Wednesday, February 19, 2014

War on Whistleblowers: Factory Farms Edition

As Idaho moves to criminalize undercover video with 'ag-gag' law, clip of dairy worker sexually abusing cow surfaces
What kind of society seeks to punish the people who bring crimes to the public's attention?  The sponsors of this legislation should be publicly shamed.
A still from the video shot undercover at an Idaho dairy by animal rights group Mercy For Animals. Under a proposed law, filming scenes like this would become a crime. In Idaho, the dairy industry has successfully lobbied lawmakers to propose a new law that would make it a crime for animal rights advocates or journalists to lie about their backgrounds to applications at dairy farms, for the purpose of documenting criminal activity or animal abuse. Striking back at this proposed legislation that would curb free speech, Los Angeles-based nonprofit Mercy for Animals today released video of a dairy worker sexually abusing a cow at Bettencourt Dairies in Idaho.
People who abuse defenseless animals are lower than dirt.  I am a carnivore: I love beef, bacon, chicken, all of that delicious, delicious meat.  I don't find eating meat to be morally objectionable.  I know many people do, and I respect that.  That said, I have no tolerance for people who abuse or mistreat animals, including the appalling factory farms that basically institutionalize the mistreatment of animals on an industrial scale.

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