Free Republic

Brussels — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that two vegetarian activists convicted of defaming fast-food giant McDonald's did not receive a fair trial in Britain. The Strasbourg, France-based court ruled that David Morris and Helen Steel should have received legal aid from the British government. It awarded Mr. Morris €15,000 (about $32,000 Canadian) and Ms. Steel €20,000 ($24,000). Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel were found guilty of libelling McDonald's in 1997 and were ordered to pay damages of £60,000 for handing out leaflets attacking the company's working practices and policies. The much-publicized trial, widely known as the...

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is urging former President Jimmy Carter to stop fishing after he recently told the story of being accidentally hooked in the face during an angling outing. On one of its websites, FishingHurts.com, PETA says that during an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Carter described the accident. "His painful ordeal ended when his bodyguard stood on his chest and yanked the embedded lure from his face – the agony and fear that he felt are quite familiar to any fish who has been hooked on a fisher's line," PETA said....

Two studies by University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Sharon Donovan show that the soy isoflavone genistein, in amounts present in commercial soy infant formulas, may inhibit intestinal cell growth in babies. So what are we to think about soy in a baby's diet? Donovan said it's an important question to ask because almost 25 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume soy formula. Although babies on soy formula appear to grow normally, these formulas contain very high concentrations of genistein, from 32 to 45 milligrams, which is higher than the amount found to affect...

Czech campaigners call for end to cruel carp Christmas tradition Wed Dec 22,12:13 PM ET  Top Stories - AFP PRAGUE (AFP) - As large round fish tanks crop up along the pavements of the Czech Republic this week animal campaigners are calling for an end to the Christmas traditional practice of slaughtering millions of carp in public. AFP/File Photo   For Czechs no Christmas is complete without the traditional meal of fried carp and potato salad. And while some buy a fish live and keep it in their bath for several days before Christmas, for most that means choosing a...

STORRS, Conn. -- Way back when I was in high school and everyone had to walk uphill both ways through 10 feet of snow, several of my friends decided that killing animals was, in fact, wrong. All of a sudden, I was surrounded by vegetarians. Over the next several months, they all came crawling back to the sweet mistress that I've affectionately entitled "Queen of Animal Flesh," but when you get to know her like I do, you just call her "Mother of All Things Tasty." I've never really understood the viewpoint of vegetarians. "Meat is Murder," they claim, but...

The encounter last weekend between three bears and two Boy Scouts at a camp in Warren County was more harrowing than originally reported, as the bears pawed at the teenagers for an hour, bit one of them and attempted to bite the other, according to a report by state wildlife investigators.The boys, who were later vaccinated for rabies, cowered on a rock as they fended off the two 60-pound cubs and the mother bear at the Yards Creek Scout Reservation in Blairstown on Saturday night, wildlife investigators said.One of the boys was bitten twice by a cub. The animal first...

Meat Increases the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease “Extensive evidence points to the rich Western diet as the fundamental cause of Alzheimer’s disease: … Worldwide, the incidence of AD [Alzheimer’s disease] is more common among people who follow meat- and dairy-centered diets, than among those people who eat a more plant-based diet.” —Dr. John McDougall, McDougall Wellness Center Indeed, a flood of research shows that the toxins in meat, including chicken and fish, increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, while the antioxidants in vegetables help prevent this deadly disease. Click here to learn more. In the wake of former President...

I was looking over a menu in a restaurant the other day when I saw a section for vegetarians; I thought to myself "boy, I sure am glad that I'm not a meat-hating fascist" and I skipped on to the steak section (because I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $15 for an alfalfa sandwich, slice of cucumber and a scoop of cold cottage cheese), but before I turned the page something caught my eye. The heading of the vegetarian section was titled "Guiltless Grill," not because there were menu items with fewer calories and cholesterol (since there were...

You know things are getting bad when a conference sponsored by seemingly mainstream groups like the Ocean Conservancy and the Pew Charitable Trusts includes a panel on "direct action" featuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's "Captain" Paul Watson. An open promoter of violence, Watson declares there's "nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win." Yesterday he told the self-described "seaweed rebels" at the conference on ocean health: "We can no longer afford to eat any seafood." After announcing that Sea Shepherd is "proudly a pirate organization," Watson insisted: ... we have got to cease and desist and...

LOS ANGELES, May 26 (Reuters) - Film documentary "Super Size Me," a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food only diet, has been downsized at cable network MTV which has refused to air advertisements for the film, its distributors said on Wednesday. Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films said in a statement the cable TV channel targeted to young audiences has told them the ads are "disparaging to fast food restaurants." The distributors said MTV sister network VH1 was planning to use clips from the movie in a program called "Best Week Ever," but the clips were pulled...

I've never met a vegetarian I liked. Believe me, I've met my share and have more than an intimate knowledge of the subject having closely researched it for the best part of 15 years. The mung bean mafia are generally prone to flatulence, have poor personal hygiene, make terrible dinner companions and share a gastronomic gene pool with those disposed toward mass murder and violence. And quite possibly fat. Case study one: Adolf Hitler was a herbivore. The Dalai Lama is not. Case study two: Russell Crowe's past crankiness and weight problems can be blamed on a vegetarian diet and...

CINCINNATI -- A woman was indicted on charges she stabbed her husband to death as he slept in bed, dressed his body and propped it up in a chair. Investigators said Faye Harriel, 32, waited 12 hours before calling paramedics to say that her husband, Gregory Roaden, 41, wasn't breathing. Prosecutors said the bedroom and the body were cleaned with bleach. A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Harriel on charges of aggravated murder and murder on Monday. If convicted, she could be sentenced to prison for life. "It's one of the strangest cases we've seen," county Prosecutor Mike Allen said....

Animal-rights activists claim that low-carb, meat-heavy diets are killing people. Are they raising legitimate health concerns -- or are they just rabid anti-carnivores? Dec. 8, 2003 | For all the deals with the devil made in Washington, it's not often they're owned up to at the National Press Club, before a roomful of reporters, armed with notepads, tape recorders and TV cameras. But Jody Gorran, a businessman from Delray Beach, Fla., announced at a press conference on Nov. 20, 2003, "I made a Faustian bargain with the devil." The trim 53-year-old's dark deal: "I traded a 32-inch waist for heart...

Pro-fish activists have won permission from Disney to adapt a film poster for Finding Nemo to help promote vegetarianism to youngsters. Pressure group Peta says it is using the cartoon characters on leaflets, along with a two-metre tall fish, to persuade children not to eat fish. The film features a shark who attends a support group for vegetarians which uses the Peta slogan prominently. A spokesman for Peta (People of the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said: "We were delighted to see our tag-line 'Fish are friends not food' in the Finding Nemo movie. "The slogan is even being used on...

A mother was asked to leave a vegetarian restaurant after she gave her 11-month-old son a jar of chicken baby food. Sarah Graham was told it was "offensive" to feed her baby Joshua the Heinz meal. She opened the jar of vegetables, rice and chicken after ordering lunch for herself and her eight-year-old son at the Rendezvous restaurant in Aberystwyth, west Wales. She said she was asked to leave after asking the restaurant staff to warm up the jar. "I've never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life. It was not as if I had brought in a whole...

The hook hurts - will anglers feel the pain? By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor and Helen Rumbelow BYRON described angling as “the cruellest of pretended sports”. Now, two centuries later, research has finally backed him up by declaring that fish can feel pain. If, as the study published yesterday by the Royal Society suggests, the cod in fish and chips, the salmon in sandwiches and the prize trout on the wall suffered to get there, then these islands’ most popular sport and a major industry may be in trouble. In recent years animal welfare activists have become vehement in their...

<p>The holiday season is viewed as the happiest time of the year. It conjures visions of families gathering by a warm fireplace, sharing their love, opening presents, and feasting on turkeys and pigs.</p> <p>But for the millions of factory-farmed turkeys and pigs hauled to slaughter for thousands of miles in freezing weather, the holiday season signifies misery, despair and death. Their agonizing death journey follows a lifetime of caging, crowding, deprivation, drugging, mutilation and mandhandling.</p>

A Trucksville woman said Burger King's "BK Veggie Burger" is deceptive to her and other vegetarians. Sharon Lamoreaux said she was excited to hear the company added a vegetarian burger to its menu on March 18. Her excitement faded when she called a Burger King in Shavertown and learned that while the burgers contain no meat, they are cooked on the same grill as the regular hamburgers and chicken sandwiches. "That means if vegetarians eat these burgers, there is still meat in them because they're being cooked in meat juices," Ms. Lamoreaux said. "Thank God I didn't eat any." Kim...