Who Would The Animals Vote For?

This may be somewhat of a reiteration of this post, however, with election day a little less than a week a way, I think it is important to bring it up again. With the upcoming election still pretty close (polls are known for misleading people), here is some information you need to know about the candidates so you can make a good decision if animals are important to you.

Sarah Palin an animal's worst nightmare. She supports aerial hunting of wolves (one of the most cruel forms of hunting), because she claims that wolves are eating moose and caribou. This of course, would be natural. However, since moose and caribou are favorites of Alaskan hunters, the wolves need to be killed so there are more moose and caribou to kill. In fact though, the wolves in that area eat mostly other small animals. Alaska is the only state to allow this.

Palin also wants to remove polar bears from the endangered species list (she even sued the national government for it.) This would make it easier to drill for oil in ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.) She also claims that global warming is a farce. Global warming is one of the reasons WHY polar bears are on the endangered species list, because their habitat is melting away.

In addition, she promotes the Iditarod race, owns a commercial fishing business, and is an NRA member.

John McCain supports offshore drilling (which ruins habitats) and wants more nuclear power. Nuclear power has been known to harm animals. In an article I read for my current events class, in a particularly radioactive area, some asexual worms were reproducing sexually (though my class thought that was a good thing for the worms...)

Barack Obama has said he supports animal rights. He has proven this also with his record. In the Illinois Senate, he sponsored a bill that prevented horse slaughter, and he has been endorsed by the Human Society many times. Here is a from Obama:

I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other. And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals.

Not to be biased here, but the Democratic party has always been a step ahead of the Republicans when it comes to animal issues. Read this blog to see how the lawmakers stack up against each other. If you go to the bottom, you will see that Joe Biden received one of the highest scores for protecting animals (John McCain, not so much.)

I know animals aren't everything that matter in this upcoming election, but regardless of your position, Barack is right in his quote that how we treat animals reflects how we treat ourselves. Obama and Biden have records showing that they respect animals and McCain and Palin certainly do not.

I Love Veggie Burgers

Today for lunch I made a kick-butt veggie burger. My favorite brand of veggie burgers is Gardenburger. Today, I made the Veggie Medley burger (I also love the Vegan Grillers burger but they are harder to find.) The Veggie Medley is made from a base of brown rice, and has all sorts of veggie goodness in it.

To jazz it up, I made a lettuce-wrapped burger. Instead of using a bun or bread, I used some delicious Boston Lettuce (the leaves are light green, round and quite large) to wrap the burger in. On top, I put ketchup, white wine Dijon mustard, and some fried onions. The only onions I had were too strong to eat raw so I fried them in the left over canola oil. For extra jazz, I added some sliced avocado. The avocado sort of mimics mayonnaise, but it adds a unique creamy flavor (think of the selling points for the Big Mac or Whopper over a regular burger.)

I then topped it with another 2 pieces of lettuce and it was gone very quickly! It was a bit messy (I should have let the burger cool first and blotted off some of the grease from the onions are burgers) but none the less delicious. The picture shown is before I added the top pieces of lettuce, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see anything! I apologize for the quality, I was hungry and didn't want to use my digital camera so I just snagged this with my cell (The avocado looks more yellow than green in this!)

And tonight I'm having another veggie burger for dinner because I am eating with my step-grandparents (my mom and step-dad are on their honeymoon) and since they are making homemade oven fries, (Mmm!) a burger seems like the perfect compliment.

102 Reasons Why I'm Vegan

102 Reasons why I am and why I went vegan, and also why I remain vegan. Not all are about food, some deal with fur, leather, etc.
I'm sorry I don't have sources for these, it became too tedious!

1. Vegans on average live up to 6 years longer than non-vegans.
2. Vegans on average are 10% lighter than non vegans.
3. It's virtually impossible to get a heart attack if you are vegan because the lowest cholesterol level for a heart attack was 150 and on average a vegan's total cholesterol is 128.
4. It's always nice to know you haven't eaten a dead animal for breakfast.
5. Or lunch or dinner for that matter.
6. Leather is dead skin, something I use an exfoliator to get rid of.
7. Animals are cuter and softer when they are living and breathing, not in jackets or trim.
8. Because cows also feel pain.
9. Because a lobster doesn't have a shock system that inhibits extreme pain when it's cut in half or boiled alive.
10. Meat and dairy makes your farts smell worse.
11. Lettuce doesn't ooze blood when you cut it.
12. Cucumbers don't have faces.
13. I don't see anything different between eating my dog and eating a cow.
14. Because I have 9 pet chickens and they are so cute and lovable!
    
15. Because animals can't speak up and say they don't want to be eaten.
16. Because giving a damn is attractive.
17. It takes over 3000 gallons of water to feed an omnivore for a day, and less than 400 gallons to feed a vegan.
18. Because most of the deforestation in the Amazon is for increasing cattle grazing lands.
19. And the Amazon Rainforest has the most rare species than any other place in the world.
20. The man who made the word vegan, Donald Watson, lived to be 94
21. Dr. Atkins however, had severe heart disease and died at the age of 70.
    
22. A lot of rabbit fur used for jacket trim is actually mislabelled dog and cat fur.
23. Animals in China used for fur are killed by smashing their heads against brick walls.
24. Many pet dogs die each year by stumbling into fur traps in the woods.
25. Beavers are drowned to death by traps to use them for fur.
26. Fur smells like nasty chemicals.
27. Faux fur is cheaper anyways.
28. And leather is disgusting when it rips and you can see all the fibers of the skin of the animals it used to be.
29. Leather tanning is extremely harmful to the environment.
30. Fiber (found in veggies) helps keep you regular.
31. The casein protein in milk causes your bones to lose calcium in urine.
32. Countries that have low intake of dairy actually have less hip fractures, a sign of osteoporosis.
33. I have a lot more energy than I did before I went vegan.
34. Eating meat means you payed for the slaughter of an innocent animals.
35. On average, vegans save 90 lives per year.
36. Humans have characteristics that show they were meant to be herbivores.
37. Because I don't salivate when I see roadkill.
    
38. Milk is the breast milk of another species.
39. Have you ever seen a dog suckling from a giraffe?
40. And we drink it past infancy too, something that certainly isn't normal.
41. I don't go to zoos because there was a dolphin who attempted suicide from the stress of being watched 24/7 and being confined in a small tank.
42. How would you like to be confined to a cage not much bigger than your bedroom for the rest of your life?
43. Because the only way to train circus animals to do unnatural tricks is by fear.
44. Elephants are beaten with electric prods to get them to perform.
45. Soy milk doesn't have pus (somatic cells) in it.
46. 98% of chicken contains a small piece of feces, aka SHIT.
47. That gives new meaning to the phrase "chickenshit."
48. I don't have to worry about cross-contamination between raw meat and vegetables.
49. If I under cook my food, it won't kill me.
50. A hamburger is a patty of ground of cow brains, meat, and tissue.
51. Under animal protection laws for slaughtering, birds don't count as animals.
52. Not that those laws are adhered to anyway.
    
53. Pigs have the mental ability of 3-year old children.
54. That little piggy is smarter than your dog.
55. Fish can concentrate toxins from its environment up to 9 MILLION times stronger in their flesh.
56. Shrimp has more cholesterol than beef.
57. Chickens and humans both have a tongue, 2 legs, a brain, a nose, and nails. And we both have hearts.
58. Eating something that died doesn't make you manly.
59. It shows you have disrespect for life.
60. Every year in the UK ALONE, livestock is fed enough food to feed 250,000,000 people while in the world 30,000,000 people die of starvation.
61. 1 acre yields 165 lbs of beef or 20,000 lbs of potatoes.
62. It takes 2500 gallons to produce 1lb of meat; compared to:
    
63. 25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat.
    
64. 49 gallons of water for 1 lb of apples.
65. 23 gallons of water for 1 lb of lettuce.
    
66. The water used to produce 10 lbs of steak is equivalent to the average consumption of water for an entire household for an entire year.
67. 70% of all grain grown is fed to animals, and that grain is fit for humans.
68. Calf leather comes from animals killed at just 2 weeks old.
69. Vegans have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes.
70. Omnivores have double the risk of Alzheimer's disease than vegans.
71. Chinese people (living mainly on a vegetarian diet) consume 20% more calories than Americans but Americans are 20% fatter.
72. The cling film used to wrap meat in supermarkets & butchers contains chemicals linked to falling sperm counts in men.
73. Because slaughterhouses are rarely regulated, many animals have their throats slit while fully conscious.
74. Meat packing is the most dangerous job to have.
75. If not for the animals, go vegetarian for the people who have no choice but to work in slaughterhouses and risk losing their lives and limbs.
76. In the land it requires to feed one meat eater, 20 vegans can be fed.
77. It takes 16lbs of soy protein to make 1 lb of beef.
78. 90% of cattle ranches created on cleared forest land go bankrupt in less than 8 years .
79. Which leaves that deserted, barren, and unusable because of nutrient loss.
80. Many of our rivers and streams are polluted because of animal runoff (poop)
81. To produce 1 calorie of energy from meat , it takes 60 calories of fuel.
82. Growing grains and beans to directly feed people produces 20 calories for every calorie of fuel used .
83. You do the math, veganism is 1200 times more effective in this respect.
84. Fish caught by nets die by suffocation.
85. I can easily make/buy brownies, pancakes, pies, cakes, pizza, "ice cream", nachos, crepes, burgers, burritos, tacos, soups, "hot dogs", pasta, noodles, fajitas and much more without using animal products, so I can feel good about not contributing to animal torture.
86. And those foods can be made even healthier than their "real" counterparts.
87. Being vegan has opened my eyes to new foods that I never would have tried before.
88. Indian cuisine has some of the best vegan food ever, and most of it is healthy and cheap.
89. Because being vegan makes you learn to cook better.
90. I wont lie, you'll need to cook more than before as a vegan, but everyone knows home-cooked food is so much better for you!
91. Cows naturally produce 5 liters of milk per day for their calves , with factory and profit-driven farming they produce 25-40 liters per day.
92. Spent dairy cows (from overproduction) are turned into hamburger.
93. To make milk a cow must have a calf, so she will be impregnated numerous times over what is natural so she will have more milk.
94. Almost all male calves born will become veal calves.
95. So there is a chunk of veal in every glass of milk.
96. That is why I made the switch to vegan from vegetarian, because everything is connected and the deadly cycle needs to be broken.
    
97. Countries with the highest meat and dairy consumptions have more brittle bones (osteoporosis.)
98. On average, a normal cow can live between 25-30 years, but dairy cows only live 3-5 years.
99. That is only ten percent of their natural life span!
100. Free-range and organic milk, eggs, and meat are hardly differently than their non-organic and non-free-range counterparts because there are no guidelines to specify what free-range is, and organic only applies to what is fed to the animals, not how they are treated!
101. Free-range chicken can mean that the chickens were crammed together tightly on a cold, concrete floor where they can't even turn around, and will be trampled on as they try to reach the food trough. I don't see how this is any less cruel.
     
102. And lastly, being vegan isn't hard, it's easy when you realize just how much you are helping animals, people, and the planet!