Natalie Portman is a vegetarian – a vegan, to be precise – and she thinks you should be one too. At least, that’s the impression I get from her article at the Huffington Post. In fact, she really goes so far as to infer that those of us who eat animals or animal products are inhumane beasts.

Apparently, reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals transformed her from a vegetarian to being a full-fledged vegan activist:

I’ve always been shy about being critical of others’ choices because I hate when people do that to me. I’m often interrogated about being vegetarian (e.g., “What if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what’ll you eat?”).

I’ve also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else — a historically dangerous stance (I’m often reminded that “Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know”). But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong. Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.

But she somehow managed to overcome those fears and tell you exactly why you should think the way she does. Well done, Natalie! (more…)

Sometimes, I must confess, I find myself feeling like one of those cursed individuals like Job and Sisyphus.  In my case, the curse takes the form of trying to be rational in a mad world.  My particular albatross is trying to make sense of the liberal mind.  No sooner do I try to delve into it than I pop out on the other side.  It’s as shallow as a midget’s footbath. 

For instance, I understand why liberals opposed invading Iraq.  It was because George W. Bush instigated it.  They voiced no objections when Bill Clinton took us into Somalia and Kosovo, and now that Obama has expanded the war in Afghanistan, you don’t hear them whining that it’s a quagmire, that the Afghanis had nothing to do with 9/11 or demanding that Obama spell out his exit strategy and specify the date of withdrawal.  But, given all that, I would have thought that at least the tree-huggers would have campaigned for regime change in Iraq, based not on Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds and his history of torture and rape, God forbid, but for having set fire to the oil fields of Kuwait in 1991, probably the worst man-made ecological disaster in history.  (more…)

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Alec Baldwin doesn’t see much of a moral difference between Michael Vick and anyone who isn’t a strict vegan:

[Vick] suffers an unfair disadvantage as compared to, say, the heads of a meatpacking plant or the directors of a medical research lab where animals are suffering the cruelest imaginable abuses behind walls and doors that remove them from our sight and, therefore, judgments. … Each day in this country, millions upon millions of animals are suffering lives of daily abuse in factory farming, but we turn away because that animal, unlike Vick’s dogs, ends up on a grill and then on our plates. … (more…)

Now infamous NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s prison term is over. He’s now a free man. Vick, of course, was involved in the cruel act of dog fighting, but most stories I’ve seen this week mostly revolve around his chances of making a football comeback (perhaps this is due to the amount of sports radio I listen to?).

Having played football myself, I can tell you Vick is incredibly talented. As a person of compassion, I can tell you he is still in need of continued rehabilitation – which makes for much speculation about which team(s) would be interested in having him in the huddle.

One “team” who seemed interested in having him in the huddle was PETA, a group so aggressive in their marketing methods that they put both Madison Avenue – and Hollywood – to shame.

As you may recall, they apparently proposed a bizarre idea a while back — Vick would appear in public service ads for the group. The ads would ostensibly serve to discourage the cruel practice of dog fighting, but they would also have been a major marketing coup for PETA, helping raise their profile — and, no doubt, lead to more members and national attention (and donations). (more…)

Lily Tomlin’s newest video blasts Gov. Sarah Palin and Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.

But Tomlin forgot to bring the funny.

The ageless comedian’s new “humor” clip can be seen at The Women on the Web’s site. In it, she dresses up as her iconic Ernestine character, the opinionated telephone operator, to lash out at those she thinks are cruel to animals. It plays out like one of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” rants. Yeah, that bad. (more…)