Oh, and one other thought in this thread: how and why did we get to a theological/political argument, AGAIN, from a news article dealing with cruelty to animals? How and why have Tfilin and Oslo reached into the conversation? Is it no longer possible to discuss anything here without bringing orthodoxy and politics into it?

There are two discussions:
1) should we be cruel to animals
2) should we punish people who are cruel to animals

In both issues the Torah has much to say.
The second question is political. The first is not

This is not what you meant, but it explains how we got off the track.