What Stu Chaifetz stands for:

 

The billions of dollars that are thrown away on weapons of destruction must be retaken, and used instead to build and maintain a world class school system for our children. Money given to oppressive governments across the globe will be better spent on a network of shelters, creating a sanctuary system dedicated for women who are prisoners in their own homes, so that they need never again fear the fists of an abusive husband. Care for the environment, and all who live within it, will be prime. We will replace the failed policies that have stripped our state of its wooded lands and poisoned our rivers. Big Brother must be disowned, and cast out of our family so that individual liberty and privacy can be given true meaning again.

 

Equal Rights For All

For many people the concept of equal rights for all thrives...until it is asked for by a group or individual that they do not care for. When we are born in this country, we are endowed with the right to marry the person of our choice. This precious right, however, is stolen from those who choose to love a person that happens to be of the same sex as they are. This is wrong, cruel, and is born from fear and bigotry. I will fight like unwavering steel to see that this right is restored. This campaign holds the value that every person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, no matter what color their skin may be, or how much money they have in the bank.

 

Promoting a Vegan Life

Being vegan means that you do not consume any animal flesh (cows, chicken, pigs, fish) and anything that comes from an animal ( eggs, milk, cheese)

Go Vegan For Your Health

The health benefits of being vegan are enormous, as many cancers and heart disease can be directly related to the consumption of animal products. You can often prevent and treat these diseases by becoming vegan. Senior citizens, who have become addicted to legal drugs by the pharmaceutical companies, can kick the habit and begin to live a clean and healthy vegan life. It is not just the life of an animal that you save by going vegan, but quite possibly your own as well.

 

Go Vegan For The Environment

When we raise animals for slaughter, we ravage the environment. Natural predators, such as coyotes and wolves, are slaughtered to protect ranchers profits. Forests are torn down for grazing fields, and our drinking water is polluted by animal waste run off. The amount of food grown for animal feed is so great, that if it was used instead for human consumption no one need ever go hungry again.

 

 

Animal Protection

I spent the first 22 years of my life eating and killing animals. I have spent the last 11 as a vegan fighting for them. The hinge that swung the first closed and opened the latter was what I saw embedded in the dark brown eyes of an abused dog that I took in when I was in college. It was through my time with her, Shakira, that the blindfold covering my conscience was torn away.

Many of you have probably lived with a cat or dog at some point in your life. I would like you to think of him or her for a minute, and roll your thoughts across the landscape of their souls. See how their emotions, though bereft of spoken words, were expressed in all their wondrous ways. See their smile, carried on the waves of shaken tail, and how they shared it with you when they licked your face. Hear their gentle purrs and feel the soft beat their heart made when they laid next to you. Think of the unconditional love that they gave so freely, and how it was returned. Now turn your thoughts darker, and complete the picture. See how they cried when a bone was broken or a paw accidentally stepped on. See their fear when they were hurt and had no idea that the pain could ever be stopped, or when they were alone and felt abandoned. How far did your own heart sink when you saw your beloved animal in such pain?

Take your compassion for them, and expand it in one small step. Think of a dairy cow on a farm. Can you see the mother as her child is torn from her side? If the baby is a male, he will be chained in a tiny crate, and not allowed to move for a year and a half. This is done for fear that movement will build muscles, and make the 'veal' too tight. His nightmare existence will end when he is killed, perhaps by a steel bolt shot through his head. His body will be dragged away, cut into slices, and sold in neat packages. The mother, when she has finally been drained dry of her milk and no longer profitable, will be thrown on a truck and follow her child to the slaughterhouse.

This is the face that is drowned in your bottle of milk. It is the scream that is ground up in your hamburger. I ask you to consider this: Is their suffering any different than what your dog or cat would have gone through? For me the answer was no. What opened my heart and mind was the concept that each and every animal is a unique being that feels joy and pain, and suffers as we would when harmed. They are all worthy of our defense and compassion.

 

To learn more about veganism, visit: www.PCRM.org

 

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