LMAO! Who was it who was suggesting that PETA sucked? Wow I am totally convinced after reading this AP story which crossed the wire today: HAMBURG, N.Y. (AP) -- A national animal rights group has offered Hamburg officials $15,000 to change the town's name to Veggieburg. ``The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,'' said Joe Haptas, spokesman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in a letter faxed Monday to Hamburg Supervisor Patrick Hoak. PETA offered to supply area schools with $15,000 worth of non-meat patties for the name change. ``Our offer is serious as a heart attack,'' Haptas said. Hoak immediately declined. ``With all due respect, I think it's a delicacy in our community,'' he said about hamburgers. ``We're proud of our name and proud of our heritage.'' The Buffalo suburb, named Hamburg since 1812, claims to be the birth place of the American culinary staple. Hamburg commemorates the birth of hamburgers at the annual Burgerfest. In 1996, PETA proposed that the Hudson Valley town of Fishkill change its centuries-old name to Fishsave, since the group believed the name conjured up violent imagery of dead fish. The town was named by Dutch settlers in the early 1600s. ``Kill'' is the Dutch word for ``stream.'' -------------------------------------------- Letter to the editor, New York Times, published 4/19/03: "Cable's War Coverage Suggests a New 'Fox Effect' on Television Journalism" (news article, April 16) illustrates a paradox in American society. Constitutional protection of free speech is a necessary but insufficient condition for its exercise in daily life. Rights can become paper rights: constitutionally protected but seldom exercised by a people fearful of speaking one's mind. If dissenting opinions are publicly vilified by the news media, the conditions that make free speech and dissent possible will wither. People will not speak out against war or other unpopular policies, irrespective of their constitutional right, for fear that they will be demonized or punished financially or socially. In modern societies, it is unnecessary to resort to crude methods like imprisonment or torture to silence dissenters. It is sufficient simply to question their integrity, their values and their patriotism. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963