<$BlogRSDUrl$> The Cyberactivist

Behind the scenes of the fight for the protection of animals and workers and the preservation of the environment - my experiences as a Tyson slaughterhouse hanger/killer turned activist. Exposing the evils of factory farming, by Virgil Butler. If you have arrived here looking for the Tyson stories, view the early archives. Some of them are now featured on the sidebar for easy searching.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Walking the Walk 

Well, I will be leaving out of here in just a couple of hours, heading for Nashville, TN for the Walk for Farm Animals. On October 2nd, World Farmed Animals Day, I will be participating and speaking at this event, as I have mentioned before. It's still not too late to join us. You can join up as late as when we begin. We will be starting at the intersection of 25th Avenue and Church Street in downtown Nashville - right beside Centennial Park at 10:00 a.m. I and the other speaker, Keaven Van Lom of S.O.F.A - Speak Out For Animals, who is also a member of my Activists Against Factory Farming group. We would love to see you there.

The last I heard, there were about 50 people participating, with some of them coming from eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Chicago, and Georgia, as well as Laura, her mother, and I from Arkansas. We will be walking rain or shine. You are welcome to bring your dog (just bring cleanup materials!), and there will be bottled water at the halfway point. We will walk about 5K (3 miles). I am certainly looking forward to this.

I don't know how much I will be able to check in until I get back, so if I don't get right back to you if you email me, that's why.

I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you a bit of good news. Well, I guess two bits. Well, okay, three.

First off, the day before yesterday in the evening, Laura and I were sitting outside, letting the boys run, waiting on supper time. Then we heard a noise. A familiar noise. One we have heard far too often. We turned and looked at each other and said, "Cat!" As I hurried to put the boys back in their pen, Laura went looking to track down the origin of the little kitty voice. Meow!

Up on the opposite side of the road, hiding in the tall grass of the ditch, was a little orange and white striped kitten, peeking out. Laura approached her, talking softly and holding out her hand. The poor thing just walked right up to her, purring and rubbing on her, so glad to see someone! Well, Laura scooped up the poor thing and brought her in and fed her. She was starving! Nothing but skin and bones. People that dump little baby animals like that ought to be dumped way off in the wilderness themselves, naked. Maybe they would learn something. They make me mad enough to want to... Well enough of that. Moving right along now...

Okay, second bit of good news. Earlier this week we had an injured little bird. After looking in our bird books, the consensus between everyone here was that it was a nuthatch. Anyway, Laura got the little guy (or girl??) on her finger and carried him/her to safety. We watched over that little bird all day. When we went in for supper we decided to put him/her in the "infirmary cage" until we got through. When we got through and came back, the little bird was recovered and ready to leave. Laura once again got the little bird on her finger. (We were amazed that there was no sign of fear!) She brought it back out of the cage and held it up, and we watched him/her fly away. It was a wonderful feeling. Usually injured little birds don't do so well.

And third, the kitten that we rescued doesn't have to be alone. She has a friend just her size. See, Laura's mother rescued a little calico kitty from the streets in town a couple of weeks ago. We are sure they will become great friends. They are both very sweet and cuddly. They certainly love to be loved!

I just can't imagine the kind of person who would dump a baby kitten in the woods to fend for herself. I just can't understand that mentality at all. Well, at least she knew where to come. She couldn't have found a better home. Man, we need a shelter in this county. Maybe one day...

Well, I am going to sign off now and finish getting my stuff together. I hope that many of you are participating in an event somewhere Oct. 2. If not, and you do still eat meat, would you consider laying off of it for that one day? Will you spend at least a moment or two contemplating the sheer amount of suffering that the animals endure so that people can please their palate? Just for that day? Can you do that?

I hope to see several of you in Nashville! I'll check back in when I get back for sure. I should have some pictures, too. (Man, I wish I had my own camera. One of these days.)

Have a good day, everyone.
Posted by: # Virgil / 4:43 AM 0 comments

Saturday, September 18, 2004

KFC Poetry Contest 

Well, I got another load of pulp wood taken in yesterday. Now we can get some more of Laura;s medicine. She has been without 3 or the 4 she is on for over a week now. So, it's been pretty rough lately. But, this will help. I should be able to get another one in next week and get one more prescription. Man, that stuff is expensive. Any help right now would definitely be appreciated.

Anyway, enough about my problems. Let's go to something a little more interesting and exciting. The contest.

Now, this seems like it will be a lot of fun. I got this alert in my inbox this morning from PETA. They are having a contest that I thought would be fun to post here. I thought that some of you might like to participate. If you decide to do so, I would love it if you would send me a copy. If you would like to have yours posted, then also let me know and if so, how you would like it to be credited.

Now, on to the details:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
This past May, Alice Walker sent a poem to David Novak, the CEO of KFC's parent company, imploring him to improve the treatment of the nearly 800 million chickens who are raised and killed each year for KFC restaurants.

Inspired by her example, PETA is encouraging all poets (and aspiring poets) to send us their own anti-KFC poems. The best entries will receive an autographed copy of Alice Walker's poem and all serious entries will receive a free anti-KFC celebrity poster.

For details on the contest or to read Ms. Walker's poem, go to this site
-------------------------------------------------------------------

See, doesn't that sound like fun? So, write them up and send them in. Then, shoot me off a copy, and if you want it shared, you will see it here. We could even have our own little vote for the best one submitted to this site. What do you think?

Let's have fun with this, okay? :)
Posted by: # Virgil / 6:07 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Busy and Making a Difference 

Yeah, I know it has been a little while since I posted here. Sorry about that. I have been so busy lately. Believe it or not, I still haven't caught up on all the emails that came in while I was out of town. It is hard enough to have enough time to post the articles in the group and keep up with answering each day's mail, much less go through backed up emails. But I am getting there. I am almost caught up.

I have also been doing a lot of things outside. I have been taking in more of the pulpwood from the tops of the trees that we had sawed up into lumber. That sure is a whole lot of work for such a small amount of money! I don't know how many of you have ever done this, but it is like one of those "last resort" type options around here to earn money. You do it when there just isn't anything else. It's a step above picking cans off the side of the road (which I have done, too). See, it takes me a couple of days to cut everything and carry each log down the hill and get them piled up. Then there is another half day to load the trailer and take it in to the mill. Want to guess what all that pays me for a load? Around $30. Like I said, not much. But, something is better than nothing, huh?

I also worked on another outside project. Remember the two black male dogs on the photo page that we have been trying to find a home for? Well, I built them a much bigger, nicer pen. We have also gotten it arranged for them both to be able to have some time outside the pen every day and run. They love that! They are really neat dogs. It is starting to really look like we won't find them a home any time soon, if ever. And, we couldn't keep them in that temporary pen for their whole lives. So, I built them a new one. They like it.

I am really looking forward to the Walk in Nashville next month. It really sounds like it will be a lot of fun. That will be a great time to work with other like-minded people who are willing to "walk the walk" in addition to "talking the talk." (Yes, I couldn't resist the little pun there - walking the Walk! LOL!) ;)

So many people these days believe that the problems of the world are too big and that there isn't much any one person can do to change things. And, of course, I have said here on this site quite a few times that one person CAN make a difference. I mean, look what one poor hillbilly living in a travel trailer out in the woods has done! People CAN make a difference, especially nowadays with the Internet. It has made the average citizen more powerful than ever before. Each and every one of us has the ability to do the same, speaking out about whatever injustice they find and demanding change.

Take this guy, for example. He was featured on Military.com for starting up a website a little over a month ago to help veterans get information and most recently, to help them get needed surgeries.

See, the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center postponed about 100 surgeries to save money. According to this story, the delays would have affected people needing such care as hernia operations or joint replacements.

Someone from the VA gave him a copy of a letter that told of it, and he thought it was wrong, so he posted a copy of the letter on his website and wrote about it on veterans boards and forums, bringing attention to the problem.

Well, after that, Military.com picked it up and had him write a story, which attracted MORE attention, even from Congress.

Guess what happened?

Yep, they reversed their decision, the vets will get their surgeries, and their budget is being looked over by the National VA.
Guess what he said about that success and the publicity this story received.

"It's the thing of one man can make a difference. I was just out to lend a helping hand. It's just my way of giving back. It's just me and my computer."

Sound familiar?

Good going, Larry!
Posted by: # Virgil / 10:24 AM 0 comments

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