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Babylonia Aivaz prepares to wed a crumbling Capitol Hill warehouse that is slated for demolition. SEATTLE - A beaming bride, a crumbling warehouse – Babylonia Aivaz said it’s a love that will never die, as she exchanged wedding vows with the Seattle building on Sunday. Aivaz and the 10th and Union warehouse entered into a self-described “gay marriage,” surrounded by friends singing of love and united against displacement in their neighborhood by means of new development. Aivaz told the crowd of approximately 50 people about her relationship with the building, which is slated to be demolished in a week to...

Having friends over for dinner used to involve a minimal and fairly unremarkable to-do list: There were groceries to buy, along with flowers and a couple of bottles of semi-respectable wine. I would put out some guest towels and a collection of fancy soaps that were off limits to blood relatives, and then — voilà! — dinner was served. Preparing for a dinner party these days is far more complex, thanks to a vast and bewildering array of dietary needs that seem to have suddenly overtaken everyone I know. Complaint Box Steamed? Dish out the peeves. Send your essays —...

"The couple also are developing a line of vegan pet foods — after discovering a void in the market for people looking to feed their dogs and cats vegan vittles," said the Chicago Sun-Times.

So I'm on a radio discussion board and people are bringing up Rush's use of My City Was Gone (lyrics etc). I pointed out that the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde owned a restaurant in Akron. Oops, past tense: (Oct 2011) "It is with great regret that The Vegiterranean in downtown Akron has closed its doors for the last time. This has been a labour of love for me for the last four years. We tried everything we could to keep the restaurant going but unfortunately due to the current economic climate this has not been possible...Your friend, Chrissie Hynde" I had...

Thanksgiving is upon us. I once loved this holiday above all others — but no more. The day was an excuse for a gathering of the clan, without religious significance or pressure to buy everybody a useless present. It was essentially a festival of food. In my family, the menfolk would assemble in the living room to argue politics or football. Meanwhile, the women, supervised by the oldest among them, would engineer the meal in the kitchen. We’d all meet at the dining room table, representing as many as four generations, and conduct the ritual of the turkey. Oh yes,...

Where Turkey Is The Guest, Not The Entree (Isabella Colbdorf feeds salad to a turkey at this year's Feeding of the Turkeys ceremony in Watkins Glen, in upstate New York, on Nov. 20, 2011.) Most people think of turkeys as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. But at one farm, the turkeys are the guests. At the 26th annual Feeding of the Turkeys ceremony in Watkins Glen, in upstate New York, a line of turkeys come walking out the door of the barn. They stroll towards long low tables set up on the lawn, with scarlet tablecloths and seasonal squash...

McDonald's Corp. and Target said Friday that they had booted a Minnesota-based egg supplier in the wake of an undercover video documenting alleged animal abuse. The hidden-camera video was shot by the Chicago animal rights group Mercy for Animals at facilities of Sparboe Farms, the nation's fifth-largest egg producer. Taken in Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado, the video portrays crowded cages common in the egg industry, but also shows one worker swinging a chicken by a rope or chain and another stuffing a hen in a co-worker's pants pocket. Sparboe was also cited this week by federal food regulators for serious...

A new Thanksgiving ad campaign targeted toward children in schools is barking up a storm this holiday season. In a news release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced this week that its new outdoor billboard advertising campaign will focus around a central message: "How would children feel if Fido and Fluffy were stuffed and roasted for Thanksgiving?" The ads feature the head of a Jack Russell terrier on the body of a turkey, and reads, "Kids: If You Wouldn't Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Turkey?" The group said the billboards are going up near schools in Oklahoma,...

One of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists, Daniel Andreas San Diego, may have been seen in Northampton, Mass., and the FBI is asking for the public's help in capturing him. The 33-year-old San Diego is an alleged animal rights extremist and is wanted in connection with two domestic bombing incidents that occurred in 2003.

Veganism dates back to 1944, when British Vegan Society co-founder Donald Watson coined the term to mean “non-dairy vegetarian.” The Society expanded the definition in 1951 to state that “man should live without exploiting animals.” Vegans eschew animal products in food, clothing, household products, or for any other reason.There are a variety of reasons why people “go vegan.” Some simply don’t like the taste of meat. Some claim veganism is “green,” and that a vegan lifestyle minimizes impact on the environment.In 1997, a survey revealed three percent of the people in the U.S. claimed that they had not used animals...

Andrew Kirschner of Boca Raton formally announced his intentions to run for U.S. Congressional District 22, a seat currently held by Republican superstar Allen West. Kirschner, a Boca Raton resident who has solicited volunteers for his campaign on Facebook by asking them to join the Humane Party of Florida, attended the “Occupy Lake Worth” event on Saturday at Bryant Park, where he was interviewed by BPR. Kirschner did not discuss his ties to the Humane Party during the interview, but the party’s website, humaneparty.net, calls it the first U.S. political party “committed to rights for all animals — not just...

The ever-controversial musician Morrissey is once again being controversial, this time for saying that the recent terrorist attacks in Norway, which killed 76 people, aren’t as bad as what fast food companies do. At a recent concert in Warsaw, Poland, the former Smiths frontman reportedly said, “We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 [sic] dead.” He then added: “Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried [expletive] every day.” The vegan and animal rights activist then segued into a performance of “Meat is Murder.”

Each summer, animal activists travel across the country to meet and discuss the latest topics of the animal rights movement. This year, animal agriculture was once again the focus. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) hosted its annual Taking Action for Animals Conference in Washington, D.C. on July 15-18, and Farm Animal Rights Movement’s Animal Rights 2011 Conference (AR 2011) was held two weeks later on July 21-25 in Los Angeles. Both events claimed to have “record-breaking” attendance, attracting a combined total of more than 1,600 activists from around the world, ranging in age from 20-60 years old....

Former President Bill Clinton is speaking out about his plant-based, heart-healthy diet, saying that he believes the vegan regimen is helping to reverse the damage to his heart and blood vessels caused by cardiovascular disease. "It's turning a ship around before it hits the iceberg, but I think we're beginning to turn it around," he told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It's not the first time Clinton has changed his famously Krispy Kreme-oriented eating habits to improve his health. When the former president had a quadruple bypass in 2004, he lowered the cholesterol in his diet. But when doctors last year...

By the time he reached the White House, Bill Clinton's appetite was legend. He loved hamburgers, steaks, chicken enchiladas, barbecue and french fries but wasn't too picky. At one campaign stop in New Hampshire, he reportedly bought a dozen doughnuts and was working his way through the box until an aide stopped him. Former President Clinton now considers himself a vegan. He's dropped more than 20 pounds, and he says he's healthier than ever. His dramatic dietary transformation took almost two decades and came about only after a pair of heart procedures and some advice from a trusted doctor. His...

An animal rights activist who burned down a Colorado sheepskin store as well as a leather store and restaurant building in Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday. Walter Edmund Bond, 35, pleaded guilty to felony counts of arson and violence involving animal enterprises. He has already been sentenced to five years in Colorado and could face between five to 20 years for the Utah fires when sentenced Sept. 19. Prosecutor John Huber said the government will argue to make the Colorado and Utah sentences consecutive to one another. "He is unapologetic. He is an unrepentant serial arsonist,"...

What started as a small protest over feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando has taken on a life of its own. Computer hackers and copycat groups are now waging war against the city. Wednesday, a new group was at Orlando City Hall protesting against the city and the ordinance they said targets the homeless. “Today we're serving vegan oatmeal and grapes,” said Dante John Terminello, Vegan Mafia representative. Food Not Bombs now has competition. The Vegan Mafia set up in front of City Hall on Wednesday with Orlando police waiting to see if they would feed more than 25 people,...

Enjoy a yummy unkilled burger instead... This letter-to-the-editor actually appeared  in a major San Francisco newspaper... Also note mention of "Speakout"... Just like Archie Bunker used to say:  "Ah, California... the land of the fruits and the nuts: where all the fruits are a little nutty...  and all the nuts are a little fruity!" Unsettlingly, these people also vote:  helps to explain the residual 19% still deep in the etherat Rasmussen here More at Reaganite Republican

Editor: The popular revolutions we are witnessing in the Middle East, while inspired by a desire for personal freedom and self-determination, are certainly sustained by a pervasive hunger pan-demic, particularly among the world’s less privileged populations. Since last December, skyrocketing demand for food and dwindling supplies have driven the global Food Price Index to new records. Supplies have suffered from catastrophic floods and droughts linked to global warming and from gradual depletion of groundwater aquifers. Demand has been fueled by unchecked population growth and by diversion of massive amounts of grains into biofuel and meat production. Hunger afflicts nearly one...

A Salt Lake City man connected to animal rights activism faces up to 20 years in prison for setting fire to a Denver-area store that sells products made from sheepskin. Thirty-four-year-old Walter Edmund Bond ...also faces federal charges in Utah for fires at the Salt Lake City Tandy Leather Factory Store, and the Tiburon Fine Dining restaurant in Sandy.

Ellen DeGeneres talks to guests about how she does it. Actress Alicia Silverstone wrote a book about how she does it. A slimmer Bill Clinton made news for talking about doing it, and all Chelsea's friends do it -- at least they did on her wedding day. Ed Begely Jr., the 61-year-old activist and actor, has been doing it for longer than any of them. They eat a vegan diet, as more and more Americans are doing, trend-watchers and cookbook publishers tell us. But what does that mean, exactly?

West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin has hit out at Sarah Palin after she was seen shooting a caribou on the latest episode of her TV reality show. The screenwriter, who also recently penned the Facebook film The Social Network, accused the contender for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination of killing an animal 'for political gain'. And in a statement on the Huffington Post website, he accused her of making a 'snuff film' and branded her a 'phony Pioneer girl' and a 'witless bully'.

Vegan activist Walter Edmund Bond, of Utah, today pleaded guilty to felony counts related to an April fire that burned down the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale. Bond, 34, was arrested on July 22, accused of using fire or explosives to damage property involved in interstate commerce and of using force, violence or threats involving animal enterprises. The blaze caused more than $500,000 in damage to the Sheepskin Factory in the early hours of April 30. On July 28, Bond pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. By changing his plea today, he may be eligible for a shorter prison sentence....

We live in a world of infinite “-isms.” Some are widely familiar – capitalism, communism, nationalism, Catholicism – while others are poorly understood. I always hesitate to categorize veganism among such systems of belief, because it is neither a religion nor an economic or political ideology. It is grounded in fact and does not seek to serve the interests of its proponents. It’s really less complicated than people seem to think. Despite its simplicity, many people have flawed perceptions of veganism. Either they view vegans as eccentric, self-righteous and elitist, or they admire them for their “extreme willpower” and level...

But wasn't Hitler a veggie? and other things not to say to a vegetarian(Can't be posted per FR rules)

Opining today that the Gulf oil disaster is the perfect crisis with which to force cleaner, renewable, and un-Godly expensive and cost-ineffective sources of energy down our throats, Paul McCartney could have stopped there. But he didn't:

The ethical case against eating animal produce once seemed clear. But a new book is an abattoir for dodgy argumentsThis will not be an easy column to write. I am about to put down 1,200 words in support of a book that starts by attacking me and often returns to this sport. But it has persuaded me that I was wrong. More to the point, it has opened my eyes to some fascinating complexities in what seemed to be a black and white case. In the Guardian in 2002 I discussed the sharp rise in the number of the world's...

Soy does not lower cholesterol, does not prevent heart disease, and does not deserve an FDA-approved soy heart-health claim. This amazing announcement comes from none other than the American Heart Association (AHA) published in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of its journal Circulation. Athletes at Risk Not long before this announcement, University of Colorado researchers reported in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation that soy worsens cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is very much on the rise, afflicting 1 in 500 Americans. Cardiomyopathy, defined as a weakening of the heart muscle or change in structure...

Glendale, Colorado (The Weekly Vice) - Walter Edmund Bond, a 34-year-old animal rights activist from Salt Lake City, Utah was jailed Thursday after he allegedly burned down a sheepskin factory in Colorado. According to Denver Fire Department investigators, a fire was set on April 30th at the Sheepskin Factory, a business that sells products such as seat covers, shoes, rugs, and blankets. The fire resulted in $500,000 worth of damage, destroying the building and it's contents. Officials determined that the fire was intentionally set. *SNIP* Bond was booked into jail and charged with one count of arson of property affecting...

One group thinks a solar farm should only be the start. Now the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals is urging Pocono Raceway in Long Pond to expand its eco-friendly ways and sell only vegan food at the Long Pond track. To try and entice the raceway, PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said the group would send bikini-clad women — the group’s “Lettuce Ladies” — to hand out faux chicken sandwiches. “Serving healthy and delicious vegan fare ... would mean that animals, your customers, and the planet could all end up in the winner’s circle,” the letter reads. Track spokesman Bob...

Walter Edmund Bond was taken into custody Thursday in Denver after allegedly telling an informant that he started the Glendale fire and two fires in Utah because they were businesses that "profited from animals." At the time of his arrest by FBI and ATF agents, Bond was carrying a backpack, according to an affidavit by Rennie Mora, a special agent for the ATF. Agents searched the backpack and found literature titled, "The Declaration of War - Killing People to Save the Animals and the Environment - Strike a Match Light a Fuse We've Only Have the Earth to Lose." Bond...

Mirror, mirror, on the wall who in the land is silliest of all? Exhibit one: In Year of the Dog we travel with two hysterical vegans, Peggy (Molly Shannon) and Newt (Peter Sarsgaard). They both have issues. And, in one memorable scene, Peggy returns to Newt’s house to pick up her dog. Just one slight problem though. Or as Newt tearfully declares: “Valentine killed Buttons.” Now I wasn’t expecting Peggy’s “devil dog” to kill Newt’s “toy tog” – and I certainly wasn’t expecting vegan Newt to send Valentine to his death. But it makes one wonder. Exhibit two: In real...

(The author exposes the comments of "militant vegans" who think a pepper attack on a 45 Year old female author they disagree with --somehow supports their cause of "non-violence towards animals.") In a world where vegans and vegetarians are a definite minority, face constant bombardment with pro-meat messages our American cattle culture, and frequently have to deal with direct attacks from government, law enforcement, and multinational corporations that profit from the sale of factory-farmed meat and dairy, Ramsey Kanaan of PM Press, himself a long-time vegan, strangely chose to pile on with yet another attack on vegans, this time being...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An ex-vegan who was hit with chili pepper-laced pies at an anarchist event in San Francisco said Tuesday that her assailants were cowards who should direct their herbivorous rage at the powerful - not at a fellow radical for writing a book denouncing animal-free diets. Lierre Keith, a 45-year-old Arcata resident, was attacked at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at the 15th annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair while discussing her 2009 book, "The Vegetarian Myth." A 20-year vegan, Keith now argues that the diet is unhealthy and that agriculture is destroying the world. As Keith stood at a...

VEGANS and teetotallers are to be given the same protection against discrimination as religious groups, under legislation championed by Harriet Harman, the equalities minister. Members of cults and “new religions” such as Scientology, whose supporters include the film stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta, would also be offered protection, as would atheists. A code of practice explaining the legal implications of the equality bill states that religions need not be mainstream or well known for their adherents to gain protection. “A belief need not include faith or worship of a god or gods, but must affect how a person lives...

Celebrity “Scientists” Prescribe Bad Medicine The British Sense About Science charity trust just released its annual report Celebrities and Science 2009 debunking the absurd health claims of celebrities who think their pop culture status gives them the right to play doctor. Sense About Science reviews celebs’ bogus advice, from special diets to miracle cures, and asks real scientists what the “stars” should have said. Among this year’s gems, actor Roger Moore told the Daily Mail that “eating foie gras can lead to Alzheimer’s, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.” A real shocker -- except that it’s false. Dietician Lucy Jones corrects the...

The holier-than-cow letter sent Monday to Pope Benedict XVI by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals calling for a Vegan Vatican is in stark contrast to the animal rights group’s high-priced sexier-than-thou ad campaigns. PETA vice president of policy and government affairs Bruce Friedrich, a Catholic who campaigned during college for the late abortion rights-supporter Sen. Paul Simon, told the Pontiff that “serving only vegan meals at the Vatican would help ensure a bright future for all.” Friedrich also told the successor of St. Peter, “Please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss this further.” Special: Get Sarah Palin’s...

I stopped eating pork about eight years ago, after a scientist happened to mention that the animal whose teeth most closely resemble our own is the pig. Unable to shake the image of a perky little pig flashing me a brilliant George Clooney smile, I decided it was easier to forgo the Christmas ham. A couple of years later, I gave up on all mammalian meat, period. I still eat fish and poultry, however and pour eggnog in my coffee. My dietary decisions are arbitrary and inconsistent, and when friends ask why I’m willing to try the duck but not...

Here is video of a British expert describing what the Climate Change fanatics would like to impose on the British public, and I'm sure on the American public as well. For starters, they want to fix it so we have to eat "less meat and dairy." Professor Tim Lang says these kinds of measures are what the Copenhagen Climate Change conference should be all about, and they want "Government" to get involved to make this change in eating habits come about. It may be healthier to eat the way Professor Lang suggests, but in a free society, shouldn't that be...

Police cruisers would feature a buxom blonde dressed only in lettuce In an open letter to Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have announced their latest publicity stunt. The idea would be to re-paint one or more of the Vallejo Police Department's cars to feature a scantily clad woman and the admonition to "Go Vegan!" Citing Vallejo's financial troubles and offering to help balance the department's budget, the letter from PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman argues: Our ad would help bolster the budget while delivering a real public service: a message to Vallejo residents...

The number of animals and plants protected by the federal Endangered Species Act is about to increase dramatically. For Cass Sunstein, radical animal-rights activist and nominee for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator job, that means he will be better positioned than ever to make livestock farming a thing of the past.How are the two things connected? Our director of research appeared on the Fox News Channel yesterday to explain to Glenn Beck’s audience how much influence Sunstein may soon have over what we eat: Cattlemen in this country own and manage most of the lands...

'Vegan fashion' is not an oxymoron 'Vegan fashion' is not an oxymoron: Designers with vegan convictions are creating animal-free high style. VEGAN STYLE: Vaute Couture bamboo-organic cotton velvet and vegan satin lined coat, $2,000; Stella McCartney sequin dress, $2,135 at Stella McCartney, Los Angeles. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Susan Carpenter They've given up eating burgers. And bacon. And anything else that used to have a pulse or came from something with a pulse. But just because they're vegan doesn't mean they're unfashionable -- only more selective. If an animal was harmed to make a material that goes into...

Bad news for all those tea drinking vegans on the lower east side. Late last week, Teany Cafe — an NYC vegan eatery co-founded by Moby — was destroyed in a fire. According to reports, an electrical fire ignited the vegan restaurant and gutted the building on Rivington Street. Moby opened the joint in 2002 with this his then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale, and later turned it over to Tisdale exclusively. On his blog, Moby wrote: ”Apparently Kelly is working hard to repair it and get it re-opened. So there’s a good chance that Teany will re-open at some point in...

Tomorrow, public officials in the Flemish city of Ghent will observe a new weekly “holiday� that’s been making international headlines: “Veggiedag.� Civil servants and elected politicians will eat meatless meals, and the streets will be littered with city-sponsored anti-meat ads. Now that the people of Ghent have two Veggie Days under their belt, we’ve been curious to know how the weekly anti-meat parade is catching on. And according to this TIME magazine report, the answer is “very slowly.� Eben Harrell describes the scene in Ghent last Thursday: While most restaurants owners and residents I spoke to had heard of Veggie Day, few had any...

RALEIGH North Carolina's meat industries are battling a bill the Humane Society of the United States and its vegan president say is meant to protect puppies, warning instead that it is the first step toward ending meat eating as we know it. The Humane Society has made North Carolina a top priority in the fight for tougher animal welfare laws, for the first time deploying a lobbyist to work a full session of the state legislature. Agribusiness groups predict a repeat of the tighter farm animal laws that California approved last year in a Humane Society-backed voter referendum. That measure...

An American vegan who has made it his life’s mission to shut down a British animal-testing company has become the first domestic terrorist to be listed on the FBI’s most-wanted list of terror suspects. The name of Daniel Andreas San Diego, who is accused of carrying out the 2003 bombings of two US companies affiliated with Huntingdon Life Sciences, of Cambridgeshire, is listed alongside the likes of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Adam Yahiye Gadahn. San Diego, who is shown on the FBI’s most-wanted poster with short brown hair and glasses, is said to have several unusual tattoos that...

Scientists say they have proof that the best cure for a hangover really is a bacon butty. Bacon sandwich /PA Elin Roberts, science development manager at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, says: "Food doesn't soak up the alcohol, but it does increase your metabolism - helping you to deal with the after-effects of over-indulgence. "So food will often help you feel better. Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. "Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good. Bingeing on alcohol depletes neurotransmitters too,...

QUESTION: what do you get when you cross moral snobbery with a lack of taste? Answer: a vegan. This may be tough on a group of people who want nothing more than to live a life free of cruelty. But, while there are many things in the world that are worse than evangelical vegetarianism — pre-season football and question time spring to mind — there are few that are more joyless and depressing. Vegans, you see, exist so that others may feel guilt about something completely normal: the desire to eat food that is tasty, nourishing and appropriate to our...

As our government enacts a stimulus package and President Barack 0bama announces bold initiatives to stem home mortgage foreclosures, disaster threatens family farmers and their communities. The government's response to plummeting commodity prices and tightening credit markets leads to the basic question: Who will produce our food? This is a worldwide crisis. U.S. policy and the demand for deregulation at all levels -- from food production to financial markets -- contribute greatly to the global collapse. The solution must be grounded in food sovereignty so that all farmers and their communities can regain control over their food supply. This response...