People Eating Tasty Animals
I just finished watching a few episodes of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" a Showtime program hosted by the skeptical magician duo which seeks to expose/debunk scammers, "scumbags" and "assholes." The first couple of episodes I saw (through the magic of Showtime On Demand) focused on Fengshui consultants and self-help gurus, who were definitely easy targets. It was still pretty entertaining to see the kind of bullshit being spouted by these wankers though.
The most interesting episode, however, was about the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. As a life-long omnivore, I can't enjoy a good meal without some kind of meat. Therefore, I think very little of PETA and all the other lunatic animal rights groups. After learning the follow nuggets of information, I have to say I think even less of them:
* Based on publicly available tax returns filed by PETA (public because it's a tax-exempt organization), PETA has donated almost $45,000 to a legal defense fund for Rodney Coronado, a convicted arsonist and a member of Animal Liberation Front who spent time in prison for firebombing a university animal research lab. PETA has also given Coronado's father a $25,000 "loan" that doesn't have to be paid back. Coronado is still going around the country lecturing young people on the finer points of making weapons to be used for firebombing.
* PETA neither condemns nor condones violence. Some of its members claim that violence is not a moral decision, but a tactic.
* People associated with PETA have threatened to kill Ted Nugent's children on their way to school because he's an avid hunter and meat eater.
* Another public document revealed that among PETA's expenditures was a $9300 freezer. According to the refrigeration expert that was interviewed by the show, an industrial freezer costing that much is at least 10 feet by 15 by 8 (?) feet and can be only used for 2 things: storing meat, or storing cadavers. Given PETA's avowed goal of liberating all animals from human "slavery," it is doubtful that it would have such a large quantity of meat. Then it was revealed that PETA actually killed 1,325 of the 2103 animals it had "rescued" in 1999. It's pretty ironic that people advocating "ethical" treatment for animals would end up killing the majority of the animals they had "liberated." I don't think PETA can sugarcoat its actions by using the term "euthanasia" since the animals themselves obviously did not and could not give consent.
* Given PETA's opposition to animal research and its support for the fanatical Animal Liberation Front, whose members have vandalized animal research clinics in the past, I found the following quote from Mary Beth Sweetland, PETA's Vice President, even more ironic, if not hypocritical: "I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products--and I have no qualms about it." This woman is working on behalf of an organization that is attempting to actively derail the kind of research that has allowed her to live! Incredible.
* Lastly, a comment made by a radio commentator that I find worth repeating (roughly since I don't have a great memory): "The young people of today are naive. They have never known true evil. They have never experienced slavery, Nazism, Communism, or the Holocaust so they mistakenly believe that what's happening to animals is evil."
The most interesting episode, however, was about the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. As a life-long omnivore, I can't enjoy a good meal without some kind of meat. Therefore, I think very little of PETA and all the other lunatic animal rights groups. After learning the follow nuggets of information, I have to say I think even less of them:
* Based on publicly available tax returns filed by PETA (public because it's a tax-exempt organization), PETA has donated almost $45,000 to a legal defense fund for Rodney Coronado, a convicted arsonist and a member of Animal Liberation Front who spent time in prison for firebombing a university animal research lab. PETA has also given Coronado's father a $25,000 "loan" that doesn't have to be paid back. Coronado is still going around the country lecturing young people on the finer points of making weapons to be used for firebombing.
* PETA neither condemns nor condones violence. Some of its members claim that violence is not a moral decision, but a tactic.
* People associated with PETA have threatened to kill Ted Nugent's children on their way to school because he's an avid hunter and meat eater.
* Another public document revealed that among PETA's expenditures was a $9300 freezer. According to the refrigeration expert that was interviewed by the show, an industrial freezer costing that much is at least 10 feet by 15 by 8 (?) feet and can be only used for 2 things: storing meat, or storing cadavers. Given PETA's avowed goal of liberating all animals from human "slavery," it is doubtful that it would have such a large quantity of meat. Then it was revealed that PETA actually killed 1,325 of the 2103 animals it had "rescued" in 1999. It's pretty ironic that people advocating "ethical" treatment for animals would end up killing the majority of the animals they had "liberated." I don't think PETA can sugarcoat its actions by using the term "euthanasia" since the animals themselves obviously did not and could not give consent.
* Given PETA's opposition to animal research and its support for the fanatical Animal Liberation Front, whose members have vandalized animal research clinics in the past, I found the following quote from Mary Beth Sweetland, PETA's Vice President, even more ironic, if not hypocritical: "I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products--and I have no qualms about it." This woman is working on behalf of an organization that is attempting to actively derail the kind of research that has allowed her to live! Incredible.
* Lastly, a comment made by a radio commentator that I find worth repeating (roughly since I don't have a great memory): "The young people of today are naive. They have never known true evil. They have never experienced slavery, Nazism, Communism, or the Holocaust so they mistakenly believe that what's happening to animals is evil."
posted by Gary at
10:44 PM
