Alec Baldwin and Morrissey Team Up to Pack a PETA Punch

[Karmadillo]

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=6381

Norfolk, Va. — Pop legend Morrissey’s eagerly anticipated DVD Who Put the M in Manchester has a message beyond the self-reflective lyrics that millions of his fans around the world have come to expect: a copy of PETA’s hard-hitting video "Meet Your Meat"—narrated by actor Alec Baldwin. It might seem an odd pairing, but Morrissey, a longtime vegetarian, is fed up with the meat industry’s horrific abuse of farmed animals, and Baldwin, who has addressed Congress about the need to enforce and strengthen the Humane Slaughter Act, describes conditions on factory farms and in slaughterhouses as "beyond your worst nightmares."

"Meet Your Meat" contains shocking footage of animals, some crippled and bleeding, violently thrown into transport containers and flailing in fear down the slaughterhouse line. It asks meat-eaters to consider that chickens, pigs, and cows are sensitive, intelligent animals who experience pain, fear, love, and joy but are routinely subjected to hideous abuses on factory farms.

Says Morrissey, "I have arguments with people who are the most diehard carnivores, but once you have an intelligent debate with somebody, you can see how they begin to break down a little and their edges become softer, and you can see that this is not a difficult topic—the whole idea of vegetarianism is so simple. … Nobody can come up with a good argument for eating animals—nobody can." The 1985 album Meat Is Murder, which Morrissey recorded when he was lead singer for The Smiths, is still inspiring young people to go vegetarian.

What’s PETA’s beef with meat? Animals on factory farms suffer mutilations and other forms of abuse from which cats and dogs are legally protected. Pigs are confined to concrete-floored stalls and have their tails cut off—and male pigs are also castrated—without pain relief. Chickens are jam-packed into wire cages, and their sensitive beaks are cut off so that they can’t peck each other. At slaughter, many chickens are still conscious when their throats are slit and they are scalded alive in feather-removal tanks. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspectors, cows are often dismembered while they are still conscious.

For more information and to view the video, please visit GoVeg.com.

[Larkspur]

1. I love animals but I'll never go totally Vegetarian

Humans are omnivorous, which means we can eat meat and vegetation.

In regards to this threads topic, I do believe that livestock should be raised humanely and killed quickly, but I won't give up my love of bar-b-que spare ribs.

However, I am supporting PETA's boycott of KFC because of KFC's cruel practices on raising and slaughtering their chickens.

[richmwill]

3. I'm a bit different...

Love animals, but disagree with PETA's "tactics".

[Merlot]

5. I htink PETA's "tactics" are a bit dramatic, but they feel the need to

draw attention to something that most people don't know, or would prefer to ignore...how the animals they eat are treated and slaughtered.

I wish all packs of meat had a warning notice like cigaretts.

NOTICE: this meat comes from an animal that was abused, shot full of steriods, and tortured. It's living conditions were horrendous, and we can't guarentee that eating this meat won't give you cancer.

Enjoy.

[Tinoire]

2. Long time carnivorous Peta supporter here

I love eating meat. The rarer the steak the better but there is NO excuse for the meat industry's barbarity.

No animal should have to endure a life of suffering just so people can turn as quick a buck as possible. And sadly, the meat doesn't even taste as good.

I dare people. Go but a halal chicken, not kosher but halal and cook it up next to a supermarket or even kosher chicken. You will not believe the difference- even the appearance of the flesh is different because the animal is raised in a natural habitat and, by Islamic law, must be able to roam, reproduce etc... And the knowledge that this tastier animal was killed in a humane manner- calm and with one swift blow alone with the butcher is a lot more pleasant than knowing it was herded into a room with 300 other terrified animals before being shackled upside down to a converyor belt, having its throat slit and oftentimes tossed into boiling water to be scalded alive scared shitless.

Surely there's room for improvement in the way we raise and slaughter animals in this country?

Thank you PETA. Thank you Morrisey.

[Merlot]

4. Agreed. I personally don't eat meat or fowl because of how they're treated

But I don't feel it's wrong to eat meat. What's wrong is how the meat is treated while it's alive. Eat and be eaten is the law of the jungle. But we're humans and need to have compassion.

I've never heard of the halal chickens. I knew kosher chickens are killed humainly, but don't know if they have the same rules for how the chicken is treated when alive.

Those cows ARE mad, and going crazy. It was only a matter of time until it affected humans.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Yeah, I agree- free range and cruelty-free. But, that's not the agenda.

The agenda is no meat, period.

[shockra]

13. People who are anti-war...

Want there to never be another war, but they also know that that's not realistic. So they just do what they can to further their cause.

PETA knows it's being idealistic -- that there will never not be a meat industry. So they do what they can to improve the conditions of animals who are slaughtered.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. And surely their goals in some areas overlap with mine.

But it's also worth pointing out- to people who do believe in free-range, minimal cruelty, organic farming and animal use- that there are PLENTY of people involved in promoting and furthering that particular agenda who don't share the "no meat, period" idealism of PETA.

[Pushed To The Left]

6. I'm a bigtime meat-eater, but I do agree that

farm animals need to be treated more humanely. I would support some regulation to make that happen.

[shockra]

7. Alec Baldwin

He was also Master of ceremonies for the PCRM's 20th Anniversary celebration last month. The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine's founder, Dr. Neal Barnard, has written many books on diet including Food for Life and Eat Right, Live Longer.

Alec Baldwin, Other Celebs Turn Out for PCRM Gala

WASHINGTON—Celebrities and supporters of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) turned out on Saturday night, April 16, for PCRM’s 20th anniversary gala celebration in Washington. Master of ceremonies Alec Baldwin was joined by Alicia Silverstone, Daryl Hannah, film director Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), and Emmylou Harris, who sang three numbers. The event, held at the majestic Organization of American States headquarters near the White House, attracted a crowd of nearly 400 people, including many prominent physicians. Initial PCRM estimates were that the gala raised $300,000.

Photos of the gala and the celebrities are available free to media. In addition, there was a silent auction of hospital scrubs hand decorated by a host of celebrities, including Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Maher, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins, Woody Harrelson, Noah Wyle, Jamie Lee Curtis, Clint Eastwood, rock legend Grace Slick, and others. One auction winner paid $2,500 for a walk-on part in the next film of Hollywood director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Troy, The Perfect Storm, In the Line of Fire).

Highlights of the 20th anniversary celebration included a presentation on a groundbreaking new insulin assay devised by PCRM scientists, the debut of a new public service announcement about healthy eating and cancer prevention narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, and presentation of The Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine by Mary Morgan, widow of the late pediatrician. The event was featured in the “Reliable Source” of the Washington Post, on Sunday, April 17, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59569-2005Apr16.html.

Under the leadership of founder and president Neal Barnard, M.D., PCRM has grown from a small circle of concerned healthcare professionals in 1985 to a major nonprofit advocacy and research organization with a membership that includes more than 5,000 physicians and 100,000 laypersons.

http://www.pcrm.org/news/GalaPhotoRelease050419.html

Oy, wouldn't you know that PCRM's one of the latest groups attacked by the Center for Consumer Freedom, which created the petakillsanimals.com website.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) Responds to Smear Tactics by Tobacco/Meat Industry Front Group

Criticisms are False and Anti-Public Health

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire/ The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine responds to recent statements by the "Center for Consumer Freedom" (CCF), a group funded by the tobacco, meat, and junk-food industries.

CCF was founded by tobacco lobbyist Rick Berman with more than $3 million from Philip Morris and continues to receive funding from industries that market unhealthful products. Through CCF and other front groups, Berman has fought against stricter limits on legal blood-alcohol levels, improvements in minimum wage, health information for consumers, and other progressive efforts that his commercial clients view as contrary to their interests.

Over the past few years, CCF has escalated its attacks against
organizations that warn the public about the health risks associated with alcohol, meat, and other junk food products. Berman has admitted publicly that his MO is to "shoot the messenger" by trying to disparage the credibility of his opponents. His employees do not attempt reasoned discussion of the scientific issues about health. The list of public health advocates in CCF's line of fire includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for speaking out against drunk driving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for tackling food safety, the World Health Organization for addressing obesity, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

A complaint recently filed with the IRS charges that CCF has violated its tax-exempt status by allegedly engaging in "activities with no charitable purpose" and making large payments to Berman. And two recent editorials, one in the Washington Post and one in USA Today
criticized the group for misrepresenting itself.

more

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/05-18-2005/0003636414&EDATE=

[deacon2]

8. Animals are treated with the same callous disregard as we are

in the endless profit cycle that has become our national religion. The Buddhist in me recoils at the savagery in the slaugherhouses - and in the world at large. I have been a vegetarian since 1984 - I quit smoking the same week, and dear god, you did not want to be near me. Things have improved since then. I have no real "beef" with carnivores except that, as many on this thread have stated, I believe as recipients of the end product they are most responsible for the humane or inhumane methodologies employed. That does not relieve me or anyone else from responsibility as well.

[ReverendDeuce]

9. I've said it before about PETA, and I'll say it again...

Torture of animals = wrong. Testing chemicals using animals = wrong. Hurting those who can't defend themselves = wrong. However, I don't, for whatever reason, have a problem with eating meat -- assuming whatever slaughtering is done humanely.

Now, I'm not a big fan of beef but I do eat it now and then. I do like dairy, chicken, and every now and then sushi or other seafood.

I've said it before and I will say it again... PETA are crazies! I mean, I am 100% for their right to do what they do, assuming it does not break the law. And I firmly want them to say their piece. But man, they do some really kooky shit sometimes...

[shockra]

10. Kooky shit.

Here's one thing that was pretty kooky, but you can't say it doesn't get the message across.

GIANT TAMPON STOPS FLOW OF TRAFFIC IN SYRACUSE

Protesting Women, Supporters Urge: "Stop Columbia University’s Painful Menstrual Tests on Animals. Period."

For Immediate Release:
November 9, 2004

Syracuse, N.Y. — Angry protesters dressed as giant tampons will lead a demonstration against experiments at Columbia University in which metal pipes are sunk into rhesus monkeys’ skulls so that experimenters can study the effects of stress on the menstrual cycle (undercover video available). Feminists and animal protectionists object to the funding of these cruel and pointless tests and are furious that relevant projects focused on helping women lack funding.

PETA conducted an investigation into Columbia’s labs after Dr. Catherine Dell’Orto, a postdoctoral veterinary fellow who was working in the labs, blew the whistle on animal abuse that she witnessed. One monkey used in the wasteful tests—caged in the laboratory for nine years—was photographed with blood running down her face long after she had come out of anesthesia from the implant surgery. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the university’s own internal investigation concluded that Columbia had failed to provide sufficient postsurgical pain relief, basic veterinary care, and euthanasia to animals used in experiments … yet the tests continue.

"Millions of tax dollars are used to mutilate monkeys at Columbia, while important women’s health programs focusing on prevention, public health education, and clinical work with women lack adequate funding," says Mary Beth Sweetland, director of PETA’s Research & Investigations Department.

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=5307

[Warren DeMontague]

11. So don't patronize factory farms. Choose organic vegetables and free range

cruelty-free animal products.

Unfortunately, that's not PETA's agenda- PETA doesn't want anyone eating any animals, ever, period.

But I'm glad they have solved all the other problems on this globe, so they want to wage war on 2 Million years of Omnivorous behavior by homo sapiens.

(And, for the record, I don't ever eat red meat, I rarely eat poultry -always free range- and not a whole helluva lot of fish, either.. But after years of experience with a few of their die-hards, I think PETA is off the extreme end of the spectrum and I find their methods counter-productive.)