Beginning of the End: Pig Flesh Companies Feel the Heat January 31, 2007
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If you were to ask the average person at a grocery store what a gestation crate is, they would probably have no idea, but if that person has pig flesh in their shopping cart—be it labeled "ham," "pork," or otherwise—they should. Most of the 100 million pigs killed in the U.S. for their flesh each year spend their lives in cramped metal pens inside filthy sheds—they don't live fairytale lives like Babe or Wilbur. Mother pigs are intensively confined and forcibly impregnated, then confined to a gestation crate—a metal crate so small that she can't even turn around or lie down comfortably—for their entire adult lives. Forced to live lying in their own feces and urine, mother pigs are never allowed to step outdoors until the day they are forced onto trucks headed for slaughter. Gestation crates are so cruel in fact that voters in the state of Florida and Arizona have already banned their use entirely.
Since we know that not everyone will go vegetarian overnight, PETA has been working for years to get the companies who kill pigs and other animals for food to at least improve the conditions in which they are kept. Bearing that in mind, you can imagine how we felt late last week when Smithfield Foods, the largest pig flesh-producer in the United States and supplier of chains like McDonald's, issued a statement that it would be phasing out gestation crates in the next ten years. (While we wish that Smithfield would stop the use of gestation crates immediately, this is such a huge step forward that we can't exactly complain.) And if that wasn't a big enough deal, then there's this: Just days after Smithfield announced it's decision to stop cramming mother pigs into tiny metal-and-cement cages, Maple Leaf Foods, Canada’s largest pig flesh-producer, announced that it will make the same move. To sum up, this means that the two largest killers of pigs in North America are acknowledging that consumers are not OK with cruelty to animals, and their business will suffer if they don't take animal welfare into consideration.
Here's what MSNBC had to say about Smithfield's decision, and how groups like PETA and HSUS played a part in influencing this monumental change:
Pork processor Smithfield Foods Inc. said Thursday it will phase out gestation stalls or crates at all 187 sow farms it owns in eight states and replace them with "more animal-friendly" group housing pens over the next decade.
Smithfield's sows, which the company says grow to an average of 400 to 450 pounds during gestation, are kept in 2-by-7-foot metal crates in order to monitor their progress during their four-month pregnancies.
Animal-rights groups argue that confining pigs in crates is inhumane because the sows don't have room to turn around, they develop leg problems and they suffer from boredom and frustration. Group pens give sows some room to move and the ability to socialize.
Smithfield is making the change because customers "have told us they feel group housing is a more animal-friendly form of sow housing," C. Larry Pope, chief executive of the Smithfield-based company, said in a statement.
(Read more ...)
Of course, this is not to say that it is now alright to go out and eat pigs or any other animal for that matter. On the contrary—we will always stand by the belief that the most compassionate decision anyone can make is to adopt a vegan diet, and refuse to eat any animals. But anyone with a heart can agree—this move by Smithfield and Maple Leaf will make difference for millions of pigs, no matter how small it may seem to us. Here's hoping that this really is the beginning of the end for factory farming, and that things like gestation crates will be left to the pages of our children's history books.
-Noah
Liberation Comp Contest Winners! January 30, 2007
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It is way too cold in Norfolk today, so to cheer myself up from this dreary winter weather, I decided to pick the winners of the Liberation Comp Contest! To refresh your memory, this was a blog contest to win a signed copy of the Liberation Comp by The Used. So, without further rambling, the winners are...
^{Velvetine}^{Whore}^
Jared from MySpace, not Subway
There, now I feel better (at least until I have to go outside again).
xoxo-lara
P.S. What do you think of our new Anti-Flag ad? I love it, but I might be a bit biased.
currently listening to:
Pink Reveals New Anti-Fur Strategy January 29, 2007
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Thinking about her master plan...
Pink has come up with what I think is a great new strategy to make fur wearers rethink their cruel fashion choices."'My new campaign is Fur: It Makes You Look Fat,' Pink says, followed by a wicked laugh." Wicked laugh indeed, I love it! People who wear fur are self-absorbed idiots who only care about themselves and the way they look, so what better way to help them see the light than to bash their looks. If someone told Beyonce, Eva Longoria, J. Lo, or the Olsen twins that they were fat—which could never ever happen in a million years with the toothpick twins—they would be mortified. Adds Pink,"If we say fur is actually not flattering, maybe more of these people will care if they think they look fat, because obviously they don't care they're skinning animals alive for their fur." It makes perfect sense to hit the vainer than vain where it hurts them the most. She's a genius.
XOX
J.Lo Ambushed...Again January 26, 2007
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Well, my hunch was right about the ambush at J.Lo's "Glow After Dark" auditions. Okay, it wasn't really a hunch...let's call it intuition. If she wants people to stop hating her she should stop having animals tortured and killed for fashion. It's as simple as that.
XOX
Breaking News: POM Ends Cruel Animal Tests! January 25, 2007
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In a move that will save countless animals from painful, deadly, and useless animal experiments, POM has just confirmed that it will no longer fund animal experiments. The statement follows just a few short months of campaigning by peta2 Street Teamers and other activists who wrote, called, and e-mailed POM by the thousands asking the juice company to stop funding cruel experiments in order to make health claims about its pomegranate juice.
Last year, PETA discovered that POM was funding outrageous experiments on animals in order to make health claims about its products. It’s hard to imagine why a company that makes pomegranate juice would be testing on animals, but what we learned was shocking. In one experiment, balloons were inflated into live rabbits to study erectile dysfunction! In another experiment, baby mice were suffocated to the point of brain damage and then had their heads cut off. Those are just a couple of the tests that POM was funding.
We immediately contacted POM, urging the company to abandon all experiments involving animals, but after being told by the company that it would continue to fund these experiments, we had no choice but to launch a full-fledged boycott. After enduring just a few months of PETA's campaign, Matt Tupper, POM president and CEO, wrote to PETA to say:
"Neither POM Wonderful nor its related entities provide funding for ongoing animal testing on POM Juice (or POM Tea). Moreover, there are no plans to do so in the future."
This is a huge victory for animals who are being tortured and killed in laboratories, and it exposes just how ridiculous the vivisection industry is as a whole—torturing animals to make health claims about fruit juice! With this announcement, POM joins other compassionate juice companies like Welch's, Naked, Frutzzo, Old Orchard, Lakewood, and many others that have provided written assurances to PETA that they do not fund or conduct any experiments on animals. (Check out CaringConsumer.com for more info.)
Thank you to everyone who participated in this campaign. If you haven't already, please click here to watch peta2's video "Testing ... One, Two, Three." And be sure to send it to all your friends!
-Noah
Gwen Stefani Fakes It? No Doubt! January 24, 2007
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XOX
Patricia
CareerBuilder Says Goodbye to Ape Ads January 24, 2007
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After two years of pressure from PETA (not to mention thousands upon thousands of activists), online job-search company CareerBuilder has decided to stop using chimpanzees in its television advertising. Although the company has not yet signed a pledge to never use chimpanzees in its ads again, it has been running "transition" ads saying goodbye to an ad campaign that never should have run in the first place.
In 2005, CareerBuilder began running a series of ads that featured chimpanzees dressed in suits and ties mimicking human behavior in an office setting, with employees who are behaving like "monkeys." The behind-the-scenes reality for chimpanzees forced to perform in ads is a lifetime of misery: Taken from their mothers shortly after birth, they are beaten and traumatized, left with lifelong emotional scars. When they grow too strong to be managed (usually around age 8) they are often discarded at shady roadside zoos, where they are left to suffer in tiny cages for decades.
Unlike humans, animals used in advertising, TV, and movies have no choice, and receive nothing but abuse for their roles. If you'd like to learn more, check out PETA's Web site NoMoreMonkeyBusiness.com. And if you would like to contact CareerBuilder to thank them for putting an end to the ads—and to ask them to pledge to never use animals in their ads again—you can contact their President and CEO Matt Ferguson at Matt.Ferguson@careerbuilder.com. If you do e-mail him, be sure to put StreetTeam@peta2.com in the cc field of the message so that we can see it ... and give you Street Team points of course!
-Noah
This is Just Plain Wrong January 23, 2007
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So this video was just brought to our attention, and I have to say that it's one of the most disturbing videos I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of them). If I weren't already a vegan, this would turn me. Be warned, the video is extremely graphic.
The meat industry couldn't care less about animals. This "downed" cow (meaning a cow who’s too sick or injured to walk) was thrown into the meat shredder alive. And according to a 2006 report by the USDA inspector general, USDA slaughterhouse inspectors are still allowing many downed cows - who may be infected with mad cow disease - into the human food supply illegally. Not only is this disgusting, it’s fucked up and wrong.
Don't let horrible things like this happen. You can make a difference. Click here to take the Veg Pledge.
♥ Marta
Stream New Album by Only Crime! January 22, 2007
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I just got word that Only Crime's new album, Virulence, is streaming in its entirety on Punknews today (one day before its release on Fat Wreck Chords)!
If you are not familiar with the likes of Only Crime, I highly recommend that you check them out now. Not only do they have exceedingly high levels of shred-ocity in their music, they also can count Russ Rankin of Good Riddance and Aaron Dalbec of Bane among their ranks.
So check out Virulence today, and let me know what you think!
xoxo-lara
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PETA Dims J.Lo's Glow January 19, 2007
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Disgusting!
I wonder if Jennifer Lopez is expecting us to pop up at the "Glow Girl" search promo event for her new fragrance, Glow After Dark tomorrow. We've only protested the opening of her Pasadena restaurant, named her to the "Fugliest Fur Hags" and worst dressed lists, and shouted her down at her movie premieres so I'm sure the thought hasn't even crossed her mind...right. But since we do like to keep the truly evil on their toes, I can neither confirm nor deny that a faux "Glow Girl" just might be crashing the pelt pusher's event. If she'd just stop wearing and pimping fur we'd leave her alone, when will she realize that?!
XOX
Is POM Trying to Pull a Fast One? January 19, 2007
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The recent statement by POM Wonderful's owners Stewart and Lynda Resnick that "POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing and we have no plans to do so in the future" seems pretty great, until you read the fine print.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website, POM made a commitment through June 2007 to an experiment that involves forcing elderly rats to balance on a spinning rod and find a hidden platform in a water maze in order to try not to drown. I'll get back to you on whether those experiments are still going forward, but so far, POM's not getting back to us about it, which is ominous—coming from a company that has professed a desire to get out of the whole sordid animal-testing game. And it's especially ominous when you take into account the fact that POM's president told a PETA rep last summer that his company could deceive the public by declaring itself "cruelty-free," while continuing to test on animals through an affiliate set up by the company's owners.
Why might a company that apparently sees nothing even faintly ridiculous about drowning rats to judge "The Effects of Pomegranate Juice on Cognitive and Motor Deficits in Aging" consider misleading consumers about whether it funds animal tests? My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that Whole Foods threatened to stop selling the juice if POM continued to kill animals in pointless experiments. Whatever the reason, if POM's intention is indeed to mislead customers who are making a good-faith effort to buy cruelty-free products, they can be certain that we're not going to just sit back and watch. PETA's campaign against POM Wonderful will continue until the company signs PETA's assurance statement pledging an end to all animal tests—something that the company has refused to do so far. Go figure.
You can read PETA VP Bruce Friedrich's letter to POM here.
And for more information and ways to help, click here.
<3 Marta
Did 258,275 People Watch What You Did This Week? January 18, 2007
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For those of you that didn't get to check out our super-sweet video-sharing mission, here's the deal: Video-sharing sites like YouTube have become hugely popular, so we asked you wonderful ladies and gents to download a few of our videos and upload them to your YouTube accounts.
Thanks to everyone who participated, thousands of people watched (and will continue to watch) peta2's videos and see footage that will inspire them to go vegetarian, stop wearing animals, or buy only cruelty-free products.
And now for the moment you've all been waiting for - the video with the highest number of views. Drumroll, please.
Graeme Nash got a whopping 258,275 views as of yesterday with his upload of "Chew on This"! It's amazing what people will click on when the tags are played around with. :)
Congratulations, Graeme, on scoring a FujiFilm 4 megapixel digital camera with video! Didn't win this time? Keep an eye out for future missions and contests to score your own sweet prizes for helping out the animals.
P.S. - Is anyone else as excited about the Scrubs musical tonight as I am?!
The Sleeping Rock More Than You January 17, 2007
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On Friday night, I checked out a show headlined by Senses Fail with openers Saosin, Alexisonfire, and one of the best new bands around The Sleeping. We’ve been buddies with The Sleeping since they opened up a tour for Silverstein and we can't stop listening to their stuff. The band members and crew are super nice, and singer Doug is notorious for nifty sweaters and an undying love for vegetarian food (especially the Meat Sticks that we gave him). Plus, their live show is amazing and fun. Don't believe me? Ask these kids!
Now that you've got yourself psyched up about good times, great music, and helping animals, make sure you head over to peta2's DIY Activism page to get all the resources you need to spread the word at the next show you go to! Send a full page of petition signups and I'll even send you an e-hug. For reals!
xxoo,
Burberry Protest in France! January 16, 2007
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I'm on vacation in France right now, and while I'm here I figured I'd protest Burberry's cruel use of fur. We did a demo in Paris on Monday and 25 activists showed up, including five brave souls who lied naked in coffins. Almost all the TV stations in Paris came out, as well as a TV station from Germany, Reuters International, and other international press. Check out the video from the demo:
For those of you that don't speak French, the signs say, "Wouldn't be caught dead in Burberry" and "Burberry kills animals."
On another note, I also visited the Catacombs of Paris. Yes, I even represent peta2 to dead people.
I'm off to Rome!
-Noah
May Be Hope For Madonna Yet January 12, 2007
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Madge and Stella courtesy of Star Max Inc.
After getting yet another talking to from her pal Stella McCartney for her cruel anti-animal ways, Madonna has decided to put an end to pheasant hunting on her country estate. Madonna and the hubs, Guy Ritchie, have been renting Ashcombe to hunting parties for as much as $19,522 a day...you know, because what with tuition costs rising, she had to pay for Lourdes, Rocco, and David's educations somehow.
Madge says she actually gave up hunting last year when she shot a pheasant who didn't die right away, which is often the case. "It wasn't dead. Blood was gushing from its mouth and it was struggling up this hill and I thought, 'Oh, God, I did that. I haven't shot since'," the singer said. Now I know what you're thinking, it's not a big, gigantic leap or anything but it certainly is a step in the right direction. And I've vowed to be more optimistic in 2007 so I'm not giving up hope. Of course this optimism crap will have worn itself out by mid February and I'll be my jaded self again, but for now, fingers crossed.
XOX
"Test On Me Instead" Winner! January 11, 2007
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For those of you who didn't get a chance to check out our POM mission, we asked all of you lovely people to get creative and tell POM to stop funding pointless animal tests and test its pomegranate juice on you instead. We had a ton of awesome entries, but the winner of PETA's fashionable "Don't Test On Me" T-shirt is none other than David Salisbury, with his amazing toe tag entry. I wonder what the people at POM thought when they received this picture in the mail?
Pretty sweet, right? If you haven't already, be sure to send POM a message saying you won't buy POM products until the company agrees to stop funding animal experiments.
Congratulations, David!
♥Marta
Liberation Comp Contest! January 10, 2007
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Music
Fat Wreck Chords has recently re-released Liberation Compilation, an 18 band comp that was put together by Fat Mike to raise money for peta2. The new version features more songs; including an unreleased AR song by Aussie activist band Consider The Meek and "Another Girl" by The Queers.
Check out the rest of the all-star track listing:
1. Hot Water Music -Remedy
2. Good Riddance -More Depalma, Less Fellini
3. Goldfinger -F**k Ted Nugent
4. The Faint -Agenda Suicide
5. Propagandhi -Purina Hall Of Fame
6. Good Charlotte -Lifestyles Of The Rich And The Famous (acoustic)
7. District 7 -Beyond The Shadows
8. Frenzal Rhomb -Russell Crowe's Band
9. Story Of The Year -And The Hero Will Drown
10. Consider The Meek -Leave Me Alone
11. The Eyeliners -I Could Never Hate You
12. Anti-Flag -Bring Out Your Dead
13. Desparacidos -Man And Wife, The Latter (Damaged Goods)
14. Bigwig -Waste
15. Midtown -This House Is Not A Home (acoustic)
16. The Used -Just A Little
17. NOFX -Clams Have Feelings Too
18. The Queers -Another Girl
You want it, don’t cha? Well I've got a few copies autographed by Good Riddance and The Used just sitting on my desk just begging to be given away. So…all got have to do to get your hands on one is fill out the form below!
xoxo-lara
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Victory: Raley's Stops Selling Live Lobsters! January 9, 2007
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"Raley's Family of Fine Stores offered live Maine lobsters to our customers for three days during the holiday season. Raley's will not repeat this promotion or offer live lobsters in any of its stores."
With this decision, Raley's joins the ranks of other compassionate grocery chains including Whole Foods and Safeway who have stopped selling live lobsters altogether. Like all animals, lobsters feel pain and can suffer. In nature, they form relationships with other animals and can live to be 100 years old.
Thank you to all of you wonderful people who e-mailed and called Raley's to voice your concerns. Because of you, countless lobsters will be saved from being confined and sold, not to mention being boiled alive.
-Noah
Britain 'Cuts the Cheese' January 8, 2007
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British officials aren't always that great (take, for example, the killing of bears for hats), but sometimes they get it right. The Office of Communications (OFCOM)—which is sort of Britain's version of the FCC—has banned broadcasters from running ads for cheese during children's programs or programs which have a large number of child viewers. (OFCOM also banned ads for hamburgers, ham, and sausages among other junk foods.) Cheese companies and dairy farmers are, not surprisingly, very upset about this ban. Apparently no one has told them that milk is for baby cows.
Here's the story from the Manchester Evening News:
NEW advertising rules which brand cheese as junk food have been slammed as 'dietary nannying gone mad'.
Anthony Gibson of the National Farmers' Union, said: "To suggest there is anything inherently harmful about cheese is absurd." He said the rules could threaten sales of cheeses at a difficult time for the dairy industry.
The rules, being introduced this month by television regulator Ofcom, will ban adverts for junk foods during children's TV programmes, or shows with a large proportion of child viewers.
(Read more ...)
Not only is eating cheese and other dairy products bad for your health, but more importantly, it's bad for animals. Cows—like all mammals—need to become pregnant in order to produce milk. Dairy cows are hooked up to "rape racks" and impregnated every year so that they will produce a steady supply of milk. Whereas in nature, the baby drinks the milk that the mother produces, farmers take the calf away from the mother cow and steal the milk intended for her baby. And what happens to the babies? That's right ... they're slaughtered for veal.
Growing up I was bombarded with ads for macaroni and cheese, cheese pizza, cheese covered cheese ... it's disgusting to think about. Here's hoping that OFCOM's ban means that fewer kids will be eating cheese (and other nasty, unhealthy animal products) in the future.
-Noah
PETA's Newest (Naked) Anti-KFC Protest January 5, 2007
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Since the beginning of PETA's "Kentucky Fried Cruelty" campaign, we've had giant chickens hopping around on crutches and sitting in wheelchairs (demonstrating that KFC suppliers cripple chickens) outside of KFC's restaurants; we've handed out "bloody buckets"; and we've burned effigies of Colonel Sanders. While these protests have all been a lot of fun, we feel it's important to keep things fresh. With that in mind, we came up with an idea for a brand new protest, one which we here in the office refer to simply as "Naked Truth protests." (No hard feelings giant chicken costume protests. This isn't "Goodbye." Think of it as "See you later." It's not you, it's us.)
PETA's lovely ladies Lindsay Rajt and Nicole Matthews have been holding protests like these outside of KFC restaurants across the country over the past few weeks, and they've been going fantastic. At each protest, they've been joined by crowds of peta2 Street Teamers and other activists, not to mention slews of tv and newspaper reporters who want to find out what's going on.
Thanks to everyone who has come out to the protests so far! If you want to know when we're coming to your city, sign up for the Street Team so we can keep in touch.
-Noah
Gator Meat? Seriously? January 4, 2007
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I love a good college sports rivalry as much as the next person, but this is just disgusting ... Apparently some demented Ohio State fans are eating alligator meat in preparation for Monday night's BCS championship game between OSU and the University of Florida. Wow, how macho. And what the heck are these stores in Ohio thinking in selling dead alligators' flesh?
Here's the story from ESPN:
Some Ohio stores are stocking up on alligator meat in anticipation of demand from Ohio State fans planning pregame feasts for Monday's championship between the top-ranked Buckeyes and the No. 2 Florida Gators.
Akron's West Point Market is selling alligator meat for $14.99 a pound. Columbus-area Meijer stores are selling frozen alligator fillets for $6.99 a pound, telling customers in an advertisement to "bring home your own slice of gator." The advertisement for the Meijer promotion includes a drawing of a snarling buckeye nut with the tail of an alligator sticking out of its mouth.
Meijer stores also are promoting "tailgator" parties on Saturday.
(Read more ...)
I have an idea: When Florida annihilates Ohio State on Monday night, how about we barbecue the entire OSU team?
-Noah
Meg and Dia Contest Winner! January 3, 2007
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Today is my birthday (yay me!). This morning I found this lil cutey waiting for me all wrapped up in a bow.
It is a bunny radio! Rad right? Speaking of bunnies, and seeing as how I am in such a good mood because of my b-day, I feel like it is a good time to announce the winner of the Meg and Dia Contest (to win a signed Mean People Wear Fur tee). So without further ado, the winner is...
Tiffany, you are the recipient of a lovely Meg and Dia signed Mean People Wear Fur t-shirt. Congrats!
xoxo-lara
xoxo-lara
P.S. Your bunny is adorable!
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Banner Drops = Good Old Fashioned Fun January 2, 2007
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Banner drops are easy and loads of fun. Banners have been used to grab people's attention since the dawn of time—well, at least the dawn of social justice activism. And what better place to grab people's attention than on their way home from work or on their way to lunch at KFC? Just follow the recipe below and you'll be golden.
Ingredients:
- large sheet of white cloth, vinyl, or paper
- markers, spraypaint, or acrylic ink
- stencils for letters and designs to be used on banner (optional, but highly recommended)
- bridge or overpass with sidewalk
- Take the sheet of fabric or paper you wish to use as your banner (should be somewhere around 15 to 20 feet long X 8 to 10 feet high) and lay it on a flat surface.
- Using your markers or other ink, stencil or freehand your message in big bold letters. Keep your message short and sweet—like "Go Vegetarian" or "KFC Tortures Chickens"—and put a Web site at the bottom.
- Once your banner is complete, grab a friend and go to your chosen overpass. With each person holding one end of the banner, drape it carefully over the side.
Seriously, give it a try. It's almost as fun as skydiving or (insert other fun activity the kids do these days).
-Noah
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