For the love of all that is good and holy stop with the frggin’ news reports on swine flu.

Plain old seasonal flu kills thousands ever year. And Swine Flu (or H1N1) is no more severe so far as I can tell.

The Alberta Health website (http://www.health.alberta.ca/) states that the symptoms of  H1N1 are no worse than a regular flu. You should only see a doctor (emergency room) if you have trouble breathing or experience a high fever. I would say that that would be reasonable for any friggin’ sickness!

The website also says that the number of RECORDED H1N1 cases so far has been 314.  There have been 13 deaths and as far as the news goes, those have only been recorded in people with underlying problems (think asthma).

If you can do math, that is a death rate of 4%. And if you consider the fact that the symptoms are NO MORE SEVERE than regular flu there is a great chance that you or someone you know may have had H1N1 without having any knowledge of it. That means the death ratio may be closer to 2%.  See here: http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/influenza-H1N1-cases.html

Does that sound like something to be freaking out about and blamming our governments over? Every day there is a new scandal regarding shortages or some Hockey Team getting while “the children” go without.

This has been SO overblown. Everyone thinks that if you get Swine Flu that you’ll die. The truth is that 96% -98% of you will power through it just like any other flu.

Let’s get some perspective people!

I don’t friggin’ care if you still want a vaccine. Personally I’d take my chances with H1N1. But please stop avting like this is the plague!

Oh my god!

Oh my good god!

I was just two chapters into the book No More Bull! by Howard F. Lyman when I added it to my Amazon book list. If you thought that artery clogging and cancer causing were bad enough consequences of eating meat think again.

Lyman talks about the way that the US Government has lied and manipulated the public into thinking meat tainted with BSE is safe.

I had a friend who used to ask the waitresses if the burgers or whatever he ordered were BSE-free. I use to elbow him because really, do you think the waitress knows? But reading this book makes me wish I had been more concerned.

Lyman states that BSE is equivalent to Jakob-Creutzfeld Disease and that this disease (which can be caught from BSE) can be delayed in showing symptoms. So you could have ate one bad burger and get diagnose with JCD twenty years later!

He also states that all of that garbage about the muscle being safe because BSE is in the brain and spinal cord is just that, garbage. In the slaughtering of the animals this is all cross contaminated. Like he says, did all those Europeans that caught BSE really sit at home eating cow brains? Read the book. When you find out what meat is consistently tainted with it will turn your stomach. Ugh!

Plus, the BSE tests in the US are far from being state of the art. England and Japan test ever animal and do so with a much more sophisticated test. This is also at a lower cost overall. So why won’t the US and Canada follow suit? They likely don’t want to know that their animals are diseased.

Not to mention the effects it has on health. I just love this quote: “Thoughtlessly, we kill animals, cut them up, and consume them. It shouldn’t be surprising that there’s something equally violent and thoughtless about the way we cut ourselves up in the hopes of curing ourselves of the diseases caused by eating animals…The animals will have their revenge.”

When the meat that makes up so much of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is subsidized and protected by your Government even at the expense of health and security it really makes you wonder if this is really just a slow execution.

The meat and dairy industry must make a fortune in order for the governments to keep encouraging us all to eat meat even when our hospitals are filled with poeople suffering from diseases and cancers associated with meat and dairy products.

I won’t go into this a whole lot right now because I have beat this drum a hundred times already. Just look at some of my posts on The China study.

Anyway, some food for thought…and there’s lots to think about here.

 Peta.com has a story on their main page about cats. They claim that all cats should remain indoors since there are so many dangers in urban areas. I guess there is a feline form of AIDS that street cats are prone to getting which can cause their teeth to fall out etc. See the article here: http://www.helpinganimals.com/animalsHome_cats_indoors.asp

I thought that the main reason that veg*ns are against caging animals (in circuses etc.) is because the animals don’t get a choice in the matter. It represses natural instincts and behaviours.

With dogs it is very clear that the relationship has mutual benefits. I can tell that my dogs adore being near me. Not only that but dogs can thrive off of vegan dog food. Cats cannot and must be served meat. I don’t like the idea of buying meat at all. Hence, I don’t own a cat.

I do however, own a hamster. I haven’t decided how I feel about that. I think I would have made a different decision now but our little Hammie has already been with us for over a year and I wouldn’t dispose of him now. We have bought Hammie a bunch of tunnels and he even has a burrow. However, he isn’t able to reproduce and rarely eats greens. I don’t know how different Hammie’s life would be if he were in the wild (not here in Alberta but where his species actually originates) since they seem to do little more than sleeping and eating but, in my home, he is at least always warm, always fed and is always safe from predators. He still doesn’t have a choice in his habitat and that makes me wonder whether domesticating animals is “vegan” in theory.

What do you readers think of this issue?

How do you feel about buying cat food that has meat in it?

How do you feel about repressing the natural instincts of animals through domestication?

How do you feel about letting animals suffer on the streets or be killed in overfilled shelters because you worry about the above issues too much?

Do you think that repression of natural instincts (like hunting or breeding) is less important than compromising the safety of the animal?

My personal feeling is that buying from pet stores at all is very wrong. I think if you want to have a companion animal you can help animals and society in general by going to a pound or a shelter. These animals are animals that NEED a good home. When you buy from a pet store or a breeder you are only adding to the problem of animal overpopulation and to animal cruelty. The more you buy from pet stores, the more you’ll contribute to animal breeding and in some cases even puppy mills.

Many pet stores (Peta had an article on Petsmart) will not provide adequate care to small animals because the vet bills are too expensive. And euthanasia is too expensive as well. So sick small pets (the ones they hide in the back), end up suffering from diseases or injury until they die.

Support your local shelter. That is, in my opinion, the vegan choice! You save a life and support a humane industry!

I am sorry that this post is coming to you so late. I have been having difficulty finding a topic to talk about this week. I want to encourage readers to offer suggestions for upcoming article ideas. It’s not easy trying to find something to write about that I haven’t already covered. If I receive questions from readers I will strive to find the answers and relay them back the best that I can.