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News & ArtsWednesday, February 17, 2010
Crime / Animals / Chow Embezzler Forced into Chicken Slavery By U.S. Government
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 4:28 PM
From the Meat Trade News Daily, which is where I get literally ALL my news:
An embezzler assigned to work as a chicken hanger at Tyson Foods as part of his restitution says he got tuberculosis from working off his "indentured servitude and slavery" at a chicken factory "filled with dust, feathers and chicken feces." He sued Tyson, the governor and other state officials in Federal Court.
Ha ha, stupid white collar criminal! Your punishment is chasing chickens like a comical hayseed!
A chicken hanger catches live chickens and hangs them by their feet to a moving wire. Jones says Tyson encouraged this "inhumane behavior" by offering extra money to employees who could hang 25 chickens a minute.Jones says the chicken plant was an "unsanitary" and "unhealthy" environment because he would often be covered in chicken feces and Tyson workers urinated near the slaughter line.
Hmm. It's less funny when you remember that chasing chickens is some people's REAL job. Ha ha, poor people and immigrants! Your job is so (literally) shitty, the government uses it to punish criminals! Ha ha...ha...
He also accuses Tyson of "hiring illegal immigrants from Latin America who may have carried the TB virus" into the chicken plant.
That seems kind of racist...
Jones says that as soon as he started working at the plant, his face, neck and hands swelled up, but after a short reassignment the Restitution Center made him go back to Tyson, even after he had earned enough money "to satisfy his restitution."
"Against his will," he says, he continued working.
Wait, WHY did you that, guy? You're saying the Tyson chicken corporation captured you and forced you to work in a tuberculoid chicken hut like a human slave? I'm confused...
Jones seeks punitive damages for "cruel and unusual conditions" in the workplace and other charges. He is represented by Joseph Murray II of Ripley, Miss.
Oh, right. Embezzler. Got it.*
*I mean, obviously conditions in the Tyson chicken plant are not great, and they probably deserve to be sued. But this story doesn't make any sense, and this guy sounds like a dick.
1
Thing is, those people who beat up the girl in the tunnel will get no where near this level of punishment.
And they should.
Thing is, those people who beat up the girl in the tunnel will get no where near this level of punishment.
And they should.
2
According to Jonathan Safran Foer's (so far awesome) 'Eating Animals,' chicken processing-plant workers have been caught peeing ON the birds and much worse. The job must drive people literally crazy, or at least to sadism.
5
Question to Ms. West, did you read the article? The embezzler in question was forced into working at Tyson by the STATE GOVERNMENT and is suing in FEDERAL COURT. You might consider ammending your headline.
7
That Tuberculosis was the legal property of Tyson Foods, Inc. and I understand he will be prosecuted for bringing it home it for personal use.
8
Unless they have bladders the size of the Underdog balloon in the Macy's parade the odds of getting a piss sodden chicken are pretty slim and the smell would be obvious when it was cooking. Cant scare me that easy.
9
If he'd only incorporated, he could have realized the American dream and practised his Free Speech while not getting jailed or executed for his crimes.
See, this is the dream of Alito - everyone a serf to our corporate lords and masters, doomed to die of disease.
See, this is the dream of Alito - everyone a serf to our corporate lords and masters, doomed to die of disease.
10
Is this satire? I hope she thinks what she wrote was satire. It's not, but at least a misguided attempt at humor would be somewhat excusable.
12
If Tyson workers are pissing on the chickens, that piss is the LEAST disgusting thing in a typical package of Tyson chicken.
13
Stop buying chicken and beef and pork, people!! Just STOP!!
If you think organic or "free range" is better, it's not! Organic just means it's fed organic feed and not injected with synthetic hormones before it's pissed on and its corpse is covered in shit. "Free range" is not a legal term and means the same thing on a product label as "extreme" on a Gatorade package.
Also, actual "free range" farms are worse environmentally than factory farms (which are awful to begin with) due to the ridiculous amount of land degradation and desertification they cause.
Just stop it - you know it's evil! We have great non-meat options at every restaurant and grocery store in Seattle - you have no excuse.
If you think organic or "free range" is better, it's not! Organic just means it's fed organic feed and not injected with synthetic hormones before it's pissed on and its corpse is covered in shit. "Free range" is not a legal term and means the same thing on a product label as "extreme" on a Gatorade package.
Also, actual "free range" farms are worse environmentally than factory farms (which are awful to begin with) due to the ridiculous amount of land degradation and desertification they cause.
Just stop it - you know it's evil! We have great non-meat options at every restaurant and grocery store in Seattle - you have no excuse.
14
Every time I eat chicken, beef, or beefalo, I think of the screams of poor defenseless vegetables as they're ripped from the ground to be slaughtered.
15
@ 13 Please do more research than reading the most recently published animal rights screed or anything published by Jonathan Safran Foer.
While you make a valid point regarding FACTORY FARMING, organic or no, your statement is still full of half-truths and ignorance, willful or otherwise. One can buy meat, be it pork, chicken or beef (not to mention lamb, goat, buffalo, etc.) from small local producers that raise their animals sustainably in pastures (which are sustainable), along with the variety of plant life necessary to support ruminants and other livestock.
Key takeaway for you, do some research.
While you make a valid point regarding FACTORY FARMING, organic or no, your statement is still full of half-truths and ignorance, willful or otherwise. One can buy meat, be it pork, chicken or beef (not to mention lamb, goat, buffalo, etc.) from small local producers that raise their animals sustainably in pastures (which are sustainable), along with the variety of plant life necessary to support ruminants and other livestock.
Key takeaway for you, do some research.
17
@13 is probably just a joke
The kind of radical vegan that thinks it's impossible for humans to sustainably eat meat in any form. Which if every person on the planet demanded and got meat for 3 meals a day we'd need a few extra planets just to keep up.
The kind of radical vegan that thinks it's impossible for humans to sustainably eat meat in any form. Which if every person on the planet demanded and got meat for 3 meals a day we'd need a few extra planets just to keep up.
18
@15, 16: How many omnivores buy local, sustainably grown, and humanely slaughtered meat every time? Very, very few. Disgustingly few.
And @15, have you actually read Eating Animals? It's impeccably researched and very well-written. Just because Foer started as a fiction novelist doesn't mean he falls short of doing the subject justice. He also treats the emotional and cultural aspects of eating meat kindly and rationally.
And @15, have you actually read Eating Animals? It's impeccably researched and very well-written. Just because Foer started as a fiction novelist doesn't mean he falls short of doing the subject justice. He also treats the emotional and cultural aspects of eating meat kindly and rationally.
21
@ 18 Yes, I have read Mr. Foer's books, fiction and non, and while his Eating Animals book is no screed I don't find it convincing in an intellectual or practical manner.
How many people buy sustainable meat, too few, I will agree with you there. How many people ate sustainably raised meat until 1950? Pretty much everyone. The movement to eat local and eat sustainably is small and probably will remain small. The value is mostly personal but if more people become conscious consumers of food that consciousness can grow and influence large corporations to change their practices (government intervention will help this also). Working to ban the depredations of the food industry and change the way livestock animals are raised and led to slaughter in this country is much more likely to bring about positive changes in our food habits than trying to change everyone into radical vegans. It would also keep the level of insufferable self-righteousness to a minimum, at least where food is concerned.
How many people buy sustainable meat, too few, I will agree with you there. How many people ate sustainably raised meat until 1950? Pretty much everyone. The movement to eat local and eat sustainably is small and probably will remain small. The value is mostly personal but if more people become conscious consumers of food that consciousness can grow and influence large corporations to change their practices (government intervention will help this also). Working to ban the depredations of the food industry and change the way livestock animals are raised and led to slaughter in this country is much more likely to bring about positive changes in our food habits than trying to change everyone into radical vegans. It would also keep the level of insufferable self-righteousness to a minimum, at least where food is concerned.
22
@21, keeping the level of insufferable self-righteousness to a minimum is NEVER going to happen when dealing with Aislinn. That is kind of her thing.
And girl, you OWN it!
And girl, you OWN it!
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