My, aren't we curious?!
I am an interesting fella, ain't I? ;-)
So glad you stopped by to find out more about me! And if you are with
the FBI, don't be so shy--just ask if
you have a question!
Chronology
My life as an official "commie" began when I joined The Young Communist League in 1993, but
my activism started in the 1980's,
largely due to (believe it or not)
Ronald Reagan. He inspired me to fight the right! So, in 1986, I
began working with
Minnesota COACT (Citizen's
Organizations Acting Together) and
Clean Water
Action in Rochester,
Minnesota. (Need more information? Here's an essay on my
becoming a commie.)
A few years later, I moved to Washington State, and
continued my activism with the
Citizen Action affiliate in Washington,
first in Spokane, then in Seattle. After that, I did work with
SANE/Freeze, now known as
Peace Action. For a
short time I did computer work for
The Seattle Public
Library Foundation.
Since 1996, my work has been focused within the labor movement. My first
job as a union organizer was with The
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (pre-Hoffa Jr., of course),
Jobs with Justice,
1199NW,
SEIU - the Service Employees International Union - and the Communications Workers of America.
Some non-labor movement work (but still political) occurred from February
to May of 2009 touring the USA with the giant puppets of The Backbone Campaign.
During 2001-2002, I worked as the web developer for the People's Weekly World. Here are articles
of mine that are online:
Airline passenger safety before profits from October, 2001
Teach-in tackles questions on Islam and Afghanistan from September, 2001
Huge layoffs slated at Boeing (last article on page) fr om September, 2001
Bridges center announced at PWW picnic from August, 2001
PWW Courage Awards from July, 2001
Envirnomentalists and labor unity needed from July, 2001
"Pride At Work" convenes from June, 2001
What's in a name (last article on page) from May, 2001
Arrests at WTO anniversary from December, 2000
Articles on the Communist Party Yahoo Group message board
I grew up in Minnesota (see first link, below) and now live in Seattle (second link). While working as an activist, I lived for brief periods in Baltimore, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon and Montana. Otherwise, my homes have been:
"In the spirit of fair play..."The use of derogatory terms about vegetarians throughout the article showed the stance the authors wanted to get across. Associating vegetarianism with "ecofeminism" and being "politically correct" is even worse than being labeled a liberal in most circles. Calling vegetarians "true believers" harkens back to the book of the same name which considers members of any groups to be brainwashed from being individuals. Also, "dogma" was another pejorative used against those who abstain from meat. In addition, let's not discount the negative imagery put forward about vegetarians throughout the article: "[They] don't live longer, they just look older." People often guess I'm still in my 20's, even though I'm 37 years old. Perhaps if I ate meat I'd look like I was 15? The young vegetarian can look forward to "irregular periods and a loss of hair." And don't forget the yellow tinge to the skin." As a 16 year vegetarian with a full head of hair and no noticeable yellow in my skin, I have to wonder when these effects will surface in me! The paragraph that starts with the sentence, "To impressionable young minds, vegetarianism can sound sensible." Of course, this implies that to those who aren't young and impressionable, vegetarianism cannot sound sensible. Apparently to negate the fact that a vegetarian diet is nearly always more healthy, the authors decided to highlight hypothetical cases in the extreme. "There are meat eaters who eat more and better vegetables than vegetarians, and vegetarians who eat more artery-clogging fats than meat eaters." Of course, no statistics are used to back up this outlandish statement. In another case of reporting extremism, the authors cite a Queens couple bringing up a baby on a strict diet; deemed, "vegetarian theory gone madly wrong." Yes, the food choices this couple has made for raising their infant do sound unhealthy -- but what does that have to do with the rest of the 10 million vegetarians in the United States? In other words, anecdotal evidence doesn't make a case. After all, did Time magazine term it "Christianity gone madly wrong" when Andrea Yates killed her five children? The argument about saving gray-tailed vole - "mowing an alfalfa field caused a 50% reduction [of the little varmints]" - would have been more compelling if vegetarians ate alfalfa hay (we don�t)! Alfalfa sprouts that are eaten aren't harvested by mowing. Along that theme, however, it wasn't pointed out that most animals raised for meat are factory farmed and fed grains, and are not out grazing in a pasture. Therefore, if one really wants to save "Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse" out in the fields, reducing your meat intake is the best way. More of these animals are killed harvesting crops to feed livestock than feeding humans, since 70% of the grain grown in the United States goes to the former. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, "World Cereals Used for Feed", 1997. The article had many examples of misleading the public about the degree of difficulty of eating a healthy vegetarian diet. "With perfect knowledge, you can indeed eat like a king from the vegetable world." The article goes on to imply that anything less than perfect knowledge, "can lead to deficiencies in iron, calcium and vitamin B12." Of course, the fact that people who are NOT vegetarians often have vitamin and mineral deficiencies was mentioned only once, compared to the numerous citations on this subject in regards to vegetarians by the authors. Later in the article this theme is echoed with the quote, "Being a vegetarian athlete is hard, really hard to do right." Evidently "the spirit of fair play" hadn't visited the authors at this point yet, for if it had, they easily could have found a study suggesting the exact opposite. D. C. Nieman of the Department of Nutrition, School of Health, Loma Linda University summarized, "the balanced vegetarian diet provides the athlete with added reduction in coronary risk factors while meeting all known nutritional needs." (Source) And continuing the theme that being a vegetarian athlete is difficult, the article states "relatively few top athletes are vegetarians." Considering that only 4% of the population considers itself vegetarian, if only 1:25 top athletes are vegetarians, that does seem like relatively few, but it IS consistent with the 4% mark. However, there are a number of well-known successful vegetarian athletes, see this link for a list. And instead of giving a balanced summary of The International Congress of Vegetarian Nutrition, the authors give one paragraph to the entire Congress, and one paragraph to "one study [which] suggested that low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative impact on skeletal health." One study (which contradicts the healthfulness of vegetarianism -- if it is low protein vegetarianism, that is) versus dozens of studies showing benefits of a vegetarian diet (Click here for the complete program of the Congress). Is this what Time considers "the spirit of fair play"? When the article uses the term "in the spirit of fair play," of course it is because they are giving the floor back to the anti-vegetarian side. Even though at that point in the article, experts from the anti-vegetarian side outnumbered the pro-vegetarian ones 6 to 4. The final jab at vegetarianism was in the last paragraph: "can 'America's food' ever be tofu?" Given that in 1986, a Roper poll published in USA Today listed tofu as America's most-hated food - even though most people in the United States have never eaten tofu - it's obvious the intent of the authors: To be a vegetarian, you must love tofu. And since tofu is the most hated food, it's not desirable to be a vegetarian. However, if one looks to India, a country with hundreds of millions of vegetarians, you'll note that tofu is even LESS known there. Which just goes to show, that tofu is not necessary for vegetarians. By the way, what does Time consider 'America's food' to be right now?  Home |