Comedian Sarah Silverman explains her ambitiously brilliant plan to end world hunger. She calls on Ratzinger, the chief architect responsible for obfuscating many of the Catholic Church’s most horrific sexual abuse scandals, to sell the Vatican and feed the world with the money.

“We need a hero, and who is more primed to be our hero than the pope? He’s literally a caped crusader,” explains Silverman. I think that she might be on to something.

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The efficiency of current animal farming practices is an “illusion”, according to a report released last Summer by the Pew Charitable Trusts (May 30, 2008).

This “illusion” is made possible by “cheap grain, cheap water and prison-like confinement systems.” Underpinning this status is the drive for the lowest possible labor costs–meaning automated feeding, watering, and waste disposal is the norm–which undermines and impoverishes traditional, family and small farm operations (farms which are typically bought out by corporate farming conglomerates, who then receive  the lion’s share of subsidies; about half a trillion since 2001).

What some call “industrial” farming and others –like the Union of Concerned Scientists–more descriptively refer to as  “confined” farming, results in massive over-crowding of livestock where unsafe/unhealthy conditions prevail for both the  animals, and the workers. These conditions make the spread of disease easier, and lead to over use of antibiotics (which are also often used to keep young calves sickly, and their meat more tender). *

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Jonathan Mann, the brilliant creator of Rock Cookie Bottom, composes a song every single day. Today’s gem simply relates some of the horrific twisted language in the Bush administration’s morally reprehensible and illegal torture memos. It is an incredibly powerful song, but makes me a little queasy every time I hear it. One of the most empowering local actions any of us can undertake is to speak out loudly against injustice wherever we see it.

Perhaps we can look forward to “Torture Memos”, the musical?

Most moms know that breastfeeding is best for baby and for the moms that decide to breastfeed (it is a choice) there are a lot of great support groups online. Breastfeeding.com provides an online community that helps support moms and Baby Center has many articles for new mothers to help them learn the benefits of breastfeeding and the how-to’s to help moms problem solve. The support and encouragement to breastfeed is certainly more common then it used to be but what about the mothers who do not breastfeed their babies? Is there support and guidance for those mothers on the formula to choose, safe BPA free bottles to use, how to prepare the formula and how much to feed the baby? I am sad to report my findings are showing there’s very little out there.

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The Children’s Defense Fund’s Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

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I’m not the only one who has noticed this overlap, of course. And rarely have I encountered such a thorough examination of the connections between animal welfare and just about every other issue that concerns me than in the book Why Animals Matter by Erin E. Williams and Margo DeMello.

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Last year, there were a record number of contaminated meat recalls, primarily from E. coli risks. Yet, it may surprise many people that despite its role as an inspector, the USDA does not have the legal authority to force a recall of meat and poultry product. It’s a frustrating situation. Indeed, in the wake of the record recalls, the only outcome by the USDA was to determine that a “study needed to be done on the situation.” In other words, little action by the USDA to address the situation and partial, voluntary recalls by the meat companies. Status quo.

And, then the Hallmark/Westmoreland products investigation hit the Web in the form of a video of shocking animal abuse and illegal use of downed cattle for human consumption, including school lunch programs. Actions that occurred despite twice a day visits from a USDA inspector.

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