Don't Open this If you Like PETA

Obviously this is my stand: Meat is good. Dogs are cool. and PETA sucks @$$.
But with all seriousness, I'm not 100% for animal testing, namely for testing of cosmetics and shampoos on them. I think if just one animal had to suffer and a cure to AIDS was found, I think that the suffering of the animal would be worth it to remedy the suffering of millions of humans.
As far as eating meat, I've been to a slaughterhouse. I've seen, first hand, how cows, pigs, and chickens are slaughtered. It's not pretty, and sure as hell isn't something I ever do, but it's a fact that we, due to our higher intelligence, are on the top of the food chain and cows, chickens, and pigs are our PREY. I think shooting a cow in the head is more "humane" than a lion out in Africa suffocating it's prey while other lions are already tearing into the hindquarters of the animal.
I don't wear animal fur, that is one thing I agree on with PETA. I sure would wear wool if I lived somewhere that it wouldn't be CRAZY to do so, though.
But when it comes to being "for" or "against" PETA, I am 100% against them. Not one of those people you see the "People Eating Tasty Animals" bumper sticker on the bumper of their dilapidated truck, but I still will voice my opinion against them if asked to do so.
PETA is a terrorist organization that uses ANY means to put animals above humans. PETA has contributed thousands of dollars to known activist extremists. Most of these extremist were involved in either ALF or ELF, two organizations under FBI watch. The FBI is monitoring these organizations for acts of terrorism in the United States. These acts include arson, bombings, cutting the brake lines on fishery trucks, breaking and entering, destruction of government and organizational research laboratories and murder. ALF, in one statement, has admitted to over 100 acts of terrorism, all in the name of animal rights and the economy.
Of course, you cannot overlook PETA's fundraisers, such as their most popular "Running of the Nudes". Now, what the HELL does women running around naked have to do with animal welfare? PETA claims that the display is both an anti-fur and running of the bulls protest. The organization raked in almost $14 million in 2001, however the only spent a little over $13,000 on campaigns against animal cruelty. The rest went on to purchase vehicles, renovate facilities, and (of course) fund these extremist "humane" organizations.

Sarah Hall said:

I don't wear animal fur, that is one thing I agree on with PETA. I sure would wear wool if I lived somewhere that it wouldn't be CRAZY to do so, though.

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My wife's friend's brother raises Huskies in the Northwoods upstate. Really good ones. Those things are a joke to feed--expense, time, etc.--because you have so many dogs.

He came up with what I thought was a very creative solution. He feeds raw, and he gets carcasses from the local firm farm. Like, in bulk, ermine and god knows what else, just everything but the skins. Feeds those to the dogs and his food bill is CHEAP. He did say feeding time is a little bit like various scenes from the "Alien(s)" movies...apparently the de-furred critters look a lot like stuff that pops out of everybody's stomachs in those films.

I don't have a problem with PETA's underlying rationale. I'm an animal nut, I love all kinds of animals. I used to read up a lot of animal rights and animal ethics (Peter Singer, stuff like that)...fact of the matter is, there's a lot of plausible notions for not messing with animals in many cases. The problem, with most groups, is the zeal and lack of perspective they show. IMHO. I was a vegetarian for a long time. Makes a lot of sense to me on a lot of different levels. Now I have small kids, so I just eat whatever is on the floor and chairs after they are done. It varies.

Just for the record, fur bugs me a lot. I think it's pretty much obscene...hard on the animal and just really tough for me to even look at. But I wear leather and stuff. A lot of people I went to school with do not, lots of people in my red (like Soviet Red) neighborhood do not. All god's folks, I guess.

Oh yes, they can be QUITE persuasive. They throw dead animals in people's laps to make them against the fur trade. They put hidden cameras in bags and record puppy mills, testing labs, and slaughterhouses. Then they post these videos online for shock value to uninformed consumers, and it works. Like I said before, I've been in a slaughterhouse more than once, and have seen what they do to cows, sheep(once), pigs, and chickens. Yes, PETA's videos are PARTIALLY correct. But one must remember these videos are from LONG ago. You can tell by the quality of the video, and sometimes by clothing worn by the offenders. When I did go into the slaughterhouse (owned by my half-uncle in Alabama), I was shocked at how humane most of the slaughter is. For one, the animals are killed quickly (usually, as brutal as some people think it is, with a quick shot from a large caliber gun to the brain). Chickens are still sometimes killed in ways PETA loves (grab chicken by head, a couple quick wrist flicks, and snap goes the neck), but other times they're sedated to the point that their heart stops. Both techniques listed are used with pigs. Yes, there are still some slaughterhouses that , I'm sure, still use the old method. If you watch the PETA videos on this, you'll see. Basically, cattle have their heads restricted and their throats cut. Sheep are hung upside down by their hind legs and thier throats are cut. Chickens are knocked senseless/neck's broken and then dipped in scalding water to de-feather (sometimes they're still alive). Pigs are electrocuted to death. These are the slaugtherhouses that supply to chains like Food Lion, Bravo supermarkets, and other less-popular supermarket chains.
Oh, and I wouldn't have disected anything, cat, pig, dog... I just don't like the idea of killing an animal for a high school class. Granted, it was an AP class, but I guarantee 99.9% of the students DIDN'T ever need to learn what the insides of a domestic animal look like. Now, I know this could be taken to "well, why is killing an animal slowly for research different?!" and I understand that there are more humane ways to test things. Hell, I'd love to take that position, but I know there's nothing to do about it. Because there are those who go "it's just a cat (dog, monkey, etc.)" and those people just so happen to fund and supply these labs. Nothing I could do to change it. Maybe Gates or Trump, those people that have QUITE enough money to throw around, but not me. Kind of like the election, there always are some uncounted, lost ballots and hanging chads to get in your way. :twisted:

Humanely-raised and -slaughtered animals are not the norm in the country. Big ag is about battery hens, indescribable methods for producing "milk-fed" veal, and feed lots that I don't want to talk about.

I wish PETA did not harbor the crazed extremists in with the well-meant and often misguided people who join with the hope that they might prevent some of the misery that the huge food corporations (and others) perpetrate, but it does. I could never support the org because too many awful things have been done in its name (as awful as, and even worse than, the lives of misery and terror that so many slaughter animals live, from birth to death).

But it's not just part extremist terrorists; it's also part "regular" people who are horrified at much of the food industry's practices and may not be making the best choice when they sign on to support a group that's out of control.

The people I admire in all this: The farmers and producers who have changed the way they do things. They offer an alternative to the people who understand that the deaths of some creatures are always part of the price for the lives of others. They are changing the landscape of the food industry with slaughter animals raised in relative cleanliness and with some freedom of movement and even decent nourishment, and with slaughter methods that they work hard at refining so that animals aren't "processed" while conscious.....

It costs, and I understand that not everyone can afford the cost. But at least there are more and more choices, and more and more people are demanding that that alternatives be made available to them. I admire them, too.

It's too bad PETA and the offshoot terrorists obscure the real good that's brought about by people who *really* care and who are working to make changes.

JMHO.