Animal Rights

I have felt a very serious need to express my thoughts and ideas recently. And right now is no exception. Two nights ago, in my midnight cookie making frenzy, I was flipping through television stations and ran across Larry King (wow - I sound like my grandmother). Anyway, I only stayed on the channel for about three minutes because I couldn't take any more than that. The idiot on the program was discussing animal cruelty in China - how they eat cats and dogs, and kill them for their skins. All right, I'll let the guy have the fact that this is an unfortunate turn of events. I mean who wants to see Fido skinned and roasted up for dinner. But there is a much bigger issue here.

I mean, how can this man truly take his argument seriously when just down the road from the dog butcher there are a series of sweat shops employing, or should I say enslaving, chinese children to produce his shirt, tie, shoes, underwear, and probably the chair he's sitting on as his makes his claim. Should he not be arguing for their rights as human beings?

He doesn't stop there either - he goes on to state that the government and the American people should strive to end animal cruelty and obliterate it from the face of our planet. At the risk of sounding like the Jeffrey Daumer of the animal kingdom, I would say that perhaps we should first strive to end homelessness, starvation, heart wrenching disease, oh, and that's right, the murder of human beings - whether it be from the friendly neighborhood axe murderer, or the medical professional who performs countless abortions each day.

Look people, I see the importance of animals. In fact, I would say that my family pets have played a large part in shaping me. I can't even tell you how many hours my dog sat and listened to me gripe, whine, cry, yell, or whatever else - and you know what, he came right back to me the next day. But as much as I loved him, I would have traded his life and "comfortable lifestyle" for the life of one of my friends in a heartbeat.

You see, there's a fundamental difference here: my friend can say something back to me.

that's all.