Because animals are not capable of speaking for themselves, we are responsible for taking action against those who cause harm to them. According to pet-abuse.com, a website dedicated to information on animal abuse, 8.9% of animal abuse cases are of fighting. The animals most often used for this sick form of entertainment are dogs and gamecocks. Dog fighting is illegal in all states and has become a felony in all 50 states (Tobias). Cockfighting “is illegal in all states, and it is a felony in 37″ (Humane Society). As the voice for animals, we need to step up to the plate and battle for them. I do not believe animals need the same rights as humans; however, animals need protection from creeps who find animals fighting for their lives entertaining. If we can put a halt to animal fighting, we can also hinder the buying and selling of drugs (Humane Society [Dogs] [Cocks]). If we enforce our animal fighting laws, then not only will we be protecting animals, but also the people who may be exposed to these illegal “sports.”

Animals are a major support for the impaired. Take for example the blind. Every morning on my way to school, I used to see a man waiting at the crosswalk of a busy intersection with his guide dog. I remember every morning thinking how that man could live without that dog. That dog would wait until the “WALK” sign lit up before it crossed the six lanes of traffic. Without that guide dog, that man probably could not have gone anywhere. He placed his life in that dog’s paws. Couldn’t we find a way to thank these service animals?

As I have said before, I do not believe that animals should have the same rights as humans; however, I do believe that animals should have laws that protect them from the sickos of the world and thank them for their services to the community.

It is obvious that animals do not need the exact same rights as humans have, but that is not the point. The point is that animals play an important part in the human world and deserve something in return. Animals would not know what to do with the rights that humans are granted. What if we wrote a simple list of rights for animals that could fit their needs? Some animals only need a good home. Of course, not everyone can open their home to an animal. Couldn’t we solve this problem by either opening shelter or enlarging the shelters that already open their hearts to stray animals? Some animals already have homes, yet they are neglected. According to Pet-Abuse.Com, “32.3%” of animal abuse in the United States is neglect/abandonment. Unfortunately, humans are either forgetful or ignorant of the fact that animals are social creatures.

Thanks to animals, we have advanced in our journey to increase our knowledge. According to Karen Huffman’s Psychology in Action, “7 to 8 percent of research” is performed on animals. “90%” of the animals being tested on are “rats and mice” (Huffman, 21). Even if the percentage of testing on animals is small, even if most of the animals being tested are rats and mice, animals are still being put at risk. Sure, there are “animal care committees” that “ensure proper treatment of research animals” (Huffman, 21). But, what about the tests that are conducted off the record? What about the animals that have died because of these off the record tests? I do not think that we need to drop testing on animals, but I think that we should closely monitor the tests that are performed on animals.

Humans should simply treat animals with respect in their hearts and the thought of the golden rule in their mind. However, sadly, humans treat each other like the dirt on the bottom of a shoe. Our society is the problem. If by someway we could begin to treat each other with respect, then we might be able to treat animals, who are loyal companions, they way they deserve to be treated.

It would be a waste for animals to have the same legal rights as humans because they could not put our rights to a good purpose. What would a dog do with the freedom of speech? What would a cat do with “the right to bear arms (Bill of Rights)?” What would a lion do with “the right to a fair trial (Bill of Rights)?” These are only three of the 27 amendments that protect humans. Most would agree that no animal could ever have to use these rights. One might consider a dog barking its way of utilizing the right to freedom of speech. And true, barking is a dog’s way to communicate–its primary way of communication. Barking comes natural to a dog and is something that the animal already does. Imagine a cat with a gun. Funny mind picture, isn’t it? The cat would just rub up against the gun; it would not know how to use the weapon. If a cat felt threatened, it would naturally arch its back and hiss.  A lion could not and would not ever attend court. Animals act on instinct. Their instinct to kill does not make them murders to be put on death row; killing is how most animals survive.  Not only would granting animals the same rights be pointless, but it could hinder our knowledge about medicine. If animals had the rights that volunteers have, we could not be as informed as we are. According to the American Psychological Association, volunteers have the right to back out of a study or experiment at any given time (Huffman, 21).  Humans are selfish; most of us are not willing to risk our health to advance our knowledge. If we attempted to run tests on animals with the right to back out, we would not have very many animals to run tests on. However, ”animal care committees are established to ensure proper treatment of research animals” (Huffman 22). There are people to check the welfare of the animals we test on. The animals that we test on are helping relieve pain for humans. Wouldn’t you rather a rat be tested on than a loved one?

 All in all, many of us may love animals as if they were humans or even more than humans. However, our love does not make them humans. The rights we have are rights we need. If animals were to be granted the same rights, it would not help them in many ways. If animals had the ability to use voluntary participation rights, we would not have animals to perform tests on.

I have only recently started to keep track of current events. Therefore, this project was probably the best way for me to begin. I thought to myself, “I should start small…I should start with the current events in the United States,” which is exactly what I did. I subscribed to U.S. News at CNN.com around July 16. Subscribing to this feed informed me about everyday life, politics, and occasionally something about entertainment. I read articles that caught my attention. I noticed that the headings could sound interesting, yet the actual articles could be very humdrum. Over the couple of weeks that I have been reading this feed, I found several articles that were interesting to me. My mind was amused with articles such as Unrepentant on Facebook? Expect jail time, Army will shoot live pigs for medical training, and Grandma accused of hiring hitman. The article on Facebook educated its readers that the pictures posted could be held against you in a court trial. While reading the article about the army shooting live pigs for medical training gave me mixed feelings, but my overall thought was a soldier’s life is more important than a pig’s. Grandma accused of hiring hitman was a stimulating read because she is a seventy-six year old woman and was accused of hiring a hitman. This is a feed that I am going to keep reading regularly and eventually I will add the world news from CNN.com to my reader.   

I subscribed to Anne Applebaum, a Washington Post columnist a few days ago. Anne’s column did not have very many recent articles, so I began to read from older writings; I read articles that began on June 16.  She addressed topics from politics to soccer. The first article that jumped out at me on my feed was Whose Race Problem? In this article, she stumped my mind. After Hillary Clinton was out of the presidential race, she stated that America is obviously ready for a black president. She then followed the thought with a question, Are foreigners ready for a black president? The thought had never crossed my mind if other countries could handle this new image of America.

In another article, The Saudi Guide to Piety, she tells what kind of books fourth grade classes are reading. The books have multiple-choice questions, which ask about religion from a Muslim point of view. The books make other countries look horrible because they are not dominate in the Muslim religion. Applebaum suggests that Obama and McCain make sure that the children of Islamic countries have decent reading material, and then adds that their help may save some grief in the future.

 In a couple articles, I noticed that she used onomatopoeias. When she used the onomatopoeias, she gave her writing a little excitement. She used a pun with in the title of another one of her articles. The article was titled Nationalism gets its kicks, which talked about soccer or as she points out known as futbol everywhere else except in America. A persuasive strategy I noticed that she used was she put the negative light on others to make her idea look more appealing. She also gave her writings a strong, confident tone. This is a feed that I can learn from when having to write something persuasive. Anne’s writings are also great to learn from because of the wide range of topics that she writes from. Applebaum’s feed will definitely stay in my reader.