Well, that does make 2 of us!

So I can keep a lampshade made from Jews from Auschwitz since I dont see them as human, right?  That is what you are saying.  I wonder how many friends I would have with that kind of attitude. There is no PETA viewpoint here that is defensible.  Period.

Who is the last word on what is sentient?  We used to say just humans were, but now they say dolphins and whales are.  The basic definition of sentient is: "choice-making consciousness" (latin: "to feel").  Dogs, by the basic definition, would be sentient.  Even the bible says that both animals and humans are "living souls" ("nefesh chaya") .....Now, "sapient" could be a better argument

I think that you need to study food nutrients a bit more.  ALL veggies have protein in them.  Ever look at the food nutrients in legumes?  What about rice? (which is an asian staple for a reason) Compare your meat nutrients with a serving of brown rice and broccoli.

Even if we couldn't live without meat, what is the reason that we process it in the fashion that we do?

SOME Veggies have the necessary complex protein that can replace meat.  That is why some people can be Vegans.  But that does not mean that all veggies have the necessary proteins, and hence why many areas cannot support a vegan lifestyle.

Mostly milk (hence the milky white appearance).  And the reason I dont eat Veal.

I like Meat, but I can still object to the way it is prepared and not eat that which I dont find kosher by my standards.

You combine plant proteins to make complete proteins (which is the example of rice and broccoli, which together provide all 9 essential amino acids).  Also, don't confuse vegans with vegetarians, they are not the same.  At no time have I proposed anyone eat a vegan diet.  To me, eggs seem like one of the most logical, natural, food sources (back to my theory of what you can get with your own two hands).

*nutrients*, drmiller, I said nutrients, not just protein.  How much protein do we *need* in a day?  An average is 55 to 66 grams (55 being a person in their ideal weight category).  So, the rice and broccoli supply about 1/6th of your entire day of protein *plus* a vast amount of nutrients not found in meat.  Meat also averages around 20grams of fat per serving (whatever your serving size was from that chart...which I can assume is 3 oz which is the recommended serving size) whereas the rice and broccoli is less than 3, of which only .5 is saturated.  You can't live on meat alone (well, not for very long, at least) but you can live on veggies.

The amount needed shows how Americans eat *way* too much meat.  Say you ate a 6 oz steak, a serving of broccoli, a serving of rice and 2 eggs in a day (we'll ignore everything else because it just adds to it).  What does that add up to? Over 70grams, which is more than anyone needs.  And, I think it's a safe bet that the average person eats way more than that in a day.

Unless you are talking about the milkers, which aren't even weaned from their Moms before they are slaughtered (yeah, that sounds ethical), yeah, they are made anemic by not being allowed to eat grains and grass when they are at the age that they need to.  Instead, they are continued to be fed "formula" and kept in a veal house away from pasture.  I've always lived in farm country, so I'm not oblivious to how things really work on farms.

I use the term Vegans as a short term way of saying vegetarians.  And some of the foods that are required for a vegetarian diet are not available in all parts of the world.  That is my contention.  Not tha they could not be, but due to growing conditions, economics and politics, they are not.

Last I checked, man could not interbreed with animals.  There is no question they are different.  But blacks and whites are not different except in the pigmentation of their skin.  Which if you take that even farther, most blacks are different from each other as are most whites.  Very few have identical pigmentation.  So your analogy fails there.  But what PETA is trying to do, is not to raise animals up, for there is a clear difference in both biology and psychology, but to demean and cheapen a tragedy that man visited upon itself.  They are cheapening it by using it, and no amount of spin is going to change that.  They can screw their dogs if they want to, but that is not going to make the dogs people, no matter how long they try to.

Vegans and Vegetarians are different, though.  Vegan is a real term for Vegetarians that don't eat *any* animal protein (eggs and dairy).  Vegetarians do- they don't eat meat (and some don't eat eggs)

I stand corrected and will try to be more careful in my use of the terms in the future.