by Jason on September 30, 2009
One of the overlooked challenges of being vegan in a largely non-vegan world is that you can quickly lose track of how the rest of the world eats, especially with processed foods. We quickly learn which ones are “safe” and many grocery stores stock vegan mayonnaise and other stuff in a separate section, so it’s really easy to miss out on whole aisles of the store and the atrocities contained therein.
And since grocery stores are a business, and it’s Wednesday, conditions are perfect for Business Time. Business Time sneak attack!
OK, so at this year’s Food Fair I was referred to the work of Marion Nestle, and while I haven’t read any of her books yet so I can’t say for sure what she’s about, I’ve been enjoying her blog quite a bit, particularly her posts on the Smart Choices program.
I don’t know if I just avoid these aisles, or maybe it hasn’t come out here yet, but Smart Choices is basically a food tagging system where supposedly “smart choices” for foods get a fancy logo. It’s like a stamp of approval, administered by a nonprofit organization, yadda yadda yadda.
So how do you get one of these logos on your products? Well… There are 14 companies who’ve funded the program to the tune of at least 1.47 million dollars. They’re on the list. What does 1.47 million buy you? A bit of leeway, apparently. At least enough for Kellogg’s to get the approval for… wait for it… Froot Loops cereal. But it’s not about the money, nosiree. According to one board member of the program, Froot Loops are a smarter choice than donuts.
I don’t know how/if companies who didn’t contribute lots of cash get into the program, but considering your potential peers, would you really want in?
by Jason on September 29, 2009
Here’s a legal precedent that I didn’t think I’d be writing this morning: it’s apparently not illegal to stick your penis into the mouth of a calf. Not even five calves. According to the judge who dismissed the case, he couldn’t figure out if the cows were being tormented, confused, or simply irritated about being duped out of a meal.
Here’s the money quote: “‘If the cow had the cognitive ability to form thought and speak, would it say, “Where’s the milk? I’m not getting any milk,” ‘ Judge James J. Morley asked.” and we are not going there, no indeed.
Of course, while that might be legal in Pennsylvania, it’s also a sign that something might not be right in the mind of the perpetrator, and sure enough, Robert Melia and his ex-girlfriend are also being charged with sexually assaulting three young girls. Child pornography was also involved.
Believe it or not, this is all just a prelude to what I actually want to talk about: the owner of the calves is reportedly “very upset” about all of this. It’s not clear if this was a dairy farm or a meat farm, but, assuming that this wasn’t a sanctuary, this owner is someone who makes a living by killing animals on a regular basis, but stuff like, well, like what we talked about earlier? Yeah, that’s the upsetting part. (and yes, they’re both upsetting acts.)
The thing of it is, this farmer probably does care for his (I’m assuming it’s a he) animals. He probably enjoys having them around, notices little personality quirks, and treats them, well, up to industry standards, anyway. It’s that weird transition to “OK, time to die” that I can never figure out. Farmers embody it best, but most of the population has this thing going on where animals are awesome and cute, but not only have a lower status than humans but are clearly on this planet so that they can be killed and put to all kinds of uses that, from a certain perspective, are all way more perverted and upsetting than what Melia did to them.
