Karen’s Neighborhood

 

I'm crying hysterically right now because I just watched a video of pigs being inhumanely slaughtered... it's not so much about it being an animal, but pigs are as sensitive and smart as dogs... (i don't know if smart is saying much though for some dogs) and they were just dragging them into a room and when they saw their pig friends tied up and screaming... literally screaming, I'm not even kidding... on the ground, they started freaking out too. and all I could think about was my dogs. I don't know what to do. I am so torn. All of the research I did about factory farming and the books I have yet to finish reading (Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's Dilemma, Peter Singer: Animal Liberation and The Way We Eat, Why Our Food Choices Matter)... I don't know if I can eat animals anymore... it's so sad. I know places like Whole Foods have huge long criteria that the farms must meet where they get their meat from... and they are raised humanely and slaughtered humanely... but even so... that's still eating another animal.

and honestly, in this day and age, it's completely unnecessary to eat meat... we do it for the taste...I do it for the taste, to please my palate... There are plenty of legumes that contain the protein of meat... it's not necessary... but so convenient... what do I do?? I'm so confused and so very sad I can't believe how much it hurt me inside to watch that.

and the thing is, I'm just one person, I'm just me.. even if I swear off meat, I won't really be saving any (many) animals...

I love meat... but I can't stop thinking about what I'm doing now. and i feel soooooo guilty. In one of the books, I think it was one of Peter Singer's books, he talks about giving a vegetarian who does it for moral reasons the chance to slaughter his own chicken so it's done humanely for sure.. and the vegetarian does it.. and eats the chicken with no problems!

I think it's the complete OPPOSITE for most people... if I had to kill my own food, I wouldn't be able to eat it... think about this: I love lobster... boiling them alive is inhumane... a humane way to kill them is by taking a very sharp knife and slicing them straight down right between the eyes... they don't even feel it.. but I know if I couldn't do it.. and if I did do it, I wouldn't be able to eat it. It'd be so much easier to just stick the lobster in the water, put the lid on and walk away until it's done cooking.

Out of sight, out of mind... I'd rather have someone else murder my animals for me.
but I'm starting to see the horror of it staring back at me from my plate every time my plate is filled with animal flesh... I should have never done my speech, ethics paper, and american government paper on this topic... I'll never feel the same way again

On the flip plus side, I do really honestly like tofu... so who knows... maybe I can do it

In the meantime, I highly urge you guys to check out these books... because they are good, not because I want you to feel the way I do.

I agree with Peter Singer. I want to meet the guy.

Hi guys,

For anyone that has been following this soap opera, my Uncle came out of the surgery at 5pm...so it ran from 7:30am to 5pm.  Can you imagine how tired the surgeon and staff must have been?  The first surgery my Uncle had, when he was brought into the city because of that incompetent small-hospital surgeon, was begun around 8pm and lasted into the wee hours of the morning.  She caused "severe injuries", we were told.  Well, trying to murder the poor man would be considered "severe", I would think.  *smile*

Anyways, he made it through and is now in ICU.  It just is up to him to survive.  Whether he has the strength left or not is yet to be seen, and as most people know, patients don't usually die in the Operating Room but during recovery.  His poor body has been through so much, and he even went into a deep depression while waiting to build up his strength for this second surgery (they gave him anti-depressants for that).  He still wasn't strong enough, but he hasn't been able to keep any food down for the past 4 days, didn't have the strength to walk anymore, and his legs and toes were beginning to have spasms and twitching.  They couldn't wait any longer.  But he made it through, the tough old man!  I just hope he recovers because the staff has been making us quite aware that the body can only take so much.  And he was weak to begin with, going into this second major surgery.  Apparently they stated that it was more complicated than they had anticipated.  Well, if you have bile leaking out into your body.....since the first repair surgery wasn't a COMPLETE success but they were just trying to give him time to gain his strength.....I can't imagine how many organs and body structures that bile could have damaged.  He was just slowly dying again, poor man.

Prayers would be appreciated.  He has quite a battle in front of him, and he may just want to go Home and be done with this world by now.  Who could blame him?  Remind me never to get gall stones...or ANY stones for that matter!   Actually, no surgeries would be a good idea all around!!!!  Lol.

Thanks for reading our little soap opera, and I'll let you know how it goes.  Thanks.

Got two hours of sleep on call last night; came home this morning and slept til 5 pm and still feel like crap.  B had a better day; he got a surprise call from the highest boss and is being transferred in two weeks to headquarters and getting an early raise in salary.  Headquarters will be 50 miles away from our new place though.  An old college friend came to town for a conference and I was supposed to meet him this evening.  I felt like a zombie when I woke up at 5 pm though, and as I talked to him over the phone it irked me how stuffy he now sounds.  He's doing residency at a fancy Ivy League university, has gotten a prestigious fellowship at the same place for next year, and just doesn't sound as fun as he used to.  I hadn't seen him in a few years and wanted to meet, but after our phone call, just didn't feel it anymore. 

B wants to visit his mother in rural Maine this weekend.  The town is rural enough that there isn't even a bed and breakfast there.  I booked a room in the nearest touristy town-- 20 miles away.  Having scored five star luxury hotels on priceline.com for $50 a night in the past, it seems absurd to be paying over a hundred dollars a night in rural Maine, for a room that reminds me of an old woman's spare bedroom in the attic.  But I'm jumping at the chance to escape the city and the ICU for a weekend in the country with B and the dogs (and the future in-laws).  Running away is what I like best.

I have a migraine this morning. I may have to eat some young.

i put up a post in which i let my neighbours know that i'd put auto approve back on since the abuse had subsided but just before i closed down for the night i changed my mind because i just knew someone would take advantage of that announcement - so i turned the approval back on whilst i slept and sure enough - when i signed in the next day the abuse had already started - bluebottle had left me comments regardless of the post just to annoy me and provoke me and to be blunt about it this man is just like a spoilt child - as a polite notice bluebottle take this is a warning - if you ever try to do anything like that again i will give you a reaction but it will not be the reaction you want and you will not find it funny or amusing - do yourself a favour and back off

1.Well, one day...possibly three days in the hospital for gall stones.

2.  Surgeon completely severs bile duct from liver...oh well...sews him back up and sends him back to a regular hospital room to die.

3. Nurses finally get him into the city after ONE WEEK because he obviously was not reacting properly, and the surgeon wouldn't come visit her patient.

4. Doctors did emergency surgery here, lasting into the wee hours of the morning for the severe injuries done to him.

5. Four months later, he can't even keep any food down or walk (after having a lung collapse and blood clots in the other lung).

6. Went in for second major surgery this morning at 7:30am....it is now 4:00pm....just heard it will be another hour in the operating room.

7. Will be going straight to ICU for a few days

8. If he survives, then he'll go to Recovery for a few days

9. If he survives, then he'll be transferred to a surgical floor to  heal.

 

That surgeon should be not only lose her license to practice, but be put in jail for murder (the sliced artery on another patient) and attempted murder on my uncle (she knew he would DIE with his bile duct not even attached to his liver!).

They say for every person who gets caught stealing a car, that they have already stolen 4-5 more without getting caught.  How many deaths has this woman caused already?

I'll let you know what happens.

adobe photoshop express has added flickr integration options into the on-line beta resource - they have also added the ability to produce slideshows and embed them to all the usual platforms - perhaps a good help is the option to save as now to protect your originals in case it all goes wrong - there's peace of mind in that