Whales kept in slavery !
 

Here is a neat twist. A US court has been asked to grant constitutional rights to killer whales who perform in marine parks. P.E.T.A. is accusing Sea World Parks of keeping 5 whales in conditions which violate the 13th Amendment which bans slavery.

Priceless and fabulously eccentric ! I hope they win their case. Damages to be awarded in fish presumably :D

Interesting Case
 

If they win, maybe they'll get or shelled or filleted lobster, scallops, king crab legs, or sushi grade tuna insead of whatever inexpensive fish they feed them!

This is probably a publicity stunt where they don't expect to prevail. It will probably get PETA publicity far in excess of what they spend on legal fees, particularly if they just walk it through the court system w/o putting in the effort to fight a real case.

PETA has an uphill battle on that one, but who knows. The US Supreme Court has made the novel ruling that corporations are people. HUH???? A real Say What moment. Right now the Supreme Sourt is tilted right politically (Roberts Court) so it is unikely this would prevail if it was progressed to the highest court.

A ruling for PETA could have unintentional ramifications. It's assumed that the whales would be considered people for this to prevail & slavery to apply. Would this then apply to all animals or only animals of a certain IQ or category? Would it affect the iivestock & seafood industry? If PETA prevailed every pet owner in the US could be a slave owner. Maybe it will end up w/ the dog & cats having lobbyists who insist on their right to be taken care of by humans!!

Yay!!! go PETA I think I would pay to support that.

Every budgie and canary in a cage will be lining up for compensation for being kidnapped from their parents and locked in a cage, if Peta wins that way.

There would be a pain and suffering element too. Cramped conditions and exposure to daytime television for years should be worth thousands on top of it.

" The US Supreme Court has made the novel ruling that corporations are people."

Actually, Mattie, that's a damn good ruling. It means that Directors etc companies can no longer hide in a corporation in cases of negligence. Example - remember Bophal in India ? The Union Carbide plant that explodes and killed tens of thousands at the time and years later ? There was a ruling in the Indian Courts that, despite Union Carbide being sold to Monsanto [?] , Individuals were found guilty of gross negligence and fined what proved a paltry amount but it established a principle.

A ruling in favour of PETA would mean the end of circuses and zoos which could only be a good thing :smile:

And all the cats and dogs ? - especially if neutered :D

@ Mattie my favorite Peta stunt is here. its the how many lives for a coat one. I cant put the picture in or I'll get in trouble.


Its pretty graphic so don't look if you don't like blood or nudity. It shocked me the first time I saw it.

http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/c2c/...669500_370.jpg


I do like how they challenge KFC to use more humane methods.

anything that stops cruelty to animals is a good thing. Putting an animal in a little cage for our entertainment for years on end should be stopped a bit. The best place for a snake or bird, or many native animals is in the wild where it came from originally I think.
Domestic cats and dogs are a bit different.

Especially when their wardrobe is sometimes more chic than ours~*

Many US Citizens Find Corps Are People Ruling VERY Damaging To Our Political Process
 

There are many in the US who have BIG issues w/ the corps are people ruling. A business being a corporation doesn’t prevent individuals from being liable for criminal actions as far as my understanding of US law is. There are many laws that aren’t enforced against corporate malfeasance. That very few of the corporate big shots in the US housing fracas, some of which was outright institutional fraud have not been prosecuted is a big issue in the OCCUPY protests in the US right now. This very flawed corps are people ruling has not provided more corporate accountability in the US, but much less accountability as it has given them unprecedented power over choosing politicians in allowing them to fund elections in new ways w/ virtually unchecked funds.
➥➥➥This law gutted wise bipartisan election funding legislation that was far from perfect, but at least provided some accountability & restraint about how corporate funds sway the US election process.

The corps are people logic Supreme Court ruling in 2010 unleashed a flood of corporate money into our election process that many see as very problematic as corporate funds can easily overwhelm opponents by allowing a corporation’s candidate to buy 10x more TV ads than an opponent. This is often more than enough to sway an election. This sets up a dangerous situation where corporations can virtually run US politics even more than they already did by allowing their chosen candidates to buy elections by funneling enormous amounts of $$$$ to them that non-corporate candidates can’t compete against.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/...re_not_people/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=112714052
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=333661

Makes one wonder what the facts regarding what life is like in captivity for the killer whales is.
It would be interesting to hear both sides.
I mean I am all for P.E.T.A and what they represent but my dog is far better off in my house than he is roaming the streets.
James