National Geographic, Enemy of the State by Bill Maher

[octoberlib]

Last edited Mon Jul 29, 2013, 06:40 PM - Edit history (1)

I was equal parts stunned and unsurprised to learn that on June 28th a National Geographic photographer named George Steinmetz was arrested in Kansas after taking aerial pictures of a feedlot for a series on food issues to be published some time next year. Kansas has something called the "Farm Animal and Field Crop and Research Facilities Protection Act," which is basically a way the big farm and meat industry discourages -- even criminalizes -- journalism or activism by making it illegal to "enter an animal facility to take pictures by photograph, video camera or by any other means." Because everyone knows that pictures tell a thousand words, and videos tell even more. Think the difference between a dick pic and a sex tape.

This National Geographic photographer thought he'd discovered a novel way around the law -- hire a hang glider to take him up above the facility, thereby not "entering" it. But the high-density feedlot had the last laugh, except for the part where they work on a high-density feedlot. Since they weren't sure the new law covered aerial photographs, they had him arrested for criminal trespassing.

Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, and Missouri have similar "ag-gag" laws protecting these types of feedlots from, well, journalism. And before you say, "I've got an idea! Journalists should apply for a job at one of these feedlots, get hired, and then tape what they see!" Well, the new laws make that an illegal act, too.

So congrats, America. We'll allow you to see the cartoon of the happy cow sniffing a flower on the milk cartoon, and the "Meat: It's What's For Dinner!" television ads. But if you want to see how your meat is actually being processed, or how the animals on these feedlots are being treated, you're going to have to ask the illegal aliens who work there.

http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/real-time-with-bill-maher-blog/2013/7/26/national-geographic-enemy-of-the-state.html

Recognizing that, in the era of smartphones and social media, any worker could easily shoot and distribute damning video, meat producers began pressing for legislation that would outlaw this kind of whistleblowing. Publicly, MowMar pledged to institute a zero-tolerance policy against abuse and even to look into installing video monitoring in its barns. And yet last summer, at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, MowMar's co-owner Lynn Becker recommended that each farm hire a spokesperson to "get your side of the story out" and called the release of PETA's video "the 9/11 event of animal care in our industry."

As overheated as likening that incident to a terrorist attack may seem, such thinking has become woven into the massive lobbying effort that agribusiness has launched to enact a series of measures known (in a term coined by the New York Times' Mark Bittman) as ag gag. Though different in scope and details, the laws (enacted in 8 states and introduced in 15 more) are viewed by many as undercutting—and even criminalizing—the exercise of First Amendment rights by investigative reporters and activists, whom the industry accuses of "animal and ecological terrorism."

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/06/ag-gag-laws-mowmar-farms

[phantom power]

1. Where our food comes from is classified. Like who we're at war with....

and what information is being collected on us. And how it's being used.

Move along, citizen.

[Chaco Dundee]

2. it,s better that way

You don,t really want to know how your food is raised or processed.it would give you nightmares.

[zeemike]

4. You want to help the terrorist?

Let them see how our food is raised...then we are in big trouble...everythig must be keep secret cause those terrorist are under every bed.

[BlueStreak]

5. And the common element: they are afraid what happens if the people actually learn the truth

The two situations are remarkable similar. It has nothing to do with protecting us from terrorists. It has nothing to do with giving us healthy nutrition. It is all about the money, period.

[snagglepuss]

3. I wonder if NG can launch a drone to snap some photos?

[BlueJazz]

7. Why didn't the photographer just hire an airplane. ? Go up about 10,000 ft... (it's quiet)

....use a good scope to look down and film all you want.

[octoberlib]

11. He probably will next time. I imagine he thought being in the air would be sufficient.

How can flying over a property be criminal trespassing? Ridiculous.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

8. Have these laws been challenged in a court of law?

[octoberlib]

10. The first challenge was just filed.

Animal rights activists filed a civil lawsuit on Monday contesting the constitutionality of a Utah law that bans recording at an agricultural facility without the owner's consent. The suit, which asks the court to strike down a law that Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed in March 2012, is the first challenge to this type of "ag gag" law.

The plaintiffs in the suit include PETA, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), environmental journalist Will Potter, and animal rights activist Amy Meyer. Meyer was charged with violating Utah's law in February after she filmed a tractor carrying away a downed cow outside a meatpacking facility. She was the first person to face prosecution under an ag gag law in the US. The charges against her were later dropped because she was standing on public property while filming, but Meyer wants to prevent future charges against her and other activists.

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/07/utah-ag-gag-lawsuit-animal-rights

[Blue Owl]

9. The invisible hand of Rupert Murdoch is at work

n/t

[felix_numinous]

12. Tortured and slave animal meat

is being disguised as something delicious, when in reality if we were hunters we would never choose a diseased animal to feed ourselves.

So much illusion.