Why I am a vegetarian

No, not a complete answer; just another data point:

Five more states consider bills to silence factory farm whistleblowers

Six other states already have such laws, with Iowa heading the list. The linked article above led me to a better one, written by Cody Carlson, a Humane Society investigator and published in The Atlantic Monthly (March 20, 2012)

Again, Iowa leads the way. Carlson worked in four Iowa egg production facilities and took video of the conditions in which the chickens are kept.

As a Humane Society of the United States investigator, I worked undercover at four Iowa egg farms in the winter of 2010. At each facility, I witnessed disturbing trends of extreme animal cruelty and dangerously unsanitary conditions. Millions of haggard, featherless hens languished in crowded, microwave-sized wire cages. Unable to even spread their wings, many were forced to pile atop their dead and rotting cage mates as they laid their eggs.

Every day, I came to work wearing a hidden pinhole camera, using it to film conditions as I went about my chores. Once I quit, the Humane Society released a video of my findings that showed viewers the everyday, routine conditions in modern egg factories. Although nothing I filmed was illegal (since Iowa's anemic animal cruelty law exempts "customary farming practices"), the video was alarming enough to make national headlines.

As noted in the previous essay, I tend to be harsh and judgmental. Thus, I will resist the temptation to say anything about those persons who, in spite of such evidence as the above, persist in eating meat. Or eggs. Or dairy products.

That list unfortunately includes me; My wife and I eat cheese pretty much every day. We use dairy products and eggs in baking, mostly in corn bread. And the cheese we purchase comes mostly from the mainstream agricultural industry (not the eggs, which are from local Amish farms).

May God have mercy upon us.