Vegetarian Star

When a chicken slaughterhouse located in Farmersville, Louisiana, Pilgrim’s Pride, announced it was closing its doors due to the bad economy, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal put together an emergency task force to try to prevent losing over a thousand jobs.

PETA is interested in putting its hand in Louisiana’s economic pocket and has offerred to buy the plant and turn it into a “chicken empathy museum.”

“The museum would also promote compassion for animals and educate people about the suffering endured by the 9 billion chickens who are killed for food every year,” writes PETA on its blog. “What better job is there for a former factory-farm worker than to educate others about how wonderful chickens really are?”

The idea is that the museum would not only provide jobs but also attract tourists. It would include a restaurant and give out free plush toys to children. Uh-oh. Stuffed animals and children. Parent wouldn’t stand a chance to protest against going.

But seriously, there’s a lot of talk about green jobs and how these will improve our economy. Vegetarian falls under “green” but the idea of a veg powered economy is not farfetched, with plant based products, such as biofuel, already in demand.

And the chicken plant isn’t the first animal agriculture business to fall prey to the recession. Dairy is losing its punch too. 

What veg businesses do you think could thrive after being created?

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A lot of talk goes on about Canada’s annual seal hunt, but did you know that Russia has one too?

And if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has anything to do with it, the “bloody industry,” as he called it, will end soon.

Raise the roof for Russia!

“It is clear that [our hunt] should have been banned a long time ago,” Mr. Putin said, according to a statement distributed yesterday by the embassy in Ottawa.

Recently, Russia has stopped the killing of baby seals, or whitecoats. Now it’s looking to stop the killing of all seals, although a timeframe for this has not yet been established.

Proponents of seal hunts say it’s necessary to control the population. But Russia’s seal population has been declining since 1928. Not to mention the cruelness of the act, which involves clubbing a seal on its head repeatedly. 

Canadian seal pelts are marketed to Russia, but no word on whether these will be banned as well. Some sources say that Russia is the #1 country behind China for imported seal pelt products.

The European Union is currently calling to ban the shipment of seal products across member countries.

Source: The Global Mail

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Minority Whip Eric Cantor has gained media attention for being the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives.

As a conservative Jew, he aims to maintain Kosher, which usually results in him abstaining from meat when dining out, where he can’t be certain of its status. 

“I’m basically a vegetarian when I eat out,” Cantor said, according to Moment Magazine.

Yet another example of why flexitarianism finds its way into some people’s lives.

Like fellow representative Bill Galvano, Cantor once had a restaurant name a sandwich after him. It wasn’t vegetarian though, and unfortunately for Cantor, it associated him with jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who hosted a fundraiser for Cantor at the Kosher deli where the sandwich was created, Stacks.

Are you a part-time vegetarian? What are your reasons for flexing?

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The Obama administration is calling for the stricter labeling of foods to show the origin of the country the food or animal is from.

While much of this law would apply to the meat industry, it would also apply to some perishable forms of fruits and vegetables.

“The bottom line is we think people have a right to know and they can act on it based on their own opinions and preferences,” said Patty Lovera of Food and Water Watch.

Whole Foods had an assortment of frozen vegetables in their freezer, including “California blend” vegetables, organically grown in China, which doesn’t have the same organic monitoring standards as the US.

Maybe the new legislation can require bigger letters for the labels as well.

Although the country of origin was noted on the package, most wouldn’t have thought to look for the tiny print on a blend of frozen “California” vegetables.

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A big slice of vegan birthday cake goes out to the following vegetarian or vegan celebrities today.

• Chelsea Clinton (29)

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Malia and Sasha Obama don’t always go for the green goodies, but according to Mrs. Obama, the closer the carrot, the better the V8. Or something along those lines.

She recently allowed the press into her White House Kitchen before a dinner to honor the nation’s governors where she praised local and sustainable foods, saying that if food is grown locally, “oftentimes it tastes really good, and when you’re dealing with kids, you want to get them to try that carrot.”

“If it tastes like a real carrot, and it’s really sweet, they’re going to think that it’s a piece of candy,” Michelle Obama said, according to the New York Times.

“So my kids are more inclined to try different vegetables if they are fresh and local and delicious.”

She hinted that one of her favorite dishes might be vegan-broccoli cream soup without the cream. 

Mrs. Obama frequently discussed the importance of healthy foods, including those grown locally, while on the campaign trail last year.

Source: New York Times

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 When a known (or even suspected) vegetarian takes a position of power, some meat eaters get a little testy. Just look at what happened when that poor Montana GOP candidate was suspected of eating Boca versus regular burgers.

Obama’s appointed regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein is a vegetarian and co-authored the book Animal Right: Current Debates and New Directions. Some groups are alleging he will try to outlaw meat eating and hunting.

While banning all activities that harm or kill animals, like hunting, may be a long shot (bad pun intended), Sunstein has expressed an interest in banning hunting unless it’s for food and thinks Americans should put animal suffering on the front burner. (But not the front burner for cooking. Another bad pun, indeed.)

He published a paper in 2002 titled The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer. Here are a few excerpts:

We should focus attention not only on the “enforcement gap,” but on the areas where current law offers little or no protection. In short, the law should impose further regulation on hunting, scientific experiments, entertainment, and (above all) farming to ensure against unnecessary animal suffering. It is easy to imagine a set of initiatives that would do a great deal here, and indeed European nations have moved in just this direction.

If we focus on suffering, as I believe that we should, it is not necessarily impermissible to kill animals and use them for food; but it is entirely impermissible to be indifferent to their interests while they are alive. So too for other animals in farms, even or perhaps especially if they are being used for the benefit of human beings. If sheep are going to be used to create clothing, their conditions must be conducive to their welfare. We might ban hunting altogether, at least if its sole purpose is human recreation. (Should animals be hunted and killed simply because people enjoy hunting and killing them? The issue might be different if hunting and killing could be justified as having important functions, such as control of populations or protection of human beings against animal violence.)

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The White House chef is already spilling the beans on what the Obamas like to eat!

According to ETOnline, White House chief chef Cristeta Comerford said Michelle Obama can’t get enough of creamed spinach, but daughters Sasha and Malia aren’t as thrilled and don’t always like eating vegetables.

When referring to a green dish, Mrs. Obama will tell Comerford, “Sasha still didn’t like it … and sometimes [the] kids are like, ‘it’s green.'”

No, not even a weekly homework assignment of bringing vegetables to school is enough for Sasha to eat hers.

Comerford and other White House chefs are still working to please the Obama daughters’ palates.

Apparently, it’s going to take more effort than once thought to get more veggies for the children.

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