The war on vegans is at hand!

As I see it, it simply means less competition for the available supply of Kansas City ribeyes for yours truly.

Hear hear! Plus, if they decide to switch back to omnivorism they'll be starting off weaker and under-muscled, and thus be easier to compete against.

I am a bit baffled about the necessity of rounding up people in Scotland and sending them west.

Well, if they are in Scotland and you send them west, they're in the ocean. Too good a fate by half for some of them, I say!

(Damn, I'm feeling snarky today for some reason.)

So, what do you have to say about parents who feed their children too much red meat, pork and ham? These children are also helpless victims who face a future risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, all because their parents force-fed them an excess of animal fats.

My point is that every type of diet needs to be practiced in moderation. These parents were obviously deranged extremists, but that doesn't mean all or most vegans would do this.

"So, what do you have to say about parents who feed their children too much red meat, pork and ham?"

Fat kids are better off than dead ones. Starvation has to be one of the worst ways to go in the world. This was child cruelty and these people are getting what they deserve.

Veganism always causes omnivores, even otherwise normally level-headed, rational omnivores, to hastily raise their defenses and crumble into irrational, mentally blocked, nonsense spewing idiots.
If Jazz Shaw would look into the issue for a nano-second he would see many factual errors with his sensationalist piece of wanna-be journalistic endeavor here.
First of all, don't omnivores get rickets? Omnivores and Lacto-Ovo vegetarians suffer from vitamin D deficiencies more often than vegans. Would Jazzy blame their diets of rotting animal bodies and their reproductive secretions on the illnesses? Also, cows milk is fortified with vitamin D, in case you didn't know, and there are many fortified vegan foods as well. The best source is sunlight and sunlight, Jazzy boy, is VEGAN!
Second, there are many thriving vegan children since birth who put their non-vegan counterparts to shame. Ever heard of the vegan communtiy, The Farm, in TN? Of course not, because most people only look at the surface of an issue. How about something more main stream; Ever heard of Joaquin Pheonix?
Third, the exact details of the diet these parents gave their child is not clear. There are people of all dietary persuasions that have sick children. Once again, the ever feared veganism is the scapegoat. If a parent feeds their children a diet rich in fat and cholesterol and processed foods, they are rarely accused of child abuse. If a parent raises their children on all whole plant foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes, then they must be monsters... Give me a break! Everyone knows that animal flesh and their secretions are detrimenal to human health and that eating more plant foods is advantageous.
Fourth, The American Dietetic Association concluded that well planned Vegan diets are suitable for humans of all ages, and actually advantageous to health, many years ago.
Fifth, we humans bring dogs and cats into existense for the sole purpose of selling them as pets, as property, as commodities. They barely exist in the wild, especially here in the West, unless they are the millions who are unwanted and roam the streets because of our selfish need to breed and "own" them. To try and assume what they would eat naturally is logically impossible since they are no longer natural beings. They are beings we've bred and domesticated to be dependant on us for everything.
My 2 dogs are vegan and they are as healthy as can be. As a matter of fact, the world's oldest living dog is a (what do you know?) VEGAN! Google it.
Go back to the drawing board, Jazz. Your knee jerk, reactionary mentality is truly obsolete. We need critical thinkers these days, not pompous jerks who proudly give their loaded opinions from behind the safety of their computer screens.

WOW - speaking of "knee jerk" reactions.....

Now why don't you tell us about all of the vitamins and supplements that you have to give to your dogs in order to make sure that they are healthy Human. I know that last summer, when there was the pet food poisoning scare, I looked into cooking for my dogs. In order to cook for them I would have had to buy almost $100.00 worth of supplements to make sure that whatever I cooked for them had all of the nutrition that they needed...and this was cooking ground chicken for them!

Veganism on it's own is not healthy for ANY child. There are too many nutrients that they need that they simply can not get from a strict vegan diet. As you noted A WELL PLANNED vegan diet can be healthy....in adults.

Your claim "Everyone knows that animal flesh and their secretions are detrimenal (sic) to human health and that eating more plant foods is advantageous" is patently false. Mankind has survived as omnivores for centuries. As long as we eat a BALANCED diet of meat and plants, we are fine. The key is BALANCE. Too much of one or the other is not the way we were made, nor is it the most healthy.

Oh and for the record, my dogs are not "property". They are family and I would never do anything to harm my family.

LL

Lady,
(Though I hesitate to refer to you as such…)

Have you even done the research about the vegan diet and supplements or are you just speaking from a spot where the sun doesn’t shine (NO NATURAL VITAMIN D THERE EITHER)?

Feeding dogs a vegan diet doesn’t require hundreds of dollars worth of supplements as you MISTAKENLY assumed. You’d be surprised to know that in 2008 people actually are concerned with the environment and the well being of animals, so much in fact, that they feed their companion animals “cruelty free” VEGAN DOG FOOD. That’s right; it is sold widely out there on the market! This dog food actually contains ALL the nutrients any dog needs to survive and live the best life without all the unnatural ingredients, fillers, downer cows, and grade Z (Z is an exaggeration, since you are such a big stickler for spelling errors I thought I’d point this out...but you get the point) meat that are included in most commercial dog foods!

Like Human said before, the oldest living dog was around 27 when he died, his name was Bramble and he was (get this) A VEGAN!

I feed my dogs Pet Guard Organic Vegan wet dog food and Evolution Vegan dog food for a kibble from time to time. They contain all the recommended nutrients and I do not feed our companions any additional supplements and my vet is fine with this and she eats dead animals just like you. These foods are approved and in line with the requirements according to the Association of American Feed Control Officers (AAFCO) dog food nutrient profile for puppy growth and adult maintenance.

In the years I have had both dogs they have NEVER been sick, EVER! Their coats are shiny and beautiful and they are completely PERFECT in every single way. Not only is this dog food healthy it only contains ingredients that are fit for human consumption as well, not the disgusting stuff that is in IAMS and all those other brands affected by the dog food recalls that you referred to. I would only feed my dog something I would eat. The vegan dog food possibilities are endless…

http://www.petguard.com/dog-products/canned-foo...

http://www.petfoodshop.com/index.cfm?fuseaction...

Also – FYI I get all my vitamins and nutrients directly from the same source that nonhuman animals (you know the ones that you consume) get them from: FRUITS, VEGETABLES, BEANS, NUTS, LEGUMES, and WHOLE GRAINS and the only thing I add to my diet is nutritional yeast which is used to supply me with extra vitamin B12, which anyone (not just vegans) could and should use in whatever animal friendly form. Most animals that you eat are vegan anyway, why not go straight to the source for the nutrients and eliminate the suffering.

In my eyes ethics comes first, and there is no room to balance death and health. That would be inconsistent and again, animal flesh and animal by-products have been proven time and time again just as Human said to be SEVERLY DETRIMENTAL TO HUMAN HEALTH! Do the research “Lady”.

It may be a hard concept to grasp for a self-described, “MIDWEST SUBURBAN SOCCER MOM”, but if you really loved your dogs and felt that they were truly a part of your family you should consider other nonhuman animals and empathize with their plight and individual interests.

Feel free to insert more unbalanced knee jerk assertions below in response to my reply…

Lady Illogician,

Your post is the perfect example of a knee jerk reaction. You make all kinds of assertions but provide no valid explanation or proof. You make claims built solely on assumptions and that's painfully obvious to any reader. If you actually looked into veganism or (gasp!) tried it, you might be able to see things objectively.
I did note that the ADA acknowledges that WELL PLANNED vegan diets (good planning is a good idea for all diets, especially those who consume the deadly Standard American Diet - S.A.D.- ironic acronym..I mean you can't just eat cheetos, cold cuts, and cola's and be healthy) are suitable for humans of ALL ages (read my post again), from conception through twilight years, and actually there are many benefits to vegan diets as compared to an omnivorous diet..
I take no supplements and neither do my canine companions. They are fed kibble or wet food that contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives, animal byproducts, or, as VEGANGRRRL mentioned, sick, downed animals that weren't fit for human consumption (as if any of them are). All the nutrition they need is right there in the food i provide for them. Some would say that they have too much energy... It's worth mentioning that the 27 year old vegan dog was fed homemade food - Lentils and veggies, not packaged vegan food.

You say,
"Veganism on it's own is not healthy for ANY child. There are too many nutrients that they need that they simply can not get from a strict vegan diet."

Where is your proof? It's easy to make assertions without basis in fact, isn't it?
The fact is that all humans of all ages can obtain all their nutrients in abundance from plant sources. It's true because we vegans are living proof! The animals that humans eat to get their nutrients (and not near as many as in plants! That is a fact, Lady) get their nutrients from plants and then humans devour their carcasses to get the nutrients... Sounds like a total waste of animals lives, time, energy, and resources to me, especially in a day and age when resources are scarce for people living in poverty in other nations. This is direct result of humans in the West raising and fattening up "livestock" so that we can get pleasure from the taste of their dismember bodies. Perhaps a "Midwestern Suburban Soccer Mom" doesn't have to acknowledge this, as long as she can pick up her soccer kids in her mini-van and take them out for burgers and ice cream while people starve directly due to her selfishness (PS - I'm originally from the Midwest). According to the USDA's own statistics, it takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef... It doesn't take a logician to notice that this alone is wasteful. That's not even going into details about excessive water use, fossil fuels, pollution (of the air, water, and soil), and the human exploitation involved in the meat industry. It's a total disaster. Is that because it's not as "natural" as humans assume that it is?

Humans only began domesticating animals at about 9000-7000 BC (which is a very short time in evolutionary terms) and many anthropologists believe that the term gatherer/hunter is more accurate than hunter/gather, meaning that humans ate primarily plant foods prior to, during, and even beyond this time. Darwin even acknowledges (as well as many other biologists, zoologists, surgeons, anthropologists, etc.) that humans have the anatomy of herbivores (actually more of a frugavore - a being that eats fruit). And if you have a problem with Darwin and are of the Christian faith then I refer you to Genesis 1:29 -

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (King James Version)"

So what if we have eaten animals out of a dietary pressure to survive in the past. It was NECESSARY then but it is NOT NECESSARY now, and our bodies were never able to process it very well. The proof of this is all the healthy humans thriving on a vegan diet and ALL the sick people that consume animals. And there were vegans before the term vegan. Many other cultures have historically been vegetarian (from the Americas to Africa to India to Asia) and according to the National Health Service in the UK -

"Lactose intolerance varies widely between different ethnic groups:
95 per cent of Asian people
75 per cent of Afro-Caribbean people
50 per cent of Mediterranean people
10 per cent of northern European people "
Source NHS Direct, 2005.

So these people from these places that were vegetarians didn't drink milk. It's very reasonable to assume that they had what we call a "VEGAN" diet. This also shows that drinking cows milk isn't "natural" at all for people that aren't of european descent.
Rastafarians in Jamaica, even the children, eat Ital food, which is totally vegan. The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem are all vegan, not to mention very healthy. The Hunzas of the mountains of northern Pakistan are mostly vegan, and long-living. Many Hopi Indians have historically been vegan.
I can give you many examples of thriving vegan communities but you're probably already sitting there with a glazed look on your face hoping that you can come back with a quippy remark that is neither logical, accurate, or based in truth at all.
I recommend that you actually look into issues before you make a fool out of yourself by making baseless claims.

Peace

P.S. - Did you buy your dog? Under the law companion animals are property. That's just the way it is. According to the law they are no different from clocks, cars, and tooth brushes.
And if you love your animals and they are members of your family then WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ANIMALS YOU LOVE AND THE ANIMALS YOU SELFISHLY CONSUME? The answer is NOTHING. There is absolutely no cognitive difference. Basically all animals are sentient (minus those that are in comas or are severely retarded - including humans). They are conscious and aware. They have families. They have feelings of pleasure as well as feelings of pain, and the wide range in between. This is a fact. THEY ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN THOSE NON-HUMAN ANIMALS IN YOUR FAMILY.
Plus, people certainly eat dogs and cats in other countries. Why are you so selective with the animals you eat? Oh wait, you aren't a true omnivore... You know, the ones with sharp teeth and claws and the ability to digest raw, rotting flesh without getting sick. Hell, we humans can't even eat preserved and cooked carcasses without getting sick eventually. Ever heard of a bear (a true omnivore) with heart disease, high cholesterol, or colorectal cancer? Do some research and then talk to me.
Good luck with your blog. I'm sure it's every bit as good as your post here : ).