HighestWelfare.Humane.Assured.GoodPractices.Vegetarian. Regenerative.Flexitarian.Lies...
What is the difference between No Welfare, High Welfare, and Highest Welfare when they all require animals to die? Only human comfort, NONE protect the actual animals. The most humane, ethical, and honest Webster-defined "welfare" is NOT exploiting animals - not using, not wearing, not eating, not killing - animals. The only meaningful position is vegan, everything else is just how humans euphemize animals' required suffering and violent deaths: no human exploits animals because they honestly believe that NOT exploiting animals is UNethical or INhumane.
For The Turkeys
What if? Indeed, though, they look stunned … this doesn’t make much sense either.
Abusing and killing an innocent bird betrays the life-affirming spirit of giving thanks for our life, health, and happiness.
The nearly 300 million turkeys killed each year in the U.S. spend their entire lives crammed in large sheds with little room to move. Artificially inseminated and selectively bred to gain enormous amounts of weight, they suffer heart attacks, broken limbs, lameness, and death from their genetically-induced accelerated growth rate.
Factory farm conditions are so harsh that the turkeys must be pumped full of antibiotics just to stay alive. Shortly after birth, they have their snoods and parts of their toes and beaks cut off with hot blades, without the use of anesthetic, to reduce damage from from stress-induced aggression. They are then delivered by conveyer belt to a carousel where they get a power injection, usually of an antibiotic, whacked into the back of their necks.
The rest of their lives they are forced to endure crowding, living in their own waste, and ravaging diseases. As many as 25,000 birds may be housed in a single shed. Their eyes and lungs are burned by toxic fumes emanating from their excrement. Conditions are so severe that about 9% of turkeys raised for food (or over 26 million) didn’t survive long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse.
After 16 weeks of misery, they are hung on a conveyer belt, their throats are cut, and they are dumped — sometimes still fully conscious — into scalding water to strip their feathers.
Watch this amazing video! Thanksgiving – Let’s Talk Turkey
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What About “Free-Range”?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the single condition for the term “free-range” is that birds have access to the outdoors. All other facets of a free-range turkey’s life can be indistinguishable from the living conditions of a conventionally raised bird.
Like all other turkeys raised for food, free-range turkeys receive no protection under the law. Turkeys – all birds, in fact – are excluded from coverage under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. All animals raised for food are excluded from the Animal Welfare Act.
Free-range turkeys suffer the same inhumane transportation and slaughter processes as factory-farmed turkeys. Their flesh is also subject to many of the same contamination issues as factory-farmed turkey flesh because free-range turkeys are taken to the same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed turkeys. As line speeds in slaughterhouses increase, so does the frequency of fecal contamination. For additional information, please visit Cage-Free Eggs, Behind the Myth.
House of Raeford
Slaughterhouse Investigation Butterball Undercover Investigation
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For Your Health
Turkey flesh is loaded with cholesterol and saturated fats, which have been linked conclusively with an elevated risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases that kill 1.3 million Americans annually.
Turkey flesh is also contaminated with deadly pathogens and antibiotics. The antibiotics are passed on to the consumer, disrupting normal growth and development. The pathogens, including Salmonella and Campylobacter, are introduced by eviscerating equipment that spills fecal matter into the cavities of the bird’s bodies.
Careful adherence to U.S. Department of Agriculture warning labels and Poultry Hotline directions are required to avoid severe food poisoning, as the antibiotics administered to the birds build up the pathogens’ immunity to these powerful remedies.
The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet
Related, please sign Repeal the AETA & Abolish the AETA
By Tech Dirt
From the free-speech-isn’t-free dept
This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill — despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear violation of the First Amendment. What’s really amazing is that many of the same Senators have been speaking out against internet censorship in other countries, yet they happily vote to approve it here because it’s seen as a way to make many of their largest campaign contributors happy. There’s very little chance that the bill will actually get passed by the end of the term but, in the meantime, we figured it might be useful to highlight the 19 Senators who voted to censor the internet this morning:
- Patrick J. Leahy — Vermont
- Herb Kohl — Wisconsin
- Jeff Sessions — Alabama
- Dianne Feinstein — California
- Orrin G. Hatch — Utah
- Russ Feingold — Wisconsin
- Chuck Grassley — Iowa
- Arlen Specter — Pennsylvania
- Jon Kyl — Arizona
- Chuck Schumer — New York
- Lindsey Graham — South Carolina
- Dick Durbin — Illinois
- John Cornyn — Texas
- Benjamin L. Cardin — Maryland
- Tom Coburn — Oklahoma
- Sheldon Whitehouse — Rhode Island
- Amy Klobuchar — Minnesota
- Al Franken — Minnesota
- Chris Coons — Delaware
Related, Why Governments Censor the Internet
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Secret Facebook Pages Aimed At ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
From The Denver Channel
By Tom Burke and John Ferrugia , CALL7 Investigators
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — He is a graduate of the Air Force Academy — an officer from a small Colorado town –- and a man on a mission to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
His Facebook network is the front line of the battle.
It is called OutServe and it has nearly 1,000 gay service members, seeking solace, advice and information about the ongoing legislative and court battle over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
Ranking officers at the Pentagon know who he is, as do some in the White House.
Yet he cannot identify himself publicly as a gay service member for fear of being discharged.
So, for the record and online he is known as “JD Smith.”
“Ever since I was in elementary school, I wanted to do something to help the country,” Smith told CALL7 Investigator John Ferrugia. “When I saw other people in the military, I idolized them. I wanted to be just like them.”
It is the first time he has spoken publicly about his online network, his time in the academy leadership and his work to bring an end to a policy he calls “dangerous.”
“It was constant fear. Not knowing if I was going to be able to stay in the Air Force if [his being gay] was discovered by anyone,” said Smith.
His online network, OutServe, has attracted the attention of the Obama administration and the Pentagon Working Group, the group currently studying a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“We’re not out there attacking the [Department of Defense] and we are not out there attacking our chain of command. We want to be helpful in this transition and we want to give good information so we can get this thing overturned,” explained Smith. “We are professional. We do our jobs every day.”
Related, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Controversy Continues
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That deep-seated sense of military professionalism began at the Air Force Academy where Smith was elevated to a role in the cadet leadership.
It was also where he came to realize he is gay.
“When I started to develop those feelings, that is when I really realized this is who I was and that is when I realized what ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was going to be like,” Smith told Ferrugia.
And based on his experience at the academy, Smith had good reason to be concerned. He told Ferrugia how he and other cadets were harassed by an Air Force Academy instructor who was also gay.
“Just days before graduation, there was an accurate list [of gay cadets]. We saw that list that he had and we knew that could be a serious problem.” Smith said it was clear what the instructor wanted. “He forced people to meet with him on base here. He definitely wanted to blackmail us and he was using his power of authority to get cadets over to his house.”
Fearing they would be “outed,” the cadets could not report the instructor, who is still an officer in the Air Force.
“All he had to do was turn in that list and we’re done,” Smith told Ferrugia.
As a high achieving senior in the academy leadership, JD Smith was tasked with helping to manage the cadet corps.
He explained that sometimes it was impossible.
“I knew of an inappropriate relationship taking place between a senior and freshman and I couldn’t report it because those people knew I was gay. If I turned them in, or got them to deal with the issue, then I would be ‘outed.’ I would lose my career,” said Smith.
And that was hardly the worst of it.
“I knew of at least two instances against two men that were sexually assaulted that could not report the crime at all,” said Smith.
Reporting the crime, he said, would have exposed the victims’ homosexuality.
“Why didn’t you go to the chaplain’s office? Why didn’t you go to the mental health center?” asked Ferrugia.
“You can’t. You can’t talk to anyone or any of the people at the counseling center or command or leadership,” said Smith, referring to the policy in place during his time at the academy.
“They can still turn you in?” asked Ferrugia.
“They’ll turn you in,” he said.
That has since changed. Today, chaplains have no obligation to report gay cadets, but 7NEWS has been in contact with several gay and lesbian cadets who still express fear of being “outed.”
They explained — the risk is still too high.
In his present job as an Air Force officer, life is a little more relaxed for JD Smith — sort of.
“[If] your troops find out that you’re gay, or someone else in your work knows that you’re gay, it’s hard to get the mission done. If they don’t like how you’re doing the job, they’ve always got that over your head,” explained Smith.
Judge Orders NY To Release Animal Testing Records
From Care2
By Mac McDaniel
A New York judge has ordered the state to release information about psychiatric experiments it has been performing on primates.
The NY Office of Mental Health has been performing experiments on rhesus monkeys, addicting them to alcohol and other drugs, and then testing the effectiveness of various medications at breaking those addictions. OMH tried to block a Freedom of Information request by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for records relating to these experiments.
PCRM is a nonprofit organization that focuses on preventative medicine, does research, and advocates for ethical standards in laboratories and in the medical industry. PCRM is against animal testing.
The New York OMH’s reasoning for blocking the request was that providing all the documents requested would put scientists at risk from what they call “animal-rights terrorists”.
Luckily, Justice Richard Platkin of the New York state Supreme Court saw through these flimsy arguments and ordered the state to provide the documents. The OMH may still appeal, but hopefully they realize they’re fighting a losing battle.
Related, This is Vivisection
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New York is trying to conceal the details of its experimentation, not because they fear retaliation from “terrorists” — an absurd and failed attempt at fear-mongering — but because people who torture animals for a living do not ever want the public aware of exactly what’s going on in their laboratories.
The institute where the experiments were taking place is publicly funded so the public has a right to know exactly how their tax dollars are being spent. If their money is being spent to addict innocent animals to dangerous drugs, simply to watch them suffer through withdrawal, then the public has a right to know.
We’ve seen enough times the callous attitude vivisectors have towards the animals in their care. The veil of secrecy over animal testing isn’t for the protection of scientists from activists, it is in place to keep the public unaware of what vivisection is. If the public knew the truth about the torture and scientific fraud animal testing represents, they would refuse to support it, publicly or privately, and that is why laboratories have a vested interest in keeping us in the dark.
The PCRM has a legal right to obtain information on publicly funded animal testing, and the state OMH has no right to block their request for documents. The more we know about animal testing, the better.
In order to educate the public about the need to end animal testing, we need to exercise our legal right to demand that the industry tell us exactly what they are doing.
Read More …
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
- Freedom of Information Act Letter Generator: Visit SPLC
Please Take Action for the Sharks
From Isabella Vegan Blog & Shark Trust
It’s time to strengthen the finning ban! | European Shark Week 2010!
For the fourth year in a row, European Shark Week was a huge success; thanks to the many aquariums and passionate individuals, throughout the UK and the rest of Europe, who made their voice count. An action packed week of activities and fundraising events took place between the 9–17th October; with such overwhelming support this year we have ensured that word and support for shark conservation has spread far and wide.
The week was celebrated with graffiti shark art, sand sculpting competitions and encounters of the virtual kind, as shark enthusiasts were given the opportunity to dive with a Great White in the worlds first interactive dive cage. Helpful supporters took part in a shark trail to help Bruce the shark find his friends and participated in a variety of shark workshops, shark talks, art classes, quizzes, competitions and so much more…
Even though European Shark Week has passed, your voice is still vital to the campaign and we need your help to secure a future for sharks in our waters.
Myth: Sharks are bloodthirsty man-eaters and ruthless killing machines.
Reality: More people are killed each year by falling vending machines than by sharks.
SSCS
2010 is particularly important as we are at both a critical and exciting time to advance the conservation of sharks in Europe. The current EU Finning Ban is fraught with loopholes, which allow this practice to continue and so, this year, we are working to secure a stronger finning ban in European waters.
In September, four Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) launched a ‘Written Declaration’ calling on the Commission to deliver a proposal to completely prohibit the removal of shark fins on-board vessels. To ensure this is implemented we need your help to guarantee that a majority of MEPs sign the Written Declaration before 20th December 2010.
Your voice counts so please take action by writing to your local MEP today and urge them to sign Written Declaration 71/2010.
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The Written Declaration was initiated by a group of MEPs in cooperation with the Shark Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 conservation, scientific and recreational organisations dedicated to conserving sharks. For more information please visit: www.europeansharkweek.org
WHERE TO SEND YOUR LETTERS:
SAMPLE LETTER TO SEND:
Sir or Madam,
I urge you to help conserve sharks by signing the Written Declaration in support of strengthening the European Union ban on shark finning – the wasteful practice of
slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea.
Sharks, vital predators in out ocean ecosystem, are at great risk from overfishing. Roughly one-third of European species are considered threatened.
Finning is driven by high demand for the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. The EU finning ban is among the weakest in the world, but is at least being revised by the European commission.
Now is the time to close loopholes in the EU finning ban by prohibiting, without exception, the removal of shark fins on-board fishing vessels.
Please send a strong message to the Commission about your commitment to shark conservation and ocean health. Add your name to this Written Declaration and
encourage your colleagues to do the same.
Thank you.
(Please fill in your name and country)
MORE ACTIONS:
- English and traditional Chinese (below as well)
- English and simplified Chinese
- English only
- Traditional Chinese only
- Simplified Chinese only
- Wedding (English and traditional Chinese; English and simplified Chinese)
- Celebration (English and traditional Chinese; English and simplified Chinese)
- Banquet (English and traditional Chinese; English and simplified Chinese)
5. Be aware that consuming shark fin may raise health concerns, especially for children and pregnant women.
6. Distribute brochures [PDF] on ending the cruel practice of shark finning:
7. If there is a Chinese New Year celebration in your city, contact HSI for more information on how you can help.
8. If you own or operate a restaurant or other business that currently offers or promotes products containing shark fin, please sign our No Shark Fin pledge (English and traditional Chinese; English and simplified Chinese) [PDF]. Please mail your signed pledge to HSI. In thanks, we will send you a beautiful Friend of Sharks certificate.
9. View Sherman’s Lagoon cartoons focused on shark finning and answer artist Jim Toomey’s call to mail your shark drawing to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
10. Sign up to receive action alerts and other items from Humane Society International.
FROM SHARK TRUST:
EUROPEAN SHARK WEEK RESOURCES (below as well)
- The European Shark Guide (pdf)
- A2 Postcard (pdf)
- MEP Letter Template
- Childrens Pocket Guide to Helping Sharks (pdf)
Written Declaration 0071/2010
MEPs To Write by Region | Click on those with “X”, it will automatically open a new email with the address populated
Finning Consumer Card for Restaurants
Penguins and other animals exposed to extreme abuse in South Korea’s largest amusement park, please take action
Immediate, please click on to visit and sign:
Penguins and other animals exposed to extreme abuse in South Korea’s largest amusement park
Targeting: Everland Amusement Park (South Korea)
Started by: Anne Holmberg
Penguins dressed in Santa Claus costumes walk, as part of promotional event in coincident with the upcoming Christmas at the Everland amusement park in Yongin, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in South Korea with over half the population being Christians.
Christmas Penguins “Santa Penguins” in Korean Park
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Shown on television in several countries.
This is gross animal cruelty and totally lack of respect for animals.
When I made research I also dicovered that Sealions are forced to play Musketeers.
Promoted in this way:
Dartagnan and Three Seal MusketeersA seal performance based on the famous novel by Dumas, The Three Musketeers! Don’t miss this blockbuster show, where seals play the part of Dartagnan and the three musketeers, with 360-degree jumps, back tumbling and skipping rope.
In this park is also a zoo. They have put tigers and lions together with the result that they are fighting for great amusement of the audience.
Everland Seal Show White Tiger vs African Lion in Everland
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This is absolutely against the order of the nature.
South Korea Looks for Bear Farming Remedy: please take action.
Immediate: please click on and sign South Korea: End the Bile trade
Targeting: U.S Korean Ambassador, Korea Food and Drug Administration, Korean President, U.K Korean Ambassador, Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Prime Minister of Korea
Started by: Action for our Planet .com
In South Korea, over 1,400 Asian Black Bear’s (Moon Bears) are kept in captivity on bile farms. Bile is the digestive juice found in the liver and bladder of bears. It is typically used as a medicine believed to reduce fever, improve eye site and help protect the liver and body from illness. Moon bears are kept in small and squalid cages until they reach 10 years old after which they are slaughtered. Not surprisingly, bears undergo extreme psychological problems which result in injury, severe depression and repetitive behaviours. The physical constraints of a cage that measures 7.9 cm x 130cm x 200cm is immense and bears are only able to stand up and turn around. The premature death rate on these farms is incredibly high with many bears dying from severe injury and illness.
Although South Korean law prohibits live bears from having their bile extracted, the cruel process still continues. According to The Humane Society of the United States, bear bile is extracted around 2 times a day and methods of extraction can vary. One such method is inserting a steel/ metal caterer inside the bear to extract 10-20 ML of bile. This caterer is pushed inside the abdomen and attached to the gall bladder while a plastic bag is placed in front of the abdomen by attaching it to a permanent metal harness which is left inside the animal. This process is so excruciating that bears will shake in pain, clench their teeth and bite themselves. Another cruel method is milking the bear through an implanted tube attached to the bears abdomen. No aesthetic is provided to the bears during the ‘milking’ process and extraction is often carried out by untrained technicians.
World leaders are currently gathered in Seoul, South Korea for the G20 summit so now is a crucial time to appeal to South Korea to stop all bile farming. The South Korean government has seriously considered a ban on bear farming but it has appealed to animal welfare organisations to help find a way to end the trade and ensure the bears have somewhere to go once freed. Please sign this petition asking the South Korean government to end the bile trade.
Related, The Story of the Moon Bears | Jill Robinson
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Petition Text:
While South Korea hosts world leaders for the G20 summit, 1,400 Asian Black Bears are suffering immensely on bile farms. These bears live a life of confinement in cages so small that bears are only able to stand up and turn around. While South Korea has made it illegal to extract bile from a live bear, the gruesome ‘milking’ process still continues.
I am asking that you end the suffering of these helpless animals by closing all bile farms and ensuring all bears go to sanctuaries. One way of ensuring bears go to sanctuaries could be asking people to adopt the bears by paying a yearly fee to pay for food and housing for the animals. I feel this solution would be extremely successful as thousands of people worldwide would be sure to donate.
Thank you for your time.
Immediate: please click on and sign Stop Animal Testing at Johnson & Johnson
Targeting: Susan L. Lindquist (J & J Board of Directors) and Mary Sue Coleman (J & J Board of Directors)
Started by: Jennifer Bates
Background:
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries represent a vast corporation with billions in annual revenue. As one of the largest and most important companies in the US, Johnson & Johnson is uniquely situated to lead the way in cruelty-free production methods. Unfortunately, Johnson & Johnson refuses to ban its use of animal testing and asserts that it only tests on animals “when necessary.” When testing Sucralose, better known as the sugar substitute Splenda, Johnson & Johnson found it “necessary” to contract an organization to poison dogs, monkeys, rabbits, and rodents with its product. Over 12,000 animals were killed in the process, all so Johnson & Johnson could market a low-calorie sweetner. The Splenda horror is hardly an isolated incident. We therefore urge Johnson & Johnson to do away entirely with animal testing and become a leader in cruelty-free production.
Related, Choose Cruelty-Free
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Petition Text:
Greetings,
I am greatly distressed to learn that Johnson & Johnson still tests its products on animals, though it maintains that it only tests on animals when necessary. This practice is cruel and utterly inhumane. Moreover, it is unnecessary in an age where alternatives to such testing exist, such as cell cultures and computer simulations. As other companies have found ways to take animal testing out of their product manufacturing process, it is unconscionable that Johnson & Johnson continues. I strongly urge Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries to find alternative means for the testing of all its products.
Israeli conservatives force fur ban off the table
From Bikyamasr
By Desmond Shephard
WASHINGTON: Israel’s Knesset moved this week to end a bill that would have banned fur use in the country after Canadian furriers lobbied hard in parliament to stop the bill. The Canadians joined forces with the ultra-conservative Orthodox leaders in the Jewish state against what would have made Israel the first country to ban fur completely.
Animal rights activists have said they would launch a renewed campaign to get the bill revitalized and back on the table.
“It was almost there, so now we just have to look hard at the parties that opposed the bill and get it back on the table,” said Tony James, an American Jewish animal rights campaigner who supported the bill. He told Bikya Masr that “Israel can show the world they can lead on animal rights, but it takes efforts.”
The decision to shelve the proposed legislation came at the end of a discussion by the coalition’s coordinating body, presided over by MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi). He said he “personally supports” the bill, but cannot promote it because of opposition by MK Menachem Eliezer Moses (United Torah Judaism), a coalition member.
“I have no interest in offending the Haredi public,” Orlev told reporters after the meeting.
The bill aimed to end the trading, producing and processing of fur in Israel “except for religious purposes” – a stipulation designed to accommodate the needs of the Haredi community, who traditionally wear sable on their hats.
Moses opposed the bill despite the exception, explaining it would adversely affect kosher slaughter abroad.
Meat industry executives in the United States, however, disagreed with Moses, saying that banning fur would have nothing to do with their operations.
One executive, who asked not to be named, told Bikya Masr that “despite the idea that animals are used, most meat producing companies, at least in the United States, would not be opposed to a ban on fur.”
Related, 2008 International Design Against Fur Animation Winner
Mair Perkins | Derby University, Derby, UK
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The official added that personally “I don’t use or buy fur because of the horrors we have seen published about how the animals are treated.”
The bill had already passed a first reading in Israel’s parliament prior to the vocal visit from Herscovici. His visit gave credence to the conservative Orthodox members of the Knesset and eventually led to the bills downfall.
Ask (current) Gov. Schwarzenegger to Release Human Trafficking Victim Sara Kruzan with Time Served
- Immediate, please visit and sign HERE to ask (now) Governor Schwarzenegger to release human trafficking victim Sara Kruzan with time served.
- Targeting: The Governor of CA
- Started by: Amanda Kloer
BACKGROUND
Sixteen-year-old human trafficking victim Sara Kruzan was sentenced to life in prison without parole when, in a desperate act to escape captivity, she shot her pimp. When Sara met G.G., the 31-year-old man who would become her pimp, she was only 11. G.G. groomed Sara two years before he raped her. By then, his control was complete and he forced her into prostitution. Sara and the other girls who G.G. exploited were out on the streets from 6pm to 6am, every night. Twelve hours a night, seven days a week, for three years, Sara was raped by strangers so G.G. could profit. After three years, she snapped, and she killed him.
Now 32, Sara has spent half her life in prison as a model prisoner, and has asked Gov. Schwarzenegger for clemency. Sara was arrested and tried in 1994, before anyone was using the term “human trafficking” and when the country was still struggling to understand issues like domestic violence and pimp control that give one person coercive control over another. So there was no expert witness at Sara’s trial to explain how her years of repeated rape, trauma, and abuse had affected her actions. There was no expert to tell the jury that with counseling, support, and care, Sara could heal from her traumatic past and grow to be a strong and moral woman.
Sara Kruzan: Sentenced to Life Without Parole at Age 16
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Sara’s clemency plea has been submitted to Gov. Schwarzenegger, and the decision of whether or not to release her with time served rests solely with him. Sara Kruzan deserves hope. She deserves hope that she didn’t survive being raped and sold for three years for nothing. She deserves hope that the darkest chapter of her life has passed, and a horizon lies ahead. She deserves hope that she can change, grow, and flourish as a woman. But in life without parole, there is no hope.
Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger that human trafficking victims deserve support and care, not prison. Ask him to release Sara with time served.
PETITION TEXT
Greetings Governor Schwarzenegger,
I am writing to urge you to grant clemency to Sara Kruzan, and commute her life without the possibility of parole sentence to time served. Sara’s sentence of life without parole is too extreme and disproportionate to her youth and the circumstances surrounding her crime, and fails to reward the remarkable personal growth and transformation that she has demonstrated during her 16 years in prison.
Sara was just two months past her 16th birthday when she shot and killed a well-known pimp who sexually abused her since she was 11 and prostituted her since she was 13. Now 32 years old, Sara has spent more than half her life in prison. She has been a model inmate, and has earned her college education, and received a 2009 Honor Dorm “Woman of the Year” award from corrections officers.
Prior to her incarceration, Sara grew up in Riverside, California where she excelled in school, making the honor roll and running track. But starting at a young age, Sara was a victim of regular abuse: she was molested by several men, gang-raped by neighbors, physically and emotionally abused by her mother, and then abused and manipulated by her pimp. Two nationally known experts have determined that Sara was suffering from the effects of intimate partner battering when she committed the crime.
Despite being only 16 and having no criminal record, Sara was tried as an adult and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. At the time of her sentencing, the California Youth Authority found Sara amenable to treatment. Had the court followed this recommendation, Sara would have been released at age 25.
Even while her youth, abuse, and trauma help to mitigate her offense, Sara expresses remorse for her crime. In a 2007 Human Rights Watch interview, she reflects:
I definitely know that I deserve punishment. You don’t just take someone’s life and think it’s okay…I am very sorry to take his life like that…If I had a parole hearing, I would want to tell the people that, first of all, I have learned what moral scruples are. Second, that every day is a challenge, but I realize that…I have a lot of good to offer. Now the person who I am today, at 29, I believe that I could set a positive example…
The terrible crimes committed by youth can take and ruin lives. Yet we believe that the sentencing choices in California should reflect the circumstances of the offender as well as the nature of the crime, and leave open the possibility that a person redeem herself. This is especially true of youth. As the United States Supreme Court re-affirmed earlier this year, youth are different from adults, and thus a life without parole sentence is “an especially harsh sentence for juveniles.”
Sara is not the same person that she was at age 16. Considering her background of trauma and abuse, her young age at the time of the offense, and her rehabilitation over the last 16 years, I ask that you commute her sentence to time served.
Regards,
Work Ethic: No meat on menu for Montreal purse maker
From CBC News
A Montreal accessories company has taken its policy of using no animal products beyond the rack and has forbidden its staff from eating meat and fish at work.
A former employee says the policy violated her rights as a non-vegetarian.
Matt and Nat, based in Montreal’s Ahuntsic neighbourhood, makes its purses and belts without leather or suede, using everything from plastic bottles to rubber tires in its designs.
Creative director Inder Bedi said the company was founded on a principle of being environmentally conscious. He said it was important to have employees embrace the lifestyle as well.
Not only are the 18 employees barred from bringing meat in their lunches, if they dine at a restaurant with a client, they are required to order only vegetarian dishes.
They are also asked not to wear leather, suede or fur to work.
The policy has been in place for seven years.
“We do have a policy here, and it’s something that we let potential employees know, right from the first interview,” said Bedi. “It might be considered unorthodox or even a little bit hippie-dippie. But as we grew, it’s something we felt that was important.”
No one does checks of lunch boxes, he said. It’s a corporate culture that is largely embraced by employees who mostly share their lunch hour together in the company’s cafeteria, which is lined with vegetarian cookbooks.
“The office here, we like to think of it as our temple. So it’s important to us to have certain policies. Employees are free to obviously go out and do whatever they like outside the temple, but inside here, we try to stick to the policy,” said Bedi.
Related, Breakfast by Kris Hofmann
Former employee questions policy
A former employee who spoke to CBC News said the policy was a nuisance for people who eat meat.
She said she would sometimes cheat and leave the office to eat her lunch.
“Sometimes, you put it in your purse, or I would leave the food in my car, and I would go get it at lunchtime and eat in my car. When I told my friends they were all shocked and started laughing at me,” said the woman, who asked her name be withheld for fear of professional fallout in the city’s small needle-trade industry.
“It’s a free country … I think we should eat what we want,” she said.
Eating code just like dress code: lawyer
According to Montreal lawyer Jordan Charness, the company is breaking no laws. He said a private company has the right to adopt its own food policy in the workplace.
“If this is a vegan company, they can say that everyone has to adhere to their vegan policies — at least at work,” said Charness.
“So it’s like a dress code. Here, it’s just an eating code.”
Bedi said he never considered the policy to be controversial.
“I’ve never really looked at it that way — whether we are infringing on somebody’s rights. It’s who we are as a company. You know, our brand,” he said.
“The fact that we don’t use any animal products, it would be kinda weird or strange to be eating animal products on the premises.”
Please Tell AIIMS to Stop Torturing Animals Now!
IMMEDIATE:
Please click HERE to sign and send Please Relocate Tortured Animals to a Sanctuary
BACKGROUND:
As you read this, hundreds of animals are being physically and psychologically tormented behind closed doors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) Central Animal Facility. A recent undercover exposé published in the Hindustan Times revealed that monkeys were isolated by themselves in tiny, barren, rusty cages; rabbits were forced to sit on wire cage bottoms and rats were living in filthy, severely crowded conditions. Sick and dying animals, including rabbits who suffered from an infectious skin disease and guinea pigs who had gone blind, were left untreated.
Aside from the animals’ physical ailments, the stress of loneliness, boredom, frustration and lengthy confinement – nearly 20 years, in some cases – had also taken a toll on the animals’ psychological health. With nothing to do and no room to exercise, many of the rats and monkeys at AIIMS’ facility had been driven insane by laboratory conditions – they routinely turned in endless circles in the small cages, suffering from “nervous breakdowns”.
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Never having a moment free from terror or trepidation about what would happen next, the animals reacted fearfully to AIIMS employees, who can be seen taunting, harassing and abusing animals in video footage taken at the facility.
The animals at AIIMS urgently need your help. Please demand that officials take action now to relocate all the animals to a sanctuary as soon as possible and switch to humane and widely available non-animal research alternatives instead.
Amnesty International’s Annual Write-a-Thon: Your words can save lives!
YOUR WORDS HAVE POWER
They can bring FREEDOM to prisoners of conscience. They can demand JUSTICE for survivors of torture. They can offer HOPE to human rights defenders at risk.
Your words can SAVE LIVES.
Each year hundreds of thousands of people across the world mark International Human Rights Day on December 10 by taking part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon – the world’s largest letter writing event. We write letters to demand that the rights of individuals are respected, protected and fulfilled. In doing so, we show solidarity with those suffering human rights abuses and work to bring about real change in people’s lives.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
1. SIGN UP to Write for Rights!
Join HERE. Choose as many cases as you wish (case files and sample letters below). Participate as an individual, or host an event and invite friends, family, and members of your community to join the call for human rights. Check out our Write for Rights map to find an event near you.
2. Get your RESOURCES.
Everything you need to participate in Write for Rights is now available, including case summaries, sample letters, promotional materials, and helpful tips for holding a successful Write for Rights event (these resources are all below as well). If you’d like hard copies of these items or have questions, email us: writeathon@aiusa.org.
3. WRITE and MAIL your letters. (Common questions also covered in the Q&A Resource below.)
- December 4-12 are the key dates, but feel free to start earlier or later.
- Each case contains a “You Can Help” section which includes addresses for where to send your letters. Address and send your letter to the government official at the top of the sample letter. If you can, we suggest you send a copy of your letter to the official listed under “copy to” at the bottom.
- A personal letter is often the most effective way to convince government offcials to take action. However, if you don’t have time to write personal letters, you can print and sign the sample letters, or you can send an email, if applicable. If you want to send an email, please use the Scribd “Select Text in the Document” tool to copy the associated letter. This icon is to the right of the magnifying glasses with the + and – symbols and looks like a capital I.
- Current postal rates:
Within the United States:
Airmail Letters (up to 1 oz.) $0.44 | Postcards (max. size: 6″ x 4.25″) $0.28
To Mexico:
Airmail Letters (up to 1 oz.) $0.79 | Postcards (max. size: 6″ x 4.25″) $0.79
To all other countries:
Airmail Letters (up to 1 oz.) $0.98 | Postcards (max. size: 6″ x 4.25″) $0.98
We fight our battles armed with a pen and paper
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CASE SUMMERIES
Albertine – Maternal mortality
BURKINA FASO
Albertine, a 25-year-old mother of two from Burkina Faso, died of childbirth complications after her treatment was delayed. Her brother-in-law had to make several long trips to and from the hospital to borrow over US $100 – significantly more than the average monthly income – to pay for medicine and blood. Albertine’s story is not unique. Every year, more than 358,000 women around the world die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths can be prevented if all women have timely access to quality maternal health care. If passed, the Global MOMS Act will be an important step towards ending preventable maternal deaths. Read More »
Aung San Suu Kyi and Su Su Nway – Prisoners of conscience
BURMA (MYANMAR)
Amnesty International welcomes the release of Aung San Suu Kyi on November 13, 2010, but calls on the government of Myanmar to release all of the prisoners of conscience in the country.
Su Su Nway is a labor activist who is serving a prison term of eight years and six months for raising a banner. Amnesty International considers Su Su Nway to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression. Urge the Myanmar authorities to release Su Su Nway immediately and unconditionally. Read More »
Mao Hengfeng – Prisoner of conscience
Mao Hengfeng has been repeatedly detained, tortured and ill-treated because of her work to defend human rights. She is currently serving 18 months in China’s “re-education through labor” system for having protested in 2009 the arrest of human rights defender Liu Xiaobo. (In October 2010, Liu Xiaobo was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.) She has also campaigned against forced abortions and forced evictions in China. Despite the abuses she has endured, Mao Hengfeng continues to be heartened by messages of international support, including those from Amnesty International members. Read More »
Women in Congo – Rape as a Weapon
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been called the rape capital of the world. Every year, thousands of rapes are reported. Many more rapes go unreported, because of the personal risk and shame associated with being attacked. A central problem is the use of rape as a weapon of war by all sides in the Congo wars. However, the frequency of rape as a weapon, and the almost total impunity for perpetrators of these atrocious crimes, have led to an increase in the incidence of rape in all corners of the country. The Congolese government, in collaboration with the UN, must develop a long-term, comprehensive action plan to end impunity for crimes committed in the country. The perpetual cycle of violence against women in the DRC must end. Read More »
Femi Peters – Prisoner of conscience
GAMBIA
Femi Peters is the Campaign Manager for the United Democratic Party, a political opposition party in the Gambia. In October 2009, he was arrested during a peaceful political demonstration, and charged with a number of crimes including “control of use of loud speakers in public.” After months of trial, he was convicted and sentenced to a mandatory jail term. There are serious concerns for his health amid the appalling prison conditions. His family has not been allowed to visit him. Read More »
Norma Cruz – Human rights defender
Human rights defender Norma Cruz leads a women’s rights organization, Survivors’ Foundation, based in Guatemala City. As a result of her work documenting cases of violence against women and fighting for justice, she has been repeatedly threatened with death. Some of her relatives have also suffered threats and attacks. Norma Cruz and other defenders in Guatemala face constant danger. Read More »
Filep Karma – Prisoner of conscience
INDONESIA
Filep Karma is serving 15 years in prison for simply raising a flag. The former civil servant was arrested in 2004 for raising a flag symbolizing Papuan independence from Indonesia. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and seeks his immediate and unconditional release. His colleague Yusak Pakage was freed in July 2010, after campaigning by Amnesty International members. Now Indonesia must free Filep! Read More »
Majid Tavakkoli – Student activist, prisoner of conscience
IRAN
Student leader Majid Tavakkoli was arrested on December 7, 2009, for speaking at a demonstration marking Student Day in Iran. Following an unfair trial, one which his lawyer was not allowed attend, he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. He now suffers from a serious respiratory condition that may deteriorate while he is imprisoned. He is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for peacefully exercising his human right to freedom of expression. Read More »
Walid Yunis Ahmad – Unlawful detention
IRAQ
Walid Yunis Ahmad went missing after his arrest on February 6, 2000. For three years, his family wondered if he was alive before learning that he was detained and tortured by authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan. After more than 10 years, the security agency, Asayish, continues to hold him even though they have yet to charge him with an offense or bring him to trial. He remains in solitary confinement. Amnesty International calls on authorities in Iraq to release Walid Yunis Ahmad if he is not promptly charged and tried. Read More »
Women of Atenco – Violence against women
MEXICO
In May 2006, police detained and physically and sexually assaulted dozens of women in the town of San Salvador Atenco. Although authorities have acknowledged that abuses took place, none of the perpetrators have been held accountable for the crimes committed against these women. More than four years later, the women continue to seek justice. Amnesty International is pressing Mexican authorities to prosecute those responsible for these abuses. Read More »
Roma families – Forced evictions
In 2004, around 100 Roma people were forcibly evicted from their homes in Miercurea Ciuc in central Romania. Around 75 of them were relocated to metal shacks right next to a sewage plant. The conditions are unsanitary and the horrible smell is unbearable. The rest of the evicted community is living by a garbage dump two kilometers outside the town. The Roma families were told that the move would be temporary, but six years later, local authorities have no plan to relocate them to adequate housing. Read More »
Reggie Clemons – Death penalty
Reggie Clemons was sentenced to death in Missouri as an accomplice in the 1991 murder of two women. Clemons has maintained his innocence, and his case illustrates many of the flaws in the U.S. death penalty system. Shortly after a 2009 execution date was stayed, the Missouri Supreme Court assigned a judge (a “Special Master”) to investigate the reliability of his conviction and proportionality of his sentence. Call on Missouri’s Governor to grant clemency in this case. Read More »
RESOURCES
Write for Rights Q & A: Amnesty International’s Annual Write-a-Thon
Amnesty International Sample Letters 2010 Write a Thon
Case Overview
Case Direction
Target, the dog who survived Afghan war and melted hearts on Oprah, mistakenly put down at Arizona animal shelter
Target, another victim of global speciesism …
Sadly and angeringly, a global society that apathetically kills sixty billion animals annually should expect children to be victimized as well, regardless of lack of intent or unobserved protocols. Kill shelters co-exist, side-by-side, with slaughterhouses, breeders, circuses, vivisectors, and furriers. The world for our companion children is built by the same architects of such … SR
Update November 20: Sacking after war-hero dog put down
From The Daily Mail
Target the dog lived through explosions in war-torn Afghanistan, saved the lives of U.S. soldiers and was featured on Oprah – but she couldn’t survive a brief stay at an Arizona animal shelter.
An employee at the Pinal County facility was today on administrative leave after euthanizing the shepherd mix by mistake.
‘When it comes to euthanizing an animal, there are some clear-cut procedures to follow,’ said Ruth Stalter, director of the Animal Care And Control centre.
‘Based on my preliminary investigation, our employee did not follow those procedures.
Sgt. Terry Young, the owner of the dog, told The Arizona Republic, ‘I just can’t believe that something like this would happen to such a good dog.’
Target and two other dogs, Rufus and Sasha, were mutts who befriended soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, who began to feed them and treated the canines as pets on the military base.
One night in February a suicide bomber came to the base in the middle of the night, wearing 25 pounds of explosives and intent on killing Americans.
Hero dog from Afghanistan mistakenly killed in animal shelter
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September 2010 file: Hero dog saves US troops in Afghanistan
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The three dogs frightened, barked at and bit the bomber, scaring him and waking the sleeping soldiers in the process. Deterred, the terrorist detonated himself outside instead of coming in.
The lives of 50 soldiers were potentially spared because of the dogs’ actions.
Sasha was killed, but Target and Rufus lived. Medics treated the injured dogs like soldiers and the two were saved.
Only five soldiers were injured in the bombing and all recovered.
Sgt. Young said the dogs was treated like royalty from then on at the base at Dand Patan, near the Pakistan border.
With the help of aid groups, Sgt. Young brought Target to the San Tan Valley area south-east of Phoenix in August, when he returned home from his tour of duty. Rufus went to live with another soldier in Georgia.
Target was featured on Oprah in September in a show about amazing animals.
On Friday of last week the dog escaped from the family’s backyard. Sgt. Young then put out notices and contacted TV stations that did reports on the missing dog.
From VGT / AR News
This came from Austria today: The “Lainzer Tiergarten” (a kind of deer park) in Vienna closes its doors each November – officially to allow the animals a “rest period”. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as the below video proves, they organise hunts – during which deer flee in panic with their guts hanging out or on three legs – to die miserably later. The animals are fed throughout the year and so the numbers are artificially kept high – providing an excuse each year for “having to cull” certain numbers. The city of Vienna earns EUR 4000.- per shot wild boar. So the motivation should be obvious. Please protest to the mayor of Vienna , Dr. Michael Haeupl, and ask him to end the hunts in the “Lainzer Tiergarten”.
Sample message provided below, but please shorten and modify.
Hunting caused immeasurable suffering animals!
New video shows Wounded animals with severe injuries in agony on the run!
Officially, the game Lainzer Tiergarten in early November for the recovery of the disabled, an irony which can hardly be surpassed, there is: will this time, but the animals in mass severance hunting guests before the guns carried in!
Pups cuddle up together in a Erdmulde, a curious-sighted mother – idyll abruptly interrupted one of the shots. Animals on the run. Wounded animals intestines hanging out of the bodies, others are trying with their last legs in force and only bring security to working three! Some die on the spot, others languish for days in pain then.
Through mass feedings, the number of animals held up unusually. Just this artificially created “overpopulation” is then a justification for the mass firings than specified. Lished but it is that is not here, the concern for animals, this form of wildlife management is responsible for, but that massive financial interests of the city are important.
The shooting down of a mature boar brings the city of Vienna up to € 4,000. But the thought of money for the right to kill someone alone may not sell, should arouse disgust! Help us to stop these massacres and advocate for a peaceful world!
Ask the Mayor of Vienna Dr. Michael Häupl put an end to hunting in Lainz garden for use. Email: michael.haeupl@spoe.at
The video evidence can be found here:
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Jagd verursacht unfassbares Tierleid!
Neues Video beweist: Angeschossene Tiere mit schwersten Verletzungen in Todesangst auf der Flucht!
Offiziell wird der Lainzer Tiergarten Anfang November für die Erholung des Wildes gesperrt, eine Ironie die es kaum mehr zu überbieten gibt: Werden doch in dieser Zeit die Tiere in Massenabfertigungen Jagdgästen vor die Gewehre getrieben!
Jungtiere kuscheln sich in einer Erdmulde zusammen, ein neugierig blickendes Muttertier – eine Idylle jäh unterbrochen von Schüssen. Tiere auf der Flucht. Angeschossenen Tieren hängen die Gedärme aus den Körpern, andere versuchen sich mit letzter Kraft und nur mehr drei funktionierenden Beinen in Sicherheit zu bringen! Manche sterben noch vorort, andere siechen über Tage unter Schmerzen dahin.
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