Happy Halloween! Here is a List of Animal Friendly (Vegan) Candy

What an important question this time of the year.

According to http://www.peta.org/feat/halloween01/ and http://www.petakids.com/candy.html, the following candies are gelatin-free, and overall vegan.

As always, if someone sees a candy on this list that they do not believe is vegan, please let us know via a post on this blog. We’ll look into it!

Airheads taffy
Atkins peanut butter bars
Blow Pops
Charms lollipops
Chick-o-Sticks
Cracker Jack
Cry Babies
Dem Bones
Dots
Dum-Dums
Fireballs
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews
Hot Tamales
Hubba Bubba bubblegum
Jolly Ranchers (lollipops and hard candy)
Jujubees
Jujyfruits
Lemonheads
Mambas
Mary Janes (regular and peanut butter kisses)
Mike and Ike
pumpkin Now and Later
Pez
Ring Pop lollipops
Smarties
Sour Patch Kids
Starburst (jelly beans and hard candy)
Super Bubble
Swedish Fish
Sweet Tarts
Tropical Source mini chocolate bags
Twizzlers
Zotz

More on Sarah Palin and Backward Policies: Opposed the Listing of Beluga Whales as Endangered Species

Luckily NOAA didn’t agree with her blatantly obvious backward policies. Keeping in line with typical Republican policy, Palin used the same old lines to attempt to prevent the implementation of sound and reasonable protection of an endangered species. I assume more of the same should she take over in January.

Article:

Boogie Woogie, Beluga Boy

http://www.grist.org/news/2008/10/17/beluga/index.html?source=rss

Belugas listed as endangered over Sarah Palin's objections

Posted at 2:29 PM on 17 Oct 2008


Despite opposition from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, beluga whales in the Cook Inlet have been declared endangered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency estimates that only 375 belugas currently frolic in the inlet, down from some 1,300 in the 1980s. Restricting subsistence hunting by Native Alaskans has not helped the problem, says NOAA, and whales continue to be threatened by development, oil and gas exploration, and industrial activities (as well as beach strandings, disease, and being munched by killer whales).

Palin strenuously opposed the listing, stating in Aug. 2007 that the science was inconclusive and that "an unnecessary federal listing and designation of critical habitat would do serious long-term damage to the vibrant economy of the Cook Inlet area." There may indeed be an impact: Unlike the feds' polar-bear listing, the beluga listing contains no caveat that economic development should remain unhindered.

Brigitte Bardot Calls Out Sarah Palin: 'a disgrace to women' and Lacking Any Respect for Animal Life

Glad the famous are now starting to speak as to the cruelty of Sarah Palin. I wrote recently about Palin and her support of animal cruelty here http://geari.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-animal-abuser-and-animal.html

Bardot is clear in what she sees as Palin’s cruel nature:
"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life,"

Article:

Brigitte Bardot slams Sarah Palin as 'a disgrace to women'
http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/08/
Brigitte_Bardot_slams_Sarah_Palin_as_a_disgrace_to_women

Screen icon and 1960s sex symbol Brigitte Bargot has slammed Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, calling her a disgrace to women.

"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world," the French actor-turned-activist wrote in an open letter to Palin.

"By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe," wrote Bardot.

Bardot, who now leads an animal rights foundation, blasted Palin for supporting Arctic oil exploration, which is reportedly threatening delicate animals habitats, and for ignoring calls to protect polar bears.

"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life," Bardot wrote.

Finally, the 74-year-old chastised Palin for depicting herself as a pitbull wearing lipstick and asked the Republican running mate to stop comparing herself to dogs.

"I know them well and I can assure you that no pitbull, no dog, nor any other animal for that matter is as dangerous as you are," Bardot wrote.

Rare Black Rhinoceros Dies While Being Transported to Oregon Zoo

What else can be said other than score one more for the crulty of zoos. Good f…ing job Oregon Zoo. You killed another one!

Article:

Rare black rhino dies en route to Oregon Zoo

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008238237_webrhinodeath07.html?syndication=rss

A rare black rhinoceros died while being transported to Portland from Kansas City for breeding purposes, the Oregon Zoo said Tuesday. The rhino became agitated...

By Mary Hudetz

The Associated Press

PORTLAND — A rare black rhinoceros died while being transported to Portland from Kansas City for breeding purposes, the Oregon Zoo said Tuesday.

The rhino became agitated early Monday about 20 miles outside Phoenix, causing the truck to sway. Zoo staff immediately stopped the truck to check on her before heading to the city's zoo to seek care.

The Phoenix Zoo had a crane delivered and the rhino was unloaded from the truck into an elephant barn. The rhino died Monday night from unknown causes.

"It just doesn't always go they way you hope it does," said Oregon Zoo veterinarian Dr. Lisa Harrenstien, who flew to Arizona on Monday to help care for the animal. "It can take a turn for the worse, and you do what you can to get back on track."

The Phoenix Zoo is performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death, said Oregon Zoo spokesman Bill LaMarche. Preliminary results should be available within three weeks.

There are an estimated 3,500 black rhinos left in the world and 67 are held in captivity, LaMarche said. "Poachers hunt them mercilessly for their horn," he said. "The species is really on the brink."

LaMarche said staffers transporting the rhinoceros from Kansas City, where it was born in 2000, took a detour through Arizona because of snow advisories in Wyoming.

The Species Survival Plan, which is run by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, had called for the 8-year-old female named Kipenzi, which means "precious one" in Swahili, to breed with the Oregon Zoo's 21-year-old male.

LaMarche said another female will likely be sent to the Oregon Zoo through the plan, which aims to sustain a genetically diverse population among animals in North American zoos.

Black rhinos are native to Eastern and Central Africa.

Despite Conviction of Cruel Michael Vick, Dogfighting is Growing Among the Youth in the United States

Unfortunately, the case of cruel and evil Michael Vick has done little to deter dogfighting.

As stated below, "There are at least 100,000 young kids fighting their dogs under the radar in America," estimates Chicago-based anti-violence advocate Tio Hardiman, who built his estimate on conversations with young dogfighters and authorities in 35 states he has visited. In contrast, about 40,000 adults are involved in organized dogfighting, according to the Humane Society of the United States.” It goes on, “The most active and numerous dogfighters, experts say, are 13 or 14 or 17 years old — inner-city youths who have trained their pit bulls to fight other dogs in the neighborhood.”

Sad to see this reality.

Article:

A fight to save urban youth from dogfighting

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-29-dogfighting_N.htm

By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY

The vast majority of dogfighters are not rich and famous like former football star Michael Vick or as organized as the pit masters who schedule high-stakes blood battles that rake in thousands of dollars a night.

The most active and numerous dogfighters, experts say, are 13 or 14 or 17 years old — inner-city youths who have trained their pit bulls to fight other dogs in the neighborhood.

"There are at least 100,000 young kids fighting their dogs under the radar in America," estimates Chicago-based anti-violence advocate Tio Hardiman, who built his estimate on conversations with young dogfighters and authorities in 35 states he has visited. In contrast, about 40,000 adults are involved in organized dogfighting, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Hardiman, who is a special consultant to the Humane Society and has launched an anti-dogfighting program in Chicago, says large numbers of youngsters are conducting street dogfights "in almost every urban inner city," and the numbers are growing. Among the cities he lists: Chicago; St. Louis; New York; Atlanta; Memphis; Detroit; Jackson, Miss.; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Milwaukee; Baltimore; Charlotte; and Newark.

"The kids are getting younger and younger," says Randy Grim, executive director of Stray Rescue of St. Louis. He roams the worst streets rescuing dogs, most of them scarred-up fight-trained pit bulls discarded because they weren't vicious enough. "I saw a kid in a park, he was probably 8 or 9 years old, training and strengthening his pit bull by having him tread water in a creek."

FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States Newark Michael Vick Chicago-based Humane Society Stray Rescue of St. Louis Tio Hardiman
It's not about the dog

Getting and fighting a pit bull has become a way for inner-city youth to "show their toughness," "develop a reputation in the neighborhood" and "make some money," says Kelly Daley, who led a recent University of Chicago Survey Lab study on dogfighting. Urban kids see dogfighting as a stature builder, and they give no thought to what the animals endure, she says. "This kind of stuff doesn't have anything at all to do with the dog."

Reformed Chicago dogfighter Kione Ford, 16, fits the description. Dogfighting "made me kind of popular," he says. And each time one of his dogs got hurt, "I'd think, 'Well, next time he'll win.' "

Most dogfighting by young people is not the sort described during the Vick episode — big-money events held in well-constructed pits for large audiences. Youth dogfights are usually forced skirmishes between leashed pit bulls on the sidewalks or alleys, or low-stakes unleashed contests in backyards and basements. The results, however, are similar to organized matches: dogs maimed or dying by the thousands every year, enough cash or veneration bestowed on winners to keep them committed, and owners — teens and pre-teens in this case — growing increasingly non-empathetic and violence-prone.

"We've got a whole new generation of criminals coming up as a result of all this," Grim says. Although dogfighting by inner-city kids has been reported for two decades, he says, it is now more prevalent, more enmeshed in the fabric of communities and more appealing to a broader circle of urban youth.

Making dogs fight is "not something that's a thought process at all, it's just something they do" as part of the intertwined activities of violence, says Cynthia Bathurst of Safe Humane Chicago, a coalition aimed at ending inner-city violence against humans and animals. Hardiman agrees: "Violence against dogs doesn't even register."

Life expectancy: 18 months

The Vick case hasn't deterred young urban tough guys. "It actually generated more interest among urban youth," Grim says. Suddenly, kids who had believed dogfighting was only a ghetto or rural Southern sport saw rich role models were involved. "They thought, if (Vick) does it, it's cool."

The fact that Vick got prison time and that dogfighting is a felony doesn't stop them because they reject both as establishment punishment leveled against the disenfranchised, Grim says.

Kids get drawn in at an early age, says Hardiman, motivated by the "glamorization" of dogfighting by rap and hip-hop music and by neighborhood values that prize machismo. They give little value to animals and assert that pit bulls "were born to fight."

"We discovered (in St. Louis) a group that held a dogfight for a church fundraiser, and that sends a pretty strong message to children," Grim says.

A kid gets a pit bull from a breeder who churns out litters in backyards or abandoned buildings, or from a pet store known to have a non-public cache of pit puppies, or they steal animals chained out in a yard or on a fire escape.

The youngster learns from friends or uncles how to turn the animal into a fighter, often starting by setting it against smaller dogs or cats referred to as "pit bait," creatures that almost never survive the encounters. Most kids also do torturous things to their dogs to make them meaner, more pain tolerant, more likely to go the extra mile in battle, says Robert Missari of Rescue Ink, which scours the boroughs of New York for abused animals.

"These kids may make some money on fights," Missari says, "but it's equally about the whole macho thing and security thing of being able to say, 'My dog is the toughest on the block, my pit bull can kill your pit bull.' "

Dogs that are decent fighters may survive several bouts before being mauled so badly they die or are killed. "The life expectancy of an inner-city pit bull is 18 months," says Hardiman. Dogs that won't fight or don't fight well are regarded as "not worthy," and they're shot, hanged or set loose.

Authorities sometimes take a dog away from its owner, but these can be tough cases. There are few witnesses, kids claim they don't know who owns a mauled dog, and there has been a pattern of pleading down cases to misdemeanors, experts say.

Kids can quit

Ultimately, the mind-set of young dogfighters must be changed, Hardiman says. Later this year, he'll take to Atlanta and Charlotte his Campaign to End Dogfighting, which rechannels kids and their dogs to more constructive agility and obedience competitions. He's bolstered by apparent successes that include Ford, who vows he'll never make a dog fight again, and George Brent, 18, who fought his dog Red for months, then hooked up with Hardiman's team. Red earned the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizenship certification.

Tamaris Jones, 17, says he won't fight again. He and dog Trouble have spent months of Saturdays in Hardiman's program. "They explained to me that it wasn't right to fight him," Jones says. "I would be mad at (Trouble) when he lost, and I'd hug him when he won. Now he's not a fighter no more. I can hug him all the time."

The Humane Society of the United States also is working on other ways to de-romanticize dogfighting, including public service announcements from messengers these kids respect, people who speak their language and understand their lives. Music mogul Russell Simmons has signed on; other like-thinking rappers and sports figures are being contacted.

Grim plans a humane-education camp next summer that will address dogfighting; Rescue Ink is going into the schools this fall with the message; and Bathurst has joined Best Friends Animal Society to spread the anti-violence word in several cities.

"We're creating a movement around seeing these animals in a different way," Hardiman says.

While he insists "80% of inner-city youths love their dogs and don't fight them," he acknowledges that reversing the other 20% is tough. "I get a kid for a few hours, and the rest of the time he's living where he's living, and they're not reinforcing my message, they're doing what they do … fighting dogs."

But he knows some are strong enough to leave fighting forever. His evidence is Sean Moore, 37, who works with him to steer kids onto a different path. Moore was a revered dogfighter from age 13 to 18. Fifteen of his dogs died in fights or he killed them to end their agony after hideous injuries.

"I apologize every day for what I did back then," Moore says.

He left that life when he realized "I didn't want to be a killer no more. It was an ego trip. I sometimes made some money. But I'm just not a killer."

McDonald's Illegally Uses Image of Paul McCartney in Store: McCartney Calls for Boycott

Just the usual from McDonald’s and their illegal tactics.

Article:

Sir Paul McCartney calls for McDonald's boycott

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3157502/
Sir-Paul-McCartney-calls-for-McDonalds-boycott.html

Sir Paul McCartney has called for fans to boycott McDonald's after the fast food chain used an image of the former Beatle in its Liverpool store.

The singer, who has been a vocal advocate of vegetarianism for 30 years was said to be furious after discovering pictures of the Beatles had been placed prominently in a restaurant in his home town.

His image appeared alongside former band mates John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

Geoff Baker, a spokesman for Sir Paul said: "What sort of morons do McDonald's think Beatles' fans are.

"It's ridiculous and insulting to use images to peddle hamburgers. Fans should boycott McDonald’s, and not just in Liverpool."

Sir Paul is a staunch supporter of animal rights, president of the Vegetarian Society of Great Britain and an ambassador for People for the Ethical treatment of Animals (PETA). His late wife Linda had her own range of vegetarian foods.

A PETA spokeswoman said: "He became a vegetarian after watching lambs play in a field outside his home and surely would not want anyone to use his likeness to help promote meat.

"We hope anyone who sees his picture on the wall will be reminded that he's a vegetarian and skip the Big Mac for a veggie burger."

A McDonald's spokeswoman said the pictures were to "acknowledge the outstanding contribution the Beatles made to both local and global culture."