Vegetarian Star » Barack Obama

Obama Urged to End Factory Farming

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:12:05 +0000

The request for Obama to stop eating meat in public apparently hasn’t been put on any recent Congress agenda, but activists are hoping the President will consider a ban on factory farmed meat.

Wendy Matthews of Farm Sanctuary has started a petition that urges Obama to promote nutrition education programs that emphasize grains, fruits and vegetables; reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock animals; improve waste disposal methods on farms and eliminating practices used where animals are intensely confined, such as debeaking and tail-docking.

“Factory farming is destroying our environment, our communities, animal welfare, and even our health – at an alarming rate,” the petition reads. “It is critical that we bring an end to factory farming, to restore a more viable food system and preserve our world.”

“Factory farms have driven small farms out of business and represent the majority of our food system today. The industry has cleared vast areas of forest and rainforest, producing 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture alone, wasting food and water resources, and polluting our air and water. On factory farms, animals are also induced to grow bigger, to grow faster, and to produce more than their systems can support, while they are subjected to confinement and painful mutilations. Factory farming practices spread diseases, such as mad cow, swine flu, and various food poisonings, including e-coli and salmonella. Extensive antibiotic use by factory farms creates drug resistant bacteria, which puts human health at risk.”

Read the remaining letter and sign for yourself at Change.org.

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Nancy Pelosi Orders Vegetarian At Obama Taylor Gourmet Meeting

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:41:53 +0000

At least someone is following the advice to stop eating meat in public.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dined with President Barack Obama and several other leaders in Washington, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).

The Atlantic reports Pelosi ordered a “vegan sub with sprouts” from Taylor Gourmet, an Italian deli and market specializing in Philadelphia-style hoagies that happens to have a separate vegetarian menu with several sandwich options.

Obama ordered his usual taboo carnivorous fare of “12-inch Spruce Street hoagie for himself, which has roast turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers and sharp provolone on house-made bread.”

All of Taylor Gourmet’s veggie sandwiches come with cheese, but any small business good enough to serve the President could not possibly have a problem taking the dairy off for some of his vegan constituents.

Go for the “Christian Street” with portabella mushroom, arugula and roasted red peppers. Or take a walk down “Lancaster Avenue” for grilled eggplant and marinara.

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Obama Asked To Keep His Meat Private

Vegetarian Star — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:10:26 +0000

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is asking the White House to ban photo ops of President Obama, Vice President Biden and other Executive staff members eating meat dishes such as burgers and hot dogs.

Such products are linked to diseases like obesity and cancer and the group compares these photographs to advertisements promoting other unhealthy habits, such as smoking.

“The White House would never set up a photo op showing the president buying cigarettes, so why is it okay to show him eating a hot dog?” says PCRM nutrition education director Susan Levin, M.S., R.D.

“Processed meats like hot dogs kill more Americans each year than tobacco does, and they cost taxpayers billions of dollars in healthcare. As role model to millions of Americans the president has a responsibility to watch what he eats in public.”

It’s not uncommon to see Obama patronizing fast food and traditional mom and pop diners that serve high-fat foods with meat and dairy. It’s become such a popular discussion about the President that there are even several websites with photographs of him eating these foods, such as Barack Obama Eating Things and Obama Eats (Just Like Us).

Since taking office, Obama has been seen eating hot dogs with British Prime Minister David Cameron, cheeseburgers with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (seen above) and burgers with Vice-President Biden.

Photo: kremlin.ru/Creative Commons

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Obama Invites Vegan Macaroon Company To JOBS Act Signing (Video)

Vegetarian Star — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:25:32 +0000

Barack Obama invited a vegan food company to the signing of the JOBS act in Washington. The bill allows smaller companies to go public sooner

Samantha Abrams and her partner Ian Gaffney were honorable attendees at the event because of their success at crowd sourcing. Raising $15,000, Abrams and Gaffney designed packages for their products that were eco-friendly.

Emmy’s Organics makes vegan, gluten-free and raw goodies like macaroons, granola, chocolate sauce, fudge, pies and cake and almond milk.

A few interesting tidbits about the company’s products are below:

7 employees
sales of 1 million a year
10,000 macaroons made each day
80% sales come from cookies

If you’re the type to grow bored from eating the same macaroon every day, fear not, as Emmy’s Organics stocks about a dozen different varieties from Lemon Ginger to Chai Spice to Mint Chip.

Abrams maintains a blog on the company’s website, EmmysOrganics.com,and recently took time to describe the feeling that every business wants: being happy and exhausted from so much demand.

“The past few months have been crazy. I feel like I always say that, but every time its true. We are truly a growing business and we are grateful. Every growth spurt brings new challenges and hurtles to jump over. In the past month we are been experiencing major growth and frequency in our orders. It is so exciting to get these orders in. We get this energizing feeling like, “people want us!!!”

Founder Abrams isn’t just a magician with vegan desserts. Check out the video of her demonstrating how to make raw veggie rice and raw veggie rolls.

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Barack Obama Prime Minister David Cameron Sausage Photo Op Criticized

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:58:43 +0000

President Barack Obama has been chided many times by Vegetarian Star for his numerous public appearances that involved burgers, steak and high-fat dairy products instead of healthier grains, fruits and vegetables.

Now, the President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Neal Barnard, has written a piece for the Huffington Post which criticizes Obama’s recent trip to the UK to visit Prime Minister David Cameron, as the two shared a photo op over sausage.

Dr. Barnard cites the link between meat consumption and cancer, as well as the fact fruits and vegetables have been shown to prevent such diseases.

The World Cancer Research Fund’s new report, the most comprehensive ever conducted on colon cancer, confirmed that both red and processed meats play a significant role in the development of colorectal cancer. The authors found that 45 percent of all colorectal cancer cases could be prevented if we ate less meat and more fruits and vegetables and made other lifestyle changes.

The fact the president and prime minister were serving food to British soldiers doesn’t make the act any more noble. As Dr. Barnard emphasizes, those who serve and protect are sometimes among the unhealthiest.

The fact that the Obama-Cameron photo-op served food to British soldiers doesn’t excuse the unhealthful choices. British Ministry of Defence recently reported that 57 percent of its troops are overweight or obese. Many American soldiers are in the same predicament.

Dr. Barnard adds that this is just one of many poor examples of dining choices the president has set since taking office, which includes visits to Five Guys Burgers and Ray’s Hell Burgers in Virginia.

Obama Makes Great Adoptable Dog Without Birth Papers Says PETA

Vegetarian Star — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:05:04 +0000

In what may be the most humorous ad released by the group yet, PETA is capitalizing on the controversy of whether or not Obama was born in the United States.

At Donald Trump‘s request, the President released his birth certificate, showing he was born in Hawaii.

PETA took the opportunity to remind people they don’t need papers to certify any dog’s birth and whether or not it’s a purebred or a mutt.

From the blog:

Obama declared, “We do not have time for this kind of silliness.” Dogs in animal shelters don’t have time for silliness either. Every second that passes—and every purebred dog purchased on a whim from a breeder or a pet store—brings shelter dogs one step closer to dying for lack of a good home.

While people are in heated debate over the origin of a purebred dog, demanding its papers and paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars to a breeder, millions of perfectly good, loyal, well-behaved and intelligent dogs sit in shelters waiting for the death penalty–which is currently legal for dogs in all 50 states.

And if you’re looking for a purebred, the shelter is the best stop of all.

It’s estimated about 25-30% of shelter dogs are purebreds, probably take there when the previous owner realized there’s more to putting the right dog in the big house than verifying its birth certificate.

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White House Easter Egg Roll Is Hen Friendly

Vegetarian Star — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:32:53 +0000

The annual White House Easter Egg Roll is taking place on Monday, April 25.

Following in the footsteps of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative for better fitness, this year’s roll has a theme of “Get Up and Go!” and will feature live music, cooking demonstrations, sports courts and some pretty cool animal-free eggs.

Children competing in the roll will use environmentally friendly wooden eggs, according to Ecorazzi.

The eggs are made from “FSC-certified hardwood and painted with vegetable-oil based inks and a water-based coating.” The eggs will come in a variety of colors and feature President Obama and Michelle‘s stamped signatures on them.

Promoting physical fitness while having fun with eco-friendly eggs that don’t involve animal cruelty? How can an adult get invited to this hunt?

According to the Humane Society of the United States, the majority of egg-laying hens are confined in battery cages. The space inside the cages gives them less room to move that the area of a single sheet of letter-sized paper, rendering the hens unable to perform natural behaviors like spreading their wings, nesting and perching.

Use fake eggs this year and keep your Easter Egg Hunt or Roll animal-friendly.

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Obama Quits Smoking–Vegans It’s Your Turn

Vegetarian Star — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:09:00 +0000

President Obama has been smoke-free for an entire year!

The First Lady made the announcement to reporters during lunch in the Old Family Dining Room at the White House while discussing her Let’s Move! initiative to get America healthier.

Michelle said it was the president’s desire to be able to look his daughters in the eye and say he didn’t smoke that motivated him.

Vegetarians and vegans who still huff and puff have another reason to kick the habit. Some cigarette filters contain pig’s blood and that definitely ain’t veg!

Dutch researchers discovered that pig hemoglobin is often found in the filters, but not listed specifically as an ingredient. Instead, terms such as “processing aids” are used.

Kind of reminds you of how “natural flavors” may make your otherwise veggie noodle soup unnaturally flavored carnivorous unless the product is labelled certified vegan or vegetarian.

Besides aggravating upper respiratory conditions like asthma and containing carcinogens that lead to lung and other cancers, cigarettes pollute the environment.

Some scientists believe cigarette butts should be disposed of like used batteries and old appliances as they contain waste that is more toxic than cyanide gas. Italian cities have erected special bins for butts, keeping them separate from regular trash and imposing heavy fines on those who litter.

You can’t be an environmentalist and eat burgers every day. And you can’t be an eco-veg and light up. Learn how you can quit today!

Photo: PR Photos

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