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brendan

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Everything posted by brendan

  1. With all due respect, friends, I think it is important that we research and understand the facts before we formulate arguments.
  2. I think this is a good working example of how we, as animal rights advocates, need to choose our battles wisely. Inhumane slaughter of animals is unequivocally appalling. But when the whole world is feeling threatened by a naturally occurring disease, it is neither appropriate nor effective to seize the opportunity as a chance to disseminate our animal rights worldview. As Corey said, these are already people who do not care about animal life - Why give their everyday acts any credibility or justification by polarizing the world against us in a time of crisis?
  3. Although your initial concern for these animals is respectable, I think you might have misunderstood the nature and threat of avian bird flu, or H5N1, which is positioned to be the next great pandemic with the potential of killing up to 150 million people worldwide. As there is no soluble vaccine available, no nation is promised protection. Avian bird flu is dissimilar to Mad Cow Disease in that it is not a result of poor agricultural practices or human flesh consumption; rather it is a naturally occuring virus - just like human-to-human influenza - among birds. Birds carry the virus in their intestines but usually do not get sick from it; however, the virus is highly contagious to chickens, turkeys, etc., and can easily kill them. The alarming factor with the avian bird flu is that the virus has mutated to point where it is now believed to be becoming spreadable from birds to humans and, eventually, from human to human. Given the insurmountable threat this poses to human (and animal) life, nations are more than justified in having to kill massive amounts of birds. At this point, we can't pretend to be living in a vacuum, where animal rights is the overriding and most humane choice before us.
  4. Hi, Mike. Welcome aboard. I recently got someone to go vegetarian as a result of your anti-fur campaign against J.Crew, er J.Cruel. He sent out an e-mail saying how the PETA footage of the cruelty on fur farms made him cry and that even though he didn't consider himself an animal rights activist, he didn't think animals needed to die for him to be clothed. I politely responded that animals don't need to die for him to be fed either and then pointed him toward "Meet Your Meat," as it is no less saddening than the fur videos and necessitates a boycott itself. He was very responsive and decided to move toward a more compassionate, almost vegan lifestyle. So thanks for all your work!
  5. Hey, Shelley. Hope your journey toward veganism is going well. Great to have you here!
  6. Hey, welcome. I love visiting Chicago - great food there.
  7. Great intro and avatar. Welcome!
  8. Wow, a student at Oxford. Impressive. Welcome!
  9. Yeah, you look great at 140 - can't imagine what you look like now. Welcome aboard, buddy!
  10. Welcome, Cristian! I played soccer for several years - In fact, I apparently love it so much, I had a dream last night where I was dominanting the indoor soccer field as both goalie and forward; everyone was passing the ball to me and I was scoring. It was awesome. Heh.
  11. Impressive before-and-after pics, Jonathan. I'm up to 155 (70 kg) now, meaning I've gained 21 pounds (10 kg) since I set out to build some body mass at the beginning of the summer. Still growing!
  12. "The progressive animal rights organization has a ruthless approach for getting coverage in the mass media - with enviable results." Check out this AlterNet article about PETA's media-savvy activism. Embroiling, heavy-handed and insightful, it certainly made me see the organization in a new light. Despite any dispute over tactics, the sheer number of responses to the article is a testament that PETA must be doing something right. "PETA goes after places, people, events and ideas of social meaning and finds a way to seize the headlines - or create its own. It will do whatever it takes to expose people to its point of view. When PETA asks an agricultural town to change its name from say, Cowtown to Liberated Cowtown, it knows that a bored reporter in the surrounding region will fall for it and write a story about it, and that a bunch of readers sick of stories about septic tanks and cattle prices will fall for the headline. Somewhere in that story will be the sentence: "A PETA representative told the mayor that killing animals is wrong." With that sentence, PETA scores a victory. ... Because the truth is, this animal rights thing is a tarpit. The more people are exposed to it, the less comfortable they are with the concept of animal suffering. That's the premise, anyway, and I think it's true." I posted a comment, "Animal rights transcends PETA tactics," on AlterNet in case you're interested in reading that, too.
  13. Hey, did you know the author of "Fight Club," Chuck Palahniuk used to be vegan?
  14. Thanks for the heads-up about the bad form. I actually think a similar feature on the main site here would be great, if you or Rob or somebody would be willing to do that. It would really help.
  15. I concur. Veganmadre, we are not worthy. Posting pictures was an awesome idea, and just think of all the cool fillings you can throw in there: vegan cream cheese, seitan, tofu, etc., etc. Thanks, dude! What other cool fillings can y'all think of?
  16. I bought some Veganaise just for you. One order of Moby's famous chickenless salad coming right up!
  17. Woot! Corey is awesome; I'm glad she's back in the States. It was lonely without her. Hopefully we'll all get to meet when we take the ultimate vegan vacation. Until then, I get a whole week of Corey in good ole Columbia, Missourah.
  18. In case anyone needs demonstrations on how to do certain exercises, here's a great site I've been using: http://www.shapefit.com/training.html
  19. Oh, I wasn't aware. Thanks for the notice. Anyhoo, there's no Trader Joe's where I am now (Columbia).
  20. When I'm in St. Louis, there's Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Trader Joe's, as well as several local health food stores. There's even an all-vegan soul food restaurant that my friends and I are regulars at, called Eternity. In Columbia, Mo., where I go to school, the chain grocery stores have large organic foods sections. And there are a lot of local health stores, as well. Also a great, great vegetarian restaurant within five minutes walking distance of my apartment, called Main Squeeze.
  21. Agreed. Fantastic job, buddy!
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