In discussing the “dislodg[ing of] pornulational programming” from dudely brains, Twisty stumbles upon a method of “reprogramming” those who have internalized misogyny:

Blamer Jonathan avers not only that it is possible to dislodge pornulational programming from your brain, but that he has done it himself.

You just, he suggests, need to get your lost empathy back.

Which sort of blew my mind, because I had just watched a cheesy episode of “The Twilight Zone” (not the real one; the mediocre 80’s one) about this spooky Lost & Found Emporium existing in some sort of nebulous hyperspace at the back of a sex shop. The protagonist shows up looking for his lost compassion (he gets it back after breathing in some compassion-gas. He also gets the girl, and, since this is a Hollywood TV show, the plot works out so he’s the boss of her and she’s just fine with that, but I’ll get into that some other time.). I was kind of intrigued by the idea of walking into a lost & found and reclaiming nebulous concepts.

Anyway, blamer Jonathan got his nebulous concept back, he says, by volunteering in aid of sexual assault survivors in emergency rooms, where, I’m guessing, he witnessed firsthand the catastrophic results of porn poisoning. It reprogrammed him in a hurry.

It’s a simple idea. Empathy and domination cannot coexist. Other stuff that cannot coexist with domination: compassion, enlightenment, love, truth, beauty, and whatever else H. sapiens fans are always touting as the best part of humanity.

(Emphasis mine.)

Misogyny, racism, homophobia, speciesism – unrelated, they’re not. Same shit, different expression. IBTP.

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Good news can be hard to come by in the animal advocacy community, which is why I want to share this little victory with y’all. It’s not much, but it’s more than enough to get me through today, and possibly the rest of the week as well.

Over on the Kansas City Freecycle blog, I feature a local adoptable animal every Wednesday. (Elaine is my inspiration for this, but I don’t credit here there because I’d rather the other freecyclers not know that I’m one of “those” animal rights “extremists.” So I’ll totally credit her here. Thanks, Elaine!)

I’ve been doing this since May of ’08, and a sweet lil’ pit bull named Gramby was the second animal I blogged about. Seven months later, and Gramby still hadn’t been adopted, so I featured him a second time. At this point, Gramby had been staying with Animal Haven, a no-kill shelter, for more than two years. Being a young guy, he’d essentially spent the majority of his life caged in a shelter. Many localities ’round these parts have passed BSL (he was found as a stray in a city with an anti-pit bull breed ban), which probably goes a long way towards explaining his sorry situation.

Well, while clicking through the old listings this morning, searching for some hopefully happy updates, I was absolutely overjoyed (and that’s an understatement, for reals) too see that Gramby had finally been adopted. After almost 2 1/2 years as an orphan, Gramby has a new family. I’m so, so happy for him.

In fact, Gramby’s adoption is such momentous news that Animal Haven blogged about it, too:

Gramby was our longest term dog here at Animal Haven and was recently adopted. Gramby was found as a stray from a city with a breed ban on October 13th, 2006 when he was just a pup. Last week he was adopted out by a fantastic lady from Blue Springs. He has adjusted very well to life with his new mother and is having the time of his life now that he finally has his lifelong home. He even gets to cuddle with his mother’s baby granddaughter for nap time.

And, what a wiggler he is too! Our ants-in-the-pants pal Gramby is always on the lookout for something interesting. Who can blame him? Gramby’s dedicated friends here at Animal taught him a few things before he went to his new lifelong home, and he’ll sit for a treat (though he likes to be sure it’s abundantly tasty).

Animal Haven went all out to find him a new home; they even made Gramby their “mascot” for a fundraising event, featuring him on t-shirts and stuff. Even after all that, it was still more than a year before he was adopted. So sad.

But no. This is good news. I refuse to get sniffly here.

Thank you, thank you, THANK you, anonymous “fantastic lady from Blue Springs,” for opening your home and your heart to this “vicious” dog. For this, you are my hero of the day. And thank you, Animal Haven, for never giving up on this precious boy.

*smiles*, {{hugs}}, and all that good stuff!

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Action Alerts

Animal Person: On Attempts to Bring Dog Racing to Jamaica and South Africa
Please contact Jamaican and South African officials and urge them against legalizing dog racing in their respective countries.

Democracy for America (DFA): President YOU
“President Barack Obama will address Congress for the first time next week. He’ll announce a set of critical issues that he considers to be the most pressing for our nation to address, and he’ll ask for our support and participation as part of the solution. In your view, what are the most pressing issues facing the country today? Tell us what you would make the centerpiece of the address if you were President.”

Forest Ethics: Tell President Obama and Prime Minister Harper: Tar Sands oil doesn’t fit in the new energy economy!
“President Obama will visit Canada on February 19. His visit is an opportunity to show that both Canadians and Americans want to move towards President Obama’s vision for a new energy economy based on clean, innovative solutions. Rather than embracing this vision, Canadian government officials are attempting to expand the development of dirty Tar Sands oil. Tar Sands oil contributes to global warming, destroys the Boreal forest, and endangers public health.”

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Tell President Obama that dirty Canadian tar sands have no place in our clean energy future
“Tar sands development has been called the most destructive project on earth because of the global warming pollution it produces and its toxic mining operations. Tell President Obama to convey to Canadian officials the message that a clean energy future does not include dirty tar sands oil.”

The Sierra Club: Sign Our Petition to Urge President Obama to Address Tar Sands
“President Obama will travel to Canada this week on his first presidential visit abroad where he faces pressure to support Canadian production of tar sands oil, considered the dirtiest energy project on earth. Please sign our petition urging President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper to stay true to the goal of a clean energy economy and ensure tar sands are not exempted from any climate agreement with Canada.”

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Dear members of the mainstream news media,

Many of you are reporting that the death toll in the recent Australian wildfires now hovers around 200, with numbers likely to rise.

Take, for example, the following headlines:

Australia fire deaths rise to 200 (BBC News)

Australia wildfire death toll reaches 200 (the AP)

Talk Vic toll may reach 300 ‘a rumour’ (Sydney Morning Herald)

News flash: the “death toll” has already surpassed 200, at least 5,000 times over.

To wit: “Millions of animals are estimated to have died in the ferocious Black Saturday bushfires that swept across countryside, towns and farmland in Australia’s southeast.”
 

 
Millions of animals – men, women, children, chickens, canaries, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, deer, dogs, cats, horses, ducks, peacocks, lyrebirds, goats and dingoes, to name just a few of the affected species – have died. The death toll is catastrophic; the loss of life, tragic.

Please don’t imply that some of these lives are insignificant by excluding them from your discourse. If you mean that 200 human lives have been lost, say so. Your sloppy/lazy/negligent reporting and/or headline copyrighting does a disservice to the majority of the fire’s victims – and to those who care for their well-being.

Regards,

The veg*n language police

—————–

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare wildfires fires natural disaster australia victoria wildlife pet companion animal msm the media language death toll news in the news video video blogging

My tubes are clogged with veg*n videos, so rather than post each separately, behold this handy dandy video roundup!

Via Mary at Animal Person, Blinders: The Movie is now available online, in its entirety. I’m fairly certain it’s the full documentary, anyway; with a running time of 50 minutes, I haven’t yet had a chance to watch the whole film. Tonight, maybe, while the Mr. records his podcast.
 

 
Mary urges us to watch and circulate the video; please do!

Next up: those charlatans at the Humane Society of the United States. Even as they profit off the publicity that comes from their admirable dogfighting raids and rescues,
 

 
the HSUS actively campaigns to have these rescued dogs murdered. What a warped idea of “rescue,” eh?

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This C. David Coats quote (from the preface to his 1991 book, Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm) has been floating around the animal rights blogspherz for a few weeks now. While I think Coats is dead-on in his analysis, his choice of phrasing strikes me as a little…curious, shall we say.

Take a look:

Isn’t man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife – birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes, and dingoes – by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out a card praying for “Peace on Earth.”

In the course of his patriarchy blaming, Coats assumes the language of the very patriarchy he’s indicting. Specifically, he continually employs variants of the term mankind when he’s actually referring to humankind: man is an amazing animal; he slaughters wildlife so that he can raise and eat “food” animals; man suffers from dietary-induced health conditions, which leads man to torture millions of “lab” animals in search of cures for these self-inflicted illnesses, and so on.

In fact, Coats only switches from androcentric to gender-neutral terms near the end of the paragraph – when he transitions from describing the actions of the oppressor (man) to the consequences of these actions on other human animals. To wit: “millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition”; “[m]eanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter” (“at the absurdity of man,” natch).

Possibly, this is an unintentional example of casual sexism – i.e., Coats accidentally employed largely androcentric verbiage when writing this preface. Since this isn’t primarily a feminist blog, allow me to explain why Coats’s choice of terminology is problematic. By using language which explicitly refers to men – necessarily, at the exclusion of women – we erase women from the public sphere, from our written and oral histories, from our cultural narratives. These seemingly innocuous, male-specific terms have very real, very harmful practical consequences. Language shapes the way we think; words matter. In eliminating women from our discourse, so too do we eliminate them from our consciousness – shoving them from the public (political) to the private (domestic) sphere. “Man,” “mankind” and the like simply are not inclusive, universal terms for “men and women.” Nor is “convenience” an excuse – it’s not very hard to use “humankind” in place of “man” or “mankind,” “people” in place of “men,” etc.

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Action Alerts

Ecological Internet / Climate Ark: Urge President Obama to Say No to Canada’s Filthy Tar Sands
“The Canadian government wants special treatment for the world’s dirtiest oil. In first international trip, President Obama must stand strong on clean energy and sufficient climate policies.”

Farm Sanctuary: USDA’s People’s Garden Can Promote Plant-based Diets
“In light of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s recent addition of “The People’s Garden” on the premises of the USDA in Washington, D.C., as well as his announcement of creating community gardens at every USDA facility around the world, let’s tell Vilsack that another way of “enhancing and conserving our land and resources” is by eating and promoting a plant-based diet.”

PETA: PETA Relaunches McCruelty Campaign
“We are lifting our moratorium on the McCruelty campaign and need your help to persuade McDonald’s to demand that its suppliers switch to a less cruel method of chicken slaughter called controlled-atmosphere killing, or CAK. Every published report on controlled-atmosphere killing systems to date—including a 2005 study by McDonald’s—concludes that it is the least cruel form of poultry slaughter available. And some of McDonald’s suppliers in Europe already use the system!”

PETA: Urge San Juan Capistrano Councilmember to Stop Endorsing the Cruel Shooting of Crows!
“PETA’s office is being flooded with calls from concerned citizens in San Juan Capistrano, California, regarding their councilmember’s alleged statement apparently encouraging Orange County citizens to shoot crows. Council Hribar is quoted in The Orange County Register as calling crows “rats with wings,” claiming San Juan Capistrano needs more people to take up firearms and kill them. Apparently, licensed hunters are being encouraged to go outside city limits and gun down migratory crows.”

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM): Join PCRM’s Demonstration to End MCW’s Animal Labs on Feb. 18
“The Medical College of Wisconsin is at it again! Despite years of pressure from PCRM, the Wisconsin Humane Society, and concerned citizens like you, the Medical College of Wisconsin continues to use and kill pigs, frogs, rats, and rabbits in its first-year physiology course. In the coming days the school plans to kill more than 30 pigs. This Wednesday, Feb. 18, PCRM members and physicians will hold a demonstration at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee. Please join us!”

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Note: You can find previous alerts about these cases here…

1/22/09 – Kinship Circle: Man Who Filed Dog’s Teeth To Gumline Belongs In Jail

12/27/08 – Kinship Circle: October-December 2008 Updates (Parts 1 & 2) – 6. L.A. Assistant Fire Chief Charged In Karley’s Killing

12/4/08 – Kinship Circle: Demo For Karley 12/03 + Comments Still Needed

11/15/08 – Kinship Circle: ACT/ Puppy Fatally Beaten By LA Firefighter & Demo Today 11/15

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 2:57 PM
Subject: Updates: Lucas & Karley – Cases You Asked About

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

UPDATES + MORE ACTION FOR #2:

1. 75 Days In Jail For Man Who Mutilated Lucas’ Teeth
2. Fireman Sues “Owners” Of Karley, The Dog He Killed

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY (only) posts quarterly UPDATES NEWSLETTERS. However, below are two cases many of you asked about, so we’re sharing news early.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Subject: Victoria Burning – Help Animal Fire Victims In Australia

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER AID NETWORK

ONLINE VOLUNTEER FORM: Tell us what you can do! Be on file in our Disaster Aid Network: www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/volunteer/default.html

2/13/09: Victoria Burning – Help Animal Fire Victims

IN THIS ALERT:

1. KC Directory: Animal Relief Efforts You Can Help. Millions Died…
2. Nigel’s Animal Rescue: Send Money & Supplies ASAP
3. Wildlife Victoria: Overwhelmed With Fire Victims
4. Help For Wildlife: Long Recovery Ahead For Animals
5. RSPCA: Emergency Aid For Companion Animals
6. Wildlife Burning
7. IFAW: Team On The Ground For Animals In Victoria
8. Survivors Of The Fire – Symbols of Hope

Please review resources below to see WHO and HOW to help.

PHOTOS: Help For Wildlife, Victoria (Australia) — www.helpforwildlife.com/bushfires/photos.html

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Update, 2/18/09: Want further convincing that the HSUS is undeserving of your financial assistance? Done and done.

For those too lazy to click through, the HSUS led a raid on a dogfighting outfit in North Carolina, “rescuing” 127 pit bulls, including 60 puppies. With the HSUS’s blessing, the Wilkes County court ordered all 127 “rescued” dogs destroyed – murdered. By the time the court order was obtained and carried out – several months after the initial raid and “rescue” – some of the dogs had given birth to more pup. These pups had never even been exposed to the fighting ring, and yet they, too, were deemed “dangerous” and slaughtered. As of this writing, 146 innocent lives have been taken.

With the HSUS’s blessing.

——————-

The deadline to enter the HSUS’s Spay Day 2009 contest is fast approaching – February 27th, to be exact. I finally got around to submitting photos of my furkids. Aside from my slow internet connection, it was fairly easy – you just have to create a profile, then you can submit a photo for each of your companions. There are a few cutesy questions for you to answer, but nothing lengthy. I was under the impression that they wanted a mini-essay, which is why I kept putting this off, but the longest field is a brief 200 characters long. True to form, I had trouble staying within the maximum.

As for prizes, a panel of celebrity judges will choose a Grand Prize Winner, 10 Finalists, and 25 Honorable Mentions; the Grand Prize winner gets a $1000 shopping spree to HUMANE Domain.

The HSUS also uses this contest as a fundraiser. In addition to the celebrity judging category, members can “vote” for one another’s photos by making a cash donation. The prizes in this “fundraiser” contest are way cooler (including a session with a professional “pet” photographer and a custom painting of your animal), BUT – if you’ve got money to spare, I highly encourage you to make a donation to a local or grassroots animal rescue/rights group instead. Trust me…most likely, they’ll make much more efficient use of the funds than the HSUS, which in the past has hoarded Katrina relief funds and offered a reward to help the FBI catch so-called eco-terrorists – among other offenses. Ahem.

Naturally, I’m totally using this as an excuse to whip out the furkid photos. Here are my entries – all six of ‘em!

Ralphie – dog

My person: Kelly, Plattsburg, MO, United States

Nickname: Ralphie Bear

Favorite thing to do: walking, hiking, digging, eating, sunning

Most endearing bad habit: bossily barking at me while I prepare his meal.

Ralphie loves to dig, so we’ll go out to a pasture behind our house, and I’ll let him dig for a few hours while I read, nap or just enjoy his company. He’s my silly little cuddle bear!

My Charity: Kansas Humane Society (Wichita, Kansas, United States)

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