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The number of children reported as sickened has suddenly shot through the roof. This is the first article I’ve seen that explains the reason the milk was contaminated:
Some of the farmers who sell milk to Chinese food companies are thought to have used melamine to disguise watered-down milk and fatten profit margins hurt by rising costs for feed, fuel and labor.
What is it about animal agriculture, and the people attracted to this industry, that constantly causes corners to be cut where animal welfare and food safety are concerned? Link.
This was a big week for the YES on Prop 2 campaign in California. Most importantly, the conservative-leaning editorial board of the state’s third-largest paper wholeheartedly endorsed the yes vote. It really is a must-read editorial from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
One political blogger in California called the endorsement “quite the coup” and prefaced some of the quotes from the editorial with the comment: “Observe as No on Prop 2 talking points are eviscerated.”
There’s also a wonderful column in the Contra Costa Times about Prop 2 which I highly recommend.
Finally, we’re being significantly out-fundraised by the Big Agribusiness opponents of Prop 2. They’ll say and do anything to defeat the measure. Please check out this new message from the campaign about this. We’ve only got 46 days left to win!
Animals died for this. Let me sum up my interpretation of this exhibit: it is morally abhorrent to use the flesh of innocents to construct a piece of bullshit “art,” when the alternative exists for the artist to construct such a piece from his own flesh. Link.
Update: it looks like I’ve been punked. It says here the salami slices are merely photographs. (thanks SSD).
It’s been a couple of days since I posted about David Foster Wallace’s suicide. Hearing this news has been a real kick in the gut for me; expect my posting here to be light for the next day or two.
But I wanted to bring together some info related to his work. First, I dug into my archive and slightly revised a lengthy piece I wrote in 2004 about his wonderful essay, “Consider the Lobster.” My piece looks at why Wallace’s essay is such a big deal for the animal rights community, and as a former freelance writer I reflect on the circumstances that must have surrounded its publication. “Consider the Lobster” can now be read online; it’s as good an introduction to Wallace’s best work as anything out there.
(Via DaringFireball.net) Also Harper’s magazine has posted a complete archive of all the writing it published by Wallace. “Shipping Out” is not to be missed, nor is “The Depressed Person,” which at the time struck me as wickedly funny; but which now can’t be read as anything but autobiographical.
But maybe the best starting point for reading Wallace is his 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Address. Here’s a guy who obviously figured out exactly what you need to do to protect your mental health, and who could articulate this strategy maybe better than anyone has ever done. But I guess brain chemistry trumps insight every time.
Two days after we filed a complaint alleging a money-laundering scheme hatched by the agribusiness opposition to Prop 2, the “No on 2” committee finally disclosed 127 previously concealed contributions totaling more than $4.5 million. As a result, we’ve filed an additional campaign finance complaint regarding this massive scam.
Many of these newly-disclosed contributors have particularly sordid records on animal cruelty, environmental degradation, consumer fraud, and worker abuse, which may be one reason the opposition wasn’t publicly reporting these contributions.
Just a few days ago, I was telling an activist friend that she needed to read David Foster Wallace’s Consider the Lobster. Since it was first published in Gourmet magazine, I’ve viewed that essay as one of the greatest contributions to the animal rights literature. Tonight, there’s word that Wallace has hanged himself.
About eight years ago, I caught a presentation by Wallace in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A woman in the audience had said she mailed him a note and he had been kind enough to respond with a card. Given Wallace’s stature as a writer, that simple gesture really impressed me.
Brad Delp, who committed suicide about eighteen months ago, was largely responsible for my deciding to give up meat. I’ve long viewed Wallace as being one of the greatest writers of our time, and was thrilled when he used his enormous gifts to write his long and influential essay on the ethics of eating lobster. Having lost both these talents to suicide is sadder than I am able say. Link.
I’m not ashamed to say that tonight’s dinner came out of a box. This is from a Dosai mix made by Gits, and this whole meal took me less than a half hour to make. Dosai (most people, including me, say dosas) are typically stuffed with some sort of potato curry thing, but I had zucchini and green peppers in my CSA box, so I fried them up with some Indian spices and they were delectable. The soup at left is a traditional spicy Indian soup called Sambhar, and that came as a little red bag of powder bundled in with the Dosai mix. I added a freshly diced tomato from my CSA box to the soup. Most of my dinners are way healthier than this, but damn, this was some fine eats for a Saturday night.
This wasn’t paid for by the Obama campaign, but it’s extremely well done — and, from what I know, true on all counts. If there are any inaccuracies here, please email me and I’ll blog about them.
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September 21, 2008 
. Since it was first published in Gourmet magazine, I’ve viewed that essay as one of the greatest contributions to the animal rights literature. Tonight, there’s word that Wallace has hanged himself.
