Question of the day

From a SFGate reader:

If you serve a "cage free" chicken dinner in jail, does it still count as "cage free" chicken?

More seriously, the SF Chronicle reports on a California ballot initiative that would "prohibit the confinement of egg-laying hens, pregnant pigs or veal calves in cages that prevent them from standing up, lying down or turning around freely." I'm all in favor. But egg producers, understandably, are not. It seems they have been lobbying the federal Department of Agriculture which appoints the American Egg Board, a group that researches and promotes egg consumption, and which is funded by fees collected from egg producers. California egg producers want to use the money to campaign against the initiative. A federal judge has granted an injunction, pending determination of whether such activity violates the law. We'll see what happens.