Just got back in from our Thanksgiving journey, from Cincy to Lexington to participate in consecutive days of gorging. Much fun was had by all and Kaelyn loved the extra attention from the relatives. While reading today's Lexington Herald Leader, my father-in-law came across an article about their church, the church in which Kelly and I were wed. Southern Acres Christian Church was called out by PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] for their abuse of animals in a live nativity scene; I guess leaving animals outdoors and feeding them is cruel to the critters. Only one small problem: Southern Acres hasn't had a live nativity scene in years. So why were they contacted about this issue?
All day I was puzzled by this until I came across mention of a similar case in Alaska [HT: Scott Aughtmon]. This church in Anchorage had an identical complaint from PETA, yet they had never used live animals before. Now it's all perfectly clear.
The PETA people contacted all their local chapters to seek out a church to pick on during the holiday season. So they drop an email/press release about the local church and get some free pub. Perhaps the national headquarters should have instructed members to first investigate whether or not the targeted church actually had a live nativity. So instead of being relevant, PETA ends up looking ridiculously out of touch.
Perhaps, as one of my kin-folk wondered, the organization is should really be referred to as the acronym PITA, for Pain In The A**.