Extreme Animal Rights, Radical Truth, Go Vegan

I've heard it hundreds of times: being vegan, vegetarian... or an Animal Rights activist is "extreme" and "radical"... But cramming billions of (artificially inseminated, genetically modified, cloned) animals in warehoused cages, feeding them things they would never eat in their natural environment (like other animals), pumping them full of drugs and antibiotics, storing their manure and vomit in "lagoons"... compromising and destroying vast eco-systems, wastefully using huge amounts of precious water.... Then - trucking these juvenile, innocent and sentient beings, untold miles to be brutally butchered (many while still conscious) in order to process their flesh, for an unhealthy "food", that has to be radiated and still requires extra care in preparation just to be "safe" to eat. - That's not "extreme??? I think the extreme truth is the extreme denial that condones this extreme abuse inflicted to a select and limited group of harmless, helpless, desperate and exploited animals. Choose compassion - Go Vegan.

Animal Agriculture: IS NOT ABOUT DEATH - IT'S ABOUT KILLING

Frequently those who condone consuming animal flesh do so under the guise of "the natural order of life". Animal agriculture defends it's position that animals raised as food, are part of the "circle of life". I've personally been criticised as one who is unwilling or uncomfortable to face "the 'cruel' hard facts of death". Here is my reply:

It's not about "death", it's about killing:

These are two expired life forms were found in my yard. The insect is an adult lubber grasshopper. He went from this almost microscopic nymph stage:

to maturity in about a year. Because his body was found intact... There's no indication of any injury from a predator, I can only assume that his death occurred at it's rightful time. The grasshopper "lived his life cycle".

Likewise so did the American Anole:

The Anole, or as many call them: chameleons are a common backyard lizard in the south east. Here in Florida, spring hatching's bring tens of thousands of tiny beings into existence. At the beginning of their lives, several can fit on one dime... It's amazing how instinctively they know how to hunt their insect prey which will sustain them for about 5 years. After such time, they will have grown to complete adulthood and will, (like the guy in the first photo), meet his natural end.

Both dead beings now in early stages of decay, have lived total lives. Neither had their existence cut short or compromised by a predator. From here on their remains go to the earth and to other beings who "disassemble" and consume dead flesh...(scavengers).

When animal agriculture wants to tout their contribution to the "natural cycle" I'm vexed to accept this term. The animals they raise do not live a fraction of their life expectancy.

For example:

Chickens can live 8 years - yet, after only 43 days, they will be butchered. And the worthless male babies in egg operations, are machine macerated or suffocated within 24 hours... Does this sound (or look) like the "natural life cycle" to anyone?

A pig's life expectancy is about 10 years... and some have lived to 15. However, once they reach "market weight" (and are not profitable to feed any longer) they are killed at about 6 months into their "natural lives". Bovines as well have long life spans... On record, the oldest is 28 years. But on average a cow can live a healthy, happy 15 years. That is unless she is part of the "natural circle of life" as defined by the meat industry. Because of the dreaded prion BSE, all cattle are killed before 30 months of age. Most are *culled* at 11 months old, shortly after reaching adolescence.

Next to the egg industry, the dairy business shares the monopoly on infanticide.

Calves are stolen... err I mean "removed" uhhh - I mean kidnapped permanently, from their mothers (in honor of the circle of milk, err... I mean "life") within a day or two... Depending on sex, the young females might be allowed to live, till her calcium depleted body is sent to slaughter at age 4...

Or if the baby is a male he is either sent directly to slaughter at just a few hours or days old... or at 4 months young... err, I mean "old" as intended for the "veal" industry. Now, I've bent some words and concepts in my life - I've outright lied on more occasions than I'm proud to recall. But this relentless, deliberate manipulation of truth by animal agriculture has got to be exposed as what it is! Absolute malarkey!

No animal used for it's flesh ever gets to live out more than a fraction of their "natural" life. Nor do any meet their "natural" end. They do not die, as in the example of the lubber grasshopper, or the lizard.

Animals used for food are killed, literally as infants and juveniles. There is no "circle". And certainly no "natural" end. Animal agriculture and meat eating is just a swift, untimely dead end for these animals. No matter how fluffed or sanitized the animal "husbandry" folks want to proclaim their *science* to be, the plain truth is that they are the interrupters of the "cycle of life" and they are the antithesis of the "circle".

So it's not about death... It's about killing.

Choose life... choose compassion - Go Vegan

Better Choices - Even Pig Farmers Can Change - Rewards of Vegan Advocacy

We all have a choice... we can view animals as slabs of flesh... Whose only purpose is to get fattened for our gastronomic pleasure. To have their ears notched, and their behinds marked with big blue X's when they've reached a profitable size. A "death-row" so to speak... Sentenced here - for a short life, all to indulge our fancy for little sausages and lard .... err, I mean bacon. The industry would have us believe that they are content to live caged this way - Finally, experiencing their first wobbly walk on to a transport truck... perhaps lucky enough to catch a brief moment in the sun. Or we can view pigs this way: each unique with their own special value and an extraordinary desire to live. As I mentioned I have a nice story to tell of a friend I made on Youtube. Background is "Joe" (name changed to protect identity), is from Ontario and sent me a message in defense to one of my youtube comments against animal agriculture: Feb 6th: And Joe had some very valid points... I told him I was sure there were many who treated the animals "nicely"... until they are butchered - that is. I also agreed that the whole of economics would need to be restructured. Not an easy task, but certainly not "impossible". I also replied that there would be alternatives in the future... that new industries would be created. That we'd probably make much better use of land, water and fuel... and that we'd certainly feed more people on a plant based diet... and that healthcare costs would probably go down... And that no matter what benefit we derive from these beings - it does not justify what harm we do to them. Feb 9th I told Joe that the pigs weren't looking at him any differently - but that he was looking at them differently. I sent him a few videos and vegan websites to investigate... Feb 28th As you can gather... Joe and I are becoming very good friends - and much is exchanged between us and edited for personal reasons... I ask Joe about the conditions of his pigs - and about their breeds, personalities and their history... March 2nd: I remind Joe that I also started off influenced by what I was taught... And that eventually we just have to come to our own conclusions. For me, it was the realization that I didn't "need" to eat these poor little animals at all! Joe tells me that there are even health risks associated with working around a hog barn. And that he's looking for another line of work - And with what he's come to realize - can you blame him? March 16th Even Joe's sister is now going vegetarian! I'll leave our chats off here... You get the idea. Joe was once a "warden" and a prisoner at the same time. A prisoner held to old beliefs and subject to the numbness our culture wishes us to have in regards to animals... especially "pigs". But people can change - they can open their thoughts to a better way. To me, Joe is one in a million... however, we're all capable of being that "one". And change doesn't always happen over night... For some, it's a gradual awakening to new ideas and habits. We just have to think for a short time of what rings true to our ideas of fairness... and adjust our actions accordingly.

Really, is it fair for an animal to live like this?

Isn't this a much better way?

I {{{{{heart}}}}} all the Joe's, Klem's, Darryl's, Jane's and other "one in a million's" who have made the connection!

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

Choose compassion - Go vegan

Live Vegetables vs Dead Animals * Vegan Biology 101

Biology 101

Animal - Vegetable - Mineral

In response to: "Yeah, but you kill vegetables."

Rocks and Minerals are not alive - they do not feel pain. Vegetables live and grow - but lack a central nervous system. They do not feel "pain" nor can they suffer... However, animals are made of tissue, organs, blood, nerves, senory receptors and neurons which transmit physical experiences.

But you don't have to be a genius to know all this... it's quite simple: In other words... if I cut the pepper... it will not hurt the pepper... The only reason I may need a bandaid - is if I accidentally injure myself. Are you with me? And even though this pepper has been cut, removing it's very core and "heart" did not cause it to suffer... But the cow heart... came from an animal... And like all animals was capable of being hurt. Removing parts of animals causes them pain and death. Now, to make it clearer for those who still might have difficulty grasping this: Ask a child... or anyone who wishes to avoid causing harm... Who's more likely to go "ouch!" if you remove his body parts? This guy: Or this one? The best of science (and common sense) tells us that veggies don't feel pain. Therefore causing no pain or suffering, we can indulge to our optimal health and pleasure, on a plant based vegan diet.

Drover's Dreary Defense of Murder on a Factory Farm

And on the heals of Death on a Factory Farm... Summing up Drover's flim-flammed efforts of damage control:

Drover's: The bigger issue, of course, is that the film highlights the cultural divide between what is acceptable to livestock producers and what is deemed shocking to our customers.

The "divide" is that once the truth is exposed, livestock production is unacceptable to our culture... Yippee! We're evolving!

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things on a farm that are just not pretty.

We're being placated... Of course "death" is not pretty, but the flippant comparison to this kind of intentional, murderous killing is grotesque.

And people like “Pete” will continue to exploit that in an effort to promote legislation at the state and national levels that will make livestock production more expensive.

Really now, Pete wasn't "exploiting" was he? He simply provided information that was and is rightfully due to your patrons. Information that by the industry's own admission, is important to your customers. What does it say of an industry that criticises efforts to expose these truths? And what do we say of an industry who's only concern is blood money made from cheap meat? I'd say their industry is vile. And that their trickery for profit, is deplorable.

“Death on a Factory Farm” drew attention in an unflattering way to some issues livestock producers face everyday.

"Unflattering"? Boy if that's not marginalizing! "Some issues"... like whether to hang your pig or electroshock at the slaughterhouse? Both are entirely unjustifiable and equally as heinous.

In the end, the judge decided those practices were not illegal.

Of course nothing was illegal - there are no laws! In fact the very lawlessness (and secretiveness) of the "food animal" business is what allows it to exist!

That doesn't make them acceptable.

And I say that the whole of it is unacceptable from the breeding of "food animals" to their butchery.

We must continue to demand a zero-tolerance policy on animal abuse,...

"Demand"? Who are they demanding from? The very business that they are part of... That's shifty. Abuse" = to treat badly - I'd say killing would be defined within that concept. And let's fess up - the whole *meat* industry is about the killing - hangman or stun gun operator - It's what animal agriculture is all about, it's about victims.

and we must work every day as if “Pete” is watching with his hidden camera.

It's not really Pete that Drover's or the meat industry is worried with at all... Pete knows already... He"s seen and formed proper conclusions, he's vegan. No, the industry worries most over those who are watching Pete work and learning from what's on his camera. killer of animals - your product is very disposable... Go vegan

Vegans Don't Eat Bugs, Worms or Parasites in Animal Flesh

The large liver fluke, is a parasite that attacks the livers of beef cattle. The only way to find the 1-inch wide and 2- to 3-inch long, reddish-brown, leech-like liver flukes are found after a cow has died or been slaughtered. U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations state the liver must be condemned and removed from the food supply if the fluke is found. The rest of the carcass can be processed as meat products.

Flukes are not to be confused with tapeworms, pinworms, roundworms, whipworms, or hookworms, fleas and ticks which can all be found in/on farmed animals as well. But not to worry... the meat industry has drugs for these too! But with all the chemicals fed to animals to control these nasty little organisms, one must wonder - is it not better to just go vegan?

HBO DEATH ON A FACTORY FARM - CAGED PIG CRUELTY

HBO special Death on a Factory Farm airs tonight: And read about "Pete" who went undercover to film the inside workings of a "modern" hog barn. Try as some might there is no "happy meat" - It is a fantasy. Those who consume flesh should at least have the stomache to know how these animals lived and how they were killed. And if upon discovery that these practices are unacceptable, there's (literally) no harm in conceding that a vegan choice is the solution. We can evolve to the benefit of that which is of value to us... namely our survival and our humanity.

Meat Kids & Slaughterhouses - 4H Animal Child Abuse

Leave it to stories like this that can absolutely destroy an otherwise fabulous day.I'm speaking of an article concerning a 4H animal ag event, a "ham/bacon/eggsale":

The Lincoln County and Cabell Midland High School FFA and 4-H programs brought their meat products to the Pullman Plaza Hotel Friday, March 6, 2009, in what could be the program's last breakfast. In the meantime, a budding relationship between the two programs fosters teamwork and camaraderie. The undeniable smell of bacon (which by the way, smells exactly like human flesh) was the same as last year, and every table was filled with friendly people supportive of a good cause.

Friendly people? Excuse me... advocating the killing and eating of innocent animals... doesn't sound too "friendly" to me.

But unlike last year, an underlying somber mood permeated the room, as some realized that after 21 years the Ham, Bacon and Egg Show and Auction could be toast. (boo-hoo... anyone have a hanky?) Tighter West Virginia Department of Agriculture guidelines regulating educational based meat facilities is requiring the Cabell County Ham Bacon and Egg program (HBEP) to update its classroom at Cabell Midland High School to include meat processing. And that's going to cost a lot of money.

It's always a curiosity that the industry defines blood letting as a "process". If the truthful word is that offensive perhaps they should eliminate the practice?

"Out of 30 educational based food sites, all were in compliance, besides Cabell County," Cabell County Farm Bureau Secretary and Treasurer Thelma Stickler said. Funding must be in place before the Cabell County Board of Education approves the construction of a new facility. The program requires students to purchase and rear an animal. The animal is processed killed and the meat cut. The HBEP Cabell Midland facility does not have a meat processing operation, which means the meat has to be transported from an Ona meat processing plant. "Moving the meat from one place to another creates a risk for meat contamination," Stickler said. The new classroom will be a meat processing operation and not a slaughterhouse, she said.

Now that's good news - that the classroom will not be a slaughterhouse. But a little field trip to witness how the "process" works is in the plan, I'm sure. And oh, the silly worries of meat contamination... can't seem to shake those pesky little bugs! It's almost like nature kind of attaches warning labels just to remind us that animals are not "food".

The program needs $382,000 before October 2009, or this will be the first skipped breakfast in more than 20 years. Some of the students have donated proceeds from their products to the building fund, Stickler said. She is impressed with the students who are in the program, praising their work ethic, which requires them to often give up their weekends and weeknights to bring their product from the field to the auction.

They are bringing "their product" from the field to the auction???... You mean these kids are caring and raising the animal. That's what 4H does right? Children tend to living animals... Beside the obvious needs of shelter, food and water... they groom the animal, comb them, and perhaps even "pet" them. Of course the animal and the child bond... to hear otherwise would be unnatural. Often, the experience ends in heartbreak, tears and despondence.

4H officials, and old pros at this slaughtering business advise that "the first one is the hardest" and that kids will "get used to the *process*". Hey kid! You wanna make money don't ya? Don't want to wuss out and go all girly on us - do ya? The others are doing it... why can't you? What pressures for a kid. It's cruel, like everything else about the meat pushers.

Animal agriculture wants us to hear of the dedication - the "high ground" of the current and future "farmers" who provide safe (wholesome) and abundant *meat products*. I agree that a strong work ethic is to be commended... however, I vehemently challenge the "ethics" of the work... or the healthiness of dead animal flesh...

"Students purchase an animal and take it to the meat processing and packing plant."

Just like that. Kids buy a pig and take it to the slaughterhouse? But didn't the article just brag on their dedication? Giving up free time to tend to the pig? The administrators in 4H would have us believe that the kids just see the animal as a widget. Gosh, the kids I know see all sorts of special qualities in each individual animal... Kids identify with the uniqueness and specialness of a particular animal. They might gravitate to one because she's extra friendly, or cute, or shy, or smart... or funny. But animal agriculture wishes us to believe that it's only the body proportions the kids focus on. No need to look in her eyes - It's her fanny they're after... (right)...

After the meat is cut, the student gets two hams and two bacons. (yep... 2 butts - just like we have) They calculate the salt ratio and do a salt cure. After a drying process, the meats are cured from the salt. After the salt cure, the meat is trimmed so they have a uniform shape. After that final trim, they go into to a smoke house and are smoked for about half of a day.Students polish their bacon and ham and they are judged to see who has done the best trimming and the best cure, and who has picked the best animal with the largest hams.

I bet almost anything these kids would rather pet a live pig than "polish" a dead ham... and if not, you've made them monsters in your own image.

The free enterprise exercise creates opportunities for students to learn real world marketing - (Yep... this little piggy went to the market all right) and business skills. Allison Robinson has been participating in the HEBEP for about 11 years. Her ham was declared a "grand champion ham" at the 2009 show. (Wow)... The Marshall University freshman, majoring in sports marketing with a minor in broadcasting, credits the program for preparing her for her major. "I liked the public relations part of the program because it allowed me to talk to people," Robinson said. (she likes human people... but treats animal people like commodities) Robinson's experience paid off. Her ham brought $1,000 at the auction Friday. (I know this might sound suspicious here... but I've been to auctions - and I can spot a shill. It's also perfectly logical in their motivation... Put some irrationally high price tag on a dead animal part to show the kids that this is where their fortune is to be made... I see right through it and it's sickening.) The Lincoln County FFA Vice President Brittney Kiser appreciates the friendships and teamwork created between Cabell Midland program and Lincoln's. "We're best friends. We do everything together," she said. "We help each other with the Ham Bacon and Egg program, and also work together for the Cabell County Fair. We take all of our FFA trips with Cabell Midland," Kiser said. Cabell Midland student Fallon Black sees the relationship as mutually beneficial, with her school nurturing Lincoln's young FFA program. "We've taken them under our wing. They are our partners in crime," Black said.

"Partners in crime"... finally calling it like it is: "murder".

The new meats facility is projected to cost about $1 million to build, with about $600,000 already donated. A fundraiser is set for March 16 at the Steak and Shake in Barboursville. To donate...

To the 4H groups and all the kiddy animal agriculture programs... Your ilk encourages children to become desensitized. Your animal raising/animal killing lessons numb a future generation from ever connecting with the value and sanctity of life. It spoon feeds them violence and disrespect for beings who have a right to live, regardless of the profits (or tastiness) of their flesh. It normalizes a cruel and unnecessary act.

A wonderful way to raise funds and encourage responsibility for kids is to follow suit in what thousands of schools are now doing. Creating small gardens, planting seeds that nourish in more ways than one. $20 worth of seeds can generate $300 in veggies - without pig poop and without traumatizing kids! And if you think it doesn't matter... that these kids will outgrow the discomfort of the "process" - Stay tuned... I have personal insight of a 40 year old pig farmer who recently opted to be vegan - And that's a story I'll be happy to tell.

Cows, Chicken or Cat Meat - Animals Aren't Food

A recent investigation of China's cat-meat consumption has just been released:

"For many Chinese people - especially in the country's south - eating cat is a perfectly normal tradition. We visited a restaurant in the city of Guangzhou that specialises in what the Chinese call 'wild taste'."

"The waitress showed us cages full of live animals - turtles, snakes, pheasants and domesticated cat. A chef tried to sell us a dish called Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix - a stew of snake, pheasant and cat meat. It is also highlighted divisions between China's new middle class - for whom having a pet is a status symbol - against those here who are themselves struggling to survive, and see no need for animal rights.

Cat protection groups have sprung up in cities across China. Frustrated by their government, they stage their own raids - storming into restaurants and markets, attempting to shame people out of eating cat.

Sky News has obtained video footage from one recent raid near Shanghai, where campaigners tried to hold up a truck-load of cats being shipped to market. They released traumatised animals from cramped wooden crates, while a horrified crowd looked on. But when the police arrived, they backed the cat dealer. In China, there is no law at all against animal cruelty. The trader even had a certificate to prove what he was doing was legal." Many of these cats as the article states were once adored pets... stolen and sold at markets and food establishments. It has little to do with "poverty" as these cats are being prepared by "chefs" and served in restaurants. And by all accounts what is the difference? A cow, a pig, a bird - dog or cat... they are all animals - just as are we.

People will call the Chinese "barbaric" in their choice of "food animals"... But all flesh eating is the same... justified by habit, tradition, culture, religion, misinformation (or deliberate ignorance) about "protein". And is perpetuated in the easy money made from the animal/meat traders. Eating cats, dogs, horses, squirrels, kangaroos, deer, turtles, dolphins, tigers, lions, etc... is hardly any different than the "civilized" world where turkeys, lamb chops and ribs are consumed. None of it is "necessary". Man can thrive on a plant based diet. And it is this unwillingness to replace the sausages and burgers that a camaraderie with feline and canine munchers can be found.

No need to cast stones on a plant based diet... all animals are safe. Choose compassion - Go Vegan

United Farm Workers - Cesar Chavez on Animal Rights

Consistent with his values of eliminating the exploitation of all beings - Cesar Chavez:

A Pig's Life Matters to that Pig - Meat is Murder - Go Vegan

I hear all the time... that "life's not fair" - and I suppose it's not. But, this does not excuse a moral person from trying to do everything they can to make it so... It is in our control and our power to make life "more" fair and "more" just by avoiding harm to innocent life. Just because one can (legally) slice pieces of a pigs ear off, put him in a cage, and eventually kill him - does not make it right. People who see the world as a series of "unfairness" - stop hiding your own cowardly failure to do what you can, using the excuse that you won't make a big enough difference... Or that it really doesn't matter... Or "it's only a pig", or "only" a cow, or "only" an animal. It is a life. And it is not yours to take no matter how you rationalize it. Unless you are starving on some remote island totally void of vegetation - eating any animal is not justifyable by any moral code. And if you think it is...PLEASE! I want to hear your "reasons" why you think it's "okay" to kill an animal who has done you no harm? How do you say that it is right? Super Piglet - The funniest bloopers are right here A being's life matters to that being... No matter how tasty their flesh is, no matter how "cheap" their flesh is, no matter how much "tradition" or "history" is wrapped around consuming their bodies... their life belongs to them. Ending their lives... deliberately snuffing their rightful place and time on this earth is stealing powers that you have no authority over. To do so is not only theft... it is murder. Are you a coward who has never asked yourself "by what right"? Kill no beings. Do no harm. Go Vegan