Just a quick note to let you all know that there is a vegan movement to have egg removed from Morningstar Farms’® vegetarian convenience food products.

If you would like to contribute to this movement, there are three ways in which to do it:

1. Make a phone call.

Kellogg’s® customer feedback hotline is 1-800-962-1413. You can either press 1 for general inquiries; press 2 for product information; or say “representative” to speak to a representative.

2. Write a Letter.

Morningstar Farms®

c/o Kellogg Consumer Affairs

P.O. Box CAMB

Battle Creek, MI 49016

3. Send comments directly to Morningstar Farms® online.

http://www.morningstar-egg-facts.com/contact-morningstar/

For more information about these products, or this vegan movement, visit Morningstar Egg Facts.

We vegans want convenience, too!

Thanks for your participation,

In 1997, a veteran U.S. meat inspector described some long secret truths regarding his profession:

“Cattle dragged and choked… knocking ‘em four, five, ten times. Every now and then, when they’re stunned, they come back to life, and they’re agonizing. They’re supposed to be re-stunned, but sometimes they aren’t, and they’ll go through the skinning process alive.

“I’ve worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They’re all the same. If people were to see this, they’d probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house, everybody gets so used to it that it doesn’t mean anything.”

What if you, like Oprah Winfrey did in 1996, had the opportunity to reveal these truths publicly? Would you do it? Could you do it? Of course you could, right? This is America, isn’t it?

Well, remarkably, the answer is no. On November 27, 2006, Congress passed legislation called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). Basically, this Act protects animal-related companies from losing profits by prosecuting civil disobedience and speech as “domestic terrorism.”

Charlotte Laws gave the following examples:

“Let’s assume a high school senior enters a national science fair, and his project involves decapitating live mice. His mother objects to the experiment as cruel and immoral, but the son ignores her. She takes matters into her own hands by stealing the mice and placing them in a loving home, then smashing the remainder of the project and shoving it in the trash. Science fair projects are specifically protected under AETA, as are vivisection labs, factory farms, slaughterhouses, zoos, furriers, and rodeos. The mother has intentionally damaged her son’s animal-related property, which means the U.S. government may arrest her as a terrorist and throw her in jail.

“Let’s take another case. A small boy is murdered, and his oldest sister is devastated. Because low enforcement officers fail to read the killer his rights, and bungle other aspects of the case, he goes free. A year later, the sister discovers that the killer owns a horse boarding facility in a neighboring state. She drives to the location and paints his fence with the words, “He murdered my little brother. Don’t board your horses here” in an attempt to ruin his business and warn customers about the danger. The girl has intentionally caused damage to an animal enterprise. Under the AETA, her graffiti can be prosecuted as a terrorist act.

“A final example, a journalist writes an article about combating AETA. He suggests peppering the country with signs that read ‘ALF’. ALF is an acronym for the Animal Liberation Front, a group that has vandalized companies that use and kill animals. When ‘ALF’ is scribbled on a fence, building, or sign, the FBI is automatically called to investigate. This is routine, because the bureau considers the group the number on domestic terrorist threat, even though the ALF has never injured a human or animal.”

Can you believe it? They are calling compassionate human beings “terrorists” in the name of a dollar. This has been the most interesting (though maybe not the latest), in vegan news.
Until next time,

I think that most bloggers will agree that there is something momentous… or ominous… about the first post of a new blog. As if that first post has unrestricted control over its perpetuation or extinction.

So what does one write about in the first of a blog about being vegan?

Right. Being vegan. I know, I know, but more specifically.

Okay. How about I explain why I am vegan.

Here’s my story:

I grew up on the standard American diet. And I don’t just mean the regular standard American diet, either. I’m talking about the “My grandmother grew up in the hills of Kentucky, and my father’s a poor laborer” standard American diet.

Now, I was fortunate enough to have inherited “skinny” genes; however, this did not bar me from developing severe hypoglycemia by age fourteen.

I spent the next seven years of my life battling severe headaches and chronic fatigue. I won’t even mention my lack of ability to focus on anything. It never occured to me that my diet was the contributing factor in my suffering…

…until July of 2004. It was then that I met the man who would later become my husband. He was wonderful! Charming, stable, intelligent, and… vegetarian? No way, honey! I’m not giving up my crablegs!

*I would like to take a brief intermission to explain that I am totally ashamed that I ever ingested the legs of a creature who eats feces off of the ocean floor.

Fortunately, his charm got the better of me. As we spoke more frequently, I began noticing the differences in our lifestyles. He wasn’t affected by a lack of sleep nearly as much as I. He never felt like sleeping the rest of the day after a meal. I was determined to find out why. Of course, my then future husband was of tremendous assistance.

The investigation began with the Bible. Considering that R (my husband) had always been vegetarian for religious reasons, this wasn’t a long drawn out process, but a simple question and answer session.

It is clear that God intended for man to eat vegetation, not animal flesh. Genesis 1:29 talks about how God gave man “every herb bearing seed” and “every fruit of a tree yielding see” as “meat.” (Sounds vegan to me…) Notice that in this verse “meat” does not refer to animal flesh.

In addition, I don’t think that it gets much clearer than, “Thou shalt not kill.” It is impossible for me to believe that taking the life of an innocent animal was every part of God’s plan.

So throw that in the pot with a couple of month’s worth of research about growth hormones, slaughter houses, and chicken cages, and you’ve got yourself two vegans.

Not just vegetarians, mind you. Vegans. Eaters of mostly raw food. No animal products.

Needless to say, I no longer have headaches, chronic fatigue, or hypoglycemia.

I’m interested in hearing why you are vegan. Or not vegan. Or hate vegans.

If you have a story, send it to: stories@happyvegan.net

Thanks,