Timeout / CC

After being asked recently to perform at a series of events in Canada, Morrissey responded with his sincere regrets and the following powerful condemnation of Canada’s barbaric seal hunt, which began in earnest last week:

In late June the Montreal Symphony are hosting a TV Special to salute Buffy Sainte-Marie's 50th year making music. I am honored to be asked to take part. I first bought a Buffy Sainte-Marie record when I was 12, and her music has always remained with me. In the 1960s, as a political activist, Buffy's lyrics were fearless, and I'm very grateful for all the risks that she took.

I am also pleased to be asked to join the bill at the V Festival at the Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, and also at Fort Calgary in Calgary.

However, as we all know, the psychologically and constitutionally sickening Canadian seal-kill has started and is once again in full-cry.

The horror of the Canadian seal-kill is untranslatable, and although I fully realize that highly concentrated evil exists in other countries - Japan's dolphin slaughter, Iceland's newly-revived whaling, the cat-skinning trade in Switzerland, and China with just about every injustice imaginable - there is something especially menacing about Canada's seal-kill.

Loyola Sullivan (Canada's Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation) is a man of glacial coldness who claims that the seal-kill is "humane" - a view he might alter if his own skull were cracked open with a spiked axe. The fact that the seal-kill provides a livelihood for fishermen is an insultingly dim excuse for it to take place - after all, the German gas chambers of World War 2 also provided work for someone.

The seal-kill takes place to satisfy greed for fur-pelts, and this Canadian government is happy to drag the global image of its own country down, and make it a place that people such as I couldn't bear to visit.
-Morrissey, 29 March 2008.

… Well, a number of dates. Dan Mathews' last cross-country book tour was such a big hit that he’s doing a whole new one. Sometimes I wonder whether the guy doesn’t enjoy sitting around the office and going to endless meetings as much as the rest of us do. There was a nice little piece about Dan in The Windy City Times last week, and another great one in the latest issue of Ocean Drive magazine, which, annoyingly, I can’t link to because they didn’t put it up on their website. I’m not sure I fully understand how people “read” stuff these days if it’s not on the Internet, but they presumably have some kind of system.

Anyway, here’s the schedule for Dan’s book tour in case you live in one of these cities, and even if you don’t, you can order a copy of Committed here. It’s a very funny piece of literature. And it’s got some good stuff in there about animals.

Tuesday, July 24
Atlanta
Borders Atlanta-Buckhead
3637 Peachtree Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
7:30 PM

Wednesday, July 25
Nashville
Davis Kidd Booksellers
The Mall at Green Hills
2121 Green Hills Village Drive
Ste 281
Nashville, TN 37215
6:00 PM

Monday, July 30
Pittsburgh
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2705 E. Carson Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
7:00 pm

Wednesday, August 1
Detroit
Borders
34300 Woodward
Birmingham, MI 48009
7:00 PM

Thursday, August 2
Austin
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
Austin, TX 78703
7:00 PM

Friday, August 3
Hastings
1306 W. Davis St.
Conroe, TX 77304
7:00 pm

Tuesday, August 7
Tampa
Barnes & Noble
11802 N. Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33618
7:00 PM

Thursday, August 9
Orlando
Borders
600 North Orlando Ave
Winter Park, FL 32789
7:00 PM

Monday, August 13
Minneapolis
Magers & Quinn
3038 Hennepin Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
7:30 p.m.

Monday, August 27
St. Louis
Left Bank Books
399 N. Euclid
St. Louis, MO 63108
7:00 p.m.

montanakids/Creative Commons

When the Tour de France begins tomorrow, America's top hope, and the Team Discovery leader, will be a Montana native at the peak of his career named Levi Leipheimer. In addition to being just a really exceptionally good cyclist, Levi is passionate about helping animals, and he recently took some time to talk to PETA about the role that animal protection plays in his life. He also shot an ad for us, which we'll be releasing in a few weeks' time, so I will definitely let you know as soon as that bad boy finds its way onto our site and into the magazines. In the meantime, you should check out Levi's interview below. Dude is a winner, and you can be certain that I'll be pulling for him tomorrow when he hits the streets in London. (Yes, the Tour de France begins in London this year. I'm sure they had their reasons.)

When did you decide to pursue cycling professionally?

I started riding when I was 13, and I basically knew then that it was what I wanted to do. I race for seven months of the year and train for 10. During the off-season, I usually ride my mountain bike for fun. In an average training week, I ride between two and seven hours a day.

We heard that you enjoy eating vegetarian food. Is there one vegetarian dish that you would recommend for athletes in training?

Every day when I head out on my bike, I'm fueled by an energy-packed vegetarian breakfast of oatmeal, apples, blueberries, strawberries, and nuts. I've done this for years. My favorite post-ride meal is pasta with lots of garlic and sunflower seeds or pine nuts.

You are a top professional athlete, but you still find time to do animal rescue work. Can you tell us about some of the things that you do to help animals in your free time?

[My wife and I have] had a revolving door of foster animals in California and in Spain. I help out by playing with the animals who need to be socialized and by transporting them when needed. We've had about 100 fosters over the years.

There have also been many occasions when I've gotten a call from my wife, Odessa, after she has found an animal on the side of the road while riding her bike. I've done a lot of these emergency pickups for squirrels, frogs, birds, cats, dogs, turtles—you name it.

How did you become involved with helping animals? Did you have any animal companions growing up?

Growing up, we had dogs and cats and a lot of squirrels and chipmunks in the yard, but it wasn't until I met Odessa that I learned true compassion for animals. She will drop everything in her life if she suddenly encounters an animal in need, no matter what. She's risked her own safety to help animals on many occasions. Once you see that in person and witness the difference you can make in the life of another creature, you'll never turn and look away from an animal in need.

We heard that when you travel to Europe for the cycling season, you take your dogs with you. What is that like, and is it difficult to fly them from California to Spain?

Traveling with animals has been a learning experience. Because our dogs are so small, we're able to take all three of them in the cabin with us. We wouldn't do it otherwise. The airlines have very strict rules concerning pets in the cabin, so you have to be very careful.

You have been kind enough to agree to work with PETA on a new spay-neuter campaign. What message would you like to get out to folks about how they can help reduce companion animal overpopulation?

In the Unites States, there really isn't any excuse for not spaying and neutering your pets. There are low-cost spay-neuter options in almost every city and town. All you have to do is look.

You have a lot of fans out there, which gives you a powerful platform to reach people and make a difference. What is your message to them about having compassion and getting active to help animals?

The world belongs to animals, too—it's not just ours for the taking. Be kind to animals. And spay and neuter your pets.