Good Goddess, PETA! Put down the hash pipe!

As a responsible human creature, child of Gaia, and devout Earther; I have to say to PETA:

Get off your fucking high horse, will ya!

PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have suggested to the fine folks of Spearfish, SD to change the name of their high school to "Sea Kitten High School". WTF?

Now, I've never been a big fan of sports, especially high school sports. Yes, I was the nerdy kid that always got hassled by the big jocks, that is until they needed to pass general science or mathematics. Then I was their bestest friend. Anyway, I'm not a big booster when it comes to high school sports. Too many parents put way, way too much emphasis on competition, to the point where we have parents rioting in the stands when their kids get called by the officials or make a mistake. But this isn't a rant about sports, its a rant about PETA.

'Sea Kitten"? Oh yeah, that name will strike fear in the heart of every cross-state rival this high school will ever face. "Onward, Sea Kittens! Bury the Tigers! Beat the Eagles! Crush the Vikings! Go Kittens!"

Yeah, that'll work. Why don't you folks sit down and have a nice grass-fed beef steak with mushrooms and a baked potato. Animal fat helps promote brain growth.

Guess what? People need to eat to survive. We eat veggies, animals, and in some cases, insects (urp!). In order to make it day to day, one form of life must consume another form of life. Life into life. Fact of nature. Can't change that no matter how many naked painted women you put in cages.

I respect animal rights groups that use their influence to keep our animal kin from being exploited or killed for bullshit reasons. Tiger penises? Bullshit reason. Swordfish steaks? Too few left to fish, gotta stop and let them repopulate. Shooting quail fresh out of a box with the Vice-President? Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. If you hunt an animal, you eat the animal. Take the game in a way that's sporting and gives the beast a chance to get away if you fuck up.

Common fucking sense people, really. Don't like subsistence hunting, don't do it. Turn your energy and resources toward Dick Cheney and his creepy canned hunt bastards. Protect endangered animals that need it, not animals that provide food for the masses. Put your resources toward intelligent management of game availability rather than try to convert everyone to vegetarianism.

Here's the kicker to PETA and their incessant crusade to make everyone a vegan. What is the difference between a cow and a carrot? Sure, one has a face and the other doesn't but they are both alive. They both exist to reproduce and contribute to the grand scheme of the Mother Earth. How do we know a carrot doesn't feel the water as it's being steamed with butter and honey?

Face it. One form of life depends on taking the life from another to survive. Sorry, that's called the Law of Nature and Pamela Anderson can't do anything to change it. Besides, she's having enough trouble with the Law of Gravity. I eat plants and animals to stay alive. I try and make sure that my food didn't get to my plate by less than honorable means and that other forms of life are off the menu due to obvious circumstances. We have brains, we should use them.

And when I shuffle off this mortal coil, my essence will join with that of the Earth Mother. Her children will take sustainence from my remains as I took sustainence from them.

Turnabout is fair play.

So Mote It Be,
David A.