I.O.W.A.

Submitted by Meteor Man on Fri, 02/09/2018 - 6:53pm

I.diots
O.ut
W.andering
A.round

I can say that because I grew up in Iowa, actually participated in a notorious Iowa Caucus and moved to L.A. in 1993, so I know it's true. They also elected Sen.Grassley and Rep. Steve King to Congress.

The story is about a nationwide problem:

"Across the nation, factory farming destroys communities and contaminates drinking water supplies and air quality," declared Krissy Kasserman, the national factory farm campaigner at Food & Water Watch, one of the groups behind the effort. "A stop to the expansion of factory farming needs to happen now. It begins with Iowa."

In addition to environmental degradation the health consequences are serious:

Research has shown that Iowans living near factory farms are more likely to experience respiratory problems, headaches, diarrhea, burning eyes, nausea, and more serious health problems as a result of factory farm air pollution.

One reason I left:

In an editorial exploring multiple policy proposals, including a moratorium, the Des Moines Register wrote last fall that "pressing pause may be the only way Iowa can catch up to this fast-growing industry." The newspaper pointed to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report that showed a "record number of hogs and pigs were on Iowa farms as of Sept. 1: 22.9 million, up 3 percent from a year ago," and noted, "That's about 7.3 times more pigs than people in the state."

Typical corporate callous disregard:

"Iowa is suffering under the enormous weight of a business that has no respect for the people, environment, animals and future of the state."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/02/08/50-groups-back-landmark-eff...

Tags:

#FactoryFarming #EnvironmentalDestruction

Vote

Comments

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 02/10/2018 - 8:26am

Terry Branstad was my neighbor

when I was a teenager. I left in '81 and was in MN until '89. Still part owner in the family farm which has been rented out since my dad got sick and passed away in '93. An organic dairy farmer, he would certainly be rolling over in his grave. Many things in Iowa are now unrecognizeable. The horrbile signs entering Iowa saying "Land of Silos and Smokestacks." Damn. Terrible.

The good news is that there are some excellent candidates running against those current assholes in power. Growing up there, I never considered Iowa a conservative state. Historically, it's an educated group of folks with colleges everywhere. In the 80s, they already had a video college course feed. You could take college classes at the city hall in my hometown of 2500.

Alas, now the Scourging of the Shire has occurred. Hopefully Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam will return to save the day.

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by hecate on Sat, 02/10/2018 - 12:47pm

clearly,

the Gort ships need to return, and make off with more pigs, like they did in 2011.

This month, 150 pigs—each one weighing more than an average grown man—disappeared from a farm building in Lafayette [Minnesota] despite deadbolts on its doors. Farther north near Lake Lillian, 594 snorting, squealing hogs disappeared last month, whisked away in the dark.

And in Iowa, with added cover from the vast stretches of tall cornfields, pigs have been snatched, 20 or 30 at a time, from as many as eight facilities in the last few weeks, said the sheriff of Mitchell County, adding that among other challenges, the missing are difficult to single out.

“They all look alike,” said Curt Younker, the sheriff[.]

Was this all the work of a single roving band of pig thieves, or were they isolated incidents with separate culprits, all driven by the high price of pigs?

And who would have enough experience with 270-pound pigs, and sufficient equipment to pull off such heists?

And where exactly would they have taken the pigs?

“Hundreds of pigs don’t just disappear,” said Marc Chadderdon, a sheriff’s investigator[.]

They were disappeared into the Gort ships, the Gorts thereby relieving, a bit, the pig population pressure; this will recur until the humans grow enough of a brain to grasp that factory farming is deep dumbness, and needs to go the way of the buggywhip.

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 02/10/2018 - 3:53pm

LOL

@hecate

Excellent

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo