PETA asks California town to change its name

[Khephra]

SAN FRANCISCO -- An animal rights group is offering $20,000 worth of veggie burgers if Contra Costa County changes the name of a region in the San Francisco Bay area called Rodeo.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter Monday to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, urging them to give up the name because it evokes the violent sport of rodeo, which harms animals, PETA officials said. Rodeo is an unincorporated region about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.

more..........

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4168564.html

[soothsayer]

1. oh for pete's sake

i'm gobstruck

[DeathvadeR]

58. You ever wonder why there are no towns called Hitler or Klu Klux Klan?

I'll bet they change every street nammed after saddam in Iraq is changed to something else as well.

If Hitler was on the $20 Bill, How would the Jews Feel?

[HEyHEY]

62. If this is the kinda shit PETA is spending money on

I ain't donating ever.

[WillParkinson]

65. And I bet you had your checkbook out, too...

Didn't you?

I don't agree with PETA on everything...in fact, I don't agree with them on this, but we don't always agree with everyone we donate money to, do we?

[HEyHEY]

68. No, I didn't have the checkbook out

It would most likely bounce anyway! Point is, that buying a town a bunch of veggie burgers for changing it's name is a waste of money. And I'm sure many donars will be a bit put off by it.

[LizW]

63. I grew up near Berlin,

Alabama. During WWII, they changed the pronunciation of the little village to BER-lin, and it's been that way ever since.

Another town near home is Arab. They already pronounce that one strangely. AAYE-rab, emphasis on the long a.:)

[twilight]

2. actually its not pronounced "rodeo" as in show

It pronounced ROW-DAY-O ...

I find this to be a rather stupid effort frankly.

[Mountainman]

30. Isn't the pronounciation Spanish for the same thing?

You say ro dee o and I say ro day o. same thing different language.

[fizzana]

3. They've become a laughing stock even among Liberals.

n/t

[The Stranger]

55. I think you've been had.

$20,000 worth of veggie burgers may be a hint.

[bitchkitty]

4. Peta needs to pick their battles more wisely -

$20,000 worth of veggie burgers would be better donated to a homeless shelter or a food bank. There are a lot of homeless and hungry people in San Francisco.

[Neutrino]

28. I agree. I'm a PETA member, and it wastes my money---

and as an issue, I wouldn't contribute one cent for something so
non-productive when there are serious concerns to address.

[Wickerman]

5. Now how is that pronounced?

Road e o
or
Row Day O?

:eyes:

EDIT: Geez, not only did I waste my 900th post on this, someone had already qualified it (above) by the time my post went up.... Keep fighting the good fight PETA, you've worked yourself off my list of orgs to contribute to.

[Drifter]

17. Are they going to go after ...

composer Aaron Copeland next ?

He has a composition called Rodeo (pronounced the same I believe). Oddly enough, I believe that this piece is used as the "Beef it's what's for Dinner" commercial theme.

Cheers
Drifter

[Loonman]

6. PETA is slipping

Shouldn't they be drawing attention to their cause by dressing up as rodeo clowns and slapping themselves in the forehead with veggie burgers or some other "performance art" schtick?

No naked supermodels?

I'm disappointed.


:(

[FauxNewsBlues]

7. They are just silly

Do they operate in an echo chamber or something? Is there not one "moderate" animal lover around to tell them that they acting like idiots?

I love critters as next as the next guy. I have limited my intake of meat, do not wear fur, but come on people. Get a grip. If this was an attention attempt, it will backfire. PETA looks like idiots here.

The other group with the same tin ear is the Science in the Public Interest group. They really have lost it. I agree we should eat healthier, but the way they present themselves is just so terrible, that they are a laughing stock.

[twilight]

11. right you are

I used to live near Rodeo and they don't even have "rodeos" there - they spelling of the name of that place is the only thing it has in common with a "rodeo".

Too bad they took this up without going to RODEO (ROW-DAY-OH) frist to find out how the hell it is actually pronounced - makes 'em look like dumbies IMO.

:dem:

P.S. I'm vegan myself and do not support animal terrorism!

[mainegreen]

8. PETA is lost

Whats up with that?

They sure do pick some stupid battles.
They're always up here telling us that boiling lobsters is bad. Its food for crying out loud.
Honestly, if they had their way we'd all be eating yeast cakes.
To hard core for me!

[soothsayer]

9. the town should take them up on it and rename themselves

"PETA is Stupid (by the bay)"

[Loonman]

10. The animals and me....

....have been in league through history.


But PETA is full of whackjobs.

[Maine-i-acs]

12. They tried the same thing with Fishkill, NY

Without realizing that the name's origin has NOTHING to do with killing fish.

Fight a real battle ... oust Bush!

[DinahMoeHum]

24. Right. "kill" is the Dutch word for "creek"

So Fishkill really means "fish creek"

PETA has become a sick joke, AFAIAC.

:bounce:

[eileen_d]

13. Rodeo is a Spanish word meaning detour

According to my Spanish-English dictionary. PETA is ignorant.

[FlashHarry]

14. PETA is a whack-job fringe group that embarrasses us all.

The sad thing is, there are many, many serious animal abuse issues out there. Why the f*ck are they spending time on something as inane as this? :puke:

[Devilock]

15. Great

Hear that? It's saliva dripping from the maw of Bill O'Reilly. I think I know tonight's "Most Ridiculous Item."

[booniapolis]

18. good point

I couldnt agree more, you beat me to it by only a few minutes!
O'Reilly (after he defends all the "defamation" against him), Hannity, Rush Limbaugh (if hes not totally plastered) and Ann Coulter, who will probably write a book about this, will all label this as some vast liberal conspiracy

[RebelOne]

16. I'm an animal rights advocate myself and also vegetarian

but sometimes PETA can be a little extreme in its actions.

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. How about changing "Rodeo Drive" in Beverly Hills ??

. . Good Friggen luck with THAT one !

silly people them PETA ? :shrug:

[rocktivity]

20. They wanted the town of Fishkill (New YorK) to do the same thing

I understand it's Dutch for "fish brook" and has nothing to do with the barbaric act of catching them on hooks.


rocknation

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. I wonder if they've been infiltrated by right-wing operatives

No, really.

Back in the 1970s, there was a campus group called The Spartacus Youth League, which used to go around defending Pol Pot, Kim Il-Sung, and other whack jobs as "the only true practicioners of socialism."

I later heard that they were actually an FBI front group designed to embarrass the left by attracting American whack jobs, but I don't know if this is true.

[Karmadillo]

22. List of PETA's success. Not sure why the bashers are so eager to

dismiss an organization that is so incredibly successful. Oh wait. That's it! They're successful. We Democrats prefer abject failure, right?

http://www.peta.org/about/milestones.html

1981

PETA’s undercover investigation of a Maryland laboratory results in the first-ever conviction of an animal experimenter on charges of animal abuse and the first-ever suspension of federal research funds for cruelty.

1982

PETA files the first-ever lawsuit to become the guardian of animals used in experiments.

1983

PETA closes a Department of Defense “wound lab” in which the military had planned to fire high-velocity missiles into dogs, goats, and other animals. PETA achieves the first-ever permanent ban on the shooting of dogs and cats in wound labs.

1984

PETA releases more than 70 hours of graphic videotape footage from the University of Pennsylvania head-injury laboratory, documenting the cruel treatment of primates there. Protests by PETA lead the secretary of health and human services to cut off all funding to the laboratory, and the experiments are stopped after a 14-year history of baboon abuse.

lot, lots, lots more...

[eileen_d]

23. So with a record like this...

... why go after a town called "Detour"?

[Karmadillo]

26. You'd have to ask them, but I would guess there's so little mass media

coverage of their successes, they do this sort of stunt to get publicity. Seems to work, despite the opinions of the usual DU suspects, because in an era when so many progressive groups have fallen on hard times, PETA seems to still be doing well.

[BiggJawn]

25. Yeah, and then they do stoopid shtuff...

Like go after "Rodeo" and "Fishkill"...

Karmadillo, haven't you ever heard the saying about one "Awshit" wiping out a hundred "Atta-Boys"?

This is PETA's second "Awshit" in recent memory....

They need to wear their hemp, not smoke it, IMO....

[Skip Intro]

32. I don't get it either

Granted, this particular move on PETA's part may be misguided and ill-concieved - a bad idea, but you have only to read the posts in this thread to see that the hatred for PETA goes far deeper than this one effort.

Many people here hate PETA. I don't understand it, but it is obvious everytime a PETA thread comes around, reguardless of subject matter.

Its as if it were some sacrilege to defend the rights of animals, to point out that animals do indeed feel pain and fear, and to demand they be treated ethically.

PETA threatens something, something so closely held by many here that, at the mere mention, they attack and riddicule this organization that, at its core, exists only to improve the lives of animals. I don't know what that something is, but the strong current of hatred for PETA suggests to me that that something is indeed there, and in danger from PETA.

[Chovexani]

50. Bullshit.

I am very much in favor of animal rights and the ethical treatment of animals, and have given money to PETA in the past (I have a PETA sticker on my door stating how many animals are in my house in case of a fire or emergency), but I think they are a fucking joke now. These kinds of publicity stunts harm their credibility when they do something actually worthwhile--like exposing the conditions of the research lab at Columbia U.

When they go after stupid crap like the name of a town, it makes them look ignorant and fringe, and just makes people ignore them when they have something important and relevant to say about real animal abuse.

Personally I'm not sending another dime to PETA until they get people in leadership that realize there are real, actionable and crucial animal rights issues that need to be dealt with and that these kinds of juvenile publicity stunts do far more harm to the credibility of the animal rights movement than they seem to realize.

--C.

[GinaMaria]

35. Seems to be a bit of

PETA bashing in the news lately. Some of this just doesn't seem true. The article that said they FAXED a letter to Roy after the tiger attack. Faxed to a hospital room. I don't know. Some of this sounds like right wing public opinion swaying. Like they did with "Law suits are out of control" and other right wing agenda items. PETA has obviously been up to something and probably something that bothers the right wing.

I think I'll pop off a letter to PETA asking them about this. I'd rather hear it from the horse's mouth. Not the horse's @$$ (read media)

Peace
G

[Swede]

27. PETA- People Eating Tasty Animals

I'll have my steak rare please.

[haymaker]

48. Original.

Not. Do you eat porterhouses or t-bones perhaps?

[ze_dscherman]

29. PETA is GREAT

... in getting your attention.

Just take a look on how many replies this thread got. Even with this stupid publicity stunt they have pointed your attention towards their message, that rodeo is not a sport, but cruelty towards animals.

Compare this to the thread on the suffering of mentally ill prisoners in the U.S. I posted some minutes before this PETA thread. This was a plain old fashioned report from Human Rights Watch, covering a very alarming situation that affects many thousand fellow HUMANS.

Just ONE reply, so far (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=178468).

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

31. You're kidding, right?

The overwhelming sense of this thread is that PETA is an organization run by effing morons who make all people concerned with animal welfare look like idiots. In fact, the mere existence of PETA makes it that much easier for corporations and conservatives to dismiss any concern for animal welfare as the rantings of a group of misinformed crackpots.

PETA should either go away for refocus its mission.

[ze_dscherman]

37. Only partially

Seen from a mere PR viewpoint, PETA has not done so bad.

They are laughed at, but they get the attention they want (not the attention they would deserve in my opinion). Wether this will harm or help animal welfare, is something else, but it puts the pretty extremist PETA cause on the stage.

[dobak]

39. huh?

I'm sorry, but I have experience in PR and I'm telling you

BAD PR is not good.

Just getting your name in the news is not helpful. Maybe PETA gets an extra couple volunteers signed up, but hundreds up people put them on their "ignore" list.

[sangh0]

52. WADR, your professional experience prevents your understanding

Your experience suggests that publicity that hurts the client is NOT GOOD, so your remarks about this are understandable. However, unlike the professional world, PETA isn't looking for laurels; they're looking to change things, and getting people to talk about their issue helps them do that. If some people end up thinking they're silly, they don't worry because those people are unlikely to be upset by rodeos anyway.

They may put PETA on their "ignore" list, but at least PETA is on their list somewhere. It's not about "getting your NAME in the news". It's about "getting their ISSUES in the news" and that they have done.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

41. "Pretty Extremist"

Ba-da Bing! Those are the operative words. Lacking any hard polling data handy, I would strongly suspect that a large majority of Americans finds their message to be "pretty extremist" and far outside the mainstream.

Look at the responses that you're seeing on this thread from otherwise sympathetic and open-minded Democrats. Can you imagine what their antics look like to a middle of the road audience? And this nonsense does nothing but provide grist for the mill on conservative talk radio, allowing them to tar the Sierra Club and World Wildlife Federation and other groups with the same brush.

"Any publicity is good publicity" is the excuse that one typically hears from third-rate publicists.

[haymaker]

56. No, the over-whelming sense on this thread

is that you and many others are hysterical. They accomplished their goal, quite easily because I'm sure this will get huge play with the nose-pick set. But it will also get into the consciousness of quite a great many others.

[eileen_d]

33. True, but at some point negative attention trumps positive attention.

Sorry I missed the thread about mentally ill prisoners, BTW. I will look at it now.

[Skip Intro]

34. Great point

I think this particular idea is, well, dumb. But I admire a LOT of what PETA does. And one thing they do well is getting attention. And that is so important.

Rarely do I see animal rights discussed with such passion than when in response to something PETA has done or said. Important, that, imho. When enough noise is made, something gets addressed, I guess. It raises public consciousness about the wide-scale inhumane treatement of animals, and the animals are the ones who stand to benifit.

[haymaker]

53. Exactly, Peta is waaaay amarter

than the average peta-hating bear.

[dobak]

36. that's not all....

Check out this story...

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/4165686.html


More proof that politicians can't please all of the people all of the time:

Earlier this month, the Star Tribune's Rochelle Olson reported that the Minneapolis City Council paid off a baseball bet with their counterparts in New York City. Our pols sent their pols a steaming four-pound tray of lutefisk after the Yankees defeated the Twins in the first round of baseball's playoffs.

....

In this case, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is outraged that the Minneapolis council paid its debt by sending "animal corpses" to New York. Mayor R.T. Rybak and Council President Tom Ostrow received a letter a week ago from Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan outreach for PETA.

.....

Even by PETA's standards the protest letter seemed weird. Lutefisk may be cruelty to humans. But to cod?

I called Friedrich in his suburban Washington, D.C., office. "Do PETA people just look for ways not to be taken seriously?" I asked.

Friedrich, it turns out, is a Minnesotan. He loves the Twins and Vikings and he used to enjoy fishing.

"It was very wrong," he said of those days pursuing walleyes.

"Don't you fear being written off as a goofball?" I asked.

"Fortunately, science is on our side," he said. "Psychologically, fish are as individualistic as dogs and cats."

....

I understand the PETA has done some great things, but they are becoming more irrelevant lately.

Even many people on the far left think they have lost touch with reality.

[Skip Intro]

42. Ok, I'll do it...

How do you know that fish don't feel or have individual personalities? Simply, how do you know?

I used to fish, not great at it or anything, but I did my share. Until it dawned on me what I was doing. I was baiting this animal to bite into a flesh-peircing hook which, once through its mouth, would trap it, and no matter how hard it fought, unless it were able to pull the hook through its flesh completely, I would use the hook to pull the animal out of its live-giving water and into the air where I would gloat as it suffocated, flailing in what I would imagine could only be some form of agony (I would be in agony). After I saw it that way, I could never toss another hook into the water. My experience, my opinion - I'm sure I'll be ridiculed for it, but wtf.

Again, setting aside the claim that they have individuality, how do you know that they don't feel?

[bearfartinthewoods]

64. i can attest to the fact that they have individuality

i have been snorkeling in the same section of river for ten years.

many of the fish there recognize me from year to year, even if they haven't seen me for eight months over the winter. their learning capacity is such that a certain catfish has nuzzled the pocket where i ususally keep food treats on the first time i enter the water in the spring. it isn't a scent based reaction because the shorts i was wearing were brand new and had never contained treats.

he knew me, remembered i fed him and from where the food came.

i have watched fish die, horrible starvation deaths because they have had their jaws ripped or broken by fishermen.

don't get me started.

[Rex]

38. PETA has lost me as a supporter

I used to stick up for them here and at other forums, but in the past few years PETA has done things that make me question their leadership.
I understand radical approaches, but some of their recent ideas are...well...idiotic.

[dobak]

40. agreed

They no longer try and get things done.

They just try and make the news.

[sangh0]

54. THat's untrue

As we speak, several fast-food companies are altering the way their contractors (we used to call them farmers) raise their meat in response to a PETA-led boycott. Not bad for people who "no longer try and get things done"

Imagine what they could do if they tried!

[haymaker]

51. As If!

Yeah, you were a Peta supporter. You don't see the connection they are making? It is not about the name Rodeo. It's about rodeos. They have already accompliched their goal. They got it in the news that rodeos are cruel. They already accomplished their goal.

[The Stranger]

57. I'm surprised that some here don't seem to see the humor here.

I don't think it was intended as some serious attack.

Come on now, people.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

43. Every Time I Think I Understand the Definition of "Stupid"

PETA goes and lowers the bar again.

DTH

[haymaker]

49. Their motive isn't that hard to understand,

but yours is. You don't get it at all do you?

[DoveTurnedHawk]

61. Oh, I Get It

I'm just not a big fan of outrageous stunts sheerly for the sake of PR, especially when the stunts betray an extremist agenda.

DTH

[pfitz59]

44. I grew up in Hangtown!

Some people call it Placerville. There are folks every year wanting to drop Placerville and revert to the original name. PETA is whacked. A name is a name is a name..... Why not change Rodeo to "Euthanasia"?

[Wickerman]

45. I vote for Hangtown

that is coool

:thumbsup:

[haymaker]

46. A stroke of genious, again.

Now all you Peta haters will be forced to recognize that the sport of rodeo is cruel. Imagine all you tough guy peta haters, having something cinched around your ballsack in order to make you jump while being ridden by a monkey.

I love peta. And yes, they are kicking ass and taking names, even if you are to dumb to realize it.

[Muddleoftheroad]

60. Peta haters

I am one. There are many here. Most actually support improved conditions for animals.

Peta does more harm for the animal rights movement than anything. They have become poster children for all that is wrong with the left.

And no, we don't have to acknowledge anything about rodeos, circuses or fast food.

The only ass Peta is kicking is its own, which is quite large.

[Rich Hunt]

47. Rodeo's new name..

How about goveg.com?

[boneygrey]

59. give me a break

What a bunch of nuts. I saw a great bumber sticker. PETA-people eating tasty animals.

[KamaAina]

66. Ex-Californian asks PETA to change its name

to something more appropriate, such as the Committee Of Whackjobs (COW).

:evilgrin:

[Richardo]

67. PETA has offically run out of things to complain about - strike the tent

:eyes: