In a report to be published by the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) in the next fortnight, Linzey will argue that there is no moral defence for hunting as sport and that it should be completely banned. 'Causing suffering for sport is intrinsically evil,' he says. 'Hunting, therefore, belongs to that class of always morally impermissible acts along with rape, child abuse and torture.'

Our line runs 182 shackles per minute. It is physically impossible to catch them all. Therefore, they are scalded alive. When this happens, the chickens flop, scream, kick, and their eyeballs pop out of their heads....
I have also seen Aron Harris rip the heads, legs, and wings off of live chickens, or just stomp them to death on the floor because he was aggravated. This occurred on a regular basis for about the last year and a half that I worked there.

Motherhood, apple pie & world peace

In 1870, American poet and social activist Julia Ward Howe envisioned a Mother's Day of Peace. In 2003, her revolutionary Mother's Day Proclamation is more timely than ever.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace. 

It wouldn't be bacon or chicken, argues Jewish religious scholar and ethical vegetarian Richard H. Schwartz.

It is the Torah, not animal rights groups, which is the basis for observing how far current animal treatment has strayed from fundamental Jewish values. As Samson Raphael Hirsch stated: "Here you are faced with God's teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours."

In Arkansas, a former Tyson Foods slaughterhouse worker accuses KFC's major supplier of wanton neglect and sadistic cruelty to animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals demands a prosecution - and slaughterhouse reform. Full details here.

Virgil Butler, a Tyson slaughterhouse employee for more than five years, contacted PETA to alert the group to the extreme animal abuse that he had witnessed, including birds being blown apart by dry ice bombs and intentionally scalded to death by the hundreds, and large chickens having their legs broken to fit them into shackles that are too small.

In Washington State, a family run sanctuary is a patch of heaven for scrawny factory-farm refugees, traumatized lab animals, and overgrown pot-bellied pigs. Human visitors don't just come to stare; they bond.

A huge pink pig, so big I almost fainted, started running right towards us. I turned to run away, and then I realized this giant being was smiling and almost laughing with joy. We both started hugging and kissing him and he continued to smile and laugh.

Close to 300,000 African children toil under abusive, slave labour conditions to help supply most of the world's chocolate, says a new survey by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

Save the Children Canada is also urging Canadian consumers to look for cocoa products that are free of child slave labour, and buy chocolate with the "Fair Trade Certified" logo. 

 

"World federalism" might sound dull, says this UCLA student, but in an increasingly beleaguered global village, it sounds like a plan. World federalists believe we need a system of democratic global governance on top of (not instead of) national governments....Just as California does not need to defend itself from Nevada, the countries making up a world state would not need weapons and armies to protect themselves from each other. Right now, the world impoverishes itself, spending a trillion dollars each year on ways to kill people. Just think of what could be accomplished if that money was available for peaceful ends.

Walter Cronkite says world federalism is a plan worthy of America's founding fathers. Two more exciting ideas with dull names: The Tobin Tax would help stabilize the world economy and generate billions for sustainable global development by taxing currency speculation.  "Simultaneous Policy" is a scheme to "take back the world" from economic globalization.

Brave New Chicken Farm In Mad Cow-wary England, a boom in demand for chicken has bred a cooly "efficient" revolution in chicken production. "By the time you've readthis special report, by Anthony Browne," says The Observer, "you'll never want to eat one again..." . . . the 26,000 birds cover the floor like a living feathered carpet. Most sit, some stand, staring, with an average space each of nine inches by nine inches. There are no windows, and the birds never see the sky or natural light. . . .First thing each morning, the farm manager Les takes a walk around to check how the birds are doing. He collects up any that have died in the night, and wrings the necks of any that look poorly. In the last three weeks, in this one shed, 444 birds have died or been culled. . . .John Webster, the highly respected professor of animal husbandry at Bristol University, said: 'It is absolutely not right that animals in the first few weeks of their life should be experiencing heart disease or be crippled.'

Have You Met "Chick Corea"? Fowl's best friend, activist Karen Davis, says chickens are smarter and more sensitive than you think- and they deserve better. A friend of mine in Ohio, who helped rescue thousands of hens when a tornado hit a caged-layer operation several years ago, adopted one. . . .He named her Chick Corea and took her to live with him. . . .[S]he got along well with the cat, with whom she often slept at night, and she would urge Bill in chicken talk to let her outside. When she wanted to come in from the garden, she tapped with her beak on the glass pane of the door. . . .Even Bill was surprised. "Getting to know Chick Corea was a real eye-opener," he said. "I had no idea chickens had such strong personalities."

Vegan Values

Whether moved by compassion for animals, concern for the environment, global hunger, health, or all of the above, more and more people are just saying no to meat, milk, eggs, leather, fur, and anything else that comes at the price of animal suffering. Read our feature on vegan values.

Subsidizing Poverty

The US - like other rich countries - is giving billions of dollars in handouts to its most affluent farmers, putting poor unsubsidized farmers in developing countries out of business, says New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof.

. . . when a poor cotton farmer in West Africa goes bust because of our cotton subsidies, he has no savings to fall back on. Rather, he starves. He cannot afford medicine for his sick baby, and the child dies. He cannot afford a midwife when his wife is pregnant, and so she is crippled in childbirth. He cannot afford worming medication for his children, and so they grow anemic and do poorly in school ‹ and cannot concentrate when Americans lecture them about their poor governance. 

What if the whole world was a village of just 100? This arresting flash animation puts Planet Earth into perspective. 

A US animal rights group investigates a large Maryland egg farm and emerges with injured hens and damning film. It's the fifth investigation of US egg farms in two years, and the group Compassion Over Killing says the uniformly disturbing findings are typical of the unregulated industry.

"If those sheds were filled with kittens, there would be an uproar. . . .Most consumers still think eggs come from hens who walk around with their little chicks following in a row."

New York Times (free registration required) | AP| full coverage (including NYT and AP articles) 

In a landmark New York Times Magazine cover essay, Michael Pollan defends meat-eating while damning the modern meat industry.

Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to do it this way. . . .For who could stand the sight? Yes, meat would get more expensive. We'd probably eat less of it, too, but maybe when we did eat animals, we'd eat them with the consciousness, ceremony and respect they deserve. 

Starting this January 30^th, the anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi’s death, people in over 100 cities around the world will celebrate the sixth annual "Season for Nonviolence." Are they a bunch of sentimental dreamers -- or the shock troops of tough love?

Peace activists currently are poised to take the idea of nonviolent soldiering to a whole new level. Their audacious scheme – endorsed by seven Nobel Peace Prize laureates – is to develop not a brigade, but a "standing army" of nonviolent peacekeepers.

Just three months after spearheading a boycott against Safeway for refusing to enforce minimal animal welfare standards, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) triumphantly calls it off. Like McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's before it, Safeway  has pledged to institute historic reforms.

PETA had planned to read a letter from actor Richard Pryor at the company's annual meeting tomorrow in San Ramon, Calif., criticizing the company's intransigence. Instead, PETA will praise Safeway's decisionmakers for the pledge. "We still feel that every package of chicken parts and pork chops in the supermarket represents animals' being hurt and killed, but Safeway's new pledge takes a bite out of the worst cruelties..."

"Are meat eaters intolerant? Are vegetarians self-absorbed and preachy? Or do vegetarians have an important point to make about a majority culture's insensitivity toward an alternative view?" asks Candy Sagon in a Washington Post special feature on the tensions between people who eat animal foods and people who don't.

Carol J. Adams in her testy new book, "Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian's Survival Handbook". . . .says she was angry and frequently argued with meat eaters. "I truly believed that when they asked about vegetarianism, they really wanted answers. I was wrong." 

Canada has a new digital cable TV channel, and it's "one" of a kind. So is "One - the Body, Mind & Spirit Channel's" portal-like website.

"One will offer audiences holistic television viewing. It will be inspirational, engaging, entertaining and empowering," said the network's general manager, Mark Prasuhn. "We're trying to create something warm, something down-to-earth." 

Over a year after the start of the second Intifada,The Nation's Robert I. Friedman takes the pulse of Israelis and Palestinians.

On the day we honour our mothers, animal rights supporters say we should give  heartfelt consideration to the plight of veal calves and their mothers.

Veal calves are confined in crates that are just two feet wide, and they are unable to walk or exercise throughout their entire lives. . . . No straw or other bedding is provided due to the fear that the calves may eat the straw, which would make their flesh darker in color[Click here for full report.]

A leader in socially responsible investment, Calvert Mutual Funds is keeping tabs on US-based companies like Microsoft and Amazon.com and reporting the results online.

[Microsoft] revenues for fiscal year 2001 came to $25.3 billion. . . .In the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Microsoft donated $5 million in cash and $5 million in software and services to relief groups and government agencies. The company also helped authorities set up a DNA database for identifying body parts, partnered with Compaq to set up a Red Cross registry for people to let others know they are safe, and turned its New York office into a temporary disaster relief center. 

On the eve of veteran Sandanista leader Daniel Ortega's failed comeback in Nicaragua, and as George Bush leads the charge for Operation Enduring Freedom, The Guardian reviews the corrosive contribution of American foreign policy to Latin America's poorest country.

From the moment the Somozas fell, the US conducted a war against Nicaragua that was illegal under both US and international law. By the 1990 elections, the country was exhausted by 11 years of war and US-sponsored terror and the opposition campaign was lavishly funded by the US. All that was left was the hope that if Nicaragua voted out the Sandinistas, the US would reward them with fewer bombs and more aid.  The aid never came. 

The trend for food labels to tout their ethical or environmental values is being muddied by products bearing dubious, unverifiable claims. It's time, some experts say, for a shakedown.

A new wave of meat and dairy foods may now bear the "FREE FARMED" seal. Monitored by the American Humane Association, it's an assurance that less cruelty went into putting the food on your table. Read the AP report.   "AHA cannot eliminate the demand for dairy, beef, poultry products, and other animal-based foods. However, we can do everything possible to ensure that animals raised for food production are treated humanely during their lives." - from the free farmed website In Winnipeg, the Humane Society launches the first Canadian program to certify the produce of farms that shun some of the worst animal husbandry practices.

The Famine That Wasn't

It could have been a repeat performance of Ethiopia's1980s disaster. But this time the powers that be got it right.

"The success of the Ethiopian effort demonstrates that famine can be prevented. If aid agencies are allowed to do their work without fear of attack, and if there is cooperation from both rich nations and the local government, even desperately drought-stricken countries can avert starvation."

Investing conscientiously needn't bruise your bottom line. From Investing with Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference, here's a primer on "Natural Investing." "The world today reflects the unnatural separation of money and values....If we are to fulfill humanity's potential as stewards of a healthy, prosperous planet, each of us must connect with the seeds of our own natural desires and plant them smack dab in the middle of Wall Street and our entire economic system."

Amazon | Chapters Amazon | Chapters

The Power of Nonviolence

From Gandhi to Gdansk, PBS chronicles the victories of nonviolent resistance to tyranny and oppression. It's a great TV series, but so is PBS's website coverage.

In Winnipeg, the Canadian government holds an unprecedented week-long conference on the plight of the world's millions of "war-affected children." The consciousness-raising event features international dignitaries and activists - and child refugees themselves. For highlights and more, visit the conference's website.

Slavery is alive and well in Sudan. But while some Canadians are leading the effort to redeem slaves, Canadian business is charged with "fuelling" the trade.

Would You Eat Your Uncle Bobby? Driven by "a deeply held conviction that non-violence in every direction (including ahimsa  towards animals) is the first real sign of human compassion," philosopher David Christopher Lane uses wit and reason to shame you into vegetarianism. "Nobody seriously justifies eating humans for taste (just can't help myself, uncle Bobby just looked so delicious) because we know that it is not worth our palate to put somebody through that kind of pain. . . .Now when it comes to animals we have been brought up not to empathize as much with them, especially if we never see them get killed for our dinner."

Does God Want You to Go Veggie? PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) unveils a billboard sure to leave a bad taste in religious meateaters' mouths. Online, they argue the Judaeo-Christian case for compassionate vegetarianism.  Is God a Vegetarian? by Richard Alan Young and Carol J. Adams A provocative challenge to people of faith. Amazon | Chapters Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating By Erik Marcus A book that's awakening consciences and changing (and saving) lives. Amazon | Chapters Read our review Becoming Vegetarian By Vesanto Melina et al. "Few books on vegetarian nutrition are as comprehensive and accurate..." (Journal of The American Dietetic Assoc.) Amazon | Chapters

Compassionate Cons

Inspired Philanthropy

“People look at me and say ‘You’ve given away 1.8 of the 2 million dollars that you’ve inherited?’ ” says Gary, gently miming the look of horror on their faces. “ ‘You give away 60 percent of what you earn every year! How do you live? Aren’t you worried? You only have $200,000 in the bank. Aren’t you panicked?’
The answer is an emphatic no. “I’m not vaguely worried,” says Gary. “I have skills, friends and community.

Browse Inspired Philanthropy at Amazon.com or Chapters.ca.

In this  online medium of getting and spending it's nice to know there are websites to help you GIVE while you're GETTING.

Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and other forgiveness afficionados are on a mission to take it to the max.

"Forgiveness is something virtually all Americans aspire to -- 94% surveyed in a nationwide Gallup poll said it was important to forgive -- but it is not something we frequently offer. (In the same survey, only 48% said they usually tried to forgive others.)"

At the Stanford Forgiveness Project psychologists and researchers are teaching forgiveness and  exploring the psychosocial and health benefits.

"Over 400 U.S. economists, including Professor Herbert Simon, a Nobel laureate, and Professor Robert Eisner, a former president of the American Economics Association, are backing a GPI initiative stating that the GDP ignores social and environmental costs and is thus 'inadequate and misleading as a measure of true prosperity.'

". . . .According to the perverse logic of the GDP, the nation prospers every time there is an oil spill, an increase in air pollution or a depletion of habitat."

Most people know him as a pioneer of holistic medicine, but Norman Cousins was also a tireless promoter of world peace  through world federalism.  In this 1976 bicentennial essay, the former editor of Saturday Review draws a parallel between the federalist achievement of the U.S. founding fathers and the challenge that faces the world's sovereign nations today.

". . .the only security for Americans today, or for any people, is in the creation of a system of world order that enables nations to retain sovereignty over their cultures and institutions but that creates a workable authority for regulating the behavior of the nations in their relationships with one another."

Many other public figures (H.G. Wells, Albert Einstein,  Sir Peter Ustinov) are or were world federalists, including "the most trusted man in America": Walter Cronkite.  Here's what he said in a recent acceptance speech when he was honoured with the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award:
 
 



"Within the next few years we must change the basic structure of our global community from the present anarchic system of war and ever more destructive weaponry to a new system governed by a democratic UN federation. . . .We need a system of enforceable world law--a democratic federal world government--to deal with world problems. . . .We will never have a city without crime, but we would never want to live in a city that had no system of law to deal with the criminals who will always be with us."









Read what Albert Einstein, Mikhail Gorbachev, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy, among others, have also had to say about world federalism.
 
 

Browse related books at Amazon.com.