I saw evil today, when I watched for the first time the now infamous video of cow abuse by workers at Hallmark Meat Packing Company. If you haven’t seen this, go with a strong stomach to the Humane Society of the US’s website at http://www.hsus.org/. The undercover video documents the reprehensible treatment of so-called “downer” cows – cows that for some reason are no longer able to walk on their own. Despite USDA guidelines that prohibit these disabled creatures from entering the food supply, daily quotas are clearly of greater importance to the meat packers, and they resort to whatever means necessary to get cows into the slaughterhouse: whether by dragging their struggling and howling bodies with chains or by pushing them with fork lifts and front loaders. (more…)