if you want to be a hero, and your IQ's nearly zero by John Robbins
The 1,600 dairies in California's Central Valley produce more excrement than the entire human population of Texas. About 20 million Californians (65% of the state's population) rely on drinking water that is threatened by contamination from nitrates and other poisons stemming from dairy manure. Nitrates have been linked to cancer and birth defects.
Many consumers today are willing to pay extra for products that have been produced humanely and with respect for the environment. If you are selling eggs from free-range chickens, you can sell them for a higher price than conventionally produced eggs. If you are selling bread made from organically grown wheat, you can get a higher price for it. But if you were to tell the public that your eggs were free-range when this was false, or if you were to tell the public that the wheat in your bread was organic when this wasn't true, your actions would be dishonest and criminal. You would be attempting to take advantage of the people who place great value on and are willing to pay more for humanely raised animal products and Earth-friendly food. In much the same way, the Milk Board's "Happy Cow" ad campaign portrays California dairy products as humanely produced in harmony with the environment, when this is not the case.
The Milk Board defends the ads by saying they are entertaining, and are not intended to be taken seriously. However, the Milk Board is not in the entertainment business. It is not spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this ad campaign to amuse the public, but in order to increase the sales of California dairy products.
The Milk Board says the ads show talking cows, and no one thinks cows talk. This is true. But there are a large number of consumers who are willing to pay extra for humanely raised animal products, and products raised in Earth-friendly ways. There is not a similar movement of consumers demanding animal products from talking animals.
The Milk Board knows that showing calves being ripped away from their mothers and confined in tiny veal crates won't sell their product. Neither will showing emaciated, lame animals, who have collapsed from a lifetime of hardship and over-milking, being taken to slaughterhouses and having their throats slit. But this is the reality of the California dairy industry. Covering up this misery with fantasy ads of happy cows is irresponsible, and, we contend, unlawful.
ALSO.
If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.
If the markets are a drama, bomb Iraq.
If the terrorists are Saudi,
And your alibi is shoddy,
And your tastes remain quite gaudy,
Bomb Iraq.
If you never were elected, bomb Iraq.
If your mood is quite dejected, bomb Iraq.
If you think that SUVs,
Are the best thing since sliced cheese,
And your father you must please,
Bomb Iraq.
If the globe is quickly warming, bomb Iraq.
If the poor will soon be storming, bomb Iraq.
We assert that might makes right,
Burning oil is a delight,
For the empire we will fight,
Bomb Iraq.
If we have no allies with us, bomb Iraq.
If we think that someone's dissed us, bomb Iraq.
So to hell with the inspections,
Let's look tough for the elections,
Close your mind and take directions,
Bomb Iraq.
If corporate fraud is growin', bomb Iraq.
If your ties to it are showin', bomb Iraq.
If your politics are sleazy,
And hiding that ain’t easy,
And your manhood’s getting queasy,
Bomb Iraq.
Fall in line and follow orders, bomb Iraq.
For our might now knows no borders, bomb Iraq.
Disagree? We’ll call it treason,
It's the make war not love season,
Even if we have no reason,
Bomb Iraq.
(for kayla)