@sshat Rand Paul doesn’t believe in safe pet food!

Katana

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ATTENTION PET PARENTS:

After a wave of pet deaths due to contaminated food in 2007, Congress passed the “Ensuring the Safety of Pet Food“ laws. But Kentucky Senator Paul introduced legislation deleting the pet food safety law, putting a corporation in charge, not the FDA, and denying pet owners the right to know what’s in their pet food!

Senator Rand Paul Destroyed Pet Food Safety


Please consider signing this petition against this careless and cruel legislation. And if you care about your companion animal's health and life, please give Senator Paul's office a call and let them know how outraged you are: (202) 224-4343.

I wish Rand Paul's neighbour would run against him next time!
 

kikazaru

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How on earth does anyone still support this party?
 

regdog

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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi

I spent more time researching the best food for my mastiff, than I have ever spent on my own food.
 

Brightdreamer

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I recall reading some time ago that the only reason they regulated pet food in the first place was because they found out that some people, especially older people, were eating it because it was all they could afford.

Given the ongoing efforts to slash the social safety net, this could be construed as an attack on the poor, not just the pets.

And the TeaOP doesn't give a rat's rear about either of 'em...
 

cbenoi1

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Rolling back legislation that was put in place to prevent future catastrophes because - hey - nothing happened since then.

Geniuses.

-cb
 

Brightdreamer

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Rolling back legislation that was put in place to prevent future catastrophes because - hey - nothing happened since then.

Geniuses.

-cb

Well, just think of all the money someone's gonna make before the next disaster! Worth it, if it just costs a few measly replaceable lives!

(See also: cutting regulations on testing farm water and recent E. coli outbreaks...)
 

MaeZe

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I'm confused by the language in the bill. Anyone know where a copy of the old bill is so I can see what changed?
 

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Many years ago I discovered that one of my cat's food (a veterinary prescription formula for a condition he had at the time) had been contaminated with Melamine. Fortunately, Boris was one of the lucky cats, and several tests (paid for by Hill's company) determined that he had not suffered kidney damage. Not every cat was so fortunate, though. I've been very careful about what I feed my animals since. Over the years, there have been various recalls for tainted pet food, and a series of legal battles over the right of people to know what is in pet food in terms of ingredients and additives. Just when it seems like progress has been made, this happens.

I honestly can't expect better from the GOP, though. They are trying to chip away at food safety for people food too. This is yet another reason why I'm sorry we didn't take the Senate back too. Why anyone from the middle or working class would support people who don't care about the well being of them and their family members (human or non human) is beyond me. All they care about is making life easier for corporations and the ultra rich.
 
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Scary, Roxx, that that was in a prescription pet food.
 

Myrealana

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See, in a libertarian paradise, everyone, even pets, is free to die of food poisoning as part of the "Free market."

Life is better without regulations - for those who survive.
 

Roxxsmom

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Scary, Roxx, that that was in a prescription pet food.

Well, the companies that make the most common prescription pet foods, Hills and Royal Canin, don't make the best premium brands (in fact, they often make "not recommended" lists). There have been several issues with their pet food lines over the years. The problem is that a smaller pet food company that makes the recommended lists probably wouldn't find it easy or profitable to create a line of prescription pet foods for conditions like kidney disease, delicate digestion, allergies, diabetes etc.

See, in a libertarian paradise, everyone, even pets, is free to die of food poisoning as part of the "Free market."

Life is better without regulations - for those who survive.

As far as I can tell, they feel that if you (or a loved one you are responsible for) gets sick or dies, it's your fault for not doing your homework properly. Because it's a much better world when we all spend most of our time researching and analyzing the foods we eat for nutritional quality and contaminants, rather than being "sheep" and letting government agencies and health inspectors do this.

It's a mentality, based it would seem on a lack of understanding of how vast and complicated an infrastructure we need to support a society with hundreds of millions of people, not to mention a world with billions. No one can possibly do everything for themselves, not unless we revert to living in small, isolated communities where we all grow our own food and spend most of our free time making by hand the implements we need to survive (or trading among a very small, select group where everyone knows everyone personally).

There are too many people for most of us to even have the option of living that way, and once we started living in a world where we specialize instead of everyone doing everything for themselves (you know, since the dawn of civilization), we have needed laws and regulations to keep the unscrupulous and/or careless (or even simply good people making honest accidents) from distributing unsafe goods and services.

And while I don't know what goes on in their minds, I have a sneaking suspicion that politicians like Rand Paul aren't committed to the frontier society ideal of Libertarianism anyway but instead are acting to help their ultra rich masters run roughshod over everyone else.
 
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Brightdreamer

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Well, the companies that make the most common prescription pet foods, Hills and Royal Canin, don't make the best premium brands (in fact, they often make "not recommended" lists). There have been several issues with their pet food lines over the years. The problem is that a smaller pet food company that makes the recommended lists probably wouldn't find it easy or profitable to create a line of prescription pet foods for conditions like kidney disease, delicate digestion, allergies, diabetes etc.

Twenty-odd years ago, Hill's Science Diet listed poorly in an independent pet food magazine with the note that the company actively lied to the testers. I've never had a very good opinion of them, though I did have to have my pets on their food a few times for simple lack of another that came close to what they needed.

As far as I can tell, they feel that if you (or a loved one you are responsible for) gets sick or dies, it's your fault for not doing your homework properly. Because it's a much better world when we all spend most of our time researching and analyzing the foods we eat for nutritional quality and contaminants, rather than being "sheep" and letting government agencies and health inspectors do this.

It's a mentality, based it would seem on a lack of understanding of how vast and complicated an infrastructure we need to support a society with hundreds of millions of people, not to mention a world with billions. No one can possibly do everything for themselves, not unless we revert to living in small, isolated communities where we all grow our own food and spend most of our free time making by hand the implements we need to survive (or trading among a very small, select group where everyone knows everyone personally).

There are too many people for most of us to even have the option of living that way, and once we started living in a world where we specialize instead of everyone doing everything for themselves (you know, since the dawn of civilization), we have needed laws and regulations to keep the unscrupulous and/or careless (or even simply good people making honest accidents) from distributing unsafe goods and services.

And while I don't know what goes on in their minds, I have a sneaking suspicion that politicians like Rand Paul aren't committed to the frontier society ideal of Libertarianism anyway but instead are acting to help their ultra rich masters run roughshod over everyone else.

That's libertarianism in a nutshell. It just plain doesn't work for anything approaching civilized society, let alone our population density. Even for educated people, knowing everything about everything has become impossible. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we only have the two hands to do things and the two eyes to read things... Nobody proposing libertarianism on a mass scale can possibly believe the masses can actually live up to that, which leads me to suspect that what they really want is all the "lesser people" to just die off from eating poison and somehow not have that impact their own quality of civilized life and/or bank account. Then they'd work on poisoning the survivors until they're the last one standing and they "win" 'cause they're the smartest one.
 

Roxxsmom

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That's libertarianism in a nutshell. It just plain doesn't work for anything approaching civilized society, let alone our population density. Even for educated people, knowing everything about everything has become impossible. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we only have the two hands to do things and the two eyes to read things... Nobody proposing libertarianism on a mass scale can possibly believe the masses can actually live up to that, which leads me to suspect that what they really want is all the "lesser people" to just die off from eating poison and somehow not have that impact their own quality of civilized life and/or bank account. Then they'd work on poisoning the survivors until they're the last one standing and they "win" 'cause they're the smartest one.

There seems to be a strong element of mistrust in one's fellow human (outside of one's in group) and a terror of being taken advantage of by outsiders, paired with a generally erroneous belief that they they putting more into the system than they are getting from it. These are the kinds of people who stay awake at night, fretting about the woman they heard about on social media who uses WIC coupons and also has a smart phone.

There seems to be a personality type that approves of people living in fear and constantly having to be checking over their shoulders. Never relaxing, never trusting, never resting. They believe more strongly in the stick than in the carrot, and they think fear is the only thing that motivates people to do what is right. They think it's virtuous to be on edge all the time, and they regard with suspicion any program, institution or agency that provides peace of mind and an opportunity to focus on the good things in life. The only peace of mind people should be allowed is the kind that comes from having vast amounts of personal wealth. Many conservatives seem to have this trait, even ones who aren't true Libertarians.
 
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frimble3

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That's libertarianism in a nutshell. It just plain doesn't work for anything approaching civilized society, let alone our population density. Even for educated people, knowing everything about everything has become impossible. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we only have the two hands to do things and the two eyes to read things... Nobody proposing libertarianism on a mass scale can possibly believe the masses can actually live up to that, which leads me to suspect that what they really want is all the "lesser people" to just die off from eating poison and somehow not have that impact their own quality of civilized life and/or bank account. Then they'd work on poisoning the survivors until they're the last one standing and they "win" 'cause they're the smartest one.
Oh, they'll keep a few around, the quiet obedient ones with no desires or ambitions, to do the heavy work, or the dirty stuff.

Quick test of any supposed 'utopia': ask how they'll be getting rid of the garbage and bodily wastes, and who will be doing that work?
 

Brightdreamer

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Oh, they'll keep a few around, the quiet obedient ones with no desires or ambitions, to do the heavy work, or the dirty stuff.

Quick test of any supposed 'utopia': ask how they'll be getting rid of the garbage and bodily wastes, and who will be doing that work?

Their answer would probably involve robots. Slavery always presents the possibility of rebellion, however small.
 

frimble3

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Ah, but who builds the factories the build the robots? Or, find the minerals?
At some point, human hands will be involved. And, no, training animals doesn't work, as all those 'Planet of the Apes' movies show.

That's the problem, after you pick through all the fun bits of building your brave new world, there's a lot of crap left to deal with.
 

Brightdreamer

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Ah, but who builds the factories the build the robots? Or, find the minerals?
At some point, human hands will be involved. And, no, training animals doesn't work, as all those 'Planet of the Apes' movies show.

That's the problem, after you pick through all the fun bits of building your brave new world, there's a lot of crap left to deal with.

Well, the robots would fix themselves... and somehow design themselves, and mine and process the materials themselves...

Or maybe the survivors would escape into immortality in VR, where power and equipment somehow requires no maintenance.

They really don't care, so long as they get rid of everyone who isn't them, because people who aren't them are the reason we're not already living in a utopia.