I'm. Not. Kidding.
This is the part that gets me:
"Our main argument is that Hiasl (A chimp. A...CHIMP!!!--ed.) is a person and has basic legal rights (but unborn children don't--ed.)," said Eberhart Theuer, a lawyer (go figure--ed.) leading the challenge on behalf of the Association Against Animal Factories, a Vienna animal rights group.
"We mean the right to life, the right to not be tortured, the right to freedom under certain conditions," Theuer said.[...]
Austria isn't the only country where primate rights are being debated. Spain's parliament is considering a bill that would endorse the Great Ape Project, a Seattle-based international initiative to extend "fundamental moral and legal protections" to apes.
If Hiasl gets a guardian, "it will be the first time the species barrier will have been crossed for legal 'personhood,'" said Jan Creamer, chief executive of Animal Defenders International, which is working to end the use of primates in research.
There you go, folks!! Liberalism in a nutshell!! Chimpanzees are people, and they have the "right to life". A child in the mother's womb? Nah, that child isn't human, that child doesn't have any rights to life. This is the world we live in, folks. And don't hink that this idiocy won't find it's way over here. You've got groups like PETA (which, by the way, kills animals) that think that animals are more important than humans. Throw in the lunatics in Earth First, Animal Liberation Front, etc., and it darn well could happen here.
But you know, this line here--I don't know whether to laugh, or just hang my head in sadness that these words came from someone who could possibly produce offspring:
"He can be very playful but also thoughtful," she said. "Being with him is like playing with someone who can't talk."I once saw the movie "Sling Blade". And when I read this article, it reminded me of this exchange between Karl (Billy Bob Thornton) and Vaughan (John Ritter):
A date for the appeal hasn't been set, but Hiasl's legal team has lined up expert witnesses, including Jane Goodall, the world's foremost observer of chimpanzee behavior.
"When you see Hiasl, he really comes across as a person," Theuer said.
"He has a real personality. It strikes you immediately: This is an individual. You just have to look him in the eye to see that."
As Karl Childers would say, "Fact o' the business is", that's the kind of "deep thought" these people in Austria are noticing with this monkey. But, don't tell them that. They're too happy living inside of their own little world.Vaughan: You always seem to be deep in thought. Tell me, what are you thinking right now?
Karl: I was thinkin', I'm gonna take me some of these taters home with me.
Vaughan: How about before that?
Karl: Well, let me think... I was thinkin' I could use me another couple cans'o that potted meat if ya got any extree.
P.S.--Aren't these the same people that wanted to kill a baby polar bear rather than have it "suffer humiliation" by being raised by humans? Sometimes, it's enough to make ya want to give up!!
