[Sca-cooks] Re: Back to PETA,

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 10:22 PM 1/15/2004, you wrote:
>Well, the thing is, that these people just don't think. If tomorrow, every
>American became a vegetarian, just what would happen to all these uneaten
>animals? Would they be turned out to starve? Or "killed humanely" and thrown
>in a pile to rot?No doubtr, they'd expect the farmers raising them to care
>for them for the rest of their natural lives- and try to legislate it.
>Trouble being, that the farmers woulkd quickly starve to death, including
>the big corperations.

The thing that they forget, while they're getting all self-righteous, is 
that their whole existence is compromised. Do they drive? The fuels they 
burn are damaging the environment, not to mention contributing to our 
dependence on foreign oil, which feeds into the war machine- *and* most of 
that oil comes from countries that treat women worse than animals. Biking 
isn't so bad, but what's on their feet? Shoes of leather? Of course not- 
they'd rather wear shoes made of vinyl or rubber. Vinyl is made of 
petrochemicals (see argument above), and rubber production contributes to 
the deforestation of the rain forest. In addition, there's the 
environmental damage done by the factories and processes involved in making 
either vinyl or rubber into things we put on our feet.

Clothing? Cotton is sort of ok- at least if it wasn't treated or dyed in 
the factory, or sewn by some 9-year-old in Bangladesh, who earns 50cents a 
week and may or may not get a meal today. Hemp? Bully for them. Same thing 
about the dye or treatment (they put chemicals on fabric in process, to 
keep it moving through the machinery smoothly. Usually it washes out). 
Polyester? Go back to the thing about petrochemicals. And do you know what 
production of synthetic fabrics puts into our sewers and waterways? Ugly! 
Fish grow extra limbs! Bugs die! Guys like Rush Limbaugh crawl out of the 
primordial stew and imagine that they are intelligent beings!

How about the care of that clothing? Water, soap, wear and tear on the 
washing machine, *electricity*- that's a big one. How many fish died so you 
could run your washer or tv? (Ok- I live in Oregon, where nearly all of our 
juice is hydroelectric- damn dams.) Coal fired plants? How 'bout nuclear? 
Did some sweet lil PETA member forgo her morning ultra-organic, 
cruelty-free, rain-forest-friendly coffee to save a few atoms and a 
buttload of atomic waste that NEVER GOES AWAY?

She'd better stop eating things out of cans, things that are vacuum-packed, 
things that are wrapped in plastic or paper (pulp mills! talk about 
nasty!), better start wearing clothing braided from her own hair, stop 
using electricity, gas, oil, stop burning wood (there's bugs in there, you 
know! Poor darlings!). Maybe a hut on a rock somewhere, provided she can do 
so without depriving that snake from it's favorite place to sun itself...

Hand me that leather jacket and shoes, and cut me a callop! I'm unrepentant 
in my omnivore status, and I refuse to buy their line of BULL. Even if they 
don't want to eat it. Life is made of compromises, and this is one of them. 
They aren't seeing the whole picture, and the hypocrisy annoys me. If they 
prefer not to eat animal products, cool. but they can cut out the 
'holier-than-thou' stance. It only means they are ignorant of how 
interdependent this world is. You cannot opt out of part of it and think 
you've avoided it altogether.

Done with my rant. Now back to our regular programming (But that felt 
really GOOD!)

'Lainie
___________________________________________________________________________
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president ... right or 
wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to 
the American public." -- Teddy Roosevelt, 1918