COMMENTS: 189
8 Reasons You Should Stop Drinking Milk Now
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What could be more American than a glass of milk? Cow's milk, that is. In light of this common perception, the time is long overdue to add the milk mustache to that ever-growing list of American myths. Human beings are not designed to drink any milk except human milk (only during infancy, of course). As you'll see below, consuming dairy products -- milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, etc. -- is not green and it's not healthy.
It's also a nightmare for the cows themselves. Here's a little of how the folks at GoVeg describe it: "The 9 million cows living on dairy farms in the United States spend most of their lives in large sheds or on feces-caked mud lots, where disease is rampant. Cows raised for their milk are repeatedly impregnated. Their babies are taken away so that humans can drink the milk intended for the calves. When their exhausted bodies can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter and ground up for hamburgers."
*Living dairy-free has never been easier...so here's a little motivation to get you on the greener, cruelty-free, not-milk track.
Environmental Reasons to Avoid Milk
1. Dairy cows produce waste.
Lots of waste. In fact, your average dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day -- equal to that of more than two dozen people, but without toilets, sewers, or treatment plants.
2. Let me repeat: Dairy cows produce lots and lots of waste (and greenhouse gases).
California produces one-fifth of the country's total milk supply. According to MilkSucks.com, "in the Central Valley of California, the cows produce as much excrement as a city of 21 million people, and even a smallish farm of 200 cows will produce as much nitrogen as in the sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to a U.S. Senate report on animal waste."
3. Milk production ultimately leads to climate change.
The dairy industry is an extension of the beef industry (used-up dairy cows are sent to the slaughterhouse after an average of four years, one-fifth their normal life expectancy) which means it plays a major role in creating climate change. Here's the equation: The dairy industry uses cows before passing them on to be slaughtered by the beef industry which is now recognized as an environmental nightmare. "According to a UN report," writes Brian Merchant, "cows are leading contributors to climate change ... Accounting for putting out 18% of the world's carbon dioxide, cows emit more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation combined." That means the industry of exploiting all cows -- including dairy cows -- involves destructive practices like deforestation and polluting offshoots like runoff.
4. Milk often contains unwanted ingredients.
Under current industrial methods, cow's milk is often a toxic bovine brew of man-made ingredients like bio-engineered hormones, antibiotics (55% of U.S. antibiotics are fed to livestock), and pesticides -- all of which are bad for us and the environment. For example, unintentional pesticide poisonings kill an estimated 355,000 people globally each year. In addition the drugs pumped into livestock often re-visit us in our water supply.
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: dstauff on Oct 2, 2009 12:54 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: You have got to be kidding....
Posted by: gnaw_bone
» Fallacies galore!
Posted by: ffrf.org
» also, your sources are partisan
Posted by: ffrf.org
» RE: also, your sources are partisan
Posted by: phair
» "Human beings not designed"
Posted by: ffrf.org
» Sadly, no.
Posted by: Walt K
» RE: You have got to be kidding....no, they KNOW BETTER. Better than the Greeks, the Amish, the
Posted by: Beck
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Posted by: akai ringo on Oct 2, 2009 2:05 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
However, during a recent health check, I had my blood tested, and it was clear that the protein percentage content was excessively high. A chat with my doctor identified milk, of which I had been drinking a lot, as the most likely culprit. I cut back on it severely, with beneficial results. To me, the piece in general makes good medical sense.
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» There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: tony_opmoc
» RE: There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: akai ringo
» RE: There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
» RE: Drinking too much milk can easily lead to an excess of protein
Posted by: americansheep
» There is no such thing as an "Excess of Protein"
Posted by: Walt K
» RE: There is no such thing as an "Excess of Protein"
Posted by: acohn
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Posted by: colinmeister on Oct 2, 2009 4:33 AM
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Posted by: corylus on Oct 2, 2009 5:02 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tell us what's "bullshit." What's propagandistic, and why should any individual be kept from practicing what corporations and government, and unthinking neanderthals, are so free to do? What is "Alternuts," or are you trying to say something about your gonads? Who's the clown, and what are YOUR credentials?
Nothing to say remotely thoughtful or reasonable? Let's hurl some invective, a tried and true escape for dullards who'd rather attack someone else than use the brains they were born with, and a disturbing trend in public discourse in the land of the free to smear shit in public.
Your mind has turned to cottage cheese, AC, and it's got a bright blue mold growing on it.
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Posted by: mgmyers79 on Oct 6, 2009 6:33 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The dairy industry is guilty as charged for the above. All milk however is not produced the same. A tiny fraction, a growing fraction, is produced green-ly and not subject to the charges above.
Humans have been drinking milk and eating dairy products since before the agricultural revolution, with good results. Fermented milk products are especially good when made at home, not so good in the store. Humans succeeded on this planet primarily due to our gastrointestinal finesse.
All that said, 310 million Americans drinking milk everyday, the USDA's wet dream, is unsustainable. The dairy industry will crash in predictable fashion as a result.
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Posted by: rfrancis@godisdead.com on Oct 2, 2009 2:16 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you want to make the case that cows are bad for the environment because of the waste and food they require, that is one thing, but to say dairy is bad for your health is just plain wrong.
Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy.
That study clearly says 40% more muscle growth and 2lbs fat loss for those who got their protein through dairy.
An Organic Stonyfield Plain Fat Free 32oz container of yogurt has 440 total calories, no fat, 40 grams of protein (80% of your daily requirement) and none of the anti-biotics and growth hormones from regular factory farmed cows.
Add some multivitamins, omega 3 fish oil, grape seed extract, and you essentially have the goop mentioned in the first Matrix movie that gives you everything the body needs.
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» RE: Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: ronniejw on Oct 2, 2009 2:22 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Ronnie Wright
World Change Café
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» the technical difficulties
Posted by: aislinnluv
» RE: the technical difficulties
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Why not drink...
Posted by: wagner
» RE: Why not drink...
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line
» Oh, hogwash. I guess too bad for humans throughout history that they didn't have 3% or so of modern
Posted by: Beck
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Posted by: Carts on Oct 2, 2009 3:05 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All other blood types cannot
www.dadamo.com
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» I call BS
Posted by: BlueTigress
» RE: Depends on blood type/ I'm O+ Gallon a week
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
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Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line on Oct 2, 2009 3:22 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: progressiveview
» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: cpotter
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Posted by: raine1 on Oct 2, 2009 3:30 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I regularly made cheese,butter, ice cream and yogurt, plus had milk to sell and consume on the farm. It was part of an overall healthy diet.
Yes, some people are lactose intolerant and should stay away from some dairy, but by and large, the proteins and beneficial calcium and phosphorus from dairy is very good in one's diet. There are people who are nut intolerant, so should stay away from nut products, but that doesn't mean nuts are unhealthy to the vast majority of omnivores.
I do believe in treating animals humanely. Our cows were bred for both milking and creating new replacement stock. Breeding was not an annual event. Gigantic dairy farms, as in any huge mega-animal production facility, could take note that treating animals as though they have no worth beyond milk/meat production is immoral. Cows are thinking, feeling beings. Maybe not the brightest bulbs in the pack, but certainly social critters who feel something for their offspring and herd mates. Treating these animals with some respect would mean keeping them clean, allowing them to graze naturally and supplementing grass with digestable grains.
None of my small family farm cows went for hamburger either. We appreciated their contributions to the farm and family and used their poop waste to fertilize our gardens. It was shoveled up by hand, piled away from water sources and later incorporated into the soil with composted hay and other vegetable matter. This is the way dairy cows are supposed to live in a farm setting.
If you want to discourse on CO2 emissions from livestock, 9 billion farting, pooping humans make a lot of waste. Perhaps we need fewer of them.
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» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: Nightowl
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: raine1
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: Jethro2112
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: EncinoM
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: EncinoM
» Cows must give birth to lactate
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: Cows must give birth to lactate
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: Perry Logan on Oct 2, 2009 4:04 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Avoiding dairy products might work well for normal-sized or big people, but those of slight build should hesitate before dropping dairy products from their regime. Different bodies have different needs.
Ayurveda--traditional east Indian medicine--has advice for consuming milk safely. They recommend milk be boiled to make it easier to digest, and they sometimes say to add spices.
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» RE: Skinny folks beware
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» Perhaps you didn't eat well
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
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Posted by: sunnywater on Oct 2, 2009 4:17 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I love Stilton, it produces intriguing dreams.
Check it out.
Stoneyfield Farm yogurt is great too!
Thank God for cows!
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» RE: G.K. Chesterton
Posted by: Higher Reptile
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Posted by: AJR Journal on Oct 2, 2009 4:27 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
California's milk prroductiion is the result of government-induced distortions in the Western water market. Artificially low water prices lead alfalfa production to be found in Utah, Arizona, and southern California. Alfalfa is in no way, ever, ever, going to be found naturally in those areas. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is naturally "Alfalfa Heaven",with 3 crops harvested every year.
Milk, cheese, yogurt, etc are very delicious. People love them. Especially those from America's Dairyland.
Wisconsin's dairy cows are loved and treasured. Disease IS NOT rampant, exploitation is non-existent, and cows are pampered. This is because milk production is actually a very delicate procedure. Cows production will plummet if everything is not perfect. Cows can be high-producers for 10-12 years, in good hands.
Eat more dairy products, especially those from Wisconsin!
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» RE: I am from Wisconsin, I ought to know.
Posted by: richholland
» RE: I am from Wisconsin, I ought to know.
Posted by: Tricia
» So target factory farms, not milk
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: ProgressiveManiac on Oct 2, 2009 5:16 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Still, everything in moderation. I still enjoy a bit of cheese now and I just can't seem to keep permanently off of ice cream.
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» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac
» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: purpleheart
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Posted by: Augustus_818 on Oct 2, 2009 5:23 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
NO, I'm not gonna stop drinking milk, I'm not gonna stop eating meat, I'm not even gonna stop breathing the fucking air, just because your college professor that you get high with, told you a scary story about the evil's of such things. I'm sorry he blew your high and got you all freaked out, MAN! That don't mean you gotta start in on everybody else.
For the love of everything fucking sacred, Alternet. Just STOP!
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» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: ChathamChick
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: crackanell
» Yea!
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: Addwaita
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: snowhound on Oct 2, 2009 5:33 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: COWS are meant to eat GRASS
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» RE: COWS are meant to eat GRASS
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: nullipara on Oct 2, 2009 5:42 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Great article, right up until the end
Posted by: bigpeach
» And if YOU really cared about the earth, you'd stop using a computer.
Posted by: mjabele
» RE: Great article, right up until the end
Posted by: Birdland
» RE: If we eat no meat would we not have more cows?
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
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Posted by: kad on Oct 2, 2009 6:14 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Life is Short
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
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Posted by: exnazipope on Oct 2, 2009 6:29 AM
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Posted by: thekidde on Oct 2, 2009 6:37 AM
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» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: Jethro2112
» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: MyLeftFoot
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Posted by: Robba29 on Oct 2, 2009 6:41 AM
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Posted by: Quist on Oct 2, 2009 6:48 AM
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...but lets keep ignoring that big fat elephant in the room.
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» RE: Becuase that would apply manly to brown people.
Posted by: wonkywriter
» educational level? maybe, maybe not
Posted by: aislinnluv
» Amen!
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: I'm still waiting for Alternet to post an article on "8 Reasons You Should Stop Having So Many Kids"
Posted by: jtalle
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Posted by: wzsteen on Oct 2, 2009 6:57 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
RT
Ultimate Anonymity
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» RE: Wow suggestion
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» RE: you had no idea, because its not true
Posted by: ffrf.org
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Posted by: smf1403 on Oct 2, 2009 7:24 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Please consider reducing dairy and animal product consumption or at least buy from local small farms or Organic Valley which treat the animals humanely.
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» RE: IT'S ALL TRUE
Posted by: Higher Reptile
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Posted by: wonkywriter on Oct 2, 2009 7:31 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Moderation is the key
Posted by: Jethro2112
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Posted by: MichaelGoodhart on Oct 2, 2009 7:34 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Articles that bash milk never touch upon raw/grassfed milk.
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
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Posted by: ABetterFuture on Oct 2, 2009 7:53 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What's the author's point again? Cow milk isn't human milk, and isn't needed by adults, in either case? Yeah, well, neither are books, skyscrapers, concrete, paintings, or any of a hundred thousand things we produce or consume. Milk is, of course, on the list of things we don't technically need...I'd place it behind wars, debt, servitude-orieted national policies, and ignorance...
...but you've got to be discriminating re: what you choose to shriek over. Only so much oxygen to go around, eh?
*no, not that one :)
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Posted by: wireup on Oct 2, 2009 7:53 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am DELIGHTED! When the milk sits in the refrigerator, the cream rises to the top. You have to shake the container! So, I know it's definitely NOT homogenized (which is another health problem so you should try to avoid anything that is homogenized)
Where I previously lived it was unavailable. So, I was buying organic pasteurized milk but couldn't get it down because of the digestive problems it caused. But with RAW milk, this is no longer a problem.
If you have access or certified organic milk you avoid all the problems the go with feedlot cows. As far as I know, it's green all the way!
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» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: dstauff
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: dingham
» I don't think "statistical analysis" means what you think...
Posted by: ABetterFuture
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: Imanibr2
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: progressiveview
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Posted by: Ayla87 on Oct 2, 2009 8:34 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Does anyone else see the discrepency?
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» Notice that this article says nothing about the difference between milk from factory farms vs
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Oct 2, 2009 9:08 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: Ignatz deFyre on Oct 2, 2009 9:19 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Fact 1: mankind has been eating the tissue and secretions of animals for millenia.
Fact 2: mankind has been eating plant matter for millenia.
Some choose one, the other, or a combination thereof. Methods of ingestion vary: Some eat raw, some eat cooked, some imbibe, inhale or inject. This is reality. These kinds of articles are a waste of space. These facts will not change.
The issues are moderation, balance, sustainability. That's is where the thinking and effort should be going.
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» Amen
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: Tired of it
Posted by: corylus
» What about cruelty to animals?
Posted by: Tricia
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Posted by: talapuspete on Oct 2, 2009 9:21 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: As Lenny Bruce Said...
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: workman586 on Oct 2, 2009 9:43 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Less hair on fire rhetoric and more thought please.
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» only about half--and it's good we exterminated the buffalo
Posted by: zooeyhall
» RE: only about half--and it's good we exterminated the buffalo
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: hurricane hugo on Oct 2, 2009 10:04 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
#@!
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» RE: you can have my cheese
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: frantic1971 on Oct 2, 2009 10:08 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am a lifetime dairy farmer, like my dad before me, with 50 cows. They are well treated and do NOT spend their lives confined in a lot! They are out on pasture all summer long, and then in the winter they freely graze the stubble in my cornfields and soybean fields.
The waste from cows is largely vegetable matter. It goes back onto my fields as fertilizer.
I don't "heartlessly sell my cows for hamburger" but keep them as long as they are productive. Which can be 8 years or more until the natural aging process starts to take hold (cows don't live forever, you know).
I could go on and on about the points raised in the article. Please believe me that NONE OF THIS IN THE ARTICLE IS TYPICAL OF ANY DAIRY FARM WHERE I LIVE! IT IS NOT DONE IN WELL MANAGED DAIRIES---EVEN THE LARGER ONES!
This article is sooo incredibly distorted--has the author ever BEEN to a dairy farm where I live? Has he been within 50 miles of one in his life?
I have noticed also--the curious similarities between the anti-abortion movement and the extreme vegetarians, as illustrated by this author. Each resorts to wildly inaccurate distortions of the facts, and the willingness to demonize those who don't believe as they do. If you don't agree with them, you are not only wrong but EVIL!
Alternet--I know some of these people probably donate alot to you, but don't let your website become a tool for propaganda. Leave that to Fox News.
I am just a farmer and I know I can't compete with the eloquence and those on this website who are much better at writing than I am. This article is a disgrace and totally discredits Alternet. And I am sure there will be others who will slap me down with a "shut-up you stupid dairy farmer! What the hell do YOU know about it!"
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» Sinisiter anti-humanity behind this guy's beliefs
Posted by: zooeyhall
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: Ignatz deFyre
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: noof
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: morticia
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Posted by: geekman on Oct 2, 2009 10:51 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN on Oct 2, 2009 10:53 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
this group of neurotic greenweenies is ONLY concerned with their green shit.
They don't give one little fuck about anyone's health.
Let me tell of a way to actually shit green.
Eat an entire packet of spinach.
You WILL shit green the next day.
I eat it often and shit greenish brown.
I am soooooo impressed with their garbage.
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» Name-calling
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Name-calling
Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN
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Posted by: MotherLodeBeth on Oct 2, 2009 10:58 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Heck even Mongolian herdsmen and the desert people of Persian and African drink and use milk products.
Which shows the authors ignorance since milk doesn't come from just cows! There is goat, sheep, buffalo, camel milk.
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Posted by: dingham on Oct 2, 2009 11:13 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» not to mention...
Posted by: undrgrndgirl
» RE: not to mention...
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Some have suggested Soy milk
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Some have suggested Soy milk
Posted by: progressiveview
» ..WESTON PRICE schills are here!
Posted by: truly scrumptious
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Posted by: Saiva on Oct 2, 2009 11:34 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» typical holier than thou of Xian right
Posted by: ffrf.org
» Habit before Reason?
Posted by: Saiva
» RE: hyperbole before reason?
Posted by: ffrf.org
» RE: hyperbole before reason?
Posted by: Saiva
» round up ready reason?
Posted by: ffrf.org
Comments are closed-
Posted by: vasumurti on Oct 2, 2009 12:11 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
To mass produce cow's milk on a large scale via factory farming, cows have to be kept continually pregnant, giving birth, and lactating. The cows are genetically bred to produce excess cow's milk for humans. Male cows (bulls) are useless to the dairy industry, so they become veal. By supporting the dairy industry, one indirectly supports cow killing.
Vegetarians do cause far less animal cruelty than meat-eaters, but a nonviolent philosophy would carry greater weight if it came from vegans rather than from vegetarians.
The meat-eaters, especially, exactly, are ready to find fault with us in this regard: do we love all animals, or only some animals (e.g., cows) and not others? And if we really do love the cows, why do we contribute to their death and suffering just to drink their milk?
Can children be raised without cow's milk? YES! Half the world's population (blacks and Asians in particular) are lactose intolerant, and can't digest milk after infancy. Dr. Michael Klaper has written books on vegan nutrition, pregnancy, and childbirth.
One of the first books I read on the subject of vegetarianism while in college was A Vegetarian Sourcebook by Keith Akers (1983). Describing the environmental damage caused by raising animals for food: topsoil erosion, deforestization, loss of groundwater, etc. as well as the economic inefficiency and waste of energy and resources in raising animals for food in an age of exploding human population growth, Keith Akers foreshadowed John Robbins' Diet for a New America (1987), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
In A Vegetarian Sourcebook, Keith Akers writes:
"Using grasslands for livestock agriculture creates great environmental problems, which greatly limit its usefulness. Grazing systems require ten times more land than feedlot agriculture, in which animals are simply given feed grown on cropland. Grazing systems have to be extensive in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences of overgrazing—which renders a piece of land unsuitable for any purpose.
"Overgrazing and the consequent soil erosion are extremely serious problems worldwide. By the most conservative estimates, 60% of all U.S. rangelands are overgrazed, with billions of tons of soil lost each year. Overgrazing has also been the greatest cause of man-made deserts.
"Even if we grant grazing a role in a resource-efficient, ecologically stable agriculture, milk should be the end result, not beef. Milk provides over 50% of the protein and nearly four times the calories of beef, per unit of forage resources from grazing.
"'When only forage is available, then egg, broiler and pork production are eliminated and only milk, beef, and lamb production are viable systems,' state David and Marcia Pimentel, scientists and authors of Food, Energy and Society. "Of these three, milk production is the most efficient.'
"An ecologically stable, resource-efficient system of grazing animals for human food could not be anything faintly resembling today's livestock agriculture," concludes Akers. "It would be a smaller, decentralized, less intensive system of animal husbandry devoted to milk production."
So it may be possible to have animal agriculture (devoted solely to milk production) on a small scale—e.g., religious groups like the Amish. But the rest of humanity, with an exploding population in the billions, will have to be vegan.
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» So Asians are lactose intolerant...
Posted by: Antoine
» RE: vegetarianism vs. veganism
Posted by: jtalle
» Revealed ignorance
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line on Oct 2, 2009 12:20 PM
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Posted by: noalternative on Oct 2, 2009 1:30 PM
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Posted by: pancakebunny on Oct 2, 2009 1:34 PM
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When they give birth the unwanted calves are no doubt slaughtered and used for food. Unless you're a vegetarian you shouldn't find this particularly disturbing either.
Yes, Americans should cut down on the amount of meat, fish and dairy that we eat. Factory farming is a source of carbon emissions and we should work to reduce that dramatically. Completely eliminating ALL dairy is just extremism. Very biased article.
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» RE: The cows are not REPEATEDLY impregnated...
Posted by: corylus
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Posted by: agapegirl on Oct 2, 2009 2:00 PM
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» RE: Why are we AlterNet readers...
Posted by: corylus
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Posted by: morticia on Oct 2, 2009 2:38 PM
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Posted by: BobBrrz on Oct 2, 2009 3:04 PM
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it for yourself at http://www.ezhealthydiet.com/casein-protein.html.
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Posted by: GetItRight on Oct 2, 2009 3:33 PM
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Posted by: PaulK on Oct 2, 2009 3:34 PM
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Vegans are notorious over the past few decades for making themselves sick. If you're one of the healthy vegan minority, congratulations. A number of your fellow vegans have a B-12 deficiency. A number of others didn't eat right and have a calcium deficiency. The vegan movement will have its head together a lot better when such trace vitamins and nutrients are routinely a part of every vegan meal. A Vegan arguing that stopping the drinking of milk will make you healthy is a weak argument.
I have a sense that, as a spiritual philosophy, veganism can be quite kind to animals but just as rotten to human beings as anyone else. I realize that the "Hitler was a vegan" rumors are probably untrue, but a nonzero incidence of veganism in Nazi Germany says something about a potential separation of moral ethics in people for political reasons. Refusing to hurt a little bunny but rejoicing at conquering Poland and France is a bit morally inconsistent.
Then there's the "milk makes you fat" thesis. The milk industry has spent millions saying "milk makes you thin". The author may or may not have a point, and it may hinge on a nonfat milk versus whole milk quibble, but simply coming out and announcing that milk makes you fat with little evidence is quite unconvincing. It makes the author sound rather stupid.
There may be good reasons to drink or not to drink milk, but the noise to signal ratio in this article is atrocious.
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» Nothing
Posted by: corylus
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Posted by: dayahka on Oct 2, 2009 7:20 PM
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Posted by: YogiBear on Oct 2, 2009 11:53 PM
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Too much milk? Prolly. Bad for the stomach for many. No ice cream? Go to heckle.
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» RE: I notice you didn't lead with ice cream
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: Xynyx on Oct 3, 2009 12:35 AM
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Congestion problems I pretty much had constantly... and which were especially bad whenever I had a cold, were dramatically reduced in severity and in frequency.
Headaches I suffered from early childhood ceased.
Indigestion became far less infrequent.
Severe chest pains I felt from time to time quit altogether.
Lower GI problems I experienced went away... and I learned that I had a completely mistaken impression regarding just what it was to be constipated. More or less... I had ALWAYS been so.
I lost 25 pounds in three months (I also went Vegan for the summer... and I am Vegan now...).
My complexion cleared up... and warts I had on my hands vanished. (This result was completely shocking to me... I never would have connected warts to milk.)
I discovered that I could actually enjoy more subtle tastes and absorb more nutrients from the food I was eating. (I found I had much more energy than I had ever had before.)
There's no guarantee that everyone else would experience the same results... but I am certain many would. I heartily encourage people to at least give it a try.
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» RE: My Own Personal Experience
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: femtobeam on Oct 3, 2009 1:21 AM
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The cattle for beef are the main volume of methane producing cattle, not dairy cows. With digesters available today to turn the waste into energy along with photobioreactors to produce green food, many of these problems can be solved.
Drinking milk and the antibiotic properties of many cheeses are important for human health at all ages, particularly for women. It is essential for bones. It is one of the major food groups that we should have every day, along with green vegetables, fruit, bread, and meat or nuts.
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Posted by: Purple Girl on Oct 3, 2009 8:31 AM
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I have never broken a bone- even when I probably should have.
My Cholesterol is within range and my good is higher than my bad.
I may have about 10 extra pounds, and am not a person who exercises as a routine.
I've had an Echo Card and no blockages were evident.
Knock on wood- I have only benefited to this point from the increased Calcium in my diet provided by dairy products.
It would be ridiculous,though, if I ascerted all people would have the same results.
So neither should you. Every persons metabolism, genetics and environmental influences are different- so must be their diets to address those unique factors.
It is ignorant to claim that a person working in a labor intensive job, of large frame would do as well on a Vegan diet as a small framed research/data collector.
As for those Vile and Deadly bovine populations- should we let them die off through attrition, or just go out and shoot them down to stop their Carbon footprint dead in it's tracks?
Lets be clear here- if you keep feeding them they will keep farting and shitting. So if you aren't going to kill them outright, then starvation is the next best alternative - Right?
Ok Wheres the PETA People Now??
As PETA is protesting the slaughter of these animals are the Envirnomentalists cheering them on? One Down! Even more bizarre would be a person who is both! Oh they may like to say they would save the Bovine pop and let them graze on open range- but that angst between cattle ranchers and enviromentalists has it's own long sordid history regarding Grazing rights and ecological destruction.
The Vegan movement is as fantical and irrational as the Evangelicals. They might as well make their next campaign slogan- 'Go Vegan or Go to Hell'.Literally and figuratively. For the sin of Murder, for bringing on global warming and as prediction and a request.
I've Tried your Soy and was mistakenly diagnosed with IBS, instead of the adverse food reaction I was experiencing.
This 'Holier than Thou' attitude is as annoying from the Left as it is from the Right.
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» RE: Whole Milk Baby!!
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: femtobeam on Oct 4, 2009 1:12 AM
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Milk and particularly cheezes are important foods and one of the major food groups we all require, along with green vegetables, fruit, bread and meat.
The real problem with beef is the offal they are fed instead of grass.
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Posted by: Dressagechien on Oct 4, 2009 1:50 AM
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Avoid osteoporosis, hypertension and colon cancer to just name a few.
Regards,
Dressagechien
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» RE: Milk is not that bad...
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: Caleb Darkstar on Oct 4, 2009 5:46 AM
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I think I will have a White Russian an ponder this further.
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Posted by: Candleinheart on Oct 4, 2009 8:21 AM
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Posted by: Eluned on Oct 4, 2009 4:57 PM
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My real problem is how the majority of animals are treated in the 'food industry' (and to the former small dairy farmer who posted earlier, you rock!) I grew up on a farm as well, and learned to appreciate where what was on my place came from (I did eventually learn to stop naming the chickens, though).
I don't eat much meat and I don't eat much dairy - but I have some of each, sometimes, and I try to make sure that what I eat comes from a better source than 'factory farms'. I want to cry when I think about it, yet I still eat the stuff sometimes :-/ ... I think there are many (many) people who will NEVER become vegan, no matter what. So, perhaps all of us (vegans, dairy drinkers, vegetarians, meat eaters) could get together and work towards a more sustainable, kind industry for the beautiful animals out there? I don't think there'd be many people who'd disagree with that agenda, so we could go ahead and get something done instead of arguing! :-)
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Posted by: frantaylor on Oct 5, 2009 7:13 AM
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Drinking milk after infancy is a clear sign of some sort of unhealthy breast fixation.
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» RE: Are you weaned?
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
» Don't all straight humans suffer from breast fixation?
Posted by: usermisty618
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Posted by: ThomasJefferson on Oct 5, 2009 2:04 PM
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Farm raised grass fed non-factory farm raw milk is what you want.
just read up on the Weston Price Foundation on raw milk and it's benefits and its impact on the environment.
in the mean time, take your massively ignorant vegan insanity elsewhere.
so exhausting.
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Posted by: phair on Oct 5, 2009 2:18 PM
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» RE: drink the water
Posted by: phair
» RE: drink the water
Posted by: phair
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Posted by: Mary Anne on Oct 5, 2009 2:59 PM
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Maybe the large dairy farms that don't treat their cows well should be banned from doing business!
http://maryannecarter.com/
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Posted by: Beck on Oct 6, 2009 1:19 PM
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The one who said he's one at home, while eating meat.
The one who repeatedly claimed to be one, then forgot and told about the good sausage sandwich she had at a park.
The one who was always known to me as a vegetarian, always connecting that with herself, who just ate turkey in front of me, still calling herself that.
The one who told me we needed to work on getting all people to be vegetarians, then a few months later told about a great fish dinner she had on vacation, then said she bought skinless chicken.
The one who berated me for eating meat, then said she did like a certain brand of turkey breast.
The one who eats meat every lunch and dinner date we have, even though she's a "vegetarian".
I saw a survey a couple of years ago on a vegetarian website with the question, "When was the last time you ate meat?" A huge percentage answered, "Within the last 24 hours."
I know exactly one person who says she is a vegetarian and truly seems to be one. Oh, no, I can think of another. I'm sure she has an unhealthy diet because she looks horrible, terribly thin, alarming looking. All the rest seem to eat meat about as much as us omnivores: some, in small amounts, almost every day.
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» Forgot: when your stores of iron and B12 are low, you'll crave and eat meat, then apparently
Posted by: Beck
» RE: The "vegetarians" I know
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: troubleinmind254 on Oct 6, 2009 2:42 PM
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So Im doing what I can, and so should a lot of people Im rooting for.
As far as milk is concerned all I can say is. FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted by: postconsumer-consumer on Oct 6, 2009 4:40 PM
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Plowing, discing, planting, spraying, baling, harvesting, threshing - and endless number of tasks requiring the burning of fossil fuels.
And that's just to feed the cows so they give the milk.
The cows are pumped up on growth hormones and antibiotics. They stand their whole lives in one spot in a barn doing nothing but eating and giving milk. The have foot problems, their tails are cut off, some of their udders are so large they can't walk anyway. If they get sick they are just shot because the farmer won't spend money on vet fees. Calves are separated from their mothers and chained with a short chain to a hut outdoors so they won't drink the mothers milk.
I don't care what anyone says, I can't look at a glass of milk without thinking of the environmental and animal welfare cost of producing it. Don't buy the stuff.
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» RE: If you live beside a dairy farm....
Posted by: usermisty618
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Posted by: souffrantfleur on Oct 7, 2009 6:43 AM
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» Sounds like you're on the right track...
Posted by: postconsumer-consumer
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Posted by: usermisty618 on Oct 8, 2009 12:58 PM
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I must say, a little disappointed in Alternet for printing such crap...
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Posted by: fredtowson on Oct 16, 2009 10:13 AM
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I do believe in treating animals humanely. Our cows were bred for both milking and creating new replacement stock. Breeding was not an annual event. Gigantic dairy farms, as in any huge mega-animal production facility, could take note that treating animals as though they have no worth beyond milk/meat production is immoral. Cows are thinking, feeling beings. Maybe not the brightest bulbs in the pack, but certainly social critters who feel something for their offspring and herd mates. Treating these animals with some respect would mean keeping постеры постеры к сериалам путешественникам путешествия true blood posters true blood tv show posters seropol5 them clean, allowing them to graze naturally and supplementing grass with digestable grains.
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Posted by: Blackpool Hotels on Oct 31, 2009 5:06 AM
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Posted by: dstauff on Oct 2, 2009 12:54 AM
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» RE: You have got to be kidding....
Posted by: gnaw_bone
» Fallacies galore!
Posted by: ffrf.org
» also, your sources are partisan
Posted by: ffrf.org
» RE: also, your sources are partisan
Posted by: phair
» "Human beings not designed"
Posted by: ffrf.org
» Sadly, no.
Posted by: Walt K
» RE: You have got to be kidding....no, they KNOW BETTER. Better than the Greeks, the Amish, the
Posted by: Beck
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Posted by: akai ringo on Oct 2, 2009 2:05 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
However, during a recent health check, I had my blood tested, and it was clear that the protein percentage content was excessively high. A chat with my doctor identified milk, of which I had been drinking a lot, as the most likely culprit. I cut back on it severely, with beneficial results. To me, the piece in general makes good medical sense.
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» There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: tony_opmoc
» RE: There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: akai ringo
» RE: There is a simple way to reduce excess protein
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
» RE: Drinking too much milk can easily lead to an excess of protein
Posted by: americansheep
» There is no such thing as an "Excess of Protein"
Posted by: Walt K
» RE: There is no such thing as an "Excess of Protein"
Posted by: acohn
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Posted by: colinmeister on Oct 2, 2009 4:33 AM
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Posted by: corylus on Oct 2, 2009 5:02 PM
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Tell us what's "bullshit." What's propagandistic, and why should any individual be kept from practicing what corporations and government, and unthinking neanderthals, are so free to do? What is "Alternuts," or are you trying to say something about your gonads? Who's the clown, and what are YOUR credentials?
Nothing to say remotely thoughtful or reasonable? Let's hurl some invective, a tried and true escape for dullards who'd rather attack someone else than use the brains they were born with, and a disturbing trend in public discourse in the land of the free to smear shit in public.
Your mind has turned to cottage cheese, AC, and it's got a bright blue mold growing on it.
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Posted by: mgmyers79 on Oct 6, 2009 6:33 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The dairy industry is guilty as charged for the above. All milk however is not produced the same. A tiny fraction, a growing fraction, is produced green-ly and not subject to the charges above.
Humans have been drinking milk and eating dairy products since before the agricultural revolution, with good results. Fermented milk products are especially good when made at home, not so good in the store. Humans succeeded on this planet primarily due to our gastrointestinal finesse.
All that said, 310 million Americans drinking milk everyday, the USDA's wet dream, is unsustainable. The dairy industry will crash in predictable fashion as a result.
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Posted by: rfrancis@godisdead.com on Oct 2, 2009 2:16 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you want to make the case that cows are bad for the environment because of the waste and food they require, that is one thing, but to say dairy is bad for your health is just plain wrong.
Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy.
That study clearly says 40% more muscle growth and 2lbs fat loss for those who got their protein through dairy.
An Organic Stonyfield Plain Fat Free 32oz container of yogurt has 440 total calories, no fat, 40 grams of protein (80% of your daily requirement) and none of the anti-biotics and growth hormones from regular factory farmed cows.
Add some multivitamins, omega 3 fish oil, grape seed extract, and you essentially have the goop mentioned in the first Matrix movie that gives you everything the body needs.
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» RE: Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Numerous peer reviewed scientific studies have shown the muscle growth fat loss benefits of dairy
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: ronniejw on Oct 2, 2009 2:22 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Ronnie Wright
World Change Café
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» the technical difficulties
Posted by: aislinnluv
» RE: the technical difficulties
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Why not drink...
Posted by: wagner
» RE: Why not drink...
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line
» Oh, hogwash. I guess too bad for humans throughout history that they didn't have 3% or so of modern
Posted by: Beck
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Posted by: Carts on Oct 2, 2009 3:05 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All other blood types cannot
www.dadamo.com
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» I call BS
Posted by: BlueTigress
» RE: Depends on blood type/ I'm O+ Gallon a week
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
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Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line on Oct 2, 2009 3:22 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: progressiveview
» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: 3rdI
» RE: Drink Raw milk
Posted by: cpotter
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Posted by: raine1 on Oct 2, 2009 3:30 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I regularly made cheese,butter, ice cream and yogurt, plus had milk to sell and consume on the farm. It was part of an overall healthy diet.
Yes, some people are lactose intolerant and should stay away from some dairy, but by and large, the proteins and beneficial calcium and phosphorus from dairy is very good in one's diet. There are people who are nut intolerant, so should stay away from nut products, but that doesn't mean nuts are unhealthy to the vast majority of omnivores.
I do believe in treating animals humanely. Our cows were bred for both milking and creating new replacement stock. Breeding was not an annual event. Gigantic dairy farms, as in any huge mega-animal production facility, could take note that treating animals as though they have no worth beyond milk/meat production is immoral. Cows are thinking, feeling beings. Maybe not the brightest bulbs in the pack, but certainly social critters who feel something for their offspring and herd mates. Treating these animals with some respect would mean keeping them clean, allowing them to graze naturally and supplementing grass with digestable grains.
None of my small family farm cows went for hamburger either. We appreciated their contributions to the farm and family and used their poop waste to fertilize our gardens. It was shoveled up by hand, piled away from water sources and later incorporated into the soil with composted hay and other vegetable matter. This is the way dairy cows are supposed to live in a farm setting.
If you want to discourse on CO2 emissions from livestock, 9 billion farting, pooping humans make a lot of waste. Perhaps we need fewer of them.
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» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: Nightowl
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: raine1
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: Jethro2112
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: EncinoM
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy cow waste
Posted by: EncinoM
» Cows must give birth to lactate
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: Cows must give birth to lactate
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: Perry Logan on Oct 2, 2009 4:04 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Avoiding dairy products might work well for normal-sized or big people, but those of slight build should hesitate before dropping dairy products from their regime. Different bodies have different needs.
Ayurveda--traditional east Indian medicine--has advice for consuming milk safely. They recommend milk be boiled to make it easier to digest, and they sometimes say to add spices.
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» RE: Skinny folks beware
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» Perhaps you didn't eat well
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
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Posted by: sunnywater on Oct 2, 2009 4:17 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I love Stilton, it produces intriguing dreams.
Check it out.
Stoneyfield Farm yogurt is great too!
Thank God for cows!
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» RE: G.K. Chesterton
Posted by: Higher Reptile
Comments are closed-
Posted by: AJR Journal on Oct 2, 2009 4:27 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
California's milk prroductiion is the result of government-induced distortions in the Western water market. Artificially low water prices lead alfalfa production to be found in Utah, Arizona, and southern California. Alfalfa is in no way, ever, ever, going to be found naturally in those areas. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is naturally "Alfalfa Heaven",with 3 crops harvested every year.
Milk, cheese, yogurt, etc are very delicious. People love them. Especially those from America's Dairyland.
Wisconsin's dairy cows are loved and treasured. Disease IS NOT rampant, exploitation is non-existent, and cows are pampered. This is because milk production is actually a very delicate procedure. Cows production will plummet if everything is not perfect. Cows can be high-producers for 10-12 years, in good hands.
Eat more dairy products, especially those from Wisconsin!
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» RE: I am from Wisconsin, I ought to know.
Posted by: richholland
» RE: I am from Wisconsin, I ought to know.
Posted by: Tricia
» So target factory farms, not milk
Posted by: Walt K
Comments are closed-
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac on Oct 2, 2009 5:16 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Still, everything in moderation. I still enjoy a bit of cheese now and I just can't seem to keep permanently off of ice cream.
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» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac
» RE: But What do I Put on My Cereal
Posted by: purpleheart
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Augustus_818 on Oct 2, 2009 5:23 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
NO, I'm not gonna stop drinking milk, I'm not gonna stop eating meat, I'm not even gonna stop breathing the fucking air, just because your college professor that you get high with, told you a scary story about the evil's of such things. I'm sorry he blew your high and got you all freaked out, MAN! That don't mean you gotta start in on everybody else.
For the love of everything fucking sacred, Alternet. Just STOP!
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» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: ChathamChick
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: crackanell
» Yea!
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: Addwaita
» RE: Would the real Mickey Mouse please Fuck Off!?!
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: snowhound on Oct 2, 2009 5:33 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: COWS are meant to eat GRASS
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» RE: COWS are meant to eat GRASS
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: nullipara on Oct 2, 2009 5:42 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Great article, right up until the end
Posted by: bigpeach
» And if YOU really cared about the earth, you'd stop using a computer.
Posted by: mjabele
» RE: Great article, right up until the end
Posted by: Birdland
» RE: If we eat no meat would we not have more cows?
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
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Posted by: kad on Oct 2, 2009 6:14 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Life is Short
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
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Posted by: exnazipope on Oct 2, 2009 6:29 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: thekidde on Oct 2, 2009 6:37 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: Jethro2112
» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: WTF will I dunk my cookies in?
Posted by: MyLeftFoot
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Posted by: Robba29 on Oct 2, 2009 6:41 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: Quist on Oct 2, 2009 6:48 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...but lets keep ignoring that big fat elephant in the room.
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» RE: Becuase that would apply manly to brown people.
Posted by: wonkywriter
» educational level? maybe, maybe not
Posted by: aislinnluv
» Amen!
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: I'm still waiting for Alternet to post an article on "8 Reasons You Should Stop Having So Many Kids"
Posted by: jtalle
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Posted by: wzsteen on Oct 2, 2009 6:57 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
RT
Ultimate Anonymity
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» RE: Wow suggestion
Posted by: Higher Reptile
» RE: you had no idea, because its not true
Posted by: ffrf.org
Comments are closed-
Posted by: smf1403 on Oct 2, 2009 7:24 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Please consider reducing dairy and animal product consumption or at least buy from local small farms or Organic Valley which treat the animals humanely.
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» RE: IT'S ALL TRUE
Posted by: Higher Reptile
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Posted by: wonkywriter on Oct 2, 2009 7:31 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Moderation is the key
Posted by: Jethro2112
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Posted by: MichaelGoodhart on Oct 2, 2009 7:34 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Articles that bash milk never touch upon raw/grassfed milk.
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
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Posted by: ABetterFuture on Oct 2, 2009 7:53 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What's the author's point again? Cow milk isn't human milk, and isn't needed by adults, in either case? Yeah, well, neither are books, skyscrapers, concrete, paintings, or any of a hundred thousand things we produce or consume. Milk is, of course, on the list of things we don't technically need...I'd place it behind wars, debt, servitude-orieted national policies, and ignorance...
...but you've got to be discriminating re: what you choose to shriek over. Only so much oxygen to go around, eh?
*no, not that one :)
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Posted by: wireup on Oct 2, 2009 7:53 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am DELIGHTED! When the milk sits in the refrigerator, the cream rises to the top. You have to shake the container! So, I know it's definitely NOT homogenized (which is another health problem so you should try to avoid anything that is homogenized)
Where I previously lived it was unavailable. So, I was buying organic pasteurized milk but couldn't get it down because of the digestive problems it caused. But with RAW milk, this is no longer a problem.
If you have access or certified organic milk you avoid all the problems the go with feedlot cows. As far as I know, it's green all the way!
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» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: dstauff
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: dingham
» I don't think "statistical analysis" means what you think...
Posted by: ABetterFuture
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: Imanibr2
» RE: Drink raw milk!
Posted by: progressiveview
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Ayla87 on Oct 2, 2009 8:34 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Does anyone else see the discrepency?
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» Notice that this article says nothing about the difference between milk from factory farms vs
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Dairy Causes climate change?
Posted by: dliv
Comments are closed-
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Oct 2, 2009 9:08 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: Ignatz deFyre on Oct 2, 2009 9:19 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Fact 1: mankind has been eating the tissue and secretions of animals for millenia.
Fact 2: mankind has been eating plant matter for millenia.
Some choose one, the other, or a combination thereof. Methods of ingestion vary: Some eat raw, some eat cooked, some imbibe, inhale or inject. This is reality. These kinds of articles are a waste of space. These facts will not change.
The issues are moderation, balance, sustainability. That's is where the thinking and effort should be going.
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» Amen
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: Tired of it
Posted by: corylus
» What about cruelty to animals?
Posted by: Tricia
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Posted by: talapuspete on Oct 2, 2009 9:21 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: As Lenny Bruce Said...
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: workman586 on Oct 2, 2009 9:43 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Less hair on fire rhetoric and more thought please.
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» only about half--and it's good we exterminated the buffalo
Posted by: zooeyhall
» RE: only about half--and it's good we exterminated the buffalo
Posted by: Walt K
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Posted by: hurricane hugo on Oct 2, 2009 10:04 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
#@!
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» RE: you can have my cheese
Posted by: dliv
Comments are closed-
Posted by: frantic1971 on Oct 2, 2009 10:08 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am a lifetime dairy farmer, like my dad before me, with 50 cows. They are well treated and do NOT spend their lives confined in a lot! They are out on pasture all summer long, and then in the winter they freely graze the stubble in my cornfields and soybean fields.
The waste from cows is largely vegetable matter. It goes back onto my fields as fertilizer.
I don't "heartlessly sell my cows for hamburger" but keep them as long as they are productive. Which can be 8 years or more until the natural aging process starts to take hold (cows don't live forever, you know).
I could go on and on about the points raised in the article. Please believe me that NONE OF THIS IN THE ARTICLE IS TYPICAL OF ANY DAIRY FARM WHERE I LIVE! IT IS NOT DONE IN WELL MANAGED DAIRIES---EVEN THE LARGER ONES!
This article is sooo incredibly distorted--has the author ever BEEN to a dairy farm where I live? Has he been within 50 miles of one in his life?
I have noticed also--the curious similarities between the anti-abortion movement and the extreme vegetarians, as illustrated by this author. Each resorts to wildly inaccurate distortions of the facts, and the willingness to demonize those who don't believe as they do. If you don't agree with them, you are not only wrong but EVIL!
Alternet--I know some of these people probably donate alot to you, but don't let your website become a tool for propaganda. Leave that to Fox News.
I am just a farmer and I know I can't compete with the eloquence and those on this website who are much better at writing than I am. This article is a disgrace and totally discredits Alternet. And I am sure there will be others who will slap me down with a "shut-up you stupid dairy farmer! What the hell do YOU know about it!"
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» Sinisiter anti-humanity behind this guy's beliefs
Posted by: zooeyhall
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: Ignatz deFyre
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: noof
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: pancakebunny
» RE: From a working dairy farmer--the similarties between the extreme vegetarians and Right to Life
Posted by: morticia
Comments are closed-
Posted by: geekman on Oct 2, 2009 10:51 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN on Oct 2, 2009 10:53 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
this group of neurotic greenweenies is ONLY concerned with their green shit.
They don't give one little fuck about anyone's health.
Let me tell of a way to actually shit green.
Eat an entire packet of spinach.
You WILL shit green the next day.
I eat it often and shit greenish brown.
I am soooooo impressed with their garbage.
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» Name-calling
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Name-calling
Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN
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Posted by: MotherLodeBeth on Oct 2, 2009 10:58 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Heck even Mongolian herdsmen and the desert people of Persian and African drink and use milk products.
Which shows the authors ignorance since milk doesn't come from just cows! There is goat, sheep, buffalo, camel milk.
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Posted by: dingham on Oct 2, 2009 11:13 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» not to mention...
Posted by: undrgrndgirl
» RE: not to mention...
Posted by: WhuThe?!?
» RE: Some have suggested Soy milk
Posted by: corylus
» RE: Some have suggested Soy milk
Posted by: progressiveview
» ..WESTON PRICE schills are here!
Posted by: truly scrumptious
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Posted by: Saiva on Oct 2, 2009 11:34 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» typical holier than thou of Xian right
Posted by: ffrf.org
» Habit before Reason?
Posted by: Saiva
» RE: hyperbole before reason?
Posted by: ffrf.org
» RE: hyperbole before reason?
Posted by: Saiva
» round up ready reason?
Posted by: ffrf.org
Comments are closed-
Posted by: vasumurti on Oct 2, 2009 12:11 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
To mass produce cow's milk on a large scale via factory farming, cows have to be kept continually pregnant, giving birth, and lactating. The cows are genetically bred to produce excess cow's milk for humans. Male cows (bulls) are useless to the dairy industry, so they become veal. By supporting the dairy industry, one indirectly supports cow killing.
Vegetarians do cause far less animal cruelty than meat-eaters, but a nonviolent philosophy would carry greater weight if it came from vegans rather than from vegetarians.
The meat-eaters, especially, exactly, are ready to find fault with us in this regard: do we love all animals, or only some animals (e.g., cows) and not others? And if we really do love the cows, why do we contribute to their death and suffering just to drink their milk?
Can children be raised without cow's milk? YES! Half the world's population (blacks and Asians in particular) are lactose intolerant, and can't digest milk after infancy. Dr. Michael Klaper has written books on vegan nutrition, pregnancy, and childbirth.
One of the first books I read on the subject of vegetarianism while in college was A Vegetarian Sourcebook by Keith Akers (1983). Describing the environmental damage caused by raising animals for food: topsoil erosion, deforestization, loss of groundwater, etc. as well as the economic inefficiency and waste of energy and resources in raising animals for food in an age of exploding human population growth, Keith Akers foreshadowed John Robbins' Diet for a New America (1987), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
In A Vegetarian Sourcebook, Keith Akers writes:
"Using grasslands for livestock agriculture creates great environmental problems, which greatly limit its usefulness. Grazing systems require ten times more land than feedlot agriculture, in which animals are simply given feed grown on cropland. Grazing systems have to be extensive in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences of overgrazing—which renders a piece of land unsuitable for any purpose.
"Overgrazing and the consequent soil erosion are extremely serious problems worldwide. By the most conservative estimates, 60% of all U.S. rangelands are overgrazed, with billions of tons of soil lost each year. Overgrazing has also been the greatest cause of man-made deserts.
"Even if we grant grazing a role in a resource-efficient, ecologically stable agriculture, milk should be the end result, not beef. Milk provides over 50% of the protein and nearly four times the calories of beef, per unit of forage resources from grazing.
"'When only forage is available, then egg, broiler and pork production are eliminated and only milk, beef, and lamb production are viable systems,' state David and Marcia Pimentel, scientists and authors of Food, Energy and Society. "Of these three, milk production is the most efficient.'
"An ecologically stable, resource-efficient system of grazing animals for human food could not be anything faintly resembling today's livestock agriculture," concludes Akers. "It would be a smaller, decentralized, less intensive system of animal husbandry devoted to milk production."
So it may be possible to have animal agriculture (devoted solely to milk production) on a small scale—e.g., religious groups like the Amish. But the rest of humanity, with an exploding population in the billions, will have to be vegan.
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» So Asians are lactose intolerant...
Posted by: Antoine
» RE: vegetarianism vs. veganism
Posted by: jtalle
» Revealed ignorance
Posted by: Walt K
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Fat Man at the Buffet Line on Oct 2, 2009 12:20 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: noalternative on Oct 2, 2009 1:30 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: pancakebunny on Oct 2, 2009 1:34 PM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When they give birth the unwanted calves are no doubt slaughtered and used for food. Unless you're a vegetarian you shouldn't find this particularly disturbing either.
Yes, Americans should cut down on the amount of meat, fish and dairy that we eat. Factory farming is a source of carbon emissions and we should work to reduce that dramatically. Completely eliminating ALL dairy is just extremism. Very biased article.
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» RE: The cows are not REPEATEDLY impregnated...
Posted by: corylus
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Posted by: agapegirl on Oct 2, 2009 2:00 PM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Why are we AlterNet readers...
Posted by: corylus
Comments are closed-
Posted by: morticia on Oct 2, 2009 2:38 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: BobBrrz on Oct 2, 2009 3:04 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
it for yourself at http://www.ezhealthydiet.com/casein-protein.html.
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Posted by: GetItRight on Oct 2, 2009 3:33 PM
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Posted by: PaulK on Oct 2, 2009 3:34 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Vegans are notorious over the past few decades for making themselves sick. If you're one of the healthy vegan minority, congratulations. A number of your fellow vegans have a B-12 deficiency. A number of others didn't eat right and have a calcium deficiency. The vegan movement will have its head together a lot better when such trace vitamins and nutrients are routinely a part of every vegan meal. A Vegan arguing that stopping the drinking of milk will make you healthy is a weak argument.
I have a sense that, as a spiritual philosophy, veganism can be quite kind to animals but just as rotten to human beings as anyone else. I realize that the "Hitler was a vegan" rumors are probably untrue, but a nonzero incidence of veganism in Nazi Germany says something about a potential separation of moral ethics in people for political reasons. Refusing to hurt a little bunny but rejoicing at conquering Poland and France is a bit morally inconsistent.
Then there's the "milk makes you fat" thesis. The milk industry has spent millions saying "milk makes you thin". The author may or may not have a point, and it may hinge on a nonfat milk versus whole milk quibble, but simply coming out and announcing that milk makes you fat with little evidence is quite unconvincing. It makes the author sound rather stupid.
There may be good reasons to drink or not to drink milk, but the noise to signal ratio in this article is atrocious.
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» Nothing
Posted by: corylus
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Posted by: dayahka on Oct 2, 2009 7:20 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: YogiBear on Oct 2, 2009 11:53 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Too much milk? Prolly. Bad for the stomach for many. No ice cream? Go to heckle.
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» RE: I notice you didn't lead with ice cream
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: Xynyx on Oct 3, 2009 12:35 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Congestion problems I pretty much had constantly... and which were especially bad whenever I had a cold, were dramatically reduced in severity and in frequency.
Headaches I suffered from early childhood ceased.
Indigestion became far less infrequent.
Severe chest pains I felt from time to time quit altogether.
Lower GI problems I experienced went away... and I learned that I had a completely mistaken impression regarding just what it was to be constipated. More or less... I had ALWAYS been so.
I lost 25 pounds in three months (I also went Vegan for the summer... and I am Vegan now...).
My complexion cleared up... and warts I had on my hands vanished. (This result was completely shocking to me... I never would have connected warts to milk.)
I discovered that I could actually enjoy more subtle tastes and absorb more nutrients from the food I was eating. (I found I had much more energy than I had ever had before.)
There's no guarantee that everyone else would experience the same results... but I am certain many would. I heartily encourage people to at least give it a try.
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» RE: My Own Personal Experience
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: femtobeam on Oct 3, 2009 1:21 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The cattle for beef are the main volume of methane producing cattle, not dairy cows. With digesters available today to turn the waste into energy along with photobioreactors to produce green food, many of these problems can be solved.
Drinking milk and the antibiotic properties of many cheeses are important for human health at all ages, particularly for women. It is essential for bones. It is one of the major food groups that we should have every day, along with green vegetables, fruit, bread, and meat or nuts.
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Posted by: Purple Girl on Oct 3, 2009 8:31 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have never broken a bone- even when I probably should have.
My Cholesterol is within range and my good is higher than my bad.
I may have about 10 extra pounds, and am not a person who exercises as a routine.
I've had an Echo Card and no blockages were evident.
Knock on wood- I have only benefited to this point from the increased Calcium in my diet provided by dairy products.
It would be ridiculous,though, if I ascerted all people would have the same results.
So neither should you. Every persons metabolism, genetics and environmental influences are different- so must be their diets to address those unique factors.
It is ignorant to claim that a person working in a labor intensive job, of large frame would do as well on a Vegan diet as a small framed research/data collector.
As for those Vile and Deadly bovine populations- should we let them die off through attrition, or just go out and shoot them down to stop their Carbon footprint dead in it's tracks?
Lets be clear here- if you keep feeding them they will keep farting and shitting. So if you aren't going to kill them outright, then starvation is the next best alternative - Right?
Ok Wheres the PETA People Now??
As PETA is protesting the slaughter of these animals are the Envirnomentalists cheering them on? One Down! Even more bizarre would be a person who is both! Oh they may like to say they would save the Bovine pop and let them graze on open range- but that angst between cattle ranchers and enviromentalists has it's own long sordid history regarding Grazing rights and ecological destruction.
The Vegan movement is as fantical and irrational as the Evangelicals. They might as well make their next campaign slogan- 'Go Vegan or Go to Hell'.Literally and figuratively. For the sin of Murder, for bringing on global warming and as prediction and a request.
I've Tried your Soy and was mistakenly diagnosed with IBS, instead of the adverse food reaction I was experiencing.
This 'Holier than Thou' attitude is as annoying from the Left as it is from the Right.
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» RE: Whole Milk Baby!!
Posted by: Xynyx
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Posted by: femtobeam on Oct 4, 2009 1:12 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Milk and particularly cheezes are important foods and one of the major food groups we all require, along with green vegetables, fruit, bread and meat.
The real problem with beef is the offal they are fed instead of grass.
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Posted by: Dressagechien on Oct 4, 2009 1:50 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Avoid osteoporosis, hypertension and colon cancer to just name a few.
Regards,
Dressagechien
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» RE: Milk is not that bad...
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: Caleb Darkstar on Oct 4, 2009 5:46 AM
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I think I will have a White Russian an ponder this further.
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Posted by: Candleinheart on Oct 4, 2009 8:21 AM
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Posted by: Eluned on Oct 4, 2009 4:57 PM
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My real problem is how the majority of animals are treated in the 'food industry' (and to the former small dairy farmer who posted earlier, you rock!) I grew up on a farm as well, and learned to appreciate where what was on my place came from (I did eventually learn to stop naming the chickens, though).
I don't eat much meat and I don't eat much dairy - but I have some of each, sometimes, and I try to make sure that what I eat comes from a better source than 'factory farms'. I want to cry when I think about it, yet I still eat the stuff sometimes :-/ ... I think there are many (many) people who will NEVER become vegan, no matter what. So, perhaps all of us (vegans, dairy drinkers, vegetarians, meat eaters) could get together and work towards a more sustainable, kind industry for the beautiful animals out there? I don't think there'd be many people who'd disagree with that agenda, so we could go ahead and get something done instead of arguing! :-)
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Posted by: frantaylor on Oct 5, 2009 7:13 AM
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Drinking milk after infancy is a clear sign of some sort of unhealthy breast fixation.
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» RE: Are you weaned?
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
» Don't all straight humans suffer from breast fixation?
Posted by: usermisty618
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Posted by: ThomasJefferson on Oct 5, 2009 2:04 PM
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Farm raised grass fed non-factory farm raw milk is what you want.
just read up on the Weston Price Foundation on raw milk and it's benefits and its impact on the environment.
in the mean time, take your massively ignorant vegan insanity elsewhere.
so exhausting.
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Posted by: phair on Oct 5, 2009 2:18 PM
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» RE: drink the water
Posted by: phair
» RE: drink the water
Posted by: phair
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Posted by: Mary Anne on Oct 5, 2009 2:59 PM
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Maybe the large dairy farms that don't treat their cows well should be banned from doing business!
http://maryannecarter.com/
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Posted by: Beck on Oct 6, 2009 1:19 PM
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The one who said he's one at home, while eating meat.
The one who repeatedly claimed to be one, then forgot and told about the good sausage sandwich she had at a park.
The one who was always known to me as a vegetarian, always connecting that with herself, who just ate turkey in front of me, still calling herself that.
The one who told me we needed to work on getting all people to be vegetarians, then a few months later told about a great fish dinner she had on vacation, then said she bought skinless chicken.
The one who berated me for eating meat, then said she did like a certain brand of turkey breast.
The one who eats meat every lunch and dinner date we have, even though she's a "vegetarian".
I saw a survey a couple of years ago on a vegetarian website with the question, "When was the last time you ate meat?" A huge percentage answered, "Within the last 24 hours."
I know exactly one person who says she is a vegetarian and truly seems to be one. Oh, no, I can think of another. I'm sure she has an unhealthy diet because she looks horrible, terribly thin, alarming looking. All the rest seem to eat meat about as much as us omnivores: some, in small amounts, almost every day.
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» Forgot: when your stores of iron and B12 are low, you'll crave and eat meat, then apparently
Posted by: Beck
» RE: The "vegetarians" I know
Posted by: dliv
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Posted by: troubleinmind254 on Oct 6, 2009 2:42 PM
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So Im doing what I can, and so should a lot of people Im rooting for.
As far as milk is concerned all I can say is. FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted by: postconsumer-consumer on Oct 6, 2009 4:40 PM
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Plowing, discing, planting, spraying, baling, harvesting, threshing - and endless number of tasks requiring the burning of fossil fuels.
And that's just to feed the cows so they give the milk.
The cows are pumped up on growth hormones and antibiotics. They stand their whole lives in one spot in a barn doing nothing but eating and giving milk. The have foot problems, their tails are cut off, some of their udders are so large they can't walk anyway. If they get sick they are just shot because the farmer won't spend money on vet fees. Calves are separated from their mothers and chained with a short chain to a hut outdoors so they won't drink the mothers milk.
I don't care what anyone says, I can't look at a glass of milk without thinking of the environmental and animal welfare cost of producing it. Don't buy the stuff.
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» RE: If you live beside a dairy farm....
Posted by: usermisty618
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Posted by: souffrantfleur on Oct 7, 2009 6:43 AM
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» Sounds like you're on the right track...
Posted by: postconsumer-consumer
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Posted by: usermisty618 on Oct 8, 2009 12:58 PM
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I must say, a little disappointed in Alternet for printing such crap...
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Posted by: fredtowson on Oct 16, 2009 10:13 AM
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I do believe in treating animals humanely. Our cows were bred for both milking and creating new replacement stock. Breeding was not an annual event. Gigantic dairy farms, as in any huge mega-animal production facility, could take note that treating animals as though they have no worth beyond milk/meat production is immoral. Cows are thinking, feeling beings. Maybe not the brightest bulbs in the pack, but certainly social critters who feel something for their offspring and herd mates. Treating these animals with some respect would mean keeping постеры постеры к сериалам путешественникам путешествия true blood posters true blood tv show posters seropol5 them clean, allowing them to graze naturally and supplementing grass with digestable grains.
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Posted by: Blackpool Hotels on Oct 31, 2009 5:06 AM
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