Chicken Happiness...

A proposed initiative in Washington State (I-1130) would basically require cage-free production of eggs by 2018. It will be on the general election ballot in November, if enough petition signatures are gathered by July.


If passed, it will virtually drive current egg producers out of business, requiring them to triple the amount of space needed to house their birds.

Most producers use banks of multi-tiered cages to house their egg-laying chickens. The Humane Society of the United States, a major backer of the initiative, says that these are inhumane. Chickens so confined suffer stress from not being able to roam about, fly or nest. They may be healthy, and producing more eggs than their cage-free counterparts – but they are not as happy as the chickens in a cage free environment.

Neither are they as happy as the people who get to charge twice as much for their cage-free eggs when they sell them – but I digress…

It seems that over the years, egg producers have found that wire mesh cages provided a number of efficiencies and benefits. The chickens’ waste falls through the cage floor so they are not walking in it. The eggs that are laid roll down a slight incline out of the cage and so are not exposed to contamination, and do not have to be hunted to be found. There are no predators to fear. Keeping the birds in small flocks of 8 to a cage, allows them the chicken social hierarchy with less risk of cannibalism. (Yes, they will eat each other, or peck some poor peon-chicken to death – Maybe HSUS should have sensitivity training classes for that! Sorry, I digress again…) Granted, these chickens cannot spread their wings and fly…but they can move about the cage freely, and are even able to back away from visitors who peer in to check on them.

However, in the midst of all these innovations, no one ever made provision for chicken happiness.

Though cages allow greater efficiency, better sanitation, less stress & higher production, HSUS argues that you can’t prove chicken happiness by good production. They maintain that these chickens are frustrated because they cannot nest, or move about freely, or enjoy the social benefits of a larger flock.

Back in the day, the aforementioned innovations were considered progress – practices determined to be better for the chickens, and the humans tasked with getting them to produce eggs. Now some consider them the diabolical plot of factory farms to coerce chickens to produce an inordinate quantity of eggs with no regard for their...uh, happiness?

I can’t believe that farmers are now expected to ensure their animals’ happiness! Who will determine when an animal is happy? HOW will they determine if the animals are happy? You can’t blood test for happiness…So will it be a consensus vote of the flock? A random sampling of individuals? What if you just have a bunch of chickens with bad attitudes?

Despite my love of anthropomorphism, especially regarding my dog( – I am sure she is “sad” when I leave), we need to remember this: Animals are NOT people.

I grew up on a dairy farm, and we observed that if a cow didn’t feel well, she didn’t do well…So our main occupation was to make sure the cows were doing well. True, we didn’t consult them about milking times, or grain choices, or whether they preferred pasture to alfalfa in the feeder. But we made all those decisions based on our observations of their responses to our actions. It was our responsibility to determine what was best for them…and we did.

It wasn’t like they wanted to give the input. As long as the feeder was full, and the bedding was dry, they seemed pretty darn…content. And those who make a living dependent on the behavior of animals are usually smart enough to know that contentment is about as close to happiness as anyone can get.

If this Proposition (1130) makes it to the November ballot, undoubtedly you will hear horror stories of cruelty to chickens. I ask that before you decide your vote, you research both sides. Talk to a chicken farmer, as did Dan Wheat, who wrote the article that brought this issue to my attention. {capitalpress.com -- “Chickens have room to move”} After he investigated the issue, he concluded that the issue the voters will decide is whether “{you are} willing to pay more, perhaps twice as much, for eggs, knowing they came from chickens who lived their 2 year lives being able to flap their wings”.

Potassium Iodide?

How many thousand miles are we away from Japan?

Many...

And yet, people here are snatching up potassium iodide to protect their thyroids from radiation exposure...

I'm wondering if these are the same people who carefully consider whether its prudent to get more diagnositic x-rays and CT scans...because they will be exposed to much more radiation in pursuit of better health than they ever will from a Japanese nuclear reactor meltdown.

Look it up! We are in no danger of ill effects from Fukushima's disaster...IF, and that's a big one, any radiation from over there came over here, it would be a minute increase in the radiation (the naturally occurring background kind) that we are exposed to every day.

Don't panic...and send your potassium iodide to Japan, where they really need it.

Disaster in Japan...

I have been stunned by the photos and videos of the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I look at the landscapes blanketed in debris and wonder, "Where do you start?"

There must be such despair -- and yet, reportedly, "Japan retains decorum in face of pileup of catastrophes". I was amazed at the responses of the majority of the people.

Read about it here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014497196_quakereact15.html

Sounds quite a bit different than New Orleans after Katrina, doesn't it?

Truly, the Japanese are the ultimate example of "keep calm and carry on"... I admire that.

"We value harmony over individualism", said Minoru Morita, a well-known Tokyo-based political commentator. "We grow up being taught that we shouldn't do anything we are ashamed of. It is these ideas that make us."

This article has caused me to ponder the individualism that we Americans so value. I do believe that we have lost the willingness of individuals to sacrifice for the common good. We're mostly looking out for number 1...the common good comes after that, if anything is left.

The Japanese subvert their individual will, which benefits the common good -- but it seems they do it so as not to be shamed, more than to do good wherever their hand finds it...Decisions are made by concensus; there's little room for self-expression...You go with the majority.

Our cultures are so different, and yet, we are still alike -- in tears of loss, in heartbreak over loved ones, in hope or despair of the future, in fear of more suffering...

I pray for Japan.

I'm just sayin'...

Setting the specifics of the State of Wisconsin vs. The Unions debate aside, I just want to say:

If your job is to be a legislator, to uphold the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, shouldn't you show up for your job? Aren't you derelict in your duties if you choose to go to Illinois so you won't lose a vote?

Doesn't this seem like the ultimate in childishness? It's not like the issue in which they will lose is a matter of protecting life or the foundations of liberty...In fact, aren't they subverting liberty by refusing to allow the majority to carry the issue? The will of the legislature is against them, so they leave the state. Couldn't this be rightly argued that the will of the PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN is against you? Is this going to become a habit in more votes that they might lose?

I think the Wisconsin Democrats are acting cowardly, and disrespectfully to the citizens of the state, and the dignity of the office they swore to uphold...no matter what the specifics of the issues are.

I hope this is remembered at their next elections...You can't trust these guys.

Dear Mr. Chris Wallace...

Thank you for interviewing Margie Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church, and allowing the world to see the twisted thinking this group espouses.

May their tribe decrease...

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday/transcript/westboro-baptist-church-leader-talks-supreme-court-ruling-sen-durbin-rep-hensarling-budgey

An unbelievable story...

I couldn't believe this story...but it IS for real.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/03/04/mich-high-school-basketball-star-dies-winning-shot/

No one in that high school will ever forget that day, or that young man...It is such a sad loss -- but you KNOW that the young man died happy, probably as happy as he had ever been...An unbelievable ending for a short life, that was well-lived.

God bless his family, and his many friends...

It really happens...

Canadian Hospital Agrees to Let Boy in Vegetative State Die at Home

The Canadian hospital under fire for ordering parents to remove their young son from life support because he is a vegetative state has backed down and agreed to one of the family's requests: to let the boy die at home.

London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying that it will bring 13-month-old Joseph Maraachli to his family's home, but it then insists that staff members remove the boy from a respirator, possibly giving him only minutes more to live, the London Free Press reported.



“London Health Sciences Centre is and always has been willing to organize and pay for a medical transfer home to Windsor (where the family lives) for Baby Joseph, accompanied by LHSC physicians and staff,” the hospital said.



But the hospital still will not agree to the parents' request to perform a tracheotomy on Joseph, a measure the hospital calls needlessly invasive but the family has said helped their older child who suffered a similar condition live another six months.



The announcement comes as the hospital finds itself on the receiving end of threats sent by e-mail and phone calls, many of them said to come from the U.S. The hospital has since beefed up its security.



Joseph's parents had hoped to transfer him to a hospital in Michigan to perform the tracheotomy, but the Michigan hospital declined to accept the boy as a patient after reviewing his medical files.



The boy suffers from a rare, progressive neurological disease which, Canadian doctors say, has left him in a vegetative state beyond recovery.



A spokesman for Maraachli’s family told FoxNews.com the family is "working on an appeal" to the Michigan hospital's decision. The hospital declined to comment on "any matters surrounding the case."



Canadian health care allocation officials already ruled that Joseph had to be taken off life support and allowed to die in the hospital.  (Emphasis mine.)



There ARE people in socialized medicine that have to decide how care will be allocated...
A tracheotomy is not experimental treatment, or exorbitant in cost...
The way this has been handled seems wrong...The parent's should decide about their child's life -- but if the state is going to pay the bill, they take the authority.

Sad.



I found it here:
/www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/28/canadian-hospital-agrees-let-boy-vegetative-state-die-home/

A Somali Pirate's lament...

I was stunned when I read the following quote, the response of a modern-day pirate to the recent tragic ending of the Americans aboard the Quest...

"We had no intention of killing the hostages until the Americans began shooting at us," Muse said. "Our preference is only to take ships and ransom money, not to kill. But governments are targeting and killing our people."

Um -- perhaps governments are targeting and killing your people because you are taking innocents hostage and threatening to kill them...I mean, MAYBE this could be the reason why. Perhaps the Americans started shooting at you because you had no regard for human life and property. Generally speaking, this kind of activity makes one a target of military or police action. Make note of that, okay? For future reference, you know...

I know that what Mr. Muse is trying to do is to blame the US for the deaths. If the US had not taken action against the pirates, the hostages would have lived. "We won't kill unless other people MAKE us do it..." Right -- I'm sure your statement will change the whole discussion on piracy.  So -- when you take people hostage on threat of death, we're not supposed to believe you...We're just supposed to realize that you need to make money SOMEHOW and so, we well-supplied Americans are supposed to hand it over peacefully, and we'll all live happily ever after. If Americans just wouldn't be so unreasonably attached to their property and freedom, you would never need to get close to carrying out your supposedly disingenuous threats. It's always the HAVE NOT's against the HAVE's...

I 've heard that there's nothing new under the sun...


I read the quote here: Nation & World Lure of ocean, adventure drew sailors till death Seattle Times Newspaper