A decade ago, Oklahoma’s countryside was literally infested with 626 massively-polluting CAFOs – “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.” These are nightmarish creatures of industrial agribusiness, each one caging thousands of chickens, hogs, or cattle in huge concrete and steel buildings, and producing rivers of excrement.
" and state officials even outlawed legal protests against their rubber stamping of water permits for these polluters." How can the state of oklahoma outlaw protests of anything!?! Isn't that unconstitutional?
I'm getting pretty damn sick and tired of states thumbing their noses at the federal government. The deal at the border here in Texas is a real mess that needs to be dealt with, but the fact that Abbott blatantly disregards a Supreme Court order (however transitory it may be) just infuriates me. I want to see Biden federalize (or whatever the term is) the Texas National Guard and they then have to force Texas state law enforcement officers to stay out of that embattled park on the Rio Grande. That I would love to see.
yes it is against the LAW----but do they care? HELL NO! NOT AT ALL, THE WRONG PERSON IN THAT JOB---GET-RID-OF-THEM !!! VOTE THEM OUT! YES VOTE THEM OUT & NO JOB--TO DAMN BAD---SO WHAT!--THE VOTERS DID NOT CARE JUST LIKE -YOU !, OR AS I SAY===TOUGH SHIT==FOR YOU.. BUT NOT THE VOTERS HaHaHa
The real solution is, don’t buy the meat and help the whole planet! Lentils, peas, and beans, tofu provide all the protein we need and talk to your congressman personally to get action enclosing these CAFO’s, or will only get worse
Totally true. These corporate operations (with the cooperation of the banking system) have driven traditional farmers out of business. I'm still trying to figure out how that works. Corporations can do what traditional farmers can't get away with.
CAFO's, PFO's--whatever you call them, they are hideous, stinking cruelty factories. Turning living, sensing creatures into nothing but units of production with no respect whatsoever for their welfare is morally and spiritually wrong. Poultry especially has no protections from being boiled alive, male chicks shredded alive for disposal, etc. We need to accept that there are costs for more humane meat production and stop always prioritizing nothing but the bottom line. Whether it is outsourcing people's jobs to countries with cheaper labor costs or treating animals like cogs in a production machine and letting communities pay the price of disgusting pollution, the approach of corporate welfare and money-making above all else is what is destroying this country.
I lived a quarter mile from a chicken house just outside of Boston believe it or not,it stunk to high heaven, and the run off was polluting the beautiful lake I lived on ,fish kills ,algae blooms .etc. unfortunately the replacement when it finally closed down was a Walmart !Sometimes you can’t win for losing!
However, the people who live in these communities (and other Oklahomans as well) must not care that these facilities are making their lives miserable. They continue to vote for the "bums" who subject them to these inhumane conditions!
Why corporations get away with what traditional farmers can't. It is called political payola, lobbying, legal corruption, dark money, take your pick. Any politician that takes SuperPac money is corrupt. Vote them out!
Ron, do you remember the TV show Dallas? J. R. Ewing's famous quote applies to DeSantis, and it has applied since he made his first election speech. I recall it went "that boy's done, he just don't know it yet." I think he's gotten a wee bit wiser now.
More and more, I feel guilty eating meat and poultry, and all because of the way these poor creatures have to live in the feed lots, where they're stuffed with food to make them heavier. I'm so sorry to hear about the subterfuge that is allowing the owners to circumvent laws that say they must avoid being near residential areas.
I had read that in the making of the movie "Field of Dreams" the stench was so bad from nearby hog farms that it was torture to be there according to the actors and production staff.
I've seen horrible photos of chickens and hogs in cages where they can hardly move! And reading recently that even here in California, hogs are killed in an apparatus that removes all the air and they suffocate to death and suffer immensely! I rarely by pork anymore...but I can't be a vegetarian no matter how hard I try. But beef and lamb are permanently off the menu!
WOW ----a CAFO CAN BECOME A CFO------just by a name change, well the Government must LOVE THEM SO MUCH! they must be NEXT TO THERE BUILDINGS------AND THAT'S THE TICKET====SEE HOW MUCH THEY "LOVE THEM" NOW---not a lot, I bet. WELL TO F-ckING BAD. ! LET AND MAKE THEM WORK BY IT, THEY JUST MIGHT CHANGE their mind, that they had!( good joke on them) THE GOVT. MUST WORK FOR THE PEOPLE !!! NOT AGAINST THEM, THE ONLY ANSWER THAT I HAVE IS TO VOTE (all them) OUT OF THEIR ELECTED OFFICE, THEY WON'T HAVE TO WORK (IF THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED ) BY SOMETHING THEY CREATED---SO WHAT ! IT'S THEIR MESS HAVE THEM CLEAN IT UP! AND RIGHT NOW---OR BE FIRED !!!!!
It has always been true that all expensive housing should be downwind and downstream from the industrial/"farming" sources of pollution they profit from. Car pollution would have been fixed years ago if all car CEOs and their boards of directors had been required to drive only cars with the exhaust plumbed into the cabin.
Industrial "factory farms" are not and never should be considered real farms and should never be a
Can't the people of Oklahoma do anything about this. If they really wanted to, they would have. They are getting the kind of government and regulation for which they voted. They are getting what they deserve. Welcome to Amerika
" and state officials even outlawed legal protests against their rubber stamping of water permits for these polluters." How can the state of oklahoma outlaw protests of anything!?! Isn't that unconstitutional?
One word: Lobbying. Hightower is writing about this kind of thing in the coming weeks, but check out this old issue of the Lowdown for more: https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/new-corporate-protection-laws-are-stomping-on-our-most-basic-rights/
I'm getting pretty damn sick and tired of states thumbing their noses at the federal government. The deal at the border here in Texas is a real mess that needs to be dealt with, but the fact that Abbott blatantly disregards a Supreme Court order (however transitory it may be) just infuriates me. I want to see Biden federalize (or whatever the term is) the Texas National Guard and they then have to force Texas state law enforcement officers to stay out of that embattled park on the Rio Grande. That I would love to see.
Good luck. The warmonger in residence is too busy killing us all!
Thanks!
In Iowa there was a sign on I35, hogs don't vote!
WOW I thought ONLY THE GREEDY PIGS were in office----WRONG AGAIN !
yes it is against the LAW----but do they care? HELL NO! NOT AT ALL, THE WRONG PERSON IN THAT JOB---GET-RID-OF-THEM !!! VOTE THEM OUT! YES VOTE THEM OUT & NO JOB--TO DAMN BAD---SO WHAT!--THE VOTERS DID NOT CARE JUST LIKE -YOU !, OR AS I SAY===TOUGH SHIT==FOR YOU.. BUT NOT THE VOTERS HaHaHa
No, mot next to the Capitol building; ordinary folk need to be able to visit there. Put the PFOs next to the lawmaker's homes.
Better yet! That way, we can spread the stink to where they live. Love it!
The real solution is, don’t buy the meat and help the whole planet! Lentils, peas, and beans, tofu provide all the protein we need and talk to your congressman personally to get action enclosing these CAFO’s, or will only get worse
Totally true. These corporate operations (with the cooperation of the banking system) have driven traditional farmers out of business. I'm still trying to figure out how that works. Corporations can do what traditional farmers can't get away with.
Yes.
CAFO's, PFO's--whatever you call them, they are hideous, stinking cruelty factories. Turning living, sensing creatures into nothing but units of production with no respect whatsoever for their welfare is morally and spiritually wrong. Poultry especially has no protections from being boiled alive, male chicks shredded alive for disposal, etc. We need to accept that there are costs for more humane meat production and stop always prioritizing nothing but the bottom line. Whether it is outsourcing people's jobs to countries with cheaper labor costs or treating animals like cogs in a production machine and letting communities pay the price of disgusting pollution, the approach of corporate welfare and money-making above all else is what is destroying this country.
how about siting these 'CAFO's' in politicians backyards and neighborhoods, or let these politicians drink water from the Camp Lejuene area!
RICK.WE need to come up with a SCHEME. You cannot come up with a comment as to how to do this? Pointless comment.
TRY---TRY---TRY---TRY--well I've tried enough for today --time for bed.
Something just like what Rick proposes was actually done in some of the properties owned by Smithfield in No. Carolina. It worked.
Better yet! Convert the Capitol Building itself to a PFO, sounds like it already stinks.
I lived a quarter mile from a chicken house just outside of Boston believe it or not,it stunk to high heaven, and the run off was polluting the beautiful lake I lived on ,fish kills ,algae blooms .etc. unfortunately the replacement when it finally closed down was a Walmart !Sometimes you can’t win for losing!
I can’t decide which state Oklahoma or Texas has the most corrupt immoral narcissistic sociopathic governor?
pick one------they are BOTH the same.-------N.F.G. and you must know what that means-----right !
Texas, I think, by a mile. Oklahoma is an essentially poor state with a huge indigenous population. Texas has wealth, but no morals.
they are almost alike---------but TEXASS IS BIGGER-----MORE ASS THERE.
However, the people who live in these communities (and other Oklahomans as well) must not care that these facilities are making their lives miserable. They continue to vote for the "bums" who subject them to these inhumane conditions!
Yeah, we know about CAFOs here in Iowa, unfortunately.
Why corporations get away with what traditional farmers can't. It is called political payola, lobbying, legal corruption, dark money, take your pick. Any politician that takes SuperPac money is corrupt. Vote them out!
Since I live in Florida, I nominate Ron DeSantis!
I wish the people in Florida would lean to spell. it's spelled Ron DUMB Santos get the message-----DUMB---GET IT NOW?
Ron, do you remember the TV show Dallas? J. R. Ewing's famous quote applies to DeSantis, and it has applied since he made his first election speech. I recall it went "that boy's done, he just don't know it yet." I think he's gotten a wee bit wiser now.
More and more, I feel guilty eating meat and poultry, and all because of the way these poor creatures have to live in the feed lots, where they're stuffed with food to make them heavier. I'm so sorry to hear about the subterfuge that is allowing the owners to circumvent laws that say they must avoid being near residential areas.
I had read that in the making of the movie "Field of Dreams" the stench was so bad from nearby hog farms that it was torture to be there according to the actors and production staff.
I've seen horrible photos of chickens and hogs in cages where they can hardly move! And reading recently that even here in California, hogs are killed in an apparatus that removes all the air and they suffocate to death and suffer immensely! I rarely by pork anymore...but I can't be a vegetarian no matter how hard I try. But beef and lamb are permanently off the menu!
WOW ----a CAFO CAN BECOME A CFO------just by a name change, well the Government must LOVE THEM SO MUCH! they must be NEXT TO THERE BUILDINGS------AND THAT'S THE TICKET====SEE HOW MUCH THEY "LOVE THEM" NOW---not a lot, I bet. WELL TO F-ckING BAD. ! LET AND MAKE THEM WORK BY IT, THEY JUST MIGHT CHANGE their mind, that they had!( good joke on them) THE GOVT. MUST WORK FOR THE PEOPLE !!! NOT AGAINST THEM, THE ONLY ANSWER THAT I HAVE IS TO VOTE (all them) OUT OF THEIR ELECTED OFFICE, THEY WON'T HAVE TO WORK (IF THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED ) BY SOMETHING THEY CREATED---SO WHAT ! IT'S THEIR MESS HAVE THEM CLEAN IT UP! AND RIGHT NOW---OR BE FIRED !!!!!
It has always been true that all expensive housing should be downwind and downstream from the industrial/"farming" sources of pollution they profit from. Car pollution would have been fixed years ago if all car CEOs and their boards of directors had been required to drive only cars with the exhaust plumbed into the cabin.
Industrial "factory farms" are not and never should be considered real farms and should never be a
use of right.
Jon R Schulz, Paonia Colorado
YOU SIR----HAVE SAID IT ALL ! I SALUTE YOU---SIR AND YOUR CORRECT
Can't the people of Oklahoma do anything about this. If they really wanted to, they would have. They are getting the kind of government and regulation for which they voted. They are getting what they deserve. Welcome to Amerika
Good question about the state Capitol. Is there zoning for PFOs? If not, some enterprise farmer could set one up there.