I don’t even have a t.v. but I can assure you that I’ll find a way to watch this new show. It doesn’t have an air date yet. I’ll keep you posted. Two episodes have been shot so far. My hope is that it keeps the pressure on and eventually, stops the dolphins slaughter completely.

What do those terms mean?

The practice of killing animals remotely via the Internet and the abhorrent practice of shooting confined, tame, exotic animals in an enclosed space.

Let’s make this a take action Friday. In fact, every Friday from now on, I think I’m going to post a take action. Through the form on HSUS, write to your representative and urge them to support the Sportsmanship in Hunting Act.

Even proud hunters find this practice horrific. They see no sport in hunting an animal by moving a computer mouse, or shooting an animal that’s fenced in. It’s a lazy cruel pastime for lazy cruel people. Let’s make it illegal everywhere.

Cow Jones Industrials, a fabulous vegan boutique in Chatham, NY is starting to get the spring looks in from vegan designers like Olsen Haus and Neuaura. Sandals and silver heels and sweet flats. It’s just the start.

And for those of us still looking for a deal on fall/winter items, check out the winter sale as well as many of the shoes from Cri de Coeur.

Cow Jones Industrials has clothing, purses, shoes, belts and pretty much anything and everything you would expect from a high end fabulous boutique.

The mayor’s office of Taiji said:

“There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world,” the statement read. “It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories.”

Now, that’s true. There are different traditions around the world. I wrote a blog about the hypocrisy of people who eat pig being outraged when other cultures eat dog. However, Taiji isn’t just killing dolphins for food. In fact, killing the dolphins for food seems to be a by-product of the real purpose behind this dolphin hunt. After the dolphins are round up, the marine parks and swim with a dolphin businesses get their pick. The selected dolphins are sold for thousands upon thousands of dollars. The dolphins who are not chosen are killed for food. Much dolphin meat is labeled as whale meat tricking the consumer. Also mercury in dolphin meat is a big big problem. Many people in Japan don’t even know about the slaughter. Taiji officials are claiming cultural when really it’s greed.

Happily Matt and Nat has come out with a sleek vegan belt that a gal can wear to be dressy or casual. And for only $28 pretty much all of us can afford it! Nothing makes me happier in the vegan world than when style meets affordability meets function.

And while you’re on the Moo Shoes website, check out their sale section. They have a zillion items on sale for your perusal.

Neal Barnard from the fabulous organization PCRM wrote a great clarifying article on soy for the Huffington Post. In it, he discusses all of the rumors and gives scientific data to back his assertion that soy is totally safe and even beneficial for the body. He talks about breast cancer, fibroids, thyroid health, hormones in men and women, and other health issues.

Here is part of what Dr. Barnard had to say about cancer:

Women who include soy products in their routines are less likely to develop breast cancer, compared with other women. In January 2008, researchers at the University of Southern California found that women averaging one cup of soymilk or about one-half cup of tofu daily have about a 30 percent less risk of developing breast cancer, compared with women who have little or no soy products in their diets (1). However, to be effective, the soy consumption may have to occur early in life, as breast tissue is forming during adolescence (2-3).

Read the full article for all the facts. Then, next time someone talks to you about soy being sketchy, tell them what you know.

This is a sensitive topic.  A woman lost her life. However, I think it’s important to recognize that this is one of the issues with keeping wild animals captive. I’m totally against facilities like SeaWorld. To take a killer whale into captivity, keep it in a tiny barren tank, expect it to do tricks in front of shrieking people and expect it to behave the exact ways we wish, just seems plain idiotic. In the wild a killer whale might swim one hundred miles in a day. At SeaWorld, they swim in circles in a blue tank. In the wild, they might live until their sixties. However in captivity, they will most likely die by their mid thirties. Killer whales live in family pods. They are highly intelligent social creatures. We stick them in a box and expect them to behave. We do it to make money and for the thrill of seeing a large animal up close. We do it because humans are selfish.

Closing these exhibits and respecting these creatures as wild animals seems to be the answer. SeaWorld would lose tons of money, so I doubt they will do that. But perhaps it will prompt an outraged reaction from the public. Nothing is better than public pressure to help close down something as big as SeaWorld.

Photo by Marci Stenberg

A bill by Sen. Dean Florez of California proposes that felony animal abusers should be listed on a public registry. This is the same tactic used with sex offenders. The hope is that if you know who has committed a crime, you can help prevent those same crimes in the future.

This article says:

Florez said animal abuse is especially bad in the Central Valley. He said the biggest problem has been with hoarders, people who keep more than usual numbers of animals as pets, without having the means to take care of those animals. Some hoarders have been found with hundreds of animals, often living in appalling conditions, Florez said.

“We’ve had a lot of convicted hoarders moving into the Valley,” Florez said. “There’s no way to find out about these people until it’s too late.”

The program would be paid for by placing a levy of 3 cents per pound of pet food. That figures to about a buck fifty a year for the average companion animal guardian. It also ensures that the state (as we all know, Cali is broke) doesn’t have to pay for the program.

This bill would surely help prevent animal abuse. I have no doubts about that. However, I’m always a bit nervous when we take away people’s rights to privacy. Should felons expect the same rights to privacy as a law abiding citizen? Should certain crimes be up for public display while others remain more confidential? For example, wouldn’t it be helpful for women out in the dating world to know if the guy they are seeing has been convicted of domestic abuse? Or is it wrong to judge people based on their past behavior? People do change. Any thoughts? I like this idea. It would be great for animals. But what about, instead of making it public, making it mandatory for a person who has been convicted of animal abuse to notify the local law enforcement about their crime instead of making it common public knowledge?

Writer Adam Shriver says in his opinion piece titled “Not Grass Fed But At Least Pain-Free:”

If we cannot avoid factory farms altogether, the least we can do is eliminate the unpleasantness of pain in the animals that must live and die on them. It would be far better than doing nothing at all.

Rather than actually fighting for real change (especially when humanity is the problem here) he’s saying that the animals should be the ones to change. That we should change them so drastically to better suit our needs that they barely resemble animals anymore. But he ignored the fact that pain isn’t the only abuse that makes factory farming cruel. The animals are aware. They are intelligent feeling creatures. They will still go mad from the boredom of being kept in a cage. They will still long for freedom or, if not freedom, then how about enough room to turn around or take part in some of their natural behaviors. A few people in the comments I saw said that the animals would probably injure themselves by banging against the cage to get out. What’s to stop them if they can’t feel pain?

This article, although it’s pretending to pose a solution for the suffering of animals, is actually just a shill for big ag. It’s trying to justify our disgusting treatment of animals by taking even more away from them. They take their lives. Now, they want to take the parts of them that make them what they are. Their ability to feel.

See all the images of the new coats on Leanne’s blog On Our Sleeve.

And for those of you who have male veg friends who have been envious that your coat is totally vegan and fab, please know that Vaute Couture is releasing their first men’s line! To see some images of those (including gloves!) go to The Discerning Brute here.

Want to see a coat in action? Check out Emily Deschanel’s character Temperance Brennen in the hit show Bones sporting the blue El. (My exact coat!) She wears it in the first five or so minutes of the show.