[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
—
Some unknown number left this voicemail. After listening a million times, I think it says “is your refrigerator running?”
PHOTO OP: Dapper Cat
Via Cakper.
Vegans, It’s Time To Get Real About Anti-Oppression
First, an introduction for folks who might not know me yet. I have been vegan since 1998, when my husband and I made the decision to switch from ovo-lacto vegetarianism, in an effort to hopefully prevent our son (who was just over a year old at the time) from developing some of the same food allergies my husband had just been diagnosed with. I was vegan throughout my pregnancy with my daughter and she has never had a single animal product in her life – beyond my own breastmilk.
When we went first went vegan it was purely for health reasons. We had a peripheral understanding the suffering and cruelty that went into meat, which was why we were already vegetarian, but we did not begin to comprehend how absolutely disgusting and horrifying the egg and dairy industries were until we had already decided to remove them from our diet.
Right from the beginning, my veganism was about learning. About having my consciousness raised. About compassion…about ethics….about justice for animals, who truly are oppressed, in just about every sense of the word, the entire world over. We take away their natural habitats. We imprison them and enslave them for our entertainment/”education”. We breed them against their will, we take their babies away to be killed, we drain them of their milk and steal their eggs, just to do it all over again until they themselves are spent and must be killed for purely financial reasons. This attitude of animals existing solely for our use – especially when many of us have no real, pressing need for ANY of these things for our own survival – is incalculably abhorrent to me. It is one of the worst aspects of our current world, in my opinion. And vegans, I know that most (all?) of you already agree with me on that.
But if you are truly invested in ahimsa/fighting oppression/ending cruelty for EVERYONE, it’s time to get real.
Imagine how amazing the vegan movement would be if vegans everywhere were kind and compassionate towards ALL of their fellow earthlings?
At least the Internet is more accurate and up to date on research.
Portrait of an Ass-Grabber: 2012 Student Loan Forgiveness Act: FAQs
I was reading the FAQs on the 2012 Student Loan Forgiveness Act on Hansen Clarke’s website, and these two points stuck out:
- Would I still be eligible to enroll if my loans are in default?
Yes. Unlike the federal government’s program of Income…
(Source: anti-oppressivebabyanimals)
The number of people who die each year from medical errors is equal to 4 jumbo jets crashing EACH WEEK.
Medical errors happen. Healthcare is provided to humans, by humans, and humans are very imperfect creatures. That said, many human errors are preventable. There is no excuse for anything less than 100% compliance when it comes to hand washing. There’s no accountability right now for medical errors, and malpractice law suits are NOT a viable option for remedying this culture of substandard care.
When people fled Fukushima and other parts of Japan a year ago, thousands of pets were left behind. While many pets have since been reunited with their owners, a horrific situation still exists in the no-go 12.5-mile radiation zone around the damaged nuclear plants.
There, homeless dogs and cats are still wandering around the area, according to World Vets founder and CEO Cathy King. She told Discovery News that “a lot of these animals have since been rescued out, but some remain.”
The problem demonstrates how difficult recovery has been after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011.
The resulting tsunami and nuclear woes devastated the area. Animal support teams from all over the world descended upon the region and are still trying to improve the situation.More images and information about the rescue efforts here
(via npr)
