where does the loathing come from?????

[Jashdon]

I am so sick of people wanting to de-regulate everything. Why is the economy crashing all around us? because neo con repulicans and conservative democrats have de-regulated the financial markets. We need regulations to keep all of us safe from corporate factory farm feeding cows their own brains to cut down on feed costs and causing mad cow disease.

Sometimes I just pray that reincarnation is real, so that all these people that try to justify abusive farming techniques so that poor families can afford their food will end up as bugs or worms in their next life. The reality is that free range chickens cost a lot less to keep than having hundreds of individual cages set up with their own feeders and waterers and having to pay for all the antibiotics to inject sick chickens with. Passing this legislation will not affect the price of eggs.

 

[Akane]

Horses being sold or placed because feed has skyrocketed.

This is actually caused by a slightly similar situation. The banning of horse slaughter. Instead of passing more regulations to make sure the animals were treated and killed as humanely as possible we just got rid of it. Right as feed and gas prices were going up. Thousands of horses have nowhere to go. Rescues are over run. People are actually dumping their horses in other peoples' pastures because noone will take the animals and they can't afford to feed them. Neglect is everywhere. Those who were seriously into the horse business can't sell even well bred and well trained horses right now. It's a complete mess. And are the horses being treated any better? Nope. Instead of being slaughtered humanely in the US they are being shipped 100s of miles to mexico where there are even few regulations or being left to starve in pastures.

I would love it if we could do away with raising caged animals but you can't go from allowing it one day to not allowing it at all the next. The result has already been shown to be counter productive. Skipping right ahead to banning something instead of steadily increasing the regulations does not make things better quicker. It will take years to sort it all back out again and get to the same place we would if we took a little time and put a little more thought in to it.​

 

[hensdeliverthegoods]

I love this guy's comment....sums it up nicely, don't you think?

Posted by:
davec
2008-09-10 15:54:21
Rated: 5 by 5 users.
Perhaps Lon Allan's rights should be on the ballot

When I turn on Lon's light in the middle of the night, he wakes up. What an idiot. It's not morning yet.
I locked Lon in a 2' x 3' cube, which is plenty of space to write insipid newspaper columns. The quality is the same - cantakerous as ever, so I see no need to give him more space. When he stops producing, he'll become Sunday night dinner.
I don't care about your happiness Lon. Just those beings in this world with empathy.​

 

[WisconsinChick]

Quote:
If you have laying hens anyways, why would it matter if the eggs got expensive? It wouldnt affect you but it could give the chickens a better life out of cages. Idk, maybe im wrong

 

[theOEGBman]

Quote:
If you have laying hens anyways, why would it matter if the eggs got expensive? It wouldnt affect you but it could give the chickens a better life out of cages. Idk, maybe im wrong

That's what I've been thinkin after wasting my time reading 6 pages of the same stuff, LOL. I have my own hens, what does it matter if someone else has to pay more for eggs, they need chickens!

 

[Agilityscots]

Quote:
Amen to THAT.

Amy

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
I have just the opposite philosophy. I want fewer regulations, fewer bureaucrats, less government intrusion. I'm not willing to trade freedom for the perception of safety.

I don't want laws forcing you to raise your chickens the way I think you should. I don't want laws forcing me to raise my chickens the way you think I should.

 

[ravenfeathers]

Quote:
i agree. while i think the libertarian philosophy is incredibly sensible and ideal in theory, it's based on the flawed idea that most people are intelligent, law-abiding, and sensible. if people could be trusted not to mistreat animals, whether livestock or pets (or people, but that's a whole other kettle of fish), we wouldn't need so many regulations. unfortunately, that's not the case. greed, avarice, and cruelty are just too rampant.

 

[Jashdon]

I think when regulations work well (and most of the time they don't) they don't limit freedom per se but set guidelines that the majority of us can agree are important for safety and market stability. I'm not talking about senseless regulations that corrupt politicians put in place to make it harder for small business to operate and easier for large corporate conglomerates to put everyone else out of business. The government, when it works (and again a lot of the time it doesn't) isn't some external force that we should fear, it is the common will of the people, implemented by representatives that we choose. If government isn't working the way we want it to, then it is our duty to change it, by voting and supporting candidates whose policies we agree with or by running for political positions ourselves. I know that the elections system is screwed up, but we can change that too if we support the right candidates. I didn't come up with this line but I agree with it, change doesn't happen from the top down (because the top wants the status quo upheld), it happens from the bottom up. We all are members of and keepers of the commons (rules, laws, regulations, schools, infrastructure) and if we don't like the way government is managing the commons we should throw the losers out, not complain about how government is the problem, because ultimately we are responsible for putting them there. Back in the days of Roosevelt and Eisenhower, government became the solution for many prolems the country was having. It seems like since Regan, it has been taken over by huge money interests and privatised so that corporations are profiting from what used to be government services. I don't understand the concept that business can do it more effeciently than government. Businesses are only concerned about increasing profits by cutting expenses so that their stock goes up and their shareholders are happy. You can't perform a public service that way and do it more effeciently than a governement agency who's sole purpose is to provide that service to citizens without regard to making profit. Take the VA as an example. When they have proper support from the pentagon, (which they haven't had for the past 8 years) they do their job very well. They even provide socialized health care to veterans!

Sorry for the rant.... it feels good to vent all this stuff out though!

 

[Jashdon]

And by the way, the only time you would be "forced" to raise chickens a certain way is if you decided to enter into a contract with the larger population to provide them with a safe product that they would then eat. Any time food producers are able to raise food products any way they want, by any means they want, people get sick. And I think most people agree that cruelty to animals should not be allowed. I believe there are already laws on the books in most places prohibiting cruelty to animals.