Hmmmmm... *ponders*

Over on solitarywiccans, someone is describing a situation where a charm (from a charm bracelet) went missing, and... well, I'm including the text of the post here in case the OP decides to take it down, because the responses she is getting are NOT encouraging.

( Some LOLing and a lot of bitching out behind the cut )

Is it just me, or is there something very wrong with this picture?

Westboro Baptist Church coming to Winnipeg

The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to Winnipeg to protest at the funeral of Tim McLean, the young man slain on the Greyhound bus.

A spokeswoman for the Westboro Baptist Church -- which is known for staging protests at funerals of American soldiers who have died in Iraq -- said seven members will picket outside the Westwood Community Church Saturday to let Canadians know that "God hates you, and it's because of your rebellion against his word that this child is dead."

These are the God Hates Fags website people, and a more thoroughly vile, hate-filled, and slimy group of idiots would be hard to find. If I wasn't up to my eyebrows in a deadline crunch I'd probably be out there ready to counter-protest on Saturday.

I think that the Westboro folks are going to find the Canadian authorities a LOT less tolerant of their publicity-mongering antics than the American authorities are.

PETA crosses the line

PETA compares bus decapitation to animal slaughters -- and tries to run an ad to that effect.

As I've noted in a comment to another person's LJ entry, I almost choked on my morning coffee when I read about this in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Some people honestly have no limit to how low they'll go. The ad is offensive, presumptuous, heartless, and quite thoroughly disgusting -- at least in my opinion. Taking advantage of that kind of tragedy to sell their political agenda moves my opinion of PETA from "I really don't care either way" to "I would cross the street to spit in their faces", and I can't be the only Canadian that they just pissed off completely with their tastelessness and idiocy.

EDITED TO ADD: Check out the responses in the CBC.ca thread on the subject:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/08/06/peta-mclean.html

EDITED TO ADD 2: The letter that I just sent to PETA, at christined@peta.org...

I saw the story about your latest ad in the Winnipeg Free Press, and I honestly couldn't believe it.

Sadly, it turned out to be true.

I've had a "live and let live" attitude toward your organization in the past, and even thought that you were doing some good work. With this ad, you have shown yourselves to be willing to stoop to any disgusting act, taking advantage of a family's tragedy in order to further your own political agenda.

In the future I will be telling everyone I can about your actions with this ad. You have lost all the respect I ever had for you, and at the very least you should issue an apology to the family of the slain young man for your heartlessness and cruelty. In the past I might have considered donating to your cause. Now I know better.

Which was more politeness than the bastards deserve.

If you're in Winnipeg...

There is now a Facebook community to coordinate efforts to block the WBC protest of Tim McLean's funeral:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64748945065

Please, those of you who are in Winnipeg, consider checking out the group's information and joining them in a non-confrontational blocking of the Phelps clan and their wicked plan. The goal is to create a "buffer zone" around the church so that the WBC idiots can't spew their filth directly at the family and friends of the murder victim. I can't be there due to work pressures, but I'll certainly be with everyone in spirit.

Some choice words for PETA

Those of you who have been following my journal for a while have seen how I operate. I have strong opinions, but I try (I really do try) to see both sides of any weighty issue that crosses my path. I don't always succeed but I strive to operate from a place of balance and, hopefully, wisdom. I try not to let my emotions get the better of me.

PETA's latest publicity stunt is not something that I can take in stride that way. It baffles and enrages me to the point where I've been seething about it all day, muttering under my breath as I work and certainly baffling George, who has been polite enough not to comment. Other bloggers have gotten to this topic before me, and much more eloquently, but if I don't get this off my chest I feel like I'm going to blow a gasket.

First of all, here's the ad they wanted to run.

( An innocent young victim's throat is cut... )

Got that in your head? Fully absorbed it? Okay, here we go...

Hey, admistrators of PETA?

Fuck you, up down and sideways, with a rusty fork. I hope you all die in a fire, you self-righteous pig-fuckers (and oh lordy, do I pity those pigs).

May you burn to death slowly, cooking you to perfect tenderness, and then may your deliciously savory flesh be enjoyed by your worst enemies. Your arrogant, heartless, callous use of a family's deepest tragedy to further your own crackpot political ends make you unfit to associate with other, more civilized human beings (who are certainly self-interested and sometimes don't care who they hurt, but seldom to the staggering level of corporate cold-bloodedness that you've just demonstated).

I hope nobody wearing a PETA pin or other identifying mark aligning them with your organization crosses my path until I've cooled off (which is going to take a while), because if they do I'm likely to use my fist to break their face.

You champion compassion while stooping to the lowest depths of manipulative self-interest. Any sympathy I had for your cause is dead, gone, vanished, annihilated by your filthy tactics. May people now see you for what you are and treat you with the contempt and loathing that you so richly deserve.

...

Not exactly civilized, I know. But heartfelt, and that's gotta count for something.

If any of you want to unfriend me after this, I'll understand.

To end on a somewhat upbeat note

A LOLcats post is in order, I think.

( KITTIES! With CAPTIONS!!! )