If there’s ever been a greater advertisement for ditching meat and animal products in favor of a vegan lifestyle, we think we’ve found it.
Meet 78-year-old vegan male bodybuilder Jim Morris, who is PETA‘s most senior pin-up. And boy is he a picture of health. Jim posed as iconic statue ‘The Thinker’ for PETA while aged 77, which forms part of his brand-new campaign that ‘Think Before You Eat’.
The ad, which can be seen below, goes on to encourage viewers to “muscle your way to better health” – and a reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and strokes – by going vegan. Jim says that his health greatly improved after he retired from competitive bodybuilding in 1985 – which is all down to his decision to become vegetarian and, later, vegan.
“The protein in animal products is so laden with fats and chemicals and all sorts of stuff that’s harmful to you,” he told PETA in an interview.
“When I was competing and stuffing down all of that sort of stuff, I had lots of digestive problems. I was constipated and bloated and just miserable all the time. . . . I know as a fact I would not be here and I would not be in this condition now had I continued eating the way I was.”
After changing his dietary habits, he feels better than ever.
He encourages others to adopt the vegan lifestyle, so they can feel as good as he does.
“Milk is for babies”, he says. “Humans, as far as I know, are the only creatures that continue to drink milk once they’ve been weaned. … I think a lot of people don’t realise if they would stop drinking milk and [consuming] all of the milk products, they would say, ‘Wow, I didn’t realise I could feel this good’.”
PETA says: “People who go vegan don’t just help their own health – they also drastically reduce their carbon footprint and save animals from immense suffering on factory farms, in abattoirs and on the decks of fishing boats.”
article via huffingtonpost.co.uk
Posts published in “Seniors”
Amiri Baraka, the militant man of letters and tireless agitator whose blues-based, fist-shaking poems, plays and criticism made him a provocative and groundbreaking force in American culture, has died. He was 79. His booking agent, Celeste Bateman, told The Associated Press that Baraka, who had been hospitalized since last month, died Thursday at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Perhaps no writer of the 1960s and ’70s was more radical or polarizing than Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones), and no one did more to extend the political debates of the civil rights era to the world of the arts. He inspired at least one generation of poets, playwrights and musicians, and his immersion in spoken word traditions and raw street language anticipated rap, hip-hop and slam poetry. The FBI feared him to the point of flattery, identifying Baraka as “the person who will probably emerge as the leader of the Pan-African movement in the United States.”
Baraka transformed from the rare black to join the Beat caravan of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac to leader of the Black Arts Movement, an ally of the Black Power movement that rejected the liberal optimism of the early ’60s and intensified a divide over how and whether the black artist should take on social issues. Scorning art for art’s sake and the pursuit of black-white unity, Barak was part of a philosophy that called for the teaching of black art and history and producing works that bluntly called for revolution.
“We want ‘poems that kill,’” Baraka wrote in his landmark “Black Art,” a manifesto published in 1965, the year he helped found the Black Arts Movement. “Assassin poems. Poems that shoot guns/Poems that wrestle cops into alleys/and take their weapons leaving them dead/with tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland.”
Juanita Moore, who broke barriers for African-American actors and was Oscar-nominated for 1959′s remake of Imitation of Life, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. Her step-grandson, actor Kirk Kahn, said she was 99. Moore received a supporting actress nomination for the Douglas Sirk-directed Imitation of Life, playing Annie Johnson, the housekeeper whose daughter passes for white, in the racially-themed film that was based on the Fannie Hurst novel. She was the fifth African-American to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.
Kahn said she was still running lines with him recently, and had planned to participate in a reading at the Saban Theater in a few weeks. “She didn’t candy-coat it for you,” he said. “She said, ‘If you’re no good, the play’s no good.’” “She gave back to the community in so many ways,” he said. “Wherever we went she stopped and told black boys and girls they could do anything with their lives.”
Moore, who was a founding member of the Cambridge Players along with thespians such as Esther Rolle, was honored at the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, her grandson said. Born in Los Angeles, Moore was a chorus girl at the Cotton Club who started out as a film extra, then worked as an actor at the Ebony Showcase Theater. She made her film debut in 1949′s Pinky, and often played a maid in 1950s films such as The Girl Can’t Help It. In the 1960s and ’70s, she played a nun in The Singing Nun and appeared in films including Uptight and The Mack.
Though she didn’t work often through the 1980s, she began appearing onscreen again in later years on TV shows such as E.R. and Judging Amy and in films such as Disney’s The Kid. In addition to her grandson, she is survived by two nephews. To learn more about her life and career, click here.
article by Pat Saperstein via Variety.com; additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Moore, who was a founding member of the Cambridge Players along with thespians such as Esther Rolle, was honored at the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, her grandson said. Born in Los Angeles, Moore was a chorus girl at the Cotton Club who started out as a film extra, then worked as an actor at the Ebony Showcase Theater. She made her film debut in 1949′s Pinky, and often played a maid in 1950s films such as The Girl Can’t Help It. In the 1960s and ’70s, she played a nun in The Singing Nun and appeared in films including Uptight and The Mack.
Though she didn’t work often through the 1980s, she began appearing onscreen again in later years on TV shows such as E.R. and Judging Amy and in films such as Disney’s The Kid. In addition to her grandson, she is survived by two nephews. To learn more about her life and career, click here.
article by Pat Saperstein via Variety.com; additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
As reported in Variety.com, James Avery, the imposing actor who laid down the law as the Honorable Philip Banks – aka Will Smith’s “Uncle Phil” – inThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, has died. Avery’s publicist, Cynthia Snyder, told the Associated Press that Avery died Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that he was 65, while TMZ, which said he died in a Glendale, Calif. hospital after heart surgery, said he was 68.
Alfonso Ribeiro who played his son on Fresh Prince, remembered him on Twitter.
I’m deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away. He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly. @alfonso_ribeiro
Avery’s movie credits included The Blues Brothers, Fletch, The Brady Bunch Movie and Doctor Dolittle 2. He appeared on dozens of TV shows including Hill St. Blues, L.A. Law, The Division, Soul Food, That ’70s Show, All of Us, Grey’s Anatomy and The Closer. Born in Atlantic City, N.J., he served in Vietnam and began writing TV scripts and poetry for PBS. He graduated with a drama degree from U.C. San Diego. In addition to extensive work as a voiceover actor on productions such as The Wild Thornberrys and Prince of Egypt, he hosted the PBS travel show Going Places. To learn more about his life and career, click here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim.
Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, Django Unchained, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino‘s Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.
He played Nick Fury in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Marvel’s The Avengers, the first five of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson is set to reprise his role as Fury in the 2014 film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the 2015 film, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Jackson’s many roles have made him one of the highest-grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media, including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe. In October 2011, Jackson became the actor with the highest-grossing film total of all time.
article via wikipedia.org
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, talks with enrollment specialist Jaileene Tavarez, right, and Shaheda Jenkins, center at the Community Health and Social Services Center in Detroit Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As President Obama continues a revised campaign to shore up American confidence in the Affordable Care Act, a new report released today points out that six out of 10 uninsured African Americans who are eligible for insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces – 4.2 million people – may also be eligible for federal options and/or financial assistance with healthcare costs.
According to the report from the Department of Health and Human Services, 2.2 million may qualify for either tax credits to help purchase plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace, while the other 2 million may qualify for free to low-cost coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To be eligible for the Health Insurance Marketplace one must be nonelderly and lawfully living in the United States.
Under the law, states can decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage to people living on at least 138 percent of the federal poverty line (currently, it’s $15,857 per year for a single person, and $38,047 per year for a family of five). This provision expands the safety net for people who are just above the poverty line, but still unable to afford packages from private companies. The government is required to provide 100 percent of funding for the first three years (phasing down to no less than 90 percent federal funding in subsequent years) to any state that expands Medicaid.
Today, 6.8 million African Americans of all ages are uninsured. Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and New York are home to the highest populations of uninsured African Americans who are eligible for the ACA’s provisions. Of those, only New York has expanded Medicaid.
If all 50 states expanded Medicaid, 95 percent of uninsured African Americans would be eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or Marketplace tax credits, including those without dependents in the home who have traditionally been barred from Medicaid. In addition to using the virtual marketplace to compare plans offered by the private companies in their own state, the uninsured also have the option to become insured through Medicaid, insure their children through CHIP, or use federal tax credits to mitigate the cost of a private plan from the marketplace.
Currently, 26 states have done so, and according to the report, Medicaid currently covers 60 percent of eligible uninsured African Americans. However, an additional 2.2 million eligible uninsured African American adults with family incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level live in states that are not expanding Medicaid. Twice as many uninsured African Americans live at the 138 percent FPL threshold, but only 1.5 million live in Medicaid expansion states. That leaves nearly 3 million people stuck between having too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private plans in the marketplace without assistance.
Under the law, states can decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage to people living on at least 138 percent of the federal poverty line (currently, it’s $15,857 per year for a single person, and $38,047 per year for a family of five). This provision expands the safety net for people who are just above the poverty line, but still unable to afford packages from private companies. The government is required to provide 100 percent of funding for the first three years (phasing down to no less than 90 percent federal funding in subsequent years) to any state that expands Medicaid.
Today, 6.8 million African Americans of all ages are uninsured. Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and New York are home to the highest populations of uninsured African Americans who are eligible for the ACA’s provisions. Of those, only New York has expanded Medicaid.
If all 50 states expanded Medicaid, 95 percent of uninsured African Americans would be eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or Marketplace tax credits, including those without dependents in the home who have traditionally been barred from Medicaid. In addition to using the virtual marketplace to compare plans offered by the private companies in their own state, the uninsured also have the option to become insured through Medicaid, insure their children through CHIP, or use federal tax credits to mitigate the cost of a private plan from the marketplace.
Currently, 26 states have done so, and according to the report, Medicaid currently covers 60 percent of eligible uninsured African Americans. However, an additional 2.2 million eligible uninsured African American adults with family incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level live in states that are not expanding Medicaid. Twice as many uninsured African Americans live at the 138 percent FPL threshold, but only 1.5 million live in Medicaid expansion states. That leaves nearly 3 million people stuck between having too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private plans in the marketplace without assistance.
Back in 1994, Mary Hunter had an idea for an innovative marinating stick. She’s been following through on it ever since — winning a TV-show contest and gaining chefs’ approval. Mary Hunter has always been happy to cook for her congregation at the Yes Lord Church in Gary, Ind. Her recipes, she told me, come directly from God. “I don’t have a cookbook,” she said. “God gives me my own.” Prayer is “where I get 99 percent of my recipes.”
Mrs. Hunter, who is 73, likes to cook big roasts for her church, “and if I had a difficult piece of meat I might marinate it in some beer and celery” with a blend of her secret seasonings. When she learned that she had diabetes and high blood pressure, though, she had to cut out her salty marinades and cook the meat more blandly.
Then, one day, God had an idea. “I was writing down some recipes and God said to me that I should take that ink pen and stick holes all though it and put a clip on one side so that you can open it” — lengthwise — “and then put your onions and your garlic and your aromatics down the middle and put it inside your meat — then, you won’t have to eat bland foods.” And so was born her invention, a long stainless steel device that, according to tests in restaurants and elsewhere, far outperforms those herbal injectors and other disappointing methods for introducing flavors into the interior of a big piece of meat.
Later this month, Mary’s Marinating Sticks are scheduled to go on sale in Target stores. Mrs. Hunter’s invention follows the classic arc seen in movies: she had a good idea, got it patented and found a market. But that’s the movies. In real life, it’s never that easy. For starters, Mrs. Hunter’s divine idea came to her in 1994. She’s been following through ever since.
Then, one day, God had an idea. “I was writing down some recipes and God said to me that I should take that ink pen and stick holes all though it and put a clip on one side so that you can open it” — lengthwise — “and then put your onions and your garlic and your aromatics down the middle and put it inside your meat — then, you won’t have to eat bland foods.” And so was born her invention, a long stainless steel device that, according to tests in restaurants and elsewhere, far outperforms those herbal injectors and other disappointing methods for introducing flavors into the interior of a big piece of meat.
Later this month, Mary’s Marinating Sticks are scheduled to go on sale in Target stores. Mrs. Hunter’s invention follows the classic arc seen in movies: she had a good idea, got it patented and found a market. But that’s the movies. In real life, it’s never that easy. For starters, Mrs. Hunter’s divine idea came to her in 1994. She’s been following through ever since.
NEW YORK (AP) — Her body weak, her voice rich and strong, Maya Angelou sang, lectured and reminisced as she accepted a lifetime achievement award Thursday night from the Norman Mailer Center. The 85-year-old author, poet, dancer and actress was honored during a benefit gala at the New York Public Library, the annual gathering organized by the Mailer Center and writers colony . Seated in a wheelchair, she was a vivid presence in dark glasses and a sparkling black dress as she marveled that a girl from a segregated Arkansas village could grow up to become a literary star.
“Imagine it,” she said, “a town so prejudiced black people couldn’t even eat vanilla ice cream.” Angelou was introduced by her former editor at Random House, Robert Loomis, and she praised him for talking her into writing her breakthrough memoir, the million-selling I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The key was suggesting to her that the book might be too hard to write.
The people who knew her best, she explained, understood that “if you want to get Maya Angelou to do so something, tell her she can’t.” Angelou, a longtime resident of North Carolina, will be back in Manhattan next month to collect an honorary National Book Award medal.
ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle and Queen Latifah both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET in November. Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show’s honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J. Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
GEORGIA – An African-American couple is celebrating an extraordinary milestone in their marriage. Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin have been husband and wife for an incredible 75 years. They tied the knot in 1938 after two years of dating. Despite inevitable ups and downs, their union is still going strong. Now the couple’s long-lasting devotion to each other is generating unexpected attention. They have received a proclamation from their mayor and a congratulatory letter from President Obama.
“I am so excited, I am telling you,” said Mrs. Pullin in an interview with local television station. Mr. Ralph Pullin, Sr, of McDonough, Georgia, said in the same interview that it was a strong attraction at first sight. “She had to sit on part of my knee! And that got my attention like– a live wire,” he said.
Though, their courtship was not without challenges. For two years, the pair kept their relationship secret from Mrs. Pullin’s mother instead telling her that Mr. Pullin was dating his wife’s older sister. The lovebirds finally wed on September 17, 1938. The pair – one of the longest-living married couples in Georgia — went on to to have 8 children. They have 6 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, with another on the way.