A sweet little fairytale...German style

In her new Arte network series Sarah Wiener und die Küchenkinder, or “Sarah Wiener and the kitchen children,” a rabbit is stunned with an electric shock before the 46-year-old star chef kills, skins and butchers it – in front of her teenage charges.

Not surprisingly, the kids found this disturbing, the paper reported.

One witness, 14-year-old Simon said: “It was quite disgusting – the rabbit’s belly was still warm, not to mention seeing its beautiful, cuddly fur pulled off. Guts out, and everything in the trash. But the worst part was how it was hung up like socks.”

Sydney, 15, told the paper: “What affected me the most, I think, was when its throat was cut and quite a lot of blood came out.”

Wiener made no apologies for confronting the children with the realities of butchering livestock for dinner, despite the fact that several of the children cried during the filming.

“I believe that people should know what they eat,” she said. “It’s exactly from not seeing what goes on in our slaughterhouses that a transfiguration, an aestheticization and an underestimation of food products occurs.”

She also added that the youngsters had not been forced to observe the slaughter.

“If one or other of them are so shocked by this that they become vegetarians, I can only say that it wouldn’t do the climate any harm,” she said, referring to the sizeable amount of energy it takes to raise livestock.

It seems no lasting harm was done, at least for the children: the next day they ate delicious roast rabbit prepared from the butchered bunny.

And they all lived happily ever after...BRING IN THE STEER!!!!!

Gluttony is bad for you...who knew?

CHICAGO (AP) — The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer.

The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.

Of course, there is the little detail about "how much exercise" the test subject participates in presently, and in the past (shaping the metabolism). There is mention of acknowledgment to family medical history and genetic inevitability, but no details. As in determining a subject's diet, they probably relied on the testee's memory (ahem...elderly test subject alert). But, over all...this is damn good news for the folks up in Washington State and Oregon.

Washington’s Physician-Assisted Suicide Law Takes Effect

The physician-assisted suicide law that goes into effect today in Washington State allows hospitals and doctors to refuse to participate, creating a difficult decision for those who deal with end-of-life care.

On a separate note...we all die. Some of us will do so with a smile. Others will be holding a handful of bean sprouts and rice cakes.