In memory of John Lennon's death: "Give Peas a Chance."

My people do me proud! A recent article in the National Catholic Worker praises the social and environmental benefits of being vegetarian. Granted, I'm not a Catholic per se, but as a Christian, the Catholic Workers are my favorite siblings. They work for—not just talk about—human rights, in the States and abroad, by putting their feet (and, in this case, their forks) where their faith is. They're also not afraid to take on issues that catch them some heat.

The article goes on to say that the "only diet for a peacemaker is a vegetarian diet," which is what we've been saying for years! I love that the Catholic Workers are owning up to this fact, too, and am hoping that Christians all over will be inspired by this. At PETA, we've got our own Blessed Are the Merciful video, which you can view here.

Of course, almost every religion has its own message of peace that, if you look closely, includes animals. But this article really struck a chord! I always found it a bit insincere that people were comfortable following a faith that preaches love and understanding yet don't blink when it comes to eating those who need exactly that.

I'd love to hear about how you all relate religion and vegetarianism, too, so comment and let me know.

Well, Rudy Giuliani’s office hung up on us when we offered the once presidential hopeful an ambassadorship last week, but Omar Osama Bin Laden (the estranged son of the more notorious OBL) and his wife are talking to us. We sent a letter yesterday urging the bin Ladens to cancel plans to organize a “grueling” endurance horse race across the Sahara Desert as “a way to promote peace.” That’s a 3,000-mile horse race across North Africa, scheduled to begin in March. We didn’t think that sounded like a barrel of laughs for the horses. As PETA’s president puts it, "If this were a rally in which cars were in danger of overheating and breaking down, I'd be all for it. But horses are flesh and blood. Such a grueling race will mean fatalities, not peace. Animals have not declared war on us - they should be truly left in peace."

The bin Ladens got back right away and some important assurances have already been given. More on this later. You can read our letter to bin Laden here.

If you were following the Super Bowl ads closely this year, you would have noticed an advocacy ad for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which depicted a drug dealer lamenting his recent lack of customers, because “kids are just getting high out of their medicine cabinets nowadays.” Which, well, no problem with that specifically—it’s a perfectly sound message reminding parents to be careful about their prescription drugs. Some big question marks do arise, however, when you consider the email that PETA received from FOX Television last month when we submitted our own series of ads to run during the Super Bowl:

So what’s going on here? Was FOX outright lying to us to get us off their case, or is there something I’m missing here? To make FOX’s double standard even more obvious, one of the three ads that we submitted (the series was designed to raise awareness about KFC’s cruel treatment of chickens) specifically addressed the issue of drug abuse. I’ve posted that ad below.

Here’s the letter we sent to FOX Broadcasting Company's VP of Advertising Sales today, asking him, essentially, WTF?, and you can watch the entire series of ads that were banned from Super Bowl consideration here.

Happy Super Tuesday, everybody! While the frontrunning presidential candidates square off for this big 24-state battle, let’s take a moment to remember how we got here: Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand, it’s Broccoli Obama, Celery Clinton, Mitt Ramen-y, Mike Huckleberry, and Dijon McCain! This version’s nice and short, but you can check out the whole feature at http://www.peta.org/feat/greenhouse/index.asp.

The 2008 Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest is underway, and this year we’re doing things a bit differently. To spice things up a bit, we’ve pitted the nominees against each other in a bracket-style tournament, where the winner takes all. (“All,” in this case, being a free trip to Hawaii.) You can check out the smoking hot lineup of sexy vegetarian guys and gals here. Happy voting!

This photo, which appeared in Us Weekly and People magazines last week, is interesting not just because it shows that even the fabulous Katherine Heigl must, sometimes, take a Saturday afternoon to move her belongings from one house to another, but because—if you look very closely—you can see that she’s sporting a PETA T-shirt just for the occasion. You can compare the tee she’s wearing in the pic with our brand-new “Have a PETA Day” shirt below. Thanks are due to my eagle-eyed colleague Johnny Machuzak for pointing that out. Now get back to work and stop reading gossip magazines, Johnny.

Other blogs that covered this story:
PopSugar
Celebrity-Gossip
The Candid Photos
Jezebel
X17

Three dogfighters knocked out of the ring (or should that be pit) early! Two more of Michael Vick's alleged accomplices entered guilty pleas in Richmond today, and there is no doubt that Michael Vick is huddled with his attorneys, deciding whether or not he will follow suit early next week.

According to The Houston Chronicle, "A statement of facts signed by Taylor as part of his plea agreement placed Vick at the scene of several dogfights and linked him to betting. Taylor said Vick financed virtually all the "Bad Newz Kennels" operation on Vick's property in Surry County."

If Vick is ultimately tied to betting on these dogfights, it is likely to trigger a lifetime ban from the NFL under the league's personal conduct policy, which does not look kindly on illegal gambling. Does anyone else think it might be a good idea for the policy to include a similar stance against charges of electrocution and drowning?

PETA was present at the hearing, and I've posted some images for you below.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

For those who don’t know, I am a big Peter Dinklage fan. He won me over in The Station Agent (if you haven’t seen this, add it to your Netflix list pronto, seriously) a few years ago and I’ve been keeping up with his career ever since. So I was glad to see him getting huge props from super-critic Roger Ebert for his new movie, Death at a Funeral. Ebert said that Dinklage “…is becoming my favorite go-to actor for any movie that needs someone to go to. [H]e has that ability to make you brighten up and take notice, because with such a person on the screen something is bound to happen. Dinklage can look handsome in that menacing way that suggests he’s about to dine out on your fondest hopes and dreams.” Not bad, coming from the guy who can make or break a movie, depending on his choice of two simple words: “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.”

Dinklage is also in the next Narnia movie, due out next April, but to hold you over until then, check out the “veggie testimonial” he shot a few months back.

And speaking of veggie testimonials, the next one in the hopper is so funny that an intern actually had to leave a meeting yesterday because she couldn’t stop laughing. Stay tuned for more on that soon. . .

All you heavy metal fans will probably want to throw devil horns in the air, because long-time vegan and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler just got in touch with us from the road to let us know how he feels about KFC. Here’s what he had to say about the Colonel’s treatment of our feathered friends: “Life is God’s or natures’ greatest gift. All life should be treated with respect and dignity. I am sure most people would be horrified at the way K.F.C. treats its chickens. People have a choice in what they eat, but those chickens do not have a choice in the way they are treated. If people let K.F.C. know of their concerns, then hopefully the chickens will be treated ethically.”

And for those of you who need a little Sabbath fix to get you through the rest of your day, here you go.