Tacos Locos, a new Mexican joint south of the tracks, opened on Friday for the art walk. I tried it out; it wasn’t bad. Plus they’re open late, which brings much needed competition for 2 AM cravings.

I didn’t stay out late and I didn’t have a drop to drink, yet I’ve been puking my guts out for two days now.

Did anyone else get sick?

This is about stopping cruelty and abuse. Please read and act.

The factory farming lobby is once again trying to stop animal advocates, concerned citizens and even local governments from having a say when it comes to the treatment of farm animals. S.B. 1373, introduced by Sens. Burns, Aguirre, Arzberger, and Flake, will prohibit city, state and county governments, as well as Arizona citizens from using the initiative process to advance any policy regarding how egg-laying hens are confined on factory farms. Only the Arizona Department of Agriculture will have authority over standards set for millions of animals in the state, preventing any improvements to farm animal protection policy.

If enacted, S.B. 1373 would uphold the factory farming industry’s cruel status quo, ensuring that laying hens continue to be crammed into battery cages inside windowless, ammonia-filled warehouses, where they never see the light of day. In addition to allowing for the continued cruel treatment of hens, S.B. 1373 would prevent any regulation of the egg industry by a county, city, town, or other political subdivision of the state. It would also set a dangerous precedent that, if successful for Arizona’s factory farming industry, is likely to be copied across the nation.

S.B. 1373 is yet another backlash against our recent success in Arizona, where the cruel factory farming practice of confining pigs in gestation crates has been banned. This legislation is a follow up to last year’s SCR 1035, also pushed by Sen. Flake, which sought to nullify the 2005 citizen passed ballot initiative that reformed the factory hog farming industry by banning gestation crates in Arizona. S.B. 1373 seems to be crafted as a preemptive measure to stop the passage of a similar ban on battery cages in the state.

More information and action info here

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs.

Officials said it was the largest beef recall in the United States, surpassing a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s becoming increasingly less safe to eat industrial meat in this culture.

The Topps Meat Co. on Saturday expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties to include 21.7 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria that sickened more than a dozen people in eight states.

The recall of products distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions in the United States was a drastic increase from the 332,000 pounds recalled Tuesday.

Though, it’s increasingly less safe to eat industrial anything….

A division of Dole Food Co said on Monday it was recalling some bagged salads sold in the United States and Canada because a sample at a Canadian grocery store was found to contain E. coli.

Dole Fresh Vegetables said it has not received any reports that anyone has become sick from eating the products. The recall covers “Dole Hearts Delight” salads sold with a “best if used by” date of September 19.

Here is a little garden booty. This is most of what we’ve got a regular supply of. The egg-plant is thrown in the mix every now and then. So is an onion, when we need one. These habeneros are like little A-bombs, their so hot.

I’ve also been hanging out with these guys, who have been munching on this parsley for the past week. They’re chubbier every day. I’m glad someone is eating the parsley.

Remember last spring when Las Vegas tried to ban feeding the homeless in public places, like parks?

Orlando recently pulled the same crap: banning charitable groups from feeding homeless people in parks downtown, “arguing that transients who gather for weekly meals create safety and sanitary problems for businesses.”

Well….after a 14-month federal court battle, it was ruled that people can’t be prohibited from feeding the homeless in city of Las Vegas. Hopefully this helps to set a new precedent, whereby cities might put more effort into helping the homeless instead of pretending they don’t exist or pegging them all as dangerous drug addicts.

“I don’t want to go to jail just for feeding homeless people,” Sacco said.

She has never stopped feeding the homeless or the hungry, Sacco said.

The food is a way of reaching out to people and establishing trust, and once people are fed, they are open to accepting other forms of aid, such as finding permanent housing and jobs, she said.

“We aren’t doing this to be arrogant,” Sacco said. “We go where people are hungry. The food is a way to build a sense of community.”

When I read about the recent pet food contamination that has killed scores of cats and dogs across the country, I wasn’t particularly worried about our dogs. This is because we make our own dog food…

Here is a list of recalls.

If the company that makes your “choice” of dog food is listed above or is owned by any company listed above, I suggest you throw out what you have and switch brands for a little while. I could be wrong, of course, but if I’m right, we’re talking about your dog’s life. A report just came out saying that the cat food contamination is even worse. So be careful.

I’m an advocate for making your own food. It costs virtually the same, it’s healthier for your pet, and you don’t have to deal with manipulative corporations. For example, Purina issued the following statement on March 28th:

“all Purina brand cat food products, all other Purina brand dog food products, including Mighty Dog canned products and all Purina brand treats can continue to be fed to your pets with complete confidence”

Two days later, they issued a recall. That doesn’t sound like a company that has the health (or life) of your pet as their top priority.

Why make dog food? The meat in dry dog food, which most people feed their dogs, is very low quality. It is literally the “left overs” from the meat industry. I imagine someone, after a long day of turning animals into products, sweeping snouts and entrails into buckets and selling them to pet food companies. I actually found a dead mouse in a bag of dog food before….so you know they’re just sweeping that stuff off a warehouse floor. More importantly, the meat is heated and cooked at extremely high temperatures, which is good for killing bacteria, but it also kills all the enzymes. Dogs are carnivores and fresh meat is essential to their diets (I met women a few years ago who, because she was a vegetarian, she also made her dog a vegetarian…when she was surprised when her dog got sick, I couldn’t help but shrug my shoulders). Raw meat contains enzymes that ensure the functionality of a dogs digestive system.

So, let this be my first receipt posting. Here is what I feed my dog. Depending on the size and metabolism of your dog, you can obviously adjust it. For example, our bigger dog eats two eggs per meal, the smaller just one. My dog is about 55 pounds.

1 egg (I also break up the shell into tiny pieces….egg shells are pure calcium)
½ a cup of oatmeal
2 “glugs” of canola oil
2 “glugs” of chicken broth (bottles “glug” when you pour from them…)

I would obviously love to feed my dog fresh meat, but that makes it really expensive. This diet costs a little over a dollar a day, and contains everything a dog needs. Because we have three dogs, we buy all this stuff in bulk, which gives us 10% off each item. To make things even easier, the egg can be plopped on top of the oatmeal, and you can put the whole mixture in the microwave (assuming you want cooked, wet oatmeal). My dog doesn’t care and will eat anything we shove under her. The diet also results in shiny coats and less shedding.

From the Center for Food Safety via Flagstaff Activist Network

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its review of food from animal clones and FDA regulators say that the agency will likely approve the sale of cloned foods this year.

FDA’s action flies in the face of widespread scientific concern about the risks of food from clones, and ignores the animal cruelty and troubling ethical concerns that the cloning process brings. What’s worse, FDA indicates that it will not require labeling on cloned food, so consumers will have no way to avoid these experimental foods.

FDA needs to hear that you don’t want food from animal clones - a public comment period is open until April 2 - send your letter now!

This is unreal if you ask me. I’ll have some Frosted Soylent Green with some cloned cow milk for breakfast every morning! The website has info on contacting the FDA. It’s amazingly easy.

Cheers to Lisa of Grand Canyon Wildlands for forwarding me this article from Organic Consumers.org 

Despite the last handful of posts, this is not a vegetarian blog. The following info, however, solidifies the underrated importance of shifting our diets.

The United Nations has sent tremors through the livestock industry with a new report that states, “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” The report shows that livestock production accounts for more greenhouse gases than automobiles.

(emphasis mine….take that Al Gore!)

For every calorie of meat consumed, at least ten calories of fossil fuels were required to produce that meat. Animal agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. Today, 70% of “slash-and-burned” Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder. The ultimate ramifications of the report suggest that the average American can do more to reduce global warming emissions by adjusting their meat eating habits than by switching to driving the most fuel efficient car currently on the market. Negative environmental impacts can be greatly reduced by reducing (or eliminating) meat consumption and buying locally grown and sustainably produced meats, dairy and animal products.

For my February column in The Noise, I’m writing about the unsustainability of the meat industry and the economic sanity of vegetarianism. I just finished interviewing Dr. Doug Brown, who teaches economics at Northern Arizona University. I know what you’re thinking… Economics? Kyle? Sustainability? What? Relax, as strange as it is to find a hero in the economics department, Dr. Brown “gets it.” He even utilizes books and ideas by Daniel Quinn in his class, and is in the process of writing a book about Quinn’s work. I was amazed. A vegetarian since the 70’s, Brown spoke to me with passion about factory farms, the irresponsible use of land to support the meat industry, and much more….all of which will be included in February’s column.

Anyway, he pointed me to The Meatrix, a fantastic internet cartoon series, which synthesizes the reality of factory farms with hipster Keanu-esque hero themes of the film, The Matrix. It’s brilliant, hilarious, and full of startling, absolutely accurate information about factory farms. Watch, enjoy, act.