Vegan Eats

Tostadas are easy to make vegan because you are awesome

I'm not real big on cooking. Simpler, the better. So when I get more complex than spaghetti and marinara sauce, I totes take a picture and share it with people.

Granted, putting a bunch of vegetables and beans in a tostado is hardly culinary-awesomeness.

I use a tostada. I add romaine lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, olives, and jalapenos. And of course cooked beans. The next night I added fake "meat" as well. On top is Follow Your Heart vegan cheese, which is available at places like Raleys or Whole Foods. True fact: Vegan cheese does not taste like solidified breast-milk of cow cheese. That's why putting it on stuff or melting it will help with the transition. I bought a vegan ranch dressing for the top.

Calling PETA Founder Mentally Ill Does Not Make You a Better Animal Advocate

For almost a month, I have thought long and hard about posting my feelings on this post by Nathan Winograd.


(I have only been truly inspired to publish my thoughts in response to No Kill Nation's strangely-obsessive posting campaign against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.)

Winograd writes, "I have long argued that although we have no definitive diagnosis of the condition which motivates the bizarre and cruel behavior of PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, there is one psychological condition which appears to shed some light on what might be motivating her to seek out and poison thousands of animals every year: Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome."

I am deeply disturbed by this assertion.

The denigration and marginalization of persons with mental illnesses is not fantasy. Being diagnosed with a mental illness can result in being denied health insurance (or dropped from your carrier), and may result in the illegal loss of your job. You may be bullied. Every behavior you exhibit may be "suspect mental illness". There is still stigma attached to medical conditions that affect the psychological state, behavior or health of an individual.

And quite frankly, there are plenty of "mental illnesses" that do not affect your ability to process and argue and debate and relate to this world. I'm tired of the pathetic argument that having a mental illness somehow diminishes you as a person.

To medically diagnose someone without a license is unethical. In fact, it is likely illegal in most states.

Claiming your opponent's belief is because of a mental illness fails as an argument. It is fundamentally flawed. It's an attack on an individual's, in this case unfounded and alleged, medical problems, not on their position on companion animal euthanasia/killing.

I support the pro-adoption movement. I believe every healthy animal has a right to live free from as much suffering as possible. The difference between my belief and that of the No-Kill movement is that I extend my circle of compassion to the most number of victims* of butchers and slaughterers - chickens, turkeys, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, bison, fish...not merely to that pathetically small group of species we acknowledge as "companions" in this nation.

When I read a leader in the No Kill movement calling someone mentally unstable or ill, I am not merely put off by the fallacious and irrational argument, I am personally insulted. The plight of dogs and cats in animal shelters is real and must be addressed, there is no doubt. Making allegations to the mental health of your opponent does nothing for those dogs and cats. Nothing. It weakens your position and well, to be honest, makes me feel you are utterly and completely disconnected from what persons with actual illnesses endure in this country.

This is not a statement of support for any organization or individual.

It is a request to stop diagnosing people you don't know. And to stop using the "mental illness" card as if it bolsters your position. It doesn't.

*I appreciate the frustration and anger at healthy dogs and cats being killed at any shelter, but even the worst shelter kill room is less cruel than the "best" slaughterhouse in which sentient, emotional beings are disassembled - most of them fully conscious. In the United States, that is 321 animals per second. No comparison.

Mina Makes Pig Jealous

Ivan: YOU HAVE GRASS, GIVE IT TO ME EVIL CREATURE

Mina likes hanging out with the farmed animals.Ivan is a 7-mos-old piglet saved from slaughter after a petting zoo didn't want him and his brother any longer.

He has spots like Mina, which makes him extra special. They could practically be twins.

Ivan likes grass. Mina likes grass. Ivan does not appreciate Mina eating grass in front of him. She is mean.

Mina Rolls in Stuff

Does this spot make me look gross?

 Mina likes to roll in yucky stuff and get it all over her head. Does your dog do this? Why do dogs do this? I theorize it is to annoy me. Mina knows I am probably not like you, I will not rush her to a hose and rinse her head off post-haste. No, I will continue the walk and I will hope the spot fades over the next few weeks. This is stupid, of course, but Mina makes me so.

Hey Spain, How's That Breed Specific Legislation Working?

Not well? What? SHOCK!

"According to the results, the population density did exert a significant effect on the incidence of dog bites, whereas the legislation in force did not. Popular breeds such as the German shepherd and crossbreed dogs accounted for the great majority of the incidents during the 2 periods of study. Specifically, the German shepherd proved to be over-represented significantly among the canine population. Dogs in the dangerous breeds list, on the other hand, were involved in a small proportion of the incidents both before and after the introduction of legislation. The present results suggest that the implementation of the Spanish legislation exerted little impact on the epidemiology of dog bites."

Source

Mina's Paw

  

White Turkeys Trill Lovely Songs

These are not statue turkeys

These dudes look like statue sentinels. All that displaying is hard work. Puffed up chests and vibrating feathers. They are a work of art, so alive.

White turkeys are abnormal. They are a genetic fluke artificially selected by humans. Turkey eaters apparently dislike bronze-colored turkeys so obviously farmers manipulated turkey genetics to create an evolutionarily nonsensical color pattern.


Myth-makers like to claim domestic turkeys are stupid, that they will look into the raining sky and drown themselves.

Seneca has blue eyes b/c he is bad-ass

I wish people would not believe such stupidity. Domestic double-breasted turkeys may be freaks in that they physically cannot mate, fly or perch without risk of broken bones, but their basic survival instinct has not disappeared. They do not drown in the rain.

They do sing. A lot. They tell their small stories in grandiose displays of feathers and sound. I feel nothing but love for them. When I sit with these five turkey boys, I think of how someone would have sat around their corpse for Thanksgiving. And I am saddened and horrified and so much more, because who I see is not muscle and fat and sinew - I see Miwok and Cheyenne and Seneca. I see individuals where most see nothing at all.

Piloerection

Karen London has a PhD and is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. Plus I loved her co-authored pamphlet/mini-book, Feisty Fido which Mina says sucked b/c she likes being a Feisty Fido.

Here's what she writes on piloerection or hackling, another deeply misunderstood canine behavior.

The most confusing pattern is when a dog exhibits a patch of hair that is raised at the shoulders and another raised patch at the base of the tail. The hair in between along the back is not raised. This pattern of piloerection often occurs in dogs who are in an ambivalent emotional state and feeling conflicted. Many of the dogs who show this pattern are somewhat unpredictable in their behavior and inclined to be more reactive than other dogs.

Everything you heard about me is totally true

This is Mina. But it's not confusing to me. She is not unpredictable at all nor is she ambivalent. She is excited and deciding what her next move is based on the reaction and behavior of the other dog. She is, by far, more tense when on leash but she is still pretty damn intense even off-leash.


Mina piloerects at every new dog-dog introduction. Dogs she knows, she does not piloerect. With small dogs, the same thing happens every time - she thinks they're great. With dogs her size and larger, it all depends on the behavior of the other dog. If the other dog is a snarky bitch (like Mina, yo), Mina is going to quickly correct and reprimand that behavior. If the other dog is aggressive in any manner, Mina will react the same way. If the other dog is a big playful dork, Mina will reprimand but not going any further than a few snarls and muzzle nips. And if the other dog ignores Mina, she thinks that's pretty fabulous too.

Her outward behavior does not indicate, to me, a state of ambivalence or conflicted emotions at all.

Do your dogs piloerect?

The Nose Knows

Mina has a thing about having her nose touching things. It is her special quirk. One of many, actually.

Beneath remote controllers

Beneath her own leg

Beneath her own paw

Under her tail

Or someone else's tail

Beneath the sheets

And attached to her favorite toys

Ledger-Enquirer Acting a Fool

I wish this article written by Mike Owen was an April Fool's Day joke.

The truth of the story is unknown, because the research skills of Owen appear to be smaller than a gnat or he somehow expects all of us to know the back history.

All I know is a dog named Elijah has been returned back to the shelter because he got in a fight with his adopter's current dog.

If there was ever a 15-lb dog Mina had a right to eat, she was Chloe.

According to the shelter director Teresa Tomlinson, there has never ever been in the history of dogdom a Pit Bull who can live with a smaller dog and not eat the little tyke. She does not merely claim Elijah has problems with Beagles but that all Pit Bulls are "very aggressive", especially "to other animals". If surprise was a color, I'd be getting it all war-paint-like all over my face.

The real story, though, isn't Elijah and his ribcage - it's those darn "animal rights radicals". You know, the ones polluting the earth with their desire to not kill healthy, adoptable dogs and cats. What is wrong with these people? Can you believe they actually want dogs and cats to go into homes instead of being gassed or lethally injected? That is so weird.