Animal Rights Television

Interesting video.

http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=mym2002

No, thanks. PETA is one organization whose rhetoric does not match my viewpoint of the world.

quote:

Originally posted by pennypincher

Interesting video.

http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=mym2002

Well, at least this time People Eating Tasty Animals spent money on its absurd message and not for the legal defense of terrorists who burn buildings and bomb laboratories.

Factory farms are pretty disturbing. I've also thought that mass-produced meat doesn't taste as interesting as real farm raised. Michael, I seem to remember you are a hunter (am I right?), so you might agree that critters that run around taste better than ones that spend their whole lives in tiny cages in the dark, etc.

Fortunately, this being Texas, out local farmer's market features meat and eggs, but of the free-rangey variety. My wife and I are usually willing to pay extra to avoid all the hormones and antibiotics made necessary by factory farms (though we do eat meat at restaurants, so we are not purists by any means).

Years back, when I lived in San Francisco, I had a blind date with a PETA member. She said to me, "It may not be very American, but I'm a vegan." I'm sure you can imagine exactly the tone of voice she used. "Actually," I said, "What could be more American than being morbidly obsessed with food?" I hardly ever have the snappy comeback handy, but I think I did that time.

I hope nobody was offended by that!

PETA - Petty Ethics-free Terrorist A******s.
I have absolutely no use for them.

I believe everyone can think what they want...and it's funny that some wear a pea outfit to protest the hot dog eating contest on Coney Island.

What DOES bother me is the way many vegans and vegetarians value animal life over human life. Getting upset about a dog stuck in a drainpipe and not being even bothered one bit over war and human suffering around the globe really riles me. And I've experienced that with vegan co-worker, who's a friend.

I agree with Gator about supporting natural foods and green farming. Free range too.

Just don't value the life of a lame chicken over mine, thank you.

Lynne

quote:

Originally posted by Route 11

Getting upset about a dog stuck in a drainpipe and not being even bothered one bit over war and human suffering around the globe really riles me.

Depends on the dog, I guess

Hopefully not a bassett...I loved mine but I don't think he'd ever save MY life!

Once again:
Though I have nothing against matters agrarian,
If I were hungry, I could eat a vegetarian.

The governor of Alaska has permitted aerial killing of 40 wolves in the McGrath area because they're killing off too many moose which is food for those folks. The Animal Rights' Activists are staging "howl ins" in many Lower 48 cities, protesting this and trying to boycott tourism in Alaska. Our response to them: BUTT OUT!!

Then there are those nice people in Brasstown, NC who like to have a Possum Drop at the Citgo station on New Years Eve. Presumably, there's not a heck of a lot going on in Brasstown cuz the owner of Citgo, Clay Logan, has been doing the Possum Drop since 1991. They trap a possum, feed it some cat food, put it into a plexiglass box with air holes and slooooowly lower it from the roof of the Citgo station. The people go crazy..........then they release the possum and it waddles off, looking for more cat food. Well this year the good PETA people contacted Mr. Logan threatening a law suit because his actions are "perverse, reckless and terrifying to the possum". How did they determine that? From the Possum Hot Line? So, good Mr. Logan, not wanting to disappoint his loyal revelers used.........road kill!!!

I refer you to MFK Fisher's, "How to Cook a Wolf", and other non
PETA writings that others on this forum might remember.

BTW. Anyone have a wolf recipe?

I still sat the only ones that PETA is really out to help is it's CEO's who line hteir pockets off of soft hearted teenage girls.

These are the people who say I'm a slave owner because I have pets. That I'm taking unfair advantage of them. Visit my house...see who's the slave!

And that we should release all the domesticated farm animals into the wilds to be free. Have these people ever been near a domesticated cow, sheep, or turkey? Not the most cunning of animals for sure.

These peta people have too much time on their hands and need to find something to do. And get a life.

I love animals, and if I saw somebody abusing an animal I would certainly attempt to intervene, But these PETA people go beyond caring, all the way to ridiculous. I tend to agree with oc, who said they're lining their pockets. Too many charities and "do good" organizations are like that.

Remarkably Peta has no official policy on "human rights." Which reminds me a Peta representative was recently arrested in nearby Wellington, FL for obstruction when she blocked traffic causing a disturbance while protesting the sale of Hot Dogs at a Publix Supermarket while wearing a pig costume. It doesn't get crazier than that!

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

The governor of Alaska has permitted aerial killing of 40 wolves in the McGrath area because they're killing off too many moose which is food for those folks. The Animal Rights' Activists are staging "howl ins" in many Lower 48 cities, protesting this and trying to boycott tourism in Alaska. Our response to them: BUTT OUT!!

Then there are those nice people in Brasstown, NC who like to have a Possum Drop at the Citgo station on New Years Eve. Presumably, there's not a heck of a lot going on in Brasstown cuz the owner of Citgo, Clay Logan, has been doing the Possum Drop since 1991. They trap a possum, feed it some cat food, put it into a plexiglass box with air holes and slooooowly lower it from the roof of the Citgo station. The people go crazy..........then they release the possum and it waddles off, looking for more cat food. Well this year the good PETA people contacted Mr. Logan threatening a law suit because his actions are "perverse, reckless and terrifying to the possum". How did they determine that? From the Possum Hot Line? So, good Mr. Logan, not wanting to disappoint his loyal revelers used.........road kill!!!

ha ha... Possum hot line... Thats good! They should add traffic reports to that line to avoid being a makeshift pot hole filler!

Best laugh I had in a long time was an article I saw in the paper the other day about some new chunky style boot which is now a big favorite among the hot and fashion conscious. It was accompanied by a photo of Pamela Anderson, an outspoken PETA supporter who posed nude for one of their famous billboards, walking her dog and wearing these boots, made from suede pig skin. The article gave her a good dig for speaking out against wearing leather or fur coats and reminded her that pigs are also animals.

Yes, Gator, I am a hunter, and I do belive that things that walk around on their own taste better. When it comes to that walking around, though, I can assure you that when it's wild and walks around it's also healthier.

I trust everyone here knows that Ingrid Newkirk, the head of People Eating Tasty Animals, wrote a letter to Yassir Arafat following a terrorist bombing that killed innocent women and children to complain about the bomb having been attached to a donkey. Ingrid was very upset that the terrorists used a donkey, and she demanded that they stop using animals in their attacks. She apparantly was not concerned about the deaths of innocent women and children.

Yes, people are funny, to quote Art Linkletter. Even as a child I thought it odd that in films cowboys and Indians could kill each other by the score without eliciting a tear of regret, but let a horse die...! I recall the outcry over the film Walkabout, which depicted a young Aborigine catching, killing, and cooking his own food. Ingrid Newkirk should have her juvenile, half-baked ideas served up in a PETA pan. [|)]

quote:

Originally posted by Grampy

Ingrid Newkirk should have her juvenile, half-baked ideas served up in a PETA pan. [|)]

How about if she STUFFED them in a PETA pocket???

Another problem I have with PETA is this: They tend to be located in states like Connecticut, Virginia, Florida, etc. Is anyone above the 61st parallel? NO NO and NO! Let's all round them up and drop them off in Siberia, Greenland, Iceland, NW Territories in Canada or Alaska. Let them spend a week in their LLBean clothes. Right. The temps get to -60 and lower, with howling winds. You cannot survive unless you are clad in skins and furs. The meat from these animals is eaten in the traditional subsistance lifestyle of the people of the North.
Again, to PETA: BUTT OUT.

Wolf recipe, like any canine, is best braised in a beer and tabasco sauce, although it can also be done in a red wine and garlic mixture, Feline on the other hand demands a white wine and garlic braising, and a shorter cooking time. Monkey and rat call for completly different cooking techniques.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

quote:

Originally posted by Grampy

Ingrid Newkirk should have her juvenile, half-baked ideas served up in a PETA pan. [|)]

How about if she STUFFED them in a PETA pocket???

As we were off-line all day, I can only only concur. And it would be absolutely PETA-ful.

I have a photo of a roadside billboard avertisement for a hunting lodge somwhere in Canada:

"There is room for all God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatos."

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Another problem I have with PETA is this: They tend to be located in states like Connecticut, Virginia, Florida, etc. Is anyone above the 61st parallel? NO NO and NO! Let's all round them up and drop them off in Siberia, Greenland, Iceland, NW Territories in Canada or Alaska. Let them spend a week in their LLBean clothes. Right. The temps get to -60 and lower, with howling winds. You cannot survive unless you are clad in skins and furs. The meat from these animals is eaten in the traditional subsistance lifestyle of the people of the North.
Again, to PETA: BUTT OUT.

I don't know what the "traditional subsistance lifestyle" has to do with factory farms, and I seriously doubt your meat consumption follows these traditions anyway. I like to eat meat, and I don't need to appropriate images of Native Americans to justify it.

As for where folks live, sorry, but last I checked, Alaska is part of a federal system, and all US citizens have the right to express their opinions about things that happen there. This is doubly so given that Alaska is a huge net importer of federal tax dollars from the rest of us.

Lastly, I'd bet that synthetic fabrics available from your local outdoors store would compare mighty favorably with "skins and furs" for extreme weather conditions. But, hey, I'm sure you look fabulous in your fur coat.

Many of y'all on this forum seem real angry about what is, let's face it, a pretty marginal group with about zero chance of getting it's platform written into law. Just because I disagree with them about most everything (yes, their views on pet ownership and militant vegetarianism are particularly dumb) doesn't mean everything they believe is wrong. Factory farms are pretty vile, and, if nothing else, self interest regarding additives and water pollution, should encourage us to be aware of what's in our food chain.

Well, there sure seemed to be a lot of chickens for being treated so badly.

Like any other industry, there are good producers and bad. How do we know what type of operations these are. Surely there are producers out there who run their operation in a less than clean and sterile manner, while others are very sanitary. Those film clips were designed to inflame and incite fear and loathing by presenting us with selected examples.

I have seen dairy farms so clean you could eat off the floor, and suberb cattle ranching operations. Feedlots may be a different story, but they are temporary.

Sure does beat having to go out and kill a chicken for dinner though.

CCJPO- Nice to see you back. Keep those domestic critter recipes coming!
I posted that billboard about tasty animals in God's Country somewhere on another thread last Spring. It was in South Carolina if I remember the comments about it. Here it is---

An excellent point, Lone Star: yes, there are many different kinds of producers. But, unfortunately, they all compete in one market. It's hard for small producers, who might want to raise healthy animals without pumping them full of hormones and antibiotics, to compete against giant operations that have to rely on chemicals, that often flush, literally, thousands of tons of animal waste into nearby rivers and streams, and, at least in one instance, were charged by the federal government with busing in illegal aliens to work for pittances in the slaughter operations. That's one reason why so many small farmers and ranchers had to go out of business.

Believe me, I love me some chicken, and I buy mine from a local farmer directly. This guy runs a clean operation, just like you mentioned. I think that's a win-win situation. The farmer gets more money, and I get what I believe is a healthier animal, without all the "extra ingredients."

I don't mean to offend anyone: these are just my thoughts on the subject. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and we raised and ate all sorts of critters, so I'm far from opposed to farmers or ranchers or eating meat, etc. Far from it. I'm just opposed to, literally, dangerous food. The cruelty to animals thing is just a by-product as far as I'm concerned.
I've never been to a PETA meeting in my life, but I know folks who have had first hand knowledge of these operations, and they have told me stuff that would make you never eat a supermarket (or KFC, etc.) chicken again. It's not my place to preach (sorry again if it seems like I am), but if you are curious or concerned about what you eat, I encourage you to find out more, and PETA isn't the only outfit that has published info about these operations.

Regards,

I eat a lot of meat. But I guess what disturbs me about factory farms is two things. First, we have all become so removed from the act of slaughter (hunters excluded - although even there I don't think that mass slaughter houses are comparable) that meat is just any other product. There was a great defence of meat written recently in the New York Times stating that in exchange for lifelong protection from predators ni the care of humans, a domesticated animal has evolved its own form of special survival. Put too much distance between us and our meat and we forget that a very important exchange is happening -- an animal's life for our sustenance. I don't hunt, but I think that apart from the thrill of the sport, that elemental relationship of predator and hunter reflects that respect and compact with the hunted animal.

Second, factory farming makes food cheaper. Overall, this is a good thing. After all, if a billion people can get access to meat because it is more cheaply produced, does this not justify different production methods? Overall, yes. But for the majority of those who have disposable income, we waste much more than our parents and grandparents did. The real cost of meat was much higher. What was special occasion meat a generation or two or three ago, is now commonplace. The wasting of meat raises ethical questions. After all, should we not respect that which gave its life so that we might be fed?

A final point. Up until 1997 the US and other countries permitted the feeding of cattle remains to other cattle. I think today still, cattle eat non-ruminants, such as chickens, and chickens get ruminants, such as cattle in their feed. While there are sound economic arguments to do this, I still find it strange that this is done. But then again, back to the previous point on wasting meat ....

In short, maybe technology and new techniques can keep efficiency but improve conditions. I cannot help but think that factory farms are noone's first choice, but are a competitive necessity. I would think that there are many out there trying to solve this problem.

The video was interesting, and informative. Was it indicative? I don't know. Killing animals will never be pretty, but the quality of life for the animals we eat does not need to decline over time.