A n i m a l   W r i t e s © sm
                                   
The official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter

 
Publisher   ~ EnglandGal@aol.com                                   Issue # 10/24/01
      Editor    ~ JJswans@aol.com
  Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
                   ~ MichelleRivera1@aol.com
                   ~
sbest1@elp.rr.com

  THE SEVEN ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:

  1  ~ Halloween Is Just Around The Corner
  2  ~
Even Spookier Than Halloween
  3  ~
Vegetarians In Uniform
  4  ~
Job Opportunity
  5  ~
Urgent, Request Senators to Co-Sponsor & Support....
  6  ~
Living Graves
  7  ~
Memorable Quote

     *´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`
~1~
Halloween Is Just Around The Corner
by JJswans@aol.com & Demnyjets@aol.com

In order to give you time to prepare, we would like to bring you some animal friendly suggestions for Halloween.  Check with your local humane society or animal rights group to get animal friendly flyers to hand out to trick-or-treaters, or to their parents.  Some people are trick-or-treating for their local shelters, asking for dog cookies or kitty treats.  PeTA has a new website of vegan candies and treats that can be given out to children, as recommended by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.  Even if you aren't handing out treats this year, it's a good list to have of vegan candies.  You can check them out at:

Halloween Treats
http://peta.org/feat/halloween01/index.html

If you are hosting a party for Halloween, or just like to collect vegan recipes, this website has lots of mummy (oops, I mean nummy) suggestions:

Vegan/Vegetarian Halloween
http://www.vegweb.com/food/events/index-halloween.shtml

For online friends, who you can't host with ghoulish treats, this website offers free Halloween post cards to send:

Awesome Halloween Post Cards free Greeting Cards
http://www.marlo.com/post-hal.htm

And this one offers not only multiple websites with free greeting cards, but has clip art as well:

Abraham's All Free Halloween Email Greeting Cards, Postcards and Virtual Gifts
http://members.amaonline.com/freecards/halloweencards.htm

Of course the most important thing is to keep our companion animals safe during this time of year.  Unfortunately, some people's idea of fun is harmful to animals, and some people just don't realize the dangers, so please note the following tips:

* Don't leave companion animals unsecured or outside unattended.  There are too many people who enact their own brand of satanic rituals on innocent animals, or think of animal torture as fun.  Be sure to protect horses and other livestock as well.

* Be aware that little humans dressed in strange costumes, knocking on the door, can be confusing or frightening to cats and dogs, which not only jeopardizes those little humans, but also can give both cats and dogs an opportunity to escape out the open doorway, into the night of unsavory characters as mentioned above.  Keeping your pet confined to another room will prevent accidents.

* Be careful with Halloween candles and decorations around our four-footed friends.  Whether knocked over, or ingested, they are trouble waiting to happen.

* If you are involved in animal rescue and adoption, this is not the time of year to be placing black cats.  Many shelters close down adoptions completely the week before Halloween.  If you see ads for animals "free to good home," let the advertiser know about the dangers of adopting at Halloween.

* Animals are creatures of habit, so be aware that the excitement of Halloween and the changes from normal can be disconcerting to your companion animals.  Make allowances, protecting them, and understanding if they do things a little out of the norm.

* Most importantly, keep chocolate away from dogs and cats.  Make sure the smallest goblins in your house don't sneak them treats from their bag.  Candy wrappers are also dangerous to the digestive system, and can smell good enough to eat.  Instead of candy, how about some vegetarian dog biscuits:

Vegetarian Dog Biscuits
http://www.doggieconnection.net/recipe/vegetarian_dog_biscuits.html

* And finally, if your dog is one that really, really enjoys dressing up, and some dogs do, make sure to use a costume that isn't too restrictive, that doesn't limit eyesight (which might cause someone to startle the dog and cause a bite), and be sure to refrain from using rubber bands.  Too often veterinarians have had to amputate ears or limbs when someone has forgotten to remove a rubber band and it has imbedded in the skin. 

For a sweet story about the love of one dog for Halloween, see the following website:

Halloween! A Holdiay for Dogs
http://www.woofs.org/issues/1097/halloween.html

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~2~
Even Spookier Than Halloween

Though this article isn't specifically about animals, we bring it to you to help allay any fears of current threats of terrorism.  It is, of course, good advice for our companion animals as well.  

The "Real" Deal about Nuclear, Bio, and Chem Attacks
by SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
from Artemisd123@hotmail.com

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert.

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s there were a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in a few hours) and only one percent of the injured died. 60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand dead people per drop was theoretical. Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too).

Forget everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out loud)!

These weapons are about terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die. This is far less scary than the media and their "Experts," make it sound.

Chemical weapons are categorized as Nerve, Blood, Blister, and Incapacitating Agents. Contrary to the hype of reporters and politicians they are not weapons of mass destruction they are "Area denial," and terror weapons that don't destroy anything. When you leave the area you almost always leave the risk. That's the difference; you can leave the area and the risk; soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and that's why they need all that spiffy gear.

These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that defines when/how it's used. Every day we have a morning and evening inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down. This inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at these times of the day.

So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and airborne particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low places like ditches, basements and underground garages. This stuff won't work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and wind spreads it too thin too fast. They've got to get this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it for it to work. They also have to get the concentration of chemicals high enough to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and it's wasted.

What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to do with military grade agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for terrorists.

The more you know about this stuff the more you realize how hard it is to use.

We'll start by talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house, plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All nerve agents work the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the signals your nervous system uses to make your body function. It can harm you if you get it on your skin but it works best if they can get you to inhale it. If you don't die in the first minute and you can leave the area you're probably gonna live. The military's antidote for all nerve agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does anything to cure the
nerve agent, they send your body into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes, after that the agent is used up. Your best protection is fresh air and staying calm. Listed below are the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning.

Sudden headache, Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have pinpointed pupils), Runny nose, Excessive saliva or drooling, Difficulty breathing, Tightness in chest, Nausea, Stomach cramps, Twitching of exposed skin where a liquid just got on you.

If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop, did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick too? Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or camphor where it shouldn't be?

If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the area and head up wind, or, outside. Fresh air is the best "right now antidote." If you have a blob of liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot it or scrape it off and away from yourself with anything disposable.  This stuff works based on your body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs won't hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in real deep, then lick the residue off the ground for while. Remember they have to do all the work, they have to get the concentration up and keep it up for several minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on you/quit breathing it by putting space between you and the attack.

Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to provide oxygen to your tissue. The scenario for attack would be the same as nerve agent. Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something and folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells are bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be.  The symptoms are blue lips, blue under the fingernails, rapid breathing. The military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote it just keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are used up. Fresh air is the your best individual chance. Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to even handle it let alone use it. It's almost impossible to handle safely and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is also limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals. If you do get large, painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop them, if you must, don't let the liquid from the blister get on any other area, the stuff just keeps on spreading.  It's just as likely to harm the user as the target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.

Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial chemical spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you, to herd you like sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream. They have to get the stuff to you, and on you. You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. Your odds get better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and fresh air really deal this stuff a knock-out-punch.  Don't let fear of an isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really on your side.

Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth. The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If you see a bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall to the ground!

The heat will be over a second. Then there will be two blast waves, one out going, and one on it's way back. Don't stand up to see what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen will have happened in two full minutes.

These will be low yield devices and will not level whole cities. If you live through the heat, blast, and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live for a very, very long time. Radiation will not create fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and grasshoppers the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1 kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT.

Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of exposed (not all!) people within a half mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions this is about a half mile circle of death and destruction, but, when it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device for a good distance, it's impossible to say what and how far but probably not over a couple of miles from ground zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you name it, all will be out of order.

There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about three, the others you have lived with for years. You need to worry about "Ionizing radiation," these are little subatomic particles that go whizzing along at the speed of light. They hit individual cells in your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going. That's how you get radiation poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the decaying cells poison you. It's the same as people getting radiation treatments for cancer, only a bigger area gets radiated. The good news is you don't have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can do rather than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha particles, a page of a news paper or your clothing will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and avoid inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are emitting these things and you'll be generally safe from them.

Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays (Quantum physics makes my brain hurt) and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles only they keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way through your body. It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense material, on the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you.

Your defense is as always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal preparation are your friends. All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK if there's no dust on them (rinse them off if there is). If you don't have running water and you need to collect rain water or use water from wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if you have a bucket of water to pour in the tank.

Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much to cover here. Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a million doctors. Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food, sloppy kisses, etc., with strangers. Keep your garbage can with a tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools) laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room.  This stuff is carried by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material. If biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of dollars trying to get it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat well and are active, you're gonna live.

Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take for a big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one. I know this stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one either (how's that for confidence). We have a week's worth of cash, several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water. We don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.

These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources. These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find out it's no fun. The government is going nuts over this stuff because they have to protect every inch of America.  You've only gotta protect yourself, and by doing that, you help the country.

Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and you can think up specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best.  This letter is supposed to help the greatest number of people under the greatest number of situations. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick, just sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a document around three pages long yourself. This is how we the people of the United States can rob these people of their most desired goal, your terror.

SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner
Mesa, AZ

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~3~
Vegetarians In Uniform
from Bruce Friedrich - BruceF@peta.org

PETA would like to profile some vegan and vegetarian members of the U.S. armed forces, for the Web and for a possible feature in Animal Times. I need, from the person in the service, the following (send to BruceF@peta.org):

* Name:
* Age:
* Gender:
* Branch of the Service:
* Contact info (phone and email, if poss.):
* Vegetarian or vegan:
* Length of time vegetarian/vegan:
* A few sentences about yourself (anything you care to share: interests, upbringing, whatever):

Anything else you wish to share (e.g., anecdotes about being a vegan in the services, details about how it was when you started compared to how it is now, whether any of your fellow servicepeople are vegan or vegetarian; whatever):

If you can attach a photo of yourself, in uniform or not, that would be great too. If you can’t do this, but there is someone we can contact to obtain one (or you could mail us one), please indicate:

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~4~
Job Opportunity

ATTORNEY POSITION AVAILABLE

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a national, nonprofit, health advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., is seeking a full-time attorney to assist in PCRM’s various legal campaigns concerning federal and state agricultural and nutritional policies, as well as medical research.  Responsibilities will include factual research and investigation, including significant use of the Freedom of Information Act; legal research in preparation for filing lawsuits, petitions for rule making, or other administrative filings; drafting documents for filing; and participation in all phases of litigation.

Qualified candidates will have a minimum of two years of experience, preferably in civil litigation or administrative law, or through a state appellate or federal judicial clerkship. Candidates must be active bar members (any U.S. jurisdiction) in good standing. The candidate must have excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills; be flexible and able to adapt to changing priorities; be highly motivated with a desire to work in a team environment; able to keep information confidential; be self-directed and well organized with the ability to work long hours when necessary.

Position available immediately in PCRM’s D.C. office.

Salary and benefits: commensurate with experience

Application package:
* letter of interest/introduction describing your specific interest in working for PCRM
* current résumé
* salary requirements
* names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references

Submit application package to:

Mindy Kursban
General Counsel
PCRM
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20016

If preferred, applicants can e-mail the materials to Mindy Kursban at mkursban@pcrm.org.

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~5~
Urgent, Request Senators to Co-Sponsor & Support:


1:  "DOWNED ANIMAL PROTECTION ACT" (S. 267)
2:  Leahy-Fitzgerald "FORCED MOLTING" Amendment,  and
      Akaka-Leahy  "DOWNED ANIMAL" Protection Amendment
           to S. 1191 (the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill). .

There is strong opposition to "Downed Animal Protection Act" now in the Senate.  The National Cattlemen's Beef Association wants to sell "carcasses" of sick downed animals and expressed concerns about a federal ban. Meanwhile, Rendering plants, which used to buy "carcasses" for processing into "animal feed" and other "products", now is opposing "Downed Animal Protection Act".

See: http://www.sltrib.com/10142001/nation_w/140214.htm

Let's contact US Senators to urge them to Co-Sponsor and Support the Downed Animal Protection Act and Forced Molting Amendments.  Sample Letter below:

<><><><><>

SAMPLE LETTER :
Please place your Name, Address at the Beginning and End of your letter.  Please state that you are a "Constituent(s)" or a "U.S. Constituents"  (if you live in US)  :

From: Your Name,
          Your Address,
          City, State, Zip
          U.S. Constituents or Constituents ( if you live in US)

Re:  Please
       Co-Sponsor/Support  Downed Animal Protection Act.
       Co-Sponsor/Support two humane Amendments to S. 1191:
              Leahy-Fitzgerald Forced Molting Amendments
             Akaka-Leahy Downed Animal Amendments :

Dear Senator ,

As a voter and concerned citizen, I'm urging you to support the following Humane legislation:
  Co-Sponsor/ Support  the Downed Animal Protection Act (S. 267)
  Co-Sponsor / Support  the two Humane Amendments to S. 1191,
     the Leahy-Fitzgerald Forced Molting Amendments and
     Akaka-Leahy Downed Animal Amendments :

1)  Please Co-Sponsor and Support Downed Animal Protection Act (S. 267):  Senator Daniel Akaka had introduced  S.267, the Downed Animal Protection Act on Feb. 6, 2001.   A bill to amend the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, to make it unlawful for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to transfer or market nonambulatory livestock, and for other purposes.  The cattle industry wants to sell the downed animal "carcasses" to the rendering plants.  However, many articles showed that Mad Cow outbreak may have been caused by animal Rendering plants.  The Rendering plants blend the raw product in order to maintain a certain ratio between the carcasses of pets, livestock, poultry waste and supermarket rejects.  These are dumped into giant grinders at rendering plants, as are the entire bodies of cows and other farm animals known to be diseased. About 75 percent of the ninety-million beef cattle in America are routinely given feed that has been "enriched" with rendered animal parts.  The gruesome mix is ground, steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty material floating to the top gets refined for use in such products as cosmetics, lubricants, soaps, candles, and waxes.  The heavier protein material is dried and pulverized into a brown powder about a quarter of which consists of fecal material. The powder is used as an additive to almost all pet food as well as to livestock feed.

2:  Akaka-Leahy Downed Animal Amendment - to Prevent funding for inspections of meat obtained from "downed animals," farm animals (cows, steer, sheep, and pigs) who, because of illness or injury, are completely unable to walk.  Currently, these animals are kicked, dragged, prodded with electric shocks, and even bulldozed in an effort to move them at stockyards, auctions and other intermediate markets, en route to slaughter. By prohibiting inspections of meat from downed animals, the Akaka-Leahy amendment will ensure that such animals can't be used for human food, thereby creating an incentive to treat animals better so that they don't become too weak or sick to walk.

3:  Leahy-Fitzgerald Forced Molting Amendment - to Prevent taxpayer funding, under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, for the purchase of eggs produced at facilities that intentionally starve their hens for up to two weeks
as a form of "forced molting."  Forced molting, aside from being patently inhumane, also dramatically increases the likelihood of salmonella transmission to humans.

Ten Billions of sentient animals each year are killed for "food" in U.S.  Every day, billions of animals suffer from the horror, shock and pain which is no less than the terror and tragedy in the World Trade Center. The European Commission's activities on animal welfare now start with the recognition that animals are "sentient beings".   They recently have many Legislations in force on animal welfare issues to set standards for the welfare of animals on the farm, during transport and at
slaughter.  The humane legislation for "agriculture" animals in the United States is far behind the European Commission. 

We will only vote for the legislators who is compassionate to the billions of suffering "sentient" animals and concerned about our national health.  Please stop the very cruel selling and killing of crippled downed animals for unethical profits.  Please stop the very cruel unethical "Forced Molting" in egg industry.   All of these cruel behaviors from the meat/dairy and egg industries are endangering American public health greatly.

Thank you for your urgent help.

Sincerely,

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~6~
   Living Graves

We are the living graves of murdered beasts
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites
We never pause to wonder at our feasts
If kine, like men, can possibly have rights
We pray on Sundays that we might have light
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread
We're sick of war - we do not want to fight -
The thoughts of it now fills our heart with dread.
And yet - we gorge ourselves upon the dead!
Like carrion crows we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and pain
We cause by doing so.  If thus we treat
Defenseless animals for sport or gain,
How can we hope in this world to attain
The peace we say we are so anxious for?

~ George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950  

*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~7~
Memorable Quote

"I don't myself believe that, even when we fulfill our minimum obligations not to cause pain, we have the right to kill animals.  I know I would not have the right to kill you, however painlessly, just because I liked your flavour, and I am not in a position to judge that your life is worth more to you than the animal's to it."

                                                          ~ Brigid Brophy

«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
  Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/

 
-=Animal Rights Online=- 
&
Advisory Board Member, Animal Rights Network Inc.,
not-for-profit publisher of The Animals' Agenda Magazine
http://www.animalsagenda.org/
The Animals' Agenda Magazine: WebEdition
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
(Permission Granted To Quote/Forward/Reprint/Repost This Newsletter In
Whole Or In Part with credit given to EnglandGal@aol.com)

*   Please forward this to a friend who you think
might be interested in subscribing to our newsletter.

* ARO gratefully accepts and considers articles for publication
from subscribers on veg*anism and animal issues. 
Send submissions to JJswans@aol.com

 

 

 

Return to the ARO Newsletter Archives


Return to the ARO Homepage

 

1