They Are Eating My Friend Flicka

Horse Rendering is a Foul and Cruel Occupation

In one of the worst moves a president could make, Mr. Obama signed into law a bill that legalized horse slaughter for human consumption in the USA.

And--in the midst of the worst recession since the Depression--America will subsidize foreign-owned industries that export horse meat. Horse meat is a delicacy in some European countries.

Despite what anyone says, no one wants to work  in a horse rendering plant. It is a low-paid, low-prestige job that requires cruelty to horses.  Ask the people who used to work in the plants in Texas.


What Meats Will Be Next?

Will the USA slaughter and export cat and dog meat to China? Maybe this is the way to solve the problem of global warming and the wolf, bear, buffalo and seal populations.

Next, will be the slaughter and export of poor people when they hit 65. That would take care of the whole, "What do we do with the boomers?" crisis.
This story calls to mind a movie of early 1970s called Soylent Green:

A tale of Earth in despair in 2022. Natural food like fruits, vegetables, and meat among others are now extinct. . . The only way they survive is with water rations and eating a mysterious food called Soylent.

Can you guess the secret ingredient of Soylent?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The thought of sick, wormy, abused, undernourished horses being killed and butchered in our nation, makes me ill. The Bureau of Land Management used to hold auctions and adoptions when there was a population problem with wild horses and burros. I guess it is easy to kill them.

Spirit Bear Coast Endangered by Pipeline

Click Here to Save the Spirit Bear

Lake Michigan is Coal Ash Disposal Site

In December 2008, a coal ash containment pond in Tennessee ruptured, flooding the local community with a billion gallons of toxic sludge, destroying homes and fouling 300 acres of river and residential property. Remember? 

Three years later, benefactors of the coal industry have introduced legislation that will undermine the EPA’s ability to set federally enforceable standards for coal ash disposal.

Last week, a coal ash disposal site above Lake Michigan collapsed. This sent 2,500 tons of toxic material into the source of drinking water for 40 million people. 

Coal-fired power plants across the country generate 140 million tons of toxic ash every year—but Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have failed to protect our health by regulating its disposal.

Coal ash is toxic. Living near unlined coal ash ponds puts communities at a 1 in 50 risk of developing cancer—that’s 2,000 times greater than average. Yet the disposal of your household trash is more closely regulated than the disposal of coal ash.

So next time you see the clean coal advertisement on TV, just remember that it could be your drinking water next time.  Though, I guess it does not matter to anyone but us, because the government does not seem to care about the water or the cancer.

Remembrance Day

Usually there are a few days separating Remembrance Day and Veteran's Day. This year they fall on the same day.  Whether you are in the USA celebrating Veteran's Day or in Canada, UK, Australia of other parts of the world where they celebrate Remembrance Day, just do not forget the price others have paid for your freedom.

John McCrae, a Canadian doctor trying to save life in the middle of this Hell, lost a good friend.  His grief prompted him to write "In Flanders Fields."

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

 

Many of the deadliest battles of World War I were in northern France and southwest Belgium, also known as Flanders and Picardy. The British were determined to hold the Germans and to keep them from Flanders and the Ypres river valley, thus from reaching the port of Calais.

The destruction from the battles in this area reached beyond the battlefield to the towns and roads of the area, and led to the demolition of buildings, roads, and all plant life, leaving only mud.  Into this sea of mud, the fallen soldiers were interred.  In the spring of 1915, red poppies flourished in the fields of the Ypres, covering the newly dug graves.

Remembrance Day - A Reason I Blog for Peace - Dona Nobis Pacem

Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace)

My Blog Blast for Peace for this blog is a little heavy. This blog deals with what we are doing to Mother Earth and each other in our merciless search for fuel for our vehicles. I thought if we saw the true cost, we might forgo the extra trip to the supermarket, or ride a bike to school, or something . . .

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. MLK, Jr 

If you can, watch the videos below. The lyrics are below the videos. 

Brothers in Arms by Dire Straights

Video by Platt 73

 

Brothers in Arms by Dire Straights

Video by Platt 73



These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be

Someday you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn to be
Brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher

And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell and
The moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die

But it's written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We are fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
---
"Brothers in Arms"
written by Mark Knopfler

The lyrics talk of a soldier who is dying and realizes he will never go home again. He is thinking of his brothers in arms (fellow soldiers) who have stuck by him. His last thoughts are that all men are brothers in arms and should not fight each other. Then he dies.

War is the opposite of peace and is an ugly, demonic, soul-sucking machine.  How many generations of young men and women will we sacrifice to the guns.  When will the peace be forever?