Extract:

"Our inhumane treatment of livestock is becoming widespread and more and more barbaric. Six-hundred-pound hogs--they were pigs at one time-- raised in 2-foot-wide metal cages called gestation crates, in which the poor beasts are unable to turn around or lie down in natural positions, and this way they live for months at a time.

On profit-driven factory farms, veal calves are confined to dark wooden crates so small that they are prevented from lying down or scratching themselves. These creatures feel; they know pain. They suffer pain just as we humans suffer pain. Egg-laying hens are confined to battery cages. Unable to spread their wings, they are reduced to nothing more than an egg-laying machine.

Last April, the Washington Post detailed the inhumane treatment of livestock in our Nation's slaughterhouses. A 23-year-old Federal law requires that cattle and hogs to be slaughtered must first be stunned, thereby rendered insensitive to pain, but mounting evidence indicates that this is not always being done, that these animals are sometimes cut, skinned, and scalded while still able to feel pain.

A Texas beef company, with 22 citations for cruelty to animals, was found chopping the hooves off live cattle. In another Texas plant with about two dozen violations, Federal officials found nine live cattle dangling from an overhead chain. Secret videos from an Iowa pork plant show hogs squealing and kicking as they are being lowered into the boiling water that will soften their hides, soften the bristles on the hogs and make them easier to skin.

I used to kill hogs. I used to help lower them into the barrels of scalding water, so that the bristles could be removed easily. But those hogs were dead when we lowered them into the barrels.

The law clearly requires that these poor creatures be stunned and rendered insensitive to pain before this process begins. Federal law is being ignored. Animal cruelty abounds. It is sickening. It is infuriating. Barbaric treatment of helpless, defenseless creatures must not be tolerated even if these animals are being raised for food--and even more so, more so. Such insensitivity is insidious and can spread and is dangerous. Life must be respected and dealt with humanely in a civilized society.

So for this reason I have added language in the supplemental appropriations bill that directs the Secretary of Agriculture to report on cases of inhumane animal treatment in regard to livestock production, and to document the response of USDA regulatory agencies.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies have the authority and the capability to take action to reduce the disgusting cruelty about which I have spoken.

Oh, these are animals, yes. But they, too, feel pain. These agencies can do a better job, and with this provision they will know that the U.S. Congress expects them to do better in their inspections, to do better in their enforcement of the law, and in their research for new, humane technologies. Additionally, those who perpetuate such barbaric practices will be put on notice that they are being watched.

I realize that this provision will not stop all the animal life in the United States from being mistreated. It will not even stop all beef, cattle, hogs and other livestock from being tortured. But it can serve as an important step toward alleviating cruelty and unnecessary suffering by these creatures."

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/farmanimals/byrd.htm

I've been a vegetarian for years for precisely these reasons.

Glad to see that others are getting with the program.

dave

Hi Juditha-
It's not really that bad. Imagine a bunch of children growing up - initially an infant is little more than a sucking mouth with an attitude. Over time interactions with other children develop, and always we need to be taught to share, to take turns, and to generally respect our friends. Then we go to school and learn how to do this in a general society, so that we can establish a world in which life is comfortable. We settle down with a spouse or the equivalent, live in a happy loving home and die, going off to a better place. OK - That's the theory.

The problems arise when people feel that they are "special". These are the ones who get tangled up in crossed desires, conflicted goals, personal needs that seem to be more important than love, and so on. This gives the usual muddle of conflicted values that we sort out in our teens.

We also have the "do-gooders" who decide that they need to "fix the world" and set about it by using brute force. You and I can see that slapping hell out of the pond is unlikely to cause it to stop having ripples, but the do-gooders can't see that far. To them it's a matter of force, and the pain and losses involved are  discounted. That's where we get wars - they are a symptom of the immaturity of young souls.

Fortunately, we a few lifetimes of maturity these people tend to seek less important jobs, and in place of punishing people they begin to help others by sharing the load, until finally you have those who are willing to die for the sake of others. Some of these get sidetracked by propaganda that takes them backwards, and they become suicide bombers, dying in the effort to harm others. Others keep on growing and eventually become people like us, and then they get enlightened and go to a better place.

It's heart-rending to watch people kill and maim one another, but this is their own involvement that has arisen from lifetimes of entangled emotions etc. Our job is to minimize their options for hurting themselves, just like with children, and to educate them as fast as possible. And, at the same time, to remember Jesus' words, "They know not what they do."

In particular, if everybody were to understand the basic ideas of growth through successive lifetimes, and how reincarnations lead from individual selfishness to collective love, and in this regard, that the use of negative techniques and brutality is simply a symptom of immaturity in problem solving, then we'd have fewer wars.

In this general regard, studies have been done in which the future lives of schoolyard bullies have been compared to the general population. It seems that the bullies lack many of the qualities necessary for a successful integrated life with others, and in general they have unsuccessful lives. It's just a matter of time until the message is read in the highest halls of government.

Meanwhile, since you are not one of the nasty types, in place of focussing on the gloom and dreck, you might look at the way that most of us have a relatively safe world in which we can expect to live out a normal life. People who are sensitives are bringing in spiritual information to lead us forward, and people who are better skilled in love and labor simply make things work. Like any society, we have our garbage heaps and rotting personalities, but we also have a lot of love and a lot of global support to carry us through. It generally is more fun to focus on the love and support than to be bothered by the garbage heaps. 
PUL
dave

dave

Juditha:

If God were a puppet master who controlled the human race with 6 billion arms, people wouldn't be very happy. They also wouldn't be very happy if they had to live according to a prescripted computer program. Hence, we're given free will and make numerous mistakes. That's just here though. Things get better when we move on to the World of spirit.

Thank you for seeing my point about the way animals are treated (you too Dave). It is great that you put your principals before your job. I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years and people think it's a joke sometimes. They probably wouldn't feel this way if they would stop denying what happens to our furry friends.

I feel the same way about insects, but I make exceptions for mosquitoes.  I choose to kill them rather than have them spend the night biting me while I sleep.

I felt bad about it a while ago and had a dream one night. I can't remember all the details,  but the dream was lucid, there were these two female mosquitoes, and I could hear them talk to each other like a couple of teenage girlfriends. I could tell that they really loved each other. They sat by this huge opening by one my walls, which symbolized that despite what we think, we're connected to the World of nature. I can't remember how, but in the end I got the message that I shouldn't feel bad about killing mosquitoes, because they move on to the World of spirit. When it comes to spiders, I'll catch them in a tissue and place them outside. Not certain if this makes sense since they kill other insects.

Perhaps a really conservative person like somebody from the National Rifle Association needs to come on this forum and set us straight with this bug love thing.  

DaBears wrote on May 14^th, 2007 at 6:46pm:

Quote:

Don't hate the person.. Hate the bad deed instead of the person...

Like good ol' Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

I know it is hard for us to do that and to accept them for who they are.. Love conquers hate though..

   This is also part of the reason of why i'm vegetarian.   I do eat eggs, but i try to mostly buy eggs from the more traditional type farms, where the chickens actually have room to run around.   Unfortunately a lot of places nowadays get around this, by saying "cage free" to get you to buy their "certified nicer and more humane" product, but they still have very little space and often no real outside exposure.  This is unhealthy both for the chicken, the egg, and thus for us too.

  Someday i hope i can grow to the point of not needing to eat physical food.   No rush, and i'm in no hurry though.

Well said Never say die:

I've also wondered about what happens to animals spirits. My feeling is that no Soul is a biological organism. When you look at a Soul that experienced life through a human body, and a Soul that experienced life through an animal body, in essence, you won't find a big difference. Just a different collection of experiences.

We humans get too conceited at times. Believe there is something special about "our" bodies, when compared to other kinds of bodies whether from this planet or other planets.