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https://www.americanhumane.org...

No, that's not about par. 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. Why does PETA have rates of over 90% in the last two years?

Yeah, I know a way to place animals in homes - make an attempt to place animals in homes. Take a look back at my first link, the 2006 line. Out of over 3000 animals, 12 were adopted. Twelve. The year prior, 2005, showed that 146 were adopted. What changed in the course of one year?

What have I done? I certainly haven't killed any animals. Oh yeah - my Jack Russell, Rogue, says hi.

So the question is not, "Is a fetus a person?" but rather, "Is it in society's best interest to sanction this type of killing?" I think it is both a benefit to society and a blessing to the unborn. Being raised in a family that doesn't want you is worse than death, and creates the type of person who is neither happy and fulfilled, nor a net benefit to society.

Those sound subjective to me. Mary Ellen Wilson, the first person in the US to be removed from a home because of child abuse, went on to live an apparently happy and fulfilling life. I don't know that we are qualified, or have the right, to judge who will or won't benefit society; lots of people born poor do well in life. Genetics doesn't care how much money your parents have.

The strongest non-moral argument against abortion in my opinion is that of demographics: population growth is necessary to maintain Western social welfare systems like Social Security. The second strongest is genetic: we don't know how many Einsteins we're losing (not only through abortion, but through high death rates of children in third world countries.)

This has come up in some interesting discussions about Battlestar Galactica: if you have the only 40,000 humans left anywhere, a case can be made for banning all birth control, or even forcing women to have as many children as they can, though I wouldn't support that.

"No movie critics were harmed or even used in the making of this page."

I wonder if anyone has ever compiled a list of parodies of the American Humane Association's ratings. Incidentally, you can find the ratings themselves over here:

http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?page name=pa_film_ratings

I agree that a cat must have a chance to explore. It is just fine exploring under your bed, in a paper bag just brought in, etc. And the hunting instinct can be more than compensated for by play and attention. Cats that are never allowed to roam free outside never really have much of a desire to.

The fact is that cats that allowed to roam free have an average life expectancy of 3 years as opposed to 15-18 years for indoor only cats. House cats are domesticated animals. Many of the traits which help them survive in the wild have been bred out over thousands of years. Even wild cats which still have all of their instincts have no way of dealing with traffic, the number of poisons that are easiily found in the city and the cruelty that can be inflicted on them by other humans.

And if you are still convinced that your cat needs to go outside, please make sure that it is spayed or neutered. Remember that in seven years one female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats. Because of this shelters are forced to euthanize millions of cats anually. These are people who love animals enough to make taking care of them a career, who have to kill cats each and every day because people are unwilling to spay/neuter and keep their cats locked in the house.

However, I do agree with you 100% on declawing. It is indeed cruel, and there are ways to cope with the instinct and redirect it. And from personal experience working in shelters, a cat poses a much greater risk to people after it has been declawed, since the only weapon it has left to use when frightened is its teeth.

And as long as I am ranting on the topic of humane treatment of animals: If you are considering adopting a cat (or any other animal) please look into the amount of actual work it is and decide if you are capable of providing for the animals needs. If you do decide to bring an animal into your life, please please please consider adopting one from the local shelter or a breed specific rescue organization. Many pet stores and ads in the paper often get their animals through very cruel sources. There are too many perfect animals waiting for homes to support the cruel trade of pets as product. And paying alot for a pet through a breeder that you do not know does nothing to guarantee the health and condition of that animal.

Got any references? What is the statistical significance of those 'studies'?

Yes. Animal abuse has been linked to child abuse and linked to serial killing. It's an intuitive fact which is born out by the sociological evidence.

And, yes, I'm for the death penalty, too, like you.

I should hope not, for your sake, and how have I led you to believe otherwise about me? Judicial homicide is a stain on American jurisprudence and on our society as a whole. The Association for a European Initiative Against the Death Penalty just held a forum a week ago in Paris specifically to address the death penalty as applied in the US. It makes us the laughingstock of the civilized world.