Animal Rights?

Blech. I'm still out in the hallway. I have a "help ticket" entered. I've actually made progress on deciding what I want to put in my proposal, and now I want to go back to goofing off for a bit. (I really need to goof off less, but I seem to work more effectively if I have regular, time limited goof-off periods.) I hate goofing off in the hall, where anyone can see, so I'm disguising my blogging by typing this up in a text editor, instead of on the web page. I'm devious. It's better than having to explain myself. (Which I've already done a half dozen times to explain why I'm out in the hallway... the general consensus seems to be that I should start an early weekend, but unfortunately my advisor wasn't one of those saying that... he hasn't walked past yet. I'm definitely getting caught up socially... I just talked to two more people.)

I'm all caught up on reading blogs, so I guess I'll post that controversial post I've been talking about.

So, what's my big controversial post? Not as big and exciting as I've hyped it to be, just something to think about, and where I stand on a few related issues.

First: am I for or against animal testing? Yes. I'm definitely against animal testing for things like mascara and other forms of make-up... bunnies need not be put through testing simply so I may look more beautiful. However, I'm also *for* testing for things like medications, and maybe cosmetic things that are kind of necessary... like soap and shampoo. I have problems finding soaps and shampoos that I'm not allergic to. However, the things that irritate my skin are probably not the same as what irritates a bunny's skin, so scratch that. I'm only "for" animal testing if it is to produce new medications. Why am I for that, even though things may not react quite the same in animals as in humans? Because it may save human lives, by knowing about deadly, unintended side effects before testing on humans.

Second: my opinion on vegetarianism/veganism. (I'm not sure if those are real words, but I'm sure you understand me.) I am not a vegerarian, nor will I ever be one. Regardless of any moral beliefs, I'm allergic to way too many vegetables to ever survive as a vegetarian. But that's beside the point. I believe that everything has it's place in the food chain, and we're omnivores for a reason. I have yet to meet a vegan that doesn't look undernourished. I have no problem with others choosing to be vegetarian, but I will tease them if they're wearing leather shoes.

Third: hunting. Personally, I do not hunt. My dad does. If you hunt in a humane way, and eat what you kill, I have no problem with it. (I've eaten a whole variety of critters growing up.) If you're a trophy hunter, you need to get a better hobby.

What brought this post on? I have no idea. I just felt like blogging about it while walking to the bus this morning. Sometimes I just feel like spouting about my opinions. ;)