I do take very seriously the responsibility I have as a television commentator, that I have access to the airwave. I can get a message out, but most people don’t have that access. And so I want to be very responsible on what I say, and I want to get the facts out there and educate people about things that I think are important.

Welcome, splendid viewers to Vegetarian Elite, as we continue our interview with Lisa Bloom: champion of animal rights and the Earth-saving vegan lifestyle. On last week’s program, Lisa shared her passion and love for our animal friends and the necessity of adopting a humane plant-based diet. We also found out about how Ms. Bloom uses her respected position as a legal analyst and attorney to provide a voice of righteousness and hope for those in need. What was it that led Ms. Bloom to pursue a career in law?

I went to law school because I wanted to be an advocate for women and children. And I had work in college at a battered women shelter and I felt very passionately about women’s rights and children’s rights. So, after I finished law school, I did work on behalf of children. And I did a lot of women rights cases like harassment, and race discrimination, and age disability discrimination, that kind of thing.

Lisa learned from the very best early on. She is the only daughter of Gloria Allred, one of the most famous female lawyers in the US who has represented defining cases involving OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson. Upon her graduation from the prestigious Yale Law School Lisa practiced as an associate in her mother’s law firm for a number of years. Lisa is now a practicing attorney in her own firm.

And after about 14, 15 years of that I was approached to host a show on Court TV. So, I moved to New York and for eight years hosted a show on Court TV, and that was a great experience because we followed trials live; we watch them gavel to gavel, and really gave me insights into the American criminal justice system. And it changed my mind about a few things like how we treat juveniles, changed my mind about the death penalty. Some of the facts are so horrific that I felt that death was the only real justice we can do for somebody like that.

But I became anti-death penalty after realizing there’s just too much error in our system as long as it’s administered by humans. There’s always going to be innocent people who’ll be put to death and that’s just not acceptable. And we know we had people on death row who are exonerated by the innocence committee, innocent project, who they’re proved definitively to have been innocent. There’s been a lot, dozens and dozens, of people like that by now.

After watching trials where I thought that people were convicted where there was reasonable doubts, I know that as good as our system is – and I think we have a pretty good system – there’s always going to be mistakes because we’re all human and we all make mistakes. I also do think it’s uncivilized and it’s barbaric to have the death penalty that puts people to death. It’s something that we need to move beyond. And having spent a lot of time in Europe, for example, where the death penalty is just completely gone, and I think it’s a different sensibility.

During Supreme Master Television’s fourth anniversary concert, “Gifting Peace,” hosted by Ms. Lisa Bloom and NBA basketball champion John Salley, Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed similarly magnanimous views on forgiveness.

If you ask my opinion, my opinion is forgiveness. Yes. Because God is love and forgiveness. When Jesus was challenged about a person in his lifetime who also so-called committed adultery and people want to stone her to death as well. Do you remember that story in the Bible?

Yes, we do.

We remember.

And what did Jesus say?

Yes, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Yes.

Even for any gravest sin, so-called sin, like a crime, there is always a doubt whether it has been truly committed or it has been wrongly accused. So, in many countries right now, the death penalty has been abolished. I hope the whole world soon will do that. Yes. Let’s hope so, hm? (Yes.)

We should always give the suspected a chance, a chance in case it is wrong. Or another case is to give them a second chance to change, to redeem their sin if that was really a sin that they have committed. Don’t you think so, all of you? (Yes.) Give people a chance, yes.

Yes, we do.

We’ll be back in just a moment to conclude our interview with the ever radiant Ms. Lisa Bloom. You are watching Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Vegetarian Elite on Supreme Master Television and our special 2-part feature on attorney, author, television legal analyst, and vegan Ms. Lisa Bloom. Lisa explains how faith has helped nurture her humane heart and foster her activism in issues she holds dear.

Well, I am Jewish and the branch of Judaism is reconstruction as to Judaism. Which is that basically it is, that you have the obligation to bring about the existence of God in the world by your good acts. So it’s not enough just to sit home and think good thoughts. You have affirmative obligation to get out there and to do positive things. One of the core phrases is “Tikkun Olam” which is heal the world, and the legend is that the Earth is shattered and it’s broken and it’s our obligation to repair it, and you may not be able to do everything but you can do something and it’s your obligation to do that something.

Impassioned to use her voice to empower the voiceless, Lisa has accepted invitations to share her expert viewpoints on numerous television programs. She has been interviewed by media icons, including Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and Barbara Walters. She often appears on CNN’s Headline News “Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell” to highlight concerns on animal welfare. Here, Lisa speaks on behalf of wild horses in the US who are being forced from their natural grazing lands.

Jane, these are beautiful wild animals, as you say, and what is the excuse for saving them? Saving them from starvation, really? Because the horses seem to be very healthy. The ones who have died from the helicopters chasing them until they ran themselves to death tend to be pregnant mares and young foals. These animals are reproducing, they are healthy. And the real reason, as you say, is that we’re clearing the ground, the land, to provide more land resources for cattle ranching. In other words, this is yet another sad consequence of the meat industry. We already know it’s the number one contributor to climate change. It’s a terribly cruel industry, it’s damaging to human health, and now it’s killing wildlife. This has got to stop!

I think you got to the point where you just can’t participate in it anymore. And I think about my dogs and a lot of times I’m home in my home office working and they’re are at my feet, and I just love them so much. And I look at them and I think I know I can’t be part of anything that hurts animals. It’s such a natural way to feel, I think. If a deer ran out on the road when you’re driving, you’d swerve to avoid it because you don’t want to hit the deer. But yet, you would eat a cow, and I think it really is fundamentally unnatural.

The other thing about vegan eating is you’re not really giving things up, you’re just substituting. I mean, like last night I had bacon burgers which I hate to even say, it sounds so weird to me. But you know, vegan bacon, vegan burger, delicious! So, there are so many great… There’s a great Vietnamese vegan place in Reseda where they make vegan everything, vegan shrimp, chicken, etc. It’s so good, so, really you’re not giving things up. You’re just substituting. You’re eating the different kind of shrimp, or the different kind of chicken, or the different kind of bacon burger.

When you talk about taste, I don’t know if you’ve read, “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s his new [book], it’s a really good new book. He’s a novelist and he decided to investigate eating animals, and wrote a sort of book about it which is very good. And he quotes someone in the book who said, “Why is taste the one craving that we give so much paramount importance to?” For example, how about a visual artist? If a visual artist wanted to torture an animal, let’s say for a video, would that be okay? I think most people would say no. Or if a musician wanted the sounds of a tortured animal screaming for some art with music, would that be okay? Most people say no. So it’s not okay for hearing, for vision, but it’s the taste (Yeah.) that justifies it? That I thought was a very good point.

Between her television appearances, legal representation for clients, and speaking engagements, Lisa finds time to write her first book titled “Think: A Girl’s Guide to Staying Smart in a Dumbed Down World.” It is due out in 2011.

You know, honestly I can’t think of any issue where there’s one act, eating meat, causes so many sad consequences, damage to the environment, damage to wildlife, the cruelty to the animals and damage to your own health, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The only reason to eat meat is because you like it, because you like the taste, and because you’re used to it. But you take that verses all the enormous consequences on the other side, it’s just so irrational.

We send our heartfelt appreciations to Ms. Lisa Bloom for devoting her time and talent to courageously champion the rights of the innocent and the vulnerable; the women, the children, and the animals. Your shining example is sure to inspire many towards a more compassionate way of living.

To stay up to date with Lisa Bloom, visit: www.LisaBloom.com, search “Lisa Bloom” on Facebook.com, or follow her at www.Twitter.com/LisaBloom

Gracious viewers, thank you for joining us today on Vegetarian Elite. Up next on Supreme Master Television is Between Master and Disciples. May kindness prevail always in your life.