Mary Elizabeth Williams @ Salon: Will shower for sausages; She’ll “shake her bits” to whet your appetite

In which Burger King tries to one-up its previous misogynist campaigns (can I interest anyone in a blog job burger?) by covering a naked woman in the dismembered corpses and fried secretions of tortured and murdered animals and making her wiggle her (and the animals’) bits in service of the male gaze. Cue: “morning spank routine.” Barf, gargle, repeat.

Tracy Clark-Flory @ Salon: Berlusconi is a boob; The prime minister sells sex for political gain, but many Italians aren’t buying it

While dissecting Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s entrepreneurial endeavors – which largely involve selling women’s sexuality on his television stations – Clark-Flory mentions this gem of a tv stunt:

[T]he popular video “Il Corpo delle Donne,” which translates as “The Body of Women,” compiles some of the most shameless moments of T’n'A from Berlusconi’s stations and state television. The most egregious example: A woman is shown suspended from the ceiling in skimpy underwear next to a literal piece of meat clad in a matching pair of panties; it’s awfully reminiscent of that infamous meat-grinder Hustler cover.

After 20 minutes spent perusing boob/burger pimp BK’s website, I’m kind of glad I don’t have a video clip to illustrate this piece. Oy.

Stephanie @ Animal Rights: Breaking Unjust Laws: Clarence Darrow and Inherit the Wind and (especially) Breaking Unjust Laws: AETA, Fugitive Slave Acts, and Oppression Connections

Using the 1960 film Inherit the Wind as a jumping-off point, Stephanie briefly discusses a few similarities between the animal rights and U.S. anti-slavery movements. Or rather, similarities in how each movement was (is) countered by corporate powers, with no small amount of help from the government. (Hint: the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is to abolitionism as _____ is to the animal liberation movement?)

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Action Alerts: Animal & Environmental Advocacy

AAVS: Speak Out For Great Apes!

Animal Aid: Act now to help animals in laboratories

Animal Aid: [Pheasant] Shooting petition

Animal Rights @ Change .org: Captive Tigers Languishing in Deplorable Conditions in Cancun

Center for Biological Diversity: Senate Climate Bill: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

DawnWatch: NY Times front page on dairy industry includes info on slaughter 9/29/09

Defenders of Wildlife: Help Save Wild America!; We need your help to ensure America’s last truly wild lands are protected — in every state.

Earthjustice: Coal Ash is Hazardous to Our Health

Farm Sanctuary: Tell the USDA That Factory Farming Isn’t “Natural”

Friends of Kinship Circle, 9/20/09: 11th Hour For California’s Wild Burros And Horses & Little No-Name Mattered. Demand Justice.

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Action Alerts: Animal & Environmental Advocacy

1Sky: Tell the President: Lead Congress to Pass a Strong Clean Energy Bill

AAVS: Stand Up For Great Apes

Animal Person: On the Land Grant University Meat Problem

Animal Person: On Food for the Soul

Animal Rights @ Change .org: Shot for a Tulip? Say NO to Cayuga Heights NY’s deer-killing plan

Animal Rights @ Change .org: Stop Killing In Our Cemetery

Animal Rights @ Change .org: Send a clear message to your elected officials banning horse-drawn carriages!

Center for Biological Diversity: The Most Important Bill of Our Time

Center for Biological Diversity: Bats Need Urgent Help, Contact Fish and Wildlife

DawnWatch: Time Magazine cover story on cheap meat 8/31/09

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Action Alerts: Animal & Environmental Advocacy

1Sky: Fax Your Senators: Pass a Strong Clean Energy Bill!

Animal Rights @ Change .org: Lucky, Tina, Jewel, and Queenie: Speak Up for These Elephants

Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR): Write a Letter to the Editor in Support of the AETA 4 and Our Civil Liberties

Corporate Accountability International: Tell Coke CEO Muhtar Kent to tell us where Dasani comes from!

CREDO Action: Tell Vilsack: Don’t log Tongass National Forest!

DawnWatch: Wonderful NY Times Magazine cover story on whales — 7/12/09

Defenders of Wildlife: Help End Aerial Wolf Killing: Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor the PAW Act

Defenders of Wildlife: Join Jeff Corwin to Help Save Wildlife Threatened by Global Warming [American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)]

Farm Sanctuary: Don’t All Egg-Laying Hens Deserve to Stretch Their Wings? [California AB 1437]

Farm Sanctuary: Michigan: Hurry – Help Keep the Fox Out of the Henhouse [HB 5127 and HB 5128 / SB 654 and SB 655]

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Subject: Part 1/ UPDATES: APR – JUN 2009

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

VICTORIES * SETBACKS * PROGRESS

PART 1: APRIL – JUNE 2009 / KINSHIP CIRCLE UPDATES

1. Pig Abusers At Hormel Supplier Get 1-2 Year Probation
2. Bureaucrats Reach No Decision On Whaling
3. Lax Officials Knew Travis The Chimp Might Attack
4. Kitten Killer’s Accomplice Is Now Charged Too
5. Pet Food Poisoners Plead Guilty And Face Jail Time
6. Foie Gras Producer On Trial For Cruelty
7. Atlanta Falcons Bid Michael Vick A Permanent Farewell
8. “Change” Doesn’t Look Much Different Under Obama
9. California Spay/Neuter Law Passes Senate, Moves To Assembly
10. Groups Sue Salazar In Effort To Save Delisted Wolves
11. Way To Go SAEN! Research Industry Meltdown
12. Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo Bans Video Instead Of Abuse
13. California Bullfight Busts Continue; Humane Officer Assaulted
14. Repression Of Austrian Animal Activists Worsens

PART 2: KC UPDATES / APRIL – JUNE 2009
RESEND PART #2 TO ME: info [at] kinshipcircle.org

15. HSUS And Michael Vick Team Up To Fight Dogfighting?
16. Armed To Kill In National Parks: Guns Allowed
17. Maine Is 6th State To Ban Cruel Confinement Crates
18. NC Pro-Gas Chamber Bill Gets A “No” Vote
19. USDA Cites New Iberia Primate Lab For Violations
20. U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Against Canada Sealing
21. Canadian Sealers Lose Biggest Customer — EUROPE!
22. EU Votes To Let Most Primate Research Continue
23. Karley’s Sociopath Killer Ordered To Stand Trial
24. Horse Slaughterhouses Now Legal In Montana
25. Michigan Pound Gives R&R Research The Boot
26. Big Surprise: Swine Flu, Born On U.S. Factory Farms
27. Los Angeles DA Drops Charges Against Dog Dragger
28. Obama Accepts Breeder Dog As Gift For Daughters

(More below the fold…)

For reals. The ACLU completely stabbed the animal advocacy community in the throat when it failed to take a stand against the AETA. Even now, 2 1/2 years later, a search of the ACLU’s website turns up one pithy reference to AETA – this despite the government’s use of AETA, as feared, to prosecute First Amendment activities. Like, WTF, ACLU?

Luckily, the BORDC has had our backs from the beginning, and since the persecution of the AETA 4, CCR has become increasingly vocal in its opposition to AETA as well (as evidenced by their latest action alert, which I’ve included below).

So, seriously, who needs the ACLU when you’ve got the BORDC and the CCR? Yawn. ACLU, I’m so over you.

If you’ve got any extra money to throw around and would like to make a donation to a civil liberties group, please consider supporting our real allies, namely, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights – as well as the Civil Liberties Defense Center, which is listed as an ally on abolishtheaeta.org – and/or drop them a note to let them know you appreciate their solidarity.

Further recommended reading/agitating:

Green is the New Red

Coalition to Abolish the AETA

Support the AETA 4

The Good Time Bill

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Action Alerts

CARE: The Human Face of Climate Change
“Climate change is not only affecting butterflies and polar bears, it’s affecting humans, too. For people living in extreme poverty — 60 percent of whom are women — climate change presents a profound threat to their very survival. [...] Poor women and families are least responsible for causing climate change, yet they are suffering most from its effects. And, with the fewest resources to help them adapt to new conditions, they will pay the highest price. Indeed, they are already. Heed President Obama’s call for immediate action to help the world’s poorest people by asking Congress to enact legislation now!”

Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR): Impeach Torture Architect Bybee
“Last week, President Obama released four torture authorization memos written by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) under the Bush administration that devised a legal framework for the justification of the Torture Program. The memos were released as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the Center for Constitutional Rights helped file with the ACLU and other organizations. The memos were intended to provide legal cover for officials to carry out abhorrent, illegal and ineffective techniques that were approved at the highest levels of the Bush administration in violation U.S. and international law and the U.S. Constitution. One of the principal authors was Jay Bybee, the former head of the OLC and today a federal judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Color of Change: Stop Discriminatory Sentencing
“Misguided politicians and their “war on drugs” have created a national disaster: 1 in 9 Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are now behind bars (and 1 in 15 Black adults overall). It’s a man-made disaster, fueled by unfair sentencing rules. These rules treat 5 grams of crack cocaine—the kind common in poor Black communities—the same as 500 grams of powder cocaine, the kind prevalent in White and wealthier communities. Tell Congress to challenge unequal justice right now by ending unfair sentencing laws.”

DawnWatch: 60 Minutes fluff piece on matadors 4/19/09
“CBS’s 60 Minutes has done some beautifully animal friendly stories recently — last month’s piece on the poisoning of lions in Africa, and a piece in December on the ivory trade, for example. Unfortunately last night, Monday April 19, the show ruined its good record with a piece on two matadors who were referred to as Spain’s most eligible bachelors. The story reported and furthered their heartthrob status, and while showing them in the ring slaughtering bulls, did not discuss the cruelty of bullfighting.”

FARM on Change .org: Act Now to Protect the Rights of Animal Activists
“The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) was enacted by Congress with little debate or awareness at the behest of the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries and signed by President Bush in late 2006. [...] The leaders in the Judiciary Committees, charged with protecting our civil liberties and the rule of law, must take the initiative in repealing this disastrous legislation.”

(More below the fold…)

Action Alerts

Audubon: Senate Votes On Rollback of Bad ESA Changes
“In its final few months, the Bush Administration pushed through rules that drastically weakened and damaged the Endangered Species Act. Now, Congress has the opportunity to undo this ill-conceived rule-change and restore the Endangered Species Act so that it continues to protect our most imperiled animals and plants. The U.S. House of Representatives included a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill that would enable the Secretary of the Interior to reverse these changes. Now, it’s in the Senate’s hands — the vote may happen as early as Tuesday, March 3.”

Earthjustice: Tell the President: Mountaintop Removal Mining is Destroying Appalachia!
“Mountaintop removal mining destroys entire forests and threatens nearby communities with floods and poisoned drinking water. It’s been described by locals as “strip mining on steroids.” No one should ever again have to hear the sound of a mountain torn apart by mountaintop removal mining, with coal companies bent on quick profit whatever the cost. [...] But the court says current law does not stop them. So, please, join with us. Ask President Obama to undo rule changes to the Clean Water Act and end the Bush administration’s attack on our mountain communities. Act quickly—because once the mountaintops and headwater streams are gone, they’re gone for good.”

Ecological Internet / Climate Ark: Action Alert: Coal Kills — Time for People Power to Protect the Climate
“The growing and powerful climate movement has, based upon climate science, already shown conclusively that climate change is real and deadly. Now we must urge politicians, industry and individuals to immediately act and transform themselves if we are to survive. Finally, a mass protest against coal — whose plants are “factories of death” — is to occur in America, reflecting the urgency and depth of the one most important, sufficient climate response through non-violent civil disobedience.”

firedoglake: ACTION: Tell Speaker Pelosi To Stand Up to Ellen Tauscher and the Bank Lobbyists She Represents
“President Obama says that allowing bankruptcy judges to write down mortgages is an important part of his plan to arrest the downward spiral of the foreclosure crisis, but corporatist members of Congress and bank lobbyists are trying to stop that. For every foreclosure in a neighborhood, home values drop by an estimated 1%. Credit Suisse says that if judges have the ability to write down mortgages, it will stem the tide of foreclosures by 20% and it won’t cost the taxpayers a single dime.”

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Urgent: Tell your senators to reverse Bush administration attacks on endangered species
“The Senate has the opportunity to help reverse dangerous changes made to the Endangered Species Act as the Bush administration left office. The vote is scheduled to take place Tuesday, March 3rd, so tell your senators right away to oppose any attempts to remove the Endangered Species provisions from the omnibus spending bill.”

(More below the fold…)

Public Citizen wants your photos! The group is running a photo contest through the month of February – show President Obama what issues matter to you, and you might make it onto the front page of Public Citizen’s newsletter or inspire a new action campaign.

Here’s the announcement, from their January 31st enewsletter:

Photo Contest: Get Out Those Cameras!

If you could tell the Obama administration what issues matter to you, what would you say? Would you call for greater government accountability? Would you ask the administration to ensure every American has health insurance? Or maybe you’d ask for safer prescription drugs. Whatever the message, Public Citizen wants to know!

Over the next month, we’ll be collecting YOUR photo submissions to feature on our Flickr page, in this newsletter and possibly in future online campaigns. So take a photo of yourself holding up a message of what you’d like to tell the new administration. It can be a word, a policy goal or an issue you think is crucial in America. Submit your photos to feedback [at] citizen.org. We’ll spotlight our favorites next month.

So what are you waiting for? Get out your camera today!

This is a great opportunity for animal advocates to have their voices heard. Veg lunch options? Repeal the AETA? Public assistance for companion animal guardians in need? Stricter (pet) food safety laws? Share your veg*n wish list with Public Citizen today!

My photo(s) forthcoming…

—————-

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts public citizen photo contest flickr barack obama animal advocacy

Proceed with caution: Major spoilers ahead!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an animal rights terrorism plotline on CBS’s The Mentalist. At the time, I worried that maybe the show had jumped the shark. Well, after a brief break over the holiday season, The Mentalist returned Tuesday with an awesome episode (Season 1, Episode 11: Red John’s Friends). Although…I was a little surprised to see animal rights terra-ists make another brief appearance. That’s two episodes in a row, and in completely unrelated story lines. And this time, we Totally. Ruin. Everything. Like WTF, Bruno Heller!?

Here are the relevant bits: the titular character (Simon Baker as Patrick Jane) used to be a psychic charlatan, a fraud. A real sleazy John Edward type. While on the daytime talk show circuit, Jane started talking smack about a serial killer called Red John, whom he was “helping” the police to catch. Red John got pissed and killed Jane’s wife and daughter. Jane renounced his flim-flamin’ ways and joined the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a legitimate consultant – with the ultimate goal of one day finding Red John and exacting revenge.

There’s the background. So. In this particular episode, a convicted murderer (Todd Stashwick as Jared) makes a deal with Jane: Jane proves the man’s innocence (he’s an asshat, but ultimately not guilty of this particular crime), and he’ll tell Jane everything he knows about Red John (a friend of friend dealio). Jane ultimately solves the case, catching the real killer – but with a little help from Red John. Red John, you see, is onto Jared, and wants him sprung from the pokey so Red John can kill him before Jared divulges his identity. Jared suspects as much because, hey! – he’s flapping his gums about outing a serial killer. CBI wants Jared to get to Red John who also wants to get Jared. It’s a game of cat and mouse, and they’re all playing one another.

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