Beard bares all in first Olympic athlete protest

[emad]

Source: AFP

BEIJING (AFP) — American swimmer Amanda Beard staged the first athlete protest of the Beijing Olympics, unveiling a nude photo of herself Wednesday outside the Athlete's Village to back an anti-animal cruelty cause.

The two-time Olympic champion, who will defend her 200-meter breaststroke gold medal from Athens, held a poster-sized version of her new advertisement in support of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

"The Olympics are a great forum for me to use to get my message out," Beard said. "It's a great thing for me to do.

"I'm saying not to kill innocent animals. There's nothing negative that goes into that."

Read more: in first Olympic athlete protest

[tularetom]

1. It should be against the rules to not include pictures with posts lie this

[villager]

3. you mean:

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/08/06/beard4_wideweb__470x321,0.jpg

[Lucky 13]

9. Yowza!

[sellitman]

24. I applaud this on so many levels its hard to explain.

If you know what I mean.








And I think you do.
;)

[Drum]

32. Lol!

:D Well-put.

[DailyGrind51]

25. Damn! To say she is drop-dead gorgeous is the zentih of understatement!

[bamacrat]

26. Wow, gotta love Americans.

She is very hot, too bad shes covering up the goods.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Google her and you'll find lots of pics of her skin

She doesn't seem to be averse to such pictures at all.

[crikkett]

16. I wouldn't be either -- she's gorgeous n/t

[mcctatas]

2. This might get me in trouble...

but if you use such a great forum in a country, which also happens to be a major human rights violator, to talk about animal cruelty, I think you have squandered an opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I am all for animal rights, I am just of the opinion that if we promote basic human rights, it will be easier to promote animal rights.....

[Robb]

5. Sort of like

...protesting whale killing outside of McDonald's.

[Critters2]

10. China has a ghastly record in animal welfare.

Including rounding up any and all cats (including pets) in Beijing, to "tidy" the place up for the Olympics. This is completely appropriate. China needs to know the world is watching the way they treat people AND animals.

[Doremus]

33. Only a couple of years ago they KILLED every dog rather than provide rabies shots.

EVERY dog: stray, pets, it didn't matter. Clubbed to death to stop a growing rabies problem.

The more I talk about this, the more I detest those people so I'll stop now.

[TechBear_Seattle]

28. More like ...

Campaigning for a vegan lifestyle outside the gates of Gitmo.

[Outlier]

8. Methinks

It is a little self promotion. No better way to do that if you are a hot chick than to take your close off. She may be sincere about her love for animals, but they need basic HUMAN rights in china first.

[Critters2]

11. Not an either or. All living creatures need their rights protected. nt

[TooBigaTent]

15. There have been plenty of comments and protests against China's "human" rights record, but

very little about its horrible animal rights policies.

Many will denigrate her for speaking up for those who have no voices, but the reality is that, as some have said, ALL creatures deserve protection.

I applaud anyone who takes the few opportunities available to make this kind of statement. Not many are willing to risk their financial future by pissing off the financial establishemnt.

[LeftyMom]

20. These days most fur sold in the US comes from China.

And China is generally horrible- that's probably an understatement, I mean really, unspeakably ghastly- on animal issues.

[blue52power]

27. Good point

When I read, "first Olympic athlete protest", I was waiting to see if it was

1. Tibet

2. Falun Gong

3. Darfur

4. internal Chinese repression


I'm a big animal rights supporter, but that was just lame.
I see that China denied a visa to Joey Cheek former gold medalist, simply because he is involved in Darfuer human rights issues.

[emad]

6. Maybe somebody will moon the Chimperor at the opening ceremony...

Chinese sense of humor opportunity.

[Tempest]

7. Too late for China to revoke her visa

You know this is going to drive the rightwingers batshit.

I hope they have a stroke. (pun intended)

[Critters2]

12. Good for her!! Here's some info on China's horrendous record re:animal abuse...

http://buyhard.net46.net/animalcruelty.htm

[DS1]

13. She isn't all that

too toothy, sunken eyes

[Jim in MA]

29. What Teeth?

What eyes? ;->

[iowa_democrat]

14. Man am I relieved

i had an image of Wolf Blitzer naked in front of th stadium in Beijing.


sheesh.

[sharp_stick]

21. Great Play on Words

I had to read that a couple of times to figure it out. Well Done

[Overseas]

17. The poster looks nice. Pleasant statement of principles.

[northernlights]

19. not to diminish our own atrocities

at abu graib, but they are nothing compared the torture we and others inflict on other sentient beings by the millions, every day.

There is a strong correlation between sadists starting out with small animals and "working their way up" to humans. Our current pResident just one small example.

There are plenty of people speaking out about human rights in China and around the world. People have a voice. The other animals have no voice, their agonized screams are behind closed doors, we don't speak their language (even though plenty of them are smart enough to learn at least some of ours) so assume they don't think or feel. I think it's unfortunate that *every* time somebody speaks out on behalf of nonhuman animals, someone or other feels the need to try to hijack the message into their own species-centric cause.

Was it Ghandi who said you can tell a nation's character by the way they treat their animals?

China has a horrific record on systematic animal torture. Horrific. From wild animals to people's pets. It wasn't long ago that, in fear of rabies, they were ripping dogs away from their owners and clubbing them to death in front of them.

[TooBigaTent]

22. Thank you for standing up for our fellow earthlings. Not many here care about the abuse

our species inflicts on others. Species-centric we certainly are, even on this supposed "liberal" site.

[madrchsod]

18. oh no....no more cat/dog fur bits on the clothes in walmart?

what ever will the best dressed walmart shopper wear?


well i`m being bad..

they were caught several years ago and of course they denied they knew anything about this practice..

remember walmart employees and shoppers---do`t vote for a democrat

[Javaman]

23. I think it should be open season on guilty animals...

humans. ;)

[SemperEadem]

30. And yet

Americans loooooooove those cheap prices from items manufactured in China... go figure...

[mitchum]

31. But from that angle I can't tell if she has given up the fur

damn it

[tabasco]

34. That's enough from you!

I'm going to be keeping an eye on you ....