Issue 2: A Few Days Away

Was just reading some op-eds... (4.00 / 2)

Looks like every newspaper in the state of Ohio is publishing Farm Bureau "Yes on 2" propaganda.

I'll go back and find some links, but I'm sure everybody knows what they're like.  "Let us make decisions for "our consumers"".  "We're the experts, we know how to keep animals healthy!".  Etc, etc...

Right.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 22:25:59 PM UTC

This is why I don't like to set animal husbandry protocols by legislation (4.00 / 3)

If you want a farm to raise/maintain animals to a certain standard by from the farms that implement animal husbandry practices/protocols that you support. That way you know that the farms that are keeping/managing animals in a way that you find acceptable are being compensated such that those practices are sustainable.

Legislation is the wrong way to go about this.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 23:03:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But at the same time... (4.00 / 2)

I agree with you here for the most part, but at the same time how do we begin to change an embedded system that does irreparable harm to the environment and to our bodies and to our food system and to our economy, etc... if we don't use legislation to begin to achieve those ends?

The default system, what we have now, isn't going to just change on its own, even if more and more farmers move to pasture-based and more sustainable systems of raising animals for food.

There's a balance that needs to be struck somewhere, and I'm of the mind that good legislation can certainly play a role there.  There's good and bad in all, and even though I despise the ballot initiative system, it can do just as much good as harm, if we focus on that.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 23:09:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Check out this sleight of hand trick... (4.00 / 2)

Here's an odd "balanced" piece (note: this is apparently a news piece, and not an op-ed) from Cincinnati -

Home-grown standards for the care and safety of Ohio livestock will be put into place if Ohio voters approve Issue #2 on November 3.

Proponents argue that new care regulations will maintain food safety, encourage locally grown and raised food and protect Ohio farms and families.

Backers of Issue #2 want to keep control of this industry in Ohio under the guidance of experts such as family farmers, food safety experts, veterinarians and consumers.

Yeah, and multinational pharmaceutical corporations.

They throw in a few sentences about "the concerns of the opposition", as well... but the wording kinda leans towards making us sound like irrational extremists.  I don't want to quote more for fear of running afoul of "fair use" or something, but it sounds like even the news pieces on the issue are just rewritten Farm Bureau op-eds.

Any polls on the issue out there?

I'll go look...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 22:49:56 PM UTC

it's thought to be pretty hopeless (4.00 / 2)

for our side. There just isn't a lot of money in what we do, and you see how misleading their language is.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 22:55:30 PM UTC

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Kinda feared that... (4.00 / 1)

I guess pushing this in Ohio was a "good choice" on their part to set a precedent somewhere; and especially being that it was in 2009, an odd-numbered off-election year, pretty under the radar.

Kinda funny, in a dark way, that this happened in Ohio, too.  Did they "cage" any opposition voters, as well?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 23:03:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]