David Duke Won't Be Amused.

Just how stupid are the folks at PETA? Their latest harebrained protest idea was to protest the Westminster Kennel Club show in New York with people in Ku Klux Klan outfits. The protesters compared the American Kennel Club to the KKK, claiming promoting purebred dogs is the same as promoting racial purity in humans. If this kind of crap keeps it I'm going to have to assume that PETA is actually some sort of gigantic joke by its leadership, intended to see how stupid they can act before people finally stop taking them seriously and supporting them.

Attack Of The Morons.

The murder of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus last week has not surprisingly generated a large amount of press activity. Unfortunately it has also brought out the inevitable reactions from the idiot squad. The odious Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church, has stated he and his brainwashed cadre of followers will protest at McLean's funeral. This is a standard Phelps tactic, one he has attempted at funerals of all sorts, Phelps claiming the deaths are examples of God's wraith for not obeying his supposed prohibitions on things like homosexuality. But at least Phelps is a nutter, and his congregation brainwashed simpletons. You'd think members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would be more rational. But once again PETA has opened their collective mouth wide and stuck both feet in. PETA wanted the Portage Daily Graphic newspaper in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, to publish an ad comparing McLean's murder with the commercial slaughter of animals for meat. Not suprisingly the Daily Graphic said no. This is typical of the kind of ads PETA thinks will attract people to their cause, having created similarly tasteless and exploitative ads in the past. Given some of the conspiracy theories that have been proposed over the years it's surprising no one has claimed that PETA is secretly part of a plot to discredit the animal rights movement by making them look like a bunch of idiots.

A Missed Opportunity.

In many places today saw the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day, with parades and other activities occuring. But one thing I'm surprised I've never heard of is PETA protesting celebrating Saint Patrick. After all one of his supposed accomplishments was driving all the snakes from Ireland. And given that Ireland is an island the snakes must have all died when they fell into the sea. So it's surprising PETA isn't protesting the practice of honouring him given that they seem to never miss a chance to embarrass themselves.

(It should be noted that any snakes that might have existed in Ireland died out during the various ice ages that affected Ireland, long before Saint Patrick or in fact any human habitation of Ireland existed.)

In this morning's Star Phoenix there was a shot from a PETA protest against Kentucky Fried Chicken held in Saskatoon over the weekend. The picture on one of the placards was of Dick Gregory, who has long been a vegetarian. I found it kind of surprising, because to be blunt Gregory isn't exactly a widely known figure these days, especially amongst younger folk who have had no real exposure to him. Pam Anderson was on another, which of course makes far more sense.

On a totally different topic if you're looking for information on the firearms currently used by police and the military in various parts of the world the Modern Firearms and Ammunition site may be of interest. Besides weapons actually in common use the site also has information on some projects that may soon see use as well as items of historical interest, such as the Atchisson AA12 machine shotgun.

Gotta love those loons at PETA. I was reading in the local paper today that a Newfoundland billboard company has decided not to rent its billboards to the group to present posters than claim feeding children beef is child abuse. This is apparently not a new campaign, but is just now being tried in the Maritimes. In any case its a stupid idea. You are hardly going to convince people to stop eating meat by comparing them with child abusers. Sometimes PETA seems to behave like a parody of an activist group, saying and doing things that if they were presented as part of a comedy sketch you'd laugh at, but in the real world make them look very stupid.