Many examples from this book contain famous quotations related to Animal Rights. But what have Animal Rights to do with computer software ? Nothing at first glance, but I feel that we should take advantage of every chance to speak about one of the most underestimated topics, which have a great influence on mankind, in addition to animals.
Every democratic Country is based on a set of principles which grant a basic set of rights to every citizen. Over the last decades these basic rights have been extended to people who can't actively write laws, vote, or take part to social and political life, as the mentally retarded people.
The same concept lies behind the concept of Animal Rights. It's nothing revolutionary, radical or exotic, simply the most natural way in which our society should evolve: extending basic rights to animals, even if they can't vote or take active part in social and political life of our countries.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson defined some unalienable Rights for all the men; among these: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This is probably the most famous example but every other democratic country is based on similar principles. We don't want to bring this principles down; on the contrary, we ask they to be extended to non-human Animals.
This manual can be downloaded from http://www.g-cows.org/.