“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”
– Dale Carnegie
Shared by ~~~J Wave~~~
Filed under Said and Done
Pretty gutsy move. The guy sang the same protest song for 45 minutes in front of President Obama and APEC!!
You can watch his video HERE.
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Occupy APEC: Makana, Hawaiian Guitarist, Makes Statement At Wakiki Event
The Huffington Post Alana Horowitz Posted: 11/13/11 04:15 PM ET
A musician took a stand at last night’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gala, which was attended President Obama and a slew of world leaders.
Hawaiian guitarist Makana, who has performed at the White House, wore a shirt that read ”Occupy With Aloha” and played a song inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests.
“We’ll occupy the streets, we’ll occupy the courts, we’ll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few,” he sang at the Wakiki event. “The time has come for us to voice our rage.”
The tune, “We Are the Many”, ran for 45 minutes long.
Hawaii locals joined the national movement last month, gathering in Honolulu’s financial district. When the protesters tried to make camp, several were arrested.
Filed under Have You Heard?
UPDATE: In January the Supreme Court overturned California’s law for the humane treatment of downed hogs (and other animals) being slaughtered for human consumption. Meanwhile, Gary Ackerman (D-NY) has again proposed a bill to Congress that would put in place stricter federal legislation regarding downed animals. His proposal would permanently forbid downed animals from entering our food supply and allow them humane euthanization.
The other night, I planned on attending a lecture at the UCLA campus on the topic of Farmed Animals and the Law. The speaker was Compassion Over Killing’s General Counsel Cheryl Leahy. The topic interested me in light of the upcoming Supreme Court ruling regarding California’s slaughter methods for farmed animals. This case is being closely watched by animal rights groups and California citizens concerned about what goes on in their state. The story of the case goes like this…
In 2008 California passed legislation called the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA). One important change that the HMSA brought to California food production was that downed pigs (and other livestock) could not be assigned into the slaughter line. A “downed” pig (or goat, or sheep, or cow) is one that is so sick or injured that it is non-ambulatory. According to federal standards, although these animals can’t walk they can still be included in our food systems. Of course a non-ambulatory animal must be dragged, forklifted or torturously “prompted” in order to get them to the final line. The US government has said NO to putting downed cattle into our food. California residents decided that wasn’t enough. They have said NO to downed pigs, sheep, and other livestock as well. They decided that no downer animals can be added to the food system and must be euthanized on the spot. This puts pressure (rightfully so!) on transport procedures, daily care, and veterinary care standards.
Now the pork industry is arguing that California cannot require slaughterhouses to adopt euthanasia procedures since there is no federal law mandating it. The case, National Meat Association vs. Harris, has gone to the Supreme Court. Arguments have been made and it is expected that a decision will be delivered in the next few months. This case raises questions not only of animal welfare, but also of states’ rights. In fact, this is the first time in my adult life when I feel like I grasp what is meant by states’ rights. As a resident of California, it pisses me off that the federal government might come in and crush the efforts that this state has made toward more humane food production. Perhaps I wouldn’t be if I didn’t unwaveringly believe that the pork industry lobbyists are playing puppeteer in this scenario in order to protect their bottom line no matter the suffering that upholds it.
Ultimately, I don’t want anyone to eat a pig. But millions—oh, let me be specific…one hundred thirteen million—pigs are killed each year in the United States by the huge pork industries (of which there are just 4 main players, go figure) in horrific conditions after living their short lives in crammed enclosures and terrifying transport trailers. Every small step, every bit of compassion that these exploited animals can receive is worth hoping for and fighting for.
I was eager to hear what Cheryl Leahy expected the outcome of this case to be. Alas, Los Angeles traffic got the better of me. As I sat on Wilshire, just a mile away from campus yet going nowhere, I came to my own prediction that California has a slim chance of winning this case. I’m not trying to sound pessimistic, but realistic. Lobbyists for the meat and dairy industries are so powerful that it makes for a David and Goliath battle every time someone goes up against them. In the Occupy Wall Street declaration and manifesto, one grievance against corporations is that they, “have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.” Bingo. But there’s a second “Bingo.” And that is in OWS’s concluding remarks where they incite citizens to “create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.”
This brings me to the question that many of posts will most likely end with: What can I do? First of all, I will certainly post an update on the case as soon as I hear of it. Second, I will continue to NOT eat meat as long as the status quo system of factory farming and CAFO’s is as grotesque and amoral as I believe them it to be. Third, I will continue to encourage others to do the same. And who knows…it might just be time to write another petition!
Stay tuned…
Filed under People and Animals
~~~A Wave~~~ is a special contributor to this blog. Follow his Category, “A Wave: Connected,” to follow his thoughts and discoveries of our connection to each other, to the world around us, and to the mysteries beyond. …
“Breath is the bridge that connects life to consciousness, which unites our body to our thoughts” — – Thich Nhat Hanh
The breath, taken from our planet’s atmosphere, is free for all of creation. No being can hoard air and try to get more than their share and neither can we buy, sell or trade the breath. If I hold my breath because I want to “own” the air.., I will die, but if I let this breath go…, it comes back to me in abundance without any conditions.
This fluid motion of breathing, however voluntary or involuntary on our part, allows precious oxygen to travel thru the trachea into the bronchi, which connect to the lungs. The lungs then divide into even smaller bronchi, called bronchioles. These bronchioles branch off into even smaller passageways called alveoli and each lung houses between 300-400 million alveoli. This vital, life giving oxygen, finally immerses itself into our blood stream through the tiniest blood vessels known as capillaries. The journey of the breath completes its purpose, allowing our one of our body’s most essential process to occur and breathing is the root process that all of the other essential processes of the body depend on. 
This complicated process happens every second, of everyday, for every living thing on this planet. Breath is a symbiotic interconnection that we all share in every moment with our planet. It is so seamless and essential but yet, it is something that goes by overlooked and unnoticed each day. The relationship between all living things and our atmosphere/planet has been a central factor in the evolution of our physical, mental, and spiritual awareness. This exchange between plant and animal has occurred in every moment of everyday for hundreds of thousands of years before we ever came to exist. Its almost as if “we” are but just one singular expression of this unseen force, without which we would not exist.
My point is to emphasize that this life is a process of seamless, symbiotic interconnections, which humans take for granted each day. This breath travels to our very core each moment and yet we aren’t held accountable for ignoring it, or even polluting it. This interconnection has sustained our ancestors just as it sustains us, and all who will come after us.
The negligence and ignorance of the human being is a direct cause of the degradation of our health, which has been happening incrementally yet persistently. The byproducts of our accelerating industry, technological advancements, and modern conveniences are slowly destroying the very force that has given us life for millennia.., the air that we breathe, in every moment. All systems are affected by our inconsiderate ways, including our water supply, our farmlands and the protective biosphere that protects us from the sun.
I firmly believe that we as humans are capable of restoring balance to this system of interconnectedness that we are all tied to so deeply and we all must come to this realization, if we are to preserve life on this planet. The damage must be reversed in order to keep all systems and life in harmony, and the protection of our air, water, earth, atmosphere and organic way of life is vital, not just to us but to every living thing that exists now, and all that will exist after us.
“When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world” — – John Muir
Filed under Uncategorized
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Shared by ~~~S Wave~~~
Filed under Said and Done
Okay so here is how I came to be vegan…
I’m originally from central Illinois. Specifically I grew up in a rural area with expansive farmland that my family has worked since the 1800’s. My childhood was filled with nature and animals. I have loved animals my entire life. As a child, like a lot of little girls, I wanted to become a veterinarian. The family pets we had included birds, dogs, cats, rabbits, fish…on and on. We were also surrounded by cows, pigs and horses in the farms all around us. As a high schooler I decided to become vegetarian after stumbling upon a magazine called Animal Voice. 
It was a shock to me to see the graphic photos of animal abuse in science, farms/fisheries, domestic life, and pet stores. After all, I had been reading Ranger Rick for most of my childhood! Through the years after that, I fluctuated between a vegetarian and an omnivorous diet.
In 2008 I was working on a PhD and had gone back to an omnivorous diet. Then, in February of that year an undercover video was released to the public showing the horrific treatment of downed cows at a California slaughterhouse resulting in a massive recall of beef. Downed cows are those that are too sick or injured to walk. They are often “coaxed” to get up by beating or electrocution so that they aren’t wasted and can still be put in the food system. (By the way these are the animals that often end up in government subsidized food programs for schools and prisons.) The video was horrifying. I had seen images like this before, but at that point I felt that enough was enough. I was disgusted with what the meat industry was getting away with. I was 30 years old, living in rural Illinois, and consuming the kinds of foods that most of America was consuming. That was when I decided again, and with more conviction than ever before, to be vegetarian.
The next moment in my life that motivated me to take my decision to a new stage happened in October of 2009. I went to a presentation of the film A Peaceable Kingdom at the UCLA campus. The film was about factory farms and the individuals who are trying to make a difference for those animals. It highlighted the efforts of a woman named Lorri Houston and a man named Gene Bauer who spearheaded the farmed animal sanctuary movement in the United States in 1986. 
After watching the film and talking with some of the vegan advocates who were there that day, I decided to become vegan myself. One of the main factors for this was coming to understand the key connection between the meat industry and the dairy industry. I always justified consuming dairy because gathering milk didn’t require killing the cow. After all, a cow naturally produces milk, right? But I hadn’t connected the dots to completion. Because a cow only produces milk after giving birth to a calf. And where to all those calves end up? They are removed from their mother when they are just hours or days old and are crated and chained in dark warehouses until they are slaughtered for veal. Again, enough was enough for me. It was time to opt out of the system.
The change was relatively easy. There I was, just four months after my relocation to L.A. and I had already noticed all the vegan options and resources that surrounded me. There was an intact vegan community in the city and plenty of vegan restaurants and shops, not to mention the endless information available on the Internet. Now it is 2 years later and I my conviction hasn’t faltered. On the contrary, it has grown! I have entered into a growing movement of animal advocacy and have settled into a passion that was there since my childhood. For me, fighting for the rights of the voiceless animals that we share this earth with has been a calling that was waiting for me to respond. It is a purpose that makes me feel more whole…more like the person I was designed to be. In a later entry, I will describe the reasons I continue to be vegan. For those reasons have expanded and they propel me on.
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As an adult, I realize the power that each of us has to drive the movements and principles that we believe in. We can all have an impact in this world, but our lives are very short and each small step not taken is change not made. So I want to take one small step after another. My goal has been to do away with inactivity. I want each day to include something that I am doing for animals. Sometimes the effort might be simply reading a book chapter to educate myself; sometimes it may be something larger. But I want each day to find me in the midst of an effort. Each day of course I will know that my diet is helping to deny the meat, dairy, egg and poultry industry. But at this point, a vegan diet has become second nature…it is not a struggle and there are new challenges to take on. I am not a crusader. I am a normal person. And I firmly believe that my actions, like yours, are making a very real difference.
~~~S Wave~~~
Filed under People and Animals
The dialogue surrounding Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods continues and momentum toward change in food labeling is accelerating thanks in part to the Occupy movement and the way it has ignited American citizens’ sense of power. The 2012 Food and Farm Bill is currently moving through legislative processes and people are watching. Did you know that it is estimated that 75-80% of processed food contains genetically modified ingredients?This is because so much of our corn and soybeans yields are produced with genetically modified seeds and then that corn and soy ends up in almost every processed item on the grocery store shelf. Remember King Corn? We’re practically walking corn stalks! Yet with all this GMO floating around in our food system and an estimated 90% of Americans supporting mandated GMO labeling, there is still no such mandate in place. Other nations have banned the use of GMOs altogether while we continue to be denied a simple label telling us the amount of GMO in our food. Could that have to do with the superpower, Monsanto, owning the vast majority of these patented crop strains while also being one of the most powerful agricultural lobbyist in Washington? Hmmm…. Monsanto is one of today’s grandest examples of out-of-control corporate influence in government. It represents the status quo that is driving people to the streets in the Occupy movements across the country.
Bottom line for me is, I have a right to know what is in my food. I have a 1-year old niece and her parents deserve to know what is in her food. Each of you has the right to decide what goes into your body. And as much as I would like us all to eat !!GMO-FREE!!, at the very least I demand transparency in labeling. Who will make that happen? Well, you president said he would. Food Democracy Now! has recently posted a 2007 video of President Obama promising to mandate GMO labeling if he became president. Along with the video is a petition that will be sent to the White House. If you think it’s your right to know what you’re buying and what you’re eating, take a second to sign and click.
Tell Obama You Have the Right to Know!
Shared by ~~~S Wave~~~
Filed under Signed, Sealed, Delivered
“We must act as agents for change. Democracy is a participatory sport; if we don’t show up, change will not happen.”
– Gene Baur, concluding the first-ever National Conference to End Factory Farming: for Health, Environment & Farm Animals.
Filed under Said and Done
