer and Republican legislator?
In my humble opinion, as humans, if we have an opportunity to raise food in a humane way, we should strive to do it.
why is it that always republicans are behind the gravest, dastardliest shit, and they are behind less dastardly shit with a democrat close to their aisle ?
a while ago, i heard that mccain and 30 other republican senators opposed a bill which would prevent companies from putting clauses into their contracts that would prevent female employees from suing the company if they were raped in company's employ overseas by company employees. that included john mccain, the presidential candidate. the justification was 'we think it is wrong to tell businesses how to do business'. so, its ok if a company legislates rape in its overseas operations by putting a clause in its contracts ?
what the fuck is wrong with republicans ?
Read radical news here
Because God forbid their customers actually know what conditions the animals were kept in prior to slaughter.
but not cops? Why can we gather evidence of animal abuse by videoing farmers, but we cannot gather evidence of human abuse by law enforcement?
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
He doesn't have to define humane - it's already defined into law. A law that livestock operators know well, and are responsible for obeying.
And in this case it wasn't healthy, pampered cows being slaughtered for food, it was a bunch of sick, frostbitten, starved calves that had been so poorly cared for, they were bludgeoned to death and dumped. I think only a psychopath would not agree that behavior is inhumane and unacceptable.
a law was proposed which would make it illegal to film or photograph a farm as well.
The problem is customers have grown to appreciate the warm wool pulled over their eyes that depicts farms as wholesome, good, and kindhearted.
A place where animals die of natural causes and everyone attends church on sundays.
The average consumer doesnt understand high density/high intensity farming and agriculture and when prompted, generally does not care to learn about it.
the educated consumer understands high density/high intensity farming and agriculture, but still readily retreats to his Pepperidge farm fantasy.
The facts stand and yet we ignore them in the pursuit of ever larger quarter pounders and ever more delicious ribs.
A factory farm is a hell mouth, strewn with feces six-inches deep and animals literally one foot in the grave.
chickens are too bloated from hormones to stand, cows too drugged to care about the gaping abscess that was once an eye,
pigs boiled alive in pursuit of shaving seconds from a cycle time on a machine
and immigrant labor too illegal to question a single action or decision for fear of losing their american dream.
once in a while, just every so often, an undercover PETA investigation might bring light to these torture engines.
workers may find comfort in this as a means to perhaps ending the suffering they witness daily but even with this bills defeat, the fact remains:
consumers blissfully ignorant will fill in the blanks and avoid the truth;
effectively marching lockstep in the corporate machine of factory farming.
and if you dont care to know where your brisket or tenderloin or chicken nugget comes from, you have no right to contest your cancer, low sperm count, obesity and heart disease.
Good people go to bed earlier.