What is wrong with me?

As you see, I've uploaded these new pictures of my new car that I've promised.

Well another 3 months.  You'll have to forgive my typos (I make more typos when I'm drunk, and I don't have the patience to correct them all right now,  but I'll try).  I decided to take Natasha (my girlfriend) out for dinner tonight, and we went to a new place called V-Note.  For those readers of this blog (if any still have the patience for me), this is owned by the same people that run blossom.  Anyway, it's intended to be a wine bar/restaurant, but since it's so new, the tapas menu isn't quite ready yet.  The food was ok, not exceptional, but the environment was nice, the wait staff was really friendly, and the wine we got (a Sauvignon Blanc) was really nice.  It was funny -- he gave me the wine, and, as is typical at decent restaurants, poured in a little into my glass.  I went through the routine, but then remarked "as if I knew what I was doing anyway).  Now, V-Note markets itself as a vegan restaurant/wine bar, and as such, we had an expensive (but nice) bottle of wine, as I mentioned earlier.  Where was I going?  I don't really remember now.  Oh yeah, suffice to say, physically I'm much larger than Natasha and I ended up having virtually all of the bottle, so now I'm wasted.

Anyway, I want to relay a bit of change in my life.  On our recent trip to Albuquerque, Natasha picked up this book called "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer.   I liked it a lot, but I'm from a bit of a minority perspective, thinking already that we don't treat animals with the respect they deserve.   In any event, since I already knew that the factory farming industry was something I wasn't about to support, I wasn't intending to read the book.  But Natasha asked me to, so I did.  And something about that book inspired me to renew commitment to veganism, which had lapsed in recent times.

About 10 years ago I turned vegetarian about learning a little bit about what factory farming was all about, and, starting 8-9 years ago, I was an animal rights activist for 2-3 years.  But, as people know me will attest, the outspokenness and aggressiveness that being an animal rights activist entiails doesn't really dovetail well with my personality.  I'm more a "live and let live" kind of guy that doesn't seek fights or conflicts, so about 6 years ago, I ended my times as an animal rights activist.

Yey, my sympathy with the ideals that the movement fights for never left me, and reading Eating Animals re-inspired me to fight for what's a clear injustice.  Not only to egg-laying hens that have only 67 square inches of space in which to live their lives (and, though I'm too drunk to elaborate now, "free-range"-labeled hens don't have it substantially better), but also dairy cows also left to live in unforgiveable conditions, I can't let myself even eat eggs or dairy anymore.  Well, I promised Natasha one last cannoli at an unspecified date, but that's it.  One day, I'll take more of an active role in the fight (as l and m might know, but that's it), but for now, I must lead by example.

The reason I left the movement in the first place is that I felt it was getting too mean and hateful (at least the particular group I was involved with).  I don't think people that eat meat are bad and I don't (at least now) seek to end meat-eating.  What I really want, right now, is just to bring the truth of animal farming out into the open to more people.  Not just the cruel treatment of animals (as awful as that is), but also the
incredible human and environmental externalities -- pollution that causes illness to people that so much as live near a factory farm, pollution of rivers, and so forth (I really recommend this book).

Why do I recommend "Eating Animals"?  There are several animal rights books -- including "Mad Cowboy" by Howard Lyman and "The new Ethics of Eating" by Erik Marcus.  I guess the big reason is, as well written (and even researched) as the latter two books are, "Eating Animals" is *not* written by what you'd consider an "Animal Rights" activist.  I'm not even sure if the guy is vegan (he definitely is vegetarian).  but the point is, his own "moderation" relative to most animal rights activist, and his sourcing, indicates that he isn't just spouting propoganda.  He's really done his homework, but I guess more importantly, it's basically a "only Nixon could go to China" kind of principle going on.  In particular, the author speaks very highly of *non*-factory animal farming, so he's not just saying "all people that use the slightest amount of leather should go to hell".

I know that, among what people have read this blog, more people than not eat meat (though there's a few of the latter).  I don't seek to hate or hold it against you.  Most people I know at work eat meat, and they're so much fun to be around that it's the biggest reason that I love working there.  But, at least know what the externalities are when it comes to factory farming, then make an educated decision, not just with you in mind, but with the logical consequences of the act of factory farming in mind.  That's all I ask.  "Eating Animals" is a great resource towards this end.