The Legislature of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, having solved all of the state's major problems, is on the verge of passing a law honoring Colonel Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken and year-round devotee of white linen suits. The animal rights group PETA objects, since the chickens KFC sells have been killed in a less-than-delightful way, and has issued the following snappy quote:
"If the state legislature moves forward with this one, then they should change Kentucky's state bird from the cardinal to the debeaked, crippled, scalded, diseased, dead chicken."
The dominant disagreement in Kentucky is not as much about politics or even chicken cruelty so much as it is about basketball, which is the topic of sports radio acrimony year round. The key dispute is between fans of the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Louisville Cardinals.
Anyway, I'm guessing there are Wildcat fans who would support any legislation that converted U of L's Cardinal into something diseased and dead.
PETA is composed of people who think that animals have "rights" equal, if not superior, to humans. On the whole, they're vegetarians who shy away from leather and decry product testing on animals, yet go to physicians and hypocritically receive medicines and surgeries that were developed using animals.
Some PETA activists "liberate" animals from research facilities and release them--where they promptly die because they have no ability to survive in the wild anymore. Like so much of liberalism, it's not so much about doing what's "best" for the "oppressed" as much as it's about punishing the successful West.
I'm all for the humane treatment of animals--a uniquely Western notion. But the lovely folks at PETA take things a wee too far.
Posted by: Squidley | 02/13/2008 at 09:31 PM