Backstory: Late last year, President Obama signed a bill until law seeking to improve the quality and healthfulness of the school lunch program. Here is the White House Press release with a sample menu and fact sheet.

And now, this year, with lobbyist pressure from the frozen food industry among others, Congress appears to be going about weakening the act. The LA Times coverage, both in the lead up to the vote, and after, may be some of the best on the controversy.

Want to express your disappointment with/to your “representatives?”

Get out there and share your veggie pride!

Here’s the PETA Hug A Vegetarian Day site for the occasion. Rather adorable, don’t you think?

Anyway, here’s wishing you a great day of fantastic, cruelty-free dining and friendship. Sending you a *virtual hug*

Looks like the same one they tried to run a couple years ago, and again the network banned it, reasoning the advertisement “depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards.” I don’t know, doesn’t seem any worse than the bikini beer ads.

At least they saved themselves the gazillion dollars it would have cost to have their 30 televised seconds. And they still got a ton of publicity from the controversy and people sharing it online.

Here’s another banned PETA commercial from Thanksgiving 2009:

What do you think of these attempts? Three cheers or three jeers?

The issue posed was whether and how much — to what extent — government should be involved in regulating obesity health care.

One idea that got me cheering was reintroducing home economics classes into schools. It’s not so old-fashioned as it sounds. We still had them in our middle school and they taught hands-on baking and cooking. Heck, as I recall, we even made crêpes.

I’m also for menu labeling, which the one debater so derided. Hard to make informed decisions when you’re not, well, informed.

What do you think? Post your comment below.

I think we can all applaud her self-sacrifice, especially in these hard economic times, and lend our voices to the cause in support.
(See below for a couple ways to do so.)

But first, I should mention, I also find myself applauding NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Jr.—at least in the following exchange. How he handled being interrupted, and at such close range, by an animal rights activist at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) earlier this year was admirable.

So true! The ACLU gets heat all the time for speaking up for those with whom many of us disagree, but they’re just seeing the bigger picture that we all have those rights and silencing and censorship are not the answer.

As for the tests, they would seem cruel and completely unnecessary; don’t we already know what happens to people due to radiation at a wide range of exposure levels?

Take action today, either thru PETA or the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Actually, the recipients of each are different, so let’s use both these routes!