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Sadly, I still remember the first time I heard Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time." I was in the eighth grade and TRL was still wildly cool. My skinny, stirrup-tights-wearing, headgear sportin' 13 year-old self just couldn't get enough of the song. I remember thinking we had found a true pop princess.

But man, how quickly America's sweetheart fell from grace. And it wasn't pretty.

Now, at the bottom of the barrel, she's sporting elephants dressed in circus attire for her new video titled—what else—"Circus."

As Britney is such a victim of the paparazzi and always complaining and crying about how she hates to be held up in her guarded house and can't feel free, she of all people should be able to relate to the horror that captive animals go through when they're used for entertainment. Except Britney chooses to perform, and the lifestyle just comes with it. Animals are ripped away from their mothers at a young age, kept in chains, and prodded with electric shock devices to make them perform. That doesn't sound so voluntary to me.

Britney is now just an "outrageous" and "toxic" mess. I certainly don't want her to "gimme more," and neither do the animals who have been abused so that she can feel "lucky."

Well, we're not takin' this sitting down. We've got a killer action alert ready for those of you who want to fight with us and tell Brit to stop using animals in her acts, once and for all. Click here to take action today.

I must confess that I still believe she can turn herself around.

Written by Christine Doré

There aren’t many folks in America who don’t at least know there’s controversy surrounding circuses that use animals. So it always surprises me when a company like Denny’s jumps into bed with the animal abusing freak show that is Ringling Bros. circus. But, it surprised me even more when Denny’s CEO Nelson Marchioli refused to even talk with us about the issue, despite having been provided with an abundance of documentation, including videotapes, government documents, and testimony from former Ringling employees.

We wrote, we called, we called, and we called again, but Mr. Marchioli just wasn’t interested in joining more compassionate companies like General Mills, Burger King, Liz Claiborne, MasterCard, Visa, Ford Motor Company, and Sears, Roebuck and Co., all of whom ended their sponsorships of circuses that use animals. So, we’re proud to launch our new Web site: DeadlyDennys.com. Apparently Marchioli is OK with the beatings, neglect, confinement, and death that go on behind the scenes at Ringling, but I have a feeling his customers and investors won’t take too kindly to Denny’s family-friendly image being associated with such abuse.

So, check out DeadlyDennys.com, and be sure to share it with everyone you know. And oh, here is the link to contact Denny’s directly, to let them know what you think of their support of cruelty.

My friend and colleague Jason Bayless has been on tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus for three long months now, and I figured it was about time we had a look back at his tireless efforts to make sure that anyone who goes to a Ringling event in any state gets the elephants' side of the story too. Check out the slideshow of the tour that he sent me today:

For one reason or another, Taiwan is proving to be something of a golden child these days when it comes to passing progressive legislation that benefits animals. If things continue this way, the Dutch are going to need to start watching their backs or they'll lose their current status as "most animal-friendly country" before you can say "Dude, where the hell did you get these 'animal-friendly-country' statistics from anyway?" Under Taiwan's latest piece of legislation, the Wildlife Conservation Law, all animal circuses will be banned, exports of exotic animals as pets will be prohibited, and the punishment for "harassing, hurting, or abandoning animals" will include a maximum one-year prison term. Way to go, Taiwan!

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Enjoy the new diet, Victoria. And thank you, Rory—you’re amazing.

You can read more about the story here.

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He went on to discuss vegetarianism—noting that he himself gave up meat, dairy, and eggs in 1965, though he has occasionally eaten meat since then. In my few years in the animal rights movement, I've learned from experience that animal issues like these can sometimes be tough for people to take on board. When you're asking a person, or an organization, to make a fundamental change in the way they've always done things, tensions are likely to flare, regardless of how compelling your argument is. Which is why moments like these are so important. If anyone's looking for advice on how to live a compassionate lifestyle, the Dalai Lama's a pretty solid choice for a consultation. We're so used to listening to experts when we make decisions about how to live our lives, and it follows that we should sit up and pay attention when an expert on something as essential as kindness makes a pronouncement. I hope a lot of people pay attention to this one.

Just a quick bit of good news for you to start off your Tuesday: According to last week’s Taipei Times, a new amendment to Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law means that animal circuses are on the way out in Taiwan. When interviewed about the progressive new law, legislator Tien Chiu-Chin said, "Circuses do not need animals to be fun and successful. … Most important, by exposing our children to wild animals through circus acts, we are setting an incorrect example of how humans should interact with animals." 'Nuff said, Tien Chiu-Chin. Here's hoping the U.S. wakes up and follows Taiwan's example. You can read the full story here.

With hundreds of people standing in line waiting for tickets last week, the Lewis and Clark Old-fashioned Circus just folded up its tents and slinked off into the night. (OK, whatever—it was daytime, and circuses probably can't slink exactly, but I need a bit of creative license here.) The reason for all the drama was that York City Manager Trey Eubanks had decided at an emergency meeting with city leaders that the circus had failed to meet safety guidelines and that three caged tigers used by the circus posed a danger to York citizens. You can read our letter thanking the city here. While it admittedly may have sucked a little for everyone waiting in line to go see the circus, it's awesome to see a city recognizing the dangers—not to mention the brutality—of animal circuses and booting them out of town. Nice work, York!

Here’s a great story about a group of kids in Longmont, CO, protesting the circus there. The kicker: The circus boss got arrested for making lewd comments to the female protesters. Sounds like a classy guy . . .

The protesters kept their composure and gave a great interview to the paper, including this solid quote: “In this day and age, you’d think we’re past where we need animals to do stupid tricks to entertain us.” As one of the activists pointed out, the arrest of the circus manager was not a little ironic, given that the deputies were called out to the fairgrounds in the first place because of the protest.

Anyway, I got a kick out of that. Just more evidence that the abusive, foul-mouthed circus managers ought to be enough to scare most people away ... even if those freaky-ass clowns don't do the trick.

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