Re: Vegetarianism - encouragement

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:31:37 +1300, "Mike the Kiwi" <mike the kiwi @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 snap .
net
.. nz> opined:

>I didn't climb all the way to the top of the food chain to be a
vegetarian!!  ;


I don't believe you have to be vegetarian,  however, for myself and my
spiritual
path (Tibetan, Buddhism) it is hypocritical of me to eat meat.  If I had
no
spiritual path, I would still be left with the image of the cattle being
held in
very large pens, side to side in their own urine and feces for days and
days as
their muscles relax before they are knocked and have their throats cut.

Take a ride through Amarillo, TX in December, when it's freezing cold into
the
single digits and these cattle are out there in those pens by the
millions,
soaking wet from urine.  Then open  your window and take a deep sniff. 
It's the
most foul odor of death I could imagine, and the cattle I saw were alive.

We are the only species which continue to eat milk products or drink milk
once
we are weaned.  No other animal on the planet drinks milk or eats cheese
or any
combination.  Dairy cows live an exhausted, horrible life.  Their udders
are
excruciatingly painful after many hours on those horrible milking
machines.
They are fed a horrible diet and basically, milk is liquid fat.  I won't
go into
the physical harms which come from the anti-biotics and hormone
"enrichment."

There are free range this or that, and I suppose are somewhat better.
Organically grown meat, eggs and hand made cheeses are better for you, but
still, we are omnivorous, not carnivores so it is a choice we make.

Why get so angry about it. I don't care if you or anyone else is
vegetarian or
vegan, but I certainly don't get into name calling.  It's a choice, and if
you
don't mind all the philosophical reasons I gave to reconsider eating meat
and
dairy, so be it.  

Namaste,
Victoria