Funny seeing the people that usually piss all over PETA throwing PETA logic at dissentowner.
Given that this thread was 17 pages long before I jumped in, it's impossible to respond to everything, so I'll just throw out my own PERSONAL view on things:
As humans, we know and understand suffering and should work towards minimizing suffering while retaining our right to survival. I'm a utilitarian up to the point of taking or endangering a life. Just as we would not kick a dog for my own pleasure, I wouldn't eat a cow for my own pleasure.
Some may point out that hundreds of jobs will be lost by the cutting of the seal hunt. However, those seal pelts were made into jackets, hats, etc. Are people going to stop buying jackets and hats? The Europeans will just now buy faux-fur hats and jackets or buy parkas and toques. The jobs just shift to other people. Perhaps buying from other countries, so it may well be a cost to the Canadian economy, but to the world economy this will be less than a blip on the radar.
"Hack&Lube" suggests that everything must suffer and that it is a natural part of life. Personally, I don't think believing that "sh*t happens" necessarily suggests that I should "cause sh*t". That is a solid teaching of Anton LaVey, but I don't buy it as a solid philosophy (though I would suggest that LaVey's form of satanism is at least more honest than most organized religion). A belief that everything suffers and a big "so what?" means that teens can microwave frogs and kick stray dogs.