Go Veg for Lent!

Come on. Just try it. I'll help you all I can.

http://www.veg4lent.org/

There are so many reasons to just give it a try. You'll lower your cholesterol. You'll feel better. You'll save the planet. You'll feed the hungry and give water to the thirst.

Think about it. It takes 22 pounds of grain and 5000 gallons of water to produce ONE pound of edible beef. Cows aren't meant to eat all that grain. Their meant to eat grass. So they're loaded up with steroids to help them gain muscle mass while they stand in tiny stalls doing nothing. You don't want all those drugs do you? Since they are kept in doors in tiny stalls they must constantly be hosed down. Creating lagoons of manure that pollute surrounding rivers and streams. Methane gas produced by these lagoons in the US alone is doing more damage to the planet that all cars combined.

Don't be afraid of the veggies. Veggies love you. They want to nourish you! Yum!

Then there is the protein question. Protein is readily available in veggie form. AND it doesn't cause you to lose calcium. Yes, digesting animal protein forces your bones to excrete calcium. Any wonder why there's an epidemic of osteoporosis in the US? Try "wheat meat" also known as Seitan. It's twice the protein and half the calories of beef.

Think about it. That's all I'm asking. Just think about it.

I read an interesting item today.

I took a brochure on vegan advocacy with me to lunch. It stated that even with all the work of animal rights advocates, the number of animals being killed for food in the U.S. is rising. Currently the number of animals killed each year for food is around 1 and 2/3 the entire population of the earth.

Staggering.

I took a look at abortion statistics. They too seem to be rising, regardless of pro-life efforts. Abortion peaked in 1990. Dropped in 1995 and is now slowly climbing.

Forensic psychologists like Robert Ressler and Brent Turvey have stated that murderers often start out killing and torturing animals. Murder is murder. The two are inextricably linked.

Go to the PETA website. Look at footage of men and women abusing animals in factory farms. Do you really think any of those people consider abortion to be murder? No. They don't. The killing and torture of an animal means nothing to them. Life means nothing to them. How do you think they treat their children? Their spouses?

Stop the violence!

Most Catholics assume vegetarians and vegans are pro-abortion liberals. There are a great many of us who are not. I am an old fashion Catholic. But like Pope John Paul II and many before him, I believe animals are gifts from God. Life is breathed into them the same way it's breathed into us. They are our brothers. We must protect them.

Many Animal Liberationists are pro-choice, which on the surface puts them at odds with pro-lifers. I find it difficult to consider that a person who wouldn't eat an egg because it's chicken murder would end the life of a child. While they may want the choice, they may not choose abortion. Murder is murder.

It is long over due for Pro-lifers and Animal Liberationists to come together. There is room in everyone's heart for children and critters. It doesn't have to be either one or the other.

Let's end the slaughter of innocents.