PETA is Happy Detroit Went Bankrupt

image credit

 



Why? Because it gives the animal rights organization the opportunity to get some good press. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk offered to give $100,000 to the city of Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy recently, if the city will offer vegan only meals in government buildings.

No lie.

Furthermore, Newkirk offered to purchase ad space on government vehicles like firetrucks and police cars to keep those public works funded. Obviously, this is great opportunity for PETA to get some face time and I'm guessing the organization is more interested in publicity than helping out the city of Detroit. Read here for the full story but you get the idea.

I think I'd rather be broke than in cahoots with PETA. Stay strong, Detroit. Like a rock.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Is Horse Meat Healthy? Is It Better For Me Than Beef?

I think a lot of people ask these question but have a hard time finding the answers:

• Is horse meat healthy compared to beef?
• Does horse meat have a lot of protein?
• Is horse meat low in fat?

While I was looking for infographics about beef today on Pinterest, I found some really cool stuff about horse meat and wanted to share. The following infographics (links provided) provide information about calories, protein and fat content of horse meat, among other variables.

Infographic by EasyFit Personal Training

The above infographic does a great side by side comparison of beef and horse meat, although I am quite partial to beef -- there's nothing like it. On the other hand, I've never tried horse. I'm sure it's a very lean meat and would like to try it some day.

The following infographic is more biased against beef, simply because it's higher in calories and fat than horse meat. I happen to like intramuscular fat aka marbling A LOT.

Infographic source

 

 

So, would you eat it based on the information you've just learned? Both infographics provide varying viewpoints but I think the information they provide is very valuable.

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

 

WTF HSUS?

WTF meaning of course, Where's the Funding?

The geniuses behind HumaneWatch have launched a new ad campaign in Union Station in Washington D.C. aimed at calling out the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) for donating a mere 1% of their budget to animal shelters.

Read that again.

HSUS donates a mere 1% of their $130 million budget to animal shelters.

You can see all the signs here but my favorite is posted below:


Kitty isn't impressed with HSUS
 

It sure would be great to see this ad campaign featured in other prominent locales - Chicago, L.A, Seattle, Dallas etc. If you scroll to the comments in the article, you can see that the ad is working. People are visiting humanewatch.org and discovering the truth about HSUS and their shady ways of business.

The times, they are a-changin'.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

(Semi)Wordless Wednesday

So these first four photos are from last Tuesday, July 2....

 

baby watermelon

mildly overgrown tomatoes

cucumbers

 

baby cantaloupe

And these photos are from this morning after a gracious overnight watering by the big man upstairs

That's the same cantaloupe as 8 days ago!

And the same watermelon!

Same tomato plant almost doubled!



These are 11 of the 16 cucumbers we picked in one week. I'm exhausting my recipe book for cucumber things that the Ninja will eat!

 

 

Yay for home grown stuff that I won't eat - it sure makes me feel more domesticated!

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~



Happy Dance for Horseslaughter

In case you missed this monumental piece of news over the weekend:

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That's right - the USDA is finally approving inspectors for horse slaughter which means the plant in Roswell, New Mexico is full-speed ahead! Furthermore, plants in Iowa and Missouri could be approved in the near future. This is great news!

I'm so happy that something good finally came from Washington, D.C. that I'm at a loss for words.
So I'm reposting the reasons I'm ecstatic that this process has held up:

1. Animal Welfare - It means thousands of horses have endured excruciatingly long drives to Canada or Mexico on trains or trucks that aren't exactly the most welfare-friendly. Opening slaughter plants in the U.S. prevents thousands of horses from being improperly transported across U.S. borders.

2. Exports - the U.S. slaughtered 94,000 horses in 2005, the last full year of horse slaughter before federal inspection funding was repealed in 2007. Without a slaughter plant in the U.S., more than 197,000 horses were exported to other North American countries last year for slaughter. That's double the number from 2007 slaughter exports.

3. Job creation - Reopening plants will increase the number of jobs and boost local economies.

4. Horse meat is a delicacy - maybe not to you or I, but in several other countries around the world horse meat is consumed quite often and is a staple in many diets.

This is not to say that horse slaughter couldn't be ended soon - USDA is pressuring Congress to ban the practice altogether, however until that happens (which I pray it doesn't), they must comply with current laws and regulations. The New Mexico plant won't likely start slaughtering for approximately three weeks and who knows what could come from the next legislative session. But for now, I'm thrilled.

So what are your thoughts? Is anyone as jacked as I am?!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~