PMS. :chocolate:

Listening to the Michelangelo Signorile show on OutQ. It was all about parents not accepting their gay children. It really hit home for me, and I started crying in the Starbucks drive thru line. He was pretty much saying that if they don't accept you, they don't love you and don't deserve you and to move on. I love my family, but his points were valid. I almost called in to talk about my Easter experience this year, but decided not to. I was too shy.

US animal activist laws 'may impact globally'
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News

Animal rights activists in the US have told the BBC that so-called "ag-gag" laws could be copied in other countries including the UK.

The laws are designed to limit undercover investigations on factory farms by campaigning groups.

Around a dozen states have passed or are proposing legislation banning these activities.

Supporters say they are designed to protect the privacy of farmers and agriculture businesses.
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Such atrocious public policy sets a dangerous precedent for UK industry, as does the introduction of US-style mega-farms.”

Ben Williamson PETA

Large, intensive factory farms have shown significant growth in the US over the past 20 years. Between 2002 and 2007 the total number of livestock on the biggest of these farms grew by more than 20%.

But concerns over the conditions in which cattle, pigs and poultry are raised and slaughtered have prompted many animal welfare groups to mount undercover investigations.
Candid cameras

Because there is no single US federal law that protects animals, welfare investigators have played a significant role in bringing public attention to inhumane practices.

In 2008, a distressing video of staggering cattle secretly recorded at a California slaughter plant led to the biggest meat recall in US history. Last year a recording from a pig farm in Wyoming was used to secure convictions against a number of workers for cruelty.

However in Utah and Iowa the undercover recording of videos like these is now illegal. Several other states including Indiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania are considering similar laws. Other provisions in these bills require prospective farm employees to disclose any link to animal welfare groups.

These regulations are already having an impact, says Cody Carlson, a former investigator who has documented inhumane activities on farms in several US states.

"When I applied for a job in Iowa in 2009 and they asked me if I had any affiliations to animal protection groups, I would have had to say yes, I wouldn't have gotten the job and I wouldn't have been able to expose the conditions that raised questions about the egg industry there," he told BBC News.

"It is exactly what these industries want - they want to shut down the conversation that's going on about what is happening with the animals we raise for our food."

In California an animal welfare bill, doesn't appear to be as restrictive as many of the others under consideration. It is supported by the California Cattlemen's Association and it requires anyone who records video or other evidence of cruelty to turn it over to the authorities within 48 hours.

But campaigners are highly sceptical, arguing that requiring the handover of material so quickly would undermine an investigation and prevent the collection of wider evidence of inhumane behaviour.

"They've done a clever twist on it," Charity Kenyon from the Slow Food Movement told BBC News.

"They want to make it look like their concern is animal abuse, but it is all part of the same deal which is to prevent ongoing investigations of the type that ended in the largest recall of beef in the history of the US," she said.
Global impacts

Welfare groups say that the American Legislative Exchange Council is the moving force behind these laws. This group supports conservative causes and promotes legislation to limit the role of government.

They have described animal rights campaigners as terrorists. They support the laws because they believe investigators are threatening the privacy rights of individuals and businesses. However they declined to be interviewed by the BBC for this article.

While the "ag-gag" laws are primarily designed to have impact within the US, many feel they will also have an impact outside the country.

"As factory farming spreads like a plague around the world," said Matt Rice from Mercy for Animals, "international agribusiness interests will certainly attempt to import America's ag-gag laws along with its tainted meat and animal abuse.

"The UK and other nations should be on high alert."

In the UK, Peta the animal welfare charity said these US laws were "shameful".

"Such atrocious public policy sets a dangerous precedent for UK industry, as does the introduction of US-style mega-farms," said Peta's Ben Williamson.

"Legislators should instead be passing laws to require cameras in all abattoirs and factory farms in order to catch animal abusers," he said.

Others are concerned that if these laws are passed, consumers around the world will no longer be able to trust that exports of US agricultural products are produced without cruelty.

"A significant amount of meat, dairy and eggs produced on US factory farms goes to foreign countries," Matt Dominquez, from the Humane Society of the US told BBC News.

"Anyone who consumes animal agricultural products imported from the US should be scared. This prevents them from knowing what's going on - it blocks an entire industry from transparency."

Warning: some graphic images of neglect in the video.
 

Sigh
 

This %#^% cold day...

Yesterday...
 

Frustration at my own inability....

the cost of college tuition.



...
...
...

Cry
 

I fractured a bone and it hurts like hell. I cant get comfortable and im super friggen bitchy! They gave me pain pills but it still hurts.

Discount Puppy
 

Marley and Me.

Mary Thom died today
She was on her motorcycle and went down
I am sad
She died doing what she loved
:watereyes:(f):rrose:

Reading the Grieving your pets thread made me teary.

All the dear dogs and cats that we have loved and will love forever.

:dog:

:cat:

A person dying in the hospital, her family aware of her impending demise, and she was alone, except for staff at the end. The television was on a Catholic religious channel, and she left after mass this morning. She was an elder, and had celebrated her last birthday while in the hospital. Cards, balloons, notes and stuffed animals held vigil with the nurses; the family members didn't respond to the telephone messages to please call the ICU.

I used to think that I would prefer to die alone, to save my family a small part of the grieving process...don't look, and it won't hurt. That isn't true, of course. It robs those who are close, of the celebration of the life/love/foibles, the uniqueness of the individual. It steals the last chance to forgive, or be forgiven, to laugh or cry (or both) over special times and memories.

and it happens all the time...

A simple kindness with a love note signed with a lipstick kiss.

Also post #221 by midwest chick.

Cry
 

It makes me sad that our grandchildren and children have to grow up in a world and ask questions like Grandma will there be anymore bombings. WTF!

We have the most gratifying , most depressing , most stressful, most disgusting , most Amazing jobs being nurses , ya know . Start a nurse thread for us to post and get it all out , vent , laugh and such. Not many understand the intensity of our Jobs , especially icu .

My son left this morning to start his new life across the country and though I am happy for him I will miss him something fierce.......

Me too. I thought we were supposed to be past this by now. Sometimes I think our enlightened times are not very enlightened at all.

Serious answer now...
 

Looking at the pictures from Wilcox County's First Integrated Prom on Facebook.

They were happy/sad tears... Sad because this is frelling 2013 and integrated Proms should't be a Thing in this day and age. The fact that there are still a few of them in this country is shameful.

BUT happy tears because hello? Awesome integrated Prom! Planned and thrown by the kids themselves. (Kids these days! Are awesome!) Loved the pictures and loved some of the dresses... If I were ever to have a chance to go to a Prom (because I missed both of mine) I would want something like that awesome tiered peachy one.

Dentist
 

Went to have a temporary crown replaced with a permanent crown. Ended up having a 3 hour surgery. 20 shots and 35 stitches later....I cried during the shots to the roof of my mouth. Had no idea it hurt like that! And I never cry!

Aaawe, I hate dentist stuff too! Did they root canal you? I had to get one last time that happened to me. For what it's worth, I cried too! Hope you're better soon!

What made me cry today?

My pain. I am so fucking sick of being in pain! I dont see an end in sight with my pain. I wake up in pain and I go to sleep in pain. You'd think after 5 years I would be in less pain. All the doctors I see cannot seems to do anything about it. I really think some of them think I am just a drug seeking moron. UGH!!!!!!

No root canal thank goodness! Bone graft and removal of 3 failed implants. Thank you I am actually feeling ok, not really any pain but I do look like I was in a boxing match.

Ouch! Get some frozen peas. They really worked last year when I had my jaws reset. Yes, it was painful!

The unexpected death of a very good friend from High School. Woke up this morning to a phone call from her mom. It's a beautiful spring day outside and it seems wrong somehow, that it's spring and Dana's going to miss it.

Today I found out that my 1st/2nd grade teacher passed away about 5 years ago... I had been trying to locate her online. I so wanted to see her again and thank her for giving me such a wonderful educational foundation....

It was this afternoon, while making something to eat for my youngest son and I.
I was sharing a very real concern with my son that will affect the two of us and out nowhere, he told me not to worry - that he'd take care of it, if push came to shove. Which, of course, then he followed up with telling me something that touched my heart so deeply. He realises how incredibly hard it's been on me over the years, being the sole provider of our little family and that while, proverbially, his hands are tied at the moment, he says to me that everything will be okay. Then he hugged me.

And then, my tears fell.