Food Fight - Check Beef OFF! - Go Vegan

Thanks BeefCheck folks for the wonderful graphics! Couldn't have said it better myself!

Or maybe I can?

Here's the facts I'll fling: Barbed wired. Sentient, docile cows standing in their own waste on feedlots. Dehorning. Branding. Castration... without anesthesia. Downers. And forklifts. Manure. Cattle prods. Nitrates. Cows forced to eat an unnatural diet of corn, poultry litter and slaughterhouse waste. Recalls. Destruction of the world's rainforests. Water waste and contamination. "Calving season" and "culls". Methane. Antibiotics. Grazing land issues. Crowded transport trucks. Artificial insemination. Conflict with wildlife. Hormones. Rodeos. Irradiation. The hide pulling machine. The bleedrail. MadCow. E-Coli O157:H7. World hunger. Animals as "commodities". Poisonous "leather" processing chemicals. The captive bolt gun. Saturated fat. Evisceration. Fear. Death.

More reasons to get cows, all animals and the unholy stench of murder off your plate and Go Vegan: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/worldhunger.html http://www.mercyforanimals.org/beef.asp http://www.madcowboy.com/ http://www.chooseveg.com/beef.asp

HUMANS EATING HUMANS - Survival Without Choice

Was it something I said? Here's what happened. Last night, I was watching this wonderful movie - Defiance. Without giving away this true story... it's based upon the lives of hundreds of Jewish, Nazi refugees who escaped into a forest and lived there for over 2 years. While they lived in these woods, there were desperate situations without food... Through the desolation of subzero winters; they were all starving... Any attempt to procure food from a distant village, would risk death to those who tried, and possibly expose those who remained hidden. Meanwhile members of the group were dying - from the elements and from starvation... At this point in the film, we all took a stretch break... and I stated what I thought was the obvious: People dying... People starving - You fill in the blanks... No, I was not talking about the horrific act of man killing; these lives were already gone. They already paid the ultimate price for birth... and left behind a dead, unfeeling corpse - which could save lives. And I didn't mean to be upsetting either... only that this seemed like an obvious solution in this situation of survival... Yet my suggestion was met with absolute repugnance! And I agree totally (to the extent that I consider any flesh unappetizing)... But we were discussing humans eating humans for the lack of anything else. We weren't examining the sadistic depravity (or violence) that's needed to satisfy the appetite of a Dahmer. No, this scenario I presented, had no innocent victims... Just a group who's only option at life was to consume the dead... the human dead... I brought up the soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes. Their story, told in "Stranded", accounts for their experiences of survival. The most desperate was their need for food. And under this circumstance, they had to redefine what (and who) becomes "food"... But again, they had no choice. In order to survive they had to eat. And most people, if they are honest would say they'd do the same. There really is no ethical problem here... Need and survival trump everything... And even if the "harm" were in the "desecration of the sanctity" of (human) life"... still, it was done for the sake of saving human life... and would be justified by most as "necessity". Yet, this group of people, who winced at human flesh eating, even through non-violent necessity, are the same ones who have no compunction to cause horrific pain and suffering, and the greatest of harm to innocent beings... through the foods they choose to consume. Not for survival or for lack of any other option... but for whim and trivial fancy. For taste. There is absolutely no "survival" issue for this group of people... They represent and share in the abundance of civilization... and the easy array of choice. Still, they accept (and encourage) in each other, the social license to kill the innocent - for pleasure-- And I am the barbarian for suggesting eating a human corpse... for survival? Twisted.

For the Planet - For the Animals - For Health - Go Vegan

So this is good news - since I've been vegetarian for 7 years (vegan for 1.5) - I've saved 1960 animals by choosing a vegetarian diet! And by sticking with it, I'll save over 7280 more! And in my lifetime I'll save 85800 lbs. of CO2e from polluting the Earth! Meanwhile in St. Charles, Minn, a fire broke out in a meat packing plant. Due to concerns of a potentially toxic chemical fire ensuing, the entire town of 3600 people were safely evacuated... None of the animals survived - (of course). A healthy planet... and compassion to animals. Time and again, we can see that animal agriculture and eating meat just don't aspire to these goals. Be kind... Be green... 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?

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

HEART ATTACKS, CHEAP MEAT & GLUTTONOUS PEOPLE

Cyber friend Klem, artful photographer, witty writer and flourishing vegetarian (hooray!) posted this video on his sight. As he said, it is disturbing as you can see for yourself.

My own reaction is equally critical. Such a crude display, should be easily dismissed by a pitiful chuckle... But I think it's important sometimes to react justly regardless of unpopularity.

The Heart Attack Grill by its very name, mocks the value of health. And the "doctor" on call has a prescription that advocates "you only live once" - But I have to ask... you call this living? Going to this extreme of harm and excess? Such self-damaging indulgences as the "quadruple bypass" is telltale for the fitness of our values as well.

I really have no problem with a fun time and invite a good laugh whenever I can. But when the clowns are wielding real knives... it's hard to get the joke.

The clowns I'm taking about are the grill's patrons... and those others who would quest for the hot dog eating titles, and other lard slurpping events. If it were only you to suffer, I'd say you deserve your foolishness... But I know of the innocent who've paid dearly for your vulgarities.

And it's not alright that your frivolities, deprive others from having what they need. I speak first of the others that starve at the expense of "cheap meat". Just one of those "bypass burgers" took the resources that could have fed dozens.

But you will say, that money is your privilege to do the evils that you will. And you are right, that your wealth buys you "commodities", but it still does not make good from the wrong that it is....

The wrong of not only in the injury to your body, the callousness to your fellow man - but also the absolute disrespect for the beings whose lives were taken; not for necessity or subsistence. On the contrary... They were lives taken for whim only. Lives who trembled before the sites and sounds at the knock box.

They suffered too for the absurd pleasures had at the Heart Attack Grill. And some may call me extreme for seeing it this way... To value the sanctity of life, to understand the virtues of generosity and even the foolishness of compassion. I can offer a no more valid defense than this:

Live simply so that others may simply live -

Go Vegan

Animal Ag Jolley Meat DEBATE request #5

Animal Agriculture wishes to tell their story... (so I hear yet again). -

Animal ag activist Dr. Dave tells Jolley at Cattlenetwork: "If the meat and poultry industries don’t grab the bull by the horns and tell the whole story, those special interest groups will own the stage and continue to frame a one-sided debate in their own well-known terms."

Well I don't know about the horns... has anyone ever seen what they do to those poor cows when they remove the horns? OUCH! And he continues: "With most people several generations removed from any relationship with farming, there comes a disconnect that anti-ag groups have skillfully exploited."

Wait a second, if we're talking "exploitation" - the needless slaughter of 10 billion+ animals a year might qualify for that... not to mention the ones that don't even get to become your gastronomicaldelight. And he asks: "Are hogs and cattle routinely poked, prodded and generally abused by cruel and thoughtless people? Does a chicken breast or a pound of ground beef really start out on a shrink-wrapped foam tray in the supermarket meat case?"

Well, he's got that right... no - they start off as beautiful beings with an interest in their own lives. Believe it - animals want to live! They have no desire to become your steak, your chops, wings or pate'. They just want to live their lives - the ones you forced them to be born into.

Dave and Jolley say that certain groups "do not want us to eat meat. Period. They do not care if that meat is produce conventionally, naturally or organically. If it is meat, they don’t want us to eat it. "

And here... I beg to disagree (again). I really have no concern over what you put in your body... rocks, tree bark, asphalt. Anyone of course, may consume whatever they wish...

It is the needless killing that is objectionable.

So, if one wishes to troll the interstates for fresh road yummies - have at it! Although it would be respectful to maintain sanctity of the body - if it's flesh you must have - bon appetite!

Finally, animal ag suggests that they strike one minute "elevator conversation"...

I do that all the time! Yep, when I'm on line at the grocery store and someone behind me is holding a package of chicken body parts - I make sure they know how the birds are raised... When I was buying a cd - I told the clerk about the sad song that was played on a Youtube video showing calves separated from their mothers... When I was at the library, a woman was checking out a child's nursery book "the 3 little pigs" - I made sure I told her about the Hormel incident. We all know about those minute messages - don't we?

So... animal ag folks, please don't shy away from an open debate with an Animal Rights activists! I'm certain you want to "get your story told"... Set the time, pick the elevator - I'll see ya there! I'll even bring my vegan literature!

Debate requests: Request #4 Request #3

Request #2 Request #1

jolley

A Vegan's Voice on Animal Agriculture

There's a piece written in the Agriculture's Voice that delights to tell of favorite "things". Of course these "things" all are dead bodies & parts, made from tortured, murdered, INNOCENT, SENTIENT "BEINGS". The article goes on: "there are people who have different tastes." The well chosen word here is "taste", which is an effort to exclude any ethical consideration or debate. It is an attempt to minimize the "choice" not unlike the preference of a blue car over a red one.... or boxers instead of briefs. It continues that vegans have "good intentions" in their lifestyle choices. I agree that an ethic which attempts to avoid as much "unnecessary" harm as possible, is a good thing. Avoiding violence - is a good thing. And Ag's Voice says that they would "never shove meat, eggs or dairy down someone’s throat..." But certainly the meat industries are shoved down ones culture. It is a culture propped by the myth that one "needs" animals to live. Veganism exposes this myth. The article continues: "most farm animals are treated very well." Until they are needlessly killed that is... Even so, let's examine the "kind" treatment to farmed animals:

• Billions of day old "wrong sex" chicks smothered or ground up.
• Searing the beaks of billions of birds.Tail docking, teeth pulling, castration, teat removal, ear tagging, dehorning, ALL without anesthetic.
• Isolation, confinement, force feeding, drugs, artificial light, artificial food, artificial insemination.
• Living in your own waste.
• Unable to move a limb or stretch your wings.
• Unable to socialize or mate.
• Being raped. Being caged. Being tethered.
• Separated from your young at birth.

Animal ag defends that these practices are "in state-of-the-art, climate-controlled facilities"...

True, the dairy cow who has never seen grass, is probably housed in air conditioning. The pig who cannot turn his body is likely to be misted a few times hourly. And the caged chicken lays her miserable eggs on a fast moving conveyor system.

It is all so "civilized" indeed. Animal ag says this is "necessary to protect animals"... "from predators".... Fess up animal ag - it's about profits and units. And your animal killing, meat-eating culture is the animal's worst "predator".

As suggested in this article - I intend to tell all my friends and neighbors and anyone else who will listen about all the things that are done to "food" animals. I am going to send them to see videos. I am going to be a strong advocate for the Movement "afoot" which tells consumers they have other compassionate and healthier choices. I'm going to invite them to question the ethics and "need" of such cruel "choices" to continue. Animal ag is right about one thing: we are not going away. We are going Vegan.

Needless Animal Cruelty - Choose Compassionate Food - Go Vegan

Most people will say that they do not wish to be cruel to animals. Most people will agree that supporting institutions that are responsible for animal suffering is wrong. Sadly, 98% of all suffering endured by animals is in the production of meat, eggs & dairy. So, if one truly wishes to be kind to animals they need not demonstrate against whale hunting, or puppy mills or bullfighting. They need not join an Animal Rights group or picket against circuses or rodeos. They need not even adopt a shelter animal or donate money to any such cause. If one truly wishes to be kind to animal the single most effective thing one can do is to stop buying products made from animals. The very least one can do if they truly wish to be kind to animals is to: Go Vegan.

WTF? USDA LOANING TAX MONEY TO KIDS FOR COWS?

In desperation to lure understandably dis-interested kids to the cruel, dirty, unnecessary world of "animal agriculture" - the United States Department of Agriculture is offering low interest loans to kids so they can have an entry in their 4H program. They're also saying that this "bribe" - will get: "young people to begin to build a credit history and learn financial management".

PLEEZE!

I wanna know where the loan money is for kids who want to learn how to live sustainably? Humanely? Environmentally responsible? Healthy? Where's the money for kids to grow beans, tomatoes, cabbage, collards, asparagus, beets, peaches, apples, avocados, pears, melons, almonds, soy, broccoli, corn, etc., etc., WHERE - HUH????

They're also making "boarding arrangements" for kids who don't live in rural areas - "Free hotel space" for the soon to be fattened/sold/slaughtered "food" animal.

Your attempt to indoctrinate these kids is deplorable!

“In 4-H young people learn life skills that include generosity, independence, mastery and belonging,”

But not "generosity" to allow an animal to live it's life. Not "independence" to be a free thinker. To learn "mastery" over a creature who has no defenses against you? And "belonging"... Do we really recommend a kid "belong" to a barbaric tradition that holds life so worthless? That views a sentient animal merely as a "commodity"? Do we really want to encourage "belonging" to an institution that exploits helpless victims?

I don't approve one bit! I want my portion of my vegan TAX dollars back! http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2009/jan/16/4h_animal_deadline_nears/

VEGANS - Have Your Say at the USDA 2010 FOOD PYRAMID

The USDA CENTER FOR NUTRITION POLICY AND PROMOTION is in the process of gathering information and opinions from individuals and those in the health care profession in efforts to revise and improve the 2010 DIETARY GUIDELINE PYRAMID. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm Comments are open to the public. PCRM, The McDougall Program, and The American Vegan Society have left their recommendations. You do not have to log in to post a comment - spell check is provided... Vegans are concerned that food policies in the U.S. don't reflect sound judgement or promote healthy eating habits. Parents wish they had more input on what is served in school lunches. Well here's our chance to have our say. Who would not like to see this as the new USDA food pyramid in 2010? More about the Vegan Food Pyramid

CATTLE TICKS, GLOBAL WARMING & BUGS IN YOUR FOOD - GO VEGAN

Here's what's bugging me: Canada's forests are now contributing to climate change. The trees are pumping out more carbon dioxide than they are absorbing. 1.2 million square miles of trees, Almost 10% of the earths forests are in Canada and are now stressed due to global warming. Insect infestations and persistent fires have crossed an ominous line and are now pumping out more climate-changing carbon dioxide than they are sequestering. So this establishes that we are in a global climate crisis.

And what does the U.N. report as the number 1 contributor to global warming? Livestock. But livestock, cattle in particular - has it's own issues with a bug threatening their cows. It's the cattle tick. Cattle tick fever, is a disease that can kill up to 90 percent of infected animals. And in the past two years, 128 new cattle fever tick infestations have been detected. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Texas officials will receive $4.9 million to help fight fever ticks, a pest that can transmit a deadly parasite to cattle.

$4.9 million dollars (more) to help the cow people - And what do the cow people use to eliminate ticks? Another poisonous insecticide, or rather an ixodicidal compounds. Ticks are now resistant to arsenic, organochlorine, organophosphorus and carbamate compounds. Even effecting dairy cows, there is a very real probability that these resistant strains will continue to thwart cattlemen as ticks adapt to each exposure to new chemicals.

So here... I think - poor cows :(

And finally, on the 7th, the FDA has announced that from now on it will require food processors to include on it's label the ingredient of either "carmine" or "cochineal" if it is actually in the product... Food industries use the female pulverized insect cochineal, a flat, wingless beetle-like creature native to Mexico and South America to dye certain foods. There is no nutritional value, however if you're allergic - it could be potentially fatal to ingest. Two foods mentioned that use "carmine" are the dairy products: Dannon and Yoplait. Here's a much better (bug free) Vegan alternative:

So why would anyone want to contribute to global warming? Why would anyone want to eat a "food" that is so destructive to the environment? Or eat an animal that has to suffer so to become "meat"? Don't eat animals - Don't eat insects -

Go Vegan! Canada Pine Beetles Texas lands $4.9M for ticks FDA: Food makers to acknowledge bug-based additives

More Vegan Sarcasm - Brits Go Nuts Over Squirrel Meat -

Do you see "supper" here? Apparently the Brits do:

"Part of the interest is curiosity and novelty," said Barry Shaw of Shaw Meats, who sells squirrel meat at the Wirral Farmers Market near Liverpool. "It's a great conversation starter for dinner parties."

You know, if I'm going to a party where the only thing that will spark a conversation is the carcass of a squirrel meant to be "food"... I need to update My Facebook Profile...

These gray squirrels were introduced from North America over the past century and have since become "pests"... and are crowding out the indigenous red squirrel...

Now I wonder who's profiteering and narrow minded self interests shipped gray squirrels all the way across the ocean in the first place?

Enter the "Save Our Squirrels" campaign begun in 2006 to rescue Britain's red squirrels by piquing the nation's appetite for their marauding North American cousins. With a rallying motto of "Save a red, eat a gray!" the campaign created a market for culled squirrel meat.

Oh Yummm....

If you want to grab your shotgun, make sure you have very good aim — squirrels must be shot in the head; a body shot renders them impossible to skin or eat. (You want to get rid of the head in any event, as squirrel brains have been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease.)

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - now you're really whetting my appetite !

Skinning a squirrel is "difficult and unpleasant," the food writer Leslie Mackley said, adding, "You have to fight to rip the skin from the flesh."

You mean like this?

Innocent animals being "culled"... hide pulling, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - Of course it's supper time! Or you could have a delicious Boca Burger instead, and avoid all the other nastiness. You could go Vegan!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/07/style/07squirrel.php?page=1

STOP EATING MEAT - STOP CONTRIBUTING TO GLOBAL WARMING - GO VEGAN

Being Vegan is the responsible thing to do for health, for the planet and oh yeah... it's better for the animals too:

HOMELAND SECURITY BIO DEFENSE MEAT ANIMAL LIVESTOCK LAB

Homeland Security Wants to Build Bio-Defense Lab in Kansas. This facility, once built, will continue to experiment, drug, examine, breed and kill thousands of animals to find ways to keep them healthy so that we can slaughter them for "food".

This proposed new defense lab will protect the livestock industry against the introduction of foreign animal and zoonotic diseases. Testing on animals for Foot and Mouth Disease, hog cholera, African Swine Fever, Rift Valley Fever, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, and other assorted viruses that effect livestock.

Ouch! from what I read those diseases really cause immense pain and suffering... And sadly, the animals are killed in the end - anyway.

30,000 different tests on "livestock" animals have been taking place at the current animal disease center off the coast of Long Island - a facility in operation since the 50's. The 840 acre Plum Island experimental lab's official statement is: "We work to protect farm animals, farmers and ranchers, the nation's farm economy and export markets... and your food supply."

Not hardly, I don't consider animals "food"....

In 1991, Plum Island's freezers (which contained polio samples), were threatened following a power outage. It's only been open to news media since 1992. And in 1995, the Department of Agriculture was issued a $111,000 fine for improperly storing hazardous chemicals on the island.

And the Department of Agriculture is responsible to pay whom for this violation?

In 2002 many scientists and government officials wanted the lab to close because the center did not merit its $16.5 million annual budget. Later that year the Disease Center was transferred from the United States Department of Agriculture to the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Of course there will be tests on anthrax as livestock are exposed to this threat daily from the spores on the vegetation they ingest.

Congressional law stipulates that live foot-and-mouth disease cannot be studied on the mainland as it is extremely contagious among cloven-hoofed animals, and people who have come in contact with it can carry it to other animals. Accidental outbreaks of the virus have occurred in 1978 in which the disease was released to animals outside the center, and two incidents in 2004 in which foot and mouth disease was released within the center.

Human animals can be infected with a strain of this disease - causing illness with headache, fever and possibly blisters appearing on the hands or feet, or in the mouth.

Aptly named: Hand Foot Mouth Disease...

Dr. Michael Carroll in his book Lab 257, alleges a connection between Plum Island Animal Disease Center the outbreaks of three infectious diseases: West Nile Virus, Lyme Disease, and Dutch duck plague. Two years ago, Plum Island scientists analyzed horses that were dying on Long Island and found the West Nile virus that mysteriously turned up in mosquitoes in the New York area.

Hummm... Unfortunately, Plumb Island operates at only Biosafety Level 3 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-9 mandates a facility capable of level 4 biosafety capabilities. The proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) would research biological threats involving zoonotic, "high-consequence" livestock diseases. There will also be a National Veterinary Stockpile containing sufficient amounts of animal vaccine, antiviral, and therapeutic products to appropriately respond to the most damaging animal diseases affecting human health and the economy. This new disease center will protect the nation's food supply, insuring that livestock owners investments are protected.

With a $650 million price tag to American tax payers I have to ask why are we footing the bill to protect the interests of cow ranchers and pig farmers? I run a business too, no one "secures" my interests with tax dollars. And my business doesn't even risk exposing anyone to deadly zootonic disease. Nor does it perform painful needless tests and cause injury to innocent animals... What about the taxpayers, who don't consider "animals food" - And who thrive on a plant based Vegan diet?

Oh not to worry, this new facility will also include A National Plant Disease Recovery System. It will be studying wheat smut and soybean rust... Which by the way, are a main "feed" staple... for livestock.

source:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040203-2.html

http://www.dhs.gov/xres/labs/editorial_0762.shtm

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=19400000

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-26-092.asp http://cattletoday.info/anthrax.htm

No Holiday for Carraige Horses - Christmas Compassion -

We picture this romantic scene: And here is the reality: As you can see these horses lead a very sad life... After years of labor in some other "life" they "retire" to a traffic-congested concrete city... Pulling an exhausting burden in the blistering heat and frigid cold. For most of the day... till the end of their days. After age, injury or illness leaves them "unproductive", their depleted bodies are hauled hundreds of grueling miles to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada. There they succumb to the last of brutalities and are butchered into *meat* for Europe and Asian markets...

So during your holiday travels... if you happen to think for a moment that a nice ride around the park would be pleasurable - please think again at what cost to whom? Happy Holidays. Please consider going Vegan.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE MEAT PACKER VIOLENTLY KILLS 5 YEAR OLD SON

Gonzalez, a slaughterhouse worker confesses to killing and butchering his 5 year old son and placed the remains in plastic bags, later disposing of them in dumpsters. His meat-packing job is part of the debate over his confession. He did not work with knives at the plant. But among his duties, according to one worker, was to clean the "meat juices" (surely they mean blood) from the floor with hoses, foam, and wipers, raising questions about whether that skill would explain why investigators have found no evidence to corroborate his confession. While they are worrying about what "skills" could have aided the cover up of his son's murder, I wonder what exposures could have prompted Gonzalez to commit such acts in the first place? While he didn't do the stunning, sticking or killing of these animals he was witness to those violent acts all day long. He saw and heard daily the cries and screams of terror and pain. Gonzalez witnessed death on an hourly basis as a matter of routine nonchalance. The meat industry would like it's consumers to believe that these are unfeeling, inanimate "production units" and that the "system" insures that they are killed "humanely". However, Gail Eisnitz wrote a book called Slaughterhouse - The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry that contradicts this claim by the meat industry. Subsequently The Washington Post followed with an article titled "They Die Piece by Piece". One can only imagine the horror these workers (and animals) are inextricably (and permanently) damaged by in the "process" of making "meat". According to Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the FBI Cruel acts toward animals have long been recognized as indicators of a dangerous psychopathy that often claims more than animal victims. "Murderers ... very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids". Studies have now convinced sociologists, lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and the courts that acts of cruelty to animals deserve our attention. They can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes human victims. There is reason to link the constant exposure of tortured animals to the death of this young boy. The meat industry is responsible for the suffering of billions of innocent beings in the name of "food". The violence inflicted on these animals by workers remains in their psyche long after the task of blood is done. We cannot possibly expect men to do these acts without requital upon a society that condones it. Meat requires killing animals. Killing animals promotes violence - Be Vegan.

U.S. RECALL OF IRISH PIG DIOXIN PORK MEAT - NOT VEGAN

A few days ago I posted about the Irish pig meat recall... Today the USDA is recalling 78,941 pounds of the stuff distributed here in the US. due to possible dioxin contamination:

Massachusetts recalls 33,880 pounds

New York recalls 4,041 pounds

Florida recalls 41,020 pounds

All that pig flesh that was bred, that lived in cages, that got fed, that got drugged, that pooped (6 times more than a man), that underwent brutal transport, that felt fear and pain, that got slaughtered, that got shipped across an ocean, that became "garbage" for the U.S. to dump... Oh yeah - everything from the oink to the squeal...

r-i-g-h-t.

Like the box says... pig out intelligently - Go Vegan.

HOORAY ANIMAL VEGAN ADVOCACY - MEAT CONSUMPTION DECLINE

WASHINGTON - Numbers are in and it looks like consumption of *meat* is at it's lowest in 7 years! And if trends continue, through 2009 - 2010 figures of consumption will decline to levels not seen in about 12 years.

So hooray vegan advocacy and animal persons! We're making progress... They're finally listening that less meat is better - That NO MEAT is Wonderful - That NO MEAT/DAIRY is IDEAL! Now I wonder which of the following reasons tipped who and how?

4 reasons 5 reasons 5 reasons 5 reasons 10 reasons 10 reasons 10 reasons 10 reasons 10 reasons 21 reasons 22 reasons 28 reasons 49 reasons 101 reasons As if you needed another reason

HOLIDAY ANIMAL SLAUGHTER HOLY MEAT RITUAL

According to religious tradition Arabs and Saudis hauled animals in the trunks of their Chevys and Toyotas to sacred ground in order to perform the ancient Al-Adha sacrifices. Goats and sheep had their throats slit and were hung from dozens of trees. They were then butchered for their *meat* to celebrate these high feasting days which remember God's mercies... During the holiday much money is made by animal sellers and the slaughterhouse only miles away. But the lines are long and one can save costs by butchering their own animals. It's a grizzly scene with remains of animals strung from trees and unconsumable organs and blood scattered on the ground. Onlookers were disturbed at the sight but officials did nothing to protect the sensitivities of these people in Alkobar.

Reading this story reminds me of a similar tradition here in the U.S. where slaughterhouses are cranking double time to fulfill orders of turkeys and hams in preparation of our own holy days. Only we're much more "civilized" in this country. Most animals are trucked in huge livestock cars escorted to stainless steel rooms and hung on metal bleed rails while they are disassembled. We then wrap their body parts not in simple cloth or paper but rather in clean white foam and cellophane. Neatly arranged in florescent lit grocery store meatcases. Consumers can then paw through each of the remains to find their choice of "cuts". What might one decorate their holiday table with this year? A leg of a lamb? A rib-roast? A beheaded bird? A spiral sliced buttocks of a pig? Whatever the selection, it's presence is intended to symbolize the joy and goodwill of the season. And to honor a god for his kindness and generosity.

And then some of us are vegan and reject the rituals of killing and animal sacrifice...

Choosing instead to celebrate life with non-violence believing that peace begins with what (or rather "who's") not on your your plate...