Tag Archives: animal rights

Dig This! California’s Water Is Going To China & The Middle East

animal rights, environment, news, politics, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s not exactly a media blackout, but the true cause of California’s water shortage is not getting much play in the media.

Today my wife wrote another excellent post on California’s drought at her equally excellent blog, Vicious Vegan.

Here’s how it begins:

WORSE THAN BEING IN HOT WATER, IS HAVING NO WATER

By Leslie Goldberg

Since Gov. Jerry Brown has announced that the little people now should cut back their water consumption by 25 percent, the folks in the animal food industry must be popping the champagne corks. Not only has Brown declined to ask agriculture, including animal agriculture, to cut back, it looks to me like none of the major American media outlets are focusing on livestock and calling it out for the mega-sponge it is.

Instead, the press recently has managed to suggest the idea it’s fruits and vegetables that are the culprits and if we want to do right we should not only turn off the sprinklers but ditch the almond milk and maybe skip the salad. Ok, ok, we should definitely turn off the sprinklers and phase out those oversized spa bathtubs, I agree. But there has been scarcely a hiccup about animal ag with a few exceptions and that’s a serious bummer.

Animal agriculture deserves more than a hiccup! And hamburgers are costing us way more than $1 a piece. Forty-seven percent of California’s water is used for meat and dairy products, according to a study by the Pacific Institute.

California’s biggest crop happens to be not almonds, tomatoes or lettuce. It’s alfalfa. Michael Pollan said during an interview with phys.org, that about 25 percent of our water is going to raise alfalfa, which is primarily for animal feed – not avocado sandwiches. …

Read the whole post here.

– A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post –

Video: Chrissie Hynde Says You Can’t Be An Environmentalist If You Eat Meat

animal rights, environment, human rights, interview, Music, news, Video, , , , , , ,

Great clip of Chrissie Hynde talking about why she doesn’t eat animals.

This was shown on Swedish and Norwegian television the 28-29th of October 2014.

She brings up the fact that you can’t be an environmentalist if you’re a meat eater.

If you doubt that, here’s a report from the respected Worldwatch Institute, written by environmental specialists Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang of the World Bank Group, a United Nations agency, in which they estimate that at least 51% of green house gas is caused by animal agriculture.

—

[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]

Morrissey: ‘I see no difference between eating animals and paedophilia. They are both rape, violence, murder’

animal rights, environment, interview, Music, news, politics, , , , , , ,
Photo via Morrissey’s Facebook page.

In a Q&A on his fan site, True To You, Morrissey goes after meat eaters:

If you have access to You Tube, you should click on to what is called The video the meat industry doesn’t want you to see. If this doesn’t affect you in a moral sense then you’re probably granite. I see no difference between eating animals and paedophilia. They are both rape, violence, murder. If I’m introduced to anyone who eats beings, I walk away. Imagine, for example, if you were in a nightclub and someone said to you “Hello, I enjoy bloodshed, throat-slitting and the destruction of life,” well, I doubt if you’d want to exchange phone numbers…

I would like all governments to be forced to engage an Animal Protectionist MP. I would like a complete zoo and circus ban. I would like every television commercial that promotes ‘flesh-food’ to be followed by a commercial showing how the living pig and the living cow become the supermarket commodity, step by step. I would like the Queen of England to be asked why she wears an electrocuted bear-cub on her head. I would like to ask all so-called celebrity chefs why they believe that animals should have no right to live. If Jamie ‘Orrible is so certain that flesh-food is tasty then why doesn’t he stick one of his children in a microwave? It would taste the same as cooked lamb. The singer Cilla Black recently appeared on television telling us how she was preparing leg of lamb for dinner, and since a lamb is a baby, I wondered what kind of mind Cilla Black could possibly have that would convince her that eating a baby is OK. On another TV program an actor called Jeremy Edwards explained how excited he was at the discovery in Siberia of preserved Woolly Mammoths with enough DNA (flowing blood) to resurrect the animals – which have obviously been extinct for thousands of years. Edwards was excited by this because he said “I’d really like to try a Mammoth burger.” This, alas, is typical of the human idiot. Although the meat industry alone is destroying the planet, I would like to ask President Obama why he says nothing on the subject. Although the meat industry puts an intolerable strain on the medical profession I would like to ask world leaders why they say nothing on the subject. Although meat products are killing off half the human race very speedily, I would like to ask world leaders why they do not care in the least. Money, and only money, makes the world go around. I would also like to ask meat-eaters why they are so certain that animals deserve such barbaric and horrific treatment. I would like to ask meat-eaters why they believe that animals should not have any rights to live their own lives, whilst humans fiercely demand a god-given right to live as they wish simply by reason of their birth alone.

Read the entire Q&A here.

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Watch: The National’s Subversive “Gravy Boat” Video

animal rights, environment, Music, news, politics, TV, Video, , , , , , , , , ,
Check the subliminal messaging in this image of the sailors lying on the turkey in a sea of gravy in the shape of a “v” for vegan.

The National have made a Thanksgiving video for “Bob’s Burgers,” the animated TV show.

The group has done a remake of “Gravy Boat,” putting a dark, possibly vegan spin on it.

In the video, a group of sailors sing the ode to gravy, now turned into a dour funeral march, including the daft chorus, “Sailors in your mouth,” and are ultimately eaten by the Belcher family, equating the eating of animals with the eating of humans.

Check the video here.

Other vegan news this week: Former Vice-President Al Gore has gone vegan joining former President Bill Clinton.

And Morrissey offered a full-bore rant against President Obama for the annual turkey pardon, which Morrissey calls “Thankskilling.”

On the Morrissey fan site True To You he writes:

Thankskilling
26 November 2013

Thankskilling

Please ignore the abysmal example set by President Obama who, in the name of Thanksgiving, supports torture as 45 million birds are horrifically abused; dragged through electrified stun baths, and then have their throats slit. And President Obama laughs. Haha, so funny!
As Ingrid Newkirk from PETA points out, turkey ‘meat’ is one of “our nation’s top killers”, causing heart-attacks and strokes in humans due to saturated animal fats and cholesterol. And President Obama laughs.
Further, the meat industry is responsible for 51% of human-caused greenhouse-gas emission, therefore the embarrassingly stupid White House ‘turkey pardon’ is open support for a viciously cruel and environmentally irresponsible industry.
And President Obama laughs.

MORRISSEY
26 November 2013

— A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post —

Read: Morrissey Gives It to Carnivores Loud and Clear in New Essay

animal rights, book, essay, Music, news, politics, , , , , ,

Today at the Morrissey fan site True To You the former frontman for The Smiths has posted an intense essay attacking carnivores.

Here’s some of it:

The world won’t listen
18 November 2013

The world won’t listen

I am not ashamed to admit that newspaper photographs in recent days of American TV presenter Melissa Bachman laughing as she stands over a majestic lion that had been stalked and shot dead by Bachman herself left me tearful. Although I have previously felt enraged by the asininity of U.S. congressman Paul Ryan, and political fluffhead Sarah Palin – both of whom also kill beings for fun, there is something especially lamentable about the Bachman smile of pride as the lion – a symbol of strength, heraldry and natural beauty, lies lifeless in answer to Bachman’s need for temporary amusement. The world struggles to protect the rhino and the elephant – both being shot out of existence, yet Bachman joins the murderous insanity of destruction without any fear of arrest. This comes in the same week that Princess Anne condones horsemeat consumption – since she is evidently not content with eating pigs, sheep, cows, birds and fish. Although her slackwitted view is reported with mild surprise by the British media, there is no outrage since the crassness and international duncery of the British so-called ‘royal family’ remains the great unsaid in British print. It is spoken of, of course, but it is not allowed to go further than that. Why does Anne approve of slaughter of any kind? Has she ever been inside an abattoir? Does she actually know what she’s talking about? Similarly, on October 5, the Daily Mail newspaper gave us all an “amusing” report of thickwit Pippa Middleton laughing as she stood over 50 birds shot dead by her friends and herself after a “busy day’s shooting”. We are reminded by the Daily Mail that Middleton is a ‘socialite’, which tells us that she is privileged and can more-or-less kill whatever she likes – and, therefore she does. The sick face of modern Britain, Pippa Middleton will kill deer, boar, birds – any animal struggling to live, or that gets in her socialite way. This is because her sister is, of course, Kate, who herself became ‘royal’ simply by answering the telephone at the right time, and this association allows Pippa’s kill, kill, kill mentality to be smilingly endorsed by the British print media, to which only the mentally deficient could join in with the laughter. The right to kill animals is endorsed by Prime Minister David Cameron who shoots stag whenever he feels a bit bored. In the Queen’s Honors List, awards have been bestowed upon musicians Bryan Ferry and PJ Harvey – both of whom allegedly support fox-hunting. There is not one single instance when an animal protectionist has found themselves knighted or applauded by the Queen. That animals are an essential part of our planet (that they are, in fact, the planet) and must be protected, is a shatterbrained concept to the British ‘royals’. Historically, we all remember Prince William proudly killing the baby deer, Prince Harry bravely giving the thumbs-up as he pointlessly ended the life of a water-buffalo, the Queen loading her shotgun in readiness to shoot birds out of the sky. How terribly regal.

To read more, head to True To You.

Thanks Consequence of Sound!

Rockers & Animal Rights Dept.: Iggy & Joan Jett Take a Stand, Jack White Blows It

animal rights, Music, news, politics, , , , , , , , , ,
Iggy wants the wolves to live.

Joan Jett has been booted off South Dakota’s float for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade after ranchers complained that the rock ‘n’ roller is a vegetarian, and supports People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

“I’ve decided to switch from South Dakota to another float because people’s political agendas were getting in the way of what should be a purely entertainment driven event,” Jett said in a statement released Friday. “I will remain focused on entertaining the millions of people watching, who will be celebrating a great American tradition.”

South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association President Cory Eich told Associated Press on Friday that it was a mistake to select Jett.

“Coming from such a rural state where livestock is such a part of our life, we didn’t think it was appropriate,” Eich told AP.

Meanwhile Iggy Pop who has endorsed the “Keep Michigan Wolves Protected” campaign to stop the trophy hunting of wolves and restore the right of Michigan voters to have a say over wildlife policy, according to The Humane Society of the United States. Michigan’s first wolf hunt in decades began yesterday.

In a letter to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, dated Nov. 12, 2013, Pop write: “As a Michigan native and someone who has cared about animals, both wild and domestic, for as long as I can remember, I was dismayed…that a bill you signed last May (S.B. 288/P.A. 21) gave Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission the authority to decide which animals can be hunted…which resulted in the first authorized wolf hunt since wolves underwent state protection in 1965.”

“To further compound the issue Mlive.com just unveiled several investigative reports that reveal the state used ‘half-truths’ and ‘falsehoods’ to support authorizing a hunting season on wolves in Michigan. The reports make clear that the decision to approve wolf hunting was based on fraudulent information and not sound science,” the letter continued.

“I am asking all of my fans in Michigan to sign up and help gather signatures to reverse this decision and protect the wolf from future hunts. The senseless killing of these majestic animals for sport is a disappointment to the people of Michigan and a stain on its Government.”

Iggy called on Gov. Snyder to “do the right thing by staying the hunt and allowing the people’s voice to be heard” on the issue.

And then there’s Jack White. The White Stripes frontman thinks he’s doing poor folks a favor by launching “The Great Third Man Turkey Drive” this month.

He’s not.

Rather than promote the murder of turkey’s and the feeding of dead flesh to poor people, White could offer delicious plant-based whole food meals that are healthy, life-affirming and don’t contribute to climate change, as the raising of animals for foods does.