Hooey

I went around having a look at the blogs I love to hate and I wasn't disappointed - looking for what they thought about the election down in the States and the different plebicites that happened - the "proposition 2" in California and the banning of greyhound racing in Massachusetts. I've also been getting emails from my "BSL Updates" list - which is supposed to be a list "regarding legislation that may restrict or prohibit any dogs based on breed", but seems to have become a way for the list owner(s) to disseminate her own right wing propoganda as she sees fit.

This morning an email came through about Proposition 2 in California about how every egg producer in California is going to have to close down because they're going to have to treat their chickens humanely. Isn't that just awful? Since I received that email I thought I'd pop over to one of my favourite horrible right wing blogs - "Caveat" - which is owned by a member of the executive of the Dog Legislation Council of Canada - an organization I loathe - and lo and behold, Selma's got a post there about proposition 2 entitled - HSUS SNOW-JOB WORKS IN CALIFORNIA - and who is the major source of her information? Why no organization less than the CENTRE FOR CONSUMER FREEDOM! Yes, the biggest lobbying organization for big tobacco, guns, factory farms, fast food giants, restaurants, and all things evil down in the USA. So I give zero credibitility to any of that HOOEY. She gives a link to another blog for a guy she's in love with - and that guy even says that Proposition 2 is a good thing! So I don't know what's up with that.

I wonder how long we're going to have to wait for "animal ownership to be doomed" since Obama did win the job of president of the United States. Do you remember the missive sent out a couple weeks about that? I'd imagine that there's going to be a lot of eating words going on now. I wonder if they're worried whether or not her American friends are all going to lose their "dog ownership" status now - whether BSL is going to go on the back burner, because they're going to have to start fighting for the very ownership of their dogs - not just which breeds they can own.

Does anyone really believe any of this stuff that they're writing? "Hens in cage housing systems can express almost all natural behavior but cannot extend their wings without touching another hen or their enclosures." Would YOU be able to have a pretty good life living in a 2x2 box your whole 6 weeks of life? I'd much rather peck around free in a open barn like they do quite successfully here in Nova Scotia? What's so hard about that? I mean, really? It's just hooey.

Here's the email that I got this morning, we'll see what kind of emails we get about the end to grey hound racing in Massachusetts, now THOSE should be interesting!

Farm Futures staff

The California ballot initiative on farm animal housing has passed by a fairly large margin with 63% for to 37% against as of 5:30 a.m. Central with 87% of the vote in.
The initiative, listed as Proposition 2, or "Prop 2," closes down the California egg industry -- affecting 95% of the state's egg production and forcing California consumers to buy eggs from other states and from Mexico. Prop 2 will become effective in 2015.

Passage represents a huge victory for Prop 2's supporters, the main two of which are the animal rights groups Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the latter of which supports vegetarianism. It is largely expected that Farm Sanctuary and HSUS will employ momentum from their victory to carry the measure to other states that have ballot initiatives and directly to state assemblies in those states that do not.

HSUS chief executive officer and president Wayne Pacelle, in a statement issued late last night, declared that California voters "have taken a stand for compassion and decency and said systematic mistreatment of animals on factory farms cannot continue. All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals raised for food."
Californians for Safe Food, which opposed Prop 2, issued its own statement last night, saying the coalition led by Farm Sanctuary and HSUS "led an emotionally manipulative, dishonest and often deceptive campaign." Safe Food commended its supporters and listed a number of accomplishments, including the fact that more than 30 of California's major newspapers came out in opposition to Prop 2.

Prop 2 requires that all farm animals, "for all or the majority of any day," not be confined or tethered in a manner that prevents an animal from lying down, standing up, turning around or extending its limbs without touching another animal or an enclosure such as a cage or stall. It specifically addresses modern cage housing for hens and stalls for sows and veal calves. It carries criminal penalties for violations, including fines and jail terms.

The pork and veal industries already have been researching group housing systems to phase out stalls as the science and technology to do so becomes available, and modern cage housing for hens already provides the highest standards of animal welfare as prescribed by animal ethicists and scientists.

Hens in cage housing systems can express almost all natural behavior but cannot extend their wings without touching another hen or their enclosures. Two important studies have concluded that Prop 2 will force all cage and most cage-free egg producers in California to shut down and will cost California thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues.