And Another Thing, PETA...
As long as I'm gonna rail, let's at least make an effort to rail at a relevant subject.

PETA, although they're a bunch of pains in the backside, are merely yet another indication of what is wrong with the world. If ya asked me, I'd tell you that what's wrong, simply, are that people have lost their sense of proportion, to begin with. I'd also tell you that people have become so selfish that it's becoming impossible to distinguish between pure greed, pure stupidity and mindless narcissism. Finally, for good measure, I'd also tell you that every human being on this planet requires a good, long enema with a high-pressure steam hose, because ultimately, we're all full of shit.

Some of us have more of a fecal retention problem than others. Take democrats , for example. Rules don't matter to them (especially when they helped put them in place), if it doesn't suit their needs. Can't win an election at the ballot box, then sue. Can't win in court, pout. Can't win in the court of public opinion, get paranoid and invent conspiracies to explain why you didn't get your way. The same thing is happening in Ukraine right now. The Russian Communists still have not gotten over their loss over a decade ago, and like good paranoids, they're striking out at those that hurt them or who mightpotentially hurt them --- Ukranians seeking political freedom.

You know people are ful of shit when Fox News, in the process of trying to cover the events in Ukraine, manages to bring Oksana Lada into the studio to talk about these things. Who is Oksana Lada, you ask? She's an actress whose claim to fame is that she played Tony Soprano's Russian slambag one season. This was the most famous Ukranian of some standing that they could find?

You can see the selfishness in this country reflected in the recent visit of President Bush to Canada this week. Tens of thousands of Canadians took to the street to engage in the kind of stuff that gets one a degree in "Social Consciousness" here. You know, parading around with pictures of Bush and Hitler, holding up signs with catchy slogans with lots of foul language, throwing garbage and riot barriers at the police. We saw the same thing here for the last three years, especially this past summer in New York during the Republican convention. No matter who gets interviewed during these things, the same crap is always recycled:

"America is hated. We're hated because we had the temerity to strike back instead of surrender. If we just stopped, everyone else would stop too."

Translation: I'd rather be popular than right. Stop this fighting before I either get my butt blown up, or God forbid, I get drafted and have to give up my X-Box and skateboard. Why can't we just take it on the chin and then pretend it never happened?

Response: If you care what the rest of the world thinks, then fine. Go live there. When you can't get Starbucks, cellphone service, the Gap, Survivor on TV or access to a hospital, don't cry to come back. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice for what you have and more often than not, you have an obligation to fight for it. If that screws up your cushy, metrosexual lifestyle, too damn bad about you. We don't ignore it because if we let 9/11 pass, then we're setting ourselves up for a bigger attack next time around. Don't think so? Check the history of 30 years of Arab terrorism against America and you'll find pinprick after pinprick until it finally ramps up: 243 dead Marines in Lebanon, Pan Am 103, Embassy bomnbings in Africa, Khobar Towers, U.S.S. Cole, World Trade Center, twice.

Perhaps if we just set ourselves up for another one, we could get lucky and have the terrorists blow up the Berkeley faculty lounge, but I doubt we'd have that kind of good fortune. Any major university would be a viable alternate. If we're going to get bombed, let's at least take out the low end of the gene pool. You know, the ones that in the wild would have been the easy pickings for the lions.

We've heard people screaming for years: I have the right to kill a baby in my eighth months, I have the right to screw little children if I want to, I have the right to marry a daschund, I have the right to shoot heroin, I have the right to be permanently paid not to riot, I have the right to be President because I said so, I have the right, I have the right, I have the right.

Sure, everyone has rights. But in excercising yours you must remember that others have them too. You may not like meat, but I'll eat it whenever I want to. I don't like homosexual behavior, but people have a right to their preferences despite my wishes. Rights come with repsonsibilities. Prime among them is the ability to recognize that just because you may have a right to something, it doesn't automatically follow that you SHOULD have that right.

Why is it that no one ever says I have the responsibility?

So, we get back to everyone being full of shit.

PETA can rail about cows being "mistreated" when the real reason they're in a slaughterhouse is to be killed in the first place. Makes no sense. I'll bet the same people who walk around waving signs shouting "Meat is Murder" don't have a problem with Arab men beheading human beings. Cows should have rights, people responsibilities, in this case. Unless assigning responsibilities (i.e. the responsibility to act like a civilized human being) interferes with your other political goals (i.e. trying to avoid having to take responsibility for fighting for your country and culture against murderous thugs).

Yes, I know hypocrisy amongst human beings is nothing new. But damn, is it tiring.