Ted Kennedy and animal rights

I read an article today about 1-day-old male chicks being routinely ground alive by some egg-producing companies. Another abomination driven by the greed of human beings, over-consumption and corporations that obviously have no belief in karma. Then we wonder why things are in such turmoil. Think how we treat lesser creatures, big and small, doesn't matter in the overall scheme? Do you think these acts are unrelated to corporate crime, unemployment, illnesses and just about anything else that ails human beings? Think again. We will never fully treat each other with care and respect if we can't even do right by animals and nature. We have to stop thinking that anything goes when it comes to putting that Denny's grand slam breakfast down our throats or that Outback's prime rib in our stomachs. We have to raise our awareness.

I wanted to read more about this topic of brutalizing baby chicks by the millions, so I went to The Humane Society of America's web site. I didn't find the information that I was looking for, but learned something new that the mainstream media never mentioned about Sen. Ted Kennedy, not even during the saturation coverage of his life and death last week. Ted was firmly in the corner of animal rights. With that, my opinion of the senator shifted favorably. Here is a paragraph from The Humane Society's story about Sen. Kennedy:

"His compassion extended far beyond his own family’s pets. He was a stalwart ally over the years on a wide range of legislation to protect companion animals, farm animals, animals in research, and wildlife. Measures he cosponsored and voted for included those to crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting, ban horse slaughter, curb abuses at puppy mills, end the slaughter of “downed” animals (those too sick or injured to stand and walk), limit federal subsidies for very large factory farms, condemn Canada’s commercial seal hunt, halt poaching of bears for their viscera, block oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and restrict taxpayer funding for use of steel-jaw leghold traps on national wildlife refuges. Sen. Kennedy also consistently joined calls, beginning in 2001, for increased funding to ensure viable oversight and enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and other key laws."