Peta on The Huffington Post

USDA Classifies PETA As A Terrorist Threat

2009-12-02T12:58:45Z

PETA is one of the most controversial activist groups operating today. The group's contentious media campaigns, undercover operations, infamous advertising, and high profile demonstrations have made them perhaps the most infamous--and most polarizing--nonprofit organization there is. But are they terrorists? According to the US Department of Agriculture, they are now.

Joanna Krupa's Naked Crucifix PETA Ad Photo (NSFW Picture)

2009-12-02T11:32:34Z

"Dancing With The Stars" contestant and playboy model Joanna Krupa has found herself at the center of controversy with the launch of a new PETA campaign. Krupa is seen posing with nothing but a halo and carefully placed crucifix to promote pet adoption. Catholic critics have not received the ad well.

PETA is known for its shock tactics, and use of naked celebrities in its campaigns. This is Krupa's second photo shoot with the animal welfare charity. The first ran with the signature tagline, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."

If you want to see what all the fuss is about for yourself, then check out our slideshow of the crucifix ad and Krupa's past PETA ads.

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Activists Get Naked And Cover Themselves In Fake Blood To Protest Fur (VIDEO, NSFW)

2009-11-30T13:18:07Z

On Sunday, anti-fur activists in Madrid lay naked in the streets, covered in fake blood to mirror the corpses of minks and other animals killed for their fur. Despite the fact that it was rainy and about 42 degrees, this large crowd stripped down to get their point across.

The following clip contains some NSFW nudity.

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PETA's Thanksgiving Turkey Ad NBC Won't Air (VIDEO)

2009-11-24T08:44:42Z

The animals rights group PETA is known for its shock tactics and pushing the envelope with its ads. Past ads that networks refused to air include the "veggie sex" ad slated to run during the Superbowl, and Pamela Anderson's stripping airport cop video. This ad, however, doesn't use sex or naked people to make people squirm.

According to PETA's blog:

When we first submitted our newest commercial to NBC in the hopes of running it during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the station asked us to give more information about the cruelty behind turkey slaughter to back up the statements made in the ad. But even after we sent the network this New York Times article chronicling the grisly facts about turkey factory farming, it nixed the ad, claiming that "this commercial does not meet NBC Universal standards."

WATCH:

'Grace': PETA's Thanksgiving ad

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Thanksgiving Turkeys: How They Get From The Farm To Your Dinner Table

2009-11-23T13:13:44Z

It's turkey time.

Millions of Americans will dive into the big bird next Thursday, smothering it with gravy or cranberry sauce or both.

Many will also face the scornful stare of their vegetarian cousin, silently asking, "do you know how that turkey got here?"

We can assure you: You don't want to know.

Cat Declawing Banned In Beverly Hills, LA

2009-11-18T02:45:30Z

LOS ANGELES — Two Southern California cities have voted to ban the declawing of cats, joining San Francisco and Santa Monica which recently outlawed the practice.

The Beverly Hills City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday night to approve a declawing ban, except in cases of medical necessity.

Joe Territo: Jersey City 9-year-old Named World's Cutest Vegetarian Boy

2009-11-11T17:02:56Z

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals named 9-year-old Perry Martijena of Jersey City the World's Cutest Vegetarian Boy. I am not making this up.

"Clearly Perry's vegan diet provides him with plenty of energy," PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement.

"And by skipping unhealthy foods such as meat, eggs and cheese, Perry is playing smart and helping ensure good health for his entire life."

And, apparently, it's making him cute!

Joseph Satto: Just Say 'No' to Your Mobile Device

2009-11-09T17:23:08Z

Recently on mySomeday, I came across a woman who planned to document a holocaust survivor's story and then did so. We featured this completed Someday on the site and interviewed her about the process.

During that interview, she said that the real moments of connection came during regular visits with her survivor, mobile technology-free. Her belief was that conversations have a life of their own. On many occasions it took time for the survivor to be comfortable enough to share a memory and a mobile device would surely have made it more difficult to stay in the flow of the conversation. Putting aside the obviously compelling subject matter, it struck me that this one woman's effort is a great reminder of the importance of preserving conditions for meaningful face-to-face exchange.

How often are you with someone at a social gathering who has one eye on you and one eye glancing furtively at a blinking red light? Either you're just not that interesting or, more likely, you've fallen victim to a whole new set of addictions: iphoneism, crackberrying, textomania. Mobile technology has made 'connectivity' easier but has made the simple ability to sustain live and meaningful exchange more difficult. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of mobile technology. Day-to-day planning has become much easier and it's good to know that I can be reached if an emergency should arise. The question is how to balance those advantages against the somewhat trivial updates, emails and texts.

As an experiment, next time you're in a conversation, count how many times the 'ding' or blinking light of a mobile device interrupts the natural flow of that conversation. I recently did this and was a bit surprised by the sheer volume of interruptions and how each interruption is as if someone literally tapped your conversational counterpart on the shoulder.

Perhaps the answer is to occasionally treat time with family and friends like documentarians. Plan a deviceless brunch, enforce a no blackberry policy at dinner, share a coffee and tuck the iPhone away. The unencumbered face-to-face time might just allow you to really connect with the person in front of you and document the moments where they count, in your brain.

But please, whatever you do, don't forget to tweet about it! I'm sure your followers would love to hear how it went.

Christina Pirello: Children's Health And The Meat Industry

2009-11-08T07:12:34Z

When did our children become disposable?

This loaded question was posed around the conference table in Anthony Geraci's sunny office at the Baltimore School District headquarters as a group of us talked about programs designed to help our kids make healthier choices in their lives, beginning with the food they eat.

As Food Service Director, Tony has worked closely with the district's dietician to make systemic changes that have resulted in the kids in Baltimore schools trying new foods and slowly becoming more health conscious. But it has not been without controversy and therein was the question we posed.

When school began in September, the kids of Baltimore became the first in the country to adopt 'Meatless Mondays, an international program that asks people to cut meat from their diet one day a week. Their goal is simple: reducing meat consumption by a mere 15% can improve human and planetary health. Endorsed by esteemed medical institutions like the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, this seems like a no-brainer, right? Impressed with the credentials and the program, Baltimore decided to take part and see what would happen. I'm not sure anyone was ready for the firestorm of attacks being launched at them by the meat industry.

Leading the charge is, of course, every vegetarian's favorite villain, J. Patrick Boyle, CEO of The American Meat Institute, whose mission in their own words includes: being the most effective, credible and widely recognized voice of the meat and poultry industry, and valuing livestock and poultry as nutritious food sources. The mission statement also says that the 'AMI values honesty.' Ah, irony.

The attacks launched against Meatless Mondays in Baltimore schools are anything but honest. If they told the truth, they would say that by eliminating meat for one meal a week in our kids' diets, we are affecting their bottom line. They have little regard for our children's health. If they did, would growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics and other toxins are so heavily used in the foods they peddle to our kids and call valuable sources of nutrients? If they told the truth, they would acknowledge the connections between childhood obesity, diabetes and heart disease and the excessive consumption of meat products. If they told the truth, they would admit that reducing meat intake by even the smallest amount results in dramatic improvements in human and planetary health.

While Meatless Mondays has received an endorsement from PETA, the infamous animal rights group, it has little to do with the program itself, except to applaud its efforts. The idea of not eating meat on Monday originated back in World War I as an effort to conserve resources. But that's not good enough for Mr. Boyle. In his letter to Andres Alonso (CEO of the Baltimore school district), Mr. Boyle stated that this campaign is a way for animal activists to brainwash young children. Yes, Mr. Boyle, we can't have our kids going all healthy and compassionate on us and valuing life!

His letter continues: "I was disturbed to read about your school system's decision to bow to an animal rights organization in holding "Meat Free Mondays." This initiative is sponsored by the Grace Spira Project at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The name Spira refers to Henry Spira, who is widely regarded as of the most extreme animal rights activists in the 20th century." Puh-leeze!

In a show of admirable will, the school district has not buckled under the pressure of the meat industry. And it has been fierce! Who would have thought that meatless lasagna, cheese sandwiches and broccoli could wreak such havoc? Mr. Boyle has gone as far as stating that Meatless Mondays seeks 'an end to the United States' efficient and advanced food production system that delivers to Americans the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world.'

Even the school dietician's public assurances that the ultimate goal of this program in schools is to help children have a better relationship with vegetables and to start the discussion about the impact of food choices on health, communities and the planet have fallen on deaf ears in the meat industry.

Meatless Mondays is a positive program designed to educate our children to be healthier for life and is being attacked from all sides. Troy Hadrick, a rancher, wrote on the Advocates for Agriculture website that Meatless Mondays are obviously designed to push children toward vegetarian lifestyles by telling them that 'they can't have meat on Monday because meat isn't healthy for you.' He goes on to advocate parents doing whatever it takes to keep this information from their children. Yikes!

As ranchers and lobbyists rail about one school district's plan to make our children healthier by teaching them to have a better relationship with veggies, Fairbanks Farms in North Carolina has recalled more than 500,000 pounds of meat contaminated with E. coli, resulting in 2 people dead and more fallen ill.

What was it that Patrick Boyle said about the safest food supply?

Here's what's interesting. We vegans and vegetarians are more often than not dismissed as petty, unimportant nuisances to meat producing conglomerates. They paint us as Birkenstock-wearing, ungroomed, tree-hugging puppy lovers who mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

So why is that all these people, from the American Meat Institute to cattle ranchers to lobbyists are so up in arms with one school district taking meat off the menu for one meal a week? Trust me when I tell you it has nothing to do with your children's health and welfare. Could it be that they fear a change in thinking that's in the air? Could it be that they sense that Americans have had enough? Enough of their cheap, subsidized, poor quality meat, loaded with antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids...enough of their swill that is stealing the health of their children and families? Could it be that they are shaking in their cowboy boots at the idea that the children of the future might make better choices than what they have been marketed to want?

The American Meat Institute and their ilk would have us eat more meat, even in the face of the overwhelming evidence that the food they produce and the way they produce it is directly linked to many of the lifestyle diseases that threaten to extinguish the light on the health of our children...obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

This generation of children could be the first that lives shorter, sicker lives than their parents. So many of these problems could be avoided if children ate more whole grains and vegetables and less meat.

Instead of attacking visionaries like those in the Baltimore school district who want nothing but the best for our children, they should be applauding the efforts to create a strong and healthy future for this country.

It's time to stop thinking only of our bottom lines, our profit centers and the health of our checkbooks and make the health of our society a priority. We won't find long term vitality in 99-cent burgers, no matter what Patrick Boyle says. We won't find it in grilled chicken in a bucket either. These organizations have only the health of their business in mind, not the health of our children. For them, our kids are a disposable demographic that can be replaced by another generation.

Who will be next on their hit list, Catholics who still choose not to eat meat on Fridays?

Ingrid Newkirk: Come on Al, Steak or the Earth?

2009-11-05T15:51:34Z

Like the Greek god Typhon, who threatened heaven with his scorched breath, Glenn Beck creates a firestorm whenever he opens his mouth. The heavens shook and the gods fled when Typhon appeared on that giant TV screen of old -- the sky -- and, now as then, guilt by association is the order of the day. That was clear when I appeared on Glenn Beck's show this week to argue that Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore -- who most of us know as the man who wants us to change our light bulbs and save up to buy a Prius -- is obliged to go vegetarian. (And judging by the results of a Los Angeles Times poll this week, it would seem that if he fails to kick his meat habit in the noble cause of saving the Earth, the scorn he felt when driving a Lincoln Town Car will look like small potatoes indeed.)

Soon after appearing on Beck's show, I found out that it wasn't only George W. Bush and that Darth Vader-like hunter Dick Cheney who were hell-bent on destroying our right to say what we want to say, where and when we want to say it. Liberal blogs screamed over my "stupidity," "gall," and "balls" in appearing on FOX and, sin of sins, on that show. Didn't I realize I was "used"? (One might ask who was using whom when some 30,000 people came to PETA.org after the show, and more than 9,000 of them stayed to watch Alec Baldwin's video "Meat Your Meat."

Didn't I know that Al Gore is a saint, off-limits and that PETA is obliged to support anything the left does, right or wrong? This very gripe is usually offered up by the right to lambaste its opponents. At least both sides agree on something.

PETA's history contradicts the theory that either side is always correct. The fact is, for the last 30 years, we have been an equal opportunity critic, scrutinizing the actions of everyone from President Reagan to President Obama. Wear a fur hat or buy a purebred dog and we will say what we need to say -- on behalf of the foxes in steel traps with fear in their hearts or the dogs sitting at the pound with hope in their eyes. Some days, that means we lose more members than we gain, but we are not hobbyists or begging to be cuddled, so we do not back away from criticizing cruelty no matter who wields the cudgel or, in this case, the steak knife.

For those who think PETA started out with a battering ram, please know that we have long tried privately to cajole, convince and even cook for Mr. Gore. We've offered to send him a famous chef with impeccable credentials and a mouthwatering culinary repertoire, provide him with nutrition experts and praise him mightily for dipping his toe into it all by taking PETA's 30-day "veg pledge." We have pointed out that the United Nations, the Worldwatch Institute and even his own Live Earth agree that going vegetarian is the most effective step that anyone can take to combat climate change.

That's why he has only himself to blame for the blows dealt him this week from the BBC's Mr. Paxman, ABC's Ms. Sawyer and other commentators. Yes, he's the son of a Black Angus rancher. My father climbed mountains and went out in to the ocean in small boats during storms, but I'm not following suit. He protests that eating meat is a "personal choice" and tries to excuse his penchant for a daily steak (sometimes two, we hear from a reliable source) because he finds it "too hard" to "give up" meat? Driving a Hummer for the hell of it is a personal choice, and how hard can it be to go vegetarian when this week's New York Times list of best-selling hardback advice books shows chef Tal Ronnen's The Conscious Cook sitting pretty at number three and Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet at number five? Both are vegan -- not just vegetarian -- cookbooks that I dare anyone to open without drooling. Last week, Chipotle at Dupont Circle in Washington test-marketed a Gardein vegan "chicken" burrito. It sold out almost instantly, and an emergency supply of these delicious little medallions of soy protein had to be dispatched to meet demand.

Take a look at these few facts among the many: A 2006 United Nations report concluded that the meat industry produces about 40 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world's transportation systems -- that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and ships in the world combined; Worldwatch estimates that filthy factory farms, transport and all the related parts of putting the nugget into the bucket and the burger into the bun account for 51 per cent of all greenhouse-gas emissions; and that animal-based agriculture is responsible for deforestation, river contamination and 130 times more manure than the whole human population produces.

However, considering that "water wars" are widely believed to be the ones we'll wage in the future, we have asked Mr. Gore to consider one other fact: It takes 2,400 gallons of water to bring 1 pound of flesh to the table. The threat from draining the water from our own aquifers to feed "livestock" should be chillingly familiar to those who have witnessed the crises and bloodshed that spring from depletions of gas and oil. That tidbit alone should be enough to compel Mr. Gore to give a vegetarian diet a whirl. As leading climate change expert Lord Stern told The London Times last week, "Meat is a wasteful use of water. ... It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources."

Of course, Mr. Gore isn't the only public figure who should wave the steak plate away. Appendicitis is related to high meat consumption, and this week, Mr. Beck was rushed to the hospital to have his appendix removed. I'm sure there are many people who wish the hospital had taken his vocal cords along with it, but although Mr. Beck disagrees with almost everything PETA stands for, our position is that "we may not agree with what you say, but ..." we'll gladly come on your show to defend our right to hold our own views.

Glenn Beck, PETA President Join Together To Rip Al Gore (VIDEO)

2009-11-03T18:24:33Z

Glenn Beck and the organization PETA make strange bedfellows, but they've found a common cause to rally around: criticizing Al Gore for hypocrisy because he is an environmentalist who eats meat.

Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of PETA, joined a delighted Glenn Beck tonight to rip Gore as a "steakaholic" and a "baby" who is betraying his own movement:

You can give in your SUV. You can trade it away. You can change your lightbulbs, these are the things he suggests. You can shower with a friend, but it's still not enough if you continue to eat meat...

He says it's very hard for him to go vegetarian. He's admitted that, and I think he's basically a steakaholic, and he needs to stop being a baby and just decide.

Beck is quick declare that he does not agree with a single thing that PETA stands for, but he nonetheless respects them because they're one of the only two organizations he finds "consistent, they don't play the Washington game... They just mean what they say and say what they mean." (The other organization he respects in this way is, of course, the NRA.)

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'Animal Collective' Protests Seal Clubbing (VIDEO)

2009-10-21T02:32:58Z

The members of the band Animal Collective recently joined forces with PETA to take a stand against Canada's seal slaughter. In the video below the trio compare the slaughter to American slavery and punctuate the point with incredibly graphic images of seals being killed.

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Lou Dobbs Describes Meatless Mondays In Schools As "A Political Storm In The Making"

2009-10-20T15:25:11Z

On Monday night, Lou Dobbs did a segment on how "Meatless Monday" is being adopted by the Baltimore city school district in an effort to cut costs and get children to eat healthier food. The segment showed schoolchildren eating vegetarian chili and grilled cheese sandwiches, and CNN reported that they found no parents who objected to the policy.

The news network also noted opposition to the one-day-a-week of vegetarian food by the American Meat Institute -- a trade group that represents meat processors and packers with obvious financial interests in meat consumption. Without pointing out factors that helped fuel the initiative, such as childhood obesity and a national school budget crisis, CNN reported that the AMI is concerned that "students are being served up an unhealthy dose of indoctrination." The institute's Janet Reilly claims the policy was depriving students and parents of "choice."

After watching the segment, Dobbs described this as "a real political storm in the making." Um. Really?

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Bruce Friedrich: Sir Roger Moore Won't Let Friends Eat Foie Gras

2009-10-14T22:50:07Z

As 007, Sir Roger Moore battled the bad guys, and today, as a real-life Knight of the British Empire, he's still going strong. Moore has spent the past several years going after those who make their living by force-feeding ducks and geese, often until their livers burst, to create foie gras (French for "fatty liver").

Sir Roger graciously agreed to narrate PETA's foie gras video, which contains graphic footage shot at farms in New York, California, and France. The birds are confined to iron-maiden-like cages that are barely large enough to contain them--ducks are virtually immobilized, with only their heads poking through a hole in the top of the cage. Birds are shown laboring to breathe; that's because foie gras is really a force-feeding-induced illness--hepatic lipidosis. Some birds are too sick to hold their heads up. They are filthy because they are too sick and the cages are too small to allow them to groom themselves. Many birds have a gooey discharge oozing from their eyes (ducks and geese are water birds and would normally bathe their eyes many times a day) and suffer from gaping, bloody wounds caused when the force-feeding pipes puncture their necks.

When Sir Roger heard about PETA U.K.'s campaign to stop the British department store Selfridges from selling foie gras, he sent a private letter to Selfridges' owner, Galen Weston, offering to buy up the company's entire remaining stock of the cruelly-produced food if Weston would agree never to restock it again. Westin did not respond, so Sir Roger went public, taking to the airwaves and appearing on the U.K.'s Channel 4 News and in U.K. newspapers.

In an opinion piece that was printed recently in the Daily Mail, Sir Roger wrote, "I have seen few things so revolting and shaming as the horrendous routine cruelty to ducks and geese that goes into the production of one of the world's so-called culinary delicacies, foie gras...I refuse to speak to old friends who, even when they know how it is produced, are prepared to overlook the suffering for self-gratification." Says Sir Roger, "My wife, Christina, feels just the same. No creature deserves to be treated as these birds are for our delectation."

Foie gras production is so cruel that force-feeding birds has been banned in many countries, including Israel, Switzerland, and the U.K. (although, ironically, it is still legal to sell foie gras there). In 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing both the production and the sale of foie gras in California by 2010. Many restaurants, however, still serve it.

If Roger Moore has his way, they won't for very long.

As he says so eloquently in his commentary: "There are vile and inhumane practices all over the world, but I have always been a great believer in the power of education to change things. Where foie gras is concerned the facts speak for themselves. No one who is made aware of the truth of these ghastly practices will want to perpetuate them or respect anyone who does."

Ari Solomon: The Feminist's Dilemma

2009-10-01T16:48:37Z

I'm a proud feminist, as anyone who cares about the plight of women on our planet should be. In many parts of the world, women are still treated as property. They have few, if any, rights and are subject to exploitation, indignities, and violence on a daily basis. As we feminists struggle for an end to female oppression, we must also consider the females that we, ourselves, unknowingly oppress. Dairy cows, though not human, are perhaps the most horribly abused females on the planet. As we fight for human equality, should we not also concern ourselves with how humans exploit the very thing that makes an animal female, that makes an animal a mother?

If you think that statement sounds crazy, it's likely because you, like most Americans, know little about what goes on in our nation's dairy farms. (PETA recently released shocking undercover footage from a Land O'Lakes dairy supplier). You may think it's silly, even offensive, to compare the plight of female humans with that of another species, but keep an open mind as you read further. You may just be surprised.

Let's first begin with this: all dairy cows are female and have to be pregnant to produce milk. When stated, that fact may seem obvious, but it never occurs to most people that cows produce milk for the same reason all mammals do, to feed their babies. A cow's gestation period is actually the same as a human being's, nine months.

Since dairy cows are not afforded the natural act of mating with a bull, they are sent to an area of the farm called "the rape rack." No joke. There, a metal pipe is shoved inside their vaginas to deposit sperm. Once impregnated, a dairy cow lives in a stall where she can barely turn around. As her fetus grows, she starts producing milk. At this point, a cold mechanical pump is hooked to her udders several times a day to take the milk. On most farms, hormones are given to the cows to make them produce unnatural amounts. More milk = more money for the dairy farmer. This makes the cows' udders swell enormously, causing horrible pain and infection.

When a dairy cow gives birth, she is only allowed 24 hours with her newborn calf. After that, her baby is taken from her. If the baby is a female, she will most likely become a dairy cow. If the baby is a male, he is sold to become veal. Yes, behind every carton of milk, and every pint of ice cream, is a veal calf. If you're buying dairy products, you're directly supporting the veal industry. Indeed, the veal industry couldn't exist without dairy cows.

Now, just in case you're unfamiliar with the practices of veal farms, here's a quick overview. Once veal calves are sold, at just a day or two old, they are chained inside a crate so small they can hardly move. And that's exactly the point, because the less they can move, the more tender their "meat" will be when they are slaughtered (between 8 and 14 weeks old). Veal calves are also fed an iron-deficient diet so their flesh will be white instead of red or pink. They are often seen licking the metal bars of their crates in search of the iron that would be abundant in their mother's milk.

Back on the dairy farm, mother cows cry, moan, and bellow for days, sometimes weeks, after their newborns are taken from them. Some have literally broken their necks trying to run after their children. One can only imagine the depression and distress of losing your baby. Since the cow is still producing milk for her calf, the dairy farmer continues to milk her. She will never know what it's like to nurse the child that lived in her womb for nine months. Instead, her milk will become butter, cheese, cream, and of course milk sold in markets. And when the dairy cow becomes too "spent" after four years of pregnancy after pregnancy to produce milk at sufficient quantities, she is rewarded with a trip to the slaughterhouse, where she will become hamburger. That's right, between almost all hamburger buns are the remains of America's spent dairy cows.

Again, I know some may have a problem with comparisons between the suffering of animals and people. But what exclusive right do humans have to the mother-child bond? There is no sure way for us to know what a cow may feel for her newborn, but certainly we can all agree on something called a mother's instinct. We recognize it in all animals. If a cow's love is anything close to what a human mother feels for her baby, we can only imagine the emotional pain we are inflicting, and the injustice we are committing.

As feminists, should we not stand up for all females? Should we not cry out in protest when mothers, human or not, are so blatantly exploited?

Or should we remain silent in denial?

And for what good reason? There is no human dietary requirement for cow's milk. In fact, when you start to think about it, consuming cow's milk seems downright unnatural. Humans are the only mammals that drink milk past childhood, and we're the only species that drinks the milk of another species. Many recent studies now also show that milk may be detrimental to our health. For not only are a substantial number of Americans either lactose intolerant or allergic to milk, but what's worse is that casein, an animal protein abundant in milk, has been proven to be a powerful carcinogen.

And remember all that talk about calcium and how milk is good for your bones? Well, it's true that milk does contain around 300 milligrams of calcium per glass, but that's only because dairy farmers nowadays administer calcium supplements to their cows. You see, cows would naturally eat grass, which contains calcium (as do all green leafy vegetables), but since dairy cows are now primarily fed corn, farmers have to add calcium to their feed, fortifying it, so their milk contains adequate amounts. It should be noted that for all the calcium hype, a cup of collard greens contains even more calcium than a glass of cow's milk and a glass of fortified rice or soy milk matches the calcium content of cow's milk exactly.

Today there are amazing alternatives to cow's milk: almond milk, soy milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk, hemp milk, rice milk, etc. And there are numerous butter and cheese substitutes. Many luminaries through the ages, from Pythagoras to da Vinci to Tolstoy, have reflected on how our treatment of animals influences our treatment of our fellow human beings. Is it just a coincidence that a world that blindly exploits the female in animals also often turns a blind eye to the exploitation, suffering, and oppression of women? Isn't it time we show compassion to all females, to all mothers, even outside our species?

PETA Video: Cows Suffer On Land O'Lakes-Supplying Farm (VIDEO)

2009-09-30T21:27:16Z

PETA representatives have released a video comprised of footage taken during an undercover investigation of a Pennsylvania dairy farm that contracts to Minnesota-based Land O'Lakes.

The video depicts the gross mistreatment of cows, with animals being milked while covered in urine and feces. Cows that have collapsed from exhaustion are prodded by handlers, animals are covered in infections that have gone untreated and one cow in particular is marched off to what is presumably the slaughterhouse.

Land O'Lakes has stated that they are investigating the issue and that they are committed to treating animals in their farms humanely.

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Brandon Mendelson: Oh Noes , You're Outrage: Hating On The Family Guy Critics

2009-09-24T18:45:26Z

Let’s walk through the following blog post. The excerpts are from “Family Guy Hacks A Cat To Death: Humor Or Repugnance?”

“That’s it. I’m not going to sit here any longer and do nothing but jaw with supporters of Family Guy on my Hub”‘

If you don’t want to jaw with them, why don’t you just delete the comments or block the users? Why does everyone think a blog is a democracy? Its not.

“I’ve just sent this letter to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) through media channels and intend to follow up to ensure that action is taken.”

Really? Granted, PETA freaks over everything (just ask the president), but it’s a cartoon. A. Car. Tooooooon. Out of everything to be offended with on Family Guy (how about that joke with Meg, the hot dogs, and the New York Knicks?) you’re upset about Peter killing a cat? Stewie beating the crap out of Brian was ok?

Hmm. Brutal violence. Questionably racist hot dogs. No? Not offended? But an anoynmous cat? Oh NOES, YOU’RE OUTRAGE!

“As a leading blogger on the number one internet publishing platform HubPages, I have railed against Seth MacFarlane and Fox Network’s Family Guy for unethical and repugnant subject matter which has no right to be shown on the public airwaves of the nation.

Whoa. A leading blogger? Sorry dude, unless you’re on this list, the only thing you’re leading is a trail of smoked bullshit. I’ll give you that Hubpages has a lot of traffic, but if you’re a leading blogger, wouldn’t you need to appear on, oh I don’t know, on the first twenty pages or so of the best Hubspot authors?

Oh, and number one Internet publishing platform? Hmmm. Blogger. Wordpress. Typepad. Even Live Journal is ranked higher than Hubpages on Alexa.

“However, in the episode of Family Guy aired last night, April 19, 2009, this following scene completely left me disgusted, nauseated and revolted:”

Wait. I thought, “I have railed against Seth MacFarlane and Fox Network’s Family Guy for unethical and repugnant subject matter which has no right to be shown on the public airwaves of the nation”. So why are you still watching it?“

“As a lifelong animal lover I cannot possibly imagine the effect that this scene can have on children, showing one of their cartoon heroes savagely killing and desecrating the corpse of a household pet.”

Dude. I taught in the ghetto. If you think what kids see on Family Guy is going to have an adverse effect on them, you’re a fool.

I find no redeeming social value to a young impressionable child channel surfing and watching what to all outward appearances is a fun kiddie cartoon and ending up viewing a man mutilating a household pet or a half naked woman trying to have sex with a tied-up dog, whether the dog is anthropomorphosized or not.

Television broadcasts not on PBS require social value? I realize Kim Kardashian is hot, but where’s the social value in Keeping Up With The Kardashians?

I’m pretty sure Family Guy airs at 9pm. It’s not 10pm, which is when it should air if you want to split hairs concerning content that airs according to the FCC guidelines, but I like how you assume:

1) Kids are retarded. They’re not.

2) That kids are watching the show on television. They’re not, they’re watching on Hulu. AND if their parents are responsible, the family computer is downstairs, not in the bedroom, where an adult is around if needed if not present as the kids are watching these shows.

“I see no reason why the public airwaves must feature content which not only promotes felonies, pornography, bestiality, animal mutilation, and other forms of horrific violent nihilism, but wraps them in a cartoon format to specifically appeal to young people.”

You know The Flintstones when they aired promoted cigarettes, not to mention sexism, right? And that was outright promotion, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Married With Children, I could go on, but that is all satire meant for entertainment. If you can’t deal with it, you can tune out the “public” airwaves in favor of any number of alternatives. I hear that Internets is awesome.

“I have been advocating that Fox remove Family Guy from the broadcast airwaves, and either put it on an XXX rated satellite channel which is for adults only, or package it in a DVD format and sell it in adult stores. If Family Guy is on the public airwaves which are administered by the FCC on behalf of the people of the United States, then it needs to be removed immediately as pornography.”

Yes. He said that.

“PETA has a long history of activism against television broadcasters who promote animal cruelty. From Reuters on August 15, 2007 with regards to a Gaza TV station airing footage of a cat being swung by his tail:

“It’s shocking and sickening,” said Martin Mersereau, manager of the domestic animal abuse division of U.S.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).”

Huh. An actual person swinging a cat around violently registers a response from PETA. Whoa. I am now freaking out!

If PETA took this level of action with a single television station in a very small market and audience, I hereby formally request that your agency act immediately and forcefully against a television program promoting the massacre of a household pet viewed last night by millions of Americans.

I’m failing to see the quantum leap here. PETA responded to a program featuring actual people abusing actual cats in the name of education. I won’t debate the merits of Palestinian Television (this clip says it all), but you want them to freak out on a fictional person, abusing a fictional cat, in a cartoon, because you’re offended?

Listen, no one cares what I think. That’s why I’m posting this on my blog and not answering this on television or in the news. No one cares what this author thinks either. All because we’re all social publishers doesn’t mean people care about what we have to say.

Quite honestly, I’m tired of folks like this. Bullies. You remember bullies? That’s what they’re being right now. A loud, stupid, bully who is trying to grind their axe against a cartoon, and to what end?

Let’s say the author has their way and Fox suddenly caved and pulled Family Guy off the air. Then what? They’ll find something else to be outraged with. And then something else. And then something else. In most cases, this would be an assumption on my part, but for people like them, this has been the course of action for years now. All these idiots all worked up thinking what they say matters suddenly because they’ve found other idiots who share their myopic opinions.

For all the good social publishing has brought to us, these people represent the worst kind of evil. The kind our young men and women go overseas to fight against. No sir, I call bullshit on this author, their misdirected anger, and the kind of America he and his friends would leave us with. Enough is enough and I’m tired of the stupids dictating what we can and can’t do or watch.

If we don’t stand up to bullies like this, it won’t end until bland, stale programming, not targeted to anyone in particular, airs on every single channel, on every time of night, on every website around the world. What. Did you think they would stop with America?

We will all live in a place where we dress the same, act the same, and smile the same empty, souless smile that accompanies corpses when they’re displayed at a wake.

And the stupids will be happy with this, until someone looks at them funny or says something in jest, and then you’ll find something else to spew crazy at.

I hate people like this, many of us do, we’re just too busy living life, being responsible, and having fun to acknowledge their existence. But I’m acknowledging their existence because I pledge eternal hostility against their kind, and any self-righteous bully out there that wants to blame everything for what’s wrong with society instead of taking personal responsibility.

If this guy and his friends care so much about the children and what they interact with, what the hell are they doing online writing blog posts like this? Shouldn’t they be out volunteering and helping the children in need through wonderful programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters? Yes. Yes they should.

Khloe And Lamar Getting Married: What Are Their Causes?

2009-09-21T12:49:25Z

America's newest power couple has emerged: Celebutante Khloe Kardashian and L.A. Lakers forward Lamar Odom. After dating for less than a month, the two are already talking marriage. These two will be in the news nonstop over the next year, so let's check out which causes they support and how you can get involved as well.

Kardashian's major cause is awareness of drug and alcohol abuse. She represented The Brent Shapiro Foundation on The Celebrity Apprentice. The foundation seeks to help people overcome dependence on drugs and alcohol, and was founded after Robert Shapiro's son, Brent, died from a drug overdose.

She also recently stripped down for a photo in Peta's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" series. Check out the tasteful but probably still not-safe-for-work image.

Lamar Odom established his own foundation, Cathy's Kids, in 2004 to help underprivileged children in inner city New York and Los Angeles. The foundation also funnels money to cancer research, a cause close to Odom's heart as his mother died of stomach cancer.

Keep up with the Kardashian/Odom causes, so to speak. We need to come up with a name for them. Kardodiom? Odashian? I'll work on that.

Pamela Anderson's Banned PETA Stripping Ad (VIDEO) (NSFW)

2009-09-09T08:40:45Z

PETA is known for its outrageous videos and shocking ads, and they've recently released a new airport security-themed video with Pamela Andersen that has some squirming. The New York Post reports that the CNN Airport Network has refused to run the ad as planned at three New York-area airports, citing concerns that children would see it. PETA's next move is to get the spot added to in-fight entertainment.

WATCH: (NSFW)

'Cruelty Doesn't Fly'--Learn More at PETA.org.

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Naomi Campbell Wears Fur: Models Sable After Appearing In PETA Ad (PHOTOS)

2009-09-01T09:36:35Z

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has started a campaign to be the face of the luxury furrier Dennis Basso. While wearing and modeling fur is controversial in general, Naomi's ads raise even more eyebrows since she appeared in the iconic ad campaign for PETA, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."

The original ad with fellow supermodels in 1994:

PETA's New "Save The Whales" Billboard Takes Aim At Fat Women (UPDATED)

2009-08-26T11:35:13Z

UPDATE 8/26:

PETA has taken down their controversial "Save The Whales" billboard, which drew intense ire from across the country. They have replaced it with a billboard that says, "GONE: Just like all the pounds lost by people who go vegetarian."

Ingrid Newkirk, president and founder of PETA wrote a response to the controversy in an exclusive blog for the Huffington Post.

America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait.

[...]

Going meat-free can make a huge difference. Studies show that vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan.

[...]

PETA's billboard was fueled by a healthy respect for all the animals who are raised cruelly and killed in painful ways as well as for our own species's potential to be kind and healthy.

Read more here.

8/17

PETA's new billboard campaign in Florida is raising eyebrows and ire among women and health groups. A drawing on billboards in Jacksonville depicts an obese woman with the phrase, "Save The Whales, Lose The Blubber: Go Vegetarian."

In a press release, PETA stated:

A new PETA billboard campaign that was just launched in Jacksonville reminds people who are struggling to lose weight -- and who want to have enough energy to chase a beach ball -- that going vegetarian can be an effective way to shed those extra pounds that keep them from looking good in a bikini. [....]

Anyone wishing to achieve a hot "beach bod" is reminded that studies show that vegetarians are, on average, about 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. [...]

"Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA has a free 'Vegetarian Starter Kit' for people who want to lose pounds while eating as much as they like.

Jessica at Feministing blasts the billboard as "fat-shaming" and that "PETA owes the residents of Jacksonville a serious apology."

Holly at Deceiver states, "This is exactly what you would expect [from PETA] -- no empathy for humans whatsoever, just a lot of B.S. about how vegetarianism will make fat people just a little bit less of a blight on humanity."

PETA is known for its attention-grabbing tactics involving scantily clad-women, like this veggie dog eat-in on Capitol Hill that involved playboy playmates wearing only lettuce bikinis.

When asked to comment on the charges that the ad is sexist and mocking of overweight people, Ashley Byrne, a senior campaigner for PETA stated, "Our goal is help overweight Jacksonville residents - the best way to do that is to go vegetarian. We're not trying to insult anyone. [....] Vegetarians look and feel better than meat eaters. This is a life-saving message."

When asked specifically if the billboard shames overweight people, Byrne stated, "If the billboard is shocking, hopefully it will gets people's attention, and help them improve quality of life for themselves and their families.... it's designed to help people."

This latest billboard reminded me of a recent Onion News Network send up of PETA's sexist tactics.

Advocacy Group Decries PETA's Inhumane Treatment Of Women

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Ingrid Newkirk: The Skinny on our Growing Girth

2009-08-26T11:15:00Z

As the high cost of health care was debated this week in the nation that was once the most powerful on Earth and is now just the fattest, two announcements were made. Time showed a slab of meat on its cover and declared, "The real cost of cheap food" (meat, in particular) costs Americans big-time when it comes to our health. And KFC--whose suppliers have been caught on camera breaking chickens' legs and wings and scalding the birds to death in order to produce "cheap" chicken--came out with a new "sandwich" that substitutes fried chicken parts for bread and is stuffed with artery-clogging and waistline-expanding bacon and cheese. Why would KFC executives decide to do that? For the same reason that there is a Whopper and a Fifth Third Burger: Because they know that people want unhealthy foods almost as much as they want health care.

Also this week, the fat hit the pan over PETA's pro-vegetarian billboard in Jacksonville, Florida, which read, "Save the Whales. Cut the Blubber. Go Vegetarian," and led to the PETA website where people could download our free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" as well as take the "30-Day Veg Pledge." There wasn't a peep about the advertisements for meals that spell death to one million animals per hour and that contribute to our nation's ever-expanding waistlines. There were no angry phone calls and blog messages about the audacity of the purveyors of the chicken and cheese that is turning humans into blubbery masses, or..."whales."

America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait. Only three percent of the population has a medical condition that genuinely prevents them from losing weight. The rest of the obese people hiding behind them are obese because they shovel in food and haven't a clue (or don't want to have a clue) about a healthy diet. They haven't listened to or perhaps haven't heard the polite admonitions from health experts (real ones) urging them to eat their fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts and beans. So America is getting fatter, largely because we don't realize that killing animals and squeezing the cheese out of them, perhaps especially the cheese, is slowly killing us too.

A study published last year in the journal Obesity found that if current trends continue, nearly 90 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030 and the number of overweight children will double. This is a serious health crisis: Research has shown that higher body mass index is associated with a greater risk of premature death from all causes. For example, according to the American Heart Association, obesity contributes to heart disease, America's number one killer. What's more, one out of every six health-care dollars will be spent on costs related to our growing girth.

Going meat-free can make a huge difference. Studies show that vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan. A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that people who eat a low-fat vegan diet (no meat, no eggs and no dairy foods) lose about a pound per week--even without exercising or counting calories.

PETA's billboard was fueled by a healthy respect for all the animals who are raised cruelly and killed in painful ways as well as for our own species's potential to be kind and healthy. I read the communiqués from fat people who said "thank you" and from those who told us where we can go. To all the people considering gastric bypass or tummy-tuck surgery or who tried a low-carb diet and only got constipation and bad breath in return, I say, just try it: Choose the oatmeal with Silk soy milk instead of bacon and milk; the bean instead of the beef burrito; and the mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers instead of the meat balls. All animals would thank you for it if they could, and I'm betting that you will feel better, both inside and out.

Ingrid E. Newkirk is the president and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org. Her latest book is The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights.

PETA's Ronald McDonald Ad With Andy Dick And Martin Short (VIDEO)

2009-08-24T15:57:13Z

PETA is up to their attention-grabbing stunts again, and this time with an anti-McDonalds ad starring Martin Short interviewing Andy Dick as a sadistic Ronald McDonald who gets pleasure out of killing chickens.

WATCH:

Jiminy Glick Interviews 'Ronald McDonald' - watch more funny videos

Did you notice around 1:15 the film takes a shot at obese people who "need to eat their chicken McNuggets?" This is the second time in the last week the PETA has had negative references to overweight people in their ads. They gained a lot of attention for their "Save The Whales" billboard that many thought mocked overweight women.

Paul Mecurio: All Hail the Felonious Ex-Con -- Michael Vick

2009-08-22T17:27:31Z

Dogs everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief. Now that he is out of jail Michael Vick has something to occupy his dog-torturing time -- football.

Many are outraged that the Philadelphia Eagles signed him. What do you expect? Teams want talent. I think at one point the Bengals were looking at Charles Manson as a backup QB because he's good at coordinating people under stressful situations.

Vick better be careful though, if the team loses one game while he is starting, he will be put down or at least chained to a fence for 3 days in the scorching sun.

Bottom line, Vick's paid his debt to society. Yes, he practiced killing and torture and violated the code of conduct he was sworn to uphold. That doesn't make him a monster. That makes him Dick Cheney.

Paul Mecurio is the host of Got No Game with Paul Mecurio, a new web series on HBOSports.com which tackles the world of sports with a comical look at the compelling stories and outrageous events away from the field through original sketches and one-on-one interviews.

Watch the latest episode right here on The Huffington Post - Unearthed Film Footage From Secret Sports Summit Reveals How Race and Sports Play Out (VIDEO). New episodes of the series post each Friday through September 4 on www.hbo.com/gotnogame. Check out www.paulmecurio.com for behind the scenes photos and more.
Read more: Killing, Michael Vick Jail, Animal Cruelty, Peta, The Eagles, Football, Quarterback, Michael Vick Animal Cruelty, Michael Vick Prison, Philadelphia Eagles, Paws, Dick Cheney, Murder, Sports, Nfl, Philly, Charles Manson, Entertainment News, Michael Vick Dogfighting, Michael Vick, Nfl Draft, Comedy, Torture, Bengals, Comedy News

Alec Baldwin: Michael Vick: Black Sheep or Scapegoat on Animal Rights?

2009-08-17T10:24:25Z
Several years ago, I was attending a fundraiser for an animal rights organization hosted by a prominent couple who lived in the Las Vegas area. Like me, the husband had been pulled through the door of the animal rights movement by his significant other, but had become a dedicated vegetarian after being exposed to the facts and opinions of the animal rights community regarding meat production and consumption. He told me that his conversion was particularly tough, as he had grown up in Texas. I suggested that not eating meat in Texas must be a special kind of blasphemy. He said, "Shoot, man. We used to barbecue the whole herd and throw away half!" I just started at him, unblinking, for about five seconds.

I recalled that exchange when I saw that Michael Vick signed with the Eagles.

I have supported and/or worked with a number of animal rights groups, both local and national. Whether it be donating to pet adoption facilities like the North Shore Animal League on Long Island, opposing the carriage horses in Central Park, hosting fundraisers for the Performing Animal Welfare Society in San Andreas, California or appearing in video programs for PETA, protecting the rights of animals has been important to me ever since my ex-wife introduced me to Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco, the founders of PETA. I learned about issues involving the crash-testing of live animals by Detroit carmakers, the use of monkeys and other animals in medical experimentation and the testing of everything from medicines to machinery to make-up for the purposes of measuring product liability. I learned about how meat is produced and slaughtered, how milk is "manufactured" and, thanks to Dr. Neal Barnard and the Physicians for Responsible Medicine, how childhood obesity and related illnesses have soared over the past 25 years due to the poor diets of kids hooked on fast food. I learned about the horrific abuses of animals in circuses, zoos, rodeos, thoroughbred horse racing and anywhere that animals are used in performances. Meeting an unimaginably dedicated soul like Pat Derby or Ed Stewart of PAWS changed my life.

What Vick did is, obviously, senseless and reprehensible. But I believe Vick, as a wealthy and talented athletic superstar who performs his job out in the open before crowds of amped-up and highly opinionated fans, suffers an unfair disadvantage as compared to, say, the heads of a meatpacking plant or the directors of a medical research lab where animals are suffering the cruelest imaginable abuses behind walls and doors that remove them from our sight and, therefore, judgments. Vick did horrific things and he deserved to be punished. He served his time and now I wonder what good does it do to exile him in shame and not let him show his example of how one can be rehabilitated after that kind of behavior. If Vick returns to his true form as an NFL pro, that platform can mean real progress for the animal rights movement. Or do some people really not want to open that conversation? Vick is one man who, along with his friends, brutally tortured and killed many innocent dogs and called it a sport. Each day in this country, millions upon millions of animals are suffering lives of daily abuse in factory farming, but we turn away because that animal, unlike Vick's dogs, ends up on a grill and then on our plates. Animals that are not raised as pets suffer in ways that you and I don't really want to know. And in economic hard times like now, support for groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other prominent players in the animal rights movement, drops precipitously.

Vick is easy to target as a villain. But the man who should have been setting an example for his young fans about how to comport oneself off the field can still do so. Donating a healthy figure from his enormous salary to any mixture of animal rights groups seems like a good start to me. I have a list for Vick when he is ready. But to ban Vick, to cast him aside and simply hate him, knowing that someone in his position stands potentially ready (and I do stress potentially) to effectively serve the interests of the very groups and individuals that he most offended, would be a mistake. Especially when there are enterprises operating in this country who will torture and kill more animals than a thousand Michael Vicks ever could, but you can not buy a ticket to watch them perform their job on a Sunday afternoon.

Vick deserves another chance. One chance. Just like all of us who eat meat, drink milk, attend rodeos, circuses, zoos and horse races and yet find it easier to hand Vick the bill for all of the other, more systemic abuses in our society may find ourselves needing another chance one day. Just like Michael Vick.
Read more: Alex Pacheco, Factory Farming, Peta, Animal Rights, Michael Vick Animals, Michael Vick Eagles, Michael Vick, Ingrid Newkirk, Paws, Green News