Jonathan Ball wrote:
>
(snip)
>
> Beef cattle are not slaughtered in farm country. Stop
> lying.

The Big Four meat-packers, (ConAgra, IBP, Excel, National Beef),
slaughter 84% of American cattle. Their plants are concentrated in the
non-union _farm_ states of Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado and Iowa.
>
(snip)

> > your #7 is outrageous. what exactly are you thinking of? A vegetable
> > crop that kills more animals than meat?
>
> Fields are disced, killing animals.

Conservation minded farmers use low-till or no-till systems. Anyone
concerned about wildlife and the environment should be careful to
purchase products from farmers using sound conservation practices. Even
the USDA recognizes the all-around benefits of conservation farming and
offers economic incentives to farmers who go easy on the land and the
animals living on it.

> and when the crops are harvested,
> heavy machinery again drives through the fields,

Don't you ever get off the freeway, Ball? A good portion of
California's fruits and vegetables are hand-harvested. You've heard of
farm-workers, haven't you? This means the total ground surface damage
(and alleged squashing of field animals) from heavy machinery in the
fields can be measured in tire tracks of the trucks hauling the produce
out of the field.

I can see field mice scampering from my footsteps as I climb the slopes
of San Bruno Mountain. I step lightly on a 112 lb. frame. Do you think
field animals are going to sit still and wait for a loud, smoking,
vibrating machine to rumble over them?

You hate animals and know nothing about them.

(snip)
>
> If "vegans" believe they are making a legitimate
> ethical choice by not eating meat and other animal
> products in order not to cause animal suffering, their
> lifestyle IS wrong and bogus and based on a logical
> fallacy.

Strawman. Vegans believe by not eating meat and purchasing other animal
products they are not contributing to the suffering of _farmed animals_
and they're not.

For the record, because I purchase enormous quantities of slaughterhouse
waste in the form of catfood, I am, technically, not a vegan. How does
this CONFORM to your vision of me as a vegan CONFORMIST?

(snip)