Category Archives: Vegetarianism

It’s a Good Day for Chickens

I’m a vegetarian, not vegan, which means I still eat eggs and dairy. However, I don’t eat much of either because of the horrible condition the majority of both cows and chickens are kept in. Most chickens live in tiny cages stacked on on top of another. Their excrement falls through the cage onto the chickens below. They are kept in these cages so long without exercising that their feet often begin to grow around the bars. Not to mention the factory farmers often cut off their beaks!! Don’t get me started about cows…At many of these factory farms, the cows are kept pregnant year round in order to for farmers to get the most product out of them. Imagine being pregnant 24/7 for several years? How agonizing. Today the Humane Society reached an agreement with the United Egg Producers to improve the living condition of chickens. Together they will try to pass this legislation that will inevitably improve the lives of over 280 million chickens each year!

According to the Humane Society of the United States, the provisions the UEP will be working together to implement through federal legislation include:

  • Require a moratorium at the end of 2011 on new construction of unenrichable battery cages — small, cramped, cages that nearly immobilize more than 90 percent of laying hens today — and the nationwide elimination of barren battery cages through a phase-out period;
  • Require phased in construction of new hen housing systems that provide hens nearly double the amount of space they’re currently provided;
  • Require environmental enrichments so birds can engage in important natural behaviors currently denied to them in barren cages, such as perches, nesting boxes, and scratching areas;
  • Mandate labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs, such as “eggs from caged hens” or “eggs from cage-free hens”;
  • Prohibit forced molting through starvation — an inhumane practice that is inflicted on tens of millions of hens each year and which involves withholding all food from birds for up to two weeks in order to manipulate the laying cycle;
  • Prohibit excessive ammonia levels in henhouses — a common problem in the industry that is harmful to both hens and egg industry workers;
  • Require standards for euthanasia of hens; and
  • Prohibit the sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these above requirements.
    This is really great news, but these provisions are not the law yet! So please  fill out this form in support of humane living conditions for laying hens. It will only take a minute to fill out, it doesn’t cost anything to do, and you will help improve the lives of millions of innocent chickens if this legislation passes.
    Animals cannot speak for themselves. Their lives often rest solely in the hands of the humans around them. They have no voice. We are their voice. Please sign.

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Filed under Animal Rights, Vegetarianism

Hunted

Someone once told me that rapists scope out their victims and deliberately choose certain type of person; who they view as easy prey. By sizing up their victim in this way, they gain control of the situation. When I heard about this, it really upset me, and I wondered if my persona could make me the victim of this violent crime once again. Once a rapist selects their target, they stalk him/her and plot their attack. Then they ambush their victim in a variety of ways such as coercion, date rape drugs, and violence.

There is a common misconception that rapists rape for sex. This is wrong. In fact, it is noted that rapists have access to legal sex; many of them have wives or girlfriends. Rapists rape for power. Serial rapists might even do it for sport, for some type of twisted thrill, that is perhaps comparable to the jolt of excitement kleptomaniacs cite to explain their addiction to stealing. After committing a rape, the rapist does not care that they just traumatized and possibly destroyed a living and breathing being. The rapist didn’t even consider that their victim was an individual with thoughts and feelings. The rapist only cared about one thing: getting what they wanted through control and domination.

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Filed under Animal Rights, Sexual Assault, Vegetarianism

Simplify: Removing Alcohol and Meat from My Life

What happens when you remove both meat and alcohol from your life? Some people would consider living in this type of existence hell. I myself once felt that completely removing alcohol from my life would never happen. I liked my frozen drinks and microbrews. To be clear it wasn’t anywhere near alcohol dependence, just social drinking. Somehow social drinking was a part of me that I didn’t feel the need to give up, drinking once a month or twice tops. In fact, when I turned vegetarian, I remember being excited that I could still drink beer. Somehow even drinking a few times a month can turn into a problem.

When I cut out drinking for dieting purposes, after a month my motivation levels increased. I became more persistent and much less apt to give up. This weekend I watched alcohol ruin an otherwise wonderful relationship, and I cannot help but think that without the drinking it would’ve been fine.

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Filed under Fun, Vegetarianism

The Two Hayleys

"The Two Fridas," by Frida Kahlo

Above is one of Frida Kahlo’s most famous paintings, “The Two Fridas” or “Las dos Fridas.” She painted this shortly after her beloved husband asked her for a divorce. The Frida on the left of the painting is dressed in conservative attire; likely the acceptable societal clothing of her time, while the Frida on the right dons bright colored clothing that resembles her Native Mexican lineage. Who is Frida? Is she torn between what society expects her to be and who she truly is? The division of herself as two separate entities certainly suggests she has two faces, the true Frida, which likely sits on the right, and the Frida she presents to the world on the left. Somehow her impending divorce  has caused Frida to spilt and come forward as two very distinct selves in this painting.

If you look closely you will see that the conservative Frida in the white dress has cut her vein with scissors. This snip implies an end to the circuit that keeps the two Fridas together. But who is leaving who and which personality, each so different, will prevail?

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Filed under Animal Rights, Art, Vegetarianism

Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month

It seems to me that not being cruel to animals should be a no-brainer , but given the fact that April is officially titled “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month” I am obviously wrong. Animal abuse is a common practice that comes in many forms, from animal testing, to “fake fur” production. Each year between 25 to 100 million animals including chimpanzees, monkeys, beagles, dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, birds, farm animals, are used for experimentation in the U.S. alone.  Every year roughly 2 million dogs and cats are killed to produce “fake” fur coats.   While many other “fur producing” animals are skinned alive.

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