God's chickens

Tom Farrow, a former FBI agent, is driving through the hollows, hillocks, and cow ponds of Cocke County, on the Appalachian side of Tennessee. Cell phone service blinks in and out between the hills. It's a beautiful place, an interplay of mountains and farmland, but several years ago it teemed with corruption. Back in 2005, Farrow led an undercover team that busted a large cockfighting operation in the aptly named county.

Several cockfighting pits in Cocke County hosted hundreds of gambling spectators. The owners of what Farrow calls the "white collar pit" told the FBI they paid off law enforcement—after all, Farrow explains, a pit that big can't exist for 60 years without law enforcement knowing about it. A few miles away, at what Farrow calls "the blue collar pit," the owners stacked bleachers to the ceiling of a large metal shed for the fights. Farrow remembers, "The [body odor] would be so thick you could cut it with a knife."

We pass a small cemetery outside a church where Farrow would meet informants at night—because "there's not, like, a 7/11," he explained. Farrow said the FBI found that local law enforcement was involved in prostitution, illegal liquor stores, stolen cars, and drugs. The FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation eventually charged more than 200 people connected to the corruption case, including some members of the law enforcement.

"The animal fighting side of it—it starts at such a low level," said Farrow, adding that people think to themselves, "It's illegal, but it's not really illegal." That thinking, he said, "is like rust—a slow, insidious eating away of ethics and law enforcement."

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Kenneth

Just how did God get involved in the rooster fighting business??
- daves
  
  These people are sick and I am glad they finally got arrested for their cruelty.
  
  St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, was a Roman Catholic saint who took the gospel literally by following all Jesus said and did.
- Evermyrtle
  
  GOD is against abuse of any of HIS creations, and causing any animal to fight to it's death to make filthy lucre is evil.
  - http://rationalresponses.blogspot.com/ Jeff Dixon
    
    He had no issues with animals being slaughtered for sacrifices that he found pleasing to smell.
    
    Leviticus Chapter 1
    
    The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any of you brings an offering to the Lord , bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
    "If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord . He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He is to slaughter the young bull before the Lord , and then Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood that is on the altar. He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .
    
    "If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, he is to offer a male without defect. He is to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord , and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle its blood against the altar on all sides. He is to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood that is on the altar. He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of it and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .
    
    "If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he is to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop with its contents and throw it to the east side of the altar, where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not severing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is on the fire on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .
    - keyboardshark
      
      I see no problems with the Old Testament animal sacrifices, if it is done humanely. There is no indication that the animals used in the OT sacrifices were allowed to suffer, but were killed quickly:
      
      "The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head…" Decapitation would result in quick death.
      
      Remember, animals are not created in the image of God, only man is. Therefore, animals are not afforded the same protections against being killed that humans are. Man was given dominion over all other creatures to do with as he pleases:
      
      "28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
      Genesis 1
      
      Of course now we do not need to sacrifice any animals, because Christ, as the spotless Lamb of God, and who is the fulfillment of the OT sacrifices, has accomplished what those animal sacrifices could never do–pay for the sins of those He came to save.
      
      "3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
      
      4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
      
      5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
      
      …12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
      Hebrews 10
BOB

I don't agree with dog fighting or cock fighting but this is something People of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT talking about ethics. WE have president , CONGRESS, FEDERAL JUDGES AND CZARS sworn in Office to protect the CONSTITUTION who do everything in their power to destroy it which is the foundation of our GOVERNMENT . They support programs and People which is totally against the Constitution. . There is no where in our Government that give the Federal law enforcement authority beyond 10 miles out side of Washington THEY also don't have the authority to strick down STATES LAWS. If the SUPREME CORT was doing their jobs this wouldn't be happening ..
aceituna

Where are the state supreme court and the state law officials on this issue?
keyboardshark

The Feds are out of control. They are attempting to, and in many cases succeeding in, shutting down family farms that raise food organically. They want to force you to consume the factory-farmed 'food' just like they want to control every other aspect of your life.
http://farmageddonmovie.com/

This documentary illustrates the plight of the organic farmer, specifically the organic dairy farmer. If a dairy farmer wants to sell raw milk, they will be run out of business and many times imprisoned by the federal bureaucracy. The USDA actively tries to run Raw Milk Producers out of the business. They work closely with agents from state agricultural agencies.

The documentary shows film of agents descending on various organic farms and outlets, guns drawn, SWAT teams present. It’s straight out of science fiction and something that you can’t believe happens in America. I can understand a huge police presence when going after a drug lord, but a family farmer? Sure, farmers keep guns but in my experience they aren’t violent people.
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/why-is-the-feder…
victry brown

It doesn't seem a far cry to see these same people who support cock fighting, to be supportive of the Roman colliseum and seeing men fighting each other to the death. People don't want to make that leap, but once you lose your humanity to the blood, gore and excitement of "the games", it is not a big step to watching people fight to the death in their evil search for THE THRILL.