Nice article from the National Journal (via Scu) on the current political and legal landscape for the animal rights/protection movement.
What’s striking to me is the contrast between the modesty of the goals of organizations like the Humane Society and the rhetoric of their opponents. Somehow, giving farm animals enough space to stand up and turn around will lead to a wholesale devaluation of human life! You might think that human beings would try to justify our much-vaunted moral superiority by treating compassionately the animals over which we exercise virtually unlimited power. Surely it’s just a coincidence that there’s so much money at stake in preserving the current system.
A Thinking Reed 
Hi Lee – The National Journal article is a great read. A month or two ago there was a somewhat similar piece (similar in terms of framing the current debate around industrial agriculture and animal welfare); check out http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-04-14/news/the-humane-society-and-big-agriculture-slug-it-out-over-animal-rights/ (warning: it’s quite long).
Hillary, Humane Society of the U.S.