anti - manifesto: I'm a vegetarian. Have been since 2001 or so. I tried veganism...it's hard (although I really like the pleather Doc Martens that I got back in the late 90s...and I still have a penchant for wearing the belts I made out of climbing webbing). I decided to allow dairy products back into my life, much to the consternation of Propaghandi. Those kooky Canadians raise fantastic points (one of the reasons I love those guys so much); however, it is possible to get dairy products via non - exploitative means. It costs more, sure... but, in my opinion, the animals are worth the extra money. Local cheese can be had, or, though not particularly convienient nor carbon - neutral, there's always Organic Valley in Wisconsin, who gives their cows acupunture and allows their animals free reign over their grassy fields. We get our eggs from neighbors who keep free range hens, and we'll be getting our own chickens soon. Think locally, friends...when things get too big, bad things happen. I think, in some ways, the factory farming of dairy products is worse than the factory farming of meat products...the meat - generating animals get put out their misery far more quickly. Anyway...I'm not an annoying vegetarian. I won't criticize what you eat, and I've even had meat foisted on me twice in the past decade: once at a friend's wedding ("Hey, that veggie sausage tastes just like real sausage!") and once by my loving wife (who the hell mixed in the chorizo burrito with the Amy's black bean ones at Costco?). When I smell bacon cooking, I salivate. However, I follow that salivation with the realization that what I smell was once that little guy at right...and I'm suddenly not so hungry. I hope this little blurb doesn't seem self - righteous, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there (to all 13 of you that come to this page). And, in the words of that great, great, great NYHC band Gorilla Biscuits (who had the audacity to reform 5 years ago and not tell me out here in Orygun): "Listen up, I gotta ask it, how can we be so cruel? You say you care, that's a lie. My true compassion is for all living things and not just the ones who are cute so I do what I can. I'm not trying to press my will...I'm not the first to say thou shalt not kill. Full is all you want to feel. We eat to stay alive, but it's their lives we steal. I think we'd like to change, but most of us are stuck. Cats and dogs have all the luck."

	Life's too short to make others' shorter. -Jesus H. Chris In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought. -Isaac Bashevis Singer Thou shalt not have no idea. -The Descendents	The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. -Mahatma Gandhi Non-violence leads to the highest ethics. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -Thomas Edison I have reached zero tolerance for the cruelty against our animal brothers. If we are to nurture our culture, let's begin with the animals who have been nothing but our beasts of burden for so long. -Rikki Rockett	If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth, beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals, would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals? -George Bernard Shaw The gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies; they are the trees and the plants and the seeds. -Albert Schweitzer
If slaughterhouses had windows, the world would be vegetarian. -Linda McCartney We have enslaved the rest of animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in Human form. -William Ralph Inge Somehow we get by without ever learning. Somehow, no matter what, the world keeps turning. -Benito Mussoweasel	Freedom from exploitation and abuse by humankind should be the inalienable right of every living being. -Jeffrey Masson He who does not value life does not deserve it. -Leonardo Da Vinci One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection in an eye other than human. -Loren Eisely It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind. —Albert Einstein		Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. -Chief Seattle's testimony But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy. -Plutarch For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. -Pythagoras

In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.- From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern...a virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure." -Agent Smith

Revolution begins within.

-2.5 Children




Well, more emprical observation that truth, I guess...I've been doing lots of thinking about this vegetarian vs. omnivore stuff, and I've noticed a few things. For example, I've noticed that humans' intestinal tracts are very long. This leads me to believe that humans should be grain eaters, since it is harder to extract nutrients from grains, and thus it takes longer; hence, the need for a longer intestinal tract. Compare our intestines to a true carnivore like a big cat; theirs are much shorter, because the nutrients from meat are much easier to extract.

From an exercise standpoint (which I also think about constantly), grains are the perfect fuel. My diet consists of about 80-85% carbohydrates. I consume huge amounts of grain every day, and I believe they are the perfect fuel for long burns (those who tell you that all grains are bad in bulk are a bit misled; what is bad for you are large amounts of refined sugar and overly processed artifically processed grains, like white flour). Again, I cite nature as an example: a cheetah can run 70 miles hour per hour...for about 400 yards. Then, she just lies down and rests. Antelopes and zebras, however, can maintain speeds of near 40 miles per hour for miles and miles and miles.

I'm not trying to convince you to be anything you're not. But you do need to realize that you are one part of a web of life, and your small part, no matter how small you may think it is, is vital. I just want you to do one thing: Think. Maybe you can't change the world. But that shouldn't stop you from trying. After all, a drop in the bucket doesn't seem like much, but's it's precisely those persistent drops that erode mouintains. Don't underestimate your efforts, no matter how insignificant they may seem.