Rural Wisconsin school won't remove photos of students, dead game

Mar. 28--HAMPSTEAD -- Mangos, avocados, kiwi and zucchini were on the menu at Hampstead Middle School this week. Students were invited to sample some fruits and vegetables they might not be familiar with, all in the spirit of promoting better nutrition this month in Hampstead and Timberlane schools during National Nutrition Month.

Some Hampstead students tried unfamiliar fruits and vegetables while Timberlane Middle School students others watched a video about the new food pyramid during lunch.

"I tried the blood orange. It was kind of sour, but I ate it," seventh-grader Brian O'Dell said. "It's a good idea to try new things."

Barbara Campbell, Timberlane Middle School nurse, said the school emphasizes good nutrition whenever there is an opportunity.

"We at Timberlane Regional Middle School are very involved in spreading the word on good nutrition for our children, staff and community," Campbell said. "It is particularly promoted though our student and staff Wellness Committee."

The Wellness Committee runs "The Biggest Winner," akin to the TV show "Biggest Loser" contest for weight loss. There's a walking club for students and the entire student body participates in the cancer walk in May.

At Hampstead Middle School, school nurse Michelle Bernard planned a couple activities to promote good nutrition.

"We held a fruit and vegetables tasting in the cafe during all lunches on Wednesday and Thursday, March 26 and 27," she said. "During that week, we had health tips for good nutrition during morning announcements."

The fruit and vegetable tasting combines the familiar with the less familiar, such as avocados and tabbouleh with zucchini and grape tomatoes on the vegetable side, and mangos and kiwis with pineapple and red grapes on the fruit side.

"The students come by and get any of the samples they want to try," she said.

Bernard hopes by introducing new vegetable and fruit choices, students will make more nutritious food choices.

Florida Schools Put Veggie Burgers on the Menu

School lunch lines across the country are filled with greasy, high-fat cheeseburgers, chicken wings, and pizza. But this past March, PCRM helped Broward County, Fla.—the sixth-largest school district in the country—introduce Gardenburger’s Flame Grilled vegan burger to students at Everglades High School, Driftwood Middle School, and Eagle Point Elementary.

The veggie initiative began with Ashley Capps, a 10th grade student at Everglades High School who wanted more vegetarian options in the lunchroom. To persuade administrators that students would buy meatless meals, she circulated a petition that was signed by more than 100 of her classmates.

PCRM worked with Broward County to explore vegan lunch options that are healthy and taste good. PCRM nutritionists suggested the Gardenburger, and at the request of a Broward County school board member, PCRM helped the district’s food service department roll out the new veggie burger. PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., visited each school to speak to parents and administrators about the healthfulness of vegetarian options. 

Three PCRM staff members traveled to Florida to assist with the marketing and taste-testing of the burgers. They gave out more than 3,400 samples of meatless patties topped with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. Students were so excited about trying the new lunch item that PCRM staffers could barely keep their sample trays full. Many supportive teaches also tried samples and agreed to hand out flyers to encourage their students to buy the burger.

Everglades High School, where students have a large food court with 12 choices, sold 100 veggie burgers, and 70 additional students bought lunch that day. The school was so pleased with these results that they sold the Gardenburger every day during March. Driftwood Middle School sold a remarkable 700 veggie burgers. And Eagle Point Elementary, where the veggie burger was competing with a student favorite—cheese pizza—sold about 580 burgers, and 190 more students purchased meals than on a typical day.

Each Gardenburger has 90 calories, 11 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, zero cholesterol, and only 4 grams of fat. Broward County is also planning to offer Garden Chili, rice and beans, and other vegetarian options. If students continue to purchase the veggie burgers, administrators will roll out vegan options to the entire district in the fall.

Pope suggests link between Jesus and mysterious Essene sect

ROME (AFP)---Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday linked Jesus with
the Essene Jews, saying that he used the Passover calendar of the mysterious sect known through the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran.

Celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at Rome’s Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano, the theologian pope said Jesus "celebrated Easter with his disciples probably according to the Qumran calendar, and thus at least the day before" mainstream observances at the time.

Benedict said this hypothesis was "not yet accepted by everyone" but that it was the most "probable" explanation for contradictions between the different Gospels on the life of Christ.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus dies on the cross during Passover, and lambs are sacrificed in the Temple of Jerusalem, while in the other three Gospels his last meal -- the Last Supper -- with his disciples was a Passover Seder.

In addition, the pope said Thursday, Jesus celebrated Passover "without a lamb, as did the Essene community," which did not sacrifice animals. "Instead of the lamb he offered himself, he offered his life," Benedict added.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, were attributed by historians and biblical scholars to the Essenes, a strict sect that split from the Jerusalem priesthood and settled in Qumran, on the shores of the Dead Sea.

Some say that Jesus himself was an Essene.

French Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, former rector of the Pontifical Biblical
Institute, said that in Jesus’s time "the Essene calendar was more traditional than the newer one of the Jerusalem priesthood" and more in use.

However, he told AFP: "Even if Jesus was able to feel sympathy for the Essenes, who were very pious, his mentality was very different from theirs because they were very attached to ritual observances, which he wasn’t."

Vanhoye noted that the opinion of the pope, who was referring to a theory already advanced by some experts, was an intellectual musing rather than a pronouncement with all the authority of papal infallibility.

http://www.ejpress.org/article/15698

Jesus was a Vegan
http://inslide.com/respect/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=22

HAPPY EASTER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdGxzUSNRUs

Milk Might Transmit Mad Cow Disease

Mad Cow Disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), affects the central nervous system of the cows. The brain loses control and the animal ultimately dies. Prion proteins are believed to cause the disease.

A mad cow’s milk may contain these prion proteins and the disease might be transmitted from the mad cow to humans who happen to drink its milk, according to a new study.

It has been proved by earlier studies that body fluids such as blood may carry these infectious proteins; but, it was not clear whether milk could carry prions, until the study.

During the current study, Nicola Franscini and colleagues at Case Western University School of Medicine, detected prion protein (PrPC)-the precursor of prions (PrPSc)-in milk from humans, cows, sheep, and goats.

They found prions to be heat-resistant and treatment of infected milk to very high temperature only partially diminished endogenous PrPC concentration.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Prions endure all types of environment.

The study declares that drinking the milk of a cow infected with mad cow disease may transmit the disease to the consumer although it is not clear, how serious the risk might be.

Source-Medindia
PRI/M

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=17556

District 3 sure bad food not served in schools

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/carygrove/news/813747,cg-warwakweb-022608-s1.article

Former Fox River Grove Middle School art teacher Dave Warwak returned Monday to speak to his former employer about the food the district is serving to its students.

He also spoke about his termination last fall.

Last September, the School Board fired Warwak for allegedly teaching students about following a vegan diet during class time. Warwak is a vegan who avoids using animal products of any kind.

During the public comment segment of Monday's Board of Education meeting, Warwak alleged that 384 pounds of meat contaminated with mad cow disease were fed to Fox River Grove Middle School students.

"It takes some 10 to 15 years for it to incubate -- to pry on," Warwak said. "It latches onto a brain cell.

"This is serious stuff," he continued. "I tried warning you about it before. You didn't want to listen."

Warwak also told the School Board he has contacted the State Board of Education to investigate his termination.

District 3 Superintendent Jackie Krause said the district has already made sure it has not served contaminated food that was part of a recent meat recall.

"We received from the State Board of Education a listing of products and numbers associated with those products," Krause said. "We took a look if we had any of those items on hand or as reasonably far back as records could tell if we had those on hand, and we did not."

For Immediate Release:
February 21, 2008

Contact:
Nathan Runkle – 937-470-9454

'BIOHAZARD TEAM' CONVERGES OUTSIDE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL OFFICE TO DECLARE "RECALL ALL MEAT, GO VEG"

Largest Beef Recall in U.S. History Prompts Group to Urge Chicago Schools to Replace Meat on Cafeteria Menus with Healthy, Humane Vegetarian Meals

Chicago, IL – Donning white jumpsuits, rubber gloves, and face protection masks, a "biohazard team" - backed by a banner featuring a "downed" cow that proclaims "Prevent Cruelty & Disease, Recall All Meat" - will converge outside the Chicago Public School central office on Friday in response to the largest beef recall in U.S. history, which included nearly 40 million pounds of meat that was sent to school lunch programs.  The biohazard crew will be joined by members of Mercy For Animals, who will distribute emergency Vegetarian Starter Kits to school officials, encouraging them to protect animals from abuse and students from E. coli, salmonella, and mad cow disease by adding more vegetarian options to school lunch menus.

Date: Friday, February 22, 2008

Time: 12 noon – 1 p.m.

Location: Outside the main entrance of the Chicago Public School Central Office, 125 S. Clark St. (at Marble Pl. between W. Monroe and W. Adams) in downtown Chicago

The massive recall was spurred by an undercover investigation at a Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif., which revealed that "downed" cows, who were too injured or ill to stand, were tortured into struggling to their feet so that they could pass USDA inspection.

The cruelty caught on tape at the Chino slaughterhouse is not unusual--numerous undercover investigations have revealed deliberate and routine cruelty to animals at slaughterhouses around the country, including chickens defeathered in scalding vats of water while still alive, workers ripping the skins off of conscious cows and punching, kicking, and throwing live turkeys.

Mercy For Animals is insisting that vegetarian options should replace all meat - not just that recalled – in the Chicago school lunch program, not only out of humane concerns, but because of meat's dangerous levels of saturated fat and cholesterol, which can be an even bigger threat to human health than E. coli and salmonella. Meat and other animal products have been linked to America's top killers: heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

"The diseases we may catch from downed cows are far less likely to kill us than the fat and cholesterol we get from their flesh," says MFA's Executive Director, Nathan Runkle. "The best way to protect the health of the nation's school children and prevent cruelty to animals is to encourage them to eat more vegetarian foods."

To learn more, visit ChooseVeg.com

Group Urges Schools to Replace
Meat on Cafeteria Menus with
Healthy, Humane Vegetarian Meals

February 19, 2008 In the wake of the largest beef recall in U.S. history, which includes nearly 40 million pounds of meat that was sent to school lunch programs, PETA is sending copies of its vegetarian starter kit to school boards across the country and urging them to add more vegetarian options to school cafeteria menus. PETA has also offered to provide copies of its "Vegetarian Starter Kit," which contains health and diet information as well as delicious recipes, for all students free of charge.PETA undercover investigators have documented deliberate and routine cruelty to animals at slaughterhouses around the country, including video footage showing chickens being defeathered in vats of hot water while still alive, cows having their skins ripped off their bodies while they are still conscious, and animals drugged to grow so abnormally huge they can barely walk.

Norfolk, Va. - The massive recall was spurred by an undercover investigation at a Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif., which revealed that "downed" cows who were too injured or ill to stand were tortured into struggling to their feet so that they could pass inspection.

The slaughter of downed cows for human consumption was banned in 2003 due to mad cow disease fears, but PETA points out that the saturated fat and cholesterol found in all beef is an even bigger threat to human health than diseases like e. coli and salmonella that beef is frequently contaminated with. Beef and other animal products have been conclusively linked to America’s top killers: heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. Meat-eaters are four times as likely to be obese as vegetarians and are 10 times more likely to suffer from heart disease. A low-fat vegetarian diet has been proven to reverse heart disease.

The cruelty caught on tape at the Chino slaughterhouse is not unusual-- "The diseases we may catch from downed cows are far less likely to kill us than the fat and cholesterol we get from their flesh," says PETA campaign coordinator Lindsay Rajt. "The best way to protect the health of the nation’s school kids is to encourage them to eat more vegetarian foods."

For more information, please visit GoVeg.com.

http://www.peta.org/MC/NewsItem.asp?id=10993

384 lbs of meat from Westland was made into taco meat and fed to the children at Fox River Grove Middle School in April and May of 2007. You can confirm this with Jim Copp, Principal Consultant Division of Nutrition Programs and Support Services Illinois State Board of Education. Of course he will down play the risk - don't believe it! Although meat has been recalled, the children may have already been infected with a Prion particle from an infected animal. Scientists have suggested that the incubation for this encephalitis-like brain disease can be many years. Mad cow is like a ticking time bomb.

http://inslide.com/foxrivergroveserveddowners.mp3

http://www.isbe.net/nutrition/pdf/USDA_recall_school_list.pdf

Click here to see what the people in charge want to feed you but don't want you to know!
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_2008_investigation?qp_source=gaba89 

Be careful kids. They hide it in the nacho taco meat!

Recalled meat is piling up in at least seven Michigan school districts. Grand Rapids Public Schools must throw out 10 tons of hamburger, while the Ann Arbor Public Schools has about 200 pounds of the beef. The Detroit Public Schools system got a shipment of 150 cases of frozen chili and taco meat, but officials say none of it was eaten.

Some of the hamburger being recalled already was served to students in Portage Public Schools. "It was in our taco sauce and our spaghetti sauce," Portage district food service manager Lance Gerry told the Kalamazoo Gazette. "We've been serving those products for a while."

By IVAN MORENO | Associated Press Writer
February 19, 2008

DENVER - The cattle industry and animal rights groups bickered over the treatment of beef destined for U.S. dinner plates a day after secret video triggered the nation's largest meat recall.

Undercover video taken at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. of Chino, Calif., shows workers shocking, kicking and shoving debilitated cattle with forklifts, prompting the government to pull 143 million pounds of the company's beef.

Bo Reagan, vice president of research for the Colorado-based National Cattleman's Beef Association, said the videotaped incident was not indicative of how most slaughterhouses operate.

"The welfare of our animals -- that's the heart and soul of our operations," Reagan said.

U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines mandate that an inspector must review sick or injured animals, called "downer" cattle, before they can be slaughtered, and that the 1958 Humane Slaughter Act sets strict rules for the humane treatment of animals.

"What happened in this case was that there were some animals that were harvested out of compliance," he said.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease since they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, which videotaped the alleged abuse, said his organization chose to investigate the Westland/Hallmark plant at random, and said he was skeptical of the cattle industry's practices.

"I think this is the typical rhetorical and typical false assurances that we hear from the industry after glaring problems have been exposed," he said.

Pacelle said it's impossible to say whether the treatment depicted on the video is isolated, but stopped short of calling it widespread.

"I think we can't say for sure one way or another, but it's certainly a bad sign for the industry and the USDA to have been exposed for their failures in this single, random investigation," he said.

The recall affects beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006. Agriculture officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," said Dr. Dick Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety.

Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, called the video inhumane and said she was concerned it "demonstrates just how far our food safety system has collapsed."

DeLauro, D-Conn., has also called for an independent investigation into the government's ability to secure the safety of meat in the nation's schools.

Recalled meat is piling up in at least seven Michigan school districts. Grand Rapids Public Schools must throw out 10 tons of hamburger, while the Ann Arbor Public Schools has about 200 pounds of the beef. The Detroit Public Schools system got a shipment of 150 cases of frozen chili and taco meat, but officials say none of it was eaten.

Some of the hamburger being recalled already was served to students in Portage Public Schools. "It was in our taco sauce and our spaghetti sauce," Portage district food service manager Lance Gerry told the Kalamazoo Gazette. "We've been serving those products for a while."

USDA spokesman Keith Williams said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.

Williams said the recall was done primarily to revoke the USDA's seal of inspection for the meat -- not because of the risk of illness.

"Everybody's going, 'Oh, a recall, that means death, that means sickness.' That's a different kind of issue," Williams said. "This is a lower severity, where there would be a remote probability of sickness."

DeLauro also asked what the USDA is doing to address staff shortages among slaughterhouse inspectors -- an issue also raised by other food safety experts and watchdog groups Monday.

Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch said the USDA has left up to 21 percent of inspector positions vacant in some areas. Williams, of the USDA, said there is no shortage of inspectors.

Two former Westland/Hallmark employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts -- illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal -- were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

No charges have been filed against the company, but an investigation by federal authorities continues. A phone message left Monday for Westland/Hallmark president Steve Mendell was not returned.

Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus and Jacob Adelman and AP videographer John Mone in Los Angeles contributed to this report. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-slaughterhouse-abuse,0,5990676.story

Largest Recall of Ground Beef Is Ordered

Published: February 18, 2008

MORE PROOF WE NEED TO TEACH CHILDREN A RESPECT FOR ALL LIFE. Make the connections. The meat and dairy industry has indoctrinated our parents and us into a killing society.

Update: Six dead in shooting at NIU