Where is Sarah Palin when you need her?

I love how they were romping. My boss showed it to me, and we came up with a story about the moose - like that was their mommy or daddy looking after them. There is a love for life and family in every species, and not enough people want to be aware of that. It raises the guilt level when they let themselves become aware and appreciative of wildlife. Palin is somewhat evil. I firmly believe that.

Are you both vegans? Or just hypocrites? You do know that people hunt and eat moose in Alaska, don't you? It's not like there's a freakin' grocery store around every corner there. Do you know how cute baby cows are? And then they end up as part of a Big Mac at MacDonalds. Or how about veal? Do you know where that comes from? How is getting your meat from a slaughter house any better than hunting it in the wild?

Piasa - I am a vegan - its widely known on these boards. Not only that, Alaska is much more civilized than you are trying to portray. They have a high median income, and supermarkets just like any other state.

"we don't have either the teeth of carnivores or herbivores" Correction, we have both. I'm not saying we were designed to be carnivores. We were designed to be omnivores, but a carnivorous diet is part of that. We are adaptable enough to subsist on an incomplete diet, but you're still going against the natural design of our bodies. Our teeth aren't the only indicator. Look at the human head and the location of our eyes. Our eyes are on the front of our heads. That is the design of a predator as it allows for greater depth perception when spotting prey. Herbivores typically have eyes located on the sides of their head for a better range of vision helping them to spot predators.

ok, that was not phrased well - we have a mixture. we don't have the teeth of either pure herbivores like cattle or pure carnivores like cats. eye position is a good point and this applies to grazing prey animals like deer - and the predators that hunt them like tigers. there are plenty of exceptions once you move away from these clear cut examples though - for example birds of prey (carnivores,side of head), orang utans (plant eaters, front of head) etc. we have things in common with both. we are not naturally designed either for meat to be essential - we are not cats, or for it to cause havoc to our bodies, we are not cows. ps in this case i do know what i am talking about since i am studying biology for a career change. we are lucky enough that we can choose what we eat and a complete balanced diet doesn't have to include meat. it won't make you ill if it does though.

hi taskr. our teeth are designed pretty much to eat anything - we don't have either the teeth of carnivores or herbivores. we have all purpose teeth as do most omnivores and can be perfectly healthy on all kinds of diets. since we have the choice plenty of people decide to become vegetarian for ethical reasons, including me although i do not judge people who eat meat. what i do find annoying are meat eaters who say we are designed to be carnivores and vegetarians who say that we are not. both are wrong imo. now having probably annoyed both you and ladybug i shall bugger off.

Would the world be better off without Stephen Hawking? Perhaps if his mother had known he would get ALS and be wheelchair-bound, unable to care for himself or even speak, she would have aborted him. However, we'd be robbed of a great scientific mind. As someone with a grave and painful illness, I reject the idea that the only life worth living is one free from adversity.

I can't agree, Rollo. Each parent chooses differently. If they know their child would be born with failing kidneys, or some very painful illness, and they love their child enough to spare them the agony, it is the more compassionate choice.

I have always stated that I want to minimize suffering. I also prefer prevention and education to abortion, but when the difficult decision comes, I leave it up to the girl or woman to decide for herself. In some cases, abortion is also the more compassionate choice for the fetus if they are to be born with a grave and painful illness.

"There is a monstrous difference between hunting for sport, and survival" Yes and I oppose hunting for sport 100%. There are no shortage of video games and paintball contests for someone who enjoys that. Moose are not farm animals and Sarah Palin is not a farmer, so your feelings on the treatment of chickens in farms are irrelevant to this discussion. "there is no need for animal meat for survival in humans. We can live without it." You're just plain wrong on that. Many people can subsist on a vegetarian diet, but not everyone. If necessary I could "survive" a meatless diet, but I get ill if I don't have a sufficient amount of meat, preferably red meat, each day. Speak to people who play football, hockey, or work as firemen, miners, or other occupations that require a lot of strength and endurance. See how many are vegetarians. You're also acting as if a vegetarian diet is fully available to everyone. I can assure you it is not. In Alaska they already import MILLIONS of dollars in vegetables. Farming in Alaska is horribly insufficient to sustain their population. "Surely they are capable of importing soil and may have to use greenhouses or saran wrap to keep the soil warm. " Have you ever tried that? Are you aware of how the climate there would affect the materials used to build a greenhouse? I'm curious, are you a farmer? Have you ever farmed in a subarctic climate? You keep making judgments and intolerant of people who live in an environment that you know nothing about.

I am really surprised that an open-minded liberal like ladybug would want to force the native Alaskan population to cast aside their rich history and cultural heritage; to require that they instead comply to a set of rules for life made up by those who have, I guess, decided that the native land is theirs to do with as they please, even if it means covering it in cellophane wrap. That seems a bit intolerant of minority rights to me. The herbivore/carnivore debate is really a moot one. We evolved as we did because, as evolutionary theory tells us, this is what we had to do to survive. As Man moved into more hostile environments, he adapted his lifestyle yes, but over time, he adapted the environment to suit himself. He found ways to survive, he developed tools, hunting methods, etc. He expanded his diet to get the nutrients necessary for survival and he flourished. If evolution knows best, this is best.

JB, that link is really completely meaningless. It's actually less than a blog since it doesn't even include the name of the person making those claims much less the source of his information. I can tell you right now that Tony Gonzalez is NOT a vegan. After about 7 years as a pro-bowler in the NFL he ATTEMPTED a vegan lifestyle after getting hooked on a book that said how wonderful it was. He lost weight and muscle mass, had trouble at training camp, and after consulting with several doctors including the one that wrote the book, he went back to eating chicken and fish, just avoiding red meat. As for the other guys mentioned, I couldn't find any evidence of Joe Namath or Lawrence Phillips being vegetarians. Joe Namath retired over 30 years ago (and he wasn't a vegetarian back then) and Lawrence Phillips was a complete flop in the NFL so neither of them are prime examples. Robert Parnish doesn't exist, but rather appears to have been made up. Ricky Williams and Desmond Howard have both been retired for a while. You can scratch and claw your way through NFL rosters and I'm sure you'll find a few active players that are vegetarian, but saying that means vegetarians are just as capable of developing muscle mass is like saying all mammals can lay eggs because the platypus does. "He expanded his diet to get the nutrients necessary for survival and he flourished." I agree, and we would effectively be deevolving if we intentionally altered our diet without cause, ignoring the nutrients we get from a balanced diet.

Sarah Palin publicly and proudly announced, "I killed a moose". My post was very tongue in cheek. I would never want them on a wall. It was mostly a stab at Sarah Palin, who would do such a thing.

I am happening across a ton of neat videos like that and I think they should be shown. I posted one of turkeys playing soccer, which they do on their own. I posted one of pigs playing video games, and one of a hippo giving mouth-to-mouth to another animal that was trapped in a crocodile's jaws. I am going to keep posting them as I come across them, because there is much we don't know about them, because we refuse to find out. Many people just live with the belief that humans outrank them, and that's just how it is. They quickly forget the human species is one of the youngest.

I do understand where you are coming from. SArah Palin lives in a country/state--Alaska where hunting is nohting new and moose are killed by season and not considered a disgrace to animal activist like we are. I am defending her. I know cuz I lived in Montana for seven years and know how those northerners think and act.......... It's nothing new for a woman to kill an animal and truly they have to have their populations cut down to help with environmental control. I didn't like it either and I am not a fan of hers but still I do defend why she killed a moose. And, also that video was really old...............I saw that many years ago Take care with animals as I love them all too. They need our protection and we are the ones who moved in and took their land/habitat away from them. I have always felt like we should all be able to co habitate together and make life simpler. However, when it's man against beast we have to make those choices. Take care.