Where the hell does PETA get these ideas? And why didn't I think of this???

Have you heard the latest? This is too good to ignore!

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wants to lease the infamous Amityville Horror house on Long Island (which gained fame in the 1979 film The Amityville Horror) and convert it into - get this - "a slaughterhouse of horrors."

Who the hell at PETA comes up with these ideas?

And why the hell didn't I - a longtime horror movie fan (you'd never guess that I like all those blood and guts movies from my peacenik-esque posts on this Blog) - think of it?????

A PETA letter spelled out the organization's position on this matter:

The supernatural haunting that some people believe occurred in this building is legendary, but many people don't realize that if they are eating meat, eggs, and dairy products, they are getting their food from real-life horror houses - factory farms and slaughterhouses. (Source)

As Kevin Spacey's character Jack Vincennes said in L.A. Confidential: "Subtle." The PETA letter went on to say:

In our horror house, the sound of slaughterhouse blades whirring while animals scream for their lives would play over loudspeakers. Visitors would be able to see animatronic hens struggling for space inside tiny battery cages and lifelike "fish" gasping for air as they slowly suffocate on the deck of a fishing boat.

I don't remember any of this stuff in Disneyland's Haunted House.

No word yet on whether PETA is actually going to be able to lease the house. It would be really cool if they did. On the other hand, who would pay to go in such a ghastly haunted house? As I've said countless times in this Blog, the biggest enemy of animal advocates is denial. And I'm sure there won't be long lines of hardcore omnivores standing in line to see PETA's "slaughterhouse of horrors."

But you never know. The house became famous in 1974 after one of its inhabitants, Ronald De Feo, snapped and murdered his mother, father, two brothers and two sisters. Since then, allegations of paranormal activities inside the house (as well as allegations of over-imaginative attention seekers living inside the house) have dogged the place.

So fans of the paranormal who also happen to be omnivores might end up checking out the PETA house of horrors just to walk through the legendary Amityville House.

The Amityville Horror House (right) is now up for sale for $1.5 million. (Source) I guess we'll have to wait and see if PETA's creative attempt to scare the bejesus out of omnivores comes to pass.

Dude, whatever happens, I'm staying tuned!

People Making a Difference: Rockin' for the Animals!

I knew there was a reason why I loved the rock band The Pretenders - other than their fantastic music. Lead singer Chrissie Hynde has long been an advocate for animals. I think it is safe to say that Hynde kicks ass. She's a vegan. She's a Rock 'n' Roll Hall-of-Famer. And she's one of the greatest singers in the world (in my humble opinion).

Tonight (May 29), Chrissie is performing a sold-out benefit concert for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in New York, one of the biggest sanctuaries for abused, abandoned and neglected farm animals in the United States.

Hynde also appeared in Philadelphia earlier this week to support locals who are protesting McDonalds fast food restaurants as part of the McCruelty Campaign. Protesters in the campaign are demanding that McDonalds improves its slaughter standards. In an ideal world, McDonalds would be 100% vegan. But it's not ideal, and therefore better standards are an important step in the right direction.

Chrissie Hynde is pictured above protesting with other activists at a Philadelphia McDonalds. Not only has this woman given us some of the best rock 'n' roll of the past thirty years, she is also leading the way for better treatment for animals.

She truly is a person making a difference - a big difference.

A Few Thoughts on the Power of the Image

The reaction in the United States to the violent treatment of cows and calves at Conklin Dairy Farms in Ohio has been surprisingly strong. It is an indication that Americans are sick and tired of seeing animals being abused. None of this would've been possible - and those poor animals would likely still be victims of abuse and violence - without the trump card of hidden video.

The power of the image - both still and moving - cannot be underestimated. Images have transformed history. Ask any veteran of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and she or he will tell you that photographs and film footage were the some of the movement's greatest resources.

Little has changed in the last fifty years. Today, hidden video is one of the most powerful - if not the most powerful - weapons in the arsenal of animal rights activists and vegans. Films and images have helped convert countless men and women to the cause. Speaking from personal experience, I converted to veganism after watching HBO's Death on a Factory Farm, a film about the appalling conditions in an Ohio pig farm. The scene of the pig hanging from a forklift (above) was particularly powerful. The film still haunts me to this day, especially the image of one of the workers (the son of the man who owns the facility) picking up a piglet by its back legs and slamming her head against a wall. He dumps the piglet into a garbage can, where the poor creature is captured on film quivering.

Since then, I've watched countless animal abuse videos. I keep telling myself, "You're a convert. You're firmly in the vegan camp. You don't stray. Why torture yourself?" But I keep subjecting myself to these images. And they always haunt. Images of dogs and cats who have suffered violent beatings; of skinned animals still alive; of female ducklings being gassed in a garbage bag at a facility that breeds ducks for foie gras (only male ducks are used, so females are put to death - but many are thrown into garbage cans still alive); of farm animals being slaughtered while still conscious; of a worker at a pet supply place filling a garbage bag with hamsters and slamming them against a table.

Believe me, I've seen some unbelievably violent film footage. And it always leaves me shaken and upset.

So why keep watching it? A lot of sensitive souls - omnivores, vegetarians and vegans alike - cannot bring themselves to watch these images. A friend on Facebook remarked that she couldn't bear to watch the terrible beatings of the cows and calves at the Conklin Dairy Farm.

Sometimes, I must admit, these films leave me feeling powerless and demoralized. They force me to take a hard look at the worst - the most depraved - side of humanity. That's why I take time out each day to search the Internet for the men and women who are fighting the good fight. There are plenty of them out there. They deserve our support.

These videos are vital because they tear down the wall of denial that we build around ourselves. The wall that surrounded me was high when I was an omnivore, but, like the Berlin Wall, the power of truth turned it to rubble.

And the reason I could no longer keep that wall in place was a powerful made-for-HBO documentary. It was troubling, hard to watch, and gave me nightmares. It also slapped me into awareness. As depressing and hopeless and brutal as it was, the film proved to be an instrument of hope. It won me over. It has undoubtedly won others over, too.

So it turns out that poor little piglet, dying the loneliest death imaginable in a garbage can, kicking her legs and quivering in her last moments of agony, did not die in vain.

My Latest Column on Factory Farm Fires in Canada

I write a regular column for the Waterloo Region Record and this week's column is on a rash of disturbing factory farm fires here in Canada. Click here to read the article. In it, I discuss the sizable number of animals who have died the most horrific deaths imaginable in barn blazes. Borrowing figures from the wonderful folks at Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA), I point out that just since January of this year, 78,466 animals have died in Canadian barn fires.

Those numbers are appalling. And each one represents a living, breathing, sentient being - a pig, a chicken, a cow, sometimes other farm animals - who died in the most horrifying way imaginable, burning alive. The image I use above on this Blog Entry is of sows who burned to death in gestation crates in a factory farm fire. This is an issue that should be causing outrage. Hopefully, it will also prompt some Canadians - and other people - to reconsider their omnivore diets. Eating animals simply is not worth the devastating toll and the excruciating pain it causes these beautiful creatures. A vegan diet is much more consistent with a nonviolent political philosophy.

Some Thoughts on Compromise versus Militancy

I have several vegan and animal rights friends on Facebook and I read their posts every day.

One of my friends is very outspoken and militant and, well, he can be harsh at times toward omnivores and other people with whom he disagrees. He often has mean words for ominivores, calling them (among other things) "corpse munchers," and insisting that those who drink milk were just as guilty of abusing the cows and calves as the workers at the Conklin Dairy Farms in Ohio (see my post on that situation below). This friend loves controversy. He even posted a picture of Jesus Christ flipping the middle finger with the inscription "Dear Corpse-muncher" on it. Not surprisingly, that image triggered a heated debate.

Lots of the posts on this friend's page, in fact, involve debates that often turn downright nasty - and some even involve vegans ripping into other vegans.

The more militant veganistas and animal rights activists not only lambaste the omnivores; they occasionally go after the non-confrontational vegan moderates who don't necessarily enjoy trashing omnivores. The moderates, too, are sometimes guilty of fanning the flames by focusing too much on the tactics of militants instead of those institutions and ways of thinking that result in rampant animal abuse.

I have to admit, I am probably what one would call one of the "nice" people. I have lived a lifetime committed to nonviolence, and remain a firm believer in the power of nonviolent action as the only method of resistance in democratic society. I don't refer to my foes as "motherf---ers." When I come across a heated posting debate on Facebook that deteriorate into a heavy-duty trashing session, I feel incredibly uneasy.

Those of us who read a lot of history know that what I'm seeing on Facebook is actually a common trait of mass protest movements throughout history. All movements contain overzealous types who can be hardcore, harsh and even hateful at times. One can understand the level of animosity. A lot of animal rights activists are mindful of the thousands and thousands of animals who are being slaughtered every minute of every day.

Also, there have been times in the past when fanaticism has been effective. Look at abolitionist John Brown. Most historians agree that his utopian raid on Harpers Ferry in the summer of 1859, even though it had zero chance of liberating slaves (which was its purpose), was one of the key events that led to the coming of the Civil War.

Movements need moderates and militants. Moderates are needed to keep the discussion going; militants are needed to pull the pendulum leftward.

But speaking strictly personally, I feel far more comfortable with people who embrace Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s attitude of hating the sin, not the sinner.

It is, I think, profoundly unrealistic to say, "Hate the sin, love the sinner." Those sadists who kicked and beat innocent cows and calves do not seem like the kind of guys I can "love" (even though I like to hope that maybe the best among them can try to redeem himself). But don't ask me to love them. Not the way I deeply love those in my personal life, like my children or my companion and her children or members of my family. That's asking too much. We don't want to turn saintliness into a form of insanity. And let's not make a mockery or cliche' of the word "love."

But it is also important to remember that bad ways of thinking and harmful institutions are the real enemies, more so than individual people.

In addition, I think vegans need to try to reach out to omnivores. I know some omnivores can be frustrating. I like a lot of what Michael Pollan has to say about the food industry, but when he starts talking about animal rights or veganism, I often disagree fiercely with what he says. But I am grateful that he speaks his mind. Free speech should be celebrated. Dogmatism and rigidity should be rejected.

That doesn't mean we should become "flexible" vegans, or even adopt an "I'm OK, you're OK" attitude. We owe it to the animals who live in the worst conditions imaginable, and who are being murdered by the thousands as you read this post, to be decisive and vigorous in our fight for them.

But we should also recognize that most of us were omnivores at one point or another. And omnivores who are having doubts are potential comrades in the struggle for the liberation of animals and steering the human race toward a plant-based diet.

Yet Another Reason to Just Say No to Dairy

I am a veteran of watching these animal abuse videos, but even this one is hard to take. The video consists of hidden camera shots of workers in Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio, brutalizing the cows in the facility. The images are deeply troubling. Workers punch calves in the face and kick them in the head. Pitchforks are used to jab various parts of cows. Cows in too much pain to stand (from the savage beating they've endured at the hands of these thugs) are kicked repeatedly. Workers whack cows with crowbars, snap their tails, and they joke about their ability to beat the shit out of (and sometimes kill) innocent, defenseless calves.

Conditions in dairy facilities often leave a lot to be desired, but the ones in Conklin Dairy Farms are particularly brutal. Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, had a difficult time watching the video and was horrified by what he saw. "This is probably the most gratuitous, sadistic, sustained animal abuse I have ever seen," he said. "The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless." (Source.)

Dairy is as brutal as meat. This video shows the day-to-day violence of the factory farm system at its most extreme. In all likelihood, the workers who abused the cows and calves at Conklin are family men - loving husbands and fathers - who aren't earning much money and walking the tightrope to make ends meet. My purpose here is not to dehumanize them. No, my purpose is to show how the factory farm system dehumanizes good people. And make no mistake: It is a system that asks us, the consumers, to look the other way at the shocking treatment of animals.

Even in dairy facilities where workers do not abuse the cows and calves, these poor animals live lives in cold, sterile and unnatural conditions. And when they can no longer give milk, they're not handed a gold watch and allowed to go off and enjoy the sun in some lovely pasture. They meet the same end as all animals in the factory farm system.

So it's not just a matter of ending the abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms in Ohio, although that's a good start. The real goal is to bring a halt to the factory farm system and recognize that we human beings do not have the right to do what we are doing to farm animals.

Going vegan - thereby reducing demand - is a good place to start.

An Uplifting Photograph is Worth a Thousand Words

I love this photograph from The Los Angeles Times of a happy Yorkshire pig named Lisa, chilling out with human friend Sansa Collins, who is the resident manager at Sanctuary One, one of countless animal sanctuaries across North America dedicated to giving abused, neglected and homeless domesticated animals a loving home. Sanctuary One is located in Applegate Valley, Oregon. This picture is from May 17. This is how human beings and animals were meant to be - friends, living side by side in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

What they say is right: A wonderful photograph truly is worth a thousand words.

The King Kong of Cruel Food Production: Foie Gras, Canadian Style

You might not have the stomach to watch this video about the production of Foie Gras. Foie Gras means "fatty liver" - it is a "delicacy" made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been forcefully fattened just for this occasion. It is known as a rich and buttery food and is on the menu at many upscale restaurants.

And the making of Foie Gras is as violent, cruel and inhumane as food production gets.

Please watch this video of the making of Foie Gras in Canada.

It is one of the most painful documentaries on animal abuse that I've viewed, and I have watched a lot of these types of videos.

Good people have been resisting the production of Foie Gras for years. This includes a number of celebrities, including former 007 James Bond star Roger Moore. Recently, Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet has joined in on the anti-Foie Gras Movement.

This video shows - very explicitly - just how cruel the production of Foie Gras is. Female ducklings are thrown into garbage bags and then gassed with carbon monoxide, but many of them survive (as this video shows). Male ducks are force fed and the small ones are picked out and brutally murdered. This is pure heartlessness at its worst.

Human rights without animal rights is utterly meaningless. Either you stand for the rights of all sentient beings or none at all. This video is the greatest argument for going vegan. It is also a warning bell calling on all decent people to demand a halt to the production of Foie Gras.

People Making a Difference: You Don't Need to Look Too Hard to Find the Saints

Sometimes, I have to look on the bright side. Otherwise, I get too pessimistic.

And there is a bright side. The bright side being the countless decent men and women and even children who fight for the rights and well being of animals.

I'd like to take a moment to single out Yang Xiaoyun, age 60, from Tianjin in northeastern China. This woman is a true heroine who has gone into debt, risked angering family members, and works every day from sunup to sundown.

Why? To take care of countless stray cats and dogs. In fact, her shelter houses some 300 abandoned cats and dogs. Many of them had histories of being abused and mutilated before arriving at her shelter. She calls them "my children."

As Yang pointed out in a recent interview:

None of my friends or family members support my work. I had two properties. One was a wedding gift for my son for when he gets married. I sold his place in 2000. He was very angry at me and ran away from home for three years. He couldn't take it anymore. (Source)

Luckily, Yang's son returned to help her. But she was forced to move numerous times due to complaints from neighbors. Each month, Yang faces $2,000 (US) in monthly expenses. She has managed to get by thanks to the donations of kind people around the world.

Yang has an interesting story: Years ago, after her husband died in the 1990s, she grew despondent. She felt like her life had lost meaning and she was contemplating suicide when she found an abandoned kitten in a ditch. She found something else, too: Her calling.

But it's not easy. It's a thankless job. It takes her nine hours a day to prepare food - which typically consists of cooked leftovers mixed with meat - for all of the animals in her shelter.

Yang has a Blog, but it's in Chinese. Like so many wonderful people taking care of animals, she is looking for donations. More information on donating can be found here.

Yang is the kind of person who helps restore my faith in humanity. She is doing great work. She is making a difference. The animals in her shelter are loved and well cared for, many for the first time in their lives.

Yang's struggle is daunting, yet her compassion is yet another source of inspiration for those of us who refuse to give up the good fight for our animal friends.

I have posted a video on Yang and her shelter below. Have a look if you get a chance.

God bless you, Yang Xiaoyun.

A Great Punishment for BP Oil Execs

BP execs have lied and lied and lied about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They've lied so much that they're now spreading lies on top of lies on top of yet more lies. Their lies are so thick, one wonders whether these slick corporate officers are even capable of telling the truth. Do they even know what the truth is?

Let's wrestle with the Truth for a moment: This spill is now the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. This spill has already taken a devastating toll on wildlife, with dead sea turtles and fish washing up on the Gulf Coast every day. The oil is now invading the marshlands of the Mississippi Delta and threatens to spread around Florida. The oil might even make its way up the Atlantic Coast. Wildlife is threatened. Aquatic life is threatened. The entire ecosystem of the East Coast of the United States is in jeopardy.

Dollar amount? We don't know and we probably won't know the final amount for years. The toll on the environment and living creatures? Impossible to estimate.

And these Fat Cats with BP - whoops, sorry, I shouldn't use the term cats in such a horrible context... those of you who read this Blog know I love cats. Start over: These fuckers at BP (sorry - sometimes that is the ONLY word one can use) are so full of lies and bullshit that it's oozing out of the little holes in their head called ears. What a transparently sinister collection of amoral, ruling class leeches. And all they care about is the bottom line. Profits. $$$. Don't let them fool you into thinking that they give a rat's ass about the Gulf of Mexico, because they absolutely do not.

Sorry, but I just can't contain my rage anymore, as I'm sure is evident in this Blog Post. At this point, I think it is appropriate to recall the immortal words of the late, great activist and Berkeley Free Speech Movement leader Mario Savio (1942 - 1996):

There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop, And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, the people who own it, that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all.

But BP continues to insist, borrowing from Orwellian Double Speak, that the oil spill really isn't that bad (even though they have admitted to initially downplaying the severity of it).

Note the steady stream of lies:

"We are containing the spill." - BP Chief Tony Hayward (Source)

"... and very little of the oil is getting to the shoreline." - BP Chief Tony Hayward (Source)

BP's response has been "extraordinarily successful." - yep, you guessed it, BP Chief Tony Hayward (Source)

Extraordinarily successful???

OK, so if it's extraordinarily successful, here's my advice about a proper form of punishment for these greedy assholes: Make these execs disrobe down to their skivvies and force them to take a dip in the oiliest locations of the Gulf of Mexico. Then maybe they will be able to feel the excruciating pain that animals feel who are forced to swim in this sea of chemicals.

The oil leads to a slow death as it is absorbed into the skin and makes its way into the bloodstream, the lungs, the digestive system, until so much of this poison sludge is in one's body that it is impossible to go on functioning.

So enjoy your swim, BP execs.

Because, as we all now, justice will out and the wrongdoers will pay. Right?

Right?

Anybody?

Right?

(Pictured above: A dead sea turtle, another victim of offshore oil drilling...)