e coli Conservatism Wins Again
by digby
The GOPs war on animals continues. (BTW, who aren't they at war with these days besides rich white guys?)
The Iowa House approved a bill Thursday to prevent animal rights activists from getting hired on farms just so they can secretly record what they believe is the mistreatment of livestock.
The bill has had strong support from farmers angered by repeated releases of secretly filmed videos claiming to show the mistreatment of farm animals. It was introduced after groups around the nation released videos showing cows being shocked, pigs being beaten and chicks ground up alive.
The Republican-led House approved the measure 65-27. It must pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and be signed by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad to become law.
The bill would make it illegal to secretly record and distribute videos and punish those who take jobs on farms only to gain access to record animals' treatment. Penalties include up to five years in prison and fines of up to $7,500.
But secretly filming ACORN workers and then editing the tapes to make them look like criminals is obviously a-ok.
This is really awful. Those films show real animal cruelty on a level that shakes Americans in a primitive way. Most people eat meat, but they are not comfortable with factory farms treating animals cruelly and putting diseased and dirty product into the food supply. And obviously the government isn't doing its job adequately or they wouldn't be able to produce this footage.
I wouldn't eat any meat from Iowa from now on. They obviously have something to hide or they wouldn't have felt it necessary to pass this law.
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