Why does Colbert cover farmed animal issues, do stories about animals kept captive for entertainment and segments about politicians who screw over animals if he isn't vegan? Getting at the motivations of a man who plays an often-outlandish parody of himself as a Fox News reactionary is not simple—cognitive dissonance is key to his success as a satirist.

Red rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air... here's why you should skip the fireworks this Independence Day.

When my husband first saw me read a cookbook, like page-after-page, cover-to-cover, he asked me, “You READ cookbooks?” Yes, when I’m serious about a cookbook, I actually read it.

If it’s tough for many people to see how drinking milk or eating cheese is exploiting animals, zoos are probably a less obvious source of animal exploitation, even though they are bred and traded, and kept in cages or behind glass in unnatural habitats.