1. Rob Bigwood is a professionl arm wrestler. That’s right, and he’s vegan. Rob is a 26 year old Brooklynite who has been winning titles and making a name for himself in the arm wrestling community. Watch out for this guy, and for my interview with him soon!
2. Owain Yeoman and Jamie Bamber are only two of the Discerning Brutes that PETA has featured in their recent campaigns. Jamie, who plays Lee “Apollo” Adama in Battlestar Galactica is calling attention to the use of bear-fur on the hats of the Royal Guards in the UK. Owian, star of The Mentalist, is featured in a vegetarian testimnial ad, and his video has an eloquent expression of why this dude is veg.
These guys rock, and you should check out their videos with PETA:
3. Custom Vegan Seaks? That’s right, artist Tony Price will make you a pair of custom-painted Vans at his Etsy shop!
4. Non-Silk Ascot from Jaanj. Don’t act like you never considered wearing an ascot. You can make it rock-n-roll, and you know it.
5. Tie-Ups makes recyclable belts. The color combos will make you trip, but the facts that you can stick these Italian-made accessories in the recycling bin, and that there’s no animal products is great! Tie-Ups won’t go off in a metal detector, they are weatherproof, hypoallergenic, and just really cool! $89 at Nordstrom
6. Check out FRESH: New Thinking About What We’re Eating
After the holiday binge, many of us are ready to hit the ground running, and we do! Things go great for the first few miles, but by Valentines Day, we’ll have fallen off track and stopped going to the gym as often as we said we would. We start smoking and drinking again, we have more than a cup of coffee a day, and we even find rationalizations to eat unhealthy and ‘convenient’ foods. Worst of all, while we hurt our own bodies and brains – we often are unknowingly hurting other people, animals, and ecosystems in the process.
What if I told you that there’s a resolution you can make that will help you stay healthy and slim, that will curb global warming more than getting a hybrid, that will save lives, and help stop torture? Sound too good to be true? This year why not make a resolution that helps everyone and everything? Even if you’re selfish – you’ll look better, smell better, and taste better. Go vegan! It’s the greenest, healthiest, most compassionate lifestyle choice we can make.
I have compiled a list of New Year motivational stuff to keep you on track, and moving forward!
Did you know that the real-deal Gladiators were vegans? These overweight warriors who ate nothing but barely and beans shatter the pervasive stereotype of frail, weak herbivores. Analysis of the bones of more than 70 gladiators found in 2004 near Ephesus, the Roman capital of Asia Minor, contradicts traditional Hollywood images of macho carnivores with the physique of superheroes as well. Forensic anthropologists revealed these fighters had thicker bone density than their omnivorous counterparts – shattering yet another stereotype of the vegan diet; the calcium myth. How did they treat animals? That’s another story – and apparently, they didn’t actually wear sandals either. They fought bare-foot! But in accordance with the popular fantasy that they did don stylish, strappy sandals – here are a few styles to choose from that will certainly not get you a thumbs down.
Commodus in ‘Gladiator’, played by the vegan Joaquin Phoenix
If you want to look like a barbarian without actually treating cows like one, check out these Splaff Gladiators at MooShoes, made from recycled tires and hemp:
When in Rome, do as the Romans didn’t – show up in a brown toe-post sandal from Vegetarian Shoes UK. Lightweight cork mid-sole, handmade in Portugal with a padded and contoured footbed, arch support and a deep heel cup. Lined with super-soft micro-fibre fake suede. Lightweight, patterned, Microcellular outsole. Adjustable strap lined with Soft-feel synthetic felt.
If you are more of an eco-warrior into the strappy buckles thing, these Birkenstock-inspired 3 Strap Sandals with faux-suede from Vegetarian Shoes UK should do the trick.
Ladies, do not fear, your veg gladiator days are here as well from designers like Cri De Coeur, Steve Madden, and Burgois Boheme.
An historical event has transpired – for the first time ever, undercover footage recorded by a Humane Society investigator has grabbed headlines nationwide. This has resulted in the largest recall of beef in US history – 143 million pounds, and has exposed horrible cruelties that, while commonplace, were shocking and new to anyone who has never seen the underbelly of factory farming. Trying to make sense of them is another story.The coverage that this undercover video-clip received nationwide, and the beef recall itself, were both watersheds. If you haven’t seen the clip, please watch below:
Meat-eating has always been associated with manliness in our culture. Traditionally, the predatory nature of hunting required physical strength, stamina, tool-making, and often hours to days of tracking herds. Then there was the kill; the bloody and exhausting act of taking down large animals, cutting them up and bringing them home. Many anthropologists and primatologists argue that meat was a pivotal way to exert social control in the form of currency due to its desirability. While women may have collected most gatherer-hunter protein sources, we should not ignore the fact that men were able to use meat for their own selfish and manipulative political ends. It’s no surprise then, that thousands of years later, most men still identify with this nearly-universal symbol of masculine social and political power, though they rarely grasp why. What does this beef recall and the surrounding events say about us if real men eat meat?
Vegetarianism is often portrayed as weak, emasculating, and undesirable, although more and more men are realizing that a vegetable-based diet is healthier and better for the earth, and that the reality of their bond with meat is now relatively invalid. While meat is rarely necessary for survival in modern times, most advertising geared toward mainstream men still appeals to his hunter roots – to his very primal, instinctual brain. If the disconnect here is not apparent with the merciless cruelty shown in the video above, it might bring clarity to know that this is by no means an isolated incident. This is something that is commonplace from chicken farms to circuses to laboratories. These sweeping abuses of animals showcases a crippling and epidemic -sized inability to empathize, and a desire to play out those primal tendencies to control something so politically defining and powerful.
On farms worldwide, untold cruelties are trespassed. The video shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to downed cows — animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter.Typically, the media shies away from showing footage of animal cruelty, despite the frequency of incidents like these in many industries, because it is believed that viewers will change the channel. However, if you tuned into your local news almost anywhere in the country in the last few days, it was impossible to miss it as news stations everywhere spent several minutes on this headlining story, shocking viewers – and raising many questions. The president of HMP published this statement on the meat company’s website.
“…Words cannot accurately express how shocked and horrified I was at the depictions contained on the video that was taken by an individual who worked at our facility from October 3 thru November 14, 2007. We have taken swift action regarding the two employees identified on the video and have already implemented aggressive measures to ensure all employees follow our humane handling policies and procedures. We are also cooperating with the USDA investigators on the allegations of inhumane handling treatment which is a serious breech of our company’s policies and training... ” – Steve Mendell, President Westland Meat Co. Hallmark Meat Packing
This statement is an expected cliché and completely fails to elucidate the incident. In an industry where living, feeling, animals are reduced to mere economic units, it is no surprise that profit-seeking businesses end up treating animals in this way. The huge demand for meat results in an immense pressure to raise, exploit, and kill animals in such massive quantities that no dream of the resources required to produce “humane meat” could ever exist to satisfy the grotesque amount of meat consumption that occurs in the US. In addition, this immense demand requires assembly line killing, and any extra care taken or ‘downer’ incidentals means profit-loss. It’s an out-and-out contradiction to claim that any meat-production facility could sustain ‘humane’ policies. Less torturous, maybe, but never humane.
Expect to see many, many more videos like this reaching the mainstream media, now that the barrier has been broken. Organizations like HSUS, PETA, and Farm Sanctuary continually send undercover investigators to work at these facilities and expose horrible cruelties. Now it seems many more investigations, like the Butterball Turkey Investigation showcased in the HBO documentary “I Am An Animal” will reach more viewers.
The Humane Society says the video was shot last year by an undercover investigator . Investigators like these, who wear a hidden camera under their clothes and work at the facilities, risk their safety and deserve our praise.
If you want to get involved, but need some motivation, visit GoVeg.com, and watch ‘Earthlings’ starring the Discerning Brute, Joaquin Phoenix:
Posted by TheDiscerningBrute 
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This statement is an expected cliché and completely fails to elucidate the incident. In an industry where living, feeling, animals are reduced to mere economic units, it is no surprise that profit-seeking businesses end up treating animals in this way. The huge demand for meat results in an immense pressure to raise, exploit, and kill animals in such massive quantities that no dream of the resources required to produce “
