THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

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Like many people around the world I am saddened by Michael Jackson’s early departure from this world. However, I know his music will stay with us for as long as electronic music is around.

Amid the variety of topics written about him in the wake of his death, one of the many that caught my attention was that he was a ‘strict vegetarian’. That term is often used to describe vegans. I do have a feeling that it may be true that Michael did not consume animal parts in his food. However, that alone would not have made him an ethical vegan. For one, he kept a zoo in his Neverland ranch, which an ethical vegan would never have done – he could have kept a sanctuary of rescued animals, but I understand that the animals he kept, and later neglected when money became tight, were bought. He also wore leather. Veganism is not just about food, it’s about a holistically ethical approach to all sentient creatures. So no, Michael Jackson was not a vegan.

I also heard that Tippi Hedren (pictured), the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and the mother of Melanie Griffiths, has called on Michael’s fans to donate to her big cat sanctuary in California, The Shambala Preserve, which she has kept since 1983. You see, Hedren houses two of Jackson’s tigers, Thriller and Sabu, who are part of a family of 68 animals, mostly rescued from the entertainment industry. I have no information whether Tippi is a vegetarian or vegan but I once read that she became interested in animal welfare during the shooting of Birds. Back then, she refused to wear a fur coat that Hitchcock gave her as a present. That was well before people had any awareness about the plight of animals killed for fur – so credit be given to her for being ahead of her time in this way.

Watch Tippi speaking about her work with big cats:

Animal experimentation saves lives … or so would the pro-vivisection lobby like us to believe. You know, scientists everywhere are working hard to advance science and save humanity from the inevitable end called death by killing hundreds of millions of animals and carrying out experiments such as … dropping liquefied freebase cocaine on bee’s backs. Because, as we all know, bees love cocaine – have you never seen them buzzing out of a cubicle inside a nightclub, lock-jawed, antsy and gurning like hell? And guess what the Australian scientists found with this addictively interesting research?

“Bees react much like humans do: cocaine alters their judgment, stimulates their behaviour and makes them exaggeratedly enthusiastic about things that might not otherwise excite them.”

Wow, that sounds like the stuff that only people on coke are interested in, actually. To celebrate such life-saving discovery, filmmaker Noah Baumbach penned for the New Yorker a wordy outburst that evokes what it must be like inside a coked-up bee’s mind. Un-bee-lievable! I guess a ludicrous, nonsensical piece of writing is a smart way to react to ludicrous, unethical research, like all animal experiments are.

The weekend is upon us, Valentine’s Day tomorrow and lots of new going on so here’s a round up of news treats. I’ll begin with a link to some political news. According to Capitol Weekly, assemblyman Pedro Nava , D-Santa Barbara, yesterday introduced three pieces of animal rights legislation. The first would reduce the number of un-spayed/neutered animals in shelters; the second one would make it a felony to be a willing spectator at a dog fight; and the third one allow a judge to bar a felon convicted of animal cruelty from owning animals for a certain period after their release.

More legal news: The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced earlier this week the establishment of the “Animal Welfare Institute Abandoned Horse Reward Fund.” Under the program, individuals providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who abandons a horse in violation of state law will be rewarded with up to $1,000 by AWI. “We’ve heard time and time again from those defending horse slaughter that our fight to end this cruel practice has led to an increase in abandoned horses. The truth is that the number of American horses going to slaughter now is the same or higher than before the domestic plants closed under state law. In fact, killer buyers seem to be buying more horses than when the plants were open,” said Chris Heyde, AWI’s Deputy Director of Government and Legal Affairs.

A bit of fun: the LA Times’ Daily Dish blog has an interview with Post Punk Kitchen woman Isa Moskowitz, the Brooklyn-born creator of the TV website. “In an era in which so many are going vegan, vegetarian, turning to organic produce and locally grown food, what could be more useful than an online kitchen to provide you with fun, healthy, rockin’ recipes that are all vegan?”

And everyone’s favorite rock ‘n roll vegan, Chrissie Hynde gives an interview to Cincinnati’s City Beat about her new music, her vegan restaurant and, well, herself. “Chrissie Hynde moved back to Akron to care for her aging parents and quite possibly begin her own retirement. But, like so many times in her career and life, fate intervened. She opened a vegan restaurant, reabsorbed the Midwest atmosphere that defined her upbringing and then, after a six-year gap since the last Pretenders album, songs began to suggest themselves.”

Happy Valentine!

A few months ago I wrote that the ex-wife of ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, Heather Mills gave away $1 million in vegan food to financially deprived children in the Bronx. And she was speaking about it on the Today show on Friday (while looking quite chic on it too). Regardless of what people say about Heather - and the British tabloids hate her to the point of insanity - giving vegan food to people whose dietary option is probably laden with saturated fat is a great, very generous idea. This is the right kind of vegan activism - letting people taste it and see for themselves how much better off they will be for it. Well done Heather. You can watch the video here.

Canadian rock star Alanis Morissette has told OK! magazine that she has gove vegan. “Determined to get back on track, Alanis turned to Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live, a plan that recommends consuming fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts, and avoiding meat and dairy products”, says the report. Morissette is very enthusiastic about her newfound lifestyle:

I feel like a 12-year-old! I’m back to what I was born to be, at my best. I used to get out of bed in the morning and things were aching, and I just thought, this is what happens when you get into your 30s. But now I jump out of bed and have so much energy; I feel very alive. Even after a workout, I feel like if I rest a little bit I could go out dancing all night, so that’s exciting. I have no more aches and pains, and my allergies are gone, too.

She seems to realize that she’s made the right choice and that unlike fad diets, a vegan one is for keeps. Well done, Alanis.

We know the benefits that a vegetarian diet has for the animals (as in, they don’t get bred into existence just to be tortured and exterminated eventually). And since the United Nations released the famous Livestock’s Long Shadow report in 2006, revealing that animal farming is a bigger source of carbon emissions than transport (18% versus 13%), the case for veganism received futher ammunition. So, it’s great to see two luminaries such as Nobel Prize-winning Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri and musician Sir Paul McCartney teaming up to tell the world to go veggie. Dr Pachauri is the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and he blames the worsening of global warming on a rise in the number of people who eat meat. This is particularly true of emerging economies such as Brazil and India, where eating meat is seen as some kind of status symbol. I personally think it’s a sign of … well, never mind. So, if you’re either an animal lover or an eco-friendly being, you know just what to do: go vegan.

By the way, here’s a petition to ask the European Union to stop subsidizing livestock farmers. Why should animal farmers get taxpayers’ money to kill both animals and the planet?

Ecorazzi reports that Alicia Silverstone may be penning a book on vegan dieting called The Kind Diet. According to the report, the book is due out in the fall of 2009. I hope this is true as the more celebrities support veganism, the better. I have a special fondness for Ms. Silverstone as she was the first famous person I heard speaking passionately about a a vegan diet so in a way, I’m sure she inspired me ‘to turn a leaf’, as it were. Besides, she starred in Clueless – need I say more?

Watch Alicia Silverstone’s veggie testimonial for Peta:

Alicia Silverstone’s Sexy Veggie PSA
Order a FREE vegetarian starter kit at GoVeg.com

Californians yesterday voted yes on Proposition 2, a piece of legislation that bans some of the most extreme forms of animal confinement, such as veal (pictured) and sow gestation crates, and determines that the size of cages for egg laying hens be increased.

By all accounts, the changes are very modest and do not stop animal exploitation. But it does bring the topic of cruelty against farm animals into mainstream consciousness cruelty against farm animals into mainstream consciousness , which is a good thing. I just hope it doesn’t stop there and turns people to veganism, the only real form of animal liberation.

The Humane Society of the United States was the organization behind the campaign, and managed to attract the support of celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey. The hope is that it will have a ripple effect across the United States.

Now, what do you think? Will other states follow suit and introduce similar pieces of legislation?

Animal protection spokesperson and author, Karen Dawn, will be making a lecture tomorrow at 8pm at the University of Georgia. The event is promoted by Speak Out for Species.

Dawn will be there promoting her book, Thanking The Monkey - Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, a light-hearted, celebrity-studded introduction to animal rights issues. So, if you are in the area, get down there!