The happy cow myth

When you talk about being brainwashed, the happy dairy cow comes to mind for me. The commercials on tv make them look happy to be giving up their milk, but reality is FAR different.

My question is...how "happy" would you be if you were forced to constanly be pregnant so your body could produce milk and everytime you had your baby, it was immediately taken away and either put in a small little crate only to be slaughtered in a few months as veal (never to be seen by its mother again) or forced to live its life like you and then when it was "spent", it was sent to be killed, just like you?? Is that "happy"?? Many words come to mind, but "happy" is not one of them...

The dairy industry would like us all to believe that we need milk, but reality is...we don't. My question to you is..why are we the only animal who drinks the milk of another species? Women produce milk when pregnant just like cows do. Don't you think there's a reason for that?

photo courtesy of CARE and the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project

My Letter to Oprah About KFC

photo courtesy of dave hogg

As you can see from my previous post, Oprah Winfrey was giving out downloadable coupons for two free pieces of chicken at KFC. Many people know (and hopefully soon, everyone will) that KFC has been known to be especially cruel to the chicken that they use. As Oprah has recently done shows on factory farming and even pledged to go vegan for 30 days, I really felt that this was really going back on the things that she has learned about this cruel industry. While I generally think Oprah is one of the most giving people out there, I believe that this is almost a step backwards, so I sent a letter in on her website...

Dear Ms. Winfrey,
While I think you are an amazing person who gives back more than most people ever do and has made such a difference in so many people's lives, I was a little stunned to see you promoting KFC on your website. Being that you have done shows on farm animal abuse and even vowed to go vegan for 30 days because of factory farming, I can't believe that you are promoting one of the most abusive companies towards animals. I am sure that you are aware how the chickens that are used in kentucky fried chicken are treated, but yet you stand behind this. As such a respectable person, so many people look up to you and I sincerely believe that this is sending out the wrong message for a world in such a fragile state.

Sincerely,
Devin Newmeyer

Oprah, Are You Serious????

After all of the talk about factory farms and her pledge when she went vegan for 30 days, now Oprah is giving out coupons for KFC on her website...I don't get it. Would someone please explain this to me????

Oprah's kfc coupon

Check out my other blogs...just for fun

altered moods
pop chronicles

Farm Sanctuary's Virtual Experience

Farm Sanctuary has an amazing new display on their website that shows what goes into meat and egg production. Most people just don't want to know. Ignorance is bliss...I guess...even if it's also hurting one's own health. Please check it out for some insight into what the food industry doesn't want people to know...after all, aren't cows and chickens happy living on the farm waiting to be slaughtered???

Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience

The little things we do...

The personal choices that we make as individuals are what counts the most. I personally choose to try to be aware of the cruelty going on around me and try not to contribute to it, which includes buying products that weren't tested on defenseless animals and/or harm the world that we all need to pass on to the next generation. "Kiss my face" is a little company that makes some really good body care products. I started using their aloe vera toothpaste months ago and just love it. You can buy it in a lot of health food stores or on their website.

Kiss my face website

Where does one draw the line?

Last week, when we took our puppy to the dog park, which we do every saturday, there was a lady who showed up with two little dogs, one of them dyed pink. I couldn't help staring. The dog was really sweet and cute, but...why would someone be so cruel and color their dog's fur?? Would this be considered an act of cruelty or just a reflection of her own vanity being projected onto her poor dog? I wish someone would tell me because I really don't know what to think....

My Cream Cheese Addiction

Doesn't this look good?

Once upon a time, I was a cream cheese addict. I had to have my bagel everyday...with cream cheese. When I finally went full vegan this past year, I knew that one of the things that I would miss the most was cream cheese on my bagel in the morning. The place that I go to in the morning to get my bagel actually has tofu cream cheese, so I tried it one day and now I am hooked. The guy actually made my order wrong last week and put regular cream cheese instead and I didn't notice until I got home and started eating. The bitterness made me want to gag and of course, the whole meal was ruined....

It seems like the more people are aware of these kinds of alternatives that help combat the cruelty going on in the world today, more and more places will cater to the caring crowd. If you see any of this "fake" cream cheese, you should definitely try it...you never know...you just might like it!

Vegan nightmare

Every morning, when I am going to get my bagel (with tofu cream cheese, of course!), I pass by a butcher shop with hanging animal carcasses in the window. I don't understand. Is this supposed to be appealing?? I find it barbaric and even morally offensive. Lately, I have been catching them unloading the truck with dead skinned animal bodies with the limbs hanging out of plastic bags. Don't people understand that this is murder??

Last weekend, we saw some guy standing in front of the window just staring at the hanging flesh. I wished that I had gotten a pic of him...

Vegetarian dogs

People seem to think that dogs can't be vegetarians. I think it's just like all of the other lies that we are fed in our lives by people who don't care about us and just want to sell us their product, like "milk does the body good"...not true at all!

I have been reading up on dogs being vegetarian, as I find it hard feeding a dog animal flesh when we don't eat it or allow it in our house. What I found out is that dogs are opportunist eaters, kind of like people. They can eat meat, but don't NEED it. So I found this high quality vegetarian food and it's been a couple of months and jessie seems very happy, though it doesn't mean that she'd pass up a piece of meat if you dangled it right in front of her...

My Letter To The Editor of The Village Voice

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-02-18/news/is-foie-gras-torture/2


After reading Sarah Digregorio's piece on foie Gras, I had to sit back and collect my thoughts for a few hours, as I basically had to calm myself down from the sickness that people call "humanity". I am a person who believes that every being on this planet has a right to live and not be tortured, and despite her "findings", I still believe that this barbaric process is cruel. Just because she says that she never found any of the gruesome things that she has seen in the video footage, does NOT mean that this is not a cruel practice and should not clear one's consciousness to continue eating this "delicacy". Sticking a tube down an animal's throat and force-feeding IS cruel. Receiving the information that "ducks naturally do a certain amount of gorging" doesn't justify sticking a tube down their throat. People do a lot of natural (or unnatural, depends on how you want to look at it) gorging, too. Should we stick a tube down their throats?? We are supposed to be better than this, as most people would say that we are the "superior" beings on this planet. Well, if this is true, isn't it time that we start acting responsibly? Shame on Ms. Digregorio for what I feel is spreading the word that it is okay to eat foie gras because one farm has shown her that it isn't what you see in the video footage that's been spread around.

Great Cruelty-Free Footwear

New Balance makes some great shoes and the best part is that a lot of the models that they make are actually cruelty-free AND made in the U.S.A., which is rare these days. There is absolutely no leather on them...The best part is that they were pretty cheap. I think I got them for around 45 bucks, which most people know that any kind of athletic shoes these days are usually 100 bucks or more!

Cruelty-free = no animals (or humans) were harmed in the making..

Made in the U.S.A. = happy Americans with jobs!

www.thevegetariansite.com

Humans Multiplying While Animals Are Crucified

I am just in awe of the story about the women who had eight babies. Now she's got 14, as she already had six! I have to say that I am happy that people are questioning her intentions because this world is so overpopulated as it is. We can't afford to feed the people that are already living in it...

Now, I have a point to make here. My stand on hunting is that I am 100 percent against it. When people argue about how if we didn't hunt deer, they would be overpopulated, it makes me so irate. Where do we, as the human race, get off playing god by controlling animal populations (and while we are doing this, we have actually wiped out species!)but can't even control the population of our own race?? This woman has 14 kids and says that she's not on welfare?? Did someone forget to educate her about the fact that food stamps ARE in fact welfare?

I hope they do a serious investigation into her fertility doctor, too....

How long, Ringling Bros.??

So, Ringling Bros. might finally get in trouble for all of their years of elephant abuse? I guess you can only deny it for so many, many years...

Unfortunately, the "performing" elephants are poked with metal rods to get them to be obedient because that's the only way they will listen. One day, I pray, a circus will be a place where kids and their parents can go to see PEOPLE who are willing of their own free will to perform for them and not some poor, innocent animals who were stolen from the wild for man to profit. How is this humane?

Ringling Bros. thinks that animal rights activists are on a "crusade" to do away with having circus animals...DUH..anyone with feelings should want that. Don't they see the success of Cirque du soleil, without using animals in their shows?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ringling4-2009feb04,0,3570172.story

Pet Shops and Puppy Mills

There is a pet shop by my house that sells lots of dogs and cats. They seems to have an endless supply. There are always new, cute, little puppies in the window, trying to lure people in to buy one. Unfortunately, the reality is this....
These dogs are from puppy mills, places that are dog-breeding factories for big profit. Now, the sad reality here is that millions of dogs are euthanized EVERYDAY in shelters because there are not enough homes for them and these places are selling animals, taking homes from ones that are already here and desperately need homes. Now, is this "compassionate"?
So you say, "well, I want a purebred and they don't have them at the pound". Well, my friend, there are rescue groups for just about every dog breed out there and on top of that, it most likely won't even cost you as much as buying a dog at a pet store. To add to that, these puppy mills get busted all of the time because they don't take care of these animals and they get really sick, so you could be buying that, too!
Dogs are man's best friend and don't deserve this. My dogs have all been rescues and I wouldn't change that for a million bucks! Rescue dogs are more prone to be better pets/friends because they tend to appreciate what they have.

http://stoppuppymills.org/inside_a_puppy_mill.html

What about cats you might ask...well, they are not immune to this cruelty either (and I am sure that everyone has seen stray cats at one time or another...).

http://www.professorshouse.com/pets/cats/kitten-mills.aspx

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary

the sweetest little sheep
Originally uploaded by altermood

For someone who is truly interested in learning about compassion, I highly recommend a trip to visit a local farm animal sanctuary. There are a fair amount around the country. For a list of one nearest you, check out the green people website.

Here's the address:
http://www.greenpeople.org/sanctuary.htm

The one that we have gone to a couple of times so far is the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, just outside of Woodstock, New York, in a small town called Willow. The owners, Jenny and Doug, are wonderful people who are true "compassionate" people. They have rescued many farm animals from horrendous conditions and have given them beautiful lives. Most people in modern society, especially those of us living in the city, have never met their "food". They only know what they have been shown on television.

Having met pigs, cows, chickens, goats, sheep and turkeys up close, I can say that it's truly an eye-opening experience. When you see that they are living beings that just want to live, just like you and me, it will make you think twice about eating that ham sandwich.

The farm sanctuaries' main purposes are to teach people about the horrors of factory farming and a lot of people don't realize that that also pertains to the dairy and egg industries, which are actually more inhumane (if that is possible).

When you read some of the stories about how they got some of these animals, it can make you really sad to think that we can do these kinds of horrible things to another being on this planet. Take a look at their website and go visit a sanctuary today. It is a life-changing experience!

http://www.woodstockfas.org/

Welcome to Compassionate World

As the world gets scarier and harsher, it has never been a more crucial of a time to start looking at the terrible things that we are doing to each other, the other species that share this world with us and to the planet, in which we live and our children and grandchildren have to live. I have decided to start this blog to share information and hopefully get conversations and thoughts started about important things in this life. As I take on this new endeavour, I hope to share some compassion with others...I will be planning trips to animal sanctuaries, discussing cruelty-free products, interviewing people about various issues, sharing my vegan lifestyle, discussing world problems and personal things that we could do ourselves to help. I have written a theme song for this blog, as it will coincide with a video podcast and possibly a short film that my partner and I are planning....

Stay tuned....