Rights are the conclusions of arguments about the conditions of a being's existence.

Rights do not come from god, they come from thoughtful humans who attempt to ensure the potential happiness of the humans and other beings they are attributed to. Rights are not things, they are ideas.

Rights are not obvious, they require thought. Rights are typically attributed to a specific group, such as humans, animals, women, men, children, the elderly, or those of a particular sexual orientation.

I believe that every human has the right to a life free from coersion and oppression. I believe that every human has the right to the basic neccessities of life such as decent healthcare, food, shelter, clothing, and education. Where humans are not getting their basic rights, they should be helped to do so.

I believe that every human has the right to be free from religious and/or nationalistic indoctrination until they reach the age of consent.

I believe that every human has the right to free speech and to speak freely and openly and without fear of retribution, about their government.

Also, I believe that every human should have an actual say, in the form of voting, about how their government will be run.

There is an Universal Bill of Human Rights that exists here. I would suggest that all countries adhere to it and people demand that it be adhered to. Governments that will not honor human rights should be abolished peacefully and if not peacefully, then forcefully.

All those who violate conditions of human rights should be held accountable.

(The Bush administration, for example, has not been held accountable and any government that does not hold its war criminals accountable is guilty of obstructing justice at least. And aren't they trying to dress up Georgie as the great humanitarian? I can't tell if he's helping because the blood on his hands just stains everything he does).

I believe that the rights of everyone should be respected and when an individual or nation attempts to deprive others of their rights, they should be stopped through the use of just force if that force will (i) not harm civillians and (ii) is necessary from a human rights perspective. Stopping a serial killer, with any force necessary, is just.

Stopping a genocidal regime seems just. I would not say that simply not letting the people speak freely should be an external issue, but only an internal one. It is when the government begins taking people and murdering or imprisoning them, that we should, perhaps intervene.

Any intervetion for purely ideological, political, or economic reasons where people are not suffering to some great degree should be seen as unjust. Although, for instance, people were suffering under Sadaam Hussein, to some rather great extent, it does not seem, at all, like it justifies the suffering caused by his removal.

A good example of just force would be the Allied war against the Axis powers in World War two though I would add that some of the methods used in the Allies' campaign, such as the bombing of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, amount to war crimes.

I am not saying alternatives would have been easier but, at least, perhaps, the bombs could have dropped on military targets rather than civillian targets.

A good example of unjust force would be the removal of Sadaam Hussein in Iraq by America, Britain, and coalition forces. Perhaps it would have been arguably just had the Iraqi regime actually possesed nuclear weapons and WMDs the like; but, even this does not seem just because most nations have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction for use in war and few have more WMDs than we do have, produce, or sell in the United States.

It is all the more unjust because of the knowing lies told to the people of America and the west in general. It is all the more unjust because of how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives and the high number of civillian casualties.

I do not believe that people have the right to amass great wealth while others lack the basic necessities of life. I believe that the right to amass great wealth can only be granted once everyone has been given reasonably decent necessities for life.

For example, no billionaires should exist while children are starving somewhere. It is not right and that is, to some, either apparent or not.

I believe that animals have the right to not suffer and to live in some degree of comfort. More comfort, for example, than the horrible factory farm conditions for cattle, chickens, and pigs in the U.S.

I sympathize more with highly intelligent species and I am against primate testing that involves the suffering of the primates.

I am not wholly against zoos so long as they attempt to create a decently adequate environment for the animals.

Small cages or inappropriate conditions for animals is inhumane but zoos can be a place where we preserve species as the Earth's ecosystems die from atmospheric pollution.