This, however, WAS a ‘recreational’ hunt for 5 veterans and there was nothing wrong with that. They deserved the opportunity and respect for their service that they received from our community. I, for one, cannot imagine my life without the sacrifices that these men of honor, courage and, most of all, love, have made for us. They fought for freedom, they fought for their country and they fought for your rights to speak out against them if you so choose. During the luncheon on the last day of the hunt, one of the veterans from the Vietnam era spoke about how he could not wear his uniform on the street because of the misplaced hatred for the military at the time. He spoke with tears in his eyes and a shaky voice and thanked everyone for the outpouring of support from our community. He did not take a turkey, nor did he maim or otherwise shoot at a turkey. He was in tears because he felt that he finally received some sense of honor for his time he gave to his country. That was where the healing was, not in killing. I thank God every day that He let me be a part of it. It healed a lot of what was wrong in my heart as well and wiped a lot of slates clean. Please do not make it into something that it was not. These men deserve better. They stood up for you and your country once. Let them stand tall again.

“Jivaka, I say there are three instances in which meat should not be eaten: when it is seen, heard, or suspected [that the living being has been slaughtered for the bhikku]. I say that meat should not be eaten in these three instances. I say that there are three instances in which meat may be eaten: when it is not seen, heard or suspected [that the living being has been slaughtered for the bhikku]. I say that meat may be eaten in these three instances.”

It would seem from this sutra that the Buddha exhibited a great amount of empathy for animals in not wanting his monks to be the cause of an animal to be slaughtered. On the other hand, there is also acceptance of the reality that humans eat meat, and no condemnation of it. The point is that there is far too much self-righteous moral indignation among vegetarians. It is a big turnoff to most, and therefore interferes with the acceptance of other, far more significant and critical problems progressive politics is trying to move into the larger society.

There are many good arguments for not causing animals needless suffering, and for reducing the amount of meat that is produced and eaten for both ecological and health reasons. The self-righteousness of many vegetarians, who view their position as a superior moral purity is no different than right-wing Christians claiming homosexuality is evil. It’s a big turnoff to most, and is self-defeating in the political sphere. Reason, not belief and ego, should govern our decisions.

But,people have missed the forest for the trees here. This wasn’t fundamentally about hunting as a sport at all. It was about the idea of wounded soldiers “healing” through DOING SOME MORE KILLING.

In January 08 the New York Times reported that at least 121 Iraq,
Afghanistan veterans have committed homicide in the USA, or facing
charges in crimes involving murder, after returning from combat. The
Times tells us it also logged 349 homicides involving all active-duty
military personnel or new veterans in the six years since US military
invasion commenced in Afghanistan, and later Iraq. That statistic
represents an 89 % increase over the previous six-year period, according to the N.Y.Times. About three-quarters of these homicides involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, a pattern starts to develop here.

I suggest people check out VETERANS FOR PEACE who not only have protested war since the first attack on Iraq in 1991 and were the first to oppose the US Army School of the AMericas(teaching torture to soldiers from around the world) but, SUPPORT VETERANS HEALING PROCESS.

The important point of Micky Z’s article was :” more obvious choice (for sane people, at least) to give wounded humans an opportunity to heal through efforts that involve compassion and caring”.

This is the most UN-addressed aspect of trying to end war-making: what it takes to train people to kill–and hwo that changes them.

I’d just like to see all these macho men who think they’re so hard try to to hack it in the African bush without all their high powered rifles. Give them the same scrawny little bows and arrows that Kalahari Bushmen use day in and day out and send them off to find their dinner where they might bump into something that fancies them for dinner. Then I’d be impressed.

In my perception, however, “militant vegetarianism,” to coin a term, has somehow injected itself into so-called “progressive” politics, taking what is a minor issue, factory meat farming aside, and pushing it self-righteously to the forefront. This elitism, so typical in its various expressions of leftists alienated from the “masses,” in turn risks alienating the very constituencies needed to move progressive politics forward. Even the Buddha permitted his monks to eat meat. And, as Woody Allen said in one of his films, nature is one big smorgasbord.

PT boat John and shop-till-you drop Jackie made no excuse when they killed foxes on those hunts in New England.

Good god, the “left” is so desperate they whine about turkey and deer, which by the way fills a lot of freezers with food here in Podunk.