PETA V City of Louisville, or The Great Chicken Statue Debacle

for those of you who haven't kept up with this little news item, it seems that the opposing forces of YUM! brands, Inc. (the corporate mega-force behind KFC, among other things) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are coming to a final reckoning over an issue involving a 5 & 1/2 foot tall crippled chicken statue (see scale model, above). Peta has been petitioning the city for a year or so about putting this thing up somewhere, and our beloved metro government--a bastion of semi-liberal idealism in KY--has tried its darndest to appear fair-minded and non-judgmental whilst it (politely) stalls, delays, dithers and, ultimately, declines Peta's petition.

Look, there should be no illusions: KFC and YUM!, Inc draw a lot of water in this town, and their sinister conglomerate (in conjunction with the diabolical ghost of Harlan Sanders) will not be undone by some hippies with a schlocky statue. The burden of legal precedence, however, falls to the city--whose woeful lack of animal-related statue ordinance has made their denial of PETA's permit request rather suspicious (especially when you consider the city-wide adoption in 2003 of ubiquitous tacky race horse statues):

"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said a moratorium on animal statues by the Louisville Metro Government came only after the group applied for its permit a year ago, and so their application should not be held to rules made at a later date, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported Monday." (UPI)

Hmm. Maybe metro gov'ment thinks KY has enough (in)famous chicken statues already.