What Does It Mean to be American?

During the celebration of our country’s Independence we often reflect upon the price we’ve paid for our freedom. We thank and remember those in service who selflessly trade their lives so we may have better ones. We broke away from the British Empire because we wanted better lives – yearned for the freedom to make our own choices. Yet, it seems as though today we’re faced with more rules and regulations than ever. We cannot marry whomever we chose. We cannot seek medical help when we are ill. It is in these times we wonder what is the most important thing to fight for? We need to get back to the basics. Get OUT from under the Empire’s thumb. We’ve ended up back where we started. Taxes, illness, poverty, unjust treatment…of not just human, but of all beings. Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. Take a minute to think about the way we treat our animals.

Behind the closed doors of factory farms (slaughterhouses), billions of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, horses, etc, are subjected to a life of misery that few could even imagine; suffering out of sight and out of mind. These animals only know a life filled with severe confinement, abusive handling, painful mutilations, careless neglect and merciless slaughter. Though these animals struggle, kick and scream, their cries repeatedly fall on the deaf ears of profit-driven factory farm producers, who view these responsive and intelligent creatures as mere commodities.

If you haven’t yet seen Food, Inc., I highly recommend you do. I guarantee you will learn something about your food. Not just about how the animals are raised and how they’re treated, but about what companies aren’t telling you – they are lobbying our senators and governors to get what they want and they’re getting it. They keep getting what they want because we aren’t fighting for a change.

This poor woman who lost her son due to an E-coli infected burger cannot even say on camera that she has changed the way she eats! They will come after her, sue her and make her out to be the bad guy. What does this remind you of?  Oprah??
Oprah’s statement of not wanting to eat another hamburger (guest: Howard Lyman) – caused 6 years of litigation and over $1 million in legal fees..
"In 1999, University of Wyoming law professor, Debra Donahue, who holds a masters degree in wildlife biology, wrote a book in which she said the most important thing that could be done to protect species from extinction and preserve biodiversity is to remove livestock from nearly all public lands. In response, Wyoming Senate president and cattleman Jim Twiford proposed a bill that would dismantle the university law school." (Wilkinson, Todd, "In a Battle over Cattle, both sides await grazing ruling," Christian Science Monitor, May 1, 2000)
There are only 3 or 4 companies controlling the meat market. This isn’t just major market control, this is control over an entire populations’ food. The sad thing is: we’re allowing it to continue. Every day you get three votes to tell the government how you want your food grown. You get three votes to improve the environment, your health and our society.
Another topic mentioned in Food, Inc. are the much-admired Commodity Crops – the majority of what makes up the bad calories (sodas, candy, processed foods). These commodity crops (and NAFTA) did away with the need to import corn from Mexico leaving thousands of farmers and ranch hands out of work, thus leading to the influx of South American immigrants to the US. The corn grown to feed the animals you eat along with the slaughterhouses where these animals are processed are the main reason why so many immigrants are in the US. Don’t you dare blame them, blame yourself. Next time you sit down to enjoy that holiday ham, think about where it came from. Better yet, think about that before you buy it. Think about the meat that has been processed with ammonia in order to kill the E-coli that lives within the carcass. Think about the lobbyists and lawyers who used to work for commodity crop and meat industries who are now working for the FDA and EPA. The fact that this is happening in a government I want to trust and I want to have faith in is nauseating to me.

There is a veil between us and where our food comes from – a world deliberately hidden from us. We are entitled to know about our food. So make your three votes per day; make them count. And never give up the conviction and strength that we, as Americans, can turn our society, health and environment around; we can have a better future, but we have to want it badly enough and we have to want it together. Independently of what we’re told to want.

Drill Me Running

Here we are at day 44 of the oil spill – A nauseating disaster for humans and non-humans alike.
But, who is to blame? We’ll start with the obvious choice, BP. They will, no doubt, be made an example of – criminal investigations are already in place. The instant the oil hit the water, multiple environment acts and treaties were broken. If specific people are held liable, they could face jail time up to 25 years. Sadly, like numerous animal cruelty cases, it will never result in the maximum sentence. Humans can purify oil out of their water, animals cannot.
There's also this little tidbit on Transocean.

The spill is already disrupting the reproductive season for many native animals including the Louisiana state bird, the Brown Pelican. Just one year off the endangered species list and one of nature’s most successful comeback stories is in jeopardy again.

In May, 80 Louisiana State prisoners were trained on how to clean birds. Regrettably, there are no plans in place to put this new [free] resource to use.

To date, BP has spent $1.2 billion on this cleanup. The total estimated cleanup is around $40 billion. This must mean they care about the already 200 lifeless sea turtles, 29 perished dolphins and countless dead fish. Surely innocent lives come before corporate profit…

Last year, prior to drilling the Deepwater Horizon rig, BP issued a 582-page Oil Spill Response Plan. They also issued a 52-page site-specific report for the rig itself. Both these reports were approved by the federal government. Both reports were riddled with errors.

Here are a few of my favorite rectally-derived claims from the report:
• Professor Lutz, listed as an environmental expert, left Miami 20 years ago & passed away in 2005.
• Names & phone numbers of specialists are incorrect.
• The number for the marine mammal stranding network offices in LA & FL is disconnected.
• The website BP listed for Marine Spill Response Corp. (supplies cleanup equipment) links to an invalid
   Japanese-language page.
• BP claimed they could round up enough boats to scoop up all oil before it hit the shoreline.
• The plans don’t even contain references on how to clean birds. The spill scenarios actually claim that fish,
   marine mammals & birds will escape serious harm; beaches will remain pristine; water quality is only a
   temporary problem.
• BP asserts they could skim, suck up or otherwise remove 20 million gallons of oil each day from the
   water – approximately how much has leaked in the past six weeks.
• These are all based on projections for an oil spill was ten times worse than the current situation.

The fact is we’re all to blame. This is the other side to the story inconveniently called reality.
As a society we have to ask ourselves: What the hell are we doing? If these pictures don’t stir a reaction or a need to change, well, you’re probably an oil executive.

I have stressed the subject of meat-eating in relation to global warming (stop eating it & save resources!). I’ll also be the first to say, I drive an SUV. I’m lucky if I get 17 miles per gallon out of it! And like many Americans, I’m addicted. And I like it. I feel like a junkie waiting for a fix in line at the pump. There’s an RV next to me and an Escalade in front of me. We’re all doing it! We might as well freebase gasoline right off the hoods of our cars.

But it’s time we all do something. Pick your poison, or lack thereof: eat less (or no) meat, drive less, stop using plastic bags. Every little bit will help. If we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.

I think someone famous [pun intended] once said, “There is nothing hidden that will not someday be revealed.”

Mankind, this is the 45th day of your wake-up call. Are we awake yet?

That was pretty harsh, so I’ll leave you with a laugh:

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