Vote For The People, Not The Chickens, In California
As for this proposition to give every chicken a condo instead of a crowded cage, I feel for the chickens, I really do. But, I've had several people tell me they've either lost their jobs or are, in the case of one friend's husband, getting their hours at work cut by a third. These are people in the middle class, and they'll be struggling, but think about people who are poor and really struggling already. The last thing they need is happier California chickens and more expensive food.

As the LA Times "No on Prop 2" editorial said:

"According to a University of California Agricultural Issues Center report, cage-free eggs are about 20% more expensive to produce and cost about 25% more to buy. There is a growing demand, but it is still small -- about 5% of all eggs nationally are produced by cage-free hens. So California eggs would become more expensive, and many consumers would simply buy the cheaper eggs laid by hens living in cramped conditions in neighboring states or in Mexico. As a result, we fear the result of Proposition 2's passage would not be better treatment of hens but merely the export of their mistreatment. We recommend a no vote."

Also, in general, California is like one of those ladies who spends every month to the max and pays back the minimum on her credit card, and this has to stop. I recommend voting against every one of the proposals -- all of which are all bad, wrong, and boondoggles -- except the redistricting and veteran's housing.

Want caged free eggs? Buy a large dog kennel and get a couple of chickens yourself.

They lay about one or two a day and can live for months on one bag of lay mash and cokking and table scraps.

And they make almost no noise at all

For those of you with home owners assosiations claim them as pets or as non toxic insect control

lujlp at November 4, 2008 7:14 AM

Amy Alkon

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/11/04/vote_for_the_pe.html#comment-1602671">comment from lujlp

Eartha Kitt, who I once had the pleasure to record and spend a little time with in Manchester, England, told me she had chickens and more. The City of Beverly Hills took them away, and she fought them -- I forget on what grounds, but she's a very smart cookie, and used some loophole she found in the law -- and some guy from the Beverly Hills city government had to go with her to the farmer's market to buy her new chickens, and maybe goats and more.

Amy Alkon at November 4, 2008 7:32 AM

That doesn't sound like life in a condo so much as a life NOT in a straight jacket.

ATTN MASSHOLES: YES ON TWO. Decriminalize (not legalize) possession of pot.

Gretchen at November 4, 2008 8:00 AM

I'd really like for us to get rid of a few laws, rather than enact more.

I'd say that you Californians pass the most ridiculous propositions, but then again... I do live in Texas. The stuff they push through here is equally ridiculous, in the other extreme.

ahw at November 4, 2008 11:40 AM

I wish there was a law against stupid propositions. I hate this idea that some fringe "Morality-Claiming" crown have such an unparalleled access to the public and the decision-taking machine.

Toubrouk at November 4, 2008 3:04 PM

If you want cruelty-free, vote with your pocketbook. I buy a partial grass-fed cow off a freerange rancher here. Cage-free eggs are available. Or even better, raise your own or buy local at the farmer's market! It's healthier anyway. Laws are not the way to fix everything.

momof3 at November 5, 2008 7:33 AM

Amy Alkon

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/11/04/vote_for_the_pe.html#comment-1602992">comment from momof3

Exactly. If enough people want cage-free eggs, it will become economically better to raise them.

Amy Alkon at November 5, 2008 9:52 AM

Late to the thread, but I think that animal cruelty such as battery houses and factory farms commit should be illegal full stop. Some points of ethics should not be up to the market.

I know Amy is already fed up with my opinions, so I just thought I would throw that out there.

liz at November 7, 2008 2:55 PM

Amy Alkon

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/11/04/vote_for_the_pe.html#comment-1603630">comment from liz

Not fed up with your opinions at all. I'm working so intensely on some tough stuff for the last chapter of my book I can't remember what I really disagree with you on - probably gay rights. Right now, somebody could drop an atomic bomb on Santa Monica and I'd keep working.

Amy Alkon at November 7, 2008 3:15 PM

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