Haven't read the whole thread, just wanted to point out that PETA are the autism speaks of the animal rights world. When they came over to the UK everyone in animal advocacy groaned because we knew they'd ruin everything. For example, they started giving out fur coats to the homeless, saying that they wanted people to associate fur with people who were the lowest rung in society, so that the rich wouldn't buy it. Why not just hand out yellow stars? It was contemptuous of human beings. I remember cheering when I heard a homeless man in Liverpool on the radio, being offered a fur coat, say, "no thank you, I'm vegan, I'd rather freeze."
Peta came over here, not understanding the British at all, imposing their media slick phoniness on a complex set of issues, and they've succeeded in making AR look ridiculous. Autism Speaks is doing the same thing over here as well... we've got perfectly good advocacy groups here, we don't need AS. But I imagine they'll do a Peta, and trample all over other people's good works.
Sickening.