Animal Cruelty Videos

http://www.vegan.com/ - Just saw a video of mistreated calves at a plant in Vermont. All I can say is that it made me cry. I guess I was a little primed because I just read Jonathan Safran Foer's book "Eating Animals" and "Skinny Bitch" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnounin. I also recently saw a movie called 'Fowl Play" by Mercy for Animals. The indifference and ignorance of the general population to all the cruelty, health, environmental and worker abuse issues in factory farming is starting to get to me. I try to do my part in my personal life and spreading the word to those who will listen, but sometimes I just get so darn frustrated. It seems so clear to me that eating animal carcasses that are pumped with drugs and toxins who have been standing in their own waste and then knowing that they have suffered a cruel life and a cruel death to feed human beings is so wrong. Where is the outrage? Where is the government? In a so-called civilized society, how do we let these things continue? .......back to the video - the calf was on it's back being kicked and prodded - I could see the fear in its eyes and hear the hate and disrespect in the voice of the slaughterhouse worker.............. yet we still order veal parmesan. I would choke on it.... yes, i would!

Urban Fall Hike

Today is a beautiful October day of the clear blue sky and sunshine galore variety. My great idea was to go to our favorite vegan eatery, as seen here at the left, for the french toast that is out of this world. The bread is thick, moist and crusty and cinnaminy etc etc all at the same time. We order it with the fruit - today strawberries and bananas. They always serve it with REAL maple syrup - warm and gooey and sweet and satisfying and no animal products. An unbelievably satisfying treat in so many ways. I meant to take a picture of my plate before I destroyed it by voraciously digging in, but I was so overcome by the sight of it - the beauty, the smell - I forgot. By the time I remembered I was half done! True to my ' you can dress them up but you can't take them out' reputation, I found myself practically licking the plate or at least the little maple syrup container. Didn't want to leave a single undigested drop. I was also glad to see that they did have a steady stream of patrons eager to have a delicious and somewhat guilt-free breakfast (except maybe for the sugar content). The other popular breakfast order is the tofu scramble which is kind of like a faux scrambled eggs cooked with lots of onions, peppers etc and is also very delicious. It is always a hard choice for me between the french toast and the tofu scramble, but today was a sweet day! Getting back to the my great idea - I have talked about the final destination, but how we got there was the cool thing. I thought about the fact that it was such a beautiful day for a hike and came up with the idea of taking an "Urban Hike" - leaf peeking and Halloween decoration observing along the way. I brought my camera and shot some lovely fotos of red, yellow and orange leaves, menacing ghosts, smily pumpkin people and corn stalks. I also got the flavor of some of the neighborhoods we passed by and an interesting new 'Green' building going up. So, what a great way to start the day - exercise, sweet sights, photo opportunities and a wonderful vegan breakfast. I am happy to be alive. Peace.

Capitalism - A Love Story

I saw Capitalism - A Love Story this weekend and, as usual, was blown away by the insight, courage and incredibly intelligent and passionate film-making abilities of Michael Moore. My criteria for 'hero' status is reserved for a person who has a devotion to a passion that is for the greater good and takes the courageous actions required to accomplish his/her goals. Some of my heros are John Muir, Jonas Salk, Dr. Kevorkian, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman. There are others also, but these are just some examples. What I admire so much about this particular movie is his emphasis on Christianity and what Jesus really meant. It has made me so angry that the religious right and many other politically connected so-called Christians have coopted Christianity to support the evils of capitalism with regard to how we lead our lives and how we care for each other. The Christianity I was taught did not involve taking as much as I can whenever I can and not care about its impact on other people. There was a time when capitalists were the ones who started businesses, supported innovation and created jobs for many people. Now, as he pointed out, the richest people have become rich basically by gambling - they are not creating anything, building anything or inventing anything. In fact, those who do build have sent so many jobs overseas so that the company does not need to pay their workers a reasonable wage with reasonable benefits, thus the middle class is being destroyed. He also showed how we bailed out the banks, AIG, and investment firms, but the little guy loses everything and gets foreclosed on for bad luck and maybe bad decisions. I hope everyone goes to see this movie and joins Michael Moore in some way to make people realize that they are being manipulated to support policies and activities that are not in their or their country's best interest.