My Vegan Vote: I Want To Elect A Different Government

I don't want to just cast a vote for who's to be the next prez... I want to elect a different government too. Let's face it - Vegan or not... Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or Green Party - Your tax dollars go to fund some things that just don't seem like they should.

As for me, I'm not at all happy about the USDA Market Access Program (MAP) that just recently helped establish a market for cow carcasses to Sri Lanka... Yeah, the country that's mainly Hindu and Buddhist, whose diet is primarily plant based. Nothing like tax dollars going to increase the "demand" for beef.

I'd also like a country that didn't purchase $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken, and catfish.  Or a military that buys 94 million lbs. of beef, 64 million lbs. of pork, and 500,000 lbs. of lamb each year. Actually a country (and a world) that has no need for a military sounds even better.

I'd cast a vote for a country that didn't hide information about antibiotic resistance as a result of growing "food" animals.

In addition, I also would vote for a country that doesn't suppress the idea of a "meatless Monday"... One that doesn't allow certain states to violate their own cruelty laws like Pa. does regarding it's horrendous pigeons killing festivals. I'd vote for a country that didn't kill wolves or coyotes to "protect" livestock. I'd  vote for a country that left it's wild horses alone!  I'd vote for a country that banned using animals in circuses. I'd vote for a country that didn't allow programs to "swim with the dolphins", with the tiger cubs or with the alligators. 

I'd vote for a country that didn't find it acceptable to put millions of beings in a position of drowning or burning to death. I'd vote for a country that didn't theatrically "pardon" one bird while promoting the evisceration of millions of others.  

I could go on much longer regarding the country I'd vote for... And certainly no one person will be the one to make much positive change for our animal friends.  So... this sort of sums up what I'm thinking about as I cast my vote tomorrow:

Well... Not really! But what other choice is there??? :/

Carnist Trade Deals with Korea is NOT for the Dogs!

I was disgusted when Bush Jr. attended the 2008 Olympics in China.  For all the human rights violations China inflicts, the most ethical thing to have done would have been to boycott the whole of it... As a symbol of how much we Americans value freedom.  But GWB said he wanted to keep politics out of the event.  S-u-r-e.

Fast forward to this past Oct. 13 when the U.S. ratified trade deals with Columbia, Panama and Korea.  Despite ongoing protests in Korea - All the big money interests here in the U.S. totally approve... They say it will create jobs.  

"A study by the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute estimated the agreement will cost about 159,000 jobs over seven years. The White House says it will help create or maintain more than 70,000, while congressional Republicans see as many as 250,000 new jobs."

Obviously these three guesstimates aren't using the same fuzzy math...

Anyway, even if it does create (some) jobs - The major big win is for the flesh peddlers: "U.S. farmers and big agricultural exporters are excited about new sales opportunities for beef, pork, poultry, corn, wheat, soybeans and other food products in the three markets, but they lament the long delay as a lost opportunity."


Now what does all this have to do with the Olympics in China?  Everything!  It is just one more time that the U.S. is selling out ethical principles for blood-greed.  


In this case, I'm referring to the hideous practice sanctioned in Korea by not enforcing laws against "fragrant dog meat".  It's abominable!  Any civilized people ought to vehemently abstain from any "deals" with a nation that endorses these vicious acts.  But commerce trumps all morality - doesn't it?  I mean, we need jobs right?


Meanwhile take a look at the labors in the White House kitchen as staff prepares the "Fall Harvest" menu for Korean President and other dignitaries. No... No fragrant dog meat here! Just Texas Wagyu beef rib eye steaks, apparently the Western version of Kobe beef.  


Is it just me or can anyone else see the ludicrous absurdity of it all? This meal is dedicated to a pact that profits through murder.  The meal is meant to indulge those who permit the beating of dogs - till their delicious,  by serving up pampered cows on gold-rimmed plates.  I mean - WTF? It truly does boggle the mind!


If by any chance you're offended at the idea of munching on Spot... But buy jackets made of hide - You might be interested in discovering why this is just as problematic. 

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism

All beings love their lives... Please live compassionately.

On Sneaks And Sneakers - Butter & Leather Exposed

While I piece together an upcoming post on direct action as a method to raise awareness about animal issues - I thought I'd interject this post about a few animal rights activists in Iowa who "taped" a "Go Vegan" sign on a butter sculpture cow.


Now... I'm not about to go into all the reasons these cow sculptures are a gigantic farce because I've already done that before and before that.  But what I will do is admit to a lot of skepticism about the alleged butter caper. The story just doesn't make much sense! Wouldn't a group that was able to scale a wall and sneak past guards have more "destruction" in mind than a sign taped to a coagulated fatty substance?


Or would it be more reasonable to think that these Iowa animal ag folks had a sneaky idea to promote their absurd butter-cow/dairy/egg and pork politics?    

Truth is... Doesn't matter much what you eat at the Iowa Fair - As long as it's got an animal part or secretion in it...

Yep... There's "activism" and "politics" all around butter.  So says the winner of the "dairy princess crown".  She likes to go to day care kids and teach them all about cheese and "milking units".


But before, during and after all this politicking and partying with meat, eggs and dairy there's stories that bring truths back in focus... Like what I see in this cow's milk propaganda photo:

Sure the kids are curious... Who wouldn't love a new born calf? Especially the mother who bore him?  

But here's a boy with new leather shoes...  Meanwhile a girl's pink leather sneaker is being stepped on by the poor, confused, mother-less baby calf... Contrast this with the reality that humans actually cut the feet off of baby calves... Sometimes when their still alive!  And bash their skulls to make them not be so... And you've got a culture totally at odds with who they want to be and who they really are!


All of it is sickening and shameful!


Don't like the dishonesty in Iowa, in dairy or in your own life?  Then quit with the unnecessary and unkind animal killing and animal eating!
Go Vegan - And live in a Gentle World

World Vegan Radio Interview with Dr. Steve Best

Below is an interview with Dr. Steve Best.  This is an excerpt from WKPFT World Vegan Radio in Houston.  The co-host who conducts this interview is Antenteh Roba, M.D.,  Founder and Executive Director of International Fund for Africa.


While many have differing, and often negative views of Best, I found his messages in this interview worthy of consideration.


I too agree that it is dangerous when free and "progressed" countries ban political thought if it is deemed "radical".  Steve Best has been forbidden entry into the U.K. due to his controversial views and outspoken advocacy regarding social justice and animal rights issues.  Shouldn't speech be protected not just when it suggests mundane ideas - but also "unpopular" ones as well?  But this gagging of contentious ideology is exactly what the U.S. is attempting to do too as explained in Muzzling a Movement: The Effects of Anti-Terrorism Law, Money, and Politics on Animal Activism by Dara Lovitz.  


I particularly like his insights on Animal Standpoint Theory and how we can learn so much from these most oppressed beings by viewing historical conditions through their lens of relentless human domination and marginalization.




Best also elaborates on his fears of the vegan movement becoming elitist in advocating to white, middle-class Western cultures as the rest of the world is rushing towards our gluttonous consumption habits. To which I provide just a handful of examples that illustrate how globally, our movement to end/reduce "meat" consumption has been pathetically ineffectual:




Rapid growth of pork production in Ukraine
//19 Jul 2011

In the first five months of 2011 the total pork production in Ukraine increased by 45% compared to same period of the last year.


US, Mexico sign trucking agreement - NPPC pleased
//07 Jul 2011
Mexico is the second largest market for the US pork industry, which shipped $986 million of pork south of the border in 2010. Since 1993 – the year before NAFTA was implemented – US pork exports to Mexico have increased by 780 percent.

From the Bangkok Post

Dairy Queen and Burger King speeding up expansion Two food chains under Minor Food Group Dairy Queen and Burger King aim to expand their businesses faster in the second half of this year to respond to the public's greater spending power. Beef export sales 38 percent higher led by Japan and Mexico Beef export sales were 6,493 metric tons higher last week led by shipments to Japan (4,200 MT) and Mexico (4,100 MT). Vietnam, South Korea and Canada also contributed to the United States’ higher export sales. Audio: Beef exports to Hong Kong booming U.S. beef exports to Hong Kong are reaching new heights in 2011. Through the first five months of the year, exports have more than doubled in volume to 50.8 million pounds and increased 140 percent in value to just over $100 million. Dairy Herd Magazine “The United States has reached a tipping point where dairy exporting is no longer an option but a necessity,” And here as Dr. Anteneh Roba mentions in the interview with Steve Best are the problems created in Africa due to the expansion of factory farming. Of course the consequences to human and nonhuman alike are incalculable. I wanted to call attention to these matters to explain my reasoning in not proclaiming "victory" to the proposed larger cages for hens that may (or may not) happen in a decade or so... I wanted to restate my conviction to the abolition of cages, factory farms and slaughterhouses all together.  I wanted to re-align myself with the reality that education and "welfare measures" will not influence the world towards a more compassionate diet in any quantifiable way.   We must become more outspoken in our personal lives and publicly/politically challenge the notion that everything and everyone on Earth is up for grabs as a "resource". We mustn't become complacent just because we have, "our family" has, "our community" or "our country" has become vegan. If indeed we are ever so fortunate to be ever be able to say these things at all - It will not be enough!    Acting individually and locally is a necessary start - but we mustn't settle until the world embraces all social justice issues. We, our nonhuman kin and the sake of the planet urgently depend on us to have this uncompromising goal - Or all is lost. "One cannot change destructive policies without changing the institutions and power systems that cause, benefit from, and sustain them.  An effective struggle for animal liberation, then, means tackling issues such as poverty, class, political corruption, and ultimately the inequalities created by transnational corporations and globalization." ~Steve Best  Journal for Critical Animal Studies, Volume V, Issue 2, 2007 For those courageous enough now, and to legions more in the future, who dare to expose and topple the underpinnings of the systematized oppression of the forgotten and disenfranchised - I for one, know you do so, because there is no other way.

Full radio show here at the KPFT archives
http://www.drstevebest.org/
http://drstevebest.wordpress.com/
International Fund for Africa
Globalization of Factory Farms at Brighter Green