PETA calls for robotic groundhog to replacr punxsutawney phill

[Wade91]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/01/peta-calls-for-robotic-groundhog-to-replace-punxsutawney-phil/1

honestly, how rediculess is PETA gonna get? :s

[Mark in Oshawa]

They never stopped being Silly Wade...I am surprised they hadn't complained before. That is what PETA is..one publicity stunt after another..

[F1boat]

I believe in the animal rights, but I also believe that PETA should focus on serious problems like baby seals, penguins, wolves and big cats.

[Dave B]

PETA have their hearts in the right place but are misguided morons.

[Eki]

They never stopped being Silly Wade...I am surprised they hadn't complained before. That is what PETA is..one publicity stunt after another..
Actually that whole Groundhog Day tradition has been silly from the beginning IMO.

I don't know how much the groundhog suffers, but at least it doesn't look like it's enjoying it either (to me it looks kind of stressed):

http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/on-deadline/2010/01/27/Phiilx-wide-community.jpg

[Hondo]

I can't believe how many have missed the deeper meaning and hidden agenda at play here. Especially Brockman. Many of us have to deal with the odd unpleasant circumstance in life, but we get over it and move on. Sometimes, it is just another part of the job and we have to decide whether the benefits outweigh the pain.

I'm reminded of another famous groundhog, one J. Villeneuve. While he didn't care for the media and public attention either, the income and perks of the job kept him grudgingly in the game performing the media act. Finally, the oppressive bosses realized what torment they had been inflicting upon him and released him completely to be a free range groundhog.

This smokescreen is not about cruelty to Phil, it is about resentment of Phil. You see, Phil had the audacity to rise above the average groundhog. Phil wanted more and he achieved it. Whether he achieved it by better grades, or working harder, or just got lucky and was in the right place at the right time (like Neil Young) doesn't matter. Phil made the big time. Now Phil eats regular without having to grub and chase stuff down, he is pampered and brushed, has a comfortable place to live, and has better health care than a black man in New Orleans.

Now your working groundhogs would love to be in Phil's situation but they realize that a gig like Phil has is rare and their chance for success is slim so they decided that if all groundhogs couldn't have what Phil has, then no groundhog will have it. Once they realized what kind of efforts they would have to put forth to enable them to rise to Phil's lifestyle, they decided it would be easier to destroy Phil's lifestyle and force him to remain a common, working groundhog like the rest of them. The rest was simple, they approached PETA with a cock & bull story about how even being near a camera can cause severe pain and mental anquish in a groundhog and PETA was off and running. Of course, even PETA isn't completely clean on this. They know there is some serious money involved in this Groundhog Day thing and they know if the Obamaconomy doesn't pick up, there's a good chance Phil could end up as supper in August. They need a replacement ready to go.

The Villenueve groundhog? After a couple of years of being a free groundhog, he decided that the media wasn't so bad after all and returned to once again enjoy the perks and benefits of being a star groundhog. Unfortunately, the ones that hire star groundhogs had long since discovered they liked him better as a free groundhog, and there he remains.

[Dave B]

Nurse! He's out of bed again! :p

[Mark in Oshawa]

Brockman...I think we need to mail him some of that original recipe thorozine....