As Americans are bailing out our banks and our auto industry, Italians are giving millions to save a failing cheese industry. It seems that another industry fueled by the suffering of others is set to topple. The stimulus given to revive it is seen as a futile attempt to save what animal rights advocates have been trying to stop for years.

I'm all for showin' the kitties some love but this is a little bizarre.

Less then 400 right whales are left on earth today and the US has taken action to try and save the species. Today a new law takes effect that forces freighters to slow down when traveling through migration paths in the North Atlantic.

The right whale was driven almost to extinction in the 1700's by capitalists seeking whale oil. In recent years they were threatened more by the enormous ships that crisscross their migratory path.
Studies have shown that deceasing the speed over these areas could reduce right whale deaths by 80%.

Once endangered, scientists say that this new law may mean the survival of the species.

Time magazine online has posted the "Top 10 Everything of 2008" and as part of that series, the "Top 10 Animal Stories." Some are of huge significance to the animal rights movement (Proposition 2) and some are not (cat has home foreclosed).

This is kind of how animal news goes, sometimes its earth shaking and profound and other times it's about stuff like this.

The year 2008 will go down as a turning point in the fight against factory farms and I have a feeling that 2009 in going to be even better.

PETA's big turkey abuse investigation that broke last month has taken a dramatic turn. The corporation responsible for the abuse (Avigen, Inc.) has fired what they claimed to be "all involved personnel." This is great news! Hopefully these guys can seek some counseling to deal with their violent perversions. Here's a few horrific highlights from the Avigen, Inc. investigation:

• Employees stomped on turkeys' heads, punched turkeys, hit them on the head with a can of spray paint and pliers, and struck turkeys' heads against metal scaffolding.
• Men shoved feces and feed into turkeys' mouths and held turkeys' heads under water. Another bragged about jamming a broom stick 2 feet down a turkey's throat.
  
• A supervisor said he saw workers kill 450 turkeys with 2-by-4s.
  
• One man said he saw a coworker fatally inject turkey semen and sulfuric acid into turkeys' heads.
  

The Guardian reports today that soy farming in South America is the cause of massive deforestation. The issue here is that the majority of the soy being farmed in South America is fed to livestock around the world which are then killed and eaten. Feeding food to our food so that we can have food makes no sense. We should eat the food directly to reduce the impact of soy fed animals in factory farms.

In the UK alone, soy was used to feed 850 million broiler chickens, produce 10 billion eggs, 10 million turkeys, 4.9 million pigs and 10 million cattle for dairy and beef. Cattle and pigs alone eat more food every year that the average person. If the soy was used to feed humans directly, would be well fed and the environmental impact the meat industry has on the earth would be eliminated.

The soy deforestation argument is one that has been used by the pro-animal cruelty sect for years however, meat producers are the largest purchasers of soy in the world. Currently we are relying on both plant and animals means of agriculture to support our diet so we're doing double the damage. If we would choose subsist on soy and other plants alone we would be fine. Instead we feed our food to our food.

The meat industry is increasing the demand on the soy industry more than any vegan ever could. We can end this illogical chain of consumption by eating the food we grow directly and going vegan.

National animal rights organization, In Defense of Animals, has launched a campaign to stop Amazon.com from selling fur. Recently, Amazon competitor Zappos.com has gone fur-free and attracted a considerable amount of business because of it.

The fur industry is responsible for the torture and deaths of millions. Animals are skinned (sometimes alive), electrocuted, have their necks broken, stuffed into tiny filthy cages, and poisoned for the sake of an out-of-date fashion.

Be the voice for millions of tortured animals by telling Amazon to go fur-free today!

For more information about the industry that Amazon.com is currently supporting, go to furisdead.com.