http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kurt-friese/the-factory-farm-environm_b_835432.htmlRemember all those videos you've seen lately depicting various forms of animal cruelty and other heinous practices in some large agribusiness facilities? Here's one I told you about last year. In Florida, the newly ensconced legislature is about to make the production of such videos a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Had this bill been in force a few years ago, it might well have been used to put all the people behind the famous documentary Food, Inc. in prison.
The bill, filed as SB 1246 by Florida state senator Jim Norman, (R-Tampa), is likely to pass both houses of the Republican led legislature and be signed by Gov. Rick Scott.
While no one condones breaking and entering or trespass, this bill is clearly not meant to address that. It may as well be titled "The Factory Farm Environmental Degradation and Animal Cruelty Protection Act." It's sole purpose is to prevent the embarrassment and public exposure of the uglier side of American agriculture. They want to make sure that the only story you see or hear is the bucolic rolling hills and Old-MacDonald image that large agribusiness and their lobbyists want you to see.
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As my friend Chris Bedford pointed out recently,
"This development (perhaps part of a larger American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC initiative) in and of itself does not signal the end of anything. But proposals like this one and Michigan's HB 4306 (which mandates privatization of non-classroom school functions including food service) should be seen in the context of the larger push back against the local food revolution... that will be at the heart of the Farm Bill 2012 debate."
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