I work in downtown Washington, D.C., and every year I go to the National Mall to check out the yearly anti-abortion rally. This year there were a lot of young people, even some who were punks, but there were also the usual scary-insane people handing out flyers ranging from burn-in-hell religiosity to fascist-and-proud-of-it. Also, I've attended or viewed many a demonstration on the Mall, and there is no way that there were 200-250 thousand attendees, as claimed. 70,000 sounds about right, at best.

I did have a good laugh at one point. Sometimes, past anti-abortion rallies have occurred on nice, sunny days, and invariably the speakers praise God for giving everyone such a nice day. Yesterday it was cold and rainy, so what did the speakers say? Thank God for giving us this cleansing rain!

That's what I find most endearing about the religiously insane: no matter how good or how bad it turns out, God planned it that way just for them. To such people, God is like tofu: it takes on whatever flavor you're in the mood for.

"conditions have improved vastly and abusive treatment no longer exists."

And the tooth fairy takes your tooth and leaves money behind. Of course abuse still happens in labs, just like in every other situation where animals are treated as disposable goods. How many times do we have to hear, "Well, those were the bad old days, but it's different now?

Even in the best labs, animals who are experimented on suffer psychologically and physically. Have you ever had an operation? If so, you know that it hurts afterwards, even with pain killers. Animals in labs do not get nearly the same level of post-op care as people do, so you can imagine how they suffer. Or, you can pretend it doesn't happen anymore.

Vivisection is by definition animal abuse. Some labs are worse than others, but they are all places where animals suffer.

CosmicMojo, you wrote: "I know tony3, and we agree; animals don't have rights (especially not rats!)"

Oh really? Take a dog into the street and beat him with a bat, and you'll see how quickly he has rights. You can try explaining to the judge that there really are no such things are anti-cruelty laws, but I doubt you'll get far.

It once was legal to hold dog fights; now it's not. There is nothing to prevent the expansion of legal protections for animals.

"Rights are granted by the US Constitution, to people only."

The Americans with Disabilities Act granted rights to people with disabilities. That Act is not in the Constitution.

Like it or not, anti-cruelty laws give certain animals rights, as in the right to be fed and house properly, and the right not to be beaten. You are wrong on the law.

An earlier writer wrote: "I am a liberal who is not an animal rights advocate, and I have never considered animal rights advocacy to be any part of a liberal agenda, nor should it be."

I agree completely. Cruelty to animals is an issue that should concern everyone, be they liberal or conservative. I've never understood why conservatives like Rush Limbaugh derided animal rights as a liberal cause. The implication is that conservatives do not care about abused animals. Is that what conservatives really believe?

A young calf is separated from his mother, and kept confined in a small, dark crate and fed a milky gruel his entire life, all to make a luxury item called milk-fed veal. I would like to think that whether one is liberal or conservative, one would be moved by this animal's plight, and countless others like him, and act to end this practice, either by refusing to buy milk-fed veal or actively working to outlaw this kind of cruelty. If conservatives want to cede this issue to liberals, then what does this say about conservatism?

The veal industry is but one of many industries in which animals are subjected to misery and suffering. Most of us were taught by our parents to be kind to animals; if we really believe this, then it must mean more than not kicking dogs or throwing rocks at cats. It means looking at the ugly reality of what really happens to animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses, laboratories (be they cosmetic, industrial, medical, or military), what happens to animals in the fur industry for the sake of a luxury item, the treatment of animals in circuses and roadside zoos, the stripmining of oceans, and other industries where animals suffer horribly.

One can be opposed to the violent tactics of SHAC and still support the goal of a truly humane society. To belittle animal rights based on the actions of an extremist faction is to overlook suffering on an obscenely massive scale. We cannot claim to be a truly civilized society unless we are willing to look at the ugly truth of what we do to animals, and end the abuse.