Episode 69 Non Veganism is "like eating a bag of cement- it hardens you up"
Moonlandings, New Zealand Green Party's landslide victory, The Vegan Option, Vegan Politicians, The Worlds Heaviest Insect, Non Vegan Surnames and Invercargill news
Listen now by downloading directly from here or, better yet, subscribe in iTunes to get each episode automagically!
Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals iTunes link
Hello and welcome to another fine episode of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals, the premier podcast of the Invercargill Vegan Society, southernmost Vegan organization in the world (possibly), coming to you from Invercargill, at the bottom of New Zealand.
1969 - the year man, or at least two American chaps landed on the moon.
"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon
July 1969 AD
We came in peace for all mankind
Neil A Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edward E. Aldrin"
Neil, Michael Collins who kept the orbiter in a handbrake turn going round and round the big rock, and Buzz Aldrin. What a beautiful message, of using German designed rockets, and a "whose got the biggest dick" measuring contest to see who would be first to race into space.
The plaque used a little known font called Futura, also designed by the Germans, you may remember it from such Vegan Society logos as INVSOC's, the Invercargill Vegan Society. Myself excluded, I wouldn't have it any other way, most of us were born outside glorious Invercargill, they first set foot upon the city to promote peace for all the animal kingdom.
I actually recited part of Neil Armstrongs famous speech on landing in Auckland, New Zealand for the National Animal Rights Conference this year, on the 20th of July (in New Zealand time), 2011. Yes, I know, so those couple guys actually would have landed on the 21st going by New Zealand time, but whatever, the date is remembered as the 20th, so I picked the 20th to fly up to Auckland, New Zealands largest city, on the North Island. As I recited over the Boeing 737 lunar landers jet engines
I took an average of a hundred photos/videos each day I was in Auckland. What I said, unheard over that pesky atmosphere and Auckland Airport noise, I should have asked the pilot to land the large plane on a barren, dusty surface, I'm sure they'd be cool with that, "20th of July 2011, one small step for a man, one giant leap for Invercargill kind". Or something like that, my memory is as fuzzy as the recording is loud. Evidently, recording on your iPhone 4 is not quite as clear as late 1960's reel to reel tape technology!
This crazy country I live in has just had her/his/its election, our centre right (think Democrats) party National stayed in power, as expected, but the interesting change was with our Green Party. The Greens are a fairly young party, which is gaining traction….and this election….the Green Party got nearly 11% of the vote…….over ten percent of the vote, the third largest party by far…its amazing to think about. New Zealand has MMP, briefly, our many political parties work to form coalitions to rule over the hapless populace, its not a matter of Republicans vs Democrats, its a matter of, generally, either the main Centre Left Labour or Main Centre Right party National gaining power, usually with the help of all kinds of little buggers, like the parasitic Remora, biting into other, far larger Fish. Its somewhat unlikely for any one party to get 51% of the vote, traditionally the two main parties are roughly forty odd percent each, with a teeny tiny party or two needed to make the majority.
As our Centre Left Party Labour crumbles into dust, after National got a whole essentially 48% of the vote (47.99), and Labour got a lousy 27%, its up to the rising stars of the New Zealand political scene to gleam, the Greens! And all their voters just throw their heads back in sheer delight, and ummm…..scream?….
Nearly 11% of the vote….remember, in America, its really a two party thing, either you vote for the party against hospitals, education, ENDING wars, human rights, green technology, climate change, Veganism, truth, love and decency…..or you can vote Republican, and add hating on Evolution, "enhanced interrogation" for everyone in the world not born in the American South - those communists are hiding everywhere you know - and mandatory, daily self whipping of your bare back with a made in Detroit steel chain, while you pray to Jesus.
In America, around half a percent of voters decide to throw away their vote, by going for the American Green party. They *dont* have coalition governments, for the Green Party to get a word in edgewise, they'd have to get Area 51% of the vote…you never know, maybe the election day 2012 will be their lucky day….
As proud of my country as I am, and her/his/its fine system of government, Mother Britain once again shows her naughty former colony how its done. Yes….we may have a Green Party who got over ten percent of the vote, 20 times what the American Green party can muster, and the New Zealand Green party actually get laws passed….but to the best of my knowledge, we have NO Vegan politicians in this country, its a disgrace!
A couple Green MP's are "vegetarian", including Gareth Hughes, who spoke at the New Zealand National Animal Rights Conference 2011, a political debate about animal welfare laws, "Do New Zealanders really love animals?"
Hughes spoke about, having other animals killed as a "personal choice", which got boo's from the audience, who demanded the politicians say "well we think its WRONG to kill other animals, but until a million years time from now, when everyone has somehow stumbled upon Veganism on their own, we NEED to protect their RIGHTS….to inch larger cages in the next twenty years".
I was quite shocked to find the Green Party had printed off a statement on Animal Rights for the conference, because, while asking for larger cages in the mean time, an independent "Commissioner of Animal Welfare", they actually namedrop Professor Gary Francione, which I hadn't expected:
That statement is more than a little odd, considering the Green Party do *not* explicitly promote Veganism, indeed, their campaign flyer, sent around houses nationwide, has a cover of a smiling young boy by a stream, as his family go fish-kill-ing for entertainment!
Trying to salvage my national pride here, its not like any other country out there boasts a record "greater than zero" count for Vegan politicians though……right?
The Vegan Option is a great new show, which you can find on iTunes, The Vegan Option, with Ian and Diana Fleischman…..and being the witty, intelligent, charming guy I am, may I be the first person in Dianas whole life to point out "fleischman" is probably American for Flesh Man? And if my Ye Old German is correct, probably a name for "Butcher"? Yeah, nobodies ever thought of telling you that before Diana…..
A question of mine was asked to all THREE Vegan Members of Parliament over there in Mother England :
You can find The Vegan Option online at……
Diana is not the only Fleischman out there, coming to you from the department of weird coincidences, the very latest episode of This Week in Tech mentioned another:
Speaking of names, and descriptions mentioned on technology podcasts becoming material for your Animal Rights show, this clip comes from the fourth episode of The Verge Mobile :
Vegan or Non Vegan, we all know what a horrible thing it is to be a "butcher", to "butcher" others, to be "butchered".
Out of all the gods there are, which kind do we want to be? A destroyer? Someone who maintains things as they are? Or someone who creates? My vote goes for creating a new Vegan world, based on respect, where nobody is a butcher, nobody is the butcher-ee or butcher-ed.
I've seen people with the surnames of "butcher", and "leather, I recently noticed a surname of "Slaughter" on a business card, imagine being a Vegan with such a surname!
I'd never heard of a "Jordan Slaughter" before, but apparently, its not THAT uncommon, as my father mentions, "once we got into kayaking, we noticed other kayaks everywhere!". After having my eyes opened to the surname, making a blogpost about it, an American friend shared how her dentist has the surname slaughter, AND, this clip popped up on the very next edition of 60 Minutes!
<11 13 31 episode congresswoman slaughter!>
Louise Slaughter, with the "stock" act, get this, she was born in the state of Kentucky, a town spelt L Y N C H…."Lynch"!
A building is named after her, from her Wikipedia entry
"Slaughter’s efforts to secure funds for her district was recognized by the Rochester Institute of Technology, when it named its Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies facility "The Louise M. Slaughter Building.""
They should have been clever, and named it the "Slaughter-house".
Of course and as always, The Simpsons said it best :
Speaking of being butchered, check out the slaughterhouse jokes in this report of a "impounded" pet Sheep, in the nearby town of Gore:
"A pet sheep that was locked up in the Gore pound this week has been spared from death row.
Its tearful owner turned up at the Gore District Council yesterday and was given permission to whisk it away to freedom.
Animal control staff had uplifted the sheep from a Mataura property on Thursday and impounded it because it was trespassing.
If the sheep's owner had not claimed it from the pound within seven days, and another owner could not be found, the sheep would have faced the chopping block.
However, Gore District Council corporate services general manager Russell Duthie said yesterday its owner had arrived early yesterday to claim her sheep.
"She was a little bit tearful. She thought we shouldn't have taken the sheep, obviously."
The council did not charge the woman its $20 daily fee for impounded livestock.
Mr Duthie said he understood the Mataura property owners who asked for the sheep to be removed because it was trespassing had now had second thoughts.
"I think after it was published in the newspaper, they had a change of heart and said it probably wasn't a problem to have it there."
As long as the section was clean and the sheep's owner looked after it, the council had no problem, he said.
However, the property owner said yesterday he had not yet decided whether to take the sheep back.
He was waiting to hear from the sheep's owner so they could discuss the issue and come to an agreement. "I guess she's got a sheep's lawyer, it might be a woolly contract," he quipped.
He was unclear where the sheep was residing yesterday, adding the animal had been unfairly dragged into the spotlight.
"The sheep just wants a peaceful life ... he reckons someone is trying to pull the wool over his eyes."
Although the animal was not his, the man said he had named the sheep Mat, because it was from Mataura.
"He will be as coveted as Shrek next."
"
The Southland Times also covered an owner of small dogs, afraid of what would happen to them:
"An Invercargill chihuahua owner has asked Mayor Tim Shadbolt to put policies in place so big dogs stop terrorising little dogs in the city's parks and reserves."
""Chihuahuas don't handle it too well when being ambushed and blindsided by big dogs so I scoop them up," he said.
"It's unfair that wee dogs get targeted by big dogs and you can't chance that they aren't going to eat our wee dogs."
To have all this language reported on by the same newspaper, joking about killing a Sheep, who was kept as a pet, another person exaggerating that small dogs were going to be "eaten", and all the while, advertisements are everywhere for local butchers.
As reported on jealously by the British tabloid The Daily Mail, New Zealanders can proudly stick out our chests and boast of having the worlds heaviest insect, YEAH, take that Little Britain, you can keep your three wee Vegan MP's, we have big arse bugs!
"A nature-lover has revealed how he spent two days tracking down a giant insect on a remote New Zealand island – and got IT to eat a carrot out of his hand.
Mark Moffett’s find is the world's biggest insect in terms of weight, which at 71g is heavier than a sparrow and three times that of a mouse.
The renowned 53-year-old scientist discovered the giant weta up a tree and his real life Bug's Bunny has now been declared the largest ever found.
After Mark found the FEMALE weta he fed IT the carrot before putting IT back where he found HER.
Mark, 53, said: ‘Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta.
‘We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.
‘The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice.
‘She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.
‘She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.
‘After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her.’"
Can you imagine feeding insects on carrots? I mean, its an everyday thing as a New Zealander, walking up and down hills and valleys, mountain peaks and glaciers, minding our step lest we wake the Balrog, pockets stuffed with carrots for the worlds heaviest insects…..
From The Southland Times:
"Writing poetry probably is not a common pastime for blokes working on the chain at the meatworks – but Terry Lynch is not most blokes.
In an interview in The Press in 1995, the meatworker said he was almost scared to go back to work after coming out as a poet. However, his workmates were overwhelmingly supportive after they learnt of his wordy efforts.
Back then he had a collection of nearly 30 poems and was looking for a publisher. Sixteen years on, those poems and more have been self-published in a series of four books: Sh*t In Your Eye (1999), A Summer's Day and Unforgiven Forensic (both 2003) and Oreti Beach (2007).
It is safe to say Lynch the poet is out and proud. The poems are unashamedly personal, giving an insight into some of the hardships that Lynch has endured and some of the personal triumphs.
Lynch takes the reader along on his life journey as he recalls family and friends, illness and issues and being part of a system that doesn't always work as well as it should.
Funding from the Community Trust of Southland has allowed all four books to be reprinted and they are out now , along with his new book entitled Off Season – a collection of short stories and poems about life at the works.
Although Off Season carries a disclaimer saying it is a work of fiction, the author's 20-plus years working in the industry have given it a sense of authenticity, and I'm sure anyone who has even known someone at the works will identify with the characters who appear throughout the book.
White gumboots were optional at the book launch held at the Invercargill Public Library earlier this month."
So now we have a Slaughterhouse Poet, I've heard of a "Warrior Poet" before, from the game Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas:
Another local news story, here in Invercargill, Vegan Capital of the Southern Hemisphere:
"Dairy cows in Southland produced almost 5 million more kilograms of milksolids in the 2010-11 season than the previous year, with the extra milk worth more than $37million.
The annual New Zea land Dairy Statistics, released yesterday, show the number of dairy cows in the region has grown by more than 25,000, from 458,306 in the 2009-10 season to 484,076 in 2010-11.
The province is now home to 10.7 per cent of the country's dairy herd.
"
"Environment Southland chief executive Ciaran Keogh said the latest statistics justified what the council was trying to do with its proposed policy changes regarding dairy farming.
If approved, the policy would mean new dairy farms, associated dairy grazing and their related activities would be deemed a discretionary activity and would have to comply with resource consent conditions.
Any further growth in Southland's dairy industry had to be done with care, considering issues such as winter feed availability and drought vulnerability.
Federated Farmers Southland dairy chairman Russell Macpherson said Southland's dairy industry was "looking very good".
However, it appeared Environment Southland was trying to stifle that growth, which was disappointing.
Dairying was a huge contributor to Southland's economic vibrancy and most dairy farmers were trying to do their best for the environment, he said.
"
Translation: WAAA, WAAAAA! stop eating into our profits!
Heres part of a regular clip I like to keep around for such moments, about the local Waituna Lagoon, priceless wetlands, internationally recognized, that are being RUINED by mysterious pollution that comes out of a cows bottom as solid waste…..Farmers get all politically correct and have to call it "dairy runoff" or better yet, "nutrients" - we get video of the surrounding cows "making Nutrients" throughout the news segment.
Notice how toothless Environment Southland are, unable to stand up to Big Industry, the "dairy" farmers:
Listen guys, its pretty clear, its not evil nasty LIBERAL Scientists making up Climate Change data, its not a matter of all those whiny Greenies, smelling of Tofu and Mungbeans and Lentils and Sunflower seeds, the fact is, you guy have tens of thousands of animals, being abused for their exploitable female reproductive system, and the solid waste that comes from their bottoms, you know, "nutrients", thats messing up the Lagoon, along with a whopping 89% of local rivers in Southland, which are labelled as having "poor" or even "very poor" water quality.
Its not magic, its not witchcraft, its pure, Penn and Teller bullshit, or, more technically, "dairy cow nutrient".
Another New Zealand event to be proud of:
"THE FIRST CUT: A-grade slaughterman Paul Brown, at work at the new $15 million extended slaughterhouse at the Alliance Group's Mataura plant yesterday, as Vaughan Kirk, left, Grant McFaul and Noel Walker watch.
The Alliance Group's Mataura meatworks marked a milestone yesterday with the commissioning of its $15 million upgrade.
The extended slaughterhouse will allow the farmer-owned company to increase its beef PROCESSING capacity from 34 animals an hour to 75, while in the boning room cutting-edge technology, from Iceland, traces the yield of a CARCASS at it passes through each work station.
Plant manager Tony Gilder said the technology would enable the company to maximise returns to shareholders and provide a more ergonomic work environment.
There had been a lot of anticipation around the project.
"It has given the plant a future (hey, while it makes other presently living animals the past) and the whole community a LIFELINE."
Mr Gilder acknowledged the sacrifices many people made to ensure the project happened.
Now it was up to farmers to support it, he said.
While yesterday's commissioning was low-key, with only 20 animals being PROCESSED, he hoped to be processing between 100 and 150 animals within the next few days.
When it reached top gear, the new streamlined process would enable the plant to PUNCH through 560 animals in an eight-hour shift.
That compares with a previous maximum of 330 in 10 hours.
The project was completed in about three months and has been an international venture.
Icelandic company Marel, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of hi-tech processing equipment for the food industry, has had representatives from Iceland, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand on site.
Mataura is one of the first meatworks in New Zealand to use the Marel technology – "it will provide real-time information about every boning and trimming station, and every carcass", Mr Gilder said.
The increased capacity had made Mataura the biggest beef-processing site in the Alliance Group and one of the biggest in the South Island.
It would enable the company to target the large numbers of cattle transported out of the province each year for processing. The ability to have them processed in the province would result in lower costs, a smaller environmental footprint and improved animal welfare arising from the significantly shorter trucking journeys.
It was the beef plant's biggest project since it opened in 1972.
"
The comments are good reading:
tom #1 11:18 am Nov 22 2011
Proud to be animal killers. Such a robust ethical enterprise, killing others, creatures more helpless than ourselves, for money. Let the blood hit the floor.
George #2 02:27 pm Nov 22 2011
Hey Tom I am not fussy, If you would like to step up to the "Plate" instead........
Mark #3 02:44 pm Nov 22 2011
Tom, I'm guessing you're a vege or a vegan, which is fine, but please don't be hating because the rest of us love to eat steak :)
And heres the real comedian of the bunch, pay attention to this guy, you'll want to remember these hilarious lines :
Rob #4 06:31 pm Nov 22 2011
I am a member of PETA (People for the Eating of Tasty Animals). Tom#1 GET SOME IN YA! Tucking into a good steak or lamb roast is like eating a bag of cement - it hardens you up. Vegans... why do you all twitch? have pale skin and no energy all the time?
Aron #5 06:36 am Nov 23 2011
Hey Tom are you guys getting board at your little occupy Invercargill site.
Dandy #6 10:59 am Nov 23 2011
So a state of the art slaughter board is not the way to go Tom? Curious opinion for someone seemingly concerned about animal welfare…"
I added a seventh comment, about how Animal Welfare meant being *for* killing other animals, but we got to pat ourselves on the back, as we dismembered their spines, pleased with how "state of the art" our "slaughter board" was. I'd rather we didn't pat ourselves on the back about how padded our water boards are, I don't think you need a mortar board to understand the difference between killing someone and NOT killing someone.
Incidentally, I didn't know those Politically Correct "dairy" farmers had struck yet again, Wikipedia informs me "mortarboards" are now labelled "square academic caps". Not very easy to rhyme, perhaps thats part of the degree, "can you write a podcast script that rhymes with Square Academic Caps?" Ummm……spare geographic maps?
Bill Maher has an American television show that I enjoy, I listen to the audio podcast edition. Maher is far from Vegan himself, he's on the board of PETA. He has no issue talking about "factory farming" being bad, but he's not Vegan himself, its a matter of treatment for him.
Episode 204 of his show Realtime certainly had him worked up over "Factory farming", and sled dogs being raced - forms of animal exploitation that we ourselves do not participate in.
These last few weeks I've been wandering about Invercargill, taking photos of Vegan Products in Invercargill for the Invercargill Vegan Society website, in fact, that snappy little number is the actual page title, "Vegan Products in Invercargill for the Invercargill Vegan Society website". Although I condensed it into a still quite large "Vegan Products in Invercargill".
New Zealand, known by the native Maori name of Aotearoa, "land of the long white cloud", yet theres hardly a cloud in the sky due to the heat, 30 degrees celsius, thats over 86 in American, Liberian and Burmese "Freedom Units", because when I think of human rights and freedom, I think of America, Liberia and Burma/Myanmar.
The last episode of the ARZone podcast was quite interesting, an interview with Lynne Yates.
Here, Professor Roger Yates informs us about that wonderful SOCIALIST BBC
AHA! See what happens when the Inglish Socialists go and INGSOC a state owned media?!?! You end up with PROLEFEED!
Lynne Yates was asked the pressing question of our time - what do we do about carnivorous plants? I know it keeps ME up at night!
I somewhat disagree with Lynne, about "balance" , any "balance" or "role" we see today has emerged over time, its not necessarily right, correct or ideal. Evolution has *NOT* stopped, change is all around us, except in the American political system, for which there can be no hope.
New Zealand is a land of geological change, being a very young country in the world. The North Island is carved out from bloody volcanoes, everywhere you look, theres a volcano, hot springs, geological activity. The South Island, where I live, was carved by Glaciers, you could say the opposite, cold instead of hot, and yet the effect in terms of sharp angles in the land is similar.
Change doesn't have to be created by forces as dramatic, as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit-esque as Volcanos and Glaciers though. Simple erosion, from wind and rain is everywhere. Except on the moon, where the dust is much sharper, from being somewhat unworn by strong forces. But even there, impacts by falling debris, like a couple guys falling from the sky in a steel contraption, this causes craters, so nothing exists by itself. All actions matter, no matter how small.
I don't believe we could or SHOULD go around killing all predators of others, but surely, we should help out victims whenever possible, when we see them?
When I see a fly caught in a spiderweb, I free him or her. It takes a simple tap with my little finger, and suddenly the fly is free. Will they end up in ANOTHER spiderweb five minutes later? Who knows? I certainly don't, I don't have all knowledge, but if its as simple as flicking them out from their trap, why wouldn't I save another animal? If I was the one going "help meeeee" , I'd truly appreciate being saved.
Maybe we might think it was right to leave the "dirty fly" to die, "hey, the spiders have to eat too", but would we save a Damselfly? A Dragonfly? A Butterfly? What is the difference, they all have "fly" in their names! :-)
Keep doing what you can, and one day New Zealand will have A Vegan politician to boast about, one day, the American Green Party will gain a whole percent of the vote. Our vote has great consequences, as do our actions.
Thank you for listening to Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals.
You can find the script for this episode, as well as downloads for every episode of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals at coexisting with nonhuman animals . co .nz
If you want to contact me, I'd really love to hear from YOU, please send me an email to info@invsoc.org.nz
I'm also on Facebook and Twitter, Jordan Wyatt, W Y A T T
Thank you for listening.
Sources
========
Moon landing July 20th 1969
New Zealand Green Party, election results 2011
Bort clip, from The Simpsons, "Itchy and Scratchy Land"
Prolefeed/BBC
"Slaughter" surname, "Fleischman", "Butcher"
Louise Slaughter
TWiT 330 "Fleischman" reporter clip
New Zealand, Worlds Heaviest Bug - Weta species
poetry book
Chihuahua dogs afraid of big dogs
15 million dollar "BEEF" plant
Grand Theft Auto San Andrea "warrior poet"
Southland mothers milk
Waituna Lagoon clip
"Mortarboard"
New Zealand, native Maori name "Aotearoa"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for posting a comment :)
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.