We live in a society that thrives on the “us” verses “them” mentality. Country against country. Worker against worker. Subculture against subculture. It is everywhere. Imagine what the world would be like if we stopped dividing ourselves into groups and just accepted each other as being human and help each other out?

For example, most middle class white gay males are so caught up in their own “oppression” that they aren’t an ally to other causes. They are holding a couple of positions of privilege in the hierarchy that exists in our society by being male, middle class, and white. They feel marginalize because they can’t marry but they won’t join in the fight for other oppressed groups. However, what they don’t see is that their oppression is linked to the oppression of others. It’s like a drop of water in a lake – it ripples. If they would be willing to help out other minorities they would be helping themselves. No one is free while others in society are oppressed.

Some oppressed groups have taken a separatist approach to constructing their movements which I believe is an error. For example, some people of color groups don’t want white allies involved or feminist groups don’t want males involvement. I think that is very silly. It isn’t someone’s fault what color their skin is or what they have in their pants. To discriminate against potential allies simply because they don’t fit the mold and discounting their attempt to help the struggle due to factors beyond control is mad. We need all the allies in all shapes, sizes, and colors they come in if they want to help fight for freedom and equality from all oppressive forces.

I’ve met a handful of separatists who are always in denial of being a separatists – it’s really odd. See, if the world is going to be non-oppressive place – all forces will be working together in reality. By dividing and fragmenting – you are not mimicing the conditions of the real world and the real world will never change if you keep on keeping to yourself.

It’s like the idea of the monk who goes up to the mountain and is enlightened by never shares his insight with the world. It’s just a waste. Part of the project is sharing the knowledge with the world – with everyone. Not just “us” or “them.”

Let me point out too: just because you disagree with someone’s lifestyle choice doesn’t give you a right to dictate the rights or govern how someone else lives. I disagree and think my dad is a murderer because he eats meat. But, we co-inhabit the planet peacefully because it isn’t for me to make those chooses for him. The same can be applied to other aspects of life – that others shouldn’t censor their peers because of not approving.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life so far is that you can’t please everyone. Someone is always going to find something to be unhappy about and it’s not about being PC for everyone. It’s about having freedom and not being oppressed. That should be the goal of society and we have a long way to go.

Heifer whines could be human cries
Closer comes the screaming knife
This beautiful creature must die
This beautiful creature must die
A death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the flesh you so fancifully fry
Is not succulent, tasty or kind
It’s death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the calf that you carve with a smile
Is MURDER
And the turkey you festively slice
Is MURDER
Do you know how animals die ?

Kitchen aromas aren’t very homely
It’s not “comforting”, cheery or kind
It’s sizzling blood and the unholy stench
Of MURDER

It’s not “natural”, “normal” or kind
The flesh you so fancifully fry
The meat in your mouth
As you savour the flavour
Of MURDER

NO, NO, NO, IT’S MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT’S MURDER
Oh … and who hears when animals cry ?

Post by Veggie Wedgie.

The past few months I have been seeing a lot of recipes popping up everywhere that include bacon. I even saw bacon chocolate and bacon lollipops. I just don’t understand how such an intelligent animal like pigs, that are very similar to dogs, can be treated so inhumanly and be considered as food. But when it comes to dogs, you would NEVER think to make bacon out of them. I just don’t see how it is any different for pigs. Why is it okay to eat a cow, but not an elephant? Why is it okay to eat fish, but not your goldfish? Why is it okay to eat a chicken but not a cat? Do you see what I’m saying?

Of course I know how many people are disconnected from their food and when they see a piece of pork they don’t think where it came from. But that’s no excuse. Most of the pork comes from slaughtering houses like this one in the video, so when you watch it don’t fool yourself that the piece of bacon you just ate came from a pig that lived a happy life.

Animals are friends, not food. Start acting like it. Boycott the meat industry.

Video found on Mercy for Animals

My friend Evan pointed out some surprising facts last week.  At least they were surprising to me.  Did you know that PETA has killed thousands of animals?  That is, at least according to this source (and it does cite its sources).*

Here are some more facts:

—According to PETA—this is a quote—“Silk Production Causes Painful Death for Insects”.  Ergo, “Don’t buy silk....”

—Another PETA Web site admonishes us, “don’t buy wool.”  (Evan says, “ask any shepherd what happens to a sheep that doesn’t get sheared for the summer”.)

—PETA further admonishes, “Never patronize zoos.”  (If you read the rest of that page, for balance, also read at a minimum a commentary by the president of the Saint Louis Zoo.)

—A blog that PETA’s search feature points me to (and that’s owned by PETA, in any event) at least implies that the blind and other handicapped shouldn’t have the benefit of assistance animals.  (“Why can’t these assistance dogs be replaced with humans who are paid for their services...?”)  Sure enough, further investigation reveals that a writer for the The New Yorker interviewed the president and co-founder of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and learned that

She regards the use of Seeing Eye dogs as an abdication of human responsibility and, because they live as “servants” and are denied the companionship of other dogs, she is wholly opposed to their use.  She has had at least one dog taken from its owner.

(This and other highly interesting excerpts are available here; an article abstract is available on The New Yorker’s own Web site here.  The New Yorker site won’t let you see the whole article unless you have a subscription, but I have access to a Lexis-Nexis subscription, and I’ve confirmed that these words are indeed contained in that article.  The article is “The Extremist: The woman behind the most successful radical group in America”, April 14th, 2003, page 52, by Michael Specter.)

Here’s another interesting fact.  As it happens, this is the next sentence in the article:  “Among her most frequently cited statements is: ‘When it comes to feelings like hunger, pain, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.’”**

Huh.  Isn’t that interesting?

Look, I’m as much in favor of preventing cruelty to animals as the next guy, and if it seems appropriate to the majority in any given state to pass laws saying that cows can’t be kept in a pen so small they can’t sit down, chickens have to be able to flap their wings, etc., that’s fine.  It’s one thing to be in favor of treating our animal chattels humanely, but it’s quite another to say that animals are morally or metaphysically our equals.  They’re not.  I won’t try to get into that whole discussion here, but I will ask, for anyone inclined to go down PETA’s path, how far are you willing to go?  If meat is murder, and killing silkworms is murder, is stepping on an ant or a worm on the sidewalk murder?  If a worm is on the same level as a human being, why limit your compassion to the animal kingdom?  Isn’t that just another arbitrary boundary?  Is baking bread murder?  It slaughters billions of innocent yeast cells.  What about washing hands and killing all those bacteria?  If meat is murder, do we have a moral obligation to send police out into the African veldt to keep the lion from preying on the zebra?

Or think of it this way.  Maddox (formerly of maddox.xmission.com) once pointed out—in what may be the only time he has ever seriously cited a source—that modern harvesting equipment kills huge numbers of field animals every year.  (Warning: Maddox is funny but vulgar.  Here’s his article about whether vegetarianism is murder.  The source he cites is Time magazine, this article, on this page.)  Anyway, do we need a source?  Long before modern farming machinery, Robert Burns famously described inadvertently almost killing a mouse while plowing a field, in his ode “To a Mouse”.  Do you believe that agriculture is a grave societal evil, on the order of genocide or slavery?  Should we ban the motorized combine, and even the simple eighteenth-century plough, with all deliberate speed?

Perhaps the most surprising fact was that there are also objections to PETA that properly have nothing to do with animal “rights”.  At some point, Evan asked, “Is it a victory to get people to reconsider eating meat if you treat women like pieces of it?”  It sounded as if PETA had made a practice of exploiting women (and men’s lust) to sell their product, so to speak (the product being their mad ideology).  Sure enough, the same New Yorker article confirms in plain terms, “Naked women also play a central role in PETA’s demonstrations and advertisements....”

I had never heard of any of this, but the very next day, I went downtown and happened to see two of these PETA girls standing on the street corner.  They were holding signs saying “Leather is a fashion felony” (or something like that) and wearing “police” uniforms, faithfully reproduced right down to such authentic details as fishnet stockings.  (Even if you’re OK with the objectification of women, shouldn’t PETA picket itself for promoting fishing or something?)

OK, so PETA wants to change the rules, to “think outside the box”:  Instead of a rational appeal (animals are humans’ equals; therefore you shouldn’t kill them for leather) or even a straightforward emotional one (look at this cute animal; therefore you shouldn’t kill them for leather), PETA tries to hitch its crusade to men’s sex drives.  In response, I have a modest proposal.  Let’s change the rules.

Maddox once suggested (again, warning: vulgarity), “sponsor a vegetarian”—if you commit to eating three times as much meat as you normally would for as long as your friend is vegetarian, in theory, you can completely neutralize his efforts to reduce the slaughter of animals.  I don’t recommend that.  More modestly, my suggestion is that every time you see a PETA publicity stunt involving girls who look as if they should be told to go put some clothes on, instead, go out and get some new clothes for yourself, made of leather or other “felonious” materials.  If successful, such a plan would cause every such PETA stunt to lead to more, rather than less, material support for the leather industry, the fur industry, etc.

Because I saw those girls downtown, today I bought myself a shiny new leather jacket (well, shiny used leather jacket).  I’ve never owned a leather jacket before (unless you count my leather-sleeved high-school letter jacket), but I think I’m going to like it.  What will you buy the next time you see unethical advertising for the ethical treatment of animals?

Being ethical doesn’t have to be painfully expensive, either.  There’s no reason you have to purchase the most expensive leather jacket you can find (or even the second-most-expensive); apparently you can get new leather jackets that look pretty sweet for under two hundred dollars, or even forty if they’re really on sale.  Also, thrift-store buys totally count.

It doesn’t have to be a leather jacket, of course; even a leather watchband would do (and again, no need to get the most expensive one you can find; apparently even a basic ten-dollar watch can meet your cow-killing needs).  Correction (November 16th, 2009): An alert reader points out that the band of that watch, upon closer inspection, is made of faux leather, but apparently you can still kill cows with a watch under twenty-five dollars (with a band made of “genuine pink leather”, whatever that is).  At that point, though, you’re not getting many square inches of cowhide per dollar; for just thirty dollars more, you can have a whole fedora made of leather, and really get your money’s worth.

There’s also no reason it has to be leather.  We all know these PETA types would disapprove of your buying fur at least as much.  Maybe there’s a lady in your life who would enjoy a new mink coat? 

If we take PETA at their word, silk must be just as good as leather and fur—it’s all murder, right?  You could buy a silk coat, or a silk scarf, or a silk necktie.

For that matter, according to PETA, wool is out, too, right?  Which means it’s in.  There may not be a more inexpensive way to be ethical than by buying a warm woolen coat, hat, scarf, or other article.

The possibilities are endless.  Use your imagination!

Finally, here’s another surprising fact:  People pronounce PETA’s name “pita”—not “pet-a”, which is how I always assumed it was pronounced until I actually heard it pronounced.  It’s funny, they actually make the “E” in “PETA” lowercase in their logo, as if to help people get the pronunciation right—but if all the other letters are capital and the “e” is lowercase, if anything, doesn’t that suggest a short “eh” sound?  Also, apparently they don’t like the word “pet”—again from the New Yorker article: “At lunch, dozens of employees slip out to spend some time with their companion animals.  (Nobody at PETA would ever use the word ‘pet.’)”—but they sure have them; so why not call their organization “pet-a”?  The alternative—“pita”—is halfway to a delicious, lamb-filled gyro.

* In an effort further to evaluate the credibility of the source, I tried searching for it on PETA’s Web site, peta.org—to see whether PETA had responded to the accusation—and found it only in users’ discussion forums (all trace of which seems to have been erased from the PETA Web site itself) and in PETA’s “PETA in the News” section.  The latter links us to this news story, which mentions petakillsanimals.com and says, “PETA isn’t shy about responding on its own Web site, consumer deception.com....”  (On the contrary, I would say that PETA is shy—it responds not on its own Web site, peta.org, but on a separate Web site created for the purpose, consumerdeception.com, which nowhere mentions that it has any connection with PETA, much less that it is PETA’s “own Web site”—but never mind.)  Take a look at PETA’s anti-anti-PETA Web site yourself, but it looks to me like exclusively ad hominem attacks on the guy who apparently runs petakillsanimals.com—in other words, no substantive response to his actual criticisms of PETA.

After more searching, I was finally able to turn up two pages where PETA responds generally to the criticism about its killing of animals, without naming the critics.  (Warning: These pages include very disgusting photographs of animals.)  On these pages (here and here, if you want to see them—you’ve been warned), PETA says or implies that the reason it kills so many of the animals it takes in (more than 90% of them, according to petakillsanimals.com) is that “most” of them “come from miserable conditions”—they’ve been starved, they have various disgusting wounds and diseases, etc.—and are essentially unadoptable.

** With the qualifier “When it comes to...”, that sentence could be interpreted as making a very narrow statement about whether animals feel pain, etc., but the rest of the paragraph, and what Miss Newkirk says elsewhere in the article, confirms that she considers animals to have just as much moral worth as people, if not more.

Den var annorlunda igår, känslan i Saluhallen. Det var Halloween.

Vid Kågebaren stod Domkyrkans gosskör och sjöng Vi vill ha blodig falukorv till lunch. De små parvlarna blottade sina vampyrtänder och några av dem dunkade basebollträn mot golvet. Kockarna som bara hade den vanliga pannbiffen i byttorna såg nervösa ut.

Hos slaktaren mittemot hade Jason Vorhees hoppat in och styckade glatt både lammsadlar och fredagsflanörer. Han hade en knapp med texten Meat is Murder och en Morrisseytröja på sig. En indiepoppare försökte förklara vad Moz menade, men hann inte till fjärde stavelsen innan världen var en anemisk och deppig jävel fattigare.

Fruktaffären hade jungfrublodapelsiner som lockvara och bland kokosnötterna låg några halshuggna p-lisor som extra utsmyckning. Istället för en vanlig nummerautomat stod Freddy Krueger där och hade nummerlapparna på sina klor.

Klockan slog konstant tolv och flera pensionärer sågs med liar istället för käppar, vilket fick dem att bli än effektivare när det gällde att hugga sig fram i köerna.

I den grekiska soppbaren var det ögonlinssoppa istället för den vanliga linssoppan, kebaben mittemot skalades av från en reinkarnation av Guds lamm och det var Belsebub själv som skötte det hela.

Självklart fanns det pumpor i överflöd, men de satt på tredje generationens Frankensteinmonster och bet fingrarna av alla som inte såg sig för.

Barn gick omkring och sa trick or treat. Antingen fick de godis eller så blev det blodvite. En butik försökte ge dem svarta oliver och den ägaren dränktes under skratt i olivens egen lag.

En huvudlös häst och en lika huvudlös kusk styrde (jävligt dåligt) en likkärra igenom hallen. Kusken ringde i klockan och skulle egentligen ha skrikit bring out your dead, men han hade ju inget huvud som sagt.

Dohse var som vanligt, men de är ju gajsare, vilket bara det är skräckinjagande bortom mänsklig fattningsförmåga.

Alla Steinbrenners bakverk var täckta av blodsocker och vad negerbollarna var gjorda av vill nog ingen av oss veta.

Jag tog mig ut, levande och kom till blomsterhandlaren. “Vad sägs om en orkidé”, sa han och höll fram en köttätande växt som stirrade på mitt skrev och slickade sig om kronbladen.

“Tja, vad fan. Det är ju ändå Halloween”, sa jag och stålsatte mig.

Our “Shut Up Wish of the Week”

We’re all gonna die…but Al Gore (our “Shut Up Wish of the Week”) will get richer in the process. Wouldn’t the world be better off without so many deluded firemen trying to become heroes by committing arson and so many “shepherds” crying wolf? What is it about our system that makes a philosophy of deprivation so attractive? What pathology produces a person who feels called to impose his opinions on society? Opinions which are speciously constructed on the argument that those who disagree are, at best, simply inferior intellects, and at worst, maliciously in denial of imminent global disaster. Let’s reflect on the similarities between the firefighter arsonist and the global warming zealot…(and the universal health care reformer too, come to think of it). According to a study prepared by Hollis Stambaugh and Hilary Styron of TriData Corp., for the Department of Homeland Security titled, “Special Report: Firefighter Arson,” [http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/download/pdf/publications/tr-141.pdf] the profile of the firefighter arsonist conforms with the following characteristics:

• Product of a disruptive, harsh, or unstable rearing environment
• Poor relationship with father, overprotective mother
• Poor marital adjustment
• Lacking in social or interpersonal skills
• Poor occupational adjustment

So, if we may review…

• Daddy never home…hates me.  Mommy here…loves me
• Tipper….hmm, no, yes, no,yes, no…”You’re due when?”
• Gay lisp…
• Couldn’t steal presidential election, wound up on this bandwagon

Let’s not forget profit motive.  Arsonists in this category expect profit from their fire setting, “…either directly for monetary gain, or indirectly to eliminate debt.  The key to this is the desire to cause the most possible damage in the least possible time.”   Well, hello and welcome to my Casino of Carbon Credits,  I’m Al Gore.  I invite you to spend liberally and, by the way, did you know that we’re all going to die?

It’s not like we don’t have enough to worry about around the planet without these hysterical Enviro-Queens, who continue to oppress Africa by proxy in their opposition to DDT, shriek in unison every time some rational thinker mentions nuclear power, and equate meat with murder. The greatest part of “environmentalism” is based on an epistemology of justification, known formally as the classical justificationist account of knowledge. In other words, justification is the reason to hold the belief and the reason the belief is true. A good dose of critical rationalism would work wonders here, but who needs Karl Popper when you have empiricism willing to work extended hours? Once upon a time, say as late as 1962, when adults still ran the world, these varieties of delusional commitment would have, rightly, been dismissed. Similarly, we’d dare any man, who wasn’t a Gypsy, to appear publicly in those days with pierced ears and a pair of diamond earrings. The Enviro-Queens need an intervention and that’s just what “Not Evil Just Wrong” is here to provide. To paraphrase a popular axiom, “Equal time is a bitch.” (Next week: Sheila Jackson Lee)

Love this. found it here.

Finding Carsons site was a real blast back to my college days – i think he really fucked my work up for years (and that of many other impressionable students) – fun though, and he does it well.

>>> Vea Meatrix aqui

La pelicula “Meatrix”

The Meatrix es producto de la primera Beca de Activismo en Flash de Free Range. En febrero de 2003, Free Range Graphics (Gráficos de Rango Libre), una compañía de diseño de avanzada, invitó a cientos de organizaciones sin fines de lucro a solicitar una producción gratuita de una película en Flash. Luego de revisar cuidadosamente más de 50 solicitudes, la beca fue otorgada a GRACE (Centro de Acción de Recursos Globales para el Medioambiente).

GRACE trabaja para terminar con las prácticas destructivas y peligrosas de la cría intensiva de animales y promover la agricultura sustentable -una meta cercana al corazón de Free Range. La reforma de la industria rural se traduciría en significativos benficios en muchas de las áreas en las que Free Range lucha: salud, seguridad alimentaria, justicia económica, derechos de los trabajadores, integridad medioambiental y derechos de los animales.

Mas información: http://www.themeatrix.com/intl/spain/meatrix_spanish.html

“Meat is Murder” – so lautet der Titel eines Songs, den Paul Morrissey vor Jahren für eine PETA-Aktion geschrieben und mit seiner Gruppe “The Smiths” aufgenommen und bekannt gemacht hat.

“Meat is Murder” ist nun auch das Motto einer Demo gegen die Simon Fleisch GmbH und die Säubrennerkirmes, ein Volksfest, bei dem Hunderte von Schweinen gegrillt und gegessen werden.

Wo: Wittlich bei Trier
Wann: Samstag, 15.8.2009, Treff: 14 Uhr, Demobeginn: 15 Uhr
Infos: Saveanimals.lu

Scientific article on The Effect of Meat Consumption on Body Odor Attractiveness

“Results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the odor of donors when on the nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense.”

So let’s celebrate the veggie mojo with the Smiths! Here’s this amazing document, the Smiths from their “Meat is Murder” era interviewed by Tony Wilson (remember our previous post on celebs “trying” ayahuasca??)

An open invite to all who read my blogs and are a fan of Notley Que BBQ:

If you are on Facebook please look up Notley Que BBQ Catering and become a fan

If you are Twittering please follow me NotleyQueBBQ

And always come say hello to all of us at any contest we are cooking at.  Sometimes we have lots of goodies to give out.  Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce, and Swag (www.gringobandito.com), Meat is Murder….Tasty Tasty Murder Stickers,  and other cool items.     Maybe we will even invite you in for a beer. 

Thanks again: www.notleyque.com

Look forward to speaking to all of you:

Cruelty to Animals: Mechanized Madness – Do yourself a favor and educate yourself. Where does your meat come from? Do you even know? If you’re not as disturbed and outraged as I am after viewing this, there is something seriously wrong with you.

This was the first time I had watched this video and was so shocked by what I saw. Had to look away a number of times. It broke my heart to see how these beautiful creatures were being treated. They didn’t do anything but be born. I couldn’t help but cry for most of it, too. Coming from a Latin American family, meat was on the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner growing up. Chances are I started eating meat from the moment my folks saw I had teeth and could hold my own! Here I am now though, age 27, and vegetarian.

What changed?

I can’t really say. It happened gradually but also suddenly. I switched to vegetarianism about a year and a half ago, initially. It was in response to an undercover video that aired on the local morning news channel about cruelty on the animals in a nearby meat factory. It showed a cow being pushed with a fork lift into a chamber where it would eventually be put down. The cow couldn’t even get up, and there was a look on its face that shook me to the core. Up until that moment I had never been effected by videos like that. The idea of becoming vegetarian was only an idea, something I’d considered due to the Buddhism books I’d been reading. I hadn’t made plans to switch and wasn’t realistically considering it either. Maybe it was the moon, or there was something in the air, but as I watched the undercover footage I felt pain, anger, and fear. I empathized with the cow then I imagined my cat in the cow’s position. What’s stopping us from eating our pets, I thought to myself. Just because we’ve given them a name, they share our bed, lick our faces when we come home, and wag their tale when we call their name, that keeps them off our plates? Buddha taught that all living creatures are sentient beings, and that includes all animals: Cows, chickens, pigs, hens, mice, rabbits, deer, rats, snakes, seals, whales, bears, dogs, cats, birds, humans, etc. All. With that idea floating around in my head, seeing the confusion and distress on the cow’s face, then hearing my then kitten meow, it was all too much for me to bear (pun) and the switch began. It took about a week to cut meat out of my diet, but it wasn’t difficult. At that point I was so traumatized that simply looking at meat would make me gag, so eating it felt more like a chore then enjoyable. And since as humans we don’t need meat to survive, there wasn’t a point to continue.

That’s not to say that I’ve been meat-less since February ‘08. After six months I switched back. I started craving meat too much. I tend to listen to my body so I took it as a sign that maybe I just needed more iron. I ate a burger. It took a solid 5 minutes of intense concentration to take that first bite. It didn’t taste as great as I remembered from my meat eating days and thoughts of what animal had to die so I could eat this flooded my brain. Then there was this intense guilt in the pit of my stomach. The meat sat well in my stomach, there was no discomfort or anything (remember, I’d been eating meat since I was old enough to chew), but I didn’t want it anymore. I didn’t feel good eating it. Within a few weeks, I consciously made the choice to switch back to vegetarianism. But after viewing this video, I’m now considering veganism. I don’t want the cheese, milk, and eggs I eat to come from a tortured animal. An animal that lived its final days in pure hell in deplorable conditions, an animal that did nothing but be born an animal into a world that thinks we need to eat meat. It’s not fair and, in my opinion, not right.

Now now, before you start sharpening your typing fingers and send nasty messages, let me tell you that I’m not here trying to convert anybody. I used to be a meat eater, remember? I hated it when anyone would try to guilt me into not eating meat or do that “you know what’s in that meat you’re eating?” speech. I remember what that was like, I would never put that on somebody else. But there’s no harm in educating yourself. I just want to bring this issue to your attention. Maybe you’ve never thought about it. I hadn’t until [almost] two years ago. Maybe you just don’t know what goes into bringing that slice of meat to your table every day. It’s okay not to know, but if someone gives you the opportunity to know, wouldn’t you want to take it?

As an animal lover, vegetarianism has been easy. That’s not to say I don’t crave meat. I do occasionally but when I do, the idea of chewing on flesh isn’t appetizing. That’s what meat is anyway. Flesh from a beautiful innocent pure creature. How do you feel about your pet? Beautiful, loyal, innocent creature, right? Just sayin’!

Think about it.

Oh, and there are probably health benefits that come from cutting out meat from one’s diet. Less probability heart disease and types of cancer and stuff. Other environmental benefits too. Read the literature. I do it for the animals , and that’s a good enough reason for me. If living longer and healthier is a side effect, then awesome.

Video: Meat Is Murder by the Smiths

[ PETA | GoVeg ]

Hoje é aniversário do cara mais foda do universo: Steven Patrick Morrissey.

‘Cause rock never dies!!!

Kill Uncle: meu álbum favorito, comprei por R$5 hihi

Um dos últimos clipes: tiozão, cinquentão and still a gentleman:

 “It’s death for no reason
And death for no reason is murder
And the calf that you carve with a smile
Is murder
And the turkey you festively slice
Is murder
Do you know how animals die ?”

Today is a special anniversary.  Yes.  Morrissey’s birthday.

It has been over 30 years since he leapt into our collective consciousness with his band The Smiths – influencing moody teenagers everywhere to become even more moodier and belligerent.

At 50 years of age, Morrissey is almost a parody of himself – but you still have to love him (note:  you don’t just ‘like’ Morrissey, you ‘love’ Morrissey).

There are varying degrees of Morrissey obsession (or “Mozza Mania” as I like to call it), so how do you know if someone is a real fan of the Pope of Mope or just a fair weather ‘emo’ wanting a piece of the ‘tortured artist’ pie?

Is being a Morrissey fan “…just something you are, or something you do…?”   Well, to help make this decision, I have compiled my essential guide to being a bona fina Morrissey fan.  Judge for yourself.

1 :  A True Fan will Know Everything there is to Know About Morrissey 

Essential first step to being a serious Morrissey fan is to know your stuff.  Its simply not enough to be able to name a couple of albums and know that he is a vegetarian. 

A true fan will know all essential information – and this includes learning by rote every song lyric and release date of each album / LP. 

Essential resource:  Morrissey’s Website for all facts and news regarding the quiffed one. 

2 :  A True Fan will be a Vegetarian

No ifs or buts.  Meat is Murder.  And if you are allergic to vegetables or fruit, starvation is an acceptable alternative. 

3 :  A Real Morrissey Fan will Wear Morrissey

“I would go out tonight…but I haven’t got a stitch to wear” is not relevant to a true fan.  A Morrissey t-shirt or a Smiths t-shirt is essential wear.  And if you cannot afford to buy one, just make your own like these dedicated deciples.   

A true fan will not limit their obsession to badly made t-shirts – but will branch out into other accessories such as  laptop cases  and belts too. 

Remember, its impossible to completely emulate the style genius himself, but a true fan will try.  An ’emo’ or ‘Mozza Fan Faker’ will think that Jarvis Cocker  made NHS specs and cardigans cool.  This is not so – a real fan knows that Morrissey was setting the trend when Jarvis was still getting his head flushed down the loo at school. 

Any faker can go get a quiff, buy the glasses, and wear skinny jeans, but a real fan will also have an old bike and have some gladioli hanging out their back pocket as well. 

4 : A True Fan will have a Shrine to the Quiffed One

 No self respecting Morrissey fan hasn’t drawn a picture of the beauty that is Stephen M.  So don’t be shy – share your crazed scribblings with the rest of the fan base – even if it is drawn in blood.  (As you can see by some of the pictures here on “Draw Morrissey” lack of skill can be make up for by enthusiasm)  And once finished, why not mount your picture in a hand crafted aluminium frame?

5 : A True Fan will Eat Morrissey

Take inspiration from these gutsy fans who have taken obsession to the next level with their MozCakes, allowing them to literally eat Morrissey. 

6 : A True Fan will Sleep Morrissey

 ”Sing me to sleep…I’m tired and I want to go to bed”   Yes, this Smiths Pillow Cover is an essential buy for the “die-hard” fan. 

A true Morrissey fan will obviously shun all human affection, but cuddling up to a Morrissey Doll is an allowable alternative. 

7:  A True Fan will know Everything There is to Know about The Smiths

Because a real fan will never know when they may enter a conversation with another fan who may know more about the subject of The Smiths than they do.   Key points to remember at all times are: Morrissey is God and Johnny Marr isn’t (although he is a good guitarist) Essential resource:   The Smiths Fansite

8 : A True Fan will Know What Others are Saying about the Man

Mad About Morrissey ? All fans of Morrissey profess to be experts of the ‘great one’ – but who can really claim to know him?  A real fan will make sure they keep on top of fellow fans obsessive rants

9 :  A Real Fan will Protect Morrissey to the Death 

Know your enemy- not everyone appreciates the wonder of Morrissey and The Smiths.  A truly dedicated follower will research enemies of Moz and make sure they leave poignant comments on their blog posts, and stick pins into homemade voodoo dolls of the heretics. 

10 : A True Fan will Celebrate Morrissey

Finally, its just not true that all Morrissey fans sit in dark rooms writing poetry (at least not all the time!) 

A real fan will get out there and celebrate their love for the man himself by putting Morrisey tracks on pub juke boxes, going along to a tribute gig, taking part in a Smiths Tour, attending a Morrissey night club or seeing the ‘great one’ live in concert.   (or if you are a ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’ why not get some ink done)

Do you know how animals die?

Meat is murder i rower, graffiti, Szczecin. Połączenie dwóch motywów: sloganu “meat is murder” oraz psa w oknie, tym razem na rowerze.

I protested against the invasion of Iraq. I was one of the million who marched through London in February 2003. Indeed the Furious Artisan had his picture printed in a national newspaper, arms raised, chanting anti-war slogans that I was reading off people’s banners (I was drunk. Incredibly drunk).

Today UK troops are leaving Basra. 179 UK troops died in Iraq. Part of me says that they shouldn’t have gone there then, because if they hadn’t gone then they wouldn’t be dead, so in a way they only have themselves to blame. Cruel, but unfortunately true.

I’m deeply suspicious of people that join the army, there’s something extremely disconcerting about people willing to subject themselves to total domination by superiors, a complete subservient respect for authority without question. Perhaps the blame lies with Armed Forces recruitment methods, the TV adverts that demonstrate all the skills you can gain in the Forces, the adventure, the friendships, the camerardereeee (never know to spell that). It’s a shame they don’t show the immediate abattoir aftermath of a roadside bomb attack, or the immense fun you can have beating and humiliating prisoners of war (but for fucks sake, just don’t let your pals take photos of you doing it!)

Later today the names of the 179 dead soldiers will be read from the memorial wall in Basra. One by one. In 35 degree dry desert heat. Christ almighty, that’s going to be a long afternoon. Surely the fallen heroes wouldn’t want that imposed on their fellow troops?

…does not need this. No country does, but combined with decades of gang warfare, political corruption, police corruption and brutality, unemployment, street crime, kidnappings, political assassinations, and currency instability current events have set out all the ingredients for a societal upheaval.

No, I am not predicting state failure. But this will certainly fall into the If You’re Not Part of the Solution category. And for those of you who feel you need to Do Something, I have a couple of ideas. Ideas for Mexico, ideas for the U.S., ideas for the world at large. Neither of these will earn me much of a fan club, so let me have it. First:

I do not use illicit drugs (and even do my best to minimize my use of pharmaceutical drugs), so I have nothing to gain directly from drug legalization. But what is essentially a global ban on widely-used drugs has caused their prices to artificially skyrocket. Free-market conservatives know the phenomenon well and agree with it in principle: market distortion. With every incremental rise in the profitability of trading drugs, holding a career in another, more productive field is disincentivized to the same degree. As drug trade profits rise, fewer of us choose to work in the medical field. Or in the educational system. Or in the food industry. Or in government. What does Mexico need more of, physicians or drug mules? What does the U.S. need more of, professors or meth cooks? Colombia: coca farmers or yucca farmers? Pakistan: poppy farmers or government employees?

To say nothing of the rise of the Mexican gangster in the face of prohibition. Sound familiar?

Let me guess: too esoteric? Too long-term? Too outrageous? Too off-subject? Then how about this:

I really am one to talk, with a fridge full of pork and a stomach full of yogurt, but there is no getting around it, the present viral outbreak is the direct result of our meat consumption. I do not say this as a chest-pounding militant vegetarian with an axe to grind. I say this as a fellow omnivore: raising animals for human consumption is filthy business. The more animals we eat, the more we raise, the filthier the business. It pollutes the atmosphere. It pollutes the ground. It pollutes the water. And it clearly pollutes us. So can I interest you in one vegan dinner a week? Spaghetti with marinara sauce? Five-alarm chili without the meat? Pasta salad? Call it our Next Millenium Project.

We reached the top 10!!!

10. November Spawned a Monster- Morrissey

Probably the song that made fall in love with solo Morrissey and found in the amazing compilation ‘Bona Drag’. It’s just sooo difference from everything else. The video, the lyrics, that little middle section with a bunch of noise…..Weird but fantastic.

9. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now-The Smiths

Summer of 7th grade(“You been the house too long she said”)…watching this video over and over. One of those rare moments in life where you are changed and you are not even aware. 

8. Well I Wonder- The Smiths

Off the Smiths ‘Meat is Murder’ one of the most heartbreaking songs ever!! That soft acoustic guitar, Morrissey’s vocals and lyrics just overflowing with yearning ….PERFECTION.

I’ve always liked the Smiths – mostly because of Johnny Marr’s quite brilliant guitar playing and music but also because of Morrissey’s lyrics and singing.

But Morrissey can be a right fucking pain in the arse sometimes.

A contributor from fan site Morrissey-Solo said: “I know a lot of people think he’s being precious about the smell of burning flesh, but I wholeheartedly agree with Morrissey; it’s hard to be joyous and uplifting when you’re confronted with something that you find so offensive.”

Sorry, mate, but carrying on performing ‘when you’re confronted with something that you find so offensive’ shouldn’t be hard to a real professional.

I should imagine the dancers at the Windmill Theatre found the Blitz fairly offensive, but they still kept on bloody dancing…