One of my dreams, since I was a little girl, has been to see “the city that never sleeps”.  I would imagine the bright lights and tall buildings and constant sirens and hustle and bustle…

But the one thing that never touched my dream world was the complete lack of humanity New Yorkers display on occasion.

I’m not sure I want to go to New York City anymore.  I’ll certainly be calling 911 from a distance, rather than aiding someone in trouble if I do go, now.

Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, a homeless man in Queens, was victim to New York’s lack of humanity after saving a woman who was attacked with a knife.  Hugo fell to the ground and lie dying on the sidewalk as more than twenty people walked around him, staring as they passed, and never lifting a finger to help him.  Two people stood beside him chatting.  A man came out of the store to take a picture with his cell phone.  Another person bent and shook him, but continued walking when he didn’t wake.

What’s confusing me the most is police were called to the area and claim to have seen nothing.  While I realize seeing a homeless man lying on the side of the road isn’t an unusual occurrence in New York City, do the police not even ask them to move along anymore?

Maybe the people who weren’t there when it happened can excuse it away by assuming someone called someone already.  Or that he was just passed out drunk.  Maybe.  I mean, he wasn’t moving at all, and he was laid on his face.

But the people who were there when it happened? The girl he saved?! Why did no one call anyone?

Is this what we’re coming to, America? A country so apathetic we don’t even care about the diamonds in the rough anymore?

I cried for Hugo, this morning.  And I cried for our humanity.  I hope you did, too.

PETA Hands Out “Unhappy Meals” at Albany McDonalds

Go read the story. I’ll wait.

But for those of you who didn’t, basically what an “Unhappy Meal” contains is a ketchup packet labeled “blood” and a figurine of Ronald McDonald wielding a meat cleaver. O.o

I was beyond reason. What moron thought it would be a good idea to hand out such horrible things to children? And can we lynch him/her? Please?

The same idiots who thought it would be a good idea to put up this billboard in Jacksonville, FL:

If I was angry before, I am positively livid now. Then I was pointed to this letter from a tourist:

I would like to express my outrage at a billboard I recently saw in Jacksonville, Florida.

My family was visiting, and I was planning on taking them to the beach to enjoy the beautiful day when i saw a billboard that made me want to cry. It says “Save the Whales,” with a picture of an overweight woman in the foreground.

We all sat there and stared at it for a minute and everyone in the car was silent. No one wanted to mention my weight. I laughed it off as usual, but it really had made me so embarrassed, so self conscious and so ashamed about my weight that I dropped off my family at the oceanfront and left to go home, making the excuse that I wasn’t feeling well.

My embarrassment turned to outrage as I was sitting at home contemplating that distasteful, disgusting billboard. I can’t believe that PETA would be so disrespectful as to use the terms “whales” and “blubber” when referring to obese people. I wish there was something I could do. I’ve already written to them expressing my outrage at their malicious terms and asked them to take it down.

An organization such as PETA, which is in the news all the time, should not be allowed to get away with this.

Thank you,
Victoria

PETA’s subsequent press release just blew me away:

Jacksonville, Fla. — A new PETA billboard campaign that was just launched in Jacksonville reminds people who are struggling to lose weight — and who want to have enough energy to chase a beach ball — that going vegetarian can be an effective way to shed those extra pounds that keep them from looking good in a bikini. The ad shows a woman whose “blubber” is spilling over the sides of her swimsuit bottom and features the tagline “Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian. PETA.”

Anyone wishing to achieve a hot “beach bod” is reminded that studies show that vegetarians are, on average, about 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. The meat habit can ruin the fun in other ways too. Consuming meat and dairy products is conclusively linked to heart disease, diabetes, and several kinds of cancer — not to mention higher rates of infertility in women and impotence in men. And not only is following a healthy plant-based diet good for the environment, it is also the best thing that anyone can do to help stop the routine abuse of animals raised and killed for food. Animals on factory farms are subjected to mutilations like debeaking, tail-docking, and branding (without any painkillers) and are often slaughtered and dismembered while still conscious.

“Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA has a free ‘Vegetarian Starter Kit’ for people who want to lose pounds while eating as much as they like.

But what really took the cake, was their blog:

For most of us, summer is fading fast, but for residents of Jacksonville, Florida, bikini season lasts all year. What does the Sunshine State’s endless summer mean for PETA? Our phone lines ring off the hook with reports of “beached whale sightings.” Good one, guys.

Luckily, we know the secret to getting—and maintaining—a killer beach bod. Did you know that vegetarians are 20 to 30 percent leaner than meat-eaters? So, to help residents and tourists “lose the blubber”—and hopefully to deter prank callers—we’re launching a brand-new billboard urging people to go vegetarian.

Good one, guys??!? Who the fuck do you think you are? Seriously.

I, for one, do NOT support PETA or anything they do. Frankly, they disgust me. It’s sad, too. Because I am absolutely an animal lover. I can totally get down with their cause.

But seriously, dude? When you care more about making sure animals are treated fairly than you do about treating your fellow man with a little respect, you are less than human. You are scum.

Oh… and for the record? I have a friend who’s been vegan all her adult life. She’s the same size as I am. So PETA? You can suck my fat white ass.