[SkyDancer]

To say they had would make liberal evolution teachers jump for joy.

[escapefromboston]

Well there goes the next big democratic voting block

[JRandomFreeper]

I gotta call my ex brother-in-law. "cannot bear any legal duties". He'll love that. No taxes.

/johnny

[Chickensoup]

Well, there goes our next Democrat Senate candidate.

[Steely Tom]

Obvious racism. And speciesism.

[Regulator]

But can he marry the vertebrate of his choice?!

[EternalVigilance]

For more than four decades now, American courts won’t even recognize the self-evident personhood of a human child.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Somebody had to be told that.

[alloysteel]

Let us face it - as a chimpanzee, Tommy is probably a pretty good specimen.

But his mental attainment shall never be much greater than perhaps a three- or four-year-old human child. Children of that age are able, when confronted with a serious challenge, to use their still rudimentary reasoning capabilities to cope with or overcome the difficulties, but more as a practical matter than as a display of intellectual attainment.

There are human beings that never get much above the level of a three-or four-year-old, do we trust them to drive an automobile, or vote, or keep a checking account?

There is, after all, a certain minimum level of competence we ask and expect of our neighbors and cohorts, so we may even carry on normal social interactions.

We do not always get the minimum level.

[humblegunner]

US chimpanzee Tommy

Tommy can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?
Tommy can you see me?
Do you want a beer, you?

I fink you freeky and I like you lot.

[South40]

Liberals only care about chimps if they're not Republicans.

[trisham]

Thank goodness.

[Gamecock]

He’s just an innocent primate!

[Brandonmark]

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[SWAMPSNIPER]

He can still vote in NYC, 4 or 5 times, if he is a democrat.

[ßuddaßudd]

is the monkey homosexual ?

[SES1066]

In this absurd case, form does not equal ability nor does it equal capability. To argue as such matches the Biblical "Choke on a gnat yet swallow a camel." The danger is that all it takes is a single court / judge to make a favorable ruling and it sets the grounds for precedence even if it is immediately struck down by a higher court.

However, a very similar case to this was prognosticated by the late, great Science Fiction author, R.A.Heinlein, in his short story, "Jerry was a Man" (1947), albeit the protagonist in that case was genetically enhanced and able to speak.

[Arthur McGowan]

The “The Nonhuman Rights Project” argues for “human rights” for nonhumans?

[Arthur McGowan]

I have long thought that someone should set up in public, with cameras running, with ultrasound going, and start aborting puppies. See how many minutes it takes for the cops to show up.

[JSDude1]

I think these people have been watching: “Raise of the Planet of the Apes” too much..