Rep. Steve King of Iowa is a moron.
Unfortunately he’s one of those morons in a position of power that people occasionally listen to and therefore cannot be ignored or punched. Example of this lawmaker’s flawless logic/grasp on English from his statement on whether he’ll run for senate:
This week, I made a simple device to put toothpaste back in the tube. But a device to put the Leftist genie back in the bottle is not so simple. The best tool we have now is the majority in the U.S. House which functions mostly to keep the Leftist genie in the bottle.
The problem is, this dumbass has proposed an amendment to the House Farm Bill which could negate most state and local farm animal protection laws that have been introduced, including those that ban forms of factory farm confinement, mutilation, horse slaughter, along with other laws related to environmental protection, worker safety, and more. And don’t be fooled, he knows exactly what he’s doing. He works for Ag.
Congressman King’s amendment provides “one state cannot deny the trade of an agricultural product from another state based on that product’s means of production.” and it was already approved by the House Ag committee.
Why is this a problem? Let me give you an example. In Cali, a law requires that “for all or the majority of any day”, egg laying hens must be able to lay down, stand up and fully extend their limbs or wings without touching the sides of an enclosure or other hens, and also turn around freely. SEEMS BASIC RIGHT? Actually, no other states around CA have that law and their industrially raised hens live in hell. If this King bullshit passes, California retailers will be able to sell eggs from states where eggs can be mass produced at much lower costs, (and lower animal welfare) which would undercut farmers who have made this important transition to better welfare conditions. And this will happen in EVERY state where out of state goods have different standards than in-state goods, putting farmers out of business and making animal welfare improvements seem impossible. In other words, the devil wins.
So all jokes aside. Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative urging them to oppose the King Amendment. You can say simply, “Hi. I live in ____, I’m calling to ask that Representative ___ oppose the King Amendment to the Farm Bill, which could block important protections for animals and violates state’s rights.”
Politics: not a spectator sport.
