Laying An Egg On Egg Bill

Wayne Pacelle, the press-hungry head of the Humane Society of the United States, recently laid a rare media egg when he tried to garner support for the federal hen housing bill at the Indiana State Fair.

According to a report on the anti-HSUS Website Humane Watch, Pacelle attracted a paltry crowd to the press event then had to compete with noise from a nearby collection of antique tractors. “When Pacelle took to the microphone,” the account said, “the TV camera started panning the audience (or lack thereof) and picked up and left in the middle of his presentation. Must have been tough since all of the old tractors … simultaneously were cranked up just as Pacelle took the microphone. If ever there was a non-event, this was it.”

The hen housing bill writes into federal law an agreement between HSUS and egg producers, increasing the size of laying hen cages. NPPC has led opposition to the bill, saying it sets a dangerous precedent for allowing federal bureaucrats to regulate on-farm production practices.