VEGAN WAFFLE DAY!

Batter up! The second multi-city Vegan Waffle Day is on May 23rd. If you want to promote awareness of sustainable eating practices, register your waffle party here.

I'm going to look into gluten-free waffles for our celiac, veg-friendly friends.

former tennis star talks about binge eating disorder

Former tennis star Monica Seles talks about her struggle with binge eating disorder and what worked for her. Some highlights that emphasize the need for healthier, balanced eating instead of a crazed diet diet diet mentality:

Why do you think getting rid of the experts was the first step in helping you solve your problem?

I had to throw out the word diet. I love food. That’s who I am. I enjoy a good meal. I’ve got to accept who I am. I’ve had enough of people telling me what to do. I had to do this one thing for myself, not for my mother, for the media or for my career.

I threw out every single diet notion I’d learned. I allowed myself to eat every single food group. My extreme cravings went away. I allowed myself to have cookies or pasta. I stopped dieting and I started living life. That’s how I lost 37 pounds.

You talk about making small changes to gain control of the eating binges. What were some of those changes?

I love to walk. Everybody told me walking was a waste of time. I started walking half an hour because my foot was in a cast. I started slowly, but now I walk seven days a week every week for maybe an hour or maybe just 45 minutes. And I put pasta and bread back into my life. In the beginning I would struggle. I’d say, “let me just go for a walk” and slowly shift my mind. It took my mind off of that intense pressure I felt that I needed to eat right away to calm me down. Read the full article

don't leave climate change to oil companies

puppy mills

A review of "Puppy Mills: Exposed" just about broke my heart.

“Puppy Mills,” an episode of “Animal Cops: Philadelphia” having its premiere Monday on Animal Planet, spends much of its time detailing a raid last year at Limestone Kennel in Lancaster County, Pa., where the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found almost 90 dogs living in conditions that more than justify the “viewer discretion” warning at the beginning of the program.

Such operations exist to churn out puppies that can be sold to brokers, who then pass them along to pet stores and other outlets.

...“They’re just bred incessantly in horrendous conditions,” he says bluntly, “and as soon as they don’t come into heat regularly, they take them out and shoot them.”

...The program acknowledges but doesn’t explore in depth the great contradiction in all this: while puppy mills are turning out dogs at an assembly-line pace, animal shelters are swamped and can’t give their dogs away. Read the full review

Learn more about puppy mills from Animal Planet

the politics of seat sizes on airplanes

I do not know how to resolve the issue of seat sizes on airplanes and varying body sizes. As it stands, individuals who do not fit in an airplane seat are put on another flight with two empty seats next to one another. Proposals of a "fat tax" are alarming weight acceptance activists.

Somehow, someway, this issue needs to be adequately addressed in ways that avoid humiliation. Last year, United received 700 complaints about "seat infringement." Check out the full article and tell me how you would resolve this issue.

atheist organization membership on the rise

They're just more and more of us, and we keep on organizing. The New York Times reports:

They are connecting on the Internet, holding meet-ups in bars, advertising on billboards and buses, volunteering at food pantries and picking up roadside trash, earning atheist groups recognition on adopt-a-highway signs.

They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.

“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”

Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Indentification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Read full article

morning after pill more accessible

The FDA has decided to allow seventeen-year-olds to access the morning after pill, dropping the limit one year from the previous standard of eighteen. Read the full article.

Nothing like better population control in the midst of over-population, over-consumption, an energy crisis, and economic turmoil. Way to go, giving young women control over their own bodies.

Bush uses dieting to justify detainee torture

Because certain diets--otherwise known as culturally sanctioned restriction and self-deprivation--include only 1,000 calories, by god, starve the "terrorists" as well! This surely constitutes normal caloric intake.

Bush, millions of people should respect their bodies and minds and fuel themselves appropriately, and America should stop torturing.

changing trend in Indonesian party politics

The New York Times reports that in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, radical Islamic parties are experiencing a drop in popular support. Read the full article

NH House Speaker supports trans protections

New Hampshire House of Representatives Speaker Terie Norelli advocates for legislation protecting the trans community:

There are persons in our society who are discriminated against and who deserve our protection. Twelve states, more than 50 cities, and many large corporations have opposed discrimination against transgendered persons.

New Hampshire and the General Court have a long and proud history of standing against discrimination. A few weeks ago, the House once again stood against discrimination. I would urge all citizens of our state and all members of the Senate to stand with us.

It's disgraceful that opponents of House Bill 415 have trivialized the very real challenges faced by a small segment of our population -- citizens who have come face to face with losing their job or being denied housing. READ THE FULL SPEECH

OUTRAGE: yanking homophobic politicians out of the closet

Must see documentary, opening in LA May 8th. Thanks to the Gluten Freeway for the link.

Google aiding censorship in China

Amnesty International reports:

Early in 2006 Google launched a self-censoring Chinese search engine, google.cn, and since announced that it would continue to expand its investments in China. Called "Gu Ge" in Chinese, google.cn affects Chinese Internet users by blocking and/or filtering search results for topics such as human rights, political reform, Tiananmen Square and Falun Gong, among others

Google has taken some small steps to respond to criticism about their operations in China and other repressive countries, but overall these efforts have had little impact on users in China, and censorship has not only continued, it has worsened...

Until January 2006, Google's Support Center claimed that it “does not censor results for any search term,” but removed this claim after reaching its deal with China. Google's willingness to participate in censorship contradicts the very principles it was founded upon. By its own terms, Google's mission is to “organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” READ FULL ARTICLE