This has got to be one of the saddest things I've ever read (the abuse):

http://www.peta.org/feat/invest/index.html

This could be precedent setting. Until now, "animal cruelty" laws only applied to animals that people found cute - cats, dogs, etc.

If this stands, and is pushed further, it's a logical conclusion to file animal cruelty charges against the operators of every factory farm in America. This is exciting news!

I saw the video some time ago and it was one of the worst things I've ever seen. :( I don't know if they still have it up.

I guess it's mixed sad and some good news, too. But the story of the abuse is sooooooooooooooooo sad. :( I read a story some time back about a disc jockey in Texas who, for a publicity stunt, publicly castrated a wild boar and then cut it's head off and waved it around like he was a hero. Needless to say there was no anesthetic at all and some clowns helped him by holding the boar down. It depressed me for quite awhile. How on earth can someone do that?

It's all sickening..
I feel like I found another reason to feel ashamed for being another human...I don't know what else to say but anyway thank you for the info, Birdlady.

Yes, it's sickening, but,

At least this farmer is prosecuted.

In Belgium farmers where filmed in cattle trade center.
The animal abuse was very clear on the film.

The abusers where prosecuted, but in court they pleaded that they should not be prosecuted because there privacy was violated. (joke, right?)

The court decided that they could not be prosecuted because the animal abusers had not given approval to be filmed…………..

Seems like all too many vivisection labs caught on video. Out of sight, out of mind though.

.. to animals that people found cute - cats, dogs, etc.

Funny that isn't it, perspective. People seem to like ranking lifeforms higher than others based on intelligence yet the pig ranks much higher in this field than the cat or dog. Apparently close to the dolphin & primate (not that many of our actions towards them can be seen as kind -anything but)

When it suits us i guess.

What is "felony" animal cruelty? In my state(KS), there is only a misdemeanor charge.

Originally posted by jezebelalice
It's all sickening..
I feel like I found another reason to feel ashamed for being another human...

I swear I find more reasons to be ashamed every freaking day lately, its enough to drive someone insane.

The other day I heard about some radio contests around the US that are like "Guess the day the first bomb hits Baghdad!!"..... Yeah, because dead people, destroyed homes, and a tortured environment is a fun way to give away concert tickets!

Sorry to be off topic on this, but if we can treat other humans like this, I dont know why it surprises me that this happens to farm animals. I wonder what it will take to make it all stop. Seriously, what has to happen to make the world wake up. I wonder that all the time.

It gets worse and worse each day.

what has to happen to make it stop? to make the suffering stop? A dear friend once said.

But what is, is. No getting around that. You may wish it different, want it better, demand it not be so. But it is your demand that things be different that keeps you in chains, bound to your suffering and perpetuating the suffering of all.

Want to know what causes all this? Just take a peek within, there is no suffering in the world, just what you carry within you.

I see exactly where that is going, but Im not sure I can throw my support on that %100 hehe ;)

That is kind of reffering to morals. If no one in the world, not one had any morals then nothing would seem wrong. Everything would be 'right' because there would be no one with the ideas that it is wrong.

But as long as morals exist and people think there is a 'greater good' to be had, there always will be suffering.

The one part that is true is that the suffering is what I carry within, because its my morals within that make me feel this way.

I like to break it down like this. If there is ever discomfort, or something happening that another living creature does not want to happen, then that is suffering. A chicken may not know anything beyond its factory life, but as its beak is being snapped off, its pain reflex is saying in its own way, "I dont want this", therefor that is suffering and should be stopped.

Of course every form of suffering can never stop. There will always be some sort of medical problem or money problem, any problem that cannot be controlled. The suffering I refer to, the things that really bother me, is suffering caused to living creatures that is not neccesary, but for the gain of someone else. War. Meat industry. Things where there is pain, and not because its unavoided, but because another being brought that suffering onto that creature for personal gain.

That is the type of thing that drives me insane.

preach on babe!:)

"that is the type of thing that drives me insane"

Who is "me"? Who are you? Are you your thoughts? Are you your beliefs? The experiences you cling to for identity? Who are you? I can tell you that the most clever soap opera writer cannot compare in the slightest to what you create for the fictional character that you believe yourself to be.

When you identify with the body and mind, there is nothing but an endless series of likes, dislikes, judgements, condemnations, whimsy, desire and suffering. Problems galore.

So maybe stop identifying with it?

Do you want to stop this suffering because it drives you insane?

Control is an illusion, what your 'self' your 'ego' desires most.

It is said that the body is here to do what it is to do, that is it's karma, so to speak. And so you can either just be the observer and not attach to what happens or attach your*self* (the 'i' concept) to the outcome of everything, attach to it your moral valences of good and evil, right and wrong and thus continue your suffering and keep the wheel in motion. But don't fool yourself, it is neither predetermined, nor not predertermined.

Everything is exactly as it is, in every moment, nothing more or less. To imply that there is some meaning, in particular some special meaning for you, is to anthromorphize and impose your own particular attitudes and beliefs on what is.

Life attached to the body and mind, with the unending desire of the mind is suffering. Anyone that tells you otherwise is selling you something. Most people will do *anything* to escape their suffering. Therapy, drugs, meditation, religion, anything to avoid it. Yet what is needed to *do nothing* of the normal escapes and just see for yourself what you are doing to create this suffering. 2000 years ago Epictetus, a Roman Stoic, noted that "man is not disturbed by things but by the view which he takes of them", and "be assured that whenever you think another has provoked you that it is your own opinions and beliefs that provoke you". Perhaps a good place to start when looking at one's suffering.

to quote Wei Wu Wei:

"All the evil in the world, and all the unhappiness, comes from the I-concept.

What do you have to do?

Pack your bags,
Go to the station without them,
Catch the train,
And leave your self behind.


when there is no 'self' no 'thinking'no 'mind' no desires just being i see one gravitating towards helping others, compassion, ones true nature, no need to go insane.

Matt, are you a buddhist by chance?

Hmmm yes In whose eyes? Buddhism seems to be simply a practice labeled and some of the things 'i' and many other people who don't even know what 'buddhism' means practice would certainly go hand-in-hand with what is in much 'buddhist' material.