tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51086850682934029712024-03-13T16:51:52.849+11:00Miss T: Princess Vegan<p>Cookering, Eatering, Shoppering. </p>
<p>Mostly food, but quite a bit of shopping, whinging and musing too.</p>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-53681942807172792272010-12-22T12:00:00.000+11:002010-12-22T12:00:25.363+11:00Media Watchering, and Bill Clinton, or: something reasonable<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Hello chickens, </span></span></div><div> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The last two months have been up and down, up and down, and I shan’t say more. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br />
Here’s a lil’ sumthin’ sumthin’ from today’s Age online healthy blog section – not to shabby and not outrageously hysterical (at this stage. Wait until the charred-chops and salty-sausage eaters consider this article a threat to their way of life, all they hold dear and the Great Aussie Dream). </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/blogs/chew-on-this/going-vegan-for-your-hearts-sake/20101220-192c2.html">http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/blogs/chew-on-this/going-vegan-for-your-hearts-sake/20101220-192c2.html</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Also, did anyone see the recent M Magazine (also The Age) which highlighted people who are social oddities – the asexual fellow, the childless woman, the nudist – and a vegan. I was all fine and dandy with this until the vegan bloke wrote that he is happy to each ‘happy eggs’. I don’t want to be the Vegan Police but if you’re going to put your mug in a national magazine as an example of a lifestyle choice that most people are unfamiliar with or think is a little on the beardy-weirdy side, don’t confuse the matter by saying that you’re not actually very strict and can eat whatever you want really. It makes us all look flaky. If you need to do it then just do it, but please don’t make a great big public song and dance about being vegan if in fact A) you are not, and B) you probably know darn well how often the rest us have to explain that we can’t make just one little exception on this one little special occasion for the butter milked from your delightful cows and churned by your rosy-cheeked milkmaids, and your yolky eggs collected lovingly from your feathery chickens by crooning farmhands. </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-80924999237783765182010-11-01T15:43:00.000+11:002010-11-01T15:43:07.874+11:00Vegan products in a non-vegan brand, or: the perils of the supermarket<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>It’s not often that PeTA and I agree. As I rule, I, like many others, feel very icky about their tactics and imagery, but they get thoroughly criticised for that if other places so if you’re interested, just go and have a google. </span></span></div><div> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>But to the agreement: I agree that L’Oreal are vile animal abusers and I haven’t used any of their products since veganising myself over three years ago (my how time flies when you’re busy reading every label on every product you buy …). However, I read some time ago that they had brought out a vegan hair care line, EverPure, which actually marketed itself as being vegan, and my interest was piqued. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>I had a little tussle with myself when I finally saw it in the supermarket on the weekend. My personal policy has always been that through mainstreaming and the wonders of shoppering veganism would become more widely known, acknowledged, desirable and even easier for people to live with. I have always supported the power of the market in being able to bring consumers vegan-friendly, reasonably-priced and high-performing products, and I am always pleased to see any product which states its vegan credentials on the label, because this is recognition that being cruelty-free is a selling point and worth shouting about – and I usually buy one in a show of support. The EverPure line meets all these criteria. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>But did I want to support a company I know to be heavy users of animal testing and derivatives? Not really. Did I want to buy a line they had produced – one of many other, non-vegan lines, admittedly – which highlighted that it was vegan? Yes. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>So my next question to myself, staring intently at the shelves in the personal care aisle, was that even though the product was vegan, in that it contained no animal products and had not been tested on animals, was it ok to buy it knowing what we do about L’Oreal? This was really where I felt uncomfortable. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br />
And then I looked around me at the supermarket where I shop every week. That supermarket sells flesh and cow breastmilk and chicken ova and all sorts of non-vegan things. In my trolley was bread from bakeries that offer honey-infused lines. I bought cereals that offer yoghurt covered raisin varieties, baked beans which have ham-filled counterparts, hummus from brands that also sell smoked salmon dip, and tinned soups which I had to hunt for amongst their chicken stock and milk solids-filled shelfmates. On a naughty day I’ll buy chips that I can eat whilst leaving the honey baked ham packets from the same brand alone, and some types of sweet biscuits but not the creamy ones. I do this all the time. I choose products that suit me, and ignore the rest. I choose to buy things and tell companies that I, the consumer, want milk and honey free bread, cereal-only cereals, bean-filled baked beans, dips made only from chickpeas and vegetable soups that only contain vegetables. I choose because I have to and I want to. I choose because despite the existence of the outstanding <a href="http://www.radicalgrocery.com.au/">Radical Grocery</a>, I cannot and do not buy all my grocery items at vegan-only shops. My belief in the power of mainstreaming and my desire to see veganism become more widely understood and accepted make me choose. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>And so I chose to try EverPure. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Incidentally, it wasn’t half as good as Organic Care and almost three times the price, but I would still like to know what you would choose. I chose one way, but you may choose another. Do you buy vegan products from non-vegan manufacturers (or do you not consider those to be vegan products at all?)? Or do you draw the line at very-non-vegan companies like L’Oreal and Proctor&Gamble on principle? Or do you support companies putting a toe in the water and buying their vegan-marked products regardless? </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>I’d really like to know – without wanting any Vegan Policing, I think this is fascinating. </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-80925255429301937502010-10-19T14:36:00.000+11:002010-10-19T14:36:09.939+11:00<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dymock's <a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2010/07/cookering-bookering-or-i-have-purchased.html">continues</a> to<a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2009/12/big-up-dymocks-or-veganic-literature.html"> impress</a> me, even on a whirlwing whizzbang lunchtime quickie shop. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
This lunchtime's haul includes the new 2011 <a href="http://www.govegan.net/?page_id=11">Sarah Kramer 'Go Vegan' calendar</a>, which will adorn the toilet wall at the T-House so that guests are held captive whilst reading its messages. No pics as only the 2010 calendar is on the website, and we couldn't possibly be that out of dat, daaaahling. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I also bought <a href="http://saragruen.com/">Sara Gruen</a>'s new book, <i>Ape House</i>. <i>Ape House</i> follows the bestselling( which I'd never heard of) <i>Water for Elephants</i> which is set in a circus (not vegan) during the Depression (neutral vegan) and according to the cover is about learning to communicate with ... an elephant (quite vegan). </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRql668QOnJ1OhzAMfRncKR8lXl81U2kbam-WwqszylJCQD8J9KvjV_A8Da1-EHNVss0LBthjdAYa7IhDV-uVAaOoEQo5W3xelhyphenhyphen_NvNesCSZHp2au-3VYcC_MlyEij7UXDVI-iETbaho/s1600/ape+house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRql668QOnJ1OhzAMfRncKR8lXl81U2kbam-WwqszylJCQD8J9KvjV_A8Da1-EHNVss0LBthjdAYa7IhDV-uVAaOoEQo5W3xelhyphenhyphen_NvNesCSZHp2au-3VYcC_MlyEij7UXDVI-iETbaho/s1600/ape+house.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Ape House</i>, and I rip this from the blurb, features bonobos who speak American Sign Language escaping into the world and capturing media attention for doing spookily human things - not so spooky given bonobos known intellectual abilities, just spooky to those who still consider animals to little more than responsive, unsentient biological machines. I don't know what it will be like, but it seems to be compassionate at first glance, and certainly better than other books by </span><a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/.../kerry-greenwoods-latest-book-forbidden" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">certain authors who misunderstand and misrepresent veganism and then send very rude emails exhibiting a complete lack of manners when called out politely for sloppy research. </a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Review possible shortcoming, and in the interests of full disclosure I should add that I also bought a book on uses of bicarb soda around the home because I am a bit sad. </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-13377633699712414372010-10-13T14:27:00.001+11:002010-10-13T14:28:49.453+11:00Argument not over yet, buster, or: babies in the crockpot<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">With more from the "never ever read the comments" file:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/from-cradle-to-crock-pot-20101013-16imh.html">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/from-cradle-to-crock-pot-20101013-16imh.html </a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I quite liked this article. It doesn't resolve anything, but it does try to pinpoint why killing and eating baby animals can be more confronting for omnis than eating adults. Speaking about the discomfort is identifying it, which is small as it is, is a step towards questioning. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">My favourite new form of omni-spam is this kind of comment: "All you sooks</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> who cry about eating baby animals, you are such hypocrites in your leather shoes and belts!". Yes you would be. But I'm not. Argument not over yet, buster. </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-78630188214988079252010-10-12T15:37:00.000+11:002010-10-12T15:37:25.953+11:00Next stop: World Domination, or: I spread my metaphorical blogging wings<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the duration, meaning for the period in which I am engaged and probably for a bit afterwards too or for as long as I have things I wish to inflict on the blogoverse's collective ears, I'll also be blogging over at <a href="http://polkadotbride.com/">PolkaDot Bride</a> (in the <a href="http://polkadotbride.com/index.php/category/Weddings/">Weddings section)</a>, which is a blog that leaves me with long strands of sticky saliva extending from lip to keyboard as I gaze at the prettypretties (that sounded so unglamorous, but I assure you it's the very height of style). </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.polkadotbride.com/index.php/2010/10/12/from-miss-t-to-mrs-b/" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My first post is up</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and there will be more. I'll continue to write here too, focussing on more vegan-nuptially things, but remember to have a squiz and Polka Dot Weddings too. </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-20915738857738359122010-10-05T14:01:00.000+11:002010-10-05T14:01:53.645+11:00Forcing it down your throat, or: Don't read the comments.<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/making-a-case-for-veganism-20101004-163m6.html </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I don't want to comment on the slightly bizarre and pointless article. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">However I will say this: why is it that any article about veg*ism is responded to immediately by a number of comments demanding that veg*ns just shut up and stop telling the author of the comment to eat meat ... and why do these comments appear before a single pro-veg comment has appeared? </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is an imaginary blast against an imaginary veg*n? Is it wishful thinking, in the way that one often has verbally violent arguments with people in one's head, coming up with a number of cutting and pithy remarks that utterly fail to spring to mind in real life? Or have the authors actually met some haranguing veg*n at some time? They do exist, but thankfully I have only ever seen them online and certainly not amonst my own friends. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
My experience is the opposite: I have had it demanded of me over the dinner table to explain myself. I recently had a chef tell me I had a mental illness, in a faux-but-not-really joking way. I have had friends introduce me - regularly - as "the vegan". I have had a million questions, all designed to find the tiniest flaw in logic as though the possibility that I would agree that if alone on a desert island having been shipwrecked without communciations devices with a newborn to feed and the absolute certainty that I will never escape then I might drink the milk of the cow stranded with me means that the entire agri-business structure is ethical. I've had countless "I could never ... I love cheese ...." and "Tasty tasty murder", usually while I'm eating. I've had "Well sorry, we're going to order pork anyway", without me having said a word. I've had "plants have feelings hahaha". </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And this in response to what I said, which was ... nothing. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In my experience omnivores confronted with veganism are often aggressive, defensive, abusive and loud. Some aren't. A surprisingly sad number are. I will only discuss veganism with people who I think want to have a reasonable discussion with me. Otherwise I am silent. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Who is forcing what down whose throat?</span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-32648713332575148012010-09-25T22:09:00.001+10:002010-09-26T11:52:42.572+10:00Mrs B, Engaged Vegan<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dear Reader, </span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I married him. </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(Not just yet, but I will). </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My absence from this blog recently has been in the most part due to my frenzy of organising after the lovely Buzz and I decided to get hitched. And the secrecy was because we were not yet engaged, and I wanted to be proposed to and he wanted to propose, so we were keeping it all under wraps. Instead of blogging, I spent my time caressing my wedding folder, emailing vendors and whipping myself into increasing fervour about bombonniere. </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But now we’re official! He is my fiance and I am his fiancee. Without going into the teary details of the proposal, I will just say that it was perfect and meaningful and it rocked. And there is a rock. </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Buzz also gave me the best present he could have on my 30th birthday when he said that he wanted to have vegan food at our wedding. This had been a little sore point for me, as early on our relationship I had made some sort of thoughtless generalised sweeping comment about it, inadvertently putting the omni Buzz onto a knife edge and asking him to do something he wasn’t yet comfortable with. I’d come to terms slowly with a compromise in my own head, reluctantly accepting that it was his wedding too. But blammo! Out of the blue on my birthday he said he wanted all the meals to be vegan. My heart went all butterflyey and pitter patter. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So as we embark on a planning a vegan wedding, I think this will become my fodder for the next year or so. There are of course a number of posts and blogs already which describe fantastic vegan weddings - not least of which is <a href="http://inthemoodfornoodles.blogspot.com/">In The Mood For Noodles</a>, when K and Toby had a potluck feast and hosted a truly brilliant reception - but as our wedding will be a bit more traditional, and really quite big at 150 guests, I think our trials and tribulations will be useful for any others planning an Offbeat Lite (as they say on <a href="http://offbeatbride.com/">Offbeatbride.com</a>) wedding. </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And so, Item the First! </span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Grub & Booze</span></b></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We were both on board with all vegan food, and as much of the alcohol as we could manage. Our first consideration was finding a venue that didn’t baulk at the idea of catering for 150 vegan meals, and more to the point, didn’t offer us a menu of salad - risotto - fruit salad. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This actually proved to be one of the most heartening aspects of all the organisation we did. Every single venue we contacted was very open to vegan meals and one of them - <a href="http://thecentreivanhoe.com/">The Centre Ivanhoe</a> - even prepared us an excellent sample menu before we went to inspect the venue. They will be using this on their website as an example of what they can do, so any couples looking for an Art Deco masterpiece should definitely contact them. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The other consideration was alcohol. We needed somewhere that could offer to either source vegan wine and beer for us from their own suppliers, or allow us to supply our own with minimal charge. The second option is much less desirable; the cost per head we were quoted to BYO was between $10 per bottle and $25 per head! </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had to come to a compromise on champagne. The only vegan champagne is Moet et Chandon, and maybe Veuve Clicquot, and our budget simply can’t stretch that far - and if it did I’d feel terribly wasteful. Our bridal table will have Moet - a girl has to have champers on her wedding day! - but I’m comfortable with something else being served to our guests and I would not be comfortable with not offering them champagne at all. Considering I had originally come to terms with a half omni menu, I think this a place I’m happy to rest. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the end we inspected four venues whose capacity was adequate, and each of them was beautiful and extraordinarily accommodating about our needs. <a href="http://thecentreivanhoe.com./">The Centre Ivanhoe</a>, <a href="http://www.gcholdings.com.au/Quat-Quatta/Home">Quat Quatta</a> and <a href="http://www.thewillows.com.au/">The Willows</a> were all excellent and very helpful, and I would happily recommend them. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But in the end we chose the first place we visited, which set the benchmark for everywhere else. <a href="http://www.treasuryrestaurant.com.au/">The Treasury Restaurant</a> at the Sebel Hotel really captured us - it is an old bank now operating as a restaurant under a hotel , and the architectural virtues and sense of history really sealed the deal. The building is immaculately restored - nothing less glamorous than peeling paint - and offers the right balance between a sense of both spaciousness and intimacy that we want for our guests. We can hold the ceremony there (indoors is very important given it will be winter and evening!), then guests can head up to the mezzanine level for drinks and canapes while we get our photies, and then the reception will be held downstairs again. A bit of a change of scenery and no one (except us!) has to brave the dark and cold! And the best bit is that when the night is over, shoes are kicked off and eyes are closing, we can simply head to the lifts and be carried up to our room. </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-75245879418907096942010-09-09T18:39:00.000+10:002010-09-09T18:39:06.159+10:00CheekySneakyPeekies: Hustle That Bustle<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">As you may recall from <a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2008/10/everyone-and-everyone-theyve-ever-met.html">this </a>post, I highly endorse everyone and everyone they've ever met getting their sweaty mitts on a copy of the Veg Food Guide. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And this year it's supersized itself, morphing into the Aus Veg Food Guide - it's gone megasuperduperexplosive!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">You - yes, the bow-legged one* - can get an advance cheeky-sneaky copy here: <a href="http://www.aduki.net.au/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=48" target="_blank">http://www.aduki.net.au/<wbr></wbr>component/virtuemart/?page=<wbr></wbr>shop.product_details&flypage=<wbr></wbr>flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=48</a> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">(and it's at a reduced price to boot). </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Most of all though - I am one of the reviewers! So bask in my reflected glory and Hustle And Bustle over to www.aduki.net.au Pronto. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*Shout out, Salt'n'Pepa. Shout. </span><br />
</div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-88253816783467256522010-09-08T15:31:00.000+10:002010-09-08T15:31:36.597+10:00Adorabubbles, or: just let us have one positive article<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well duh. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/tasty-vegan-food-cupcakes-show-it-can-be-done/?src=me&ref=homepage">Yummy vegan cupcakes. </a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And duh, there are comments about how lovely rich melty butter and yolky sunny eggs are underneath, and how healthful and not at all cruel they are. Can't the egg-and-dairy-country-farmyard apologists even let one article about vegan cupcakes- sweet, innocent, adorabubble cupcakes - slide without raising their fists in anger to tell us how much better theirs are ... even if they admit they've never tried a vegan cupcake? Can't we just have one article about cupcakes without being told we're all going to die of brittle bones, too weak and puny to get of bed to reach 'real' (ie: flesh and bodily emissions) sustenance?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, enjoy the cupcakes. Raspberries to them. </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-80584186807134167502010-07-05T14:55:00.001+10:002010-07-05T14:57:25.612+10:00Eating Wilbur and Patting Rex, or: re-establising the Farm to Fork Continuum in the public mind<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I suspect a zeitgeist. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On Sunday, perusing as is my pretentious wont, the Weekend Australian Magazine (actually I never read the Australian; it was a one-off), I read a column that I can't locate online in my lunch hour, but which I assure you exists, about the break in the farm-to-fork continuum that allows self-proclaimed animal lovers to chow down on Daisy, Wilbur or Lambert whilst simultaneously petting Fido and stroking Fluffy. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Today's Age contains </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/some-animals-really-are-more-equal-than-others-20100702-zto2.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">this</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> column, slightly more academic and pointed, but in the same vein. I hope that the 'conscious forgetting' of Jonathan Safran Foer that the author refers to is getting more and more forgotten itself, but it does at least seem that this issue is getting more media airtime. I hope that someone, reading the weekend paper with a cup of coffee on the couch (or beer if you're like me), glanced down at faithful Ralph or Rex or King or Duke or Bailey or Sam, and then reconsidered their plan for a pig sandwich for lunch and a baby sheep roast for dinner.</span> </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-52777398935378499092010-07-01T12:17:00.001+10:002010-07-02T09:59:16.564+10:00Cookering Bookering, or: I have purchased more instructional veganic literature<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've oohed and aahed <a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2009/12/big-up-dymocks-or-veganic-literature.html">before</a> over the excellent vegan cookering bookering section at Dymocks in Collins St. They seem to have more all the time, including <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Viva-Vegan-Authentic-Fabulous-Recipes/dp/0738212733">Terry Romero's Viva Vegan </a>for those who like Latinesque foodering (not enough pictures for me ... yet. But I do really like the cover and think it's a bit a la Nigella ... so therefore mainstreamish and more appealing to audiences. I rate that). </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dymocks' psychic pull on me is intense, because recently I have bought:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0y0tEaKJMGfKJoy91RDYa9RluevgvvlobWDyOO7oBK7JcQ3X-w6vSOUnbPx9ie6nkFR0sPU52YhxIMUzPTJPIT1XxFB2k9T2gUSOOu-uTxf9NB7GqD09_ggvY-YtfUdpxZ0QV1EK2Q4/s1600/vegan_table_front.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0y0tEaKJMGfKJoy91RDYa9RluevgvvlobWDyOO7oBK7JcQ3X-w6vSOUnbPx9ie6nkFR0sPU52YhxIMUzPTJPIT1XxFB2k9T2gUSOOu-uTxf9NB7GqD09_ggvY-YtfUdpxZ0QV1EK2Q4/s320/vegan_table_front.png" /></a></span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Vegan Table</b> by Collen Patrick-Goudreau (also of The Joy of Vegan Baking). We've made some verrry noice burgers from it. No pictures, breaking my usual rule, but beautifully laid out and fonted. (Fonted?).</span></li>
</ul><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Ultimate Vegan Cook Book</b> (not Veganomicon ... I can't find a picture of it and it seems like a stock published book, but it was only $25 and it even has instructional pictures)</span></li>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrsaNIZttl812Uaol9v0kkka8aO1ukErYVi7NCMx8JiuUlrsOoAmTHclQJ_CYQwmR5xHGG3kWfrnV6Qitrmr0EKvFNPI-qWjz0Q8lSsrlPfnxIfDKk9vg1nIkE8zqavPZ0x6fOWJEQpY/s1600/cleanfood-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrsaNIZttl812Uaol9v0kkka8aO1ukErYVi7NCMx8JiuUlrsOoAmTHclQJ_CYQwmR5xHGG3kWfrnV6Qitrmr0EKvFNPI-qWjz0Q8lSsrlPfnxIfDKk9vg1nIkE8zqavPZ0x6fOWJEQpY/s320/cleanfood-cover.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Clean Food</b> by Terry Walters. </span><span style="font-size: small;">This book doesn't contain the word 'vegan'. But any book that uses agar agar in dessert recipes sure darn is. Quite American as its focus is seasonal ingredients, but still looking sensational and heeeeeps of recipes. </span></li>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nxIT4AfkJE9eCaWeksx4zWDMtEGwFLdQyIR3ts1ZaNZc9MD7Lg2BlAQMW6kVOzYOPnBN80Ye_ZihQPGgeYXUceCLrn5w9aK7I4xAXYoHKeE-ODN-3LgWHF4N3c8u6KyTudKN4J_4xcM/s1600/babycakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nxIT4AfkJE9eCaWeksx4zWDMtEGwFLdQyIR3ts1ZaNZc9MD7Lg2BlAQMW6kVOzYOPnBN80Ye_ZihQPGgeYXUceCLrn5w9aK7I4xAXYoHKeE-ODN-3LgWHF4N3c8u6KyTudKN4J_4xcM/s320/babycakes.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Babycakes</b> by Erin McKenna (even though I'm not really a bakerer, I loved the purdiness of the book and also the chance to cook something vegan and gluten free so I can share it with Buzz's mama)</span></li>
</ul><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Easy Vegan</b> (again, a publisher only book, but 'easy' rings bells in my soul)</span></li>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixr7RbrXECodljBgVEyuxKKHYGnmQX5p0MeS8CaQL-YA4TKrRfKffrLEJvcWYXxJTEklN1eIWkZoM6n8FdHM2GeHAj8YkdBaHkZpgsiBI7IxVtaR1BBTJWRL8aZpIqrm80uS_EkJ5eEQI/s1600/30+minute+vegan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixr7RbrXECodljBgVEyuxKKHYGnmQX5p0MeS8CaQL-YA4TKrRfKffrLEJvcWYXxJTEklN1eIWkZoM6n8FdHM2GeHAj8YkdBaHkZpgsiBI7IxVtaR1BBTJWRL8aZpIqrm80uS_EkJ5eEQI/s320/30+minute+vegan.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The 30 Minute Vegan </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray (like 'easy', 'quick' is like angel wings beating against my heart). </span></li>
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">My collection is growing ... soon to take over more shelves in the kitchen and colonise a cupboard. </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-82073787444837025512010-06-18T08:57:00.001+10:002010-06-18T08:57:57.009+10:00'The Animal Cruelty Syndrome', or: The NY Times follows up<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>**TRIGGER WARNING**: The article discussed here contains some graphic and heartbreaking descriptions of animal abuse. I found it hard to read. If you think this will trigger you, I advise you not to link to it. The extracts below do not contain these descriptions. </b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2010/03/abuser-is-abuser-or-us-starts-seeing.html">In March the NY Times reported </a>that an increasing number of US States were passing legislation to bar convicted animal abusers from owning or coming into contact with pets, and to mandate child or spousal abuse officers and animal control officers to share information and report to each other when they find something wrong.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today the NY Times has published an extended piece titled '<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13dogfighting-t.html?pagewanted=1&hpw">The Animal Cruelty Syndrome'</a>, which discusses the growing recognition that animal cruelty is part of a constellation of behaviours endemic to abusive households, gang activity and the psychologically disturbed. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The article is by<b> </b>Charles Siebert, a contributing writer, who is the author of “The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals.” The article is well-written, empathetic and unflinching - I think I'd like to read this book. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'll try to do a more in-depth discussion when I'm not, say, at work, but for now here are some extracts. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Back in the early 1980s, Lockwood was asked to work on behalf of New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services with a team of investigators looking into the treatment of animals in middle-class American households that had been identified as having issues of child abuse. They interviewed all the members of each family as well as the social workers who were assigned to them. The researchers’ expectation going in was that such families would have relatively few pets given their unstable and volatile environments. They found, however, not only that these families owned far more pets than other households in the same community but also that few of the animals were older than 2.</span></i> </blockquote></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “There was a very high turnover of pets in these families,” Lockwood told me. “Pets dying or being discarded or running away. We discovered that in homes where there was domestic violence or physical abuse of children, the incidence of animal cruelty was close to 90 percent. The most common pattern was that the abusive parent had used animal cruelty as a way of controlling the behaviors of others in the home. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at what links things like animal cruelty and child abuse and domestic violence. And one of the things is the need for power and control. Animal abuse is basically a power-and-control crime.”</span></i></div></blockquote>... <br />
<blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">In a separate study, a quarter of battered women reported that they had delayed leaving abusive relationships for the shelter out of fear for the well-being of the family pet. In response, a number of shelters across the country have developed “safe haven” programs that offer refuges for abused pets as well as people, in order that both can be freed from the cycle of intimidation and violence. </span></i></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">...</span></i></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">What cannot be so easily monitored or ameliorated, however, is the corrosive effect that witnessing such acts has on children and their development. More than 70 percent of U.S. households with young children have pets. In a study from the 1980s, 7-to-10-year-old children named on average two pets when listing the 10 most important individuals in their lives. When asked to “whom do you turn to when you are feeling sad, angry, happy or wanting to share a secret,” nearly half of 5-year-old children in another study mentioned their pets. One way to think of what animal abuse does to a child might simply be to consider all the positive associations and life lessons that come from a child’s closeness to a pet — right down to eventually receiving their first and perhaps most gentle experiences of death as a natural part of life — and then flipping them so that all those lessons and associations turn negative. </span></i></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> ...</span></i></div><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To date, one of the most promising methods for healing those whose empathic pathways have been stunted by things like repeated exposure to animal cruelty is, poetically enough, having such victims work with animals. Kids who tend to be completely unresponsive to human counselors and who generally shun physical and emotional closeness with people often find themselves talking openly to, often crying in front of, a horse — a creature that can often be just as strong-willed and unpredictable as they are and yet in no way judgmental, except, of course, for a natural aversion to loud, aggressive human behaviors. </span></span></i></blockquote>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-6888647741070069562010-06-11T09:42:00.001+10:002010-06-11T09:43:18.686+10:00A victory for Tasmania and pigs, or: a change for Australia<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Well that's good news! I'd like to think it was my letter, but I assume it was a critical mass ...</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; width: 700px;"><tbody>
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<tr><td style="color: black; line-height: 1.3em; padding: 30px 0pt 0pt;"><div style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear Rachel,</span></div><div style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Today marks an extraordinary day for pigs.</b> It’s days like these that we are reminded that with hard work and persistence, comes results. In this case — the first state-based commitment to phase out one of the cruellest practices in Australia...</span></div></td> </tr>
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<tr> <td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://animalsaustralia.qnetau.com/support/monthly_giving.php" target="_blank"><img alt="Donate" border="0" height="112" width="253" /></a></span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td bgcolor="#cce7f0" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 231, 240); color: #336585; padding: 0pt 18px 15px;"><span style="font-size: small;">This historic development would never have been possible without the support of Animals Australia’s members. <b>Thank You</b>. Animals Australia relies entirely on public donations. <a href="https://animalsaustralia.qnetau.com/support/monthly_giving.php" style="color: #336585;" target="_blank">Please give generously</a> to support our ongoing efforts to free animals from needless cruelty.</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="padding-top: 2px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/victory-tasmania-bans-sow-stalls.php#ads" target="_blank"><img alt="Newspaper advertisements" border="0" height="364" width="253" /></a></span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td bgcolor="#cce7f0" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 217, 145); color: #997b43; padding: 0pt 18px 15px;"><span style="font-size: small;">ABOVE: Animals Australia in conjunction with <i>Brightside Farm Sanctuary</i> recently placed a series of high impact print advertisements in three state-wide newspapers, bringing Minister Green face to face with the animals he had the opportunity to help.</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="padding-top: 2px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/" target="_blank"><img alt="We've
been busy!" border="0" height="43" width="253" /></a></span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td bgcolor="#cce7f0" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 231, 240); color: #336585; padding: 4px 18px 15px;"><span style="font-size: small;">TIP: Visit <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/" style="color: #336585;" target="_blank">AnimalsAustralia.org</a>, or our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Animals-Australia/32799215298" style="color: #336585;" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> to see other recent campaign initiatives.</span></td> </tr>
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</tbody></table><div style="margin-top: 0pt; padding-top: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Following a state-wide newspaper advertising blitz by Animals Australia and <i>Brightside Farm Sanctuary</i>, Tasmania's Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green announced in parliament today (June 10th 2010) that he will ban cruel sow stalls in the state!</span></div><span style="font-size: small;">Pigs are among the most intelligent species on the planet, and yet have been subjected to one of the cruellest practices ever inflicted on animals in Australia. 'Sow stalls' are typically used in factory farming operations across the country to confine and isolate mother pigs during pregnancy. The national Code of Practice permits these animals to be confined in tiny crates, unable even to turn around for months on end, denying them exercise and any quality of life. As a result, pigs suffer painful physical ailments and even depression.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Recently the Tasmanian Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) recognised the unacceptable cruelty permitted by the flawed national code, and recommended to Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green that Tasmania take a leading role to become the first state to outlaw the cruel practice of confining sows in stalls. Animals Australia’s representative on the AWAC provided crucial input on the scientific and ethical arguments against confining sows in tiny stalls.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Despite heavy lobbying from Australia's intensive pork industry, Minister Green has accepted this recommendation, encouraged by a flood of supportive letters and e-mails from thousands of caring Animals Australia supporters.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This significant development, along with the recent announcement by Australia's largest piggery to voluntarily phase out sow stalls, could never have happened without Animals Australia's investigations, <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/60-minutes-the-hidden-truth.php" target="_blank">media exposés</a>, and high profile public awareness <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/media/ads.php" target="_blank">campaigns</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Consistent with international precedents, the Tasmanian government will implement a phase out of sow stalls with a total ban in 2017. Therefore it is crucial that Animals Australia continues to highlight to consumers in Tasmania and throughout Australia that they have the power to help these animals right now by refusing to purchase factory farmed products. In addition, we will be lobbying other state governments to follow the precedent established in Tasmania.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Please help us maintain our high impact campaigns on behalf of animals. Hope is finally on the horizon for these intelligent animals thanks to the committed support of our members. <b>You can help us bring about change even sooner by <a href="https://animalsaustralia.qnetau.com/support/monthly_giving.php" target="_blank">donating today</a></b>.</span><br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 1.5em 0pt; width: 412px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://animalsaustralia.qnetau.com/support/monthly_giving.php" target="_blank"><img alt="Become a donor" border="0" height="137" width="358" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you for being a voice for animals,</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Lyn White</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Animals Australia Communication Director</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">P.S. If you have friends who love animals please tell them about <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/" target="_blank">Animals Australia</a>. Our small team of campaigners ensure that animals in need get maximum value out of every precious dollar donated to us. With greater support, more important outcomes like this will become possible.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-743115653708643982010-06-07T09:46:00.000+10:002010-06-07T09:46:03.703+10:00Things that made me teary this morning, or: Blood sports even for the smallest of creatures<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Under <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/bullfighting-outlawed-catalonia">this</a> article from today's Guardian, is this comment, which just makes my heart break.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div class="posted-time" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">6 Jun 2010, 2:17AM</div><span class="author-tier" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a class="rollover" href="" title="Featured"> </a> </span> <div class="pluck-comment-body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The cruelty does not begin or end with bullfights in Spain. At 'ferias' I have been to you can pay a Euro to throw stones at a rabbit nailed to a plank; I have seen donkeys stabbed to death in the town square in Mijas on Easter parades (there is of course the infamous traddition of throwing a donkey or a horse from the bell tower as well), and in Malaga they regularily have bullfights for children where the 'matador', dressed a bit like Ronald McDonald, invites the children to join him in hacking a bull calf to death in the ring, to much merriment of the assembled parents. And if you are too lazy to participate in the stabbing, taunting and torturing yourself, you can always watch the children's bullfighting programme on Saturday morning: 'Toros para todos.' <br />
What a lovely country. Let's all go there and pay our respects their ancient and noble traditions, shall we?</i></div></div></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's not right. It will never be right. Culture and tradition be damned. </span>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-31369499081195928362010-06-06T23:57:00.002+10:002010-06-07T09:08:15.793+10:00Anatomy of a birthday weekend, or: My fourth decade<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Miss T for Miss Thirty. </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Friday 4 June 2010</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKYhR2Cs9UASSwUkAY3NQ2-ilA0DUh-Tv0A0RUwY32fe4easPXQ4kI2Mxoc1pvtZdDOImYSZ3l4aG9ZBePrRHNnKM1If2tBGjD3L-p0jPo8D57M4riaahy4gK0ou4sTxaWFhwlJupADUY/s1600/P1050251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKYhR2Cs9UASSwUkAY3NQ2-ilA0DUh-Tv0A0RUwY32fe4easPXQ4kI2Mxoc1pvtZdDOImYSZ3l4aG9ZBePrRHNnKM1If2tBGjD3L-p0jPo8D57M4riaahy4gK0ou4sTxaWFhwlJupADUY/s320/P1050251.JPG" /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA75MVrMsbnB16oOe5a8JRbNIWCrNNKgy7RHVtzy8CQvYvyJV7hZrR3rC6TPeXU_ZqNOa9M_1g7BrrDHCFNCFZJxua0RIn48TfZ2rGzHLn-ZIboc0G-Nt_K3zlS4S6yLUcSeM7R7vtK3o/s1600/P1050250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA75MVrMsbnB16oOe5a8JRbNIWCrNNKgy7RHVtzy8CQvYvyJV7hZrR3rC6TPeXU_ZqNOa9M_1g7BrrDHCFNCFZJxua0RIn48TfZ2rGzHLn-ZIboc0G-Nt_K3zlS4S6yLUcSeM7R7vtK3o/s320/P1050250.JPG" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">A party at work with artwork from Miss Erin's two girls, the Misses Kira and Breanna. Breanna has even drawn directions for how to throw a surprise party. The coolest!<b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXFzBwZqHNqG70RpFIKnpeYDO93mP1Kz7lZXr1ITFwh6Ush8mi9oaMHq9iEfDVDUABNz91Qfklvd6_88xryhkhH0ZQNpgOyUPRfdo7SMBmXu0LxSBvhB453uf1ajiFckh64SPCP9LFVU/s1600/P1050274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXFzBwZqHNqG70RpFIKnpeYDO93mP1Kz7lZXr1ITFwh6Ush8mi9oaMHq9iEfDVDUABNz91Qfklvd6_88xryhkhH0ZQNpgOyUPRfdo7SMBmXu0LxSBvhB453uf1ajiFckh64SPCP9LFVU/s320/P1050274.JPG" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>The beautiful bangle from the girls at work - perfect. <b><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOANAIW7BdWziV9ZqqsEt4buvJgUDefSpyfmDq7YJHeGvm1GV94kG03NkKVKMmU07NRwrHngwk0XS7DGuDwcv-ME4hgGiYJLyeE66u4nf1IJU8dcKuZ1HtEwHAiChO3jyEtNDdejcWa8/s1600/P1050253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOANAIW7BdWziV9ZqqsEt4buvJgUDefSpyfmDq7YJHeGvm1GV94kG03NkKVKMmU07NRwrHngwk0XS7DGuDwcv-ME4hgGiYJLyeE66u4nf1IJU8dcKuZ1HtEwHAiChO3jyEtNDdejcWa8/s320/P1050253.JPG" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">A lovely brooch from Arts Victoria from Miss Veronica, who I have been friends with since were were in Form 7D together in 1993, and we now work on the same floor. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRZWAn1mv-TychDWI1J78A41luyhaJVQH6HvHqTRBQKmPRJD9XLFX57LYNQodbgvcvM9EaW-rQn3Pf8m5ok9EW-n72KGO-yd89CFyLE6TDR_6_X8YWX34niTmzLhBKmo1pklAiQaLAjI/s320/P1050268.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">A dinner of the best food in the world: A on VT.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Saturday 5 June 2010 - the day of days</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj81WeC5WjAezYPollhFigI_L7ovUnxjHhSwU_DcGmLf152Qrzhxx-OhmhXBGt13zEI1d6TacKC7h5f6mY6ZGoOln5I2GxU9sxsxhiNSyd2zjUqans0NEEG5Yn65Eam9TdD-Yy8moIDdo/s1600/P1050282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj81WeC5WjAezYPollhFigI_L7ovUnxjHhSwU_DcGmLf152Qrzhxx-OhmhXBGt13zEI1d6TacKC7h5f6mY6ZGoOln5I2GxU9sxsxhiNSyd2zjUqans0NEEG5Yn65Eam9TdD-Yy8moIDdo/s320/P1050282.JPG" /></a><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">My present from my parents and myself - a white gold pendant from Canturi. I love that you can't really tell if it's modern or Art Deco. I've been lusting for years and decided if I couldn't justify it now, it would languish forever on my list of "things that I shoulda-woulda-coulda". It's for the granddaughters. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEoNjCkJfoAtbuV6_1VD9zgEZAmHV0J0YSlEz73CVFPko1rszaL7cscu4dMxcY0qBx_iFT25llbRp5fRFPz-CVNcafithtG6fO7Jg5mFTanMScKxYDSc8wYw1_pQwKRel4dUo6aAOX1Bc/s1600/P1050291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEoNjCkJfoAtbuV6_1VD9zgEZAmHV0J0YSlEz73CVFPko1rszaL7cscu4dMxcY0qBx_iFT25llbRp5fRFPz-CVNcafithtG6fO7Jg5mFTanMScKxYDSc8wYw1_pQwKRel4dUo6aAOX1Bc/s320/P1050291.JPG" /></a> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Out for breakfast at Soulfoods. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6bstFXuETNjrXqRas1FNLFpjGjMZmmimchk2Tyj6TMrcTWAuCDrkDsO6vGIIPDvfUxyQUfrGccKIlRMbaJYhTWLNJzOD-CYpxnBKdiQSz_qwiv1KQYSqMsZtj9lee9xMEw3SwuK5jjw/s320/P1050290.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mr Lovaah Lovaah.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And then off to Buzz's present for me ...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddNNnukClNQdmT_5Km8JnqvkBF1V2NtHTaaKX_9mW4sNm5u4Ih08sI5I2_0CmpIC01RmKh-u685nlJ0SbtNJ4X9aRjdy3mR8WxUSBu8L_rHL7DL72GK5TyedSSCJ89Yhx8JzO1oheFxs/s1600/P1050347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddNNnukClNQdmT_5Km8JnqvkBF1V2NtHTaaKX_9mW4sNm5u4Ih08sI5I2_0CmpIC01RmKh-u685nlJ0SbtNJ4X9aRjdy3mR8WxUSBu8L_rHL7DL72GK5TyedSSCJ89Yhx8JzO1oheFxs/s320/P1050347.JPG" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHskHTcEir-4lcic1G9RVanlKrLWAM4uwkHJByOwIZduvbAOZKcjahiLZZYwMrTdCNXIvPIvCQZ0X-87uA4VS_r-Eyk73SAZDrHrZGG-9ak-ELL6GYefoM5Su75A2Df_IVWhB4erRneAY/s320/P1050348.JPG" /> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Designed by Buzz with art direction from Miss T, executed by Tammy at <a href="http://www.eternalinstinct.com/">Eternal Instinct.</a> It's new and still healing so the colours will brighten. I think I may get the pink enpinkened a little if it stays paler. You can never go hot enough with pink. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lovelovelove. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">(and I have some information on vegan ink which I'll share later). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpmMqMmRWUaPVI7dcvuRgsvgsxReqbtafqjdYlEYHd3lKIMbfH0jCb44WGLCPAaP_AgGhoEFBDR8-BZQ04UrKqxt5oINKvfFF9FwJxWFL6EvoEhGyoHm4E_bFVEjmtjaD7UUH-nGnRHI/s320/P1050294.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lunch from La Panella - vausage roll. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiFgBRDie7yf4AJ8iOkcfDhCP0Ev6uMgvjyWnBdpiImeM1u7QfWx_R0UfXO3fT92L_ud7N3kbL6uvpTJUw6RHUbNXmiB29rMasnxUzUc9hvUvVk4Okks2WHzS_Oc_Z4kzymWbfrMrNHk/s320/P1050296.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Homer.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpmbDgQe3XPGuJJD0cGZucREvTHLmXKxpngOM8sf7SPffv2BY-oHPpWQUvewu3BUlCPXNTdruwOTt5dVMisg0m9ja1lD_n3CnAL89bLKFr50cMNOk1VnkIARMcvpFPyCvRc3Y9PRdlvM/s1600/P1050299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpmbDgQe3XPGuJJD0cGZucREvTHLmXKxpngOM8sf7SPffv2BY-oHPpWQUvewu3BUlCPXNTdruwOTt5dVMisg0m9ja1lD_n3CnAL89bLKFr50cMNOk1VnkIARMcvpFPyCvRc3Y9PRdlvM/s320/P1050299.JPG" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's SammyOne Puppykins' nose trying to get at my Whittaker's. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWyREQ6hEzFpv6D_GsdRugoK1UVeYt-91JfKkDW5kH_5-W423MH4JOyZf8Yl_K_HGFUyGJ8CoQYFKr1UZJj6sb5dYDYJNOfuiZeHRiMY74u82QqoGRKUDtt8RiQo0H6qauQO-XA_6Vfnw/s1600/P1050322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWyREQ6hEzFpv6D_GsdRugoK1UVeYt-91JfKkDW5kH_5-W423MH4JOyZf8Yl_K_HGFUyGJ8CoQYFKr1UZJj6sb5dYDYJNOfuiZeHRiMY74u82QqoGRKUDtt8RiQo0H6qauQO-XA_6Vfnw/s320/P1050322.JPG" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dinner at <a href="http://ecuisine.com.au/">Enlightened Cuisine</a> with the fam, Mr and Mrs T and Miss T Junior, and the Esteemed Grandfather Mr R, and Buzz. Best dish, <a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/.../vegan-votering-or-enlightened-cuisine.htm">as before:</a> 5 spice tofu. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And after (not snapped): drinks for Miss Leia Jade's birthday. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sunday 6 June 2010</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3E43_NEw9W49oGERp2vKY10oNYo0NGttIZXTXDjplwmbJ1PgBuKEOszEVRhHTorohsx_PkL80SKX-0KdGqL0Ugt93AI_JA9OGlEeHjuRvZ6N_Wfnbap4S5EnsxWysdLb78dSq__jdieQ/s1600/P1050328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3E43_NEw9W49oGERp2vKY10oNYo0NGttIZXTXDjplwmbJ1PgBuKEOszEVRhHTorohsx_PkL80SKX-0KdGqL0Ugt93AI_JA9OGlEeHjuRvZ6N_Wfnbap4S5EnsxWysdLb78dSq__jdieQ/s320/P1050328.JPG" /></a><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sunday morning - Camberwell market felafel. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-KTG2ne8LFwlwFHvtOCvjs43IJwMqef70iJtUsQkBjQ2Er80USbqLVP0S-YzL4NS8hNYbkLvEW7Hcrgs7j_0K5vgqfZD8DkXn9UxejQxb6VI9CKvqKbA2pjxlNC10kzUmQBaglV_o-I/s1600/P1050333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-KTG2ne8LFwlwFHvtOCvjs43IJwMqef70iJtUsQkBjQ2Er80USbqLVP0S-YzL4NS8hNYbkLvEW7Hcrgs7j_0K5vgqfZD8DkXn9UxejQxb6VI9CKvqKbA2pjxlNC10kzUmQBaglV_o-I/s320/P1050333.JPG" /></a> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thoughtful and generous Dinosaur Designs necklace from Mr and Mrs T's neighbours, the lovely Ms Marisa who has known me since before I was born, and family Mr Ric, Master Dante and Miss Allegra. Beeyootiful and so undeserved. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiu2bQBNE1cLomg8SzU0nZFpM5Z1uvWcRqYRsOY7ViAuUxfY2dhZ-mmpJLEXMDpRGwUOr4BGlSgBXCkp8iM1JHR-CZtgjVta7nMc13A3DdkE2BunLs8yM3_xj0GFiGNDea-nxS6l9Citc/s320/P1050337.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Miss T Jnr outdoes herself with baked New York cheesecake via <a href="http://northsideladies.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-york-baked-cheesecake.html">Carla</a>. Eaten while visiting the Esteemed Grandmother Mrs R. Do not attempt more than once slice. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6jz5iTkdqMRdmrckZJbbXHb9YqBKqoI3vdfWQlJBqlYtNZr4P8b_N_jSHo9Kq5AX_ya8SbY7bNpzemrZTIgc1UlVcqOOkndJVNNKJTNfy-7Dbt7i9fyAuIiCbPGF1l78gQmSEJBCyDY/s320/P1050351.JPG" /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Homemade Sunday night dinner with Mr and Mrs Buzz with TV, SammyPuppins and the love of my life. </span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thank you everyone. </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-5469546253787781102010-06-03T10:17:00.000+10:002010-06-03T10:17:07.435+10:00Tasmania could lead the way, or: banning sow stalls<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I received the following email from Animals Australia. My response is below, and I urge you to do the same. This is an ooprtunity for one state to forge ahead in making positive changes to the welfare of pigs - someone must be first. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-top: 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear Rachel,</span></div><div> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> I'm writing to you today to share with you some wonderfully hopeful news, and also to ask for a small favour on behalf of thousands of needy animals.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Your critical support of our campaign to end factory farming has helped create the groundswell that has made it possible for <strong>the first Australian state government to consider a legislative ban on the use of sow stalls</strong>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> As you may know, the 'sow stall' represents one of the cruellest practices ever inflicted on pigs in Australia. Already banned in the U.K. and in parts of Europe, these cruel concrete and metal crates imprison mother pigs so severely that they cannot even turn around. Here in Australia, laws currently permit pregnant sows to be left in this debilitating state for months at a time.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> In an incredibly positive move, Tasmania’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) recently recommended that <strong>Tasmania become the first state to ban the use of sow stalls on the basis of unacceptable cruelty</strong>. The decision to accept the recommendation now rests with one man: Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The pig industry is hard at work lobbying Minister Green to ignore science that clearly reveals how pigs suffer physically and emotionally inside stalls. They would rather continue the practice of confining pigs in stalls indefinitely. <strong>So who will speak up for the pigs?</strong></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Animals Australia in collaboration with Tasmanian-based member society <em>Brightside Farm Sanctuary</em> have responded in force by placing a series of 18 high-impact ads across three state-wide newspapers that will bring the Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister face to face with the very animals he has the opportunity to help. <strong>You can view the ads <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/a-plea-for-compassion.php#ads" style="color: #c42525;" target="_blank">here</a>.</strong></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Right now it is <strong>critical</strong> that Minister Green be reminded that all caring Australians are appalled by animal cruelty and will enthusiastically support a ban on cruel sow stalls — which brings me to that favour I wanted to ask you...</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> You can help us bring about this important outcome by sending a personal e-mail to Minister Green to urge him to accept AWAC's recommendation to ban sow stalls in Tasmania. Your message need only be a few short lines. His address is: <strong><a href="mailto:bryan.green@parliament.tas.gov.au" style="color: #c42525;" target="_blank">bryan.green@parliament.tas.<wbr></wbr>gov.au</a></strong></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Thank you dearly for your ongoing support. <strong>A few minutes of your time today could help end a lifetime of suffering for animals.</strong></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> For the pigs, </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lyn White</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear Minister, <br />
<br />
I write to urge you to accept the recommendation of Tasmania's Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) that Tasmania ban the use of sow stalls on the basis of unacceptable cruelty. <br />
<br />
The United Kingdom and Europe have also recognised that the confinement of pregnant sows in a conrete and metal crate for months at a time without room to turn around constitutes severe cruelty.<br />
<br />
It is scientifically well established that pigs are animals with significant levels of intelligence and emotion, much the same as that of a dog. Their technical classification as farm animals is insufficient justification to allow treatment of them that we would not accept if applied to domestic animals and our pets. <br />
<br />
The pig industry will attempt to reduce the severity of suffering experienced by sows, and present economic arguments to continue current practices. I strongly urge you to consider instead the moral imperative that each of us bears to uphold acceptable standards of welfare for animals under our care. <br />
<br />
I hope very much that Tasmania will lead the nation in banning this unecessary, cruel and inhumane practice. <br />
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Yours faithfully,</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Miss T</span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5108685068293402971" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5108685068293402971" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5108685068293402971" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-36588796507565312762010-05-30T18:20:00.000+10:002010-05-30T18:20:33.221+10:00Victoria Votes, or: political machinations and the Animal Justice Party of Australia<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Melbourne Magazine - something I usually find oddly entrancing despite the intense navel-gazing - has run an article in which Ted Baillieu and John Brumby answer questions posed by Victorians. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The answers range from the straight-talkin' (here's Brumby on whether the government will raise the drinking age to 21: <i>"I don't support that because to be honest I don't believe realistically it could be achieved or implemented"</i>) to the infuriating (how about this corker by Baillieu in answer to a question about street violence in the CBD: <i>"We have set out a very cleat strategy to deal with it, and that's, in part, police numbers ... We've also said that we need zero-tolerance enforcement. We will get rid of suspended sentences, we'll get rid of home detention and we'll put an end to what is talked about in police circles as the notion of a free hit."</i>)</span>.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">One question posed that is very important to me is this one from Peter Singer:</div><div> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <blockquote> <i>"Will you empower inspectors to make routine, unannounced visits to Victorian factory farms so that the public does not have to rey on the occasional whistleblower with courage enough to report when animals are kept in cruel conditions that violate the law and the government's own codes of practice?</i>" <br />
</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Victoria goes to the polls on 27 November. The answers to this question will help me decide on my vote (I'd also love to see an answer from the Greens, whose animal policy is <a href="http://www.vic.greens.org.au/about/policy/policy-documents/Animals300606/view">here </a>- it's welfarist in position but with some excellent points) and although I am not trying to sway your vote, I hope these answers will help inform your own considerations and decision-making process (which as a responsible citizen of a democratic nation you will of course undertake before casting your vote). </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">John Brumby: </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <i>"We're not looking at any changes in this area at this point in time, but let me say that animal welfare is a very important issue to our state. How you ensure appropriate welfare for animals is the sign, I think, of any civilised society, and so it is fundamental that businesses that operate in our state should and must operate within the laws that are set in place". </i><br />
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</blockquote></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Ted Baillieu:</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <i>"There will be, from time to time, occasions where the wrong thing is being done but I have great faith in our farming sector, and I think the system is working reasonably well, at present, to identify any inappropriate practices". </i><br />
</blockquote></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the federal sphere (federal system of government ... three tiers of government... ) is the newly forming </span><a href="http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/Welcome.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Animal Justice Party of Australia</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. Niki has already written about this new political party </span><a href="http://melbourneveganesque.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-political-party-animal-justice.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. I'm really pleased that the issues I am most interested in are garnering enough support to warrant a political movement. I'm under no illusions that the AJP will sweep into office and declare the new state Veganstralia, but a political voice reflects community concern. It will be hard to present serious animal-related issues in a way that gathers general community support without coming across as craaaazy-vegans or making people think that their Saturday BBQ snags will be subject to armed raids (I want omnis' support. I would like to confiscate their snags too but it's no way to ensure our issues get a sympathetic hearing outside of Veganville), but I'm glad they're tackling it. I think I'll </span><a href="http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/Join.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">join</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> .</span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-88798495259202749062010-05-18T14:22:00.000+10:002010-05-18T14:22:00.219+10:00Testing, testing, or: The Age is discussing animal testing and makeup<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today's 'Beauty Beat' blog at The Age website has a post on animal testing. I've responded and urge you to do the same. It's astonishing how often people assume that products are no longer tested on animals (because they rightly think that it's barbaric, abhorrent and ineffective) but it's just that the issue has slipped off the radar - I know this was the case for me when I started veganising my makeup and bathroom products. It's great that this important but often forgotten issue is getting an airing. </span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">http://blogs.theage.com.au/lifestyle/beautybeat/archives/2010/05/cruel_reality.html </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-60942865477471527072010-05-13T10:13:00.000+10:002010-05-13T10:13:19.459+10:00Skinning, or: Just Stop It.<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">From today's Age. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh no no no no no bleeding hell no. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fur is not back. Unless you like hearing rabbits scream as they are anally electrocuted. Do you? </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Farmers do not shoot foxes and rabbits and sell their pelts. Most fur comes from China where animals are raised in cages for their skins and then killed. It's simple. It's not environmental. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Leather, suede, wool, angora and cashmere aren't better, but as one sensible girl pointed out to me, whereas most shoes are leather and coats are wool (as anyone who has tried to find good quality synthetics knows), there is no reason at all to wear fur and that's why it should be abhorrent even to skin-wearers. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just stop it. </span><br />
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<!-- cN-headingPage --> <br />
<h1 class="cN-headingPage prepend-5 span-11 last"> Furry fashion back in style </h1><!-- Class 'push-0' just right-aligns the element so that the main content comes first. --> <!-- cT-storyDetails --> <div class="cT-storyDetails cfix"> <h5> DAILE PEPPER </h5><cite>May 12, 2010 - 1:40PM</cite> <ul><div class="comments"> <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/furry-fashion-back-in-style-20100512-uwk0.html?comments=27#comments">Comments <span>27</span></a> </div></ul></div><div class="articleBody"> <!-- cT-imageLandscape --> <div class="cT-imageLandscape"> <br />
<i>A fur vest by Harmony & Lawson. <em>Photo: Luke Thompson</em></i><br />
</div><i>Fur is back in fashion.</i><br />
<i>The number of luxury labels across the world using faux and real fur to create their autumn/winter collections is huge and now a Perth fashion label’s real fur creations are flying off the racks.</i><br />
<i>Chanel sent models wearing full fur body suits down the catwalk, evoking images of woolly mammoths in ancient times, during their recent fall/winter show. Though the luxe label chose to use fake fur rather than the real thing.</i><br />
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</div><i>Roberto Cavalli’s line of pelts, vests, scarves and dresses featuring fur have sent animal rights activisits aflutter, Gucci, Fendi and plenty more have favoured fur as both embellishment and the foundation of a range of pieces.</i><br />
<i><a href="http://harmonyandlawson.com/">Now a Perth label Harmony & Lawson</a> is creating garments made only of real fur, and finding the furry designs are much more popular than ever expected.</i><br />
<i>Designer Harmony Douglas said her rabbit and raccoon fur creations have proved extremely popular since she launched the label in December.</i><br />
<!-- cT-imagePortrait --> <div class="cT-imagePortrait"> <i><br />
</i> <i>A creation by Chanel, part of the fall/winter 2011 collection. </i><br />
</div><i>“The market is crying out for it,” she said.</i><br />
<i>“We are just being inundated with sales.”</i><br />
<i>No longer are Anna Wintour and J.Lo amongst a tiny minority of fashion followers who wear the real thing. </i><br />
<i>Singer Kelly Rowland purchased a fur vest from the label during her recent visit to Perth, and models including Skye Stracke had purchased the product too. Douglas said she had customers from all over the world.</i><br />
<i>But the controversy surrounding the use of fur continues. Even those designers that do use fur, refuse to comment on their use of it.</i><br />
<i>Lisa Ho’s latest winter collection features what has been said to be rabbit fur. But ask her PR team for a comment on her use of the material and you get a quick “Lisa Ho doesn’t comment on fur” response.</i><br />
<i>But Douglas says very few people voiced concerns to her about the possibility of cruelty, though she realised that for some people fur would always remain taboo.</i><br />
<i>She sourced her furs overseas, and said government regulations meant the product was farmed like other meat products. All parts of the animals were used. The fur was certified cruelty free.</i><br />
<i>It was the luxury feel of garments made from fur that was making them popular once again, Douglas said.</i><br />
<i>“It’s the luxury of it, it's so soft, and my garments are light weight,” she said.</i><br />
<i>But not everyone in the fashion industry believes the use of real fur can be justified.</i><br />
<i>While people presume Australian luxe label Aurelio Costarella uses the material to create some of the couture looks they send down the catwalk, the designer has signed the PETA agreement against the use of fur and will never use the real thing.</i><br />
<i>“We believe you don’t need to use fur as there are so many other great materials and fabrications to utilise," Costarella brand manager Paul O’Connor said.</i><br />
<i>At the end of the day it’s about using your creativity to make a luxury product and one that is desirable to all.”</i><br />
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</div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-16699567222544864332010-05-11T12:10:00.000+10:002010-05-11T12:10:12.782+10:00Lambkin, or: who looks at this and thinks "I'll kill it and eat it"?<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/lamb-meat-prices-surge-9-per-cent/story-e6frea83-1225864742689"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/lamb-meat-prices-surge-9-per-cent/story-e6frea83-1225864742689</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some choice words from Phil Lally and Michele Prince, sheep farmers in Clare SA about how they are handrearing 50 'orphan' lambs:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We're keeping all the lambs we can because the market is so strong we can't justify leaving them in the paddock to get picked out by crows and foxes.We want to make sure nothing is left out to die as was done in the past - we have to make sure every single unit counts".</span></em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please note the following: </span></div><ul><li><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can't justify leaving newborn, weak lambs out to die because the market is strong. But it's not wrong to abandon defenceless babies to slowly starve to death or be mutilated by crows and foxes. </span></div></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Units. Not lambs or sheep but units. </span></div></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here they are, happily hand feeding small and happy lambs. Lambs can learn their own names and love to play. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIB8okX9nw9brYjdcsJI3Juqhpjhf5pt4hVvJRtBPCEJTdOj5KWFCmZ-sd6EF08YoqygrXujbvgRvUAkZSu8JBXcwqpTl5CpIlfohuTBe6AqGFTpG2NHAlStqYkoj2rLq-JfrzMuJY-w/s1600/lambs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIB8okX9nw9brYjdcsJI3Juqhpjhf5pt4hVvJRtBPCEJTdOj5KWFCmZ-sd6EF08YoqygrXujbvgRvUAkZSu8JBXcwqpTl5CpIlfohuTBe6AqGFTpG2NHAlStqYkoj2rLq-JfrzMuJY-w/s320/lambs.jpg" tt="true" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's beyond me how anyone can look at those lambs and think they are nothing more than units who deserve to die. </span></div></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-12313648046138722472010-04-21T11:16:00.001+10:002010-04-21T11:32:16.563+10:00Today's Guardian: Why I Must Not Teach My Children What I Think Is Ethical Behaviour But Omnis Can<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/20/veganism-safe-children - "Is veganism safe for children?" </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I really don't have time to read the comments, but here's one that always sticks in my craw: "Why do you force your beliefs on to your children?".</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the same reason I will teach them to be kind to others, not to hit, to tell the truth and to share. Because ALL parents teach their kids the things they think are right. The assumption in the question is that the default - meat-eating etc - is a morally neutral default and that my wacky, crazy beliefs are intrinsically damaging. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I wonder if we might term this 'omni privilege'. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I find it interesting that when vegan parents write about their own experiences here, the response is "And here are the vegan zealots coming out of the woodwork". The question is about veganism and kids; these people have experience with it and choose to write about it, but suddenly they're proselytising weirdos. Each of them has said their kids are healthy but apparently their direct evidence is suspect because they don't take their kids to the local fried chicken shop.</span></span> <br />
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</span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-74222796688765881532010-04-12T13:12:00.000+10:002010-04-12T13:12:17.840+10:00Lord, hear our prayer, or: unvegan shoppering<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hi Jeans Manufacturers (especially Lee and Mavi), </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Could you please stop using leather labels on the back of your jeans. It makes them unvegan. It is religious discrimination because it stops me worshipping at my church, The Holy Sepulchre of the Blessed Sacred Heart of the Sainted Mercy of Shopping. I cannot lay my purchases at the feet of Our Lady of Purchase and seek her holy blessing for my next shopping trip. I will never be heard by the Archangel Amex if I cannot flagellate myself in the Changing Room of Small Sizing Horror. I cannot sing with the Heavenly Choir of Consumer Cherubim. I will never be able to join the Seraphim of Sales. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Preventing me from buying jeans means that I will never achieve the Rapture of the Perfect Denim. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You are losing my business. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your sincerely, </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Poor Penitent </span></span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-38147897633622606832010-04-05T13:04:00.000+10:002010-04-05T13:04:24.236+10:00Haigh's is back in my good books, or: I receive a phone call<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I should have written this post a couple of weeks ago when Haigh's contacted me again in response to my complaints. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Upfront, I'll be clear: I still disagree with the conclusion that Haigh's has come to. I think they've fallen on the wrong side of conservative. But ... I now have a lot of respect for their methods. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">After my letters to Haigh's (<a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2010/01/haighs-chocolates-now-with-added-non.html">here</a> and <a href="http://misstprincessvegan.blogspot.com/2010/01/haighs-chocolates-now-with-added-non.html">here</a>) I received an email asking if I would speak to a member of the executive management team. Thinking this could go either way, I agreed, and after playing a bit of phone tag I received a call from Susan. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I liked her. She was nice. She was genuine. She was really concerned to explain to me their thinking at every step, and I respected the lengths she had gone to. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">My biggest gripe with the labelling chocolate/allergen issue was that it wasn't a legal requirement. Using my super-sleuth skills, I tracked through legislation and guidelines to try to find out exactly what was required, and as far as I could see, my dark chocolate frogs were being unfairly labelled and taken away from me. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Susan gave me the background to Haigh's' (how do I apostrophise that one eh?) decision. In early 2009 Susan attended a training session which used the VITAL risk assessment tool (Voluntary Incidental Trace Allegen Label), which is recommended by the Australian Food and Grocery Council. (If you're more interested than I am, you can read about it <a href="http://www.allergenbureau.net/vital/">here</a>). On testing Haigh's products they realised that if they applied the VITAL tool then they should be labelling milk as an ingredient in their dark chocolate. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
So I get this. As a company Haigh's chose to use a particular analytical tool which gave them this answer. It had nothing to do with their legal obligations and everything to do with their corporate risk assessment decisions. In my view these are the actions of a company acting sensibly and responsibly. Apparently testing also showed that the level of trace milk in the dark chocolate varied so wildly that one batch to another would record ingredient-level or trace-level amounts. In Haigh's view it was not safe to label this variation as simply 'may contain'. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Susan also told me that she contacted the SA Department of Health for advice, as well as holding discussions with Anaphylaxis Australia (can you believe that parents with dairy-allergic kids will still give them foods that 'may contain traces of'? Crazy and reckless). </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">On the bright side, Haigh's is moving towards having a dedicated dairy-free facility. Not being a player on the scale of Cadbury this is a costly and time-consuming process, but I like that Haigh's recognises a need for it and is working towards it.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I still disagree about the ultimate outcome - I maintain that 'may contain traces of' should be a sufficient warning and is an accurate reflection of the product - but I accept that the VITAL tool renders a different result and that Haigh's has chosen, as a responsible producer, to use this industry standard. I stil want dark chocolate frogs. But I respect the process and the decision, even if I disagree with it. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So there you have it - Haigh's have gained my respect for not only their risk assessment processes but also for the way in which they handled my complaint (I even got a follow up email to check I was happy with the outcome of the conversation). I am confident that Haigh's did what they thought was best for their business and customers, following consultation and due process. I don't like the lack of frogs in my life, but I can live with it.</span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-52206613218736491062010-03-21T13:35:00.000+11:002010-03-21T13:35:55.653+11:00Tenth Muse is deeply disappointing, or: I don't finish<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I often leave meals languishing in my iPhoto for months before blogging them. This one's really fresh; just hours old and driven by my deep and desperate disappointment. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Tenth Muse boasts wide range of omni, vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. I love ordering a vegan meal directly off the menu without going through all the 'no dairy' specifics. This morning I ordered the big vegan fry-up with beans and avocados. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Coffee (watery) came and went. I read the paper cover to cover. We were the only customers. The music alternated between ear-bleeding and silent. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Breakfast came. It was big. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">It was the worst cooked breakfast I can recall. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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The Turkish bread was doused in what must have been at least two tablespoons of Nuttelex. The tomatoes were barely cooked. The scrambled tofu was soggy and bland. Every single thing on my plate was drowning in oil.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The avocado was black and brown all the way through. The picture above doesn't do it credit. I cannot believe anyone had the cheek to plate it, let alone charge money for it. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXkP5StJdvO27AMS6oqBWIFtYzkDh2-LwEHlwWgI8hU3bZPoKO0KW65AiB-3hDrdtNVW9tBkuow8CE23Dmt8VlFSgTTpVPK_AsX6zd83uBeQw4vb-LJqfEDN_SAp85mMDVYRnklu_yRk/s1600-h/P1050170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXkP5StJdvO27AMS6oqBWIFtYzkDh2-LwEHlwWgI8hU3bZPoKO0KW65AiB-3hDrdtNVW9tBkuow8CE23Dmt8VlFSgTTpVPK_AsX6zd83uBeQw4vb-LJqfEDN_SAp85mMDVYRnklu_yRk/s320/P1050170.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">If I want baked beans from a tin I'll go home and open one of the little tins I keep which cost $5 for 8 at Coles. If I want a McDonald's hash brown I'll go there (I won't. But if I want a hash brown like the one here I'll go to the supermarket and buy a plastic bag full of frozen ones). </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Not a single thing tasted of anything but oil. If I had ordered this at Fat Eddy's Route 66 Side-of-the-Highway Cafe on Wheels at 3 in the morning, I would have been pleased. In a cafe situated in the heart of Melbourne's coffee'n'cafe streets, which has obviously taken great care to create a menu to suit all dietary preferences, this was incredibly disappointing. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">This disappointing: this is what I ate. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRj4X-BS88-xYkMoU5ARx5E9J8soPblrrRevBtdLi7dTJ1njk0JtE_uFrFQP3W_NdlCqtmW35oJ8BYAUoUoOpj4BXkzz1H8rIPYzbWYNGCHT7F0q4vSbO-zVM7Zt2-HiViErvGbEXXP4/s1600-h/P1050171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRj4X-BS88-xYkMoU5ARx5E9J8soPblrrRevBtdLi7dTJ1njk0JtE_uFrFQP3W_NdlCqtmW35oJ8BYAUoUoOpj4BXkzz1H8rIPYzbWYNGCHT7F0q4vSbO-zVM7Zt2-HiViErvGbEXXP4/s320/P1050171.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I have rarely not finished a meal, and I've never chosen not to continue one after a couple of bites. Especially when I'm paying for it. I just couldn't bear to eat this one at all. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">And when our harried waiter collected my virtually-intact plate, there was no checking if the meal was ok. Clearly it wasn't. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We didn't get charged for our coffees because of the wait. It was the small positive (along with all the same-sex marriage rally pictures on the wall. I liked them). </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I left deeply disappointed and feeling ripped off. There was nothing special, nothing even passable, about this breakfast. Much as I want to support any cafe that offers vegan options, I won't be back. I went home and ate toast. </span></div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108685068293402971.post-4095944654091892372010-03-19T10:07:00.000+11:002010-03-19T10:07:09.925+11:00An abuser is an abuser, or: the US starts seeing animal abuse for what it is (and isn't)<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/us/18animal.html?hpw"><span style="font-size: small;">From today's NY Times Online. </span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm pleased that more and more US States are passing legislation that bar convicted animal abusers from owning or coming into contact with pets. I think it's great that further attention is being paid by authorities to animal hoarders, even though I think that the level of abuse usually perpetrated by hoarders - chronic neglect, lack of health care, inadequate </span>care and shelter, leaving dead animals' bodies where they fall - would seem to stem from a place of more benign intentions than animal torture does. Nonetheless, animal hoarders do need to be identified and helped (or prosecuted) and the animals they hoard need to be removed. An abuser is an abuser.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I am especially pleased that eight states now require child or spousal abuse officers and animal control officers to share information and report to each other when they find something wrong. This acknowledges the chilling statistic (reported in the article) that in 88% of homes where children were abused, animals were abused too, and that women who have been abused by their intimate partner were 10 times more likely to report that their partner had also hurt or killed a pet. It helps place animal abuse in the same sphere as child or intimate partner violence and it reflects the seriousness of any abuse of the defenceless. An abuser is an abuser. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
Although I see that these changes place animal abuse firmly in the real of abuse-response services, which is appropriate, and that it is widely acknowledged that the abuse of animals is a leading indicator of the abuse of humans, I still feel a little sad that the article implies that some of these laws are only here to identify and prosecute animal abusers as a means to identify and prosecute human abusers. It's an important link and one which has been instrumental in raising the profile of animal abuse as something to be acted upon, but we must also recognise that abusing animals is wrong because it is ... abusing animals. An abuser is an abuser. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">This bit doesn't please me either: "Some states are bucking the trend. In Idaho, which is one of the states without a felony cruelty penalty, farmers and ranchers are pushing a bill that would more clearly distinguish livestock from pets and would exempt livestock from the protections afforded pets". Because the standard treatment of livestock amounts to abuse? Or because no one cares about a nameless faceless cow as long as Fluffy the Cat and Rex the Dog are safe at home? An abuser is an abuser. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Many people will see animal abuse as sitting much much lower on the scale of wrongness than the abuse of humans. I'm not going to address that; it's a huge issue. But to me it is clear - people who like to hurt defenceless beings will do it to anyone they can. Abusers are abusers. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>Miss Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604850110464039541noreply@blogger.com1