It will come as no surprise to you that I'm more excited about Oprah's 21-day vegan diet than I am about the latest anti-cruelty legislation. I know -- call me naive, call me STUPID -- it wouldn't be the first time.

As I write often, I understand why the "big guns" among us--HSUS, for instance--lobby for incremental change in the barbaric ways our food animals are treated. Big societal changes involving seismic shifts of consciousness happen incrementally. Congress would not consider a bill that proposed to abolish the slaughter of animals for human consumption...not today, not despite the devastation agribusiness wreaks on animals, on humans, and on our shared planet. So HSUS and others settle for small steps towards the day when we finally break the chains that bind these animals. There have been many encouraging steps in just the last year.

Then comes Oprah. An American icon who's struggled in front of all of us with weight issues, who decides to go public with her 21-day cleanse: no animal products, no alcohol, sugar, or caffeine. Read about her journey, and share your thoughts with others at

http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/cleanse/blog/blog_1.jhtml

What would happen if Oprah went vegan? Inasmuch as she influences what people read, you can bet that thousands --tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?--would follow her lead.

I, for one, am crossing fingers, toes, eyes, praying to spirit animals and gods and goddesses and mother earth, that not only will she feel and look better (which seems a no-brainer, given what we know particularly about dairy), but that the door that's remained closed in her otherwise big old heart will open to food animals: who they are, what we do to them, how they and we and our planet suffer mightily for it.