Action Alerts

Amnesty International: No Discrimination Against Palestinian Refugees in Gaza
“On March 6, 2009, Senator Kyl (R-WI) introduced an amendment to the Omnibus bill that would deny Palestinian refugees from Gaza resettlement protection. The US is not likely to resettle this population in 2009, and therefore, the amendment is not only discriminatory but also unnecessary. Contrary to 30 years of extending protection to refugees on the basis of need, the Kyl amendment seeks to discriminate against an entire group based on nationality alone. Tell your Senator that this discriminatory amendment must be defeated.”

Kinship Circle: Can you help fund Kinship Circle’s investigative research?
“Kinship Circle composes action campaigns that bring results. Our global supporters take public outcry to decision-making tables. Among many victories for animals, our campaigns helped…”

National Wildlife Federation (NWF): Help Get Cleaner Cars On America’s Roads
“Currently the Environmental Protection Agency is collecting public input on whether California should be prevented from implementing their strong state regulations to cut global warming pollution from motor vehicles. Strong vehicle emission standards will encourage automakers to manufacture cleaner cars that help save people money while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

PETA: URGENT: Demand an End to the Shooting and Poisoning of Dogs in Iraq
“The latest news reports from Iraq have been accompanied by disturbing video footage that shows that government veterinarians and other officials are shooting and poisoning puppies and dogs in Baghdad. PETA and other organizations have offered assistance, including both hands-on and financial help. [...] Despite offers of professional assistance, Iraqi officials continue to poison and shoot stray dogs in Baghdad. Strychnine, the poison reportedly being given to the dogs videotaped convulsing, causes severe pain and discomfort before death, as is clear in the footage. Dogs fed poisoned meat suffer increased reflex excitability in the spinal cord, causing all their muscles to contract simultaneously. Animals can suffer and convulse for hours before finally dying from suffocation after ingesting strychnine.”

PETA: URGENT: Deer Are Being Trapped and Trucked to Slaughterhouse in Texas
“The Walden Community Improvement Association’s (WCIA) decision to trap deer using nets and then transport the terrified animals to slaughterhouses has Montgomery County, Texas, residents fuming. WCIA’s Web site states that 75 deer have already been trapped at Walden on Lake Conroe and that up to 125 more may be trapped, trucked, and slaughtered to reduce the deer herd living at the community.”

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Which Western feminist icon are you?

The survey says that I’m Angela Davis, probably due in no small part to my response to third question, “What is the most important feminist issue?”: “Race, class, and gender must be examined, recognized, and the power redistributed.”

You are Angela Davis! You were the THIRD WOMYN IN HISTORY to appear on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. You are a communist, black power-lovin’ lady who shook up the United States when you refused to lie down quietly to oppression. You WENT TO JAIL! Wow. You kick so much more ass than Foxxy Brown.

I was kinda sorta hoping to have animal rights, animal welfare or even plain ole environmental ethics or ecology figure into a question or two – certainly, the above answer could have done so seamlessly, i.e., “Race, class, gender and the human/animal dichotomy must be examined, recognized, and the power redistributed.” – but no go. Nor did Carol J. Adams, Alice Walker, Josephine Donovan or company make the list of iconic Western feminists.

Interestingly, the results do include Susan B. Anthony and Gloria Steinem, two iconic feminists who were/are less well-known for their vegetarianism. Still, nary a word about animal advocacy in the quiz; even though non-human animals vastly outnumber the human ones, they and their concerns are practically invisible. Sigh.*

On a lighter, more serendipitous note, I am wearing my Foxxy Brown tee today.

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Baked potatoes. Diced tomatoes. A dash of olive oil and garlic. Smothered in melty, cheddary Vegan Gourmet soy cheese.

Need I say more?

Cheesy Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

4 white baking potatoes
14 to 28 oz canned diced tomatoes (or 2 to 3 fresh tomatoes, diced)
Olive oil
Garlic and/or onion powder
Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet soy cheese (or similar), cheddar flavor, 1/2 to 1 brick
1 medium sized glass baking pan

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Action Alerts

1Sky: Help President Obama strengthen his goals for reducing global warming pollution
“Our planet is warming at an alarming rate, but scientists say we can solve the climate crisis if we act quickly. That’s why it’s so important for President Obama to strengthen the target he has set for reducing global warming pollution by the year 2020. Unfortunately, Obama’s current proposal is to return to 1990 pollution levels by 2020. This would be a significant reduction, but not nearly enough rapidly enough. Help President Obama strengthen his goal for reducing global warming pollution–send him a message today by filling the form below.”

Common Cause: Make Recovery Act funds work in your state
“Right now, billions of dollars in Recovery Act funds are being sent to your state and local governments. We know where that money should go: towards rebuilding communities of our nation. But powerful special interests and their lobbyists want to put that money in their own pockets. That’s why we need to act now. Fill out the fields below to send a letter to your governor. Demand that the Recovery Act funds work for your state, and for our nation!”

CREDO Action: Tell Congress: Impeach Judge Jay Bybee.
“When presidents and federal judges take office, they must swear to support and defend the Constitution. But federal judge Jay Bybee worked long and hard to undermine the Bill of Rights – and to make sure that President George W. Bush could do the same. On March 2, the Justice Department released a series of legal memos, some authored by Jay Bybee, that gave the Bush Administration legal cover to wiretap Americans without court approval, to send prisoners overseas where they were likely to be tortured, to use U.S. military forces for domestic purposes, and a number of other actions that previously would have been considered unconstitutional.”

DawnWatch: Excellent NY Times op-ed on chimps in captivity 3/6/09
“The Friday, March 6 edition of the New York Times included a superb op-ed, by Charles Siebert, headed, ‘Something Wild.’ It tells us of Travis, the chimp who was killed after biting off a woman’s face and hands.”

Kinship Circle: 3/7/08: Canada Seal Bill Dropped, No Debate. Demand The Killing End.
“3/4/09, OTTAWA (AFP) — Canadian Senator Mac Harb introduced a private members bill that would end the commercial seal slaughter in Canada… The bill failed to gain any support from the start…and was immediately dropped from the senate’s agenda.”

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Oh, yays! I received a copy of Joan Dunayer’s Animal Equality: Language and Liberation – along with a grande Kong for lil’ Rennie, and a few boxes of vegan cranberry pills for my silly, womanly urinary tract (tmi?) – in the mail today. That’s me – or rather, my South Park doppelganger – holding a copy of the book and frowning (about to scold someone, somewhere, no doubt) – up above. South Park Kelly circa 2006 sported a kissy face, but no more. (Who’s got time to make love when there’s a war raging out there!?)

Focusing on language and animal liberation, as the subtitle suggests, the book

shows that deceptive, biased words sustain injustice toward nonhuman animals. Speciesism, the failure to accord other animals equal consideration and respect, survives through misunderstanding and ignorance.

Contrasting evolutionary reality with popular notions of human uniqueness and superiority, Animal Equality discredits the term “lower animals.” Compelling evidence of nonhuman thought and emotion debunks language that characterizes other animals as unreasoning or insensitive.

Vivid exposés of hunting, sport-fishing, zoos, aquariums, vivisection, and “animal agriculture” reveal the cruelty that misleading words legitimize and conceal. Animal Equality leaves no doubt: speciesist abuse relies on euphemism, doublespeak, and other linguistic ploys.

Dunayer even offers a super-handy glossary at the back of the book, complete with problematic words and possible alternatives! (Instead of “spare ribs,” say “pig ribs” – and so on.)

What this means for you, dear readers, is that you can expect an increasingly insufferable vegan language monitor in the coming days.

(OK, well, maybe not ’till next month. I’ve got to set up the garden and lay down the mulch before the weeds run amok. Priorities!)

* I call this one The Veg*n Language Police, naturally.

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Last week, while bored and browsing the Flickrs, I stumbled upon a collection of academia-themed photo sets, uploaded by a user in Germany. Most of the photos are of various conferences and lectures, hosted at the University of Heidelberg. One particular set caught my eye: “The Myth of Animal Rights,” with Professor Tibor R. Machan, Ph.D.

Now, I don’t know much about the man, nor do I care to. His Wiki page is rather sparse, and barely touches upon his animal rights views, except to say

Machan has also argued against animal rights (in his widely reprinted paper “Do Animals Have Rights?” [1991] and his book Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature’s Favorite [2004]). His full ethical position is developed in his book Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (Routledge, 1998) and it is applied in, among other books, Generosity: Virtue in Civil Society (Cato Institute, 1998).

As if the shameless anthropocentrism evident in Machan’s book titles isn’t ridiculous enough, behold the flier which advertised his appearance on the University of Heidelberg campus:

For those who can’t view the image, a diminutive lil’ chimp sits – in a diaper!? – next to a towering Brandon Routh-as-Superman. Completely breaking with reality, Superman stands at least ten times taller than the “lowly” chimp – no doubt meant to represent MAN’S superiority to mere beasts. A bunch of text offers conference details, with the title of the lecture – “The Myth of Animal Rights” – front and center, in outlined font (lolcats styley, natch: seriousness, ur doin it rong!).

Clearly, this ad reeks of speciesism: though humans are just one of millions of animal species which inhabit the earth, Machan apparently thinks that we’re the only species that matters: we’re “nature’s favorite.” In terms of importance, we dwarf even the chimpanzee, our closest primate cousin. We – oh, hell, the speciesism is so over-the-top, need I continue?

Yet, Machan’s choice of Superman to represent the superiority of humankind is telling as well. Had he chosen to depict an anonymous man and/or woman, the concept would have worked just as well. Instead, he chose a superhero, and an iconic one at that. Think about it: Machan could have went with Wonder Woman, or Supergirl, or Storm, or, jeez, Jean Grey.* Predictably, though, he picked a dude to represent the awesomeness of humanity. A white dude. A heterosexual white dude. A manly man. A man so manly, that both his manliness and his supremacy are proclaimed in his very name: SUPER MAN. He is super, he is manly: he is super-manly!

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Action Alerts

Alaska Wilderness League: Ask your representative to promote Arctic wilderness legislation
“Momentum has changed in Washington. There is optimism. There is hope. We finally have an opportunity to begin protecting America’s Arctic instead of merely fending off the twin attacks of exploitation and destruction. Some famous opponents of America’s Arctic were removed from Washington in the last election. There are many new decision-makers from across the country – many who don’t know how vital Arctic wilderness is. They need to know about your passion for protection if they are going to make the right decisions.”

Anti-Fur Society: Urgent action needed for the seals as the EU Parliament is considering a ban on the Canadian seal products.
“Compassionate people worldwide have come a long way in the struggle to stop Canada’s barbaric killing of seal pups. Despite many set backs, we may soon rejoice in a most sweet victory as the EU Parliament voted for a ban on the seal trade. However, we still have a few weeks before the final vote–to ban or NOT to ban–the trade of seal products in Europe. The final vote will not be cast until sometime in early April. [...] As you can see, although very promising for a total ban, we still have an enormous roadblock ahead of us. This is why we must keep up the pressure so the EU Parliament will see that the world no longer wishes to tolerate any more bloodshed.”

Bush Truth Commission: Support a Truth & Reconciliation Commission
“Sen. Patrick Leahy recently proposed a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate abuses during the Bush-Cheney Administration – so they never happen again. These abuses include the use of torture, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws. Please sign his online petition urging Congress to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the Bush-Cheney Administration’s abuses.”

NARAL: North Dakota Abortion Ban is Right Around the Corner—Help Stop It
“On February 17, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill intended to ban abortion. The state’s so-called “personhood” bill also could lead to bans on birth control, stem-cell research, and in-vitro fertilization. The anti-choice movement is beginning its “guerilla warfare” with North Dakota because they think no one will notice. But when they’re done there, they’ll move along to the next state. Don’t let them get away with it! Sign our petition to the governor of North Dakota asking him to veto any “personhood” or abortion-ban bill that lands on his desk.”

Project R&R: Help End Chimpanzee Research; SUPPORT THE GREAT APE PROTECTION ACT!
“Overview: Time is running out for the estimated 1000 (about half of which are federally owned) chimpanzees who remain in U.S. laboratories – most of whom have been in a lab for 40 years or more! It is time for the U.S., the only remaining large scale user of chimpanzees for research in the world, to join the growing list of other nations who have banned or severely limited their use of chimpanzees.”

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Subject: Greyhounds, Fur, Rodeo Shock, Cats Skinned… [Friends Of Kinship Circle]

FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

friendsofkinshipcircle.wordpress.com/

* KINSHIP CIRCLE DOES NOT WRITE OR RESEARCH THESE ALERTS.
* WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VALIDITY OF FRIENDS OF KC ALERTS.
* CONTACT ALERT WRITERS. PLEASE DO NOT HIT REPLY. We will not respond.

1. Trouble For Greyhounds in South Africa
2. Jamaica Wants Greyhound Races Too
3. Jason Wu Puts Aside Fur, For Now
4. Tucson Rodeo Shocks Horses
5. Guandong – Cats Skinned And Boiled Alive
6. Fight Horse Slaughter State By State
7. Prosecute Bird Killers In Florida
8. Ask For End To NYC Horse Carriages
9. World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week

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Sigh. Almost two years after “vegan” parents Lamont Thomas and Jade Sanders were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for starving their son, Crown Shakur, to death (hence Nina Planck’s oh-so-clever – and, not to mention, compassionate – “Death by Veganism” column title), non-vegans *still* refer to this case as proof that vegan diets are inherently unhealthy and unsuitable for infants and children. (And, in more extreme cases, that vegan diets constitute child abuse and warrant state intervention.) Even though, as I explain at over at Bitch, these “death by veganism” cases could be more accurately described as “death by starvation.” With proper knowledge and planning, vegan diets are actually healthier than diets which involve animals and animal by-products. For infants, breast milk and soy formula – rather than the soy milk and apple juice Crown Shakur received – are part of a healthy vegan diet.

Anyhow, cue the latest bit of anti-vegan scare-mongering: “Vegan diet tied to birth defects,” which PCRM and Liberation BC critique below. Please consider contacting the newspapers that ran the story, and politely correct their shoddy science “reporting.”

Mary Martin at Animal Person also offers an interesting deconstruction of PCRM’s press release from a radical vegan perspective. I’m embarassed to say that I didn’t pick up on PCRM’s odd choice of wording at first!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Liberation BC
Date: Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Subject: Vegan Diet Doesn’t Cause Birth Defects

Liberation BC has had a few people write to us asking about an article in several newspapers, “Vegan diet tied to birth defects”, so we thought we’d send out an Action Alert with a little more information.

The article claims that a study shows that “…vegans and women who eat little or no meat, fish, eggs, milk or cheese are at the highest risk, as well as women with stomach or intestinal problems…that keep them from absorbing enough B12.”

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has issued a press release in response, stating that what the article doesn’t mention is that “…the study is based on analysis of stored blood samples originally collected during pregnancy from three groups of Irish women between 1983 and 1990. It’s not clear if any of the women were vegan, but the study clearly states that this population was deliberately chosen because vitamin supplementation and food fortification were rare at that time. The women lived in a region of traditionally high neural tube defects prevalence, suggesting a moderately high genetic predisposition.” (Doctors endorse vegan and vegetarian diets for healthy pregnancies, 2 Mar 2009)

Of course, it is absolutely true that everyone needs to get B12. It is the only vitamin or mineral that one cannot get on a totally vegan diet. An incredibly small amount of it is necessary–less than 10 micrograms a day–and yet it is so important that without it, we can become very ill indeed. Fortunately, however, it is also a very easy vitamin to get.

It is also worth noting that the experts wholly endorse a vegan diet. The Dieticians of Canada and the American Dietetic Association have stated that:

“Well-planned vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation. Appropriately planned vegan diets satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth.”

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Today’s blub-worthy video comes courtesy of Marc Bekoff at Ethological Ethics:
 

 
The video’s description on You Tube is rather sparse, but fear not – google to the rescue! Apparently, this video is a few months old, and 100% true:

Footage from a traffic camera overlooking a busy freeway in Santiago, Chile captured a dog performing a heroic act — pulling an injured friend from oncoming traffic.

The video, from Azteca America Colorado, shows an injured dog lying in the middle of a freeway after being hit by a car, while a rescue dog dodges traffic to run to its side. The rescue dog then drags the severely injured canine across lanes of traffic as cars swerve around it.

No motorists stopped to help either dog, but a highway crew arrives at the end of the video.

The translation of the announcer is as follows:

“These images seen from the surveillance cameras show a very common situation with our overpopulated highways. It is normal for us to see dogs run over. In the video, we can see this dog fighting for his life because he was run over by the vehicle.

“What is very touching is to see the very heroic actions of this other dog who is trying to pull him to the side of the highway. We are going to keep seeing things like this until we find a solution to the dogs living on the streets.”

Emphasis mine, because I was pleasantly surprised to see that Fox News shared my initial reaction: namely, an immediate awareness that a “lowly” canine stepped in to rescue a fellow dog, whereas no humans could be bothered to do so. And yet, humans are the morally superior beings. *snort*

Naturally, Fox loses points for referring to the victim and hero as “it,” instead of “he” or “she.” Interestingly, the reporter from Azteca America Colorado didn’t fall into the same speciesist linguistic trap. Weird given his (?) seemingly blasé reaction re: vehicular-canine collisions.

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