But, as I thought more about it, my feelings became less clear. On a personal level, killing a sentient creature is wrong. That’s not confusing for me. But on a public level, can I hold the same position?
It would be easy to say that Santeria is evil and shouldn’t be allowed. But if we start attacking religions because we think their practices are immoral, where do we stop? I think that’s a slippery slope best not started down.
So I guess the issue comes back to where it does so often, freedom doesn’t just apply to things you like. Not always an easy lesson but an important one.
The Pew Research Center has done a survey of both the general public and scientists. The whole thing makes interesting reading but there were a couple of points I wanted to highlight.
The first one concerns using animals for research. I would have thought this one was pretty popular with both groups. You know, the whole “medical research saved my grandmother,” type of thing. While it is very popular with scientists (93%), regular folks were much more skeptical (52%). That’s still a majority but a lot better than I would have guessed.
And the other issue is the effect of regulations on animal research. While I think the regs we currently have are pretty much a joke, that doesn’t stop the other side from trying to get out of them. So do the scientists think the laws are restricting progress? It seems only 27% do.
I’m struck by the fact PETA or HSUS could be commissioning these sorts of polls and it would be very useful information. Much more than a new Holocaust ad or a new happy meat campaign.
UPDATE: I’ve found another site that’s also calling for Mr. Letterman’s resignation via a sponsor boycott and is doing it much better than I ever could. Please visit hillbuzz.org and help us stand up for ourselves.
It seems that David Letterman thinks so. With his ‘joke’ about the rape of Willow Palin and his refusal to issue a real apology it’s hard to draw any other conclusion. Now it’s been quite a while since Mr Letterman has actually been funny but there’s a big difference between boorish and offensive.
Other folks have already called for a boycott of the sponsors of the Late Show. I would encourage everyone to contact the show’s supporters and let them know how you feel.
Now it may not be common knowledge but Mr. Letterman has an auto racing team along with Bobby Rahal. And if you’ve ever watched a race, you know the cars and their drivers are just covered in sponsor’s logos. So maybe a few of them would like to reconsider their association with a man who likes to joke about underage girls being raped?
Here’s the list I’ve been able to find so far. I’ll put up contact information as I find it.
the largest operation in military history was launched, the Allied return to northern Europe.
While it may not be directly related to Normandy, I find myself thinking of an incident a few years ago. I was in the kitchen, helping to clean up after a dinner with my ex’s family (we were still married at the time). Some of the teens were out back doing some sort of silly thing. One of the older men looked out at them and said, “What are those kids doing out there?” Hoping to head off a rant, someone said, “And what were you doing when you were that age?” The answer? “Landing on the beach at Okinawa.” And then the room got very quiet.
Thanks to all the participants, the ones who came home and the ones that stayed forever.
Tonight we’re going to have a bit more positive news and we’ll open up with a couple of penguin stories. I like penguins!
US proposes protecting 7 penguin species
It seems like there’s not a whole lot of good news coming out of Washington these days, but here’s some. The Bush administration wants to add seven species of penguins to the Endangered Species listings. As none of them live particularly close to the US, it’s not all that clear how much good this will do, but I guess something’s better than nothing.
Gay Penguin Egg-Snatchers Get Their Own Brood
Go ahead and make all the Prop 8 jokes you want to here but the article is actually pretty interesting. There have been considerably more gay penguins than I had every realized. And interestingly enough, at least one of them left his partner and took up with a female penguin. Penguin mid-life crisis?
APD will start paying closer attention to animal cruelty
With all the bad press surrounding Governor Palin, you’d think any good news on the animal welfare front coming out of Alaska would be pretty thin stuff. I think the announcement the Anchorage Police will be looking at animal cruelty cases for signs of other abuses, such as domestic ones. It’s good to see the links between cruelty to animals and general disrespect for all becoming more mainstream.
2008 State Animal Protection Laws Rankings
The Animal Legal Defense Fund has issued its annual ranking of the state’s animal protection laws. I was a little surprised Indiana was in the middle tier of the ranks. I figured we’d be down at the bottom.
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