Ohio's governor and HSUS

billooo2 · #1 07/03/10, 09:20 AM

Last fall there was a 'thing' called "Issue 2" on the ballot here in Ohio. It would establish a Livestock Care Standards Board. The Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Farm Bureau told the public and farmers that it would protect them from HSUS dictating standards for livestock practices.
I testified before the Senate Ag Committee that this board was at great risk for enforcing the HSUS agenda. (HSUS was threatening to get a ballot initiative to set standards for the Board.)
Well.......HSUS did not even have to get it on the ballot.
The Governor, the Ohio Dept of Ag.....and the Farm Bureau have already capitulated to HSUS without a fight!!!
http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1719
The usual HSUS agenda.....time-lines for eliminating farrowing crates, veal stalls, no more licensing of caged bird operations, eliminating exotic animal breeding (eg white tail deer).
This Board will be enforcing the very things that it promised to protect farmers from.
IMO, typical government......generates the exact opposite of its stated intent!!!

jross · #2 07/03/10, 03:05 PM

HSUS, PeTA, and other animal groups will lie through their teeth to get their agenda implemented.

Patt · #3 07/03/10, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billooo2

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The usual HSUS agenda.....time-lines for eliminating farrowing crates, veal stalls, no more licensing of caged bird operations, eliminating exotic animal breeding (eg white tail deer).

Just curious which one of those things do you think are good and should not be gotten rid of?

sammyd · #4 07/03/10, 03:48 PM

They are all good. Prevent loss, provide good product why would you want them to go?

billooo2 · #5 07/03/10, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patt

Just curious which one of those things do you think are good and should not be gotten rid of?

I am not persuaded that is the role of government to make such decisions.

Especially, the way this thing is engineered here in Ohio. The board is made up of people appointed by governor.........
My question......Why do we have an unelected dictatorship in a representative republic???

The farmers supported this concept because they were told that this would prevent HSUS from dictating to them how they should farm.

Instead, they have given HSUS a platform, staffing, funding, and enforcement capabilities to implement their agenda.
Now, the governor has basically given HSUS the role of "overseer" of this Board!!!

My opinion.......let the consumer decide with their money what kind of farming they want to support!!!

Patt · #6 07/03/10, 06:06 PM

Sad! I think government should definitely be in the business of preventing suffering in animals. Can't believe anyone would say it is a good thing.

jlrbhjmnc · #7 07/03/10, 06:49 PM

In my opinion, HSUS has become another organization taken over by political ideology and has lost its way. As I see it - again, IMO - HSUS has a long-term agenda that has disarming the public as its end. I am a professional pet sitter and have no brief for factory farms or any cruelty to animals. I support non-political, usually local, efforts to bring animal abusers to justice and promote animal welfare.

MrCalicoty · #8 07/03/10, 07:55 PM

This one is a case study in what to look out for. I was well aware of this and very suspicious of it and this is why.

There was a massive ad campaign prior to the vote with lots of fine sounding rationale. Lurking behind this was the National Humane Society and outside (of Ohio) interests. We were told that we could be affected by outside interests that would dictate to Ohio how we would have to treat farm animals. Hold on a minute... you have to go THROUGH Ohio's legislature to affect Ohio laws. Why would a sovereign state worry about outside interests?!!!

We were also told that it was to protect the food supply. Hmmm. WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING NANNY STATE! Thank you very much....

But Ohioans bought it hook line and sinker. I even visited a local rural church (we live in a small farming community) and I presented my arguments and was immediately backed up by the fellow (who soon took a pastoral role in another nearby church) saying "Our congregation is represented by both views (for and against Issue 2)".

Folks... we don't need more government to protect us from ANYTHING. Anything they propose is usually a ruse. They simply HAVE to have more and more control and we will get only less liberty in return.

During the process there were many local meetings all throughout the state of Ohio to "address people's concerns and answer questions". This is a common tactic for outsiders and proponents to size up opposition and to establish and transform public opinion all the while they are working toward a PREDETERMINED OUTCOME!

Wise up people...

timfromohio · #9 07/03/10, 07:56 PM

I'm not a famer (nor do I play one on TV ...) but it seemed to me that farmers know what they need to do and don't need more regulations getting in their way. Further, I contacted the small farmer that we buy our meat from to get his take on Issue 2 and he was against it, so we voted NO. Looks like what many farmers were worried about with this bill is now happening.

Patt · #10 07/03/10, 08:04 PM

The government is not protecting us from anything it is protecting animals who can't vote and have no voice in this from cruelty and abuse and horrible lives. Dear lord just because a farmer wants to do something they should be allowed to no matter what????

billooo2 · #11 07/03/10, 08:55 PM

There were signs everywhere.........about protecting safe and local food.....vote for Issue 2.

Then I looked at the bill and it's list included llamas and alpacas!!!! What do they have to do with "safe and local" food?

Then I heard a couple beef farmers testify at a hearing......the one ships 200 head of steers at a time. There is no slaughter facility in the state of Ohio that can handle that large of a number at a time. They said the same is true for hogs.

Almost all of the beef and pork sold in the major supermarket chains comes form "out-of-state!!!!" So much for "safe and local food!!!"

The whole campaign, IMO, was based on lies and deciet!!!

And now it is going to do the exact thing that they claimed it would protect us from.

billooo2 · #12 07/03/10, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patt

Sad! I think government should definitely be in the business of preventing suffering in animals. Can't believe anyone would say it is a good thing.

I am not sure what you are referring to.....????

By the way, where did you buy your last chicken, beef, and pork????
If any of it came from a supermarket.....then you are supporting coinfinement farming.

If people stop buying confinement raised livestock, then no one would practice confinement farming any more.

What has your pocketbook been supporting?
If you purchased it at a supermarket, then you are supporting and encouraging confinement farming. Why would you say the government should stop it when you support it???

MrCalicoty · #13 07/03/10, 09:05 PM

We were recently victimized by a few youthful neighbors who felt so self-righteous about their animal sensitivites that released all of our caged chickens that had only been in an outside cage for a matter of hours. When we found them they were all over and under the deck and in the woods. Certain prey for the local hawks, falcons, racoons, and whatnot.

We raise chickens for eggs and for meat. NO ONE has a right to trespass on our private property for their self-righteous and selfish misguidings. These kids might end up being the next PETA leaders and work on the governor's commision to protect animals from human cruelty. I explained to these young vigilantes that we love our birds and take very good care of them. They follow us like pets. Laws are becoming just as bad only they have the power to severly punish us if we don't comply.

BTW, this wasn't just any new Ohio law... If I remember correctly this was a change to Ohio's constitution. And we gave up without (much of) a fight.

Patt · #14 07/03/10, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billooo2

I am not sure what you are referring to.....????

By the way, where did you buy your last chicken, beef, and pork????
If any of it came from a supermarket.....then you are supporting coinfinement farming.

If people stop buying confinement raised livestock, then no one would practice confinement farming any more.

What has your pocketbook been supporting?
If you purchased it at a supermarket, then you are supporting and encouraging confinement farming. Why would you say the government should stop it when you support it???

I either eat my own or buy from a local farmer who raises meat ethically. No grocery store meat for us period. Or eggs or dairy for that matter either.

Danaus29 · #15 07/04/10, 12:22 AM

Just for the record, we all voted NO. Too many unanswered questions, too many variables in who gets picked for the board.

Lyra · #16 07/04/10, 01:13 AM

Great news!!! This makes Ohio a much more attractive place to relocate to.

MrCalicoty · #17 07/04/10, 05:32 AM

In a way the passage of Issue 2 in Ohio was a failure of democracy. Instead of allowing qualified representatives to decide we allowed the general population to decide an issue they really knew nothing substantive about. What they "knew" was a bunch of touchy-feely stuff that whoever had the money to run the ad campaing and pay to bring in outsiders to our "community town hall type meetings" (iow PREDETERMINED OUTCOME Q&A). Frankly I think we were "had" and never knew what hit us.

Do you really want the urbanite masses voting on this kind of thing who couldn't even tell you what animal husbandry is? Not me.

Now we know how the system works... stupid us if we allow it again.

MrCalicoty · #18 07/04/10, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patt

I either eat my own or buy from a local farmer who raises meat ethically.

Respectfully... mind if I ask you about ethics?

Whos ethics? Yours? Mine? Someone elses?

Who gets to decide which ethics?

I believe that ethics decided by man are a fallacy. They aren't based on absolute truth but on the whims of man. Therefore they are inconsistent and woefully subject to manipulation.

I only know of one reliable source for absolute truth...

nehimama · #19 07/04/10, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyra

Great news!!! This makes Ohio a much more attractive place to relocate to.

If I lived in Ohio, I'd be looking to get out as soon as possible.

billooo2 · #20 07/04/10, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patt

I either eat my own or buy from a local farmer who raises meat ethically. No grocery store meat for us period. Or eggs or dairy for that matter either.

Congratulations!!!!
Still not sure what you mean by "ethically."
Do you pay any more for it then the supermarket prices??
AS much as I do not like confinement practices, prices would be higher for that same meat in the supermarket.
For people on a limited budget, it would limit the amount of meat they could purchase.
Do you feel that it is within your authority to dictate to them that they should eat less meat?
BTW, my "calf" is going to the slaughterhouse today.........no confinement during his lifetime......but I am not going to say that someone else should not have access to confinement-raised meat.