Michelle Obama is angry with the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after the organization ran an anti-fur ad featuring the first lady without her permission. The ad presents Mrs. Obama alongside Oprah Winfrey Tyra Banks and Carrie Underwood with the slogan, "Fur-free and fabulous!" PETA claims that the ad offers "a bevy of the smartest, most stylish and most influential women in America," and is being put up all over D.C. and throughout the Internet.

Winfrey, Banks and Underwood are all on record as publicly stating that the endorse PETA's anti-fur efforts, while the first lady cannot endorse special interest groups such as PETA.

"We did not consent to this," a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama said yesterday.

PETA refuses to take the ads down and claim that Mrs. Obama's past anti-fur statements give them a license to use her in their campaign.

I've always had mild respect for the aggression of PETA when it comes to protecting the rights of animals, but I am not a fan of their bullying tactics. As evidenced during the Michael Vick trial, PETA has gotten to the point that they seem to have almost no respect for the law, nor the rights of others. While I do not support the idea of killing animals in order to wear them, I am not comfortable with an organization that tramples on the concept of self-respect and respect for other people.

I'll be making my donation to the Humane Society instead of PETA. But then again, like Martin and Malcolm, it appears that the "good cop, bad cop" strategy is working quite well in the world of animal rights. People support the Humane Society in large part because they can't stomach the tactics of PETA.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.