OK, now my brain hurts.

Steve Irwin, the ebullient "Crocodile Hunter," founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation to help protect habitats and wildlife. He created rescue programs for some of Australia's most beloved creatures, and led efforts to rescue some less beloved. He helped found International Crocodile Rescue. He established the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, where all donations go directly to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center with 3,450 acres of wildlife sanctuary. He also owned 83,000 acres of endangered Acacia Woodland in southwestern Queensland and started the Brigalow Belt Conservation Project. He bought up enormous portions of Australia for the sole purpose of conserving habitats for wildlife. He started endangered species breeding programs for ten kinds of reptiles, birds and mammals. He has also established breeding programs for at least eighteeen vulnerable species. Steve helped fund field studies for scores of species of crocodilians, lizards, snakes, mammals, and birds in order to help stave off their habitat destruction and learn exactly what it is those species need to survive. He is responsible for the rescue and well-being of thousands upon thousands of animals from all around Australia. And through his effort to educate and entertain, he has single-handedly raised conservation awareness across the globe.

However, in an article on their website titled "Steve Irwin: Not a True 'Wildlife Warrior,'" PETA takes aim at Irwin, saying:

Self-professed wildlife warriors make their livings by harassing and mishandling animals who are minding their own business in their natural environments. Animals' homes are invaded, their nests and dens are disrupted, and they are dragged by their tails, netted, roped, and forced to endure physical invasion of their personal space as the exhibitors jump on them and wrestle them to the ground....

These celebrities' work becomes more about showboating egos and titillating audiences at the expense of animals than about education. Does the public really need to see someone dragging a frightened snake out of a hole and flailing the animal around on a stick in order to realize how important and morally imperative it is to respect and protect that animal?

OK. I guess that's one way to look at it.

But at the same time they bash a man who, as far as I know, never said an unkind word about anyone, they gush over "compassionate Cowell" ! Yup, Simon Cowell, the "American Idol" host who's probably reduced more people to tears than all of my ex-husbands combined. Cowell teamed with PETA for a TV public service announcement reminding people not to park their pups in sweltering cars.

"Far be it from me to be critical, but I find it really appalling that this year, thousands of dogs will die of heatstroke inside parked cars," says Cowell.

Don't understand who or what is served by overlooking all the good Steve Irwin did just to slam him on the occasion of his death.

And to laud Simon Cowell for the ability to make a complicated moral distinction like "Maybe some people are surprised that I like animals, but there's a bit of a difference between telling someone who's a useless singer, 'You're a useless singer,' (and) drowning a puppy...."

Guess I'm just difficult to impress.