Chickens in Congress

I've been so busy that the blog has suffered.  But this morning, I couldn't put off expressing my outrage.  What in the hell is going on in this country?  The Washington Post editorial board published this opinion entitled:  An amendment that hurts chickens and Americans.  It seems that Rep. Steve King from Iowa is sponsoring a bill that will allow farmers to treat animals in whatever way makes the most money regardless of the cruelty to the animal.  Now I freely admit I am not a vegetarian so maybe I have no room to speak, but how can we in this country allow any living thing to live in a space that is too small for the creature to even sit down or turn around.  Yet this is just what the bill will allow.  This bill is in response to animal rights activists who have gotten in to these farms and animal processing plants, taped what they saw and published it.  Now the congressman is proposing a bill that "Not only would laws regarding animal cruelty be upended, but so would laws protecting the environment, workers’ rights and public health, because Mr. King’s amendment bars any state-imposed condition on agricultural products."   "The California law that Mr. King objects to calls for cages that allow chickens to spread their wings, turn around and lie down. It is one of nine state laws protecting farm animals, including pigs, cows and chickens, from spending their whole lives in containers only slightly larger than their bodies. Mr. King’s amendment would likely eliminate these safeguards in one fell swoop."

There is not much more I care to say on this topic.  It is such a downer.  I hope the chickens in congress speak up against this bill.  Or perhaps they need to be put into spaces where they cannot sit or turn around.  They certainly don't spread their wings as it is.