[Cicero]

Oh, sure. The word “pet” is no longer permitted in those circles. Last summer I drove across Vermont and noticed that the St. Johnsbury Pet Hospital I drive by has been renamed the Companion Animal Hospital.

I guess it’s OK if a dog and a person live in the same house together, as long as they have equal rights, and neither of them demeans the other.

[RedMonqey]

...it’s OK if a dog and a person live in the same house together, as long as they have equal rights, and neither of them demeans the other.

I always found the concept of "animal rights" a intellectually vacant ideal. Animals do not and cannot recognize another animals so called "rights." Just put a bowl of food before a dog and cat and see if the dog respects the cat's "equal rights" to it's fair share of the contents .

Or an snake's recognization of a bird's right to life, liberty and the persuit to happiness.

That is not to say they are not to be treated in an, dare I say, humane way. Just in order to have rights one must be in a position to respect another's equal rights.

Of course this isn't the goal of animal rightists, what is their objective is the power they get by representing animals before the law. And their objectives just happen to coincede with their other ulterior motives, i.e, universal goverance. After all who will protect these rights if not the animals' benefactors?