Yesterday, in that free little paper, the Metro, there was an article introducing the possibility of legalizing pot for the city of Philadelphia. State rep Mark B Cohen supports this idea, but sees little public support. Say What? I did, what apparently many others did. I contacted Mark Cohen and offered to help get this bill on the ballot. What kind of help are we talking about? Let's start by getting some signatures. I have yet to hear from Cohen, but in today's Metro, he said he received thousands of contacts through facebook and other networking sites.
If you live in Philadelphia and support this idea, now is a time to be heard. On a day when Mayor Nutter announced a miserable financial outlook, I think it's either time for serious change or a mass exodus from this city. If you are tired of living in the shadows of New York and DC, then maybe this idea isn't such a bad one. Tax dollars, for one, would pour into the city, and wouldn't you just love a place to chill out at, a leisure cafe a la Amsterdam, Toronto, and Vancouver. Philadelphia could be a destination. Can you imagine? And businesses would blossom, money would pour into our poor city.
What can you do? Contact Rep Mark Cohen. Join PA Norml and march in this spring's annual marijuana march this may. Most importantly: Be Heard!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Word of the Day
Ki Ki - When two drag queens have sex.
I learned this interesting factoid off my new favorite show, RuPaul's Drag Race, shown on VH1 and Logo channels.
Not to be missed!It's not too late to start watching.
I learned this interesting factoid off my new favorite show, RuPaul's Drag Race, shown on VH1 and Logo channels.
Not to be missed!It's not too late to start watching.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
What!? Foie Gras Week!?
Yep, you read correctly. Next week marks the start of Philadelphia's Foie Gras Week. While other places like the city of Chicago and the state of California have banned the sale of foie gras in stores and restaurants, this backward city is celebrating this archaic brand of animal torture.
For a list of restaurants to avoid, see here. Again, I wonder, how can I live in this unhealthy city that was put on the map for another vulgar specialty, the cheesesteak.
I like to compare foie gras eaters with Hummer drivers. People think they look good eating their engorged, toxic liver, but they really look like insensitive brutes, kind of like SUV drivers! The car industry is working hard to make economical, responsible cars, so why are we still eating foie gras? huh? Can't foie gras farmers farm stuff like ...vegetables! Move forward!
One person defending the foie gras industry asks why protesters don't protest McDonalds or KFC. uhh, we do, we don't eat there and have you checked out PETA's website lately, it's an ongoing campaign? duh. Do your research before saying something ignorant.
Oh Philadelphia, you disgust me.
For a list of restaurants to avoid, see here. Again, I wonder, how can I live in this unhealthy city that was put on the map for another vulgar specialty, the cheesesteak.
I like to compare foie gras eaters with Hummer drivers. People think they look good eating their engorged, toxic liver, but they really look like insensitive brutes, kind of like SUV drivers! The car industry is working hard to make economical, responsible cars, so why are we still eating foie gras? huh? Can't foie gras farmers farm stuff like ...vegetables! Move forward!
One person defending the foie gras industry asks why protesters don't protest McDonalds or KFC. uhh, we do, we don't eat there and have you checked out PETA's website lately, it's an ongoing campaign? duh. Do your research before saying something ignorant.
Oh Philadelphia, you disgust me.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sea Mammals, News and abuse
I'm always a sucker for a good documentary and the new film that NatGeo channel is showing right now on the fate, plight and habits of the Blue Whale did not disappoint. Highlights include beautiful footage of blue whales up close and personal. Also footage of scientists posing as customers at a seafood market where whale meat is sold in Japan. Because they are mammals, their meat is highly prized and resembles beef. That had never occurred to me, and even more, I'm inspired to end whale hunting once and for all.
Japan, Norway and Iceland all support whale hunts for research, and this doc reveals that Japan imported whale meat from North American waters, one no-no, and also that they speared a rare hybrid whale for their endeavors.
On a similar note, PETA is launching a huge campaign to stop the bludgeoning of baby seals in Canada in conjunction with the proposed 2010 Olympics. Check out their website to get active, write a letter to the Olympic Committee to get them to see the light. As much as I love Canada for being progressive in many respects, they really can't be taken seriously in my eyes, Morrissey's and countless others until they stop this senseless, bloody slaughter and I said as much in my letter sent yesterday.
Write a letter, get active. It's free, and makes you feel good while accomplishing your personal and universal goals!
Japan, Norway and Iceland all support whale hunts for research, and this doc reveals that Japan imported whale meat from North American waters, one no-no, and also that they speared a rare hybrid whale for their endeavors.
On a similar note, PETA is launching a huge campaign to stop the bludgeoning of baby seals in Canada in conjunction with the proposed 2010 Olympics. Check out their website to get active, write a letter to the Olympic Committee to get them to see the light. As much as I love Canada for being progressive in many respects, they really can't be taken seriously in my eyes, Morrissey's and countless others until they stop this senseless, bloody slaughter and I said as much in my letter sent yesterday.
Write a letter, get active. It's free, and makes you feel good while accomplishing your personal and universal goals!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Our Daily Bread
Our Daily Bread is a haunting, relatively new documentary about the modern food business. Visually stunning and often disturbing, this film is not for the faint of heart. As a vegan for many years, I couldn't bear to watch the scenes of abuse and slaughter unfold yet another time before my eyes, and I ended up fast-forwarding through the animal scenes and focused instead on the farming. If you could call it that. Gone are the farmers on their hands and knees, weeding their crops and caring for their plants. Here to stay are GMO crops looking slightly alien, yet identical to the thousands of others under the same roof. I found myself gazing at the beautiful symmetry of the hydroponic greenhouse, comparing it to the pyramids at the Louvre. Gigantic machines spray pesticides, thrash wheat, while workers at night quickly pluck and wrap cabbages while the machine dictates their progress. Farming is no longer romanticized in this vision of food production.
Memorable scenes include one where a huge industrial crop waterer spread its wings like a giant, graceful pterodactyl. Beautiful sunflowers are covered in a haze of pesticides.
Disturbing scenes include a baby chick processing plant where women unfeelingly toss baby chicks into a giant machine which takes them through a crazy amusement park-like ride until, presumably their death. Farmed fish swimming like sardines in a can, never given the opportunity to swim free and have a chance at life.
Despite the beauty of the film, I was left feeling dirty and sad. For most people living on a modest budget, there is little one can do to avoid the commercial food chain. Alex Jones, yesterday on his podcast on Infowars.com, was speaking of a future, fifty years from now, where we will all be vegans, not by choice, but because there will be no room to raise animals and of a future where all our food comes from genetically modified sources controlled by the government. Now is the best time to try your hand at container gardens for city-dwellers and more ambitious planting for those fortunate enough to own green space. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but the most important thing when choosing your food is knowing where it came from, not necessarily organic, since the big producers are getting around federal guidelines and establishing their own, but local, farm-raised produce, picked and raised by loving human hands.
I'm thankful that I no longer eat meat, so I don't feel the guilt that often accompanies meat consumption, but I also feel the duty to raise my own food to keep various strains of vegetables alive, until they take that from us too.
Oh yeah, and the best part of this film? Even though it is a foreign film, there are no subtitles; the machines do the talking.
Memorable scenes include one where a huge industrial crop waterer spread its wings like a giant, graceful pterodactyl. Beautiful sunflowers are covered in a haze of pesticides.
Disturbing scenes include a baby chick processing plant where women unfeelingly toss baby chicks into a giant machine which takes them through a crazy amusement park-like ride until, presumably their death. Farmed fish swimming like sardines in a can, never given the opportunity to swim free and have a chance at life.
Despite the beauty of the film, I was left feeling dirty and sad. For most people living on a modest budget, there is little one can do to avoid the commercial food chain. Alex Jones, yesterday on his podcast on Infowars.com, was speaking of a future, fifty years from now, where we will all be vegans, not by choice, but because there will be no room to raise animals and of a future where all our food comes from genetically modified sources controlled by the government. Now is the best time to try your hand at container gardens for city-dwellers and more ambitious planting for those fortunate enough to own green space. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but the most important thing when choosing your food is knowing where it came from, not necessarily organic, since the big producers are getting around federal guidelines and establishing their own, but local, farm-raised produce, picked and raised by loving human hands.
I'm thankful that I no longer eat meat, so I don't feel the guilt that often accompanies meat consumption, but I also feel the duty to raise my own food to keep various strains of vegetables alive, until they take that from us too.
Oh yeah, and the best part of this film? Even though it is a foreign film, there are no subtitles; the machines do the talking.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Seen on Rittenhouse Square
I can't tell you how many times I'm behind someone on the street as they throw out their wrapper to their big mac or cigarettes. Often, I fume with anger and mutter unintelligible things behind their backs, but sometimes I actually say stuff. I don't understand why someone would throw trash on the street when there are two trash cans on either side of the block. Laziness? Some sort of culture barrier? A secret effort to keep Philly dirty and rough-n-tumble? It's time to grow up Philadelphia. Some neighborhoods are showing their true colors.
Yesterday I saw a solar powered trash compactor in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Wow, I thought; the only neighborhood where people actually put trash in trash cans gets this newfangled contraption. Neat.
Now if we can only get people to actually us it.
Read more here.
On the slate: Teaching people how to properly use a trash can.
Yesterday I saw a solar powered trash compactor in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Wow, I thought; the only neighborhood where people actually put trash in trash cans gets this newfangled contraption. Neat.
Now if we can only get people to actually us it.
Read more here.
On the slate: Teaching people how to properly use a trash can.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Nutrition tips from a beached whale
This morning on Rachel Ray, beached whale Winona Judd gives nutrition tips. I'm sorry, but if someone with two chins is giving you tips on how to eat healty, run, as fast as you can, to the nearest salad bar.
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