Pets // Current

Miracle Pup Survives Hit-And-Run

A one year old Pup has survived a 70 mph hit-and-run in Italy. The pup became trapped in the Peugeot 207 and managed to cling on... more

GeoffNI
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Portly pets compete in slimming contest

Eight of Britain's fattest pets are to embark on a 100-day diet and fitness regime in a bid to crowned this year's pet... more

WeekendAutopsy
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The 10 richest pets

1. Gunther IV - Germen Shepherd Gunther’s property portfolio is also said to include estates in the Bahamas, Italy... more

TravG73
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United Kingdom Talk Video Tuesday 18th November 208

Tuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats. THIS... more

ChrisReardon
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YouTube - Howl to the Chief: The Obama Puppy Song

A puppy plea to president elect, Barack Obama! This perky puppy is begging Obama to "Pick Me" as first-pooch and make... more

dankitti
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An Intense & Psychotic DOG NIGHTMARE!!!

This is The Crypticon Command Unit, Bane the Blue having one of his usually intense dream/nightmare moments. He twitches and... more

DarkEnergy
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The Summum of all fears: mummies, free speech, and the Supreme Court

Can a fringe religious sect that believes in mummifying pets and their owners force a landmark Supreme Court decision on free speech?

Reverend Fred Phelps, the infamous head of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, runs a website called www.godhatesfags.com and wants to erect a monument in Casper, Wyoming's Historical Monument Plaza depicting Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in 1998. The caption would read, "Matthew Shepard entered Hell October 12, 1998, in defiance of God's warning 'thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.'"

The city of Casper has declined to host Phelps' monument. But whether the city can keep it out hinges on how the US Supreme Court decides a major free speech case involving a fringe religious sect that specializes in mummification of its adherents and, occasionally, their pets. If the court comes to the rescue of the religious group, whose cause civil libertarians would normally support, cities and towns across the country might have no choice but to showcase all manner of bizarre or hateful monuments, like the one proposed by Phelps.

On Wednesday, the court heard oral arguments in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, a case that is essentially forcing the justices to decide which is worse: letting the likes of Phelps fill public plazas with a parade of horrors, or allowing governments like Pleasant Grove to discriminate against religious minorities when it comes to adorning public space. The case got its start in Utah, a perennial hotbed of church/state separation litigation, and centers on a Ten Commandments monument in Pleasant Grove's Pioneer Park. The monument is one of many erected around the country by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the 1960s and '70s with backing from Cecile B. DeMille, who was promoting his Charlton Heston movie. The monuments have generated a host of litigation in the past few years, and at least one previous Supreme Court decision.

Summum is a small religious sect founded in 1975 by the late Summum Bonum Amon Ra (who also went by Corky). The group operates out of a pyramid in Salt Lake City and is most famous for carrying on the Egyptian tradition of mummification, a practice that is also the sect's primary source of income. Over the past 15 years, the group has become a thorn in the side of Mormon Utah towns that have public displays of the Ten Commandments. Summum first sued several towns to have the monuments removed in the mid-1990s. When those efforts failed, the group sought to erect monuments of its own, displaying its "Seven Aphorisms." Summum believe that God gave Moses the Aphorisms before he handed down the Ten Commandments, but that Moses destroyed the original tablets because the people weren't ready for the received wisdom. The Aphorisms, in the shortened version, are "Psychokinesis, Correspondence, Vibration, Opposition, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender."

Stephanie MencimerCan a fringe religious sect that believes in mummifying pets and their owners force a landmark Supreme Court decision on free... more